R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
APPOINTED: A veteran trade unionist and senior Congress leader, Mr M M Singh Cheema was appointed Vice-President of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, Human Rights Wing, by the Chairman, All-India Congress Committee, Human Rights Department, Mr Panganath Misra on Sunday. The Gurdaspur District Congress Committee, welcoming his appointment, said the faith reposed in Mr Cheema by the Congress President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, would help in highlighting the human rights problems in the terrorist-affected state.

ABOHAR
BODY RECOVERED: The body of a student, Sandeep Sharma, was recovered from an outlet near Tootwal village on Sunday. He had slipped in the Malukpur canal on Saturday while watching his friends bathe in the canal.

MALERKOTLA
SANSKRIT YEAR: A “nukkad natak”, “Ahimsa Parma Dharama”, was staged by the Language Department, Punjab, at the Malerkotla Club here on Saturday in connection with the celebration of Sanskrit year 2000. Speaking on the occasion, the chief guest, Mr D.D. Bhatti, a renowned Sanskrit scholar, said to promote Sanskrit the state government should take steps by opening a Sanskrit university. The guest of honours were Dr Soot Dev Hans, a renowned Hindi scholar, and Mr Jaspal Singh Jassi, local SDM.

RESIDENTS SORE: Resentment prevails among residents of the local Telian Bazaar, Upplan Street, Rajan Street and the Gopal Bhavan area on account of inadequate supply of drinking water for the past one month. Residents have to walk for long distances to fetch water.

CONDEMNED: Dr S. Tarsem, general secretary of the Central Punjabi writers Association, has condemned the action of anti-social elements who damaged the samadhi of renowned Punjabi novelist, Nanak Singh. In a press note issued here on Sunday, he demanded the immediate arrest of those involved in the incident and the reconstruction of the samadhi.

DEMANDED: The local Citizens Welfare Council has demanded that a pollution control office be opened here. In a press note issued here on Sunday, Dr Satish Kapoor, president of the council, said the Punjab Government had made it compulsory for all vehicle owners to keep a pollution free certificate. However, nothing had been done in this regard in this industrial town, he said.

NAWANSHAHR
COUNCIL: The local Blood Donors Council in collaboration with the Shaheed Baba Deep Singh Sewak Jatha, Rahon, organised a blood donation camp at Gurdwara Kalgidhar, Rahon, on Sunday. Mr Dinesh Chopra, president, Municipal Council, Rahon, inaugurated the camp. As many as 25 units of blood were collected.

TEACHERS UNION: Prof G.S.Sandhu of the local D.A.N. College of Education for Women and Prof Pargan Singh Atwal of S.N.College, Banga, have been unanimously elected president and the secretary, respectively, of the district unit of the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union.

LIONS CLUB: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Lions Club (Nawanshahr city): president — Mr Iqbal Singh, secretary — Mr A.S. Bhatti and treasurer — Mr Gopal Mohan.

ELECTED: Mr Sita Ram Taneja has been elected president of the local Industrial Focal Point Association.

ARRESTED: The police has arrested Mukhtiar Singh, Jaswant Singh , Mohinder Pal , Jasvir Singh, Binder and Gopal while gambling and seized Rs 707 along with gambling slips from them. A case has been registered against them.

RAIDS: The police conducted raids at the local Satlej and Chic-Chic restaurants and found that the managers of both restaurants were serving liquor without permits. Ten persons have been arrested and cases registered against them, according to a press note issued here on Friday.

PATIALA
PORTAL: A portal — india 2 india . com /gurdwaras — is being launched, which will contain information about historic gurdwaras of the country. Disclosing this, former college librarian Gurchaman Singh Gill said on Monday the portal would provide a brief history, address , location and other important aspects of the gurdwaras in the country. He said the portal would also carry the addresses of all major gurdwaras abroad.

PHAGWARA
CONSTRUCTION STOPPED: The Phagwara Administration on Saturday stopped unauthorised construction over a drain near Varinder park at the backyard of Professor Colony opposite the Banga Road. Construction was being done on pretext of making a cowshed.

PHILLAUR
ASSAULT: A factory owner, Mr Lakhwinder Singh, and his younger brother were attacked and wounded by some unidentified armed assailants outside his factory at Uppal Road, Noormahal, on Saturday. The police said sharp-edged weapons were used by the assailants who sped away in a Jeep.

CHANDIGARH

CELEBRATED: Kids’ painting and partying were central to Mother’s Day celebrations organised by the Marga’s Kids Club at Rock Garden on Monday. A press release said all families were given certificates of recognition. There were approximately 600 paintings. The Department of Adult Education of Panjab University in collaboration with Dev Samaj College of Education, Sector 36, also organised a function on Mother’s Day awareness. Approximately 40 students participated.

TRAINING TECHNIQUE: A sector specific recognised ‘Users development programme in training technique’ course was inaugurated by Mr M.P. Bezabaruah, Secretary ( Tourism) at Dr Ambedkar Institute of Hotel Management, Catering and Nutrition, Sector 42, on Monday. He spoke on various aspects of the course and gave examples of technology revolutionising hotel management. Mr Navin Kumar Nanchahal, Principal, proposed the vote of thanks.

BEREAVED: Ms Chameli Devi, mother of Mr R.K. Jain, Chief Engineer, Chandigarh Administration, died on Monday after a protracted illness. She was 73. She is survived by four sons and four daughters. Her body was taken to Sonepat for cremation this evening.

SAS NAGAR
LAUNCHED: The Punjab Finance Minister, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, was the chief guest at the launching ceremony of ‘Manifesto-2000’ , a drive to spread United Nations’ message of culture of peace, at Brahma Kumari complex in Phase 7 on Sunday. The United Nations has proclaimed 2000 as the “International year for the culture of peace”. A spokesman of the Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Inshwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya said the Brahma Kumari institution was organising special activities, seminars and workshops to promote understanding of Manifesto-2000 throughout the world.

COMPLAINT: Mr Harbans Kaur, a former municipal councillor of the SAS Nagar municipal council, in a complaint to the Deputy Commissioner, Ropar, has said that at least 250 bogus votes had been identified by residents of Phase XI in ward no. 23. In some cases votes had been made against vacant houses.

HARYANA

AMBALA
RIVER RAFTING: About 17 states are expected to participate in the first national river rafting championship to be held in Manali. A meeting of the Haryana River Rafting Association was held, where it was decided that in July the association would send 20 rafters for an expedition to the Jhaskar river, a release said. For the Haryana state-level expedition, the association would send an expedition consisting of 40 students of secondary schools in rural areas.

MEETING: The Shiromani Akali Dal, Haryana unit, will hold, a meeting at the gurdwara at Nada Sahib on May 20 to discuss various issues. The General Secretary, Mr Ranvir Singh Fauji, said the meeting has been called by Mr Balwinder Singh, a Rajya Sabha member. Members of the SGPC are also expected to participate.

BHIWANI
COMPUTERISED: Mr J R Devgan, Deputy General Manager, State Bank of Patiala, said on Saturday that if the nationalised banks were to stand in competition with foreign banks and private banks in India, they would have to bring drastic changes in their style of functioning and provide better services to the people. He was speaking at a meeting of bank officials of the local branch and the account holders organised in connection with the computerisation of the main branch of the bank. He said all branches of bank would be computerised soon.

FARIDABAD
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the managing committee of Aggarwal PG College, Ballabgarh: president — Mr Rattan Singh Gupta; vice-president - Mr Devinder Gupta and general secretary — Mr Ashok Mittal.

PANIPAT
POWER THEFT: The Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN) has detected 1,119 cases of power theft in the district during 1999-2000. The nigam had imposed a penalty of Rs 83.15 lakh in 874 cases and cases had been registered against the remaining 245 consumers who indulged in power thefts. Disclosing this, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr M R Anand, said in order to augment the power supply, as many as 129 additional transformers were installed and the capacity of 203 transformers was increased in the district during the year. He said the nigam also released 7074 power connections, including 2,473 commercial, 4,171 domestic, 370 industrial and 47 in the tubewell category during the year.

SIRSA
HUSBAND HELD: Megha Singh of Saktakhera village in the district has been arrested for allegedly causing burn injuries to his wife who is struggling for life at a hospital. According to information received on Sunday, he was arrested on the basis of the statement of his seriously-burnt wife, Parvati, who alleged that he beat her up on the night of May 7 and set her on fire.

SONEPAT
DROUGHT RELIEF: Farmers from the district have so far sent 2,040 quintals of dry fodder worth Rs 3.46 lakh for the drought-hit Rajasthan, Gujarat and other states. According to official sources, Mr Sultan Singh SDO (Civil), Mr Padam Singh Dahiya, INLD MLA (Rohtak), and Mr Ved Singh Malik, a former minister, flagged off 27 trucks of dry fodder for the drought-hit areas of Rajasthan from Sonepat, Kharkhauda and Ganaur, respectively, on Sunday.

ELECTED: Mr Jagbir and Ms Ram Dai have been unanimously elected Chairman and Vice-Chairperson, respectively, of the Ganaur Panchayat Samiti in the district. According to official sources, both were INLD-sponsored candidates and Mr Ved Singh Malik, a former minister, played an important role in the holding of unanimous elections. As many as 25 of the 27 members attended the specially convened meeting which was presided over by the District Development and Panchyat officer.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

DHARAMSALA
WEED-CONTROL: Scientists have stressed the need for effective transfer of weed-control technology in order to prevent extensive damage to crops. Speaking at the inauguration of the 14th biennial workshop of the All-India Coordinated Research Project and Weed Control at Palampur on Sunday, the Vice-Chancellor of Palampur Agriculture University, Prof P.K. Khosla, said the disturbed eco system had resulted in the growth of weeds, which caused up to 30 per cent damage to the agricultural produce. Around 60 delegates from all over the country are taking part in the three-day workshop.

SUNDERNAGAR
BJP POLL: In the organisational poll of the BJP held on Sunday, Mr Ved Sharma was elected president of Nachan block, Mr Hari Singh Verma president of Sundernagar block and Mr Hem Singh Verma president of Chacheit block. All three were elected unanimously.