R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

FATEHGARH SAHIB
SUSPENDED: The Punjab Government suspended the District Development and Panchayat Officer ( DDPO) , BDPO, Amloh, Junior Engineer, Amloh and panchayat secretary-cum-administrator of Khumana village on Wednesday for allegedly misusing panchayat funds worth Rs 21 lakh. The villagers met Mr Balwant Singh Sahpur, MLA, Amloh, and urged him to take up the matter with the Chief Minister.

GURDASPUR
FIRE: A fire broke out in a godown of spare parts and tyres of the Punjab Roadways at Pathankot on Wednesday. The loss was stated to be in lakhs. The cause of the fire was reportedly a short circuit in a transformer .

TEAMS CONSTITUTED: Mr S.K. Sandhu, Deputy Commissioner, has constituted 20 teams to ensure the availability of various facilities in the grain market. These teams will also check the evasion of market fees and other taxes.

KHARAR
BOYCOTT ENDS:Local advocates resumed their work in the court of the Judicial Magistrate here on Thursday and suspended the boycott in the court. The advocates were boycotting the court since April 24 in protest against the registration of a “false” case against Mr Amrik Singh, an advocate of Kharar. A case under, Sections 224, 225, B, and 120 B of the IPC was registered against Mr Amrik Singh and two others when Jaswinder Singh, an accused, ran away from the court of the Judicial Magistrate.

CHEMISTS' RESOLUTION: The Kurali Chemists Association at a meeting held in Kurali on Wednesday passed a resolution that it would never support those chemists who sell intoxicants. According to a press note issued here by the association, it was not merely a question of selling and earning money but the future of the country was at stake.

FUNCTION: The annual prize distribution function of Sacred Dales Convent School Kharar, Sacred Dales Public School, Mohali, and Indo-British Nursery was held here on Thursday. Master Mohan Lal, Cabinet Minister, Punjab, was the chief guest on the occasion. He announced a grant of Rs 20000 for the school.

LUDHIANA
BRIBERY CASE : The Vigilance Bureau has booked two Punjab State Electricity Board employees for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 1500 to reduce the penalty in a power theft case and for giving an illegal connection. Ajaib Singh (AE) and Kuldeep Singh (Lineman) posted at the Ghudani Kalan subdivision had accepted the bribe from Sukhminder Singh, according to a press note here on Wednesday.

MEETING HELD: A meeting of the Telecom Advisory Committee was held here recently in which Mr J.C. Aggarwal, General Manager, said 26,184 lines had been added and 25,124 new telephone connections provided during 1999-2000. He added that the trunk automatic exchange had been expanded by 6,000 lines.

MALERKOTLA
CENSUS WORK: Mr Amarjit Singh Sekhon, Executive-cum-Charge Officer, told mediapersons that a meeting of supervisors and enumerators was held on Wednesday at the municipal office here in which material kits were distributed for the census work. The houselisting operations would commence from May 3.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Greenwood Cactus and Succulent Society: chairman — Mohammad Mushtaq; president — Mr Iftikhar Hussain; vice-president — Mr Rajesh Kakkar; general secretary — Dr Mohammad Rafi and treasurer — Mr Paramjit Sharma.

CHANDIGARH

COMMITTEE CHIEF: Mr Ved Prakash was unanimously elected President of the Market Committee, Sector 7 C, here, on Thursday. Mr Suresh Bansal was elected General Secretary of the committee and Mr Arvind Bhasin Treasurer. The new members urged the Administration to provide a parking lot in front of the market.

PROTEST: Members of the Punjab PWD senior engineers forum and the coordination committee of subdivisional engineers and junior engineers held a rally in protest against the alleged efforts of the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board to grab works relating to the department for execution, thereby causing huge loss to the exchequer. Mr M.S. Nijjar, convenor of the committee, alleged that the executive committee of the board was hiring consultants for identifying various projects, the expertise for which is already available with the department. The engineers were being forced to hand over the feasibility reports to such consultants in violation of norms.

PROBE SOUGHT: The Joint Womens Front at a meeting held on Wednesday at Lajpat Bhavan, in Sector 15 have expressed shock and concern over the mysterious death of Harpreet, daughter of Bibi Jagir Kaur. Several women’s organisations at the meeting urged the National Commission for Women to immediately take up the issue and investigate into the matter.

CLOSURE SOUGHT: The Himachal Maloya Colony Niwasi Sudhar Sabha has demanded immediate closure of a wine shop, which was set up in the colony recently. In a representation to the Deputy Commissioner, the sabha alleged that due to the opening of the shop incidents of eve-teasing and other anti-social acts had increased. “If it is not possible to cancel the permission to run the wine shop, then the shop should be shifted from the existing site”, the representation added.

STRIKE: A one-day token strike was observed here on Thursday by local associations affiliated to the Indian National Defence Workers Federation. A statement issued by the Chandigarh Area MES Workers Union said their demands included upgradation of pay scales of skilled craftsman, accumulation and encashment of earned leave on superannuation upto 300 days for industrial workers, removal of disparities between industrial and non-industrial staff, implementation of assured career progress scheme, removal of ban on recruitment and abolishing vacant posts.

DHARNA PLANNED: The Panjab University Teachers Association at a meeting here on Thursday decided that a dharna would be organised coinciding with the university syndicate meeting on April 30. Prof P.P. Arya, president, said that the university had failed to implement the Career Advancement Scheme despite assurances in 1999.

YPS TRIP: Children of the junior wing of Yadvindra Public School participated in an industrial trip to a cold drink bottling company in Baddi. They were taken on a guided tour of the factory. Quiz contest and fun games were also organised on the occasion. In the past fortnight, Shivalik Public School, Guru Nanak Public School, St Stephens School, New Public School, Vivek School, Government Schools (Sector 35 and Sector 20) and Ajit Karam Singh School and Hans Raj School , Panchkula, have taken their students on such guided tours.

PANCHKULA
WATER CRISIS: The Shivalik Vikas Manch, in a press note issued here has stated that the water crisis in the Shivalik area was primarily due to the discriminatory policy followed by successive governments in Haryana. It added that the state had failed to tap its available natural resources in Ghaggar, Tangri, Begna and Markanda rivers. Also the Sutlej-Yamuna link canal was being unnecessarily delayed.

SAS NAGAR
BAN SOUGHT: Members of a joint action committee of Sikh religious and political organisations of Chandigarh and SAS Nagar on Wednesday met the Governor of Punjab, seeking a ban on the three-day conclave of the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat — an organisation of the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh, being organised at Chandigarh from April 28.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

HAMIRPUR
TOOK CHARGE: Mr N.Venugopal took over as the new district police chief here on Wednesday. He took over the charge from Mr A.P. Syddiqui, who has been posted in Kosovo on a UNO assignment. Mr Venugopal was SP, Kinnaur, earlier.

SHIMLA
ELECTED : Mr Tek Chand Sharma, an advocate, has been elected from Himachal Pradesh as one of the members of the 13th governing council of the Bar Association of India.

SUNDERNAGAR
BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION: Residents of 10 panchayats here and the Sadar subdivision of Mandi district demanded that the construction work of the bridge on Gmolta khud be completed immediately. According to residents of the panchayats, the construction has not been completed for the past 12 years.