R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

ABOHAR
INJURED: Two teachers, Ms Neelam Rani and Ms Suman Lata, were seriously injured when a jeep hit their moped on Tuesday. The police has arrested the driver of the jeep, Jodh Singh of Dhani Chiragh. Both teachers were rushed to the local Civil Hospital and their condition was described as stable.

RAPE ALLEGED: A minor girl alleged at a local court on Tuesday that she had been raped repeatedly by a farmer’s son at Killianwali village, near here. The 15-year-old girl said she was pregnant and the culprit was pressing her to have an abortion. She had approached the Khuyian Sarwar police station to lodge on FIR but had been rebuffed, she alleged.

PENDING WORKS: The Durgiana Market Association has threatened to begin an indefinite dharna and a chain fast next Monday if pending development works were not started by the municipal authorities by Sunday. A deputation of the association met the President of the municipal council in this regard on Wednesday.

BATHINDA
APPOINTMENT: Mr T.S. Gambhir has taken over as the General Manager of the local Telecom District. Mr Rakesh Kapur, who was the Telecom District Manager here, has been posted as the General Manager, Telecom Chandigarh.

HONOUR: The local Teachers’ Home Management Welfare and Educational Trust will honour 16 students from Bathinda and Mansa districts. This was stated by Mr Naresh Bansal, manager of the trust, in a press note issued here on Wednesday.

HOSHIARPUR
KIDNAPPED: Soma (22) was allegedly kidnapped when she was going with her mother Charan Kaur from Saila Khurd to Baddowal on Monday. The Mahilpur police has registered a case under Sections 364 and 34 of the IPC.

CRITICISED: The All-India Hindu Suraksha Samiti has condemned Fortune Dynamic, a US company, for printing images of Hindu deities on sandals. Mr Kamal Sharma, president of the district unit of the samiti, stated here on Wednesday that the act had hurt the religious sentiments of the Hindus and demanded action against the company.

RAPE CASE: The Mukerian police has registered a case under Sections 376 and 506 of the IPC against Harjinder Singh, son of Mrs Krishna Devi who is the Sarpanch of Toor village for raping one of his relatives on Tuesday.

JALANDHAR
BODY FOUND: The body of Kiran Kumar, a resident of Aman Nagar, has been found on the Tanda road here. According to the police, he was murdered with a sharp-edged weapons. A case has been registered. In another incident, Gian Kaur, a resident of Tanda, allegedly committed suicide by consuming poison on Tuesday.

KHANNA
EXPELLED: Mr Brij Lal Rinwa, state president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, has expelled Mr Kuldip Madan, president of the District Youth Morcha, from the party for anti-party activities. His membership has been cancelled for 6 years. This was disclosed by Mr Sunil Pachnanda, press secretary of the Khamanon block unit, on Thursday.

LUDHIANA
APPOINTED: Mr Pawan Dewan, a Youth Congress leader, has been appointed chairperson of the Urban Development Cell of the Indian Youth Congress. Local Congressmen are jubilant over the appointment. 

DEATH MOURNED: The Ludhiana District Cricket Association has mourned the death of Mrs Suraj Kaur Pandove, mother of Mr M.P. Pandove, a former National Selector and General Secretary of the Punjab Cricket Association. Mrs Suraj Kaur Pandove died on Wednesday at Patiala after a brief illness. In a message sent to the Pandove family, Mr Chaman Lal Malhotra, Chairman, Selection Committee, Punjab, Mr Vinod Chitkara, General Secretary, LDCA, have expressed grief over her death. 

MEETING: Representatives of three organisations namely the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union (PCCTU), the Private Colleges, non-Teaching Employees Union of Punjab and the Chandigarh and Punjab Non-Government Colleges Retired Employees Association will hold a meeting at Panjab University extension library, Ludhiana, on September 18 to consider their action plan of holding a protest rally at Sunam on the eve of byelection. The three organisations will be represented by their respective presidents — Mr K.B.S Sodhi, Mr R.P. Sharma and Principal S. Bajwa. They said that the delay on the part of the government in regard to implementation of the Pension Gratuity Scheme had been causing great hardships to hundreds of families of retirees since 1992. Meanwhile, a meeting of the executive committee of the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union (PCCTU) will be held here on September 24 to chalk out their action plan to intensify their struggle. 

FASHION SHOW: Triveni Ladies Club, on Thursday, organised a glittering and colourful fashion show at a local hotel. About eight club members participated in this glamourous event, which was sponsored by Music Den and Kiran Heritage. More than 80 club members and their guests watched the show which was divided into the traditional Indian round and western outfit round. Variety of colourful tatoos could be seen at the backs and arms of some of the members. The programme director, Mrs Kuldeep Sandhu said,” Women of today are not restricted to household chores. They can present themselves in a dignified manner and have created a niche for themselves in society”. Mrs Usha Goel, president, and Mrs Kiran Thapar, secretary of the club informed that the club would keep on organizing such shows and try to introduce something new for the club members. 

SMILE CONTEST: Sarabha Nagar Ladies Club on Thursday organised a ‘Smile Contest’ at a local resort. The contest was organised under the supervision of Dr T.P. Singh. About fifteen ladies participated in the contest, who were judged were judged on the basis of their dental structure accompanying the smile. Dr Pal checked-up the participants before giving the final results. Mrs Sarita Aggarwal, president, Sarabha Nagar Ladies club and Dr T.P. Singh informed that the aim behind the event was to develop a postivive attitude among people and make smiling a habit. Neera Gupta got the prize for “well maintained smile”, Anu Seth won the “intelligent smile” award, Ashu Mayor got the “healthy smile” prize, Rohita Sehgal was declared the best in “charming smile” and Saru Jain was judged the best with “most beautiful smile”. 

GIRL TRACED: Arti Sharma, a student of class VII at the local Government Girls Senior Secondary School, who had been missing since September 2, was traced by the city police on Wednesday from Goindwal Sahib. Stating this, Mr Krishan Kumar, SHO, said a case under Sections 366-A and 363 of the IPC had been registered against two boys of the area on the complaint of the girl’s father.

CHANDIGARH

NEW TIMINGS: The Telecom Department has changed the timings for the public to meet officials. The new timings are from 3 pm to 4 pm. Earlier the timings were 11 am to noon. The new timings come into force from September 18.

OPPOSED: The Canara Bank Staff Union has strongly opposed the governments’ proposal of the voluntary retirement scheme to be introduced in the banks. Another proposal to privatise the nationalised and public sector banks has also been opposed by the union. In a press statement, Mr Harjit Singh, Assistant Secretary of the union, said the government had not taken meaningful steps. The union has demanded the regularisation of parttime employees working in printing and stationery sections of the banks at Chandigarh, Mumbai, Manglore and Trivandrum. Services of drivers attached to the executives of the banks should be regularised from their date of working with the banks. 

WATER PRICE: A team of the Chandigarh Nationalist Youth Congress Party headed by Mr Navjinder Singh Malla, Mr Manpreet Singh, Mr Tejpal Garg, Mr Rakesh Kumar and Mr Arvinder Singh Laddi visited Ambedkar Colony and Palsora Peer Colony, Sector 56. Residents of the colony said they used to pay a flat rate of Rs 50 for two months from February 15 to April 15 and the rate was increased to Rs 101 for two months from April 15 to June 15. It was further increased to Rs 310 from June 15 to August without any prior notification. The people also complained of poor water supply. 

INCOMPLETE HOUSES ALLOTTED: A deputation of the UT Government Employees Residents Welfare Association met the Chief Engineer, UT Administration, here on Thursday and submitted a complaint of the government contractors who were assigned the contract of the completion of the work on government houses from 4446 to 4548, Sector 46-D. The association alleged that the houses were allotted by the Allotment Committee without completion ofwork. Rain-water pipes are blocked, manholes uncovered, doors and windows not properly fitted, exhaust fans have not been fitted in the kitchens, electricity wiring is not done properly and sever black pipes are also leaking. 

CRITICISED: A meeting of senior leaders of the Chandigarh Nationalist Congress Party was held in the office of the Vice-President, Mr Trilochan Singh. At the meeting they criticised the UT Administration’s decision on the wearing of helmets by women while driving two-wheelers. Party leaders also decided that if the government refused to withdraw this decision, they will launch an agitation. 

SILVER JUBILEE: On its silver jubilee celebrations, the Chamoli Parvatiya Vikas Parishad, Chandigarh, is organising a colourful cultural programme on September 17 in the auditorium of the Government College of Education, Sector 20. The 15th edition of the magazine, Gar Sudha, will also be released on this occasion. Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal, MP, will be the chief guest and Mr Manmohan S. Kohli, Chief Executive, Hotel Aroma, will preside over the function. 

CELEBRATED: Engineers Day is being celebrated at Punjab Engineering College, on September 16. The theme of discussion is “Role of information technology in manufacturing - a competitive strategy”. Prof K.K. Aggarwal, Vice-Chancellor Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi, will be the chief guest. Prof K.N. Pathak, Vice-Chancellor, Panjab University, will preside over the function. A panel discussion will be done by Dr R.P. Bajpai, Director, CSIO, Chandigarh, Dr M.J. Zarabai, Managing Director, SCL, Mohali, Mr R.P. Sehgal, Executive Director Manufacturing, PTL, Mohali, Mr G.S. Sethi, General Manager Quark, Chandigarh, and Prof K.K. Pujara, IIT, Delhi. The programme is being coordinated by Dr R.N. Nauhria, Prof and Head, Production Engineering Department, Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh.

MUSICAL CLUB: The Payal Musical Club is going to hold a competition of group dances on October 4. The dances will be presented on old Hindi songs, folk and western songs. The songs will be given by the club itself. The winners will be awarded with the cash prizes. 

BAN ON LOTTERIES: A delegation of the lotterywalas met the Deputy Commissioner and Excise and Taxation Commissioner on Thursday and urged him to lift the ban on the Nagaland and Mizoram state lotteries. With the imposition of the ban, over 700 workers had been rendered jobless and their families were on the verge of starvation.

SAS NAGAR 
NOMINATED: The President of the SAS Nagar block unit of the BJP, Mr Arun Sharma, has nominated the following as office-bearers of the unit: Senior Vice-President — Mr Basta Singh; Vice-President — Mr Gurvinder Singh; Organising Secretary — Mr Harcharan Singh Saini; Secretaries — Mr Gian Chand and Mr Jasbir Singh; and executive members — Mr R.C. Jhingan, Mr Piara Singh Dhillon, Mr S.S. Bajwa, Mr L.D. Jindal, Mr S.S. Sidhu and Ms Usha Bansal 

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been made office-bearers of the local unit of the BJP Yuva Morcha: President — Mr Gagan Sharma; General Secretary — Mr Harpal Singh; and Cashier — Mr Kiranjot Singh. 

PANCHKULA
UTTARANCHAL RANGMANCH: The Uttaranchal Rangmanch is going to hold a variety programme on dance, music and skits of Uttaranchal on October 10 at Tagore Theatre. Renowned singers like Heena Dhyanic, Tirlok Singh Rana, Govind Koranga, Anand Singh Koranga, Sangita Negi and Babita will be participating. This event is going to be held to celebrate the creation of Uttaranchal. 

HARYANA

SONEPAT
LATHI CHARGE: The police on Tuesday was forced to lathi-charge boys who tried to enter Hindu College here during a cultural programme.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

HAMIRPUR
ELECTED: Arun Kumar and Rajendra Singh of the ABVP have been elected as class representatives from the local Government College following the Students Central Association (SCA) election.

MANDI
‘OPEN-AIR’ SCHOOL: Chandiara Middle School in the Karsog subdivision of the district is allegedly being run in the open in the absence of any building. Mr K.L. Sharma of the local Yuvak Mandal said the school equipment, including furniture and stationery, had been dumped in a room rented from a primary school.

SUNDERNAGAR
RECRUITMENT: The open recruitment of soldiers (general duty) will be held here from October 10 to 13 at the local Maharaja Laxman Sen Memorial Ground. It will be organised by the Branch Recruiting Office, Mandi. According to an official press note, candidates from the districts of Mandi, Kulu, Lahaul and Spiti will be allowed to take the tests.

RELIEF MONEY: The local Press Club has given Rs 5,100 as relief money to Tilak Raj Sood, a Barot-based journalist whose house was gutted in a fire on August 18.