R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

DERA BASSI
TRANSFER ORDER OF 'DEAD' EMPLOYEE: The Punjab State Electricity Board reportedly has issued the transfer orders of a former employee who is said to have died nearly one and a half years ago. According to sources, the orders transferring employees from one circle to another, issued on May 17, include the name of Surinder Kumar, son of Mr Purshotam Dass, who died one and a half years ago. Surinder was transferred to the Lalru circle from the Zirakpur circle, sources reveal.

NOMINATED: Capt Amarinder Singh, President of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, has nominated Mr Sukhbir Singh Saini as General Secretary of the District Congress committee, Patiala.

GARHSHANKAR
OPEN DARBAR: While addressing the gathering at an open darbar held at Binewal here, Mr I.S. Sidhu , Deputy Commissioner, Hoshiarpur, said three schemes would be launched for making drinking water available in the Beet area of the subdivision. Rs 27 lakh would be spent on each scheme. Malkowal, Achalpur and Nainwan villages would be the main beneficiaries of these schemes. The Deputy Commissioner said the Civil Hospital at Binewal would be upgraded to a 25-bedded hospital.

WATER SCARCITY: Kunail’s religious `dera’ , 8 km from here , where Baba Sunder Muni is running an old-age home and a school, is without water for the past two months. According to Baba Muni the tubewell’s transformer was burnt two months ago and there is no arrangement of a generator. Because of this old persons, students and hundreds of others are facing the problem of scarcity of water.

JALANDHAR
DEAD: Two women died of burns and the body of an unidentified youth was found near Macharwal railway station on the Jalandhar-Pathankot track , the police said. Balbir Kaur (26) of Bhagat Singh Colony, who suffered burns while cooking food at her home on Saturday, succumbed to her injuries at the Sacred Heart Charitable Hospital, while Urmila ( 35) died of similar burns at the Civil Hospital on the same day , the police added. The unidentified body of a youth, in his late twenties , was found near Macharwal railway station on Sunday , the police said.

LUDHIANA
EPILEPSY: An epilepsy and headache treatment clinic was inaugurated at the local Christian Medical College and Hospital here. Dr J.S.Chopra, former Head of the Neurology Department at the PGI, Chandigarh, was the chief guest. In his inaugural address, he dwelt on the misconceptions regarding epilepsy. He said if it was treated in the initial stage, the patient could be helped to a great extent.

TRIBUTES: Rich tributes were paid to Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister, on his death anniversary on Sunday by the Punjab unit of the Indian National Congress Trade Union. The unit opposed the government move on privatisation and demanded abolition of contract system and child labour. Mr Mohinder Singh Kalyan, former MP, assailed the state government for rampant corruption in the administration.

MOGA
ELECTROCUTED: A youth on Sunday evening was electrocuted when he was busy repairing electronic goods in the Nanak Nagri area in the town, according to reports. In another incident, two youths in a Maruti car suffered fractures on their arms when their car collided head-on with another vehicle, about 2 km from here, on the Moga-Ludhiana road on Sunday. The car was badly damaged in the mishap.

CRUSHED TO DEATH: Two persons were crushed to death in different accidents on Sunday evening. It is learnt a labourer who was collecting scattered grains from a road in the Baghapurana grain market here was run over by a speeding truck and killed on the spot. Another youth of the town was also crushed to death by a Punjab Roadways bus while crossing the road, 1 km from here, on the Moga-Ludhiana road. The police has registered cases in both incidents and the bodies of the deceased have been sent for a post-mortem examination.

NAWANSHAHR
GANG BUSTED: Mr Ishwar Singh, SSP, in a press note issued here on Saturday said the police had busted a hawala gang by arresting three persons, Jasvir Singh, son of Balwant Singh, Salinder Kumar, son of Ram Lal, and Nirmaljit , son of Gurpal Singh, all residents of Apra village while they were going in a Tata Sumo to make hawala payments. The SSP said Mr Paramjit Singh, SHO, Mukandpur police station, acting on a tip-off stopped the Sumo at a naka near Mukandpur on Friday evening and arrested the three persons and seized Rs 6,50,000, a diary and slips having details of payments made by them. A case has been registered against them.

ARRESTED: The police has arrested Davinder Singh, son of Tarlochan Singh, a resident of Balachaur, Jagtar Singh, son of Ajit Singh, a resident of Garhshankar, and Sunita Rani, daughter of Raj Kumar, a resident of Basti Jodhewal, Ludhiana, who were suspected to be involved in adultery and were searching for a hideout. The suspects were taken into custody near Hotel Shine Start here. A case has been registered under Sections 41(2) and 109, IPC, according to a press note issued by the police here on Sunday.

PATIALA
HONOURED: The Swaran Memorial International School, Gobind Bagh, honoured Pran Sabharwal and Sunita Sabharwal, a noted theatre couple, for their services in the cause of theatre, education and national integration at its first-ever programme of music, dance and fancy dress. Mr G.S. Rekhi, patron of the school, and Mr Irvinder Singh Ahluwalia, Director, SMIS, presented the award of honour, mementoes and bouquets to the couple.

PHAGWARA
DHARNA: Residents of the nearby Bhanoki village on Saturday staged a dharna outside the local Sadar police station in protest against the alleged misbehaviour of the SHO with a youth Paramjit Walia. The SHO has denied the allegation. The DSP, Mr Satinder Singh, said he was inquiring into the matter. The protesters alleged that earrings worn by the youth were forcibly removed by the SHO.

ELECTED: Prof Jasbir Singh Dhaliwal of SBDSM Khalsa College , Domeli, has been unanimously elected president of the Kapurthala district unit of the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union (PCCTU).

DEAD: Veteran social activist and a cloth business magnate Jahangir Singh Bedi died here on Saturday. He was 85. Mr Bedi had been imprisoned during the Punjabi Suba movement.

SANGRUR
ELECTED: Thakur Jagdish Rai, a local resident, and Mr Prem Guglani from Sunam were unanimously elected president and general secretary, respectively, of the district unit of the BJP for a term of three years, here on Friday. Master Mohan Lal, Minister for Higher Education, Punjab, was present as the election observer of the party.

TARN TARAN
SUSPENDED: Mr Amrik Singh, Senior Executive Engineer of the local suburban division, in a written press statement issued here on Saturday said that Sukhwant Singh, a lineman of the PSEB, was caught red-handed while stealing power at his native Bhaini Mattuan village. He was put under suspension with immediate effect by a team of PSEB officials.

ZIRAKPUR
MAHILA MANDAL FORMED: women of ward no 1 of the Zirakpur Nagar Panchayat has formed a mahila mandal for the welfare of the area. The office-bearers of the mandal are: President — Ms Manjeet Kaur; Secretary — Ms Sneh Kochhar; and Cashier — Ms Krishna Saini.

CHANDIGARH

AWARD: For its contribution in the field of indigenisation of aero spares, 3 Base Repair Depot here has received the award for Overall Excellence in Indigenisation Effort for 1999-2000. Air Officer Commanding, 3 BRD, Air Cdre Arvinda Agrawal, said that this award had been constituted by the IAF's Maintenance Command this year and 3 BRD was the first establishment to receive it. The award, carrying a certificate and a running trophy, was received by Air Commodore Agrawal at the station commanders' conference held at Maintenance Command Headquarters recently.

PANCHKULA
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following were elected office-bearers of Arya Samaj, Sector 9: President — Mr Ram Piare Kashyap; Senior Vice-President — Mrs Jagdamba Gupta; Vice-Presidents — Mr Avinash Chander, Mr Yash Pal Arya, Mr Tek Chand Khandiya, Mr Manohar Lal Manchanda and Mrs Ved Verma; Secretary — Mr Dharam Bir Batra; Cashier — Mr Mahender Nath Chauhan; Librarians — Mrs Krishna Chaudhri and Mrs Savetri Khanduja; and Auditor — Mr Braham Dutt Bali.

HARYANA

AMBALA
SCHOLARSHIP: A former student of BD school, Mr Vijay Kumar Bhoora, has announced a scholarship for the topper of the class X examination from his school. Mr Bhoora has announced a scholarship of Rs 100 per month for the student who tops the class X examination from BD School, Ambala cantonment, Prof Sajjan Singh, who delivers lectures on the strengthening of students' psychological faculty, said. The scholarship is called "Hotel Sunveer'' scholarship.

CHARITABLE TRUST: The Meeri Peeri charitable trust is planning to launch a website on education which will meet the various knowledge needs of students from class V onwards. A member of the trust, Mr J.S. Sodhi, while talking to newspersons said that the interactive website "will be helpful to students of classes V to XII, degree classes, specialised training on computer courses at an economically affordable price tag". He claimed that the website on the internet will be India's biggest portal on education (academic and technical) covering the syllabus set by the CBSE, the ICSE, various state education boards and universities. Mr Sodhi said that the trust had already launched a website www.modelandfashionworld.com.

ROHTAK
LOK ADALAT: The 42nd Lok Adalat organised here on Sunday under the chairmanship of Mr R.S. Madan, District and Sessions Judge, settled 844 cases falling under various categories. Mr Madan , who is also the Chairman of the District Legal Service Authority, said 150 cases pertaining to MACT claims were put up before the adalat out of which 93 cases were settled and Rs 73,54,000 was awarded as compensation to the victims of accidents. Three cases of divorce were settled on mutual consent. Besides 261 civil, 17 criminal, 166 traffic and 304 other cases were also settled in the subordinate courts and an amount of Rs 1,48,000 was realised as fine.

SHAHABAD
CAMP: Nearly 600 driving licenses were issued and over a 100 renewed by the SDM, Mr N.S. Bangar, at a Prashasan Aap Ke Dwar (Administration at your doorstep) camp organised by the local unit of the Bharat Vikas Parishad at the Markandeshwar temple complex here on Saturday. About 60 domicile and caste certificates were also issued at the camp, according to the Project Director, Prof Sunil Gupta, and the parishad president, Dr Paramjit Pahwa.

SIRSA
MEETING: The Director-General of Police, Haryana , held a meeting with the district police officers to discuss the law and order situation in the district. Police sources said on Sunday the DGP addressed police officers at the local Community Centre, Police Lines. He also assessed security arrangements made for the Rori byelection to be held on May 26.

ARRESTED: The district police has arrested two persons for supplying opium to prisoners in the local jail. According to the information received on Sunday, Gurtej Singh and Mahinder Singh of Bhavdeen village had come to see Baggar Singh , a prisoner, and were giving him 20 gm of opium hidden in holes in soap cakes when the jail warden saw them. The duo was arrested and a case was registered against the three, including the prisoner.

STUDENT MISSING: A female BA II student of a local college in the district is reported to be missing since May 12. According to the information received on Sunday, Kamlesh of Muhammadpur Sotar village in Fatehabad district had come to the college to appear in an exam on May 12 and had gone missing since then. The police has registered a case under Sections 363 and 366, IPC, on the complaint of her brother who said that his neighbour Sandeep was missing too.

SONEPAT
KILLED: A minor quarrel between two youths while going in a car led to the killing of one of them near Gohana town, about 40 km from here, on Sunday. According to a report reaching here, the victim has been identified as Joginder, alias Jagga, of Delhi. The alleged assailant, Jassu, is absconding. The car was on its way to Gohana from Bahadurgarh. The cause of the quarrel was not immediately known.

KIDNAP BID: The Gohana police on Sunday registered a case under Sections 364 and 511, IPC, in connection with an alleged attempt to kidnap Mr Ram Avtar Bansal, a senior BJP leader of Gohana , by a deputy jailer and his accomplices. According to a report lodged with the police, Mr Bansal alleged that the culprits came in a Tata Sumo and a car and sought information about his brother-in-law Sushil Jain from him. In the meantime, they dragged him and tried to push him into the waiting vehicles, but some shopkeepers came to his rescue and the culprits fled. The police is investigating into the case.

WATER SCARCITY: Thousands of residents of Mohalla Kalan and its adjoining areas had to go without water on Sunday evening. The residents said they had not been receiving the evening supply for the past few days and all their complaints in this regard to the authorities concerned had gone unattended.

SELF IMMOLATION BID: Ms Santra Devi, a housewife, attempted self-immolation at her house at Kabirpur village near here on Sunday. According to a report reaching here, she was immediately rushed to the local Civil Hospital from where she was referred to the Medical College Hospital at Rohtak in a critical condition.

JANATA DARBAR: The weekly ‘janata darbar’ held at the district headquarters by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Sudhir Rajpal, has yielded positive results. According to official sources, the Deputy Commissioner has so far disposed of more than 350 complaints received by him. Most of the complaints related to power and water crises besides smuggling of liquor and encroachments on the public, municipal, HUDA and panchayat lands.

LOK ADALAT: Fifty cases relating to accidents, compensation, revenue and the Hindu Marriage Act were decided at a Lok Adalat held here on Saturday. The District and Sessions Judge-cum-Chairman of the District Legal Service Authority, Mr S.K. Sardana, and Dr Puran Mal Gaur, a member of the Lok Adalat, were present. A compensation of Rs 50 lakh was given to the aggrieved parties. Mr Sardana said a special Lok Adalat would be held at the judicial courts complex on May 27.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

SHIMLA
APPLE SALE: Mr Shyam Lal Kalta, president of the newly-floated Himalayan Political Command, has cautioned the Himachal Government against selling the processing grade apple procured under the market intervention scheme in the market as it will adversely affect the prices of superior grade fruit. He also threatened that activists of the command would forcibly stop loaded trucks at Parwanoo, if the government insisted on sending the fruit to the market. Mr Kalta was addressing a press conference here on Friday. He said two years ago, growers lost over Rs 300 crore due to the sale of damaged fruit in the market.