R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
INAUGURATION: Swami Akhanda Nand on Monday inaugurated work on the gold plating of domes in the Shivala Bagh Bhaiyan temple complex. The general secretary of the trust told mediapersons here that the work would be completed within two months.

CULTURAL PROGRAMME: BBK DAV College for Women organised a Punjabi cultural festival ‘Shhehbar’ on its campus. Old Punjabi folk songs, Punjabi ancient sports and other forms of art were displayed. The former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr R.L. Bhatia, who presided over the function, gave Rs 5 lakh to the college for the computer laboratory.

BATHINDA
EYE CAMP: Mr Chiranji Lal Garg, Science and Technology Minister, Punjab, inaugurated an eye camp organised by the Brahmin Sabha and the State Bank of Patiala at Maisarkhana village in the district. At least 450 patients were examined and 36 eye operations conducted by Dr Sachandev Walia and members of his team. The patients were given medicines, food and accommodation free of cost.

GURDASPUR
ENGINEERS protest: Junior Engineers owing allegiance to the Border Zone Council of Junior Engineers, PSEB, wore black badges on Monday in protest against the alleged indifference of the Chief Engineer of the border zone towards their demands. Their demands included reinstatement of 30 junior engineers suspended in October and November and withdrawal of show-cause notices and charge sheets issued to 700 junior engineers, said the president of the council, Mr J.P. Singh.

HOSHIARPUR
SENTENCED: Mr L.R. Roozam, District and Sessions Judge, has sentenced Gurtek Singh, Jaswinder Singh, alias Manna, Palwinder Singh, Iqbal Singh, Jasbir Singh and Jaswinder Singh alias Bitta of village Alipur village to life under Sections 302/149 of the IPC. Mr Maninder Singh Multani, public prosecutor, said here on Monday that they were convicted for the murder of Sukhjivan Singh of the village.

NRI SURVEY: The District NRI Sabha will conduct a survey to ascertain the number of NRIs from the district. This was stated by Mr Iqbal Singh Sidhu, Deputy Commissioner, at a meeting of the sabha here on Monday.

Ludhiana
Gurbani competition: The Akal Khalsa Welfare Society would organise an All-India inter-school Gurbani recital competition at Gurdwara Guru Arjan Dev Satsang Sabha, Samrala bypass chowk, here on December 1. According to Giani Ranjit Singh Shaad, the competition was being organised on the martyrdom day of Guru Teg Bahadur. Running trophies would be presented to teams winning the first , second and third positions. Consolation prizes would also be given to encourage the participants. 

gurmat samagam: The annual mahan Gurmat samagam of Gurdwara Nanaksar, Samrala chowk, will be held from December 8, according to the gurdwara sources. The samagam will begin with 21 akhand paths at 10 a.m. on December 8. Amrit sanchar will take place the next day at 11 a.m. and on December 10 there will be a kirtan after the culmination of the akhand paths. A marathon alokik kirtan darbar would be held from 6 p.m. on Sunday till 6 a.m. the next day which will be presided over by Sant Baba Jaswant Singh ji. 

appointed: Mr Harbhagat Singh Grewal has been appointed general secretary of the District Youth Congress (Urban). The appointment has been made by the Punjab Youth Congress president, Mr Devinder Singh Babbu, according to a PYC release. 

demanded: The Minister for Science and Technology, Mr Chirnaji Lal Garg, has promised to discuss the demand made by the management of Tagore Public School, Agar Nagar, with the state government, for the allotment of land at reserve price for extension of the school building and establishment of a college. Presiding over the annual function and silver jubilee celebrations of the school here on Sunday, the minister also assured that the government would initiate steps for construction of a bridge connecting part A and part B of the Agar Nagar locality, across the Ferozepore Road to facilitate movement of the residents and school going children. These demands were raised by Mr Amrit Lal Aggarwal, Manager of the school. 

VISIT: The recent visit of a senior leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Mr P. A. Sangama, has proved to be a shot in the arm for the party, claimed the district president, Mr Rashpal Singh Gill. In a press release, he said a large number of Congress workers had joined the NCP at several places in Punjab, which indicated that the party would put up a good performance in the coming Assembly elections in the state. Top party leaders, Mr Sangama, Mr Sharad Pawar and Mr Tariq Anwar would conduct intensive tour of Punjab in the near future to strengthen the organisational base of the party. 

declamation contest: The Vivekanand Study Circle organised an inter-house declamation contest which was held at the Sanatan Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, Civil Lines, here on Tuesday. The contestants spoke on the topics, Swami Vivekanand - symbol of youth strength, changing outlook of woman, homage to the Kargil martyrs and the role of computers in modern life. Gaurav Chugh of Class XI clinched the first prize, Anu Thakur of Class X stood second and Nidhi Sachdeva of Class X was declared third. Ms Sadhna Sharma, Principal, gave away the prizes to the students. 

MALERKOTLA
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local S.S. Jain Girls High School Managing Committee: president — Mr Rattan Lal Jain; manager — Mr Pawan Kumar Jain and secretary — Mr Vinod Kumar Jain.

STATIONERY DISTRIBUTED: The local Sudershan Tarsem Trust has distributed notebooks and other articles of stationery free of cost to the needy from local schools at a function held at the local Government High School on Monday. Mr S. Tarsem, chairman of the trust, said the trust would provide for the poor students every year.

ELECTIONS: The Gazetted Educational School Services Association has decided to hold elections of its state body on January 7, next year. Stating this, Mr Joginder Singh Aulakh, president of the state unit of the association, said on Tuesday this decision had been taken on Monday at the state executive committee at Ludhiana.

MANSA
CONVENTION: The district committee of the Youth Action Front held a convention to discuss the role of youth in the present political scenario here on Tuesday. The convention was addressed by Mr Chander Shekhar, general secretary, CITU, Punjab.

TELEPHONE DEMANDED: The district office of the Vigilance Bureau does not have a telephone. Mr Mukhtiar Singh, Deputy Superintendent of Police, has demanded immediate installation of telephone.

MOGA
FOUNDATION STONE: Punjab Education Minister Tota Singh laid the foundation stone of a primary school at Guru Ramdass Nagar here on Sunday. He announced that the donors who gave Rs 10 lakh for buildings of primary schools, Rs 12 lakh for high schools and Rs 15 lakh for higher secondary schools would be honoured by naming the schools after the heads of their families.

NAWANSHAHR
COMPETITION HELD: The local Dayanand Amarnath College of Education for Women organised a poster making competition on the topics of value of books, drug addiction and pollution. Dr Dev Ichha Shekhar, Principal, inaugurated the competition in which 41 students participated. Amandeep Kaur (value of books), Sujata (drug addiction) and Kanchan ( pollution) won the first positions, informed the Coordinator, Mr Krishan Goyal, here on Monday.

PHAGWARA
MEMORANDUM: Activists of the Gau Surakhsha Samiti, Mehligate, on Monday stormed into a meeting of the local Municipal Council to present a memorandum forcing the chairman to adjourn it. The activists demanded the construction of a gaushala which the council had declared illegal.

HUMAN RIGHTS DAY: A state-level function of the international Human Rights Day would be held at nearby Palahi village on December 10, Mr Gurmit Palahi, Principal, Community Polytechnic, Palahi said on Monday. Justice V.K. Khanna, Chairman, Human Rights Commission, Punjab, would preside.

ENVIRONMENT FAIR: A three-day environment fair would be held here from December 7 to December 9, according to Mr Malkiat Singh Ragbhotra, General Secretary of the local Environment Association. The Punjab Transport Minister, Mr Raghbir Singh, would preside over the opening ceremony.

SAHNEWAL
Martyrdom day: The martyrdom day of the ninth guru of the Sikhs, Shri Guru Teg Bahadur ,would be observed on December 1 at the Gurdwara Shri Reru Sahib in Sahnewal. The path of Shri Guru Granth Sahib would commence from December 29. The occasion would be marked by kirtan by Bhai Surinder Singh , Bhai Ajmer Singh Phull, and Bhai Amarit Pal. 

SUNAM
ANIMAL CAMP: The Rotary Club organised an animal welfare and treatment camp at Maidyabas village, 16 km from here. Mr Ranjit Singh Balian, Punjab Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development, presided over the camp. 

CHANDIGARH

celebrated: The Allahabad Bank, Sector 8C, branch celebrated its 26th anniversary, here on Tuesday. The bank is a fully computerised and ATM facility will be shortly installed at the branch. This was stated by Mr A.K. Vashist in a press release. 

competition: A competition in patriotic songs and National Anthem recitation during the on-going martyrdom fortnight of Sher -e -Punjab Lala Lajpat Rai was held at Lala Lajpat Rai Bhavan, Sector 15, here on Tuesday. A large number of students from the city schools participated in the competition. The overall best prize was won by Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 40. Dr K.L. Passi, convener of the Bharat Vikas Parishad distributed prizes to the winners. 

Workshop: A workshop-cum-seminar on ‘AIDS awareness communication strategies’ was organised by the regional office of the Directorate of the Field Publicity, here on Tuesday. The seminar was intended to discuss the threat posed by AIDS. The participants included: Dr Rajni Lamba, adviser of Haryana AIDS Control Society, Mr Kanwal Kishore, DPIO, PIB, Station Director of All India Radio, Rohtak, Jalandhar and Chandigarh and officers of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Mr Ashok Kumar, Joint Director DFP, Chandigarh presided over the workshop. 

flayed: The Punjab State General Categories Welfare Federation has condemned the Haryana Government for its unwarranted midnight crackdown on peaceful striking employees of the Haryana General Categories and Backward Classes Employees in Sector 17. Mr Shyam Lal Sharma, president of the Federation urged the Chandigarh Administration and the IGP Chandigarh to direct the police to register FIRs of the agitating Haryana employees. Meanwhile in a show of solidarity the Punjab Civil Secretariat general categories employees wore black badges in protest against the alleged high - handedness of the Haryana Government against its employees. 

office-bearers: The following are of office bearers of the ABVP, Government College, Sector 11 unit: president — Ajay Jaswal ; vice presidents — Manish Yadav, Kuldeep, Ranbir Kaushik ; secretary — Kailash Sharma ; joint secretaries — Mukesh, Vishal and Premjeet ; press secretaries — Sumit, Bhuvan Chand Joshi and Parmod Yadav. 

elected: The following have been elected office-bearers the parbandhak committee, Gurdwara Sahib Patshahi Dasween, Sector 8-C, Chandigarh, president — Mr Chandan Singh; vice president — Mr Sukhjinder Singh Behl; general secretary — Mr Charan Pal Singh; finance secretary — Mr C.B Singh; joint secretary — Mr Naranjan Singh; auditor — Mr Raghbir Singh; store in charge — Mr Paramjit Singh. 

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Indian Institute of Homoeopathic Physicians: president — Dr V.K Gupta; secretary general — Dr N. Srenivasa ;finance secretary — Dr. Vershney; vice presidents — Dr S.S Vithal, Dr S.T Hasan, Dr S.B Singh, Dr K.R.K Prabhakar , Dr A.D Mahajan; joint secretaries — Dr A.S Mann, Dr Vivekananda Maiti, Dr Sampat Rao, Dr K.S.S Sivamurty. 

HARYANA

YAMUNANAGAR
OPEN DARBAR: The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Parkash Chautala, will preside over an open darbar the under the ‘sarkar aapke dwar’ programme at Bhogpur village of Sadhaura block on November 29. This was stated by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Rajeev Sharma, here on Monday. The Chief Minister will also inaugurate the Industrial Training Centre, at Sadhaura.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
LIQUOR SEIZED: The police intercepted an auto-rickshaw and seized 3,000 bottles of countrymade liquor costing about Rs 2 lakh. Superintendent of Police Atul Verma said here on Monday that driver Anantram, Rajinder Singh and Rajinder Prashad had been arrested and a case under Sections 61, 1 and 14 of the Himachal Pradesh Excise Act has been registered.

LIQUOR BANNED: District Magistrate Jagdish Chander Sharma passed an order here on Monday under Section 144 and prohibited the sale of liquor and ordered closure of liquor vends during panchayat elections in the district. All vends will remain closed on December 13, 15, 17, 19 and 20.

KULU
DHARNA STAGED: Congress workers staged a dharna before the office of the Deputy Commissioner here on Monday. Mr Satya Prakash Thakur, chairman of the state unit of the Seva Dal, said they were protesting against the Himachal Pradesh Government’s orders regarding seeking no-dues certificate for panchayat, panchayat samiti and zila parishad elections.

PARWANOO
celebrated: The Ravinder Nath Tagore Memorial Industrial Training Centre here celebrated its second annual day on Monday. Sanjay Sharma Assistant Commissioner, Parwanoo, was the chief guest. The secretary of the centre, while giving details of the activities of the institute said this was a centre run on the no profit, no loss basis and during 1999-2000, the centre had given computer training to about 180 students and most of them had been employed and working as computer operators in the reputed organisations. The students of the training centre presented a cultural programme. Mr Sanjay Sharma, gave away diplomas and certificates to the successful students. 

SHIMLA
DEFAMATION CASE: The Commissioner of the Shimla Municipal Corporation, Mr H.N. Kashyap, has initiated defamation proceedings against two Chandigarh-based Hindi newspapers. These papers had carried a report pertaining to the property of Mr Kashyap at Shogi near here, which, he claimed was false.