R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
CONDEMNED: Members of the Government College Teachers Association on Friday condemned the transfer of some teachers in colleges affiliated to Guru Nanak Dev University. They stated that the teachers had been transferred twice in a year which was objectionable.

BATHINDA
PROBE SOUGHT: Activists of the Anti-Jethuke Firing Incident Action Committee on Friday demanded a judicial probe into the Jethuke firing incident. The activists held a rally in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office in this regard.

FARIDKOT
OPIUM SEIZED: The district police has seized 15 kg of opium and 6,000 kg of poppy husk from a house in the town. In a press note issued here on Friday, SSP Arun Kumar Oraon said a team of civil and police officials raided a house on the Devi Wala road and seized poppy husk and opium worth Rs 40 lakh. A case has been registered against Gurmej Singh, Demple, Mukhtiar Singh, alias Bittu, Lali Amritsaria and Feja under Section 15 of the NDPS Act in this connection.

GURDASPUR
INSTALLED: Mr B Vikram, Deputy Commissioner, at a meeting of the Sainik Welfare Board, said here on Friday four computers at a cost of Rs 3.5 lakh had been installed at the board’s office to give dependents of ex-serviceman training in computers for one year.

ARRESTED: Joginder Singh Patwari, who had absconded since December 11,1999, because of his involvement in a forged signature case, was arrested recently. A case under various sections, of the IPC, has been registered.

HOSHIARPUR
INAUGURATED: The Deputy Commissioner here inaugurated the computerised branch issuing driving licences at the District Transport Department here on Friday. He said soon the complete office would be computerised.

LUDHIANA
DELEGATION: A delegation of Shri Amarnath Yatra Welfare Board met the Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Mr Chaman Lal Gupta, and apprised him of the problems being faced by pilgrims to Shri Amarnath. The minister assured the delegation that he would consider the matter.

WORKSHOP: A state-level computer awareness workshop for government employees at PAU was inaugurated on Friday by Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal. The Deputy Commissioner and the SSP were also present on the occasion.

MEMORANDUM: A delegation of the Ludhiana Seva Sangh, an NGO, demanded a check on the overcharging of school fee by the recognised and aided private schools. The delegation met the Deputy Commissioner here and presented him a memorandum on Thursday.

SURGEON INVITED: Dr Kuldip Singh, a consultant surgeon at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital here, has been invited to participate in the World Congress of Laparo-Endoscopic Surgery to be held in Singapore from May 31 to June 4. He will speak on “management of Difficult and Inflamed Gall Bladder — Tips and Tricks”.

CASE REGISTERED: A case under Sections 323, 324, 447, 506 and 34, IPC, has been registered against Narinder Singh and his sons Paramjit Singh and Baljit Singh on the complaint of Mr Hardev Singh of Baddowal village, who alleged that the three forcibly entered his field and attacked him. A land dispute was stated to be the reason behind the incident.

HELD FOR GAMBLING: Kewal Singh, Upkar Singh and Malwinder Singh were arrested by the police on charges of gambling at a public place. A case under various sections has been registered.

MALERKOTLA
POWER CUTS: Resentment prevails among residents here against frequent power cuts imposed by the Punjab State Electricity Board. The Malerkotla Welfare Association in a press note has demanded the immediate rescheduling of the cuts.

POLLUTION-CHECKING: The Malerkotla Welfare Association in a press note issued here on Friday has sought pollution-checking centres at petrol stations here as residents have to go to Ludhiana or Patiala for pollution check-up.

MANSA
COMPUTERISED: The General Manager of the State Bank of Patiala, Mr R.S. Nanda, has said 70 per cent operations of all branches will be computerised by year-end. He was addressing a function organised in connection with the computerisation of a branch of the bank here. Earlier, Mrs Raji P. Shrivastva, Deputy Commissioner, inaugurated the computerised branch of the bank.

MOGA
RAPED: A middle-aged woman of Kaleke village in the district in a complaint lodged with the Baghapurana police alleged that she was raped by a doctor of the same village when she went to his clinic for treatment. She sought action against the doctor.

ENCROACHMENTS: Shopkeepers in the main bazaar here have started rebuilding their sheds after the administration had demolished all encroachments, according to a report.

NAWANSHAR
DISMISSED: The local district Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has dismissed the complaint against Dr Javed Alam, Managing Director, S. B. Scanning Centre, Banga. A complaint was filed by Mr Nasib Chand of Heon village accusing Dr Alam of possessing fake medical degrees and conducting wrong diagnosis.

CELEBRATED: A district-level anti-terrorist day was celebrated here at the DC office. Dr Roshan Sunkaria, Deputy Commissioner, presided, according to an official press note.

PATIALA
ANTI-TERRORISM DAY: Students should spread the message of religious tolerance and social equality, said the Deputy Director (Guides), Punjab Education Department, Mrs Satwant Kaur while addressing a gathering of students and volunteers of various social services organisations, on Friday anti-terrorism day.

CASE REGISTERED: The Patiala Sadar police station has registered a case of death due to dowry against an Indian Reserve Battalion Constable and his mother for allegedly poisoning the constable’s wife Rajpal Kaur at Challela village near here on May 18. According to the FIR got registered by Rajpal’s mother Surjit Kaur, the girl was done to death for bringing insufficient dowry. The FIR alleged that Rajpal, who had been married one and a half years earlier, was constantly harassed by her in-laws for bringing insufficient dowry. The husband Bahadur Singh and mother-in-law Samti Kaur have been named in the report.

INVITED: Dr Yadvindra Singh of the Geography Department of Punjabi University has been invited to present a paper at the 29th international geography congress, being held in Seoul from August 14 to 18. According to a communication received by Dr Yadvindra Singh, his paper “Land use and land cover related hydrological changes in different eco-systems on inter-state Chandigarh region, North Western India”, has been selected for oral presentation at the conference.

PHAGWARA
ARRESTED: Surinderpal of Santokhpura locality was arrested by the local police for stealing car stereos. Seven stereos and a cycle were recovered from him, the police said on Thursday.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local block of the BJP: president — Mr Chander Mohan Chawla; vice-presidents — Mr Paramjit Singh Saini, Mr Chandresh Kaushal, Mr Khyal Chand, Mr Pawan Malhotra, Ms Kamaljit Kaur; general secretary — Mr Balbir Varmani; secretaries — Mr Inderjit Duggal, Mr Sudesh Sharma, Mr Bhavsekhar Sood, Mr Subhash Jain; treasurer — Mr Javinder Sain Duggal

ROTARY CLUB: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Rotary Club: president — Mr Rajvinder Gogna; and secretary — Dr Rakesh Bhardwaj.

CHANDIGARH

ORGANISED: NSS volunteers of DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8, organised a programme on Saturday to create awareness regarding effects of pollution, traffic management and parking. A press release said that 100 volunteers participated on Saturday and 100 would be participating in the coming week.

HONOUR: A scholar and poet of Panjab University Dr Naresh has been selected by the UK-based Music World for its millennium award in recognition for his contribution as a poet and a lyricist. Author of nearly 56 books, he has received over 20 state-level awards.

RALLY: Students of Moti Ram Arya Senior Secondary Model School here took out a rally on Saturday on the occasion of Sadhbhavana Divas. Nearly 250 students participated in the rally, a press release said.

PANEL: Mr Arvind Dev has been elected President of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Clerks Association. According to a press release, Mr Balbir Singh was elected the Vice-President, Mr Kirpal Singh Thakur the New Secretary, while Mr Mehar Singh is the Joint Secretary.

HARYANA

AMBALA
SUMMER CAMP: A summer camp for children in the age group of 3 to 13 is being organised till May 31 at Arya Girls College, Staff Road, Ambala Cantonment. During the camp “Buds to Blooms”, numerous workshops have been designed, including creative arts, various kinds of drawing, paintings, sketches, “Best out of waste”, creative writing, origami, dance and music, chief organiser of the camp, Mrs Mamta Chahal, stated.

KAITHAL
ASSOCIATION: The following have been elected office-bearers of the district Bar Association: President — Mr O P Arora; vice-president — Mr Vinod Garg; general secretary — Mr Rajiv Arora; and finance secretary — Mr Manmohan Lal Garg.

KALKA
SUKRITI-2000: A personality development camp Sukriti-2000 was conducted here on Saturday by Mr G.S. Channi, Chairman, Sangeet Natak Academy, Chandigarh. He was assisted by a team of artistes from his organisation Gian Dev, Sumit and Ravi. Mr Mohan Singh from the DC Office, Panchkula, gave lecture to the group of students being trained in civil defence and first aid.

KURUKSHETRA
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Shri Sthanu Seva Mandal: president — Mr Bheem Sain Proothi; vice-presidents — Mr Prem Madan and Mr Jeewan Dass; general secretary — Mr Hans Raj Kalra; and treasurer — Mr Ishwar Azad.

NOMINATED: The following have been nominated as office-bearers of the District Congress Vichar Vibhag (intellectual cell): chairman — Mr Didar Singh Kamboj; convener — Mr Dina Nath Arora; general secretary — Mr Prithvi Singh Turk; and secretary — Mr Surjeet Singh.

NARNAUL
DIRECTED: The Deputy Commissioner, Mr V. Raja Sekhar, has directed officers to take stern action against those vehicles found plying without paying the passenger tax. He stated that if the valid tickets were not issued by the bus operators, then the passengers should send the tickets to the office of the Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner for legal action.

ROHTAK
KILLED: Bharat Bhushan (15), a local resident, was killed when he was hit by an autorickshaw on Thursday. The victim died on the spot. A case has been registered.

CASE REGISTERED: Virender, an inmate of the district jail, here was booked after he failed to report back to the jail authorities on Thursday. The accused, a resident of Gohana, was on parole from March 30 and failed to report back. A case has been registered.

SONEPAT
DATE EXTENDED: The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) has extended the date for paying the electricity bills till May 31 under the “surcharge waiving scheme” launched by it for the benefit of rural consumers in general and farmers in particular.

BLOCK SAMITI: Mr Dharamvir and Mrs Savitri were elected chairman and vice-chairwoman, respectively, of the block samiti at a meeting of the members held here on Thursday.

DARBAR: The uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam organised a public darbar at Kharkhauda town, 19 km from here, on Thursday to redress the grievances of consumers. Mr S.K. Handa, Superintending Engineer, Operation, here presided.

RALLY: The Sonepat Nagarpalika Karamchari Sangh organised a rally here on Friday in protest against the non-payment of salaries for two months. They warned the civic authorities that if they did not get salaries by May 22, they would go on mass casual leave.

YAMUNANAGAR
ASSOCIATION: The following have been elected office-bearers of the HUDA Welfare Association, Jagadhri: president — Prof P.R.Tyagi; vice-president — Mr Rajni Kant Sharma; secretary — Mr Jai Kumar Gupta; and finance secretary — Mr Rishi Raj Sharma.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

KULU
BEE-KEEPING: A Rs 24.80 lakh comprehensive plan has been sanctioned for the integrated development of bee-keeping here. This was announced by Mr Mahesh Sharma, Chairman, All-India Khadi and Village Industries Commission, here on Thursday.

KUMARHATTI
FIVE HURT: Five persons were seriously injured when their car skidded off the road near Parwanoo, 23 km from here, on Thursday. According to police sources, driver Satnam Singh was under influence of liquor. A case under Sections 279 and 337, IPC, has been registered.

NAHAN
BAR ASSOCIATION: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Sirmour Bar Association: president — Mr Jaggi Ram Sharma; vice-president — Mr Hemant Singh Chaudhary; secretary — Mr Nagender Singh Thakur; joint secretaries — Mr Durga Ram Sharma and Mr Subhash Kumar Sharma; and treasurer — Mrs Vanita Singh.

SUNDERNAGAR
ORDERED: Mr O.P. Sharma, Sessions Judge, Sessions Division, Mandi, has ordered the confiscation of a taxi, which was intercepted by the police and was found carrying 10 scants of deodar and kail. A case under Sections 41, and 42 of the Indian Forest Act, had been registered.

VACANCIES: Residents of Pangna town of Karsog subdivision are annoyed with the attitude of the Education Department as nine posts of teacher in senior secondary school, Pangna, have been lying vacant for the past more than two years, due to which students have been facing problems.