R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

DERA BASSI
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of Sarswati Vihar Welfare Association: President — Mr Manoj Rajpoot; Vice-President — Mr Sarwan Saini; General Secretary — Mr Harish Upadhaya; Joint Secretary — Mr Mohan Lal; and Treasurer — Mr B R Sharma.

FARIDKOT
LIONS CLUB: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Lions Club: president—Mr Subhash Gupta; vice-presidents—Mr Nirmaljit Singh Sandhu, Dr P. C. Jain and Mr Gurbachan Singh; secretary—Mr Rajeev Singla; and treasurer—Mr Jagjit Singh.

FAZILKA
SURPRISE CHECK: Mr Lachman Singh Brar, District Education Officer, conducted surprise inspection of schools of the block on Wednesday. During the checking, Government Senior Secondary School, Ladhuke, and Government Middle School, Lakhe-ke-Mushaib, were found closed before the official closing time.

JALANDHAR
YOGA CAMP: The Punjab State Yoga Association is organising a three-day free yoga camp at the local Devi Talab Mandir from Friday. Yoga experts will treat people suffering from various ailments at the camp.

KAPURTHALA
NEW COLLEGE: The Sarv Hitkari Educational Society, New Delhi, is establishing a college of engineering and management on the Kapurthala-Sultanpur Lodhi road, according to Mr Rakesh Bajaj, president of the society. Dr Upinderjit Kaur, Punjab Housing and Urban Development Minister, will lay the foundation stone of the college on Sunday.

SEMINAR ORGANISED: A seminar was organised by the District Legal Service Authority on Tuesday regarding free legal services being given by the authority to people. Mr Nirmal Singh, District and Sessions Judge, presided over the function.

KHANNA
LOOTING INCIDENT: Two scooter-borne youths snatched Rs 19,000 from a woman near Partap Street here on Wednesday. The woman was returning after withdrawing money from a bank.

MALERKOTLA
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Brick-Kiln Owners Association: president—Mr Kewal Krishan ; vice-president—Mr Gurbir Singh Bhuller; general secretary—Mr Duni Chand; and executive member—Mr Mukesh Kumar.

CIVIC BODY: The post of the vice-president of the local civic body has been lying vacant since February when Mrs Salma Parveen had to quit following no-confidence motion. Due to this the development work in the town has come to a standstill.

SMALL SAVING SCHEMES: Deputy Commissioner Anirudh Tiwari has stated that Rs 147 crore have been collected under small saving schemes in the district.He said the amount would be spent on the development work in the district.

MOGA
PROTEST: Owners of mini bus services, private transport companies and auto-rickshaws of Baghapurana town protested on Thursday against the civic body’s decision to raise bus stand charges. They urged the authorities concerned to withdraw the hike with immediate effect and threatened to launch an agitation if their demanded was not conceded.

DONATED: Mr Jagmeet Singh Brar, MP, at a function on Wednesday donated Rs 5 lakh for development of Phulewala village and Rs 2 lakh each for Upoke and Nathake villages in the district from the MP’s area development fund. He also donated Rs 5 lakh out of the fund for raising a memorial in honour of Mr Jagdev Singh Khudian at Khudian village.

CONNECTIONS: Indian Oil Company (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum have released 1.12 lakh domestic gas connections in the first three months of the current year in Haryana. This was stated by Mr Dharamvir, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Food and Supplies, here on Wednesday. The total number of connections in the state was now 16.50 lakh.

SURVEY: To redress grievances of farmers regarding non-purchase of wheat from the mandis and other purchasing centres in the district by the official procuring agencies,Mr Dharamvir, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Food and Supplies, went round various foodgrain markets in the town on Wednesday.

DAMAGED: A large number of gadgets were damaged due to high voltage in power transmission lines at Sikka Colony on Wednesday night. Residents of the colony also complained about repeated power cuts and voltage fluctuations and demanded a high-level inquiry into the incidents.

SOLVED: The local police on Wednesday arrested Chanan Ram in connection with the murder of a tanker driver whose body was recovered from the Sirhind Canal near Doraha, 20 km from here. The accused also confessed his involvement in two theft cases.

PATHANKOT
MURDER CASE: Former sarpanch of Madarpur was village was murdered by unknown assailants on Monday night. The deceased's brother was injured in the attack and had to be hospitalised. The police has registered a case under Section 302, IPC, in this regard.

PATIALA
WELCOMED: The Punjab Veterinary Officers Association on Thursday welcomed the Punjab Government’s decision to implement time bound promotion scheme. Dr Harbhajan Singh, General Secretary of the association, said a meeting of the association was held, in which a resolution was passed to thank the Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, the Animal Husbandary Minister, Dr Rattan Singh, and the Finance Secretary, Mr V.N. Aujha, for accepting the demands of veterinary officers.

COMPLAINTS: Deputy Commissioner Jasbir Sing Bir directed the SSP on Thursday to take action under the Prevention of Dowry Act on two complaints received by him in sangat darshan programme. The complainants, Ms Sinderjit Kaur of Ranjit Nagar and Mr Inderjit Kaur complained in separate representations that they were being harassed for bringing insufficient dowry and were being regularly beaten.

REAFFIRMED: Term deposits and certificates of deposit of State Bank of Patiala have been reaffirmed MAAA and AI plus rating, respectively, by the Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency of India Limited. These rating indicate the highest safety with best prospects for timely repayment, an official release said on Thursday.

CHANDIGARH

APPROVED: The administration on Wednesday approved the names of three Sessions Judges for Chandigarh. They are Mr H.S. Bhalla, Mr Lakhbir Singh and Ms Sneh Parashar. They are likely to assume office soon.

ASSOCIATION: The following have been elected office-bearers of the SBI Officers Association’ unit of IFB, Sector-22C: Chairman — Mr A.L. Ghai; Vice-chairman — Mr Ajay Sahore; secretary — Mr S.K. Prashar; assistant secretary — Mr A.K. Katyal; treasurer — Mr S.K. Sharma; executive member — Mr S.S. Agarwal; and executive member — Mr Arun Khera.

LAWYERS: Lawyers resumed work as their strike was called off on Wednesday. The decision to call off the strike was taken here two days back at a meeting of the District Bar Association.

CONTESTS: The first day of the week-long celebrations to mark YWCA Day had 68 participants in the poetry recitation and declamation competition at YWCA on Thursday. Children in the age group of 12 to 14 years spoke on “Examinations are a necessary evil and effects of Hindi films on society”.

ADMISSION FORMS: Forms for admission to Class I in Kendriya Vidyalayas in Chandigarh for SC/ST and physically handicapped categories will be available in Kendriya Vidayalaya No. II, 3BRD, Air Force Station, and Kendriya Vidyalaya, Sector 29-B, from April 20 to 30 between 9 a.m. and 12 noon.

LAUNCHED: Software Technology Group (STG) launched the career programme “Excel plus 2000” for Class XII students. The course offers six semesters for three years, covering latest IT packages. The career programme has been recognised by the American Council of Education.

PANCHKULA
FIRE: A fire was reported from behind the Mahadev Mandir in Saketri on Wednesday evening. Though no loss of life or property was reported, the fire continued to blaze for over an hour in the forest behind the temple. Fire engines from Panchkula rushed to the spot to bring it under control.

SAS NAGAR
MALARIA: A community talk on malaria was held by the Ranbaxy Community Healthcare Society (RCHS) at Sahaurran village yesterday. The Medical Officer of the RCHS said as many as 48 mothers participated in the talk. The participants were made aware about the spread of malaria through breeding of mosquitoes in stagnant water. The need to regularly check stagnant water in ponds, pits, drains and tyre tubes were stressed.

HARYANA

FARIDABAD
OPEN DARBAR: As many as 50 complaints of various nature were resolved at an open darbar held here at Bachat Bhavan on Wednesday. Deputy Commissioner Anand Mohan Saharan ordered the SDM, Palwal and the SDM, Ballabgarh, to look into encroachment on village common land at Rajpur Khadar and Bhankpur villages, respectively.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

KANGRA
FIRE INCIDENT: Property worth thousands was destroyed in a fire which broke out in a residence at Halaird village on Thursday. According to fire office sources the fire broke out due to a short circuit.

ROAD MISHAP: One person was killed and three injured when a Maruti car going to Vaishno Devi from Delhi collided with another vehicle on the G.T. Road near here. The injured were rushed to a hospital at Ludhiana.

KULU
ORGANISED: The district Information and Public Relations Department organised a "nasha nivaran samaroh" at Bajaura village on Wednesday. Mr Maheshinder Singh, Lok Sabha member, was also present on the occasion. A cultural programme was also presented.

SUNDERNAGAR
MEDICAL CAMP: The District Red Cross Society organised a hepatitis B camp in Gohar subdivision on Wednesday. As many as 407 persons, including 220 children, were vaccinated at the camp.