R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

BARNALA
FLAGGED OFF: Mr Deepak Raj Garg, District Transport Officer, and Mr Rahul Bhandari, SDM, flagged off nine trucks and seven Tata Sumos of local Shiv Seva Sangh to participate in the sixth vishal bhandara for the pilgrims of Amarnath Yatra on Thursday.

SEIZED: The police has seized about 200 kg of poppy husk worth Rs 60,000, according to Ajaib Singh Kaleka, SSP. The police arrested Mela Singh and Bikar Singh of Kahneke village and Karamjit Singh of Dhaula village, who were carrying poppy husk in bags, near Dhaula.

INSTALLED: Mr Jiwan Singla was installed as the new President of Rotary Club, Barnala, at a function held at local Rotary Club complex. Addressing the audience he said the club would make concentrated efforts to meet the new and challenging terms of ‘Population control in India’ programme adopted by Rotary International.

BATALA
LOK ADALAT: The Lok Adalat held at Dyalgarh village on Friday listened to the grievance of the public and took spot decisions on most of them. The grievances pertained mostly to government departments. The Deputy Commissioner, Gurdaspur, presided over the Lok Adalat.

GURDASPUR
PENSION: No inhabitant of Bakhtpur village has been found eligible for old pension for the last three years. According to Gurmeet Singh, sarpanch of the village five elderly people, who were eligible to receive pension under the old-age scheme died without getting it. The sarpanch said the village suffered from gross neglect as no development grant had been received since 1980.

ROADS: Mr Sucha Singh Langah, PWD Minister has directed the department to identify roads and bridges to be built within 10km of the border. Addressing a meeting here on Friday he said the cabinet had decided to construct border roads and bridges on priority. The MLA’s concerned, Sub-divisional Magistrates and Executive Engineers will identify new roads and bridges to be constructed and old roads to be repaired.

HOSHIARPUR
DEVELOPMENTAL WORKS: The district administration was making efforts to complete all developmental works promised by the Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, according to Mr Iqbal Singh Sidhu, Deputy Commissioner. He was addressing a gathering at Jhonowal village on Thursday. Out of the three cause-ways to be constructed on the Garshankar-Binewal road, two had been completed and the third would be completed before July 20.

ARRESTED: The city police arrested Lovedeep Kumar of Mohalla Ramgarh, Vijay Kumar of Sutehri road and Raj Kumar for killing Ashwani Kumar, a student of class X of Government Senior Secondary School, Clock tower on Thursday. The accused had beaten Ashwani Kumar mercilessly due to which he became unconscious.

MALERKOTLA
MURDERED: Gurinder Kaur (35) of Amargarh village was murdered by her husband Darshan Singh on Friday with .12 bore rifle. The cause of murder is said to be family dispute. The police has registered a case.

GAMBLING: The police has arrested five persons, Ram Lal, Itbari Daddu, Babu Lal, Ram Sanehi and Kartali for gambling. The ASP, Mr Rajesh Kumar Jaiswal, said Rs 27,500 were also seized. A case has been registered.

HONOURED: Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Union Minister for Sports, highlighted the Akali-BJP government’s achievements in promoting peace and harmony in Punjab while addressing a gathering to honour the chairman, local market committee, Mr Avtar Singh Madevi on Friday. He declared that a football academy would be set up at Malerkotla. Among others who addressed the gathering were Mr Rajinder Singh Kanjhla, member, working committee, Mr Gurmeet Singh Cheema, former press secretary, SAD, Mr Harbhan Singh Narike, Mohammed Tufail and Mr Avtar Singh Madevi.

NAWANSHAHR
SEIZED: Mr Ishwar Singh, SSP in a press statement on Friday said 600 gm opium was seized from Ram Chand of Raon and Sikander Lal of Sarangwal villages during check points at Kot Ranjha and Pandrawal villages besides 11.250 litres of wine from Shinda of Paragpur village during a checkpoint at Garhi Ajit Singh village.

PATIALA
WHEAT PROCUREMENT: A delegation led by the Aarhtia Association president, Mr Bal Krishan Singla, urged the Food and Civil Supplies Director, Mr G Yajralingum, to ensure that the wheat procurement is carried out in the entire state and not kept limited to a major markets only. The association also demanded the release of payment for the procured wheat, according to a press release issued by Mr Singla here on Saturday. The Financial Commissioner (Taxation), Mr Y.S. Ritra, who met the deputation earlier said that after deducting the registered dealer’s rate from the total rate, the remaining sale will be assessed under summary cases, which would benefit 24,000 Aarhtias through exemption of sale tax, the release said. 

NEW COURSE: Punjabi University will start a masters course in dance from this session for which qualified and competent staff has been recruited. A press note here on Thursday said, in view of the persistent demand of students, the last date for the submission of application forms for this new course has been extended by ten days. As a result students can apply for this new course without late fee upto July 27, 2000. 

REVISED: State Bank of Patiala has revised their interest rates on domestic term deposits, a press note issued by the Chief Manager, Public Relations, said here on Tuesday. The rate of interest for an amount less than Rs 15 lacs is fined between 4.5 per cent pre annum for 15 days to 9.75 per cent per annum for a period of three years. 

CHANDIGARH

SAS NAGAR
PANEL FORMED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Government Contractors Association: Chairman — Mr Sardul Singh; President — Mr Yogesh Gupta; General Secretary — Mr Harmesh; and Finance Secretary — Mr J B Sharma. 

HARYANA

KURUKSHETRA
INAUGURATED: A park in the memory of Sanjeev Kumar, a martyr of Operation Vijay, was inaugurated by Mrs Jyoti Arora, Deputy Commissioner, at Maharishi Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, Sanwla on Friday. Homages were paid to the martyr and his parents were honoured on the occasion.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

HAMIRPUR
MEETING: The three-day meeting of the scrutiny committee for the organisational elections of the Congress party ended here on Thursday. Two of the five members, including the District Congress Committee chief, Mr Suresh Kumar, walked out of the meeting. As many as 1,675 copies of the active members were put for scrutiny in the meeting. Copies of active members from Hamirpur, Bamsan and Nadaunta Assembly segments were cleared without any hitch. However, there was trouble over the copies from Nadaun and Mewa.