R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

ABOHAR
CRITICISED: Representatives of the management, staff and students of Homoeopathic Medical College on Friday criticised the local police for not arresting Ravinder Pal Singh and Mohinder Pal Singh of Jalalabad West, who had allegedly assaulted Mr Rajinder Girdhar, Principal of the college, on August 30. The deputation claimed that the Additional District and Session Court had denied pre-arrest bail to the culprits on Thursday.

AMRITSAR
INVITED: Dr Manmohan Singh Gill, a Reader in the Sociology Department of Guru Nanak Dev University has been invited to present his paper on “Sustainable society: social and cultural issues” jointly with Mr Amrik Mohan Singh, Vice-President, The Hindustan Times, New Delhi, at the Fourth International Conference on ecological balance to be held from October 31 to November 2, at Epochal Tsukuba in Japan.

BATHINDA
COACHING CAMP: As many as 30 candidates selected from among the 89 applicants are being trained at the local Employment Complex for a bank examination to be held on December 3. In a press note issued here on Friday, Mr Harpal Singh, District Employment Officer, said the coaching camp was inaugurated by Mr Chiranji Lal Garg, Science and Technology Minister, Punjab.

HOSHIARPUR
SEIZED: The police seized 80 kg of poppy husk from Amarjit of Bainsa village, Suresh Kumar of Dashmesh Nagar, Gudu Kumar of Mujafarnagar (Bihar) and Saroj Bala of Shahpur (Rajasthan) while they were coming in a taxi from Una on Friday. A case has been registered.

FIVE INJURED: Ankur and Rohit of Nai Abadi Mohalla, Jatinder Kumar of the local Salwara locality, Brij Lal of the local Naloian area and a passerby, Deepak Bagga, were injured on being hit by a car on The Mall on Thursday. They were admitted to the local Civil Hospital.

KAPURTHALA
GANJA SEIZED: The police on Thursday seized 750 grams of ganja from Lilo of Bhagalpur, Bihar, during a search in a bus on the Kapurthala-Jalandhar road near mansoorwal village. This was stated by Mr Iqbal Singh, SSP, in a press note here on Friday.

SEMINAR: A seminar was organised in the district Employment Office on Thursday to educate handicapped persons about the facilities being provided to them by the government. Mr V.K Singh, Deputy Commissioner, presided over the function. The bharat Vikas Parishad and the Mahavir Kendra were helping in the rehabilitation of handicapped persons.

KHANNA
BOOKED: The Punjab police has registered a case against seven persons engaged in sending people abroad illegally. According to SSP Khanna, R.N. Dhoke following a complaint of Rajesh Kumar stating that the accused gave false assurance to him that he would be sent to the USA or the UK after charging Rs 7.5 lakh. He was introduced to Anoop Singh by Parveen Kumar Sharma for this purpose. Anoop Singh told him that his relative Dharm Panesar was a director in Bombay film industry who would manage to send him to the USA. The complainant alleged that he had paid Rs 7.5 lakh to Anoop Singh in three instalments. After receiving hefty amount Anoop Singh asked Rajesh to go to Bombay. After reaching Bombay a forged passport was made for Rajesh and photocopy was handed over to Rajesh. 

LUDHIANA
STUDENTS: Under a programme sponsored by the Dharmik Ekta Club in Gagan Model High School here, free notebooks and pencils were given to students. Ms Sandhya, Deputy Director of the Labour Department, who was also the chief guest, said commercialisation of education in India would leave the poor uneducated. She encouraged the social and religious organisations to pay more attention towards educating the poor. The others present on the occasion included Mr Ajay Sidhu, President of the club, and Ms Mandeep S. Khurana, Principal of the school. 

FUNCTION: The annual mass marriage function of poor and needy girls will be conducted by the Public School Welfare Council on October 15 at Janjghar, near Shiv mandir, Gandhi Colony, under the chairmanship of Mr Rakesh Pandey, MLA. Mr Surinder Ghai, president of the council, in a press note informed that household goods would be given to each pair by the welfare council.

EXHIBITION: Students of Rajindra Model Senior Secondary School participated in an science fair here on Friday. A home theatre made by Bhupindra and his team of Class X was the main attraction of the exhibition. There were working models of time bomb, fire alarm, flood alarm, washing machine, letter alarm, galvanometer and voltaic cell. There were charts of the circulatory, respiratory, digestive and renal systems of the human body. Soft toys and some other showpieces made of waste material were also exhibited. Ms Usha Sidhu, District Education Officer (Primary), honoured several local teachers on the occasion. The team of Indo-British Club presented various dance, song and histrionic items. Mr Ravinandan Sharma, Director of the school, and Ms Nirmal Sharma, Principal of the school, said the exhibition had been organised to help students develop self-confidence. 

ATTITUDE: Mr Joginder Pal Budhraja has made a complaint against the ‘careless attitude’ of the Telecom Department. He informed that he had registered a complaint (No Y086) 28 days back with the department as his telephone number lying dead. He alleged that no 741441 was lying dead. He alleged that no action had been taken so far. 

MOGA
SEMINAR: Dr Sumesh Khanna, a psychiatrist, on Friday organised a seminar in Summer Field School to bring awareness among the students about the problem of drug addiction. The seminar was presided over by Mr P.S. Sandhu, SP.

PATHANKOT
WORK PARALYSED: The work of Civil Courts here has been paralysed on account of a strike by lawyers who are demanding the upgradation of the Pathankot subdivision to a district headquarters.

PATIALA
WELFARE ASSOCIATION: The Punjab Pensioners Welfare Association will hold its general body meeting at the local Baradari Gardens on Saturday under the presidentship of Mr H.S. Sodhi, according to a press note of the association. A detailed discussion will be held regarding the non-fulfilment of various demands by the government and the future course of action of the association.

CONFERENCE: The Punjab State Karamchari Dal will hold a conference at Ludhiana on Thursday in protest against the non-fulfilment of various demands by the state government. In a press note issued by Mr Hari Singh Tohra, he said British Member of Parliament, Mr John Mcdonald, would address the conference.

TARN TARAN
CONDEMNED: Mr Gurminder Singh Rataul, Vice-President, Federation of Arhtias Association, Amritsar, in a press note issued here on Friday condemned the refusal by Mr Bhure Lal Sharma, Chairman, FCI, to meet a deputation of the association and farmers.

HIKE CONDEMNED: Mr Avtar Singh Taneja, President of the local Rice Millers Association, in a press note issued here on Friday, condemned the hike in electricity rates for industrial units. He also urged the government to announce the policy regarding levy-paddy.

CHANDIGARH

DONATED: As many as 130 students from slum areas studying in night schools were given free stationery, donated by Mr Nirmal Singh of Sector 44, in two separate functions held at Government High School, Sector 40-A, and Government Primary School, Maloya colony, on Tuesday. Mr Bahadur Singh , Headmaster of Government High School, Sector 40-A, who was the chief guest distributed the material among the students. . He appealed to the students to attend the night schools daily.

HARYANA

AMBALA
CASES SETTLED: The Chief Magistrate, Panchkula, Mr Vedpal Gupta, held a special court in Central Jail, Ambala, on Friday and settled eight cases. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who is also the Executive Chairman of the National Legal Services Authority, had directed the Judicial Magistrates to hold special courts in the jails to settle the pity offences of undertrials lodged there. According to the Superintendent of Ambala Central Jail, Mr Amar Singh, earlier the CJM conducted two special courts in the jail in which 15 cases were settled.

HOCKEY TRIALS: Trials to select the district hockey team for the Haryana Sports Festival to be held at Rohtak on October 20 will be held at Farookha Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Ambala Cantonment, on October 15. It was informed in a press note issued by Mr Satish Saini, honorary treasurer, District Hockey Association, Ambala, on Friday.

VISIT: The Union Information and Broadcasting Minister, Mrs Sushma Swaraj, will visit Ambala on Monday. According to Mr Subhadesh Mittal, secretary, Ambala unit of the BJP, she will meet worker in PWD rest house. Later she will proceed for Kulu.

INAUGURATION: Mr Rattan Lal Kataria, MP, inaugurated the Guru Gobind Singh Library at Ambala City on Friday. He announced a grant of Rs 2.50 lakh from his MP fund for the library. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Ram Niwas, local MLA, Mrs Veena Chibbar, president, Haryana Akali Dal (Badal), Mr Sukhdev Singh Gobindgarh, were present on the occasion among others.

LIQUOR SEIZED: The Ambala police has seized 32 boxes and 8160 pouches of liquor from a canter in Ambala Cantonment on Thursday night. According to the SP, Ambala, Mr Navdeep Singh Virk, while four persons have been arrested in this regard, three persons were absconding. The police has registered a case against seven persons in this regard.

BARWALA
NOMINATED: For the redressal of religious and social problems and all-round development of the Brahmin community, a sabha under the name of “Shri Brahmin Sabha” has been constituted. In a meeting held here on Friday, the following have been nominated as office-bearers of the sabha: chairman — Dr Sri Krishna Kaushik; president — Dr Rajendra Pal; vice-president — Mr Jagdish Sharma; secretary — Mr Satish Kaushik; vice-secretary — Mr Onkar Nath; cashier — Mr Mangu Ram Sharma; vice-cashier — Mr Jai Pal; Auditor — Mr Surendra Swami; and regional secretary — Mr Sunil Swami. 

BHIWANI
CRITICISED: Criticising the price hike in petro products, the CPM has demanded its withdrawal by the Union Government. The local unit secretary, Mr Dharambir Kungar, said here on Thursday that the party had decided to launch an agitation in protest against the hike. He said a dharna would be staged in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office at the mini secretariat on October 11.

ANNUVRATA SAMITI: The following have been appointed office-bearers of the Pradeshik Annuvrata Samiti: president — Mr R.K Agarwal; vice-presidents — Mr Bhagwan Vashisht and Ms Nirmla Saraf; general secretary — Mr Sajjan Kumar; and treasurer — Mr jeewan Singh.

SONEPAT
INVITATION: Mr Ashok Kumar, Senior General Manager of the Atlas Cycle Industries Limited, has been invited to address a three-day international seminar from October 15 in Montreal, Canada. The seminar on “cleaner production” will be organised by the United nations Environment Programme in collaboration with the Canadian Centre for Pollution Prevention.

SANCTIONED: The Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, has sanctioned a grant of Rs 31 lakh for development schemes announced during the “sarkaar aap ke dwar” programme. According to official sources, the district administration has already prepared a list of schemes to be undertaken in different parts of the city.

ASSAULTED: Kulbir, Akshay and Sonu, students of the local Government Industrial Training Institute, sustained serious injuries when they were attacked with hockey sticks and knives allegedly by a group of students of a local college near Ambedkar Park here on Thursday. They have been admitted to the local civil hospital. A dispute over the purchase of cinema tickets about a week ago is said to be the reason behind the incident. A case has been registered.

SHOT DEAD: Satpal Singh (25), owner of a cable shop, was allegedly shot dead by two car-borne youths in the Vikas Nagar area on the Kakroi road here on Thursday. He was taken to the local hospital where he was declared brought dead. Mr Ishwar Singh father of the victim, has lodged an FIR against Rajinder Singh and Joginder Singh, of Halalpur village in this connection. A dispute over the payment of money is said to be the reason behind the murder.

CASE TRANSFERRED: The murder case of Umed Singh, a former sarpanch of Chitana village, took a new turn when Mr A. S Chawla, SP, handed over the case to Mr Mahavir Singh, SHO, of the Rai police station, for investigation on Friday. According to official sources, the SP took this action on the demand of aggrieved family members of the victim and their supporters who held a demonstration at the district headquarters on Thursday.

KILLED: Sarita (7) was crushed to death by a truck on the Sonepat-Murthal road near Sector 14 here on Thursday. The driver, however, managed to escape. A case has been registered. In another incident, a man was run over by a vehicle on the GT Road near Qumashpur village, 12 km from here, on Thursday.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

KANGRA
THEFTS: Burglars allegedly broke into the house of Dr Shiv Kumar, a lecturer of the local DAV College, around 3 a.m. on Friday and decamped with Rs 10,000 in cash and keys of a bank locker. Later, they also reportedly broke into the house of Professor Narula in the same locality and took away three wrist watches and some cash.

KURUKSHETRA
BODY FOUND: The body of Ram Karan of Jind was found in the house of Premo Devi at Mirzapur village, near here, on Wednesday. Premo Devi and her son were detained for interrogation. However, Premo Devi, who had injuries on her face, was admitted to the local LNJP Hospital where she was declared unfit to give statement. A case would be registered after her statement, the police said.

SHIMLA
RECOVERED: The police has arrested Ram Singh and recovered a diamond necklace worth Rs 1.25 lakh from him. He reportedly had stolen the necklace from a room of the Shilon Resorts in Kufri , near here.