R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

FATEHGARH SAHIB
CENSUS COMPLETED: The census work of house-listing operation had been successfully completed in the district, said Mr B.S. Sudan, Deputy Commissioner, here on Thursday. He said the work was started on May 3 and 14 officers, 172 supervisors and 1,029 numerators were appointed in 935 blocks for this purpose. If any group of persons or households were left out from the census, they should approach the in charge concerned or the SDM within two days so that their names could be included in the list, he added.

POOR RESPONSE: The call given by the various kisan unions to jam traffic and organise a protest march throughout the state failed to evoke much response in the district. Heavy deployment of police force thwarted the attempt of a handful of kisan unions activists, led by Mr Pishora Singh, state president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta), to jam the traffic. They were joined by activists of the SHSAD led by Mr Karnail Singh Panjoli, state president of the Youth Wing of the party.

HOSHIARPUR
DEPUTATION: A deputation of the PCMS Association, Punjab, led by Dr S.S. Sharma, vice-president, and Dr S.N. Tiwari, general secretary of the association, met the Chief Secretary, Mr R.S. Mann, and apprised him of the state of ad hocism prevailing in the Health Department. The deputation requested the Chief Secretary to immediately fill all vacant posts of Deputy Directors, Joint Directors and Additional Directors in the light of the Supreme Court judgement delivered in the case of Ajit Janjua v/s Punjab State.

SECTION 144: Mr Iqbal Singh Sidhu, District Magistrate, has re-imposed Section 144, Cr PC, throughout the district. He has banned the assembly of five or more than five persons, carrying of fire arms and sharp-edged weapons and shouting of slogans in public places. He has also instructed house-owners to provide complete information about their tenants at their respective police stations. These orders will remain in force up to July 21, 2000.

CBSE AFFILIATION: The CBSE has granted affiliation to GMA City Public School from this academic session, Mr Sunder Sham Arora, chairman of the school’s managing committee, said here on Wednesday. Previously none of the public schools here was affiliated with the CBSE.

LPG CONNECTIONS:To provide maximum LPG connections in the rural areas of the state the Central Government has initiated a special scheme. Mr Iqbal Singh Sidhu, Deputy Commissioner, said here on Thursday that the bottling plant of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation located at Daha village near Nasrala would provide LPG connections to the inhabitants of those villages which fall within a radius of 30 km of the plant. The registration for the LPG connections would be done up to June 5, 2000.

RESENTMENT: Resentment prevails among the inhabitants here against the Punjab Roadways authorities for discontinuing the Hoshiarpur-Kulu bus service causing to great inconvenience to commuters. Mr Moti Lal Sud, Municipal Councillor, said here on Thursday that the Punjab Roadways instead of introducing more buses on this route, had discontinued the existing one. He appealed to the Chief Minister, Punjab, to get this service restored.

FARMERS’ ARREARS: Mr Iqbal Singh Sidhu, Deputy Commissioner, said here on Thursday that the local Agriculture Department had received Rs 2.75 crore for disbursement as arrears to farmers at the Dasuya sugar mill. The disbursement of arrears would begin from May 29.

KHARAR
CASE REGISTERED: The police registered a case against one Vikram Singh of Machiwara under Sections 406, 498-A, IPC, on Friday on the charges of beating, harassing and demanding dowry from his wife Manjeet Kaur, a resident of Kharar. 

LUDHIANA
SEIZED: Six bottles of illicit liquor were seized by the police from Mohinder Paul Singh at Simlapuri during patrolling duty. A case under Sections 61, 1 and 14 of the Excise Act has been registered at the Division Number 6 police station. In a separate case, Mr Jaswinder Singh, SHO of Model Town police station has seized 500 gm of opium from Inderjit Singh, alias Sonu, and a case under the NDPS Act has been registered.

NAWANSHAHR
APPOINTED: Mr Kartar Singh Sekhon, a local Congress leader, has been appointed acting President of the district unit of the Congress in place of Mr Charanjit Singh Channi, MP, who is away in the USA for the treatment of his son.

CHALLANS: As many as 1,360 persons have been challaned for violating various traffic rules in the district under a drive launched to implement the directions of the high court regarding the implementation of traffic rules. A sum of Rs 4,62,600 had been realised as fine after disposing off 948 challans up to May 24, an official press note issued here on Thursday said.

NRI CENTRES: Dr Roshan Sunkaria, Deputy Commissioner-cum-Chairman of the district unit of the NRI Sabha, Punjab, while presiding over a meeting of the sabha here on Thursday said that as many as 100 NRI centres would be set up in six selected village in the state during this year out of which 19 NRI centres would be set up in this district with a view to mitigating the problems of the NRIs in sustaining the links of their children with their mother land.

PATHANKOT
COMPLAINT: Mr Raj Kumar, son of Munshi Ram, resident of Bhoa village, who claims to be a victim of police atrocities has filed a complaint against the SHO, Mr Swaran Singh, posted at the Division Numbar I police station, Mr Kulwantvir Singh, ASI, Rajinder Kumar, Joginder Kumar and Mohan Lal under Sections 323, 343, 506, 149 and 120B of the IPC in the court of Subdivisional Judicial Magistrate. According to the complainant he was working at the shop of Rajinder Kumar. Joginder Kumar and Mohan Lal for the past 15 years. When he left the job, the employers allegedly failed to pay his salary from January to April, 2000.

PATIALA
Books, uniforms distributed: The Bharat Vikas Parishad Patiala on Thursday distributed free books, copies and uniforms to 15 students of Government Girls Senior Secondary School, New Power House Colony. The uniforms were distributed by the president of the parishad, Mr Harinder Gupta, and project in charge Mr Arun Sharma. 

SANGRUR
ARRESTED: The local Vigilance Bureau has arrested Rajinder Singh Khurmi, XEN, Public Health, in a case of drawing wages of more than 10 fictitious daily-wagers. Sources in the bureau said Khurmi was produced in a local court on Thursday which sent him to judicial custody for 14 days.

CHANDIGARH

PANCHKULA
WATER PROBLEM: The residents of Sector 11 here are experiencing acute shortage of water for the past 4-5 days. The water pressure is so low that water does not reach even the first floor of the houses. 

HARYANA

AMBALA
OFFICE-BEARERS: The general body meeting of Shri Guru Singh Sabha, Ambala cantonment was held here. The new office-bearers for a term of two years are President — Mr Gurcharan Singh: Senior Vice-President — Mr Harjit Singh Kohli: Vice-President — Mr Harmohinder Singh; General Secretary — Mr D.S. Sarhadi; Secretary — Mr Amarjit Singh Bedi; Assistant Secretary — Mr Harbhajan Singh Lamba; Store Keeper — Mr Bachchitar Singh; Auditor — Mr Jaspal Singh; and Cashier — Mr Kishan Singh Lamba. 

DEMANDED: The Haryana Exporters Association has demanded that the Ambala scientific instruments industry should be exempted from local area development tax or alternatively the exporters whose exports are over 25 per cent should also be exempted and also those manufacturers should be exempted who supply the goods to the exporters of their produce above 25 per cent. Under the law, direct exporters are permitted not to pay local area development tax, but in Ambala instrument industry most of the manufacturers are indirect exporters. Their prices will automatically increase, hence they fear that they will be losing business and cannot face the tough competition, a release said. 

JHAJJAR
THEFT: Thieves struck at a tyre shop near Silani Gate in the city on Wednesday and stole tyres worth Rs 90,000. This is the second big case of theft in the city within the past two weeks. Thieves stole TV sets worth more than Rs 1 lakh from Bhava Electronics last week. The Superintendent of Police said the police had reviewed the security measures and increased surveillance during the night.

KALKA
FUNCTION: As part of Sukriti 2000, vocalist Sushmita Chakravarty enthralled the audience at DAV Senior Public School, BCW, Surajpur, district Panchkula, on Thursday. She also gave a performance in TVS Sa Re Ga Ma in 1997, a popular Zee TV programme. 

YAMUNANAGAR
PATHRALA DAM: A high-level delegation of the World Bank and the Central Water Commission comprising Mr G. Spancer, Mr P. Jordar and a Director from the CWC inspected the ongoing work at Pathrala dam. They expressed satisfaction over the progress and quality of the work. Mr Kunj Vashisht, Superintending Engineer, Irrigation Department, said here on Wednesday that the work on the dam would be completed ahead of schedule.