R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

ABOHAR
INQUIRY URGED: Mr Jagjit Singh, Leader of the Opposition in Punjab Vidhan Sabha, on Thursday demanded that the CBI should be asked to enquire into the murder of Harmesh Kaur Mukhija, former president of Municipal Committee, Dharamkot.

AMRITSAR
WATER SHORTAGE: The Gopal Nagar Welfare Society has demanded a regular supply of drinking water. The problem has been brought to the notice of the Mayor Mr Brij Mohan Kapoor. Gopal Nagar, Friends Colony, Nehru Colony and Jagdambey Colony areas here face shortage of drinking water in winter months.

ANNUAL FUNCTION: The annual function of St Xavier’s School, Guru Bazar, Chheharta, will be held on December 25 at the Dashmesh auditorium, Guru Nanak Dev University, here. Dr R.S. Bawa, Registrar, will preside.

BATHINDA
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local unit of the Punjab Food and Supply Ministerial Staff Union: president — Mr Gurjant Singh Grewal; senior vice-president — Mr Ajit Singh; vice-president — Ms Sukhwinder Joga; secretary — Mr Randhir Singh Dhillon; treasurer — Mr Sohan Lal Bansal; joint secretary — Mr Jagjeet Singh; and publicity secretary — Mr Didar Singh.

GURDASPUR
THIEF HELD: Santokh Singh, alias Noni, of Naushehra Majja Singh village has been arrested for stealing car stereos. Mr Varinder Kumar, SSP, said on Thursday that four car stereos had been recovered from his possession. A case under Section 411 of the IPC has been registered against the accused.

RESENTMENT: Resentment prevails among the owners of PCOs against the orders of the General Manager of Telecommunication Department, Pathankot, to make payments of bills through bank drafts at branches of UCO Bank in Pathankot and Batala. The draft cost Rs 38 to Rs 40, they said.

HOSHIARPUR
ORDERS: Mr Iqbal Singh Sidhu, District Magistrate, has re-imposed Section 144 of Cr PC in the district. However, the government officials who are on duty and those who are to attend marriages or religious processions are exempted.

KHARAR
POLICE REMAND: Mr Roshan Lal Chauhan, Judicial Magistrate, Kharar, remanded an Assistant General Manager of Punwire Mr Ashok Jerath, in police remand till Dec 27 from Friday, Mr Jerath, arrested by the SAS Nagar police on Wednesday on charges of criminal breach of trust and forgery. Mr H.S. Rakkar, Assistant Public Prosecutor, who appeared on behalf of the State, pleaded before the court that the accused had been allegedly involved in forging Rs 5 crore 98 lakh and many cases had been registered by the police related to this. He said information was yet to be collected from the accused about the place where the money had been kept by him and also information relating to a co-accused. He alleged that fake receipts had been prepared by the accused.

FUNCTION: S.N. Public School, Kharar is organising its annual cultural function here on Saturday at 10.30 a.m. Mr P. Lal (IPS), Additional DGP, Punjab will be the chief guest.

BLOOD DONATION: The Youth Hostels Association of India is organising its fifth blood donation camp at Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Kharar, on Saturday at 10 a.m. Ms Satwant Kaur Sandhu, Cabinet Minister, Punjab and Mr Tara Singh Ladal (State Minister of Education) will be the chief guest.

URGED: The Sarpanch and other members of the Gram Panchayat of Adhreda village of Kharar subdivision, in a letter to the Punjab Chief Minister, have alleged that no grant has been given to the Panchayat for development works, ever since the elections for the Gram Panchayat were held in June 1998. They have written that 95 per cent of the population was poor and a large number of development works were sending in the village. They have urged the chief Minister to release the grant.

LALRU
FOLLOW JESUS' PATH: An impressive cultural programme was presented by students of Golden Public School to celebrate Christmas here on Friday. The students were told about the values of secularism, fraternity and friendship. Carol singing, fancy dress show and different sports activities were also organised. Mr G.B. Mathur, Director Education, emphasised the need to follow the path of love and sacrifice as thought by Lord Jesus to make this world happier.

LUDHIANA
DHARNA: The Class IV Government Employees and Workers Union staged a dharna in front of the Canal office here to press their demands. Addressing the workers, the District President Mr Karam Singh and General Secretary Mr Harbhajan Singh demanded that the employees be granted a 4-9-14 scale, bonus for 4 years, medical allowance and uniform allowance. Further, the union called for regularisation of daily wagers and part time employees, recruitment of family members of deceased employees on priority basis and promotion under 15 per cent quota to matriculate class IV employees. The protesters urged the administration to arrest those responsible for the attack on class IV employees in Canal office here on November 21. The union would further intensify the agitation, if the accused were not arrested till January 15, 2001. 

MEETING: The Indian Youth Congress (IYC) president, Mr Randeep Singh Surjewala, has convened a meeting of all the district presidents of the Youth Congress in Delhi on Monday. This was stated by Mr Pawan Diwan, Chairman of Urban Development Cell of the IYC here on Friday. He said the Punjab Youth Congress would organise a ‘padyatra’, to focus on the anti-people policies of the Punjab Government, in the second week of January. The seven day pad yatra will commence from Fatehgarh Sahib and passing through towns and villages on the way, will conclude at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, where a massive public rally would be held. Besides the IYC president and the PPCC chief, Captain Amarinder Singh, senior party leaders would take part in the pad yatra and the rally.

SUPPORTED: Mr Harpal Singh Kohli, vice president, Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) has supported the SGPC decision to deny voting rights to ‘sehajdhari Sikhs’. In a press note, Mr Kohli has said in the Sikh religion, there was no definition of ‘sehajdhari Sikh’. The SGPC had, in fact, represented the sentiments of the Sikh community through this right decision. 

MOGA RALLY: An emergency meeting of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was convened at the party office here on Thursday to make arrangements for the party rally at Moga on December 23, to be addressed by the BSP Chief Mr Kanshi Ram. Addressing the meeting, the party general secretary, Mr Om Parkash Chauhan said party workers, in large numbers, would proceed to Moga, to participate in the rally. The vehicles, carrying the party workers, will leave in a convoy from party office here at Deepak Cinema Road.

LISA RAY: Lisa Ray, lead model of the Lakme campaign, inaugurated the Lakme Beauty Saloon in Sarabha Nagar on Friday. She was given a warm welcome as the Army band dressed in smart kesaria turbans and coats played for her. Mr Sanjay Goel, the owner said, “Our aim is to provide absolute clean and hygienic conditions so that no client of ours carries infection.” The saloon will undertake new training courses. 

MALERKOTLA
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Aggarwal Sabha: president — Mr Mohan Lal Singla; vice-president — Mr Pawan Modi and Mr Sat Paul Jindal; secretary — Mr Ramesh Jain; joint secretary — Mr Parmod Jain; and treasurer — Mr Durga Dass.

JOINING: Mr Satbir Singh has joined as General Manager of the District Industry Centre here on Thursday. He has been transferred from Muktsar.

MOGA
GAMBLING: The local CIA staff on Thursday arrested three persons involved in gambling. Dr Shard Satya Chauhan, SSP, said here that the police had recovered a large number of currency notes and other material used in ‘satta’ from them.

MARKET COMMITTEE: Mr Harinder Singh Rania was elected Chairman of the Badhni Kalan Market Committee at a function here on Wednesday. The Punjab Education Minister, Mr Tota Singh, and the Chairman, Punjab Tourism, Mr Tarem Singh Rattian, were present on the occasion.

PATHANKOT
CONSUMER DISPUTE: A Bench of the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Gurdaspur, has directed the SDO, Telecom Department, Dinanagar, to pay Rs 1,000 as compensation and to pay Rs 200 as litigation expenses to complainant Bhagwan Dass. The complainant alleged that in February, the STD facility in his phone got wrongly locked and in spite of repeated complaints to the SDO, the facility was not restored.

Patiala
ACCUSED: The Students Federation of India (SFI), accused Punjabi University authorities on Friday of creating a wedge between the students and teachers by initiating the scheme of teacher’s evaluation.

ELECTED: Following have been elected as office-bearers of the Arya Samaj Gharoli Gate Welfare Association; Mr Rajwinder Kumar Aggarwal, president; Mr G.R. Mehta, vice-president; Mr Krishan Kumar Goyal, general secretary; Mr Bedinder Singh, finance secretary; Sh Jai Kumar, member.

OFFICE-BEARERS: Following have been elected as office-bearers in Organisation of Punjabi University Students (OPUS); Sukhpreet Singh Malhotra, president; Gurjinder Singh Mann, chief advisor; Jaswinder Singh Dhaliwal, senior vice-president; Tejpal Singh Tiwana, vice- president; Gagandeep Singh Khandwad, vice-president; Rajinder Singh Chatha, press secretary.

PHAGWARA
ARRESTED: Parshotam Lal and his nephews Ravi Kumar and Raj Kumar were arrested on Thursday for making a murderous assault on Darshan Lal Bhalla and his son Shyam. They had been assaulted when they came to the Bhagatpura locality here to settle a divorce dispute with Mamta, wife of Shyam, Mamta is the daughter of a BJP leader, Darshan Lal.

REMANDED: Assistant Sub-Inspector Tirath Singh, In charge, Anti-goonda staff, who was arrested two days ago while accepting a bribe of Rs 20,000 from Sukhdev Singh of Bhanoki village, has been remanded to judicial custody till January 3.

PHILLAUR
VACANT POSTS: All-India Anti-Corruption Forum president P.S. Passi has urged the state government to fill the posts of DSP (Vigilance) lying vacant in three districts of Jalandhar range. He said here on Thursday that the districts of Nawanshahr, Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur had no DSP (Vigilance).

TARN TARAN
SMACK: Mr Harinder Jit Singh, DSP, said in a press note issued here on Thursday that 18 gm of smack had been seized from Kulwant Singh, alias Bintu, a resident of Sohal Thatti. A case under the NDPS Act has been registered.

GOLD ORNAMENTS: On the complaint of Mr Gurmeet Singh, a resident of Garden Colony, Jalandhar, the Goindwal Sahib police has registered a case under Section 379 of the IPC regarding the theft of gold ornaments of his wife at Goindwal Sahib Gurdwara.

CHANDIGARH

ELECTED: Following have been elected the office bearers of Shri Vishvakarma Samaj Sabha, Sector-12, Panchkula: chairman — Mr Gian Chand Dhiman, president — Mr Gurnam Singh Dhiman,vice-president — Mr Des Raj Dhiman, general secretary — Mr Tara Chand Virdi, secretary — Mr Surinder Dhiman, cashier — Mr Sat Pal Dhiman and Auditor — Mr Narinder Dhiman.

HARYANA

AMBALA
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been appointed office-bearers of Rotary Club Ambala Central, here today, president — Mr Walia; Senior vice-president — Mr Adesh Jain; vice-president — Mr Balbir Gupta; secretary — Mr Manmohan Maini, treasurer — Mr Ajit Singh, joint-secretary — Mr Adarsh Jain, sargents at arms, Mr Vinod Jangra and Mr Varinder Jain and directors, Mr Satpal Grover, Mr S.K. Garg, Mr Atul Jain, Mr Ram Yash, Mr T.S. Bagga.

JIND
IRRIGATION PROJECT: Mr M.C. Goel, Superintending Engineer in the local Irrigation Department, said on Thursday that 12 minors were being constructed in the district at a cost of Rs 18.22 crore. With the completion of these minors, more than 36,000 acres of land in 46 villages of the district will be irrigated. Four minors were nearing completion, he added.

BABY FOUND: A new born girl baby was found in a bush near the local Guru Teg Bahadur Sahib Gurdwara on Wednesday. The police has registered a case under Section 318 of the IPC and begun searching for the mother of the baby. A local, Mr Paramjeet, has adopted the baby.

EYE CAMP: Sixtyfive cataract operations were performed and 175 eye patients were examined at an eye camp organised by the Health Department at the local General Hospital on Wednesday. Mr H.S. Dhankhar, Deputy Commissioner, Jind, inaugurated the camp. The next eye camp will be organised here on January 9.

DOWRY CASE: Narender of Thurana village was arrested in dowry harassment case on the complaint of his wife Angrezo Devi. She alleged that her in-laws had harassed her for dowry and turned her out of their house.

KAITHAL
STRIKE: Students by Kanya Mahavidyalya, Dhand, 25 km from here, went on a strike on Thursday in protest against the poor maintenance of the college buses. Many students were injured, when the college bus overturned few days ago due to some mechanical breakdown.

AYURVEDA CAMP: The Mahavir jankalyan Trust organised an Ayurveda check-up camp here on Thursday. It was inaugurated by the Deputy Commissioner, Dr Mahavir Singh. As many as 800 patients were examined and given medicines free of cost.

SIRSA
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the state unit of the Haryana Divisional Accounts Officers Association: president — Mr O.P. Indora; senior vice-president — Mr Inder Mohan Malhotra; vice-president — Mr Karam Singh; general secretary — Mr Pavi Kant Mitre; assistant secretaries — Mr Ramphal Sidhu and Mr V.K. Malhotra and treasurer — Mr Baljeet Singh.

SONEPAT
SMUGGLING: The Rai police on Thursday intercepted a truck carrying bulls and a cow meant to be smuggled. Rashid, Iqbal, Shaheed, Adik and Imran were arrested and a case has been registered against them.

TEMPLE DAMAGED: Damage has been done to the building of a Balmiki temple and the idol of Maharishi Balmiki at Badshahpur Majra village, about 10 km from here, on Thursday. A complaint to this effect has been lodged with the Mohana police. The Deputy Commissioner has deputed the SDM and the Block Development and Panchayat Officer to inspect the spot.

MEASURES: The Haryana Excise and Taxation Department has taken measures to check the evasion of sales tax by contractors of sand dunes in the Yamuna bed. Mr B.M. Bhargawa, Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner, said on Friday that patrolling on the Sonepat-Meerut road and along the embankments of the river had been increased. Steps had also been taken to check the unauthorised mining of sand dunes, he added.

YAMUNANAGAR
BLOOD DONATION: Ms Renu Fulia, Subdivisional Magistrate, Jagadhri, inaugurated a blood donation camp here on Thursday. Thirtytwo persons donated blood at the camp. Mr S.S. Saini, secretary of the District Red Cross Society, said during the present year, 19 such camps had been organised.

PRIZE DISTRIBUTION: The annual prize distribution of Maharaja Agrasen College and Institute, Jagadhri, was held on Thursday. Ms Anuradha Gupta, Director of the Higher Education, Haryana, was the chief guest. She informed that the payment of salaries to private college teachers would be made a regular feature.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

JAWALAMUKHI
INAUGURATED: Col Sunil Sharma inaugurated the “Shardha Dwar” which was constructed by 4 Dogra at the local bus stand. Its construction was financed by officers and jawans of the regiment. The inauguration began with the worship of Jawala Devi.