R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

ABOHAR
DECISION DEFERRED: The local Municipal Council has deferred the resolution for giving octroi collection on contract. The council’s meeting convened to consider proposals for the purpose was adjourned without a discussion on the issue, said Mr Satish Narang, vice-president of the council.

AMBALA
PUBLIC DEALINGS: The SDM, Ambala, Mr Satbir Singh Saini, has said that on every Tuesday, he along with Deputy Superintendent of Police will be listening to the grievances of people at the sub-tehsil office at Ambala cantonment from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. On the last day of the week, he would be available to the public from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at his office. He said that all employees of his office would be available for public dealings from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. every day and then do their office work, a release said.

GESTURE: HelpAge India, an organisation working nationwide for the welfare of the needy old, released a cheque for Rs 1 lakh to Philadelphia Hospital, Ambala city. According to Mr Bhavneshwar Sharma, senior executive officer, HelpAge India, the project of Philadelphia Hospital has taken up to Rs 2 lakh towards the eye care programme of the elderly. On the occasion, the cheque was released by Sister M Tara, Principal of Convent of Jesus and Mary School, Ambala, and handed over to Dr Deepti Sadiq, Director, Philadelphia Hospital, a release said.

BODY FOUND: The body of a youth was found near Fadouli village, 10 km from here, on Thursday. The deceased had been identified as Sanjiv Kumar, a resident of Ambala Cantonment. According to police sources Sanjiv was a former employee of the Punjab Government Railway Police. He had left his home last evening. The body was brought to Civil Hospital at Ambala Cantonment for postmortem. The police has registered a case. No clue has been found so far in this regard.

AMRITSAR
NCC CAMP: The annual training camp of NCC cadets of the 1 Punjab Battalion, NCC, Amritsar, commenced at Government ITI, Lopoke on Wednesday . Three officers, 10 ANO’s and 375 NCC cadets are attending the camp, said Lt-Col Ravinder Singh, Camp Commandant.

VOCATIONAL AWARDS: The Rotary Club of Amritsar (Cantt) presented vocational service awards to four outstanding professionals for excelling in their respective fields. The awardees included DIG (Border Range) Jasminder Singh, Joint Commissioner (Income Tax) V.K. Saksena, Assistant Professor (Blood Bank) Dr Swami Sharan Sharma, and a Senior Lecturer of Music at Guru Nanak Dev University, Ms Tejinder Adda. The Inspector General of Police (Zonal), Mr Bakshi Ram, presented the awards.

SEMINAR HELD: A seminar on “Opportunities in Internet Technology” was organised by the BBK DAV College for Women in collaboration with the Rotary Club here on Tuesday. Mr S.J.S. Pall, Income Tax Commissioner, presided over the function.

LITERARY AWARD: The seventh Puran Singh Hunar Award will be presented to Denmark-based Punjabi poet S.S. parwana on November 7 at the local Guru Teg Bahadur College for Women. This was stated here by Dr Kulbir Singh Kang, president of the Sahit Vichar Kendra.

CHILDREN’S BOOK FAIR: Scholastic India, a subsidiary of the Scholastic Corporation of USA is organising a children’s book fair here. The book fair, being held at Deep International will remain open till Sunday.

BARNALA
PROTEST MARCH: College teachers serving in government-aided colleges of Sangrur district will hold a protest march here on November 14 after proceeding on a mass casual leave to press the Punjab Government to redress their grievances. This was stated by Prof Rakesh Jindal, district president of the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union here on Wednesday.

BATHINDA
POWER GENERATION: Even as two units of the local Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant (GNDTP) have completed their life span, the plant produced 2389 lakh units in October. Mr U.S. Lucky, Chief Engineer, GNDTP, in a press note issued here on Wednesday said the production was a record since the inception of the plant.

HOSHIARPUR
ARRESTED: The police arrested Kanta and her mother Ramwati, residents of Ram Colony Camp on Tuesday for allegedly throwing a newly-born baby in a forest on October 27. This was stated in a press note issued by Mr R.P. Mittal, SSP, here on Wednesday.

KAPURTHALA
24 CARS IMPOUNDED: To check the plying of private cars as taxis without permit, a raid was conducted at the local bus stand by Mr Gurmit Singh, District Transport Officer, and Mr Baldev Singh Dhaliwal, DSP on Wednesday. They impounded 24 cars being plied as taxis.

LEGAL SERVICE DAY: The District Legal Services Authority will observe November 9 as Legal Services Day. This was stated by Mr Gurdev Singh, District and Sessions Judge-cum-Chairman of the District Legal Services Authority.

LUDHIANA
VIGILANCE WEEK: The employees of Punjab and Sind Bank took a pledge to eradicate corruption and to work with integrity and transparency at a function organised at the zonal office of the bank here on Thursday. The function was part of a vigilance awareness week being observed by the bank from October 31 to November 4. The Chief Manager, Mr G.S. Saluja, administered the oath to the employees. According to Mr Saluja, the bank management would endeavour to educate the customers and motivate the employees to deal in a scrupulous manner and bring transparency in the functioning. The messages received from the Central Vigilance Commissioner and the Vigilance Commissioner were read out on this occasion. 

TREATMENT: A joint deputation of the Schedules Castes and Backward Classes Employees Coordination Committee, Punjab, and the SC/BC Employees Union, Punjab, led by Mr Gurmel Singh Chandharh and Mr Mulaggar Singh, met the Chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes met Mr Dalip Singh Bhuria at Circuit House here and submitted a memorandum alleging unjust treatment meted out by the state government. The Chairman was told that the Dalit sections were being perpetually discriminated against by the government in transfers, reversions, refusal of promotions despite backlog and non-payment of scholarships to Dalit students. Mr Bhuria and a member of the commission, Mr Harinder Singh Khalsa, assured the deputationists that the matter would be taken up with the government at the appropriate level. 

RUHANI SATSANG: Under the instructions of Maharaj Kamal Bir, the successor of the Ruhani Satsang Prem Samaj, the following were elected Presidents of the central committee and other branches in the presence of observers: central committee: Ludhiana — Dr Bir Hans, Abohar — Mr G.S. Mittal, Amritsar — Mr Ramesh Beri, Bankhandi — Mr Parshottam Chand, Bathinda — Mr Pritpal Sethi, Bijhri — Mr Daya Ram, Delhi — Mrs Neelam Kohli, Dharamsala — Mr Manmohan Sharma, Fazilka — Mr Jatinder Wadhwa, Jagraon — Mr Ved Parkash Garg, Jalandhar — Mr Boota Ram, Jalandhar (West) — Mr Ramesh Wadhwa, Jwalaji — Mr Om Parkash Sharma, Jwalamukhi Road — Mr Rattan Chand, Kapurthala — Mr Vijay Kumar Phul, Karnal — Mr Ashok Pahwa, Malout — Mr Ajay Kumar, Moga — Mr Raj Kumar Monga, Pathankot — Mr Daljit Singh, Phagwara — Mr Raman Sudhir, Panchkula, Chandigarh and Mohali — Mr Vijay Kumar Nagpal, Pinjore — Mr Dharam Singh Verma, Sohawara Kalan — Mr Sat Pal, Rohtak — Mr Gurbaksh Bajaj. 

OBSERVES: The district unit of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) observed Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Jayanti at a special meeting of the party held here on Wednesday. Party activists offered floral tributes to the first Home Minister of India, popularly known as the Iron Man. Speaking on the occasion, the district President of the NCP, Mr Rashpal Singh Gill, said that it was the determination, farsightedness and diplomacy of the then Home Minister that the country divided in small states at the time of partition was unified into a cohesive and integrated nation which later went on to become one of the largest democracies in the world. The Senior Vice-President of the district unit, Mr Ramesh Nanchahal, the Vice-President, Mr Balbir Aggarwal, and the General Secretary, Mr Ashok Khullar, also addressed the meeting. 

LAUNCH: The Nehru Sidhant Manch will launch a campaign against opportunism, defection and corruption, both in political and social life, on November 14, the birthday of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. This was decided at a meeting of the district committee members and conveners of the assembly segments of the manch held under the presidentship of Wg Cdr Paramjit Singh Sibia (retd). According to the manch convener, Mr Piara Singh Dhillon, a committee comprising Mr Mewa Singh Kular, Mr Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Mr Om Parkash Angrish, councillor, Mr Inderjit Jhanji, Mr Mohinder Singh Kalyan, former MP, Mr Harnek Singh Mangewal and Mr Dharamjit Singh Khera has been set up to finalise the programme for the campaign. He said in a function to mark the birthday of Pandit Nehru that the manch would distribute free stationery and exercise books among poor students on November 14. 

WORKSHOP: A one-day workshop on effective science teaching was held at Nankana Sahib Public School, Gill Park. Nearly 65 teachers from 26 schools of the city participated in the workshop. 

TEST: Top Career and You, a career counselling centre, organised its second mock CAT test at SD Government College here. Nearly 100 candidates from various parts of Punjab took the test which was conducted under simulated conditions of the real mock test, told Mr Kamal Wadhera, director of the centre. 

ASTROLOGY: An all-India millennium meet of astrologers is being organised by the Aryavart Jyotirvigyan Sanstha for the first time in Ludhiana on Nov 4 and 5, at Guru Nanak Dev Bhavan. This was disclosed at a press conference by the chairman of the Sanstha, Prof Mohan, here on Wednesday. Mr Suresh Atray, President of the Sanstha, said that astrologers like Pandit Madan Lal Rajasthani (Good Morning India and Star Plus), Mr Ajay Bhambhi (Jain TV), Pandit Prakash Bharadwaj (ETC TV), Mr Bejan Daruwala (Ahmedabad) and many more would share their feed back analysis with participants and dwell upon various aspects of this art which is also a science. Honours would be conferred on those who had made a significant contribution to this field. The horoscopes and palms of the general public would be analysed during the meet by the astrologers and consultants. The meet will be inaugurated by Jagad Guru Shankracharya. 

ROPAR
DRDA MEETING: The District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) will arrange loans amounting to Rs 217 crore and provide a subsidy worth Rs 30 lakh to 14 self-help groups and 700 individuals in the district by the end of the current financial year. This was decided at a meeting of the governing body of the DRDA held under the chairmanship of the Deputy Commissioner, Ropar, Mr G.S. Grewal.

CHANDIGARH

SECURITY MEASURES: The Panchkula Welfare Association, Sector 8, had expressed concern over the increasing incidents of chain snatching in the town. Mr R.P. Malhotra, president of the association, suggested some steps to check the incidents: regularisation of the entry of the migrant labourers and issue them I-cards, proper implementation of laws by the respective state governments to check the unplanned and unauthorised colonies, welfare associations and NGOs should be involved in the community policing, planning of walled Sectors and Sector blocks and various social and group activities should be encouraged and organised to have strong neighbourhood relations to make it easier to identify the strangers in the localities.

HARYANA

PANIPAT
SELF-EMPLOYMENT: The Haryana Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation has distributed Rs 39.23 lakh for self-employment schemes during the current financial year. This was stated by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Anand, here on Wednesday.

SIRSA
FOUNDATION STONE: The Chief Minister, Mr O.P. Chautala, laid the foundation stone of a multipurpose gymnasium hall at the local Maharaja Aggarsain Girls School. He also announced a grant of Rs 5 lakh from his discretionary quota for the project.

YAMUNANAGAR
OLD-AGE PENSION: A grant of Rs 10.96 crore has been allocated by the state government for the disbursement of old-age pension in the district for the current financial year. This was stated by Mr Rajiv Sharma, Deputy Commissioner, here on Wednesday.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
PARTY ELECTION: The district president of the Himachal Vikas Congress, Major Shivram Sharma, has declared the election schedule for all four constituency units of the party in the district.

KANGRA
CLEANLINESS DRIVE: The subdivisional authorities observed Environment Cleanliness Day here on Wednesday and cleared some parts of the town of polythene bags with the help of school and college students. They also held a rally to create awareness regarding environmental cleanliness.

NAHAN
PROHIBITED: The Deputy Commissioner, Sirmaur, Mr Rakesh Kaushal, has prohibited the carrying of firearms, lethal weapons and explosive material within the limits of Dadahu, Khala Kiar Mela panchayats from November 6 to November 11. The orders have been issued to ensure peaceful conduct of the Renuka Fair.

NURPUR
KISAN SAMMELAN: A three-day kisan sammelan organised by the State Department of Science, Technology and Environment concluded, at Rey, a remote village of jawali subdivision, on Wednesday. Mr Rajan Sushant, Minister for Revenue, Science and Technology, presided over the function.