R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
PULSE-POLIO RALLY: The Bharat Vikas Parishad (central) organised a pulse-polio jagran rally at Hindu Sabha Senior Secondary School here on Saturday. Dr O.P. Mahajan, Principal, local Medical College, was the chief guest. About 400 students from the district participated in the rally.

AWARDED: Dr Narotam Bhalla, Professor of Medicine, has been awarded fellowship by the Indian Academy of Clinical Medicines. The Indian Medical Association in a press note issued here on Saturday said Dr Bhalla would receive the fellowship medallion at its annual convention to be held at Jodhpur during this month.

BARNALA
RALLY: A pulse-polio awareness rally-cum-procession was organised by the local Civil Hospital in collaboration with various social organisations here on Friday. Mr Malkit Singh Keetu, MLA, flagged off the rally which started from S.D. Senior Secondary School.

BATALA
DHARNA: Members of the local Bar Association sat on a dharna at Gandhi Chowk on Saturday in favour of their demand to make Batala a district. They also blocked the traffic for about half-an-hour.

GURDASPUR
LOK ADALAT HELD: A lok adalat was held here on Saturday under the supervision of Mr M.R. Batra, District and Sessions Judge. Out of 101 cases heard, 53 were decided on the spot.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT: Mr Nirmal Singh Kahlon, Rural Development Minister, on Sunday said the Punjab Government would soon release Rs 1 crore per constituency for the integrated development of rural areas. This amount would be spent on various development schemes at the behest of the MLA of the area. Mr Kahlon said the Punjab Government had sanctioned Rs 213 crore in this regard. The Central Government had also sanctioned Rs 4 crore for this purpose.

HOSHIARPUR
CONFERENCE: The 25th national conference of the Indian Society of Blood Transfusion and Immunohaematology will be held from November 10 to 18 at Tirupati. This was stated by a spokesman for Bhai Ghanayia Ji Charitable Blood Bank on Sunday.

FIR LODGED: An FIR was lodged by Mr Balwinder Singh on Saturday stating that his son Gagandeep was kidnapped by some persons on November 20. A case under Section 365 and 120 of the IPC has been registered.

EYE CAMP: A three-day eye camp will be organised at the Maharaja Tulsi Dass Charitable Hospital on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Medicines will be provided free of cost.

JALANDHAR
APPOINTED: The following have been appointed office-bearers of the Punjab Revenue Officers Association: president — Mr Subash Padam (Tehsildar); general secretary — Mr Gurmeet Singh (Naib Tehsildar); Sr vice-president — Mr Amarjit Singh (Tehsildar); vice-president — Mr Mohan Lal (Tehsildar); joint secretary — Mr Parkash Singh (Naib-Tehsildar); and treasurer — Mr Charanjit Singh (Tehsildar).

LUDHIANA
COMPETITION: The local branch of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics organised Child Health Care poster-making competitions on ‘Polio-free India’ in five schools of the city here on Saturday. Students from DAV Public School, Kundan Vidya Mandir, Guru Nanak Public School, Sacred Heart Convent School, Sarabha Nagar, and Sacred Heart High School, B.R.S. Nagar, participated in the competition. Prizes will, however, be announced on November 12, informed Dr Rajinder Gulati, secretary of the local branch of the academy. Dr Gulati also delivered a lecture on ‘Learning disabilities in a school-aged child’ for teachers of DAV Public School. Dr Sukhmeet Sethi, pediatrician and member of the academy, gave a talk on health education to the students of Sacred Heart Convent School. 

CONFERENCE: The fourth International CME in Haematology and blood transfusion medicine concluded here on Sunday, with an emphasis on safer blood transfusion. The conference was hosted by the Department of Pathology, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital in association with the University of British Columbia, Canada and the American Association of Physicians from India. Dr Bakul Dalal from British Columbia University and the Overseas Coordinator of CME delivered a lecture on ‘classification of acute leukaemia’. He focused the need for safe blood transfusion and suggested various measures for the same. He said, India needed to do a lot in this sector. According to Vinita Malhotra, Head, Department of Pathology, DMC and the chairperson of the conference 200 delegates from all over the world attended the conference. She said, students and teachers besides the medical community were immensely benefited from the conference. A special cultural programme was organised to mark the celebrations. 

DONATION: The Rotary Club of Ludhiana north has donated a generator set to Ashirwad, an institute for spastic children. This was disclosed at a function organised by the club during the official visit of the District Governor, Mr Arun Jain. The generator costs about Rs 25,000. Besides toys worth Rs 6000 and some sweets were also distributed in the institute. The club has adopted Anand Model High School, Pratap Singhwala, Humbra Road. Five scholarships were announced for its students. The club will also be organising free medical and dental check up for the students of the school. The club also organised a colourful function to welcome Mr Arun Jain. Speaking on the occasion Mr Jain lauded the contribution of the club in various social activities which benefit the common and deserving people. The president of the club, Mr Manmohan Singh Kalanauri, gave details of various programmes being organised by the club. 

EXHIBITION: A three-day exhibition on Sikh religion and culture by Mr Harvinder Singh of Bathinda was inaugurated at Gurudwara Singh Sabha, Sarabha Nagar, here today. On display are several paintings from various events in Sikh history which included the massacre of Muktsar, Nankana Sahib and Jailanwala Bagh. Besides, there are several portraits of Sikh warriors including Banda Bahadur. Several original manuscripts have also been displayed. One can also see weapons used by the sikh warriors. In addition, there are models of tanks and chariots. Depicting the cultural aspects are the carved utensils made of wood brass and copper, in addition to the storage containers, baskets, hand fans and spinning wheel. Postal stamps based on Sikh religion have also been displayed in the exhibition Mr Harvinder Singh, organiser of the exhibition, said that he carried the exhibits to various parts of the state even to Delhi and few places in Madhya Pradesh. 

MALERKOTLA
CONCLUDING CEREMONY: Concluding function of the vigilance awareness week organised by Powergrid Corporation of India Limited was held here on Saturday. Jigar Jalandhari, a noted poet, was the chief guest.

MANSA
ESCAPED: Surjit Singh alias Farni of Mula Singh wala village escaped from the court complex here on Friday. He was being produced in the court in connection with his hearing as he was booked under Section 15/61/85 of the NDPS Act. A case under Section 224 of the IPC has been registered.

TRUCK CATCHES FIRE: A truck loaded with cotton caught fire after it came in contact with a live electric wire near Geeta Bhavan here on Saturday. The truck belonged to Mr Surinder Kumar and the cotton belonged to M/s Ratti Ram Munshi Ram, of Mansa.

DIED: Gobind Ram (40) died in a road accident near Bhai Desa village here on Saturday. The accident took place when the scooter on which he along with his nephew was travelling hit a truck. Gobind Ram died on the spot while his nephew was admitted to a hospital in Ludhiana.

MOGA
LOK ADALAT: As many as 15 cases were settled by lok adalat held here on Sunday. The Chairman, Legal Services Authorities, Mr Justice H.S. Bedi, of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and Judges, Mr Justice Mehtab Singh Gill, Mr Justice M.L. Singhal were present on the occasion.

SEMINAR: A seminar on corruption was organised by the Municipal Council on the premises of the council here on Saturday. It was presided over by Mr Paramjit Singh Sandhu, SP. MR. Sandhu announced an award of Rs 25,000 for Mr Gurnam Singh of Dharamkot village. he had helped the police to nab a policeman who had taken bribe from him.

HONOURED: Mr Kanwalbir Singh Sidhu, Deputy Commissioner, honoured the panchayats of Jeewanwala, Smalsar, Butter Kalan and Bilaspore villages in the district on Friday for work done by them. All panchayats were given a sum of Rs 15000 each along with commendation certificates.

PATHANKOT
CASE REGISTERED: On the basis of an inquiry by the SDM, the Sadar Police has registered a case under Section 304 of the IPC in the custodial-death case of Mahashu Ram of Gilla, against Harcharan Singh, in charge police post, Nangal Bhoor, and others. According to police sources Mahashui was called to the police station under the directions of Harcharan Singh on July 16 in connection with some complaint against him. He later reportedly died in the police station.

PATIALA
DISTRIBUTED: The Helping Hand Society held its winter distribution function’ at Sun Flowers complex in Tripuri township on Sunday. Winter uniforms for school going children, blankets and other items of daily use were distributed. The society also paid for the tuition fees of needy school children and distributed books and stationery to 40 children. The function was attended by principals and teachers of several schools and colleges. Speaking on the occasion, the President of the society, Mr Vijay Gupta, extolled the virtues of good education and said that students should work hard and become good citizens. Mr Surinder Dhawan, Secretary of the society, also spoke on the occasion. 

SAMRALA
BODY FOUND: An unidentified body of a young man, aged about 35 years, was found on Sunday near the canal of Bhagwanpura, 3 km from here. The man, wearing only undergarments and a shirt was of thin built and sported a beard. The body has been sent for post-mortem. According to the police there were no injury marks on the body. 

POLIO CAMPAIGN: The campaign against polio started on Sunday with the inauguration by Mr Sandeep Hans, SDM, Samrala. On a team of doctors lead by Dr J.P. Singh, SMO, Samrala and assisted by the Lions Club president, Mr Rajvir Singh Mangat, organised several camps and administered polio drops to the children.

TARN TARAN
MURDERED: Mukhtar Singh (60) of the local Muradpur locality was murdered by his own relatives at Chohla Sahib village on Friday. A case has been registered against Jasjeet Singh, Dilbag Singh and their mother Swinder Kaur of the same village. A dispute over money is said to be the reason behind the murder.

HARYANA

FARIDABAD
OLD AGE HOMES: The district administration has identified Neemka in Mewla Maharajpur assembly segment, Seekri in the NIT area, Mohana in Ballabgarh, Aharwan in Palwal, Bhiduki in Hassanpur and Bahin in Hathin subdivision for setting up old age homes under a plan announced by the Chief Minister recently.

FATEHABAD
DRIVE: The district police chief, Mr M. Hanif Qureshi, has said the police will continue the work of drug de-addiction and curb on drug trafficking initiated by his predecessor Mr Shri Kant Jadhav. He was speaking at a function organised by the Police-Public Coordination Forum “Paryaas” here on Saturday.

KAITHAL
KIDNAPPED: A minor girl of Sirsal village was allegedly kidnapped by two youths of the same village on Thursday. According to a complaint lodged by Mr Jiwan, the father of the girl, his tenant Rajesh and his friend Satpal had kidnapped his daughter. A case has been registered.

ROHTAK
ELECTED: Dr K.V. Chamar, lecturer, Maharshi Dayanand University, Mr Satyawan Baroda and Ms Renu Arya have been elected president, general secretary and treasurer, respectively, of the Ambedkar Teachers’ Front.

SONEPAT
BODY RECOVERED: The police recovered the body of an unidentified youth lying in the bushes along the GT Road near Rasoi village, about 20 km from here, on Sunday. According to the police, the body bore some injury marks on the head.

POWER BREAKDOWN: The entire city plunged into darkness for a few hours following a power breakdown on Saturday evening. According to residents, the breakdown occurred around 7 p.m. and was later restored. This was the second major power breakdown during the past one week.

ATTACKED: Vijay, a youth of Khewra village, was allegedly attacked by a group of persons belonging to a rival group at the Mamoon Bhajan Chowk here on Saturday. According to the police, the youth sustained knife injuries and was immediately hospitalised. A case has been registered.