R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
DOCTORS FLAYED: The All India Youth Association has decried the condition of government hospitals and doctors. Hospitals lacked essential services and medicines, and doctors fleeced patients, it said. The association has demanded vigilance and action against the authorities concerned, Mr Ravinder Kumar Sultanwind, spokesman of the association stated on Saturday.

DEMAND: Mr Deepak Kanojia, general secretary of the local Kanojia Mahasabha, said in a press note that they had received assurance from Capt Amarinder Singh, president of the PPCC, regarding raising their demand for inclusion of the community in the scheduled Caste category. He said the community had been declared Scheduled Caste in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chandigarh.

DORAHA
SPORTS MEET: The sports meet of Karamsar Rara Sahib will be held from January 2 to 4. The meet is organised by the Sant Baba Ishar Singh Sports Club, Rara Sahib. The main events of the meet are hockey, kabaddi, dog races and athletics, according to a press note issued by the president of the club. 

FARIDKOT
LOK ADALAT: Under the supervision of Mr H.P. handa, the local District and Sessions Judge, the legal services authority organised a lok adalat here on Saturday. Thirtynine cases were settled on the spot. Five benches were constituted to settle the disputes, said Mr Balkar Singh Sandhu, ADA, Legal Cell Authority.

INAUGURATION: The first retail outlet-cum-petrol station in the memory of Kargil martyr, Sepoy Surjeet Singh, was inaugurated by the local MP, Mr Zora Singh Mann, at Mamdot, 15 km from here on Sunday. The Sepoy of 8 Sikh Regiment had laid down his life at Tiger Hills in Kargil on August 2, 1999. The government has alloted petrol stations and LPG agencies to the families of the martyrs under “Operation Vijay” scheme.

GARHSHANKAR
BURNT TO DEATH: Renu Bala of Garhimansowal died of burn injuries on Saturday. Renu’s brother Avinash and maternal uncle Satish Kumar said she was married to Sanjeev Kumar on May 7. She was asked to bring Rs 20,000 as dowry by her in-laws, they alleged. Later, her husband allegedly demanded Rs 50,000 which they refused to give, they added.

GURDASPUR
FORGER HELD: Rana Kulbhushan, a patwari, and Kulwinder Singh of Kalanaur have been arrested for defrauding the branch manager of the Punjab and Sind Bank, Sidhwan. The accused attempted to get a loan to the tune of Rs 3 lakh for purchasing a tractor by submitting fake documents of a piece of land which was to be pledged with the bank.

HOSHIARPUR
MOBILE DISPENSARY: The Health Department, Punjab, will start mobile dispensary service from the next month. This was stated by Ms Mohinder Kaur Josh, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, here on Sunday. She said the government had given Rs 3 crore to purchase 51 vans for the scheme.

JWALAMUKHI
CAMP ORGANISED: A hepatitis-B camp was organised by the local Manav Dharam Kalyan Sabha at the local Community Health Centre here on Saturday. Social worker Puran Chand Langa inaugurated it. One hundred and thirtyfive persons were vaccinated.

KHAMANO
CONFERENCE: The Bahujan Samaj Morcha has decided to hold a conference during Jor Mela at Fatehgarh Sahib on December 26. The leaders of the party, including its chief, Mr Satnam Singh Kainth, former MLAs, Mr Raj Singh Kheri and Mr Baldev Singh Bhatti, the General Secretary of the party, Mr Avtar Singh and the others, will address the conference. This was announced here by Mr Rajwinder Singh Bhalomajra, Secretary of the district unit of the party. 

ROADS: A sangat darshan programme, headed by the Deputy Commissioner of Fatehgarh Sahib was organised at Todarpur village near here. The Deputy Commissioner was urged to look into the issue of the poor condition of roads in Khamano. The stretches of roads from Khamano to Chamkaur Sahib (via Dhanaula Maneli), Khamano to Chamkaur Sahib (via Badeshan), Khamano to Lutheri (via Hawara), Khamano to Samrala (via Dhanaula), besides those in Raipur, are in bad shape. Leaders of various political parties have also demanded an immediate repair of these roads. 

GRIEF: Leaders of major political parties, including the SAD (B), the Congress and the BSP, besides members of the Khamano unit of the Punjab-Chandigarh Patrakar Parishad, expressed grief at the death of Diwan Chand (70), father of Mr Ram Gopal, a Samrala-based journalist. 

HAILED: Mr Jagtar Singh, President of the Unemployed Teachers Front of Punjab, has hailed the decision of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to put a ban on hiring teachers on contract basis in primary schools. Mr Singh said it was sad that thousands of posts of teacher were lying vacant in schools of Punjab. 

KHANNA
ARRESTED: The Khanna police says that it has arrested a person and siezed a truck with a fake registeration number here. According to the DSP of Khanna, Mr Mohinder Pal Singh, a police party of Sadar police station stopped a truck (PB-07-1578) near the Markfed mill on the GT Road. The driver of the truck, Harpal Singh, a resident of Bhandoi village in the Gurdaspur district, was arrested after he could not produce papers of the vehicle. The driver confessed that the registeration number of truck was fake and its original number was MH-04-H-7624. He said he used this truck to cheat traders. He said, instead of delivering goods, he used to sell these. The police said his brother, Sucha Singh, was also involved with him in cheating others and had absconded. A case under Sections 407, 420, 467 and 471 of the IPC has been registered against them at Sadar police station. 

LUDHIANA
HELD: Three persons were booked and one of them arrested for exchanging fake currency notes in Haibowal area of the city here on Sunday. According to the police the three persons Raj Kumar, Ashok Kumar, Kuldeep alias Bittu were booked for dealing in fake currency, The police got information that the three were operating near Dhobi Ghat and exchanging fake currency with old notes. They were luring people by offering a 2 or 3 times higher price for the currency notes. The police managed to arrest Raj Kumar while the others managed to escape. 

REPRESENT: Two students of the PAU College of Agriculture have been selected to represent India at the International Student Festival at Trondheim in Norway. The Norwegian University of Science and Technology is organising this festival from March 2 to 11, 2001. Students from all over the world will discuss contemporary problems like sustainable development and global responsibility at the festival. The PAU students who have been selected are Jagroop Singh Bal and Harmandeep Singh. Both have represented the university earlier as well. Jagroop has been the captain of the combined team of Indian universities and Harmandeep has led the university in various literary competitions. 

FOOTBALL: The 4th Sardar Nachhattar Singh Memorial Cup Football Tournament will be held from January 19 to 21 at the police lines ground, Ludhiana. According to a press note issued here today by Mr M.C. Jnagal, the following teams will participate in tournament: Punjab Police, PSEB, Mahilpur XI, Sports College, Jalandhar, Khalsa College, Jalandhar, Fatehgarh Sahib, DFA, Patiala, and SHB, Banga. 

RETIREES: Persons who have retired from aided schools of Punjab are demanding revision of pension by December 31. They said, if the demand was not accepted, they would hold protests. Mr K.K. Rudra, General Secretary of the Punjab Aided Schools Pensioners Cell, said the those who had retired were still getting old grades and a 170 per cent DA, while the government pensioners were getting all benefits of the Fourth Pay Commission. He said a government notification had been passed on March 31 for the implementation of new grades, but no action had been taken in this regard after that. He said teachers of aided schools were getting medical allowance, but stopped getting these at retirement. 

MOGA
INTERROGATED: Chhinder Kaur, wife of Mukhtiar Singh of Sehna village near here, who had allegedly eloped with a granthi in the district a few days ago, has been traced by the Baghapurana police and restored to her husband, according to a report. The granthi is being interrogated.

COMPLAINT: Surjit Kaur, wife of a blind man, Makhan Singh, of Phulewala village in the district in a complaint to the Punjab Chief Minister has said that her monthly pension has been stopped by the department concerned. She demanded her pension be restored as she had no other means of income.

WATER SHORTAGE: Residents of Sukhanand and Bambhi Bhai villages in the district on Saturday complained that they had been facing shortage of drinking water for the past several months as the tubewells installed in their villages were out of order. They have urged the authorities to look into the matter.

NAWANSHAHR
WOOLLENS DISTRIBUTED: The local Rotary Club organised a function at Government Middle School, Sauna, about 5 km from here, on Saturday to distribute woollen clothes and shoes among the poor students. The SSP, Mr Ishwar Singh, presided over the function, the president of the club said.

MEETING HELD: A meeting of the district legal services authority was held here at judicial complex on Saturday under the chairmanship of Mr M.M. Aggarwal, District and Sessions Judge, Jalandhar, and president of the district legal services authority. Measures to create awareness among masses about the free legal aid were discussed. He said a pre-litigative bank lok adalat would be organised here on January 6.

PATIALA
ELECTED: Dr Vidwan Singh Soni, Principal, Government Mohindra College, Patiala, was elected President of the Punjab State Government College Principals Association at its first meeting held at Government Bikram College on Sunday. Dr Nisha Sharad , Principal , Government Ranbir College , Sangrur , has been elected secretary of the association. The executive committee members are: Dr R.K. Sharma, Principal, Government Bikram College, Patiala, Dr A.S. Turna, Principal, Government College, Hoshiarpur and Dr S.S. Sooj, Principal, Government College for Boys, Ludhiana . 

PUSA: A meeting of the Punjabi University Students Association (PUSA), held under the presidentship of Jaskarn Singh, on Sunday appreciated the university Vice-Chancellor for implementing the University Grants Commission (UGC) decision to consider the Student Appraisal Report periodically for the promotion of teachers. The students also demanded that the procedure for registration for Ph.D should be simplified and students should be encouraged to do research work with latest methods in new fields. 

MEDICAL CAMP: A medical check-up camp was organised by the Lions Club, Patiala, today at the SDSE School, Arya Samaj, Patiala. The camp was inaugurated by the Sub Divisional Magistrate, Mr M.S, Narang, and was presided over by the club president, Mr Anand Khosla. Free ECG tests were conducted on nearly 50 patients, besides laboratory tests for blood sugar. About 450 patients were examined at the camp by a team of doctors, including Dr H.S, Cler, Dr Rakesh Arora, Dr Harshinder Kaur and Dr Mahijit Puri.

SAHNEWAL
TRIBUTES: The bhog and antim ardas of Rajinder Singh Dard, former councillor and only living son of Jagir Singh Dard, former member Rajya Sabha, was performed at the Gurdwara Reru Sahib here on Sunday. Tributes were paid to Rajinder Singh by Mr Jagdev Singh Garcha, Technical Education Minister, Mr Charanjit Singh Atwal, Speaker, Vidhan Sabha and Mr Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, member, Rajya Sabha. 

FEST: The first cultural festival of Bhairomunna village was held near here on Friday in the memory singers Tapinder and Gurmit. The festival was inaugurated by Mr Jagdish Singh Garcha, a Punjab minister. Mr Jathedar Santa Singh Umaidpuri, Chairman of the Market Committee of Sahnewal, also attended the festival. The guests of honour were Mr Charanjit Singh Atwal, Speaker of the Panjab Vidhan Sabha, and Mr Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, General Secretary of the youth wing of the Akali Dal. The performers included Kuldip Manak, Surinder Laddi, Inderjit Nikku, Mehmood Warsi, Rakhi Hundal, Jagtar Raian, Yudhvir Manak, Bhag Singh Kheri, Balwinder Grewal and many others. Kuldip Manak was given the Mohammad Rafi Award, Dharshan Kumar received the Gulshan Kumar Award, and musician K.S. Naroola got the Tansen Award. Swaran Sewian was given the Tapinder Memorial Award and Preet Sallar Masoodra received the Gurmit Memorial Award. Those present on the occasion included Mr Balbir Singh, Sarpanch of Bhairomunna, Mr Shamsher Singh Kaile, President of the Nagar Panchayat of Sahnewal, and panches and sarpanches of the surrounding villages.

CHANDIGARH

PANCHKULA 
JOURNALISTS: A general body meeting of the Panchkula Journalists Association was held to announce office-bearers of the body. While the president, Mr Veer Vikram Aditya (Amar Ujala), and general secretary, Mr Surinder Bhatia (Punjab Kesri), were elected unanimously, they selected the rest of the panel. Those appointed include: patron — Mr K.C. Malkania (Desh Pyar); adviser — Mr Kedar Nath (Hind Samachar); organisational secretary — Mr Manmohan Vikrant; senior vice-president — T.D. Pandey (Arth Prakash); vice-presidents — Sat Naraian Gupta (Divya Himachal) and Dayanand Chaudhary (Ajit Samachar); joint secretaries — Ms Monika Goyal (Dainik Jagran) and Sant Arora (Punjab Kesri).  

HARYANA

POCKET PICKED: Mr Raj Kumar of Ganaur town lost Rs 2,000 as his pocket was picked at the railway station here on Sunday. The government Railway Police declined to register an FIR in this connection, alleged the complainant.

YAMUNANAGAR
ELECTED: The following have been elected as directors of the Yamunanagar Central Cooperative Bank Ltd: Mr Jai Chand (Kalanaur); Mr Angrez Singh (Bapoli); Mr Gurnam Singh (Sasoli); Mr Shiv Charan (Gadoli); Mr Karanbir (Khurdban); Mr jagir Singh (Bhagwangarh); Mr Jarnail Singh (Tihanon) and Mr Raj Pal (Badheri).

HIMACHAL PRADESH

PALAMPUR
CRITICISED: Mr Brij Behari Lal Butail, local MLA and senior Congress leader, has expressed concern over the deteriorating law and order situation in the region. Addressing a news conference here on Saturday, Mr Butail said there had been an increase in cases of theft, rape and murder in the area and in most of the cases, the police had failed to nab the culprits. He said the police had also failed to arrest those responsible for setting on fire the ballot boxes.