R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

JALALABAD
PEST THREAT: Thousands of acres of paddy ready for harvesting in Bandiwala, Tindawali, Jaimalwala, Chimnewala, Bahmaniwala and Mannewala villages here has been affected by a pest called 'Rice Brown Plant Hooper. It is a sucking pest. It sucks the juice from the root as well as the fruit of the plant. Mr Paramjit Singh Sandhu, Block Agriculture officer, said the pest used to attack Basmati and PR variety of paddy in the past.

KHAMANON
OFFICE BEARERS: A meeting of the Youth Club was held in Gaggarwal village under the chairmanship of the Gurmeet Singh Jandu. At this meeting the following office-bearers of the club were elected: President — Mr Gurmeet Singh Jandu; Vice-President — Mr Sarbjit Singh; and General Secretary — Mr Arun Kumar Shukla. 

KHANNA
ARTHIA ASSOCIATION: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Arhtia Association: President — Mr Sadhuram Nanda; Senior Vice-Presidents — Mr Harbans Singh Rosha and Mr Raj Kumar Sahnewalia; Vice-Presidents — Mr Suraj Parkash, Mr Nirmal Sofat and Mr Som Nath; General Secretary — Mr Bharpur Chand Bector; Secretaries — Wg Cdr Balbir Kumar (retd) and Mr Gurdeep Singh; and Treasurer — Mr Tarsem Lal Goel. One editor, three advisers and seven executive members were also elected. 

TELECOM STRIKE: All telecom employees of the Groups C and D of the local telephone exchange observed strike on a call given by the National Federation of Telecom Employees, Federation of National Telecom Organisation and Bharatiya Telecom Employees Federation here on Wednesday. A rally was also organised in front of the telephone exchange. Mr Sadhu Singh, District President, All-India Telecom Employees Union, Class III, SSA, Ludhiana, said while addressing the rally that this strike would continue till the government assured pension and job security to the employees. The rally was also addressed by Mr Balbir Singh and Mr Jagdev Singh.

DEMAND: The city known for the Asia’s biggest grain market has not received due attentions far as the college education is concerned. There is not even a single government college in the town which has an estimated population of one lakh and the nearest government college is either at Ludhiana or at Patiala, about 40 km and 50 km, respectively, from Khanna. In the absence of any government college, it has become difficult for the poor people to afford the expenses at the private college. Senior citizens have demanded an early establishment of a college to benefit the general public. 

COLONY CRIES: The town’s most costly and posh location, Narotam Nagar, symbolises a hell-type situation for the residents. Sewer water overflowing in the streets, roads having big potholes sufficient to hide the wheel of a scooter and foul smell greet the visitors. The colony is mostly housed by doctors, lawyers and industrialists and the SDM’s office and the Civil Courts Complex is quite adjacent to it. The colony was developed by the Improvement Trust and later handed over to the municipality. The colony has one school and provides passage to another school. About 2000 children brave the path daily and have suffered many accidents but the municipal council has not bothered a bit to improve the situation, although it is charging all the municipal taxes from the house owners. 

FLYOVER: The Punjab Government has sanctioned a flyover on the level crossing on the Khanna-Samrala road at an estimated cost of Rs 10 crore as told by the local SDM, Mr S.S. Gill. This will ease the flow of traffic on the Samrala road that further joins the Ludhiana-Chandigarh state highway. The executive engineer said the tenders had been invited and the work on the project would commence soon. 

LUDHIANA
PATWARIS, KANOONGOS: The Joint Action Committee of the patwaris and kanoongos have charged the government with backing out of its assurance to reinstate 32 patwaris, withdrawal of criminal cases and payment of salaries for the strike period and have announced to hold anti-government rallies in the Sunam Assembly segment, where a byelection is to be held this month. In a joint statement, the convener of the action committee, Mr Gurmel Singh, the General Secretary of the Kanoongos Association, Mr Satwinder Singh, and the General Secretary of the Revenue Patwar Union, Mr Gobind Singh, have claimed that the Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, and the Revenue Minister, Mr Sewa Singh Sekhwan, had publicly committed to concede the demands during the Nawanshahr byelection. But even after seven months, the pending issues remained to be settled. Repeated meetings with the Chief Minister and the Revenue Minister had remained unproductive. The action committee, they added, was left with no other alternative than to hold protest rallies and dharnas against the government to focus on denial of justice to patwaris and kanoongos. 

SAMAJWADI PARTY: The Punjab Pradesh Samajwadi Party (SP) has deplored poor civic amenities in the Simlapuri and surrounding localities in the city and indifferent attitude of the civic administration. A party meeting, presided over by the District President, Mr Bhim Sain Kashyap, observed that poor sanitary conditions in the area could result in the outbreak of epidemics and pose other health hazards. The block president, Mr Mohinder Singh Romana, alleged that the locality was discriminated against. Mr Kashyap threatened that the party would resort to agitation and stage dharnas to draw the attention of the civic administration towards the plight of the residents of these localities. 

PATHANKOT
ACQUITTED: Mr Karnail Singh, Judicial Magistrate, has acquitted Mehar Singh, Sansari Lal, Som Raj, Raj Kumar and Balwinder Singh of Islampur in a case of trespassing. Hans Raj, a farmer, had lodged a complaint against the five for trespassing into his fields.

PATIALA
WRITERS HONOURED: Dr Yogendra Bakhshi, a Hindi poet, ghazal writer and critic, has been selected for the National Millennium Honour for his outstanding services to Hindi language and literature. Dr Bakhshi, who has authored more than 12 Hindi books, retired as Head of the P.G. Department of Hindi, Government Mahindra.

Prof Inder Nath Chawla, a Hindi travelogue writer and retired Head of the Geography Department of Mahindra College, has also been selected for the same award. Both will be honoured on September 14, Hindi Day, by the Millenium World Hindi Conference on the first day of the ten-day conference being held in New Delhi. 

PRIVATISATION OPPOSED: The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), consisting all the nine unions of banks, has decided to launch a nation-wide campaign against the government’s move to privatise banks. The association also opposed freezing of employment and publication of the list of defaulting big borrowers, according to a press note issued here on Wednesday. 

B.ED RESULTS: The results of the entrance test of B.Ed correspondence course conducted on August 20 has been declared. Giving this information, Dr J.S. Brar, Head, Department of Correspondence Courses and Co-ordinator, B.Ed., Punjabi University, said the successful candidates will be informed about the result through registered letter and others through ordinary post. The successful candidates are supposed to get their admission latest by September 29, according to a press note issued here on Wednesday. 

BOTANY COURSE: The three-week UGC sponsored refresher course on recent advances in plant science organised by the Department of Botany at Punjabi University concluded here on Wednesday. Speaking at the valedictory function, Dr Ram Murti Goel, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, urged upon the participants to make efforts to update their knowledge and use the latest methodologies and techniques to raise the standard of teaching. Dr J.S. Dargan, Head of the Botany Department and Coordinator of the course, said that in this refresher course the college and university lectures from Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh participated.

ROPAR
SELECTION RALLY: The Punjab Government has sanctioned Rs 50 crore for imparting training and employment guidance to the unemployed youth. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr G.S. Grewal, said on Tuesday that a selection rally of youths for the Centre for Training and Employment would be held here on September 14 at the Bhatta Sahib Grain Market.

SAHNEWAL
PLANTATION DRIVE: A tree plantation drive was launched to celebrate vanamahautsava on Tuesday by members of the Nagar Panchayat, Sahnewal. In his welcome address, Mr Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, General Secretary, Youth Wing, Shiromani Akali Dal , said, "In order to have an environment free from pollution, tree plantation is a must. Greenery has a significant role to play in our lives. Mr Shamsher Singh Kaile, President, Nagar Panchayat, Ms Mohinder Kaur, Vice-President, Nagar Panchayat, Mr Santa Singh Umaidpuri, Chairman, Market Committee, Baba Jagroop Singh, Circle President, Mr Jai Kumar, District Secretary, BJP, Mr Sukhjit Singh Hara, District General Secretary, PPCC, Mr Karmjit Singh Bhairomunna, Mr Tejinder Singh Ghola and councillors Ms Surinder Kaur Sandhu and Mr Jasvir Singh, planted saplings in and around Sahnewal in order to have a pollution-free town. 

TARN TARAN
COMPLAINT: Satwinder Kaur alias Satti of Sohal village has lodged a complaint on Monday against her father, brothers and others for attempting to abduct her. A land dispute is said to be the reason behind it.

UNPAID SALARIES: Teaching and non-teaching staff of the local Kalyan Homoeopathic Medical College in a memorandum presented to the management of the institution has demanded salaries for the last eight months up to September 7.

CASE REGISTERED: The police on Tuesday registered a case against Lakhwinder Singh alias Lakha of Rataul and Manmeet Singh alias Bablu of the town for abducting and raping a minor girl, a class seventh student of the local SGAD Government Girls Senior Secondary School. Earlier, the father of the girl had lodged a complaint that his daughter had been missing since September 2.

CHANDIGARH

OFFICE-BEARERS: Following have been elected as the office-bearers of the Tea Planters Welfare Association, Northern Region; President — Mr B.S. Sukarchakia; Vice-President — Mr Paramjit Singh; Secretary — Mr M.M.L. Mehta; Joint Secretary — Ms Gulshan Singh; and Finance Secretary — Mr Saranjit Singh. The executive members are Ms Brijinder Singh, Mr G.S. Grewal, Mr Harcharan Singh, Mr Hardev Singh and Mr J.S. Grewal. Honour for Hindi writer

SELECTION: Madan Gupta Spatu has been selected for the National Millennium Award for his outstanding contribution to Hindi literature. He will be honoured in the World Hindi Conference which will held in Delhi on September 15.

COMPETITION: The Young Women Christian Association, Sector 11-B, will organise the second Champa Mangatrai Memorial inter-school play competition on Saturday. Mr Derick D’Sa, Editor, Indian Express, will be the chief guest. 

WORKSHOP: The Chandigarh Institute of Performing Arts will organise a bhangra-giddha workshop at Bal Bhawan in Sector 23 from September 7 to 23. Mr AS Chana, press secretary of the institute, said the persons interested can contact at 546118 for details. 

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Tea Planters Welfare Association, northern region: President — Mr B.S. Sukarchakia; vice-president — Mr Paramjeet Singh; secretary — Mr M.M.L. Mehta; joint secretary — Mrs Gulshan Singh; and finance secretary — Mr Saranjit Singh. The executive members are Mrs Brijinder Singh, Mr G.S. Grewal, Mr Harcharan Singh, Mr Hardev Singh and Mr J.S. Grewal. 

NSS VOLUNTEERS: As many as 240 NSS volunteers of Punjab Engineering College donated blood in a camp organised in collaboration with the State Bank of India, PEC branch and the Lion’s Club, Chandigarh Shivalik, on Wednesday. Mr K.K. Mehra, Deputy General Manager of the State Bank of India, Punjab zone, inaugurated the camp and honoured the star donors who had donated blood over 40 times. Mr I.J. Singh, president of the club also donated 10 chairs and 10 stools to the college blood donation society on this occasion. 

ONAM: The Kerala Samajam, Chandigarh, an organisation of Keralites, will celebrate Onam, a prime festival of Kerala, in Tagore theatre. Various dances, including bharatnatyam, will be the main attractions of the function, said Mr D. Reghu, secretary of the Samajam. 

AGITATION: Members of the Super Bazar Employees Joint Action Committee, on Wednesday, took out a procession around the Sector-22 market and shouted slogans against the Chandigarh Administration. Mr Jaswant Singh, president of the Subordinate Service Federation of UT Employees, condemned the administration for not accepting their demands. Mr Mohinder Singh, vice-president of the CTU Workers Union, demanded that the Super Bazar should be run efficiently by a capable management under the control of the administration. 

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected the office-bearers of the Sweepers Union Chandigarh: Chief Pattern — Mr Balraj; legal adviser — Mr Sagar; chairman — Mr Kesho Ram; vice-chairman — Mr Maha Singh; chief advisers — Mr Bhor Singh and Mr Om Pal Singh; adviser — Mr Ilam Chand Dogra; president — Mr Zile Singh; senior vice-presidents — Mr Rama and Mr Raj Kumar; vice-presidents — Mr Kailash, Mr Shri Chand; Mr Jagmohan and Mr Sat Pal; general secretary — Mr Yash Pal Chauhan and joint secretaries — Mr Kamal and Mr Raj Kumar. 

MCC: The UT Subordinate Services Federation, Chandigarh, has condemned the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation for increasing the water charges. Mr R.S. Sandhu and other leaders of the federation have also criticised the Punjab government and Chandigarh Administration for the lathi charge on Tuesday on protesting farmers at the Matka Chowak. 

MILLENNIUM HONOUR: Mr D.R. Dhawan, a prominent Hindi writer, has been selected for the National Millennium Honour. He will be honoured on the occasion of the Millennium World Hindi Conference to be held at Delhi from September 14 to 23. 

PUNWIRE: Members of the Punwire Employees Co-ordination Committee met Mr Arun Jaitley, Law, Justice and Company Affairs Minister, regarding their demands. The committee’s demands include the revival of Punwire, release of salary for the past 17 months, a CBI enquiry into the affairs of Punwire and job security to employees. 

CONTEST: The State Bank of India, zonal office, Punjab and Chandigarh, on Wednesday, organised a ‘‘Letter writing competition’’ on topics relating to banks to mark the rajbhasa mass celebrations on Wednesday. Mr K.K. Mehra, Deputy General Manager, stressed on the use of Hindi in their routine working to develop relations with the customers. 

RALLY: The telecom employees of group -C and D organised a rally in front the of Telephone Exchange in Sector 34 in support of their demands. The different leaders including Mr Pritam Singh Hundal, district secretary, E-III, Mr Pritam Singh Saini, district secretary, E-IV and Mr Shiv Shakti Rattan, district president, BTEF, said that the struggle would be intensified till their demands were accepted.

HARYANA

FATEHABAD
PAINTING COMPETITION: The District Council for Child Welfare ( DCCW) organised a painting competition for school children in the local Bal Bhavan here on Tuesday. Children between six and 16 years of age were allowed to participate in it.

RECOVERED: The Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam has recovered an amount of Rs 22.11 crore from defaulters in the Faridabad operation circle during the last financial year. According to official sources the Nigam has also recovered about Rs 360.20 crore as revenue during the period.

JIND
STUDENT KILLED: Rakesh, a student of the Government College, was killed and Mohan Lal, Anil, Suresh and Vinod were injured in a clash between two groups of students at Safidon, 35 km from here, on Monday. Old rivalry was said to be the reason behind the clash. According to police sources, six assailants have been identified and one of them has been arrested. A case has been registered in this connection.

CONDEMNED: The local unit of the BJP at a meeting held here on Tuesday condemned the murder of a Dalit youth, Naresh Kumar, at Nagura village in the district. Mr Sita Ram Bagri, president of the unit urged the government to take steps to prevent crimes against Dalits.

ARRESTED: The police has arrested Randhir, a proclaimed offender, who was involved in several murders and robberies. Stating this here on Monday Mr Raj Pal Singh, SP, said he was a member of a notorious gang known as Satbir alias Jhabbal gang. Though, he was on parole yet he continued to indulge in criminal activities.

NARNAUL
SOLDIER CREMATED: Rakesh Kumar (23), an Army soldier, who died while fighting terrorists in "Punch" area of Jammu and Kashmir, was cremated with the full government honour at his native village Mohlra.

RECOVERED: The Narnaul police recovered a girl student from Rajgarh in Rajasthan on Tuesday. The girl was allegedly in the company of a boy of the same village. Earlier, the parents of the girl had lodged a complaint alleging that their daughter had been allured by the boy. A case has been registered in this connection.

NOMINATED: The following have been nominated members of the Agrsain Yuvak Sabha: president - Mr Yogesh Kumar; vice-presidents -- Mr Vikas Fauzdar and Mr Deve Dayal; general secretary -- Mr Antim Singhal; propaganda secretary - Mr Sanjay Aggarwal; and treasurer - Mr Amit Kumar.

SONEPAT
SHOPS VACATED: The officials of the Municipal Council got vacated four shops from the shopkeepers in the Mandi area here on Tuesday. It is said the non payment of rent by the shopkeepers is the main reason behind the move.

LOOTED: Three armed persons looted some workers of Mahabir brick-kiln at Kathura village, about 45 km from here, on Tuesday. A case has been registered in this connection.

GRANTED: Ms Usha Rani, a lecturer of Tikka Ram Senior Secondary School, has been granted regular pay scale of Rs 2000-3500 from the date of her appointment as well as the revised pay scale of Rs 6500-10500 with effect from January 1, 1996 by Mr Ashok Yadav, Additional Deputy Commissioner-cum-Administrator of the local Tikka Ram Education Society.

YAMUNANAGAR
BLOOD DONATION CAMP: Mr R.S. Chaudhry, Vice-Chancellor, Kurukshetra University, inaugurated a blood donation mela at the Mukand Lal National College here on Tuesday. About 338 units of blood were donated to the Blood Bank Society, PGI, Chandigarh.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

KULU
RALLY: Employees of the Department of Telecommunication staged a gate rally before the office of the Telecom District Manager here on Tuesday in protest against the government’s employees decision to corporatise the department. In a joint statement, employees expressed their fear that they might lose retirement benefits after the corporatisation of the department.

MANALI
ONE KILLED: R.L. Dharmani, General Manager, District Industries Centre was killed in a road accident near Marhi, on the Manali-Leh national highway, 35 km from here on Tuesday when the vehicle in which he was travelling skidded off the road and plunged into a deep gorge. The driver of the vehicle suffered serious injuries.

NAHAN
MEETING: Mr Rakesh Kaushal, Deputy Commissioner, Sirmaur, presided over a grievances redressal meeting held here on Tuesday. About 105 cases of public grievances were put forth , out of which 36 were resolved on the spot and the remaining cases were sent to the departments concerned for early disposal.