R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
PERSONALITY CAMP: A four-day personality development-cum-sanskar pradaan yojna camp organised by the Bharat Vikas Parishad concluded here on Monday. The camp was organised for the students of eight schools at the local Madhav Vidya Niketan under the supervision of the Principal, Mr J.S. Nagpal and the project chairman, Mr Subhash Mahajan. Value-oriented and personality development lectures, games, yoga exercises, etc, were organised during the camp.

BATHINDA
CONGRESS RALLY: The City Congress Committee, Bathinda, will organise a rally on July 17 against the increase in power tariff by the government and the hike in the prices of essential commodities. In a press note issued here on Tuesday, Mr Anil Kumar Bhola, president of the committee, blamed the SAD-BJP ruling combine in Punjab for the price hike and said the committee would create awareness among people against the policies of the government.

HOSHIARPUR
DHARNA: Members of the local unit of the Punjab Democratic Women Sabha staged a dharna in the tehsil complex here on Monday in protest against the discontinuing of old age pension to some persons by the state government. Addressing the dharna, Ms Rajinder Chohka, a member of the sabha, said 48,623 persons had applied for pensions in the district of which the applications of 26,139 had been rejected.

PRESS CLUB: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Trigrath Press Club, Kangra: chief patron — Padmanab Trivedi; chief adviser — Ashok Raina; president — Surender Kalra; vice-presidents — Sunita Brawal and O.P. Makar; general secretary — Rakesh Kathuria; joint secretary — Ritesh Grover; treasurer — Ravinder Agrawal; and organising secretary — Ajay Sehgal.

ROTARY CLUB: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Rotary Club: president — Mr B.S. Thakur; and secretary — Dr V.K. Mahajan.

INJURED: Two persons were injured in an LPG cylinder blast in Sukhanand village in the district according to a report reaching here on Monday. In another incident, two occupants of a car were injured when it skidded and dashed against a tree, about 33 km from here, on the Moga-Ludhiana road on Sunday.

RALLY HELD: Activists of various Left organisations on Monday held a rally at Anni in Kulu district under the banner of the state Kisan Sabha to press their demand for opening of a degree college. An All-Panchayat Sangharsh Samiti was also formed after the rally to intensify the stir.

POPPY SEIZED: The Harike police seized 25 bags of poppy husk from Munsha Singh and Jasbir Singh during a raid at Thathian Khurd village, police sources said on Monday. A case has been registered.

KHARAR
BSP RALLY: The BSP has decided to stage a dharna in front of the local SDM’s office on Friday in protest against the anti-people policies of the Punjab Government, according to a press note issued here on Tuesday by Mr Maan Singh Manheda, a senior BSP leader.

LUDHIANA
WATER OR COKE?: Mr Mandhir Singh, a resident of I-block, Sarabha Nagar, today walked into the Ludhiana Tribune office with a bottle of blackish water which he said had flowed from the fresh water tap in his house on Monday evening. Mr Singh, who runs a wholesale medicine shop in Pindi street, said the dirty water flowed for quite some time before they got clear water again. Though it was a matter of concern for him and his wife, their little daughter had some fun. When he filled up the bottle with the blackish water, she said that it was coca cola.

NEW BUILDING: Giani Bhagat Singh Ji, Chairman, Guru Nanak Public School, inaugurated the new building for LKG and UKG students (Nursery Section) of Guru Nanak Public School at Model Town Extension on July 10. He was welcomed by S. Jagat Singh Ji, Managing Director, GS Auto International Ltd., Principal, Mrs Kulwant Virdi, and other members of the staff. The primary section of GNPS Model Town Extension, is fitted with modern audio-visual aids to make learning easy and interesting and has a fully covered play-way hall for the students. Earlier the silver jubilee year of the school commenced with the ‘Arambh’ of Sri Akhand Path of Sri Guru Granth Sahib on July 8 and bhog ceremony was performed on July 10.

OFFICE-BEARERS: Mr Bhushan Verma and Mr Mohan Lal Pathak have been elected President and General Secretary respectively of the Bhartiya Janata Party, North Mandal. Other office bearers of the party unit are — Vice Presidents — Mr Sat Pal Arora, Mr Jagan Nath Chopra, Mr Raj Kumar Jain; Organising Secretary — Mr Chander Mohan Sharma, Secretaries — Mr Pawan Grover, Mr Raju Bindra, Treasuer — Mr Yash Pal Thakur; executive committee members — Mr Sant Kumar, Mr Narinder Goyal, Mr R.D. Sharma, Mr Om Parkash Garg, Mr Ved Priya, Mr Chander Mohan Seth, Mr Kewal Krishan Aggarwal, Mr Vimal Kumar Jain, Mr Rakesh Vohra, Mr Suresh Shammi, Mr Jwala Prasad, Mr Satish Goyal, Mr Raman Soni; special invitees — Mr Babu Ram, Mr Raj Kalra, Mr Nippi Sharma, Mr Suresh Mehra, Mr Hans Raj Uppal, Mr Ashok Kumar, Mr Kumud Sharma, Mr Harvinder Kumar Monga. 

OFFICER JOINS: Mr Raghubir Singh has joined as Estate Officer of Punjab Agricultural University. He has taken up this position after retirement from the Army as Lt Col. Born in Doraha, he is a product of CME, Pune, from where he has obtained degree in Civil Engineering.

MALERKOTLA
GRANTS TO SCHOOLS :Mr Nusrat Ali Khan, Cabinet Minister, distributed cheques for Rs 1 lakh each to primary schools of Dahleej Kalan, Kup, Khurd, Jitwal Kalan and Shingari villages as grant for developmental works at a function organised on Monday. Mumtaz Ahmed Shah, chairman, Improvement Trust, and Mr Avtar Singh Medhavi, chairman, market committee, were also present on the occasion.

MOGA
RAIDS : A team of the Agriculture Department has conducted raids on dealers of insecticides and fertilisers according to reports received here on Monday. The team headed by the District Agriculture Officer, Mr Kartar Singh Brar, took samples which were sent for testing. The raids were conducted following complaints that some dealers were selling spurious items.

ENCROACHMENTS REMOVED: Encroachments in various villages, including Sighanwala, Baghapurana, Rajeana, Smalsar and Panjgrain, situated along a 40-km road linking Moga and Kotkapura have been removed to pave the way for smooth traffic, according to a government spokesman here on Tuesday. The road is being widened by 10 feet.

MILKMEN HOLD MEETING: Milkmen supplying milk to Punjab, Himachal, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh held a meeting here on Tuesday which was chaired by the Managing Director of Rustam Foods, Moga,Mr Tajinder Singh. The meeting discussed the issue of the non-payment of their outstanding bills amounting to several crores by some milk processing plants. Mr Tajinder Singh said several cheques issued by certain milk processing plants at Rajpura in Patiala district and Kotkapura in Faridkot district had bounced.

NAWANSHAHR
CHILD HEALTH PROJECT: The Deputy Commissioner, Dr Roshan Sunkaria, on Tuesday launched the Reproductive Child Health Care Project in the district at a function organised at Jullah Maara village, about 20 km from here. Under the project, the district health authorities in collaboration with the District Literacy Society would create awareness among masses regarding health care.

SCHOOL BUILDING: The Education Minister, Mr Tota Singh, inaugurated the building of the newly upgraded Government Senior Secondary School, Sandhwa, about 25 km from here, on Monday. He said the cooperation of the people was a must to bring qualitative improvement in the education system. He lauded the contribution of NRIs in providing infrastructural facilities for educational institutions. The building was constructed at a cost of Rs 47 lakh of which Rs 37 lakh was provided by NRIs.

HARYANA

AMBALA
PROTEST: The local unit of the Congress on Tuesday staged a demonstration against the state government on a variety of issues in the Ambala Sadar area. Congress activists, among other things, protested against newly imposed taxes and erratic power supply. The activists took out a rally from Congress Bhavan through the main bazaar culminating at the Municipal Council office. The demonstrators raised slogans against the state government and they demanded that their grievances should be redressed at the earliest. Local leaders, including Mr Randhir Chaudhary, Mr Brij Anand, Mr Ashok Jain and Mr Hira Lal Yadav were present on the occasion. A memorandum was submitted to the Deputy Commissioner of Ambala. 

RAPE CASE: The police has registered a rape case against Sanju. According to a police report, the girl was raped on Monday in a hotel at Ambala City. According to the SHO, Ambala City police station, Mr Som Raj, a police party has been sent to arrest the accused

FARIDABAD
GOODS LOOTED: Five bandits looted goods worth several thousand rupees from a truck on the national highway near Prithaala village, about 15 km from here, on Sunday. The police refused to register an FIR, the owner of goods alleged. In another incident, bandits struck a compartment of an inter-city train near Hodal, about 65 km from here, on Sunday and deprived passengers of their jewellery and other valuable articles.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
SOCIAL SERVICE CAMP :The Additional District Magistrate, Mr S L Sharma, on Monday inaugurated a 10-day social camp of girls of Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Bilaspur. The camp is being attended by 50 girls. Mr Sharma exhorted the students to prepare themselves for fighting social evils and helping the poor.

SUNDERNAGAR
BLOOD DONATION CAMP: As many as 100 persons donated blood at a blood donation camp organised by the Sant Nirankari Mission, Delhi, at Nirankari Satsang Bhavan, Tarna Road, Mandi. The camp was organised as per the wishes of the present spiritual head of the mission, Baba Hardev Singh Maharaj. In spite of heavy rain, Nirankari devotees from Kulu and Mandi donated blood under the supervision of the Health Department.