R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
GAS LEAK DENIED: The bottlers based in Chheharta on Thursday denied reports in the press regarding the Ammonia gas leak. The spokesman of the company pointed out that the Amritsar bottling company had ceased to exist since 1993. They also denied having installed the exhaust fans emitting smoke or other foul gases towards the residential area.

JALANDHAR
DEAD: Mr Narinder Verma, advocate and senior BJP leader, died following a heart attack at his Model Town residence on Thursday morning. He was 58 and is survived by his wife and two sons.

DHARNA: As many as 400 farmers sat on a dharna organised by the Punjab Kisan Sabha in front of the Deputy Commissioner office here on Thursday. They protested against the alleged indifferent attitude of the Punjab Government towards them. Mr Lehmbar Singh Taggar, general secretary of the sabha demanded the minimum support price be announced for vegetables and sunflower.

NAWANSHAHR
DISTRIBUTED: Mr Baldev Singh Soond, Mr Charanjit Singh Dhillon, Mr Gurmit Singh, all NRIs, in collaboration with Mr Jagjit Singh, retired District Education Officer, and others distributed woollen clothes and shoes among 40 students of the Government Primary School, Gujjarpur, about 3 km from here, on Thursday.

DHARNA: The local unit of the Revenue Patwar Union held a dharna here in the DC complex on Wednesday to protest against the alleged callous attitude of the state government towards the patwaris. They demanded withdrawal of dismissal orders against 14 patwaris, cases against 300 patwaris and release of the salary of the strike period. Mr Sucha Singh, president of the district unit of the union, addressed the dharna among others.

SENTENCED: Mr Ishwar Singh, SSP, in a press note issued on Wednesday, informed that the Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mr Harbans Lal, had sentenced Jagiro of Mukandpur, a narcotics dealer of the area, to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment and fined her Rs 1 lakh under Section 15 of the NDPS Act for keeping seven bags of poppy husk at her residence for the purpose of selling.

PATHANKOT
BIGAMY CASE: On the complaint of Mr Shiv Shakti of Begowal village that his wife Puja had performed second marriage without divorcing him, Puja, her parents, her second husband and his parents have been booked under Section 494, 148 and 149 of the Indian Penal Code. They were summoned by the judicial magistrate.

PATIALA
COACHING FOR UGC: The IAS and Allied Services Training Centre of Punjabi University will start coaching classes for the NET Examination to be held in June from February onwards in the subjects of Economics, History, Political Science, Geography, Punjabi, Law, Public Administration, Commerce, Hindi, Sociology, Psychology, English and Sanskrit. Giving this information, Dr G.S. Bajwa, Director of the centre, said that the interested eligible candidates can apply on a plain paper alongwith three passport size photographs and attested copies of testimonials in the office latest by January 23. Second year students of MA are also eligible for applying. Interview for the University Grant Commission (UGC) NET admission will be held on January 31 at 10 a.m. The Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe will be provided free coaching and scholarship as per rules. 

PHAGWARA
PULSE POLIO: The local CMO, Dr Buta Ram Gill, informed that 40 booths would be set up for administering polio drops to children upto five years of age under pulse polio programme on January 21.

WINNER: Mr Sanjay Gupta has earned the distinction of being the first person not only from the town but from Punjab to win Rs 3,22000 in the popular gameshow `Kaun Banega Crorepati’ on Star Plus. Mr Gupta is Assistant Divisional Engineer, Telephones.

CHANDIGARH

CELEBRATED: World Peace Day was celebrated at Sukh Shanti Bhavan by Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidalaya here on Friday. Ms B.K. Prem, In charge of local Rajyoga Centre, speaking at a function, said the number of religious places, religious literature and preachers were increasing but the religion was missing from the practical life of the people. 

HARYANA

DEMANDED: Mr Ashok Kharbanda, vice-president of Akhand Bhartiya Upbhokta Parishad, has urged the government to establish government laboratory at the district level so that the traders could avail the facility of testing the quality of the eatable items easily. He said that it would benefit the small traders. 

BHIWANI
BURNT: A youth, Ram Prasad of the local Ghosian Chowk locality reportedly set himself on fire due to unknown reasons on Wednesday night. He was admitted to the Civil Hospital but later referred to the Medical College, Rohtak.

DACOITY CASE: The police has hinted that it has got important clues in the incident of dacoity committed at Sohasda village. A gang of about six thieves had injured Madan Lal and his sons and fled away after looting cash and jewellery. The sources said that the dacoits belonged to the Bawaria gang and the police had rounded up two members of this gang.

HISAR
MEETING: The local CAV High School will hold an old students’ meet on January 21. Mr Harish Lohia, secretary of the Old Students’ Association of the school, said Mr Narayan Singh Thakur would be the chief guest.

PANIPAT
CHALLANED: In a drive against the unauthorised plying of vehicles for carrying passengers, the Transport Department of the district has recovered more than Rs 3 lakh by challaning nearly 160 vehicles, mostly jeeps. The department has deployed checking teams at five entry points in the district.

ROHTAK
SKIING CAMP: Maharshi Dayanand University’s contingent will take part in a 14-day skiing camp being organised in Narkanda (Himachal Pradesh) from February 14. A university spokesman said on Thursday that participants would be chosen by a selection committee on merit basis.

DISBURSED: Nearly Rs 1.36 crore had been disbursed among 68,315 persons in the district under various schemes of pension for the old, widows and disabled during December 2000, an official press note stated.

SIRSA
NSUI MEETING: Workers of the NSUI condemned Mr Virender Kaushik, president of the state unit of the party, at a meeting held at Ellenabad and decided to request the national president of the NSUI, Ms Minakshi Natrajan, to intervene. They alleged he had accumulated money and appointed office-bearers arbitrarily.

DRIVE: The district police chief Alok Roy said the drive against the smugglers of opium and poppy husk and bookies had forced them to quit this area. He said it was for the first time that the police had decided to book sellers of these drugs alongwith the carriers. It was found that a licenced retailer cannot sell more than 2 kg of poppy husk to a single person.

YAMUNANAGAR
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of Shri Brahmin Dharmshala and Bhagwan Parshuram Temple Management Committee of Tirath Kapal Mochan: president — Mr Ram Datt Sharma; senior vice-president — Dr Jitender Sharma; vice-presidents — Mr Suresh Sharma and Mr Ram Kumar; general secretary — Dr Shiam Kumar Sharma and finance secretary — Mr K.C. Sharma.

DAM PROJECT: Mr Chander Singh, Commissioner and Secretary of the Irrigation Department, has directed officials to complete the Pathrala Dam project at least three months before the floods. He visited the project site at Dadupur on Wednesday and instructed the department to complete the work on bridge within 10 days.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
CHARAS SEIZED: The police intercepted a Chandigarh bound bus on Wednesday evening and seized 1.8 kg of ‘charas’ from a passenger named Danguram and arrested him. The SP said here on Thursday that about 14 kg of ‘charas’ had been seized in the past two weeks.

ELECTED: Ms Bimla Devi Gautam was elected president and Mr Chander Prakash vice-president of Nainadevi Nagar Parishad, about 75 km from here on Wednesday. Both leaders belong to the BJP.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Elder Citizens’ Association: president — Mr Amarnath Rai; vice president — Ms Kaushalaya Devi; general secretary — Mr Ratan Lal Sharma; finance secretary — Mr Nand Kishore and organising secretary — Mr Om Prakash Garg.

KULU
BOOKED: Four persons have been arrested at Dhunkhra village on the Bhuntar-Manikaran road, about 30 km from here, on Wednesday. They were carrying 2.35 kg of ‘charas’ in a Maruti van. A case under NDPS- 20 has been registered.

COMPLAINTS ADALAT: An electricity complaints adalat will be held at Jari in the Parvati valley on January 22, a government press note stated. The areas that fall under Jari subdivision of the HPSEB will be covered.

WORKSHOPS: The Department of Public Relations here held two workshops at Senior Secondary School, Bhuntar and Girls Senior Secondary School, Sultanpur, on Thursday. The District Public Relations Officer said painting and slogan writing competitions were held on prohibition them. In the seniors’ group, Balram and Jyoti won first and second positions respectively.

NAHAN
PULSE POLIO: At a meeting held in view of the Pulse Polio immunisation campaign, Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Kaushal said the second dose of the polio vaccination would be administered to children on January 21 at 41 booths established in the district.

HELD FOR HUNTING: A team of forest officials caught two persons red-handed while hunting with a licenced gun and seized a killed and chopped wild boar in Jamniwala forest on Wednesday. The Divisional Forest Officer, Paonta, said a case had been registered and offenders handed over to the police.

SOLAN
SCHEME: Mr B.L. Pandit, Additional Director-General of Police, CID, inaugurated the ‘Police Samudayak Yojana’ on Wednesday. The scheme aimed at bringing about greater cooperation between public and the police.

SUNDERNAGAR
ELECTED: Supported by the BJP, Ms Nirmala Devi Garu and Mr Hardyal Singh were elected president and vice-president of the municipal council on Thursday. All 13 municipal councillors were administered oath.