R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
CAMPAIGN: Glaxo Welcome, in collaboration with a local clinic, organised a day-long campaign for the prevention of asthma in the city. Dr Kamal Mahajan, in a press note issued here on Wednesday, said two crore people were suffering from asthma.

FARIDKOT
RALLY: The CPI will organise a district-level rally on July 18 here in protest against the poor economic policies, sale of various public sector units and heavy hike in fertilisers prices by the Central Government. Mr Bhan Singh Bhaura, MP, Dr Joginder Dayal, Secretary of the Punjab unit of the CPI, and Mr Hardev Arshi , MLA, will address the rally.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Lions Club (Kotkapura): president — Mr Satish Bansal; vice - president — Mr Divinder Ahuja, secretaries — Mr Rajesh Walia and Mr Satpal Kumra.

GURDASPUR
ARRESTED: The Dinanagar police has arrested Kirpal Singh of Kangra district in Himachal Pradesh and has recovered 1250 gm of contraband charas from his possession. Mr Varinder Kumar, SSP, on Thursday said during his preliminary interrogation, the accused confessed his involvement in carrying charas from Himachal Pradesh to Punjab for the past five years.

ECONOMIC CRISIS: Mr Darshan Singh Khatar, State Secretary CPI(ML) , while talking to newspersons here on Wednesday said that the small scale units in the country were in for crises due to implementation of GATT and WTO agreements. Assurances by the State and Central governments that import duty to the extent to protect their interests will be levied on the imports were misleading. According to the agreement, import duty at the maximum can be levied at present to the time of 35 per cent which would have to be reduced to 20 per cent within next two years.

HOSHIARPUR
NEGLIGENCE IN DUTY: ASI Joginder Singh , chowki in charge of the GRP, Hoshiarpur Railway Station, has been sent to police lines for negligence in his duty. This was stated by Mr Laxmi Kant Yadav, SP, GRP , Jalandhar, here on Wednesday. He said the ASI had allegedly failed to properly handle the murder case of Sandeep Ohri. His body was found at the outer signal of the railway station on June 8. After the postmortem examination the body was cremated on June 9 without proper identification. A case was registered and file closed after declaring it as a case of suicide.

KHARAR
3 BOOKED: The local police has booked three persons under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. They were caught by the Mela Officer yesterday from Khanpur village which falls in the Kharar municipal limits. Mr Jastinder Singh, Mela Officer of Ropar, told the police that a Pashu Mandi was shifted from this place to Daon Majra village on June 28. He said when he had visited the place on Tuesday, he had found a truck (HR-29-D-0595) loaded with 15 animals. The driver could not produce medical certificates of the cattle. Hence, a case was registered against the driver of the truck, Manoj Kumar, and two other persons, Shah Niwaj and Shahid. 

COURSE INTRODUCED: The community Polytechnic Wing of the Government Polytechnic Institute at Khuni Majra near here introduced a cutting and tailoring course in Maujpur village on Wednesday. According to a press note issued here by Mr B.R. Gupta, Principal and Project Officer of the wing, this course has been introduced a scheme of the Union Government for providing free training to unemployed girls of the village. Ms Balwinder Kaur, Sarpanch of the village, Mr Kaka Singh, panch and many other prominent persons were present on this occasion. 

DEMANDED: Residents of Ram Bag Colony behind Panipat Wollen Mills in War Number 5 of the Kharar Municipal Committee are facing a lot of problems due to a lack of drinking water, sewerage and pucca road. About 15 residents, in a letter to the local Municipal Committee have said that there is no pucca road to this colony. When it rains, the kuccha road gets cracked and it becomes difficult to cross it. Residents said the construction of a road had begun some time ago, but, had not been finished. 

MALERKOTLA
APPOINTED: Dr Balveer Kaur, gynaecologist, has taken charge at the local civil hospital. The hospital had no woman doctor on roll since past six years.

DENTAL CARE: Under the dental health care programme of the Punjab Health Department Dr Mohammad Shabbir, CMO, and his team examined 4,000 children of different age groups. Filling, extraction and scaling of teeth were also done.

RESENTMENT: Resentment prevails among senior citizens, who have been deprived of the benefits of old age pension scheme launched by the Punjab Government. They alleged that in spite of being eligible for the scheme their names had not been included in the list.

PATIALA
DEMONSTRATION: In response to a call given by the All-India Punjab and Sind Bank Officers’ Union, a demonstration was held in front of the zonal office of the bank here on Wednesday. Speaking on the occasion, Mr G.S. Khera, President of the union, demanded a CBI inquiry in the corruption charges against the bank management. The union also demanded time-bound promotions, fair and rational transfer policy and waiving of loans in case of the death of an employee. Mr R.P. Singh Organising Secretary of the body, said those responsible for more than Rs 1 crore of bad loans should be fined. Later, a memorandum was submitted to Mr Tarlok Singh, Zonal Manager of the bank. 

DEMOLITION : Initiating a drive against illegal encroachments, the Improvement Trust demolished some structures on construction sites encroached upon by Canara Bank and Cal-Computer Centre at Chotti Baradari here on Wednesday. All illegal constructions near Gurdwara Dukhniwaran Sahib, Sai Market and Sewa Singh Tikriwal Nagar are to be demolished in the next 15 days. 

RESEARCH SCHOLARS: In order to bring research scholars of all India University on a common platform, an All-India Universities Research Scholars Association was formed in a meeting held in Punjabi University here on Wednesday. Passing a resolution for exempting PhD-degree holders the NET, UGC and the SLET tests conducted by state government for lecturership-eligibility. The association Secretary, Dr Narendra Sharma, said the association would meet the Prime Minister, HRD Minister and the Director UGC to press its demands. The association members alleged that the UGC, as per the Rastogi Committee Report, had earlier granted powers to the universities and state government to exempt the PhD-degree holders from the NET, but, this year, the powers had been withdrawn.

HAILED: Mr Dalip Singh Pandhi, a former minister of Punjab, has supported the nomination of Mr Surjit Singh Barnala as a member of the Nanawati Commission. In a press release issued here on Wednesday, he said that the Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, had taken a good decision. 

ELECTED: The following have been nominated the office-bearers of the local division of Shri Sukhmani Sahib Seva Society: Chief Sevadaar — Mr Satinderpal Singh Sodhi; Chief Adviser — Mr Sohan Singh Mata; General Secretary — Mr Mehtab Singh; Secretary — Mr Balwant Singh; Senior Vice-President — Mr Gurcharan Singh Pradesi; Vice-President — Mr Kuldip Singh. 

BEOPAR MANDAL: The local chapter of the Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal has urged the Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal to abolish the contract system of collecting the octroi. In a press note the mandal said the CM had promised to abolish it during the Nawanshahr byelections. 

PHILLAUR
ROBBED: A shopkeeper, Prem Parkash, was robbed of few thousands of rupees by some miscreants near Sarhali village on the Noormahal-Phagwara road in Phillaur subdivision on Wednesday. The Noormahal police has registered cases.

MINOR RAPED: A five-year old girl was allegedly raped by a neighbourer Gurwinder Singh at Channi village near Nakodar on Monday, according to a delayed report received here today. A case has been registered under Section 376 of the IPC after medical examination of the girl. The accused was still absconding, the police said.

HARYANA

AMBALA
DEMANDED: “There is a need to tighten security so that burglaries do not take place and people feel safe,” said Mr R.K. Khosla, whose house was burgled recently. Mr Khosla, a resident of Model Town in Ambala city, said the burglary had proved that there was a need for intensified patrolling, both in day and night. The house was burgled when the Khosla family had gone to Delhi. When the family returned from the trip, they found that thieves had taken away a colour TV, two gas cylinders, suit pieces, expensive saris, Rs 6,000, 40 gm of gold and imported perfumes and cosmetics. He said the provision of streetlights would go a long way in preventing such crimes. 

FATEHABAD
OLD-AGE PENSION: According to a survey, 42,837 persons are getting Rs 84.11 lakh as old-age pension in the district. As against this only 29,271 persons were getting pension in August, 1999 and a sum of Rs 28.85 lakh was disbursed among them. According to the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Anil Malik, after the decision of the state government to double the old-age pension, 22,471 men and 20,366 women have been getting the pension in the district.

HISAR
CASE REGISTERED: The Barwala police on Thursday registered a dowry harassment case against six members of a family residing at Gianpura ( Barwala ) . Ms Shakuntla Devi of Babua village alleged that her in-laws harassed her for bringing insufficient dowry. A case has been registered against her husband Jagbir Singh, his two brothers Dheera and Raghubir , mother-in-law Bhani, sister-in-law Guddi and Birmati, wife of husband’s elder brother. No arrest has been made so far.

KURUKSHETRA
BEST BANK: NABARD has declared the Kurukshetra Central Cooperative Bank as the best bank in the state for 1997-98. This was stated by Mrs Jyoti Arora, Deputy Commissioner of Kurukshetra, here, on Thursday

SONEPAT
MURDER: Mahavir Singh (37), a farmer, was allegedly murdered by three persons at Pipli Khera village, 16 km from here, on Wednesday. According to a report reaching here, the victim was a supporter of Mr Jatinder Malik, a Congress MLA.

BODY RECOVERED: The Kharkhauda police recovered the body of Ramesh, a resident of Farmana village, 15 km from here, on Wednesday. According to a report , Ramesh was missing from his house and the police believes it to be a case of murder.

DEMONSTRATION: Employees of the PWD (B&R) and the Public Health Department took out a procession here on Wednesday and staged a demonstration in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office in support of their demands.

PANIPAT
SUGARCANE CRUSHED: In 1999-2000, 19,53,000 quintal of sugarcane was crushed by the Panipat Cooperative Sugar Mill and 1,66,000 bags of sugar produced. In 1998-99, 16,98,000 quintal of sugarcane was crushed and 1,38,000 bags sugar produced . This was stated by the Deputy Commissioner and Chairman of Panipat Cooperative Sugar Mill, Mr M.R. Anand.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

CHAMBA
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Chamba District Contractors Union: president — Mr Narender Thakur, Vice-President — Mr Dharmender Singh and Mr Dev Dutt Sharma; General Secretary — Jagdish Handa; Press Secretary — Mr Brij Bhushan Chona, Organising Secretary — Mr Naresh Kumar and Treasurer — Mr Ramesh Mahajan.

NURPUR
MURDERED: Deepak Bhardwaj (26) of Bassa-Chhatar village was allegedly murdered and his body was later recovered from a nearby forest. The body bore injuries mark on face and feet. He was employed as daily wage worker in the telecom exchange of Rehan. The body has been sent for the postmortem examination. A case has been registered.

SUNDERNAGAR
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the All-India Scheduled Castes, ST , Backward Classes and the Minority Communities Employees Federation ( Sundernagar ): president — Mr Dip Singh; vice-presidents — Mr Chaman Lal and Mr Hari Singh; general secretary — Mr Narender Kumar; finance secretary — Mr Paras Ram; office-secretary — Mr Bhag Singh; and organising secretary — Mr Tej Pal.