R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMLOH
EYE OPERATION CAMP: With the cooperation of social organisations, the All India Relief Society, Bhadson, had decided to organise an eye check-up and operation camp on Saturday with a team of doctors, headed by Dr Purshotam Goyal. Mr Narinder Joshi and Dr Joginder Singh, organisers of the camp, said food, spectacles and medicines would be provided free of cost to the patients. 

DECIDED: Mr Sham Lal Sharma, president, Punjab State Pharmacist Association, in a written press note, said that the Pharmacy Council of India had decided to upgrade the qualification for the registration of pharmacist from Diploma in Pharmacy to Bachelor of Pharmacy from this year. He further said that only B. Pharma would be considered for the registration as a pharmacist. The president urged the Health Minister to implement the decisions taken in January 3 this year, which included removal of pay anomalies, change of designation as Pharmacy Officers and creation of post of district pharmacy officers and deputy director, pharmacy. 

AWARENESS CAMP: The Income Tax Department organised a one-day camp here on Wednesday at 10 a.m. to 5.30 p.m., to develop understanding and awareness among the people to file income tax returns. According to Mr Gurmail Singh, UDC, about 200 new entrants filed their Income Tax returns with collection of Rs 50,000 in one day with the help of the Income Tax team, consisting of Mr Sukhdev Singh, Income Tax Officer; Mr S.C. Sharma, Inspector; Mr Gurdial Singh, Tax Assistant; Mr Paramjit Singh, LDC, besides Mr Ashwani Abroi, Advocate and Mr Prem Kumar, Chartered Accountant. 

RELIEF: A meeting of the market committee presided over by its chairperson, Ms Paramjit Kaur Phagarana, held here on Wednesday, decided to give a relief of Rs 42.5 lakh to thrasher victims. After the meeting, Mr Balwant Singh Shahpur, MLA, while talking to mediapersons said that development works in the area, which included construction of Government Women College, Mandi Gobindgarh; boundary wall of Government Senior Secondary School, Amloh; roads and bridges in the villages would be completed soon. 

AMRITSAR
FACTORY DAMAGED: Mr Tarsem Singh Khalsa, president of the municipal corporation’s Talmel Committee along with his wife and some 50 to 60 persons allegedly broke open the locks of Tejwinder Paints and Chemicals factory located on the Sultanwind road and damaged the machinery. A case has been registered.

AWARDED: Dr R.K. Bedi and Mr Aman Mahajan of the Department of Physics, Guru Nanak Dev University, have been awarded the third prize in the international workshop on “The preparation and characterisation of technologically important single crystals” held at National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi. The award was presented to them by Dr Krishan Lal, Director of the Laboratory.

KAPURTHALA
ARRESTED: The Vigilance police on Wednesday arrested Mohan Lal, a junior assistant in the office of the District Transport Officer, on the charge of accepting bribe of Rs 500 from Mr Vikram Sharma of Kapurthala town. According to the Vigilance police, Mohan Lal demanded Rs 1000 from Mr Sharma for making some changes in the registration card of his scooter and the deal was settled at Rs 500.

KILLED: Roshan Singh was killed while his wife Sukhwinder Kaur was injured seriously in an accident on the G. T. road near Subhanpur village on Tuesday. According to the police, the couple was going to their village on a scooter when a car hit their scooter. A case has been registered.

ANNUAL FUNCTION: The annual function was celebrated at the local Nawab Jassa Singh Ahluwalia Government College on Wednesday. Mr Balbir Singh Miani, Higher and Medical Education Minister, addressed the gathering.

KHAMANO
ARRESTED: Police has nabbed Sarabjit Singh of Lakhanpur village for possession of 12 bottles of illicit liquor and registered a case under the Excise Act u/s 61/1/14. In another incident, the police arrested a person of Manela village under Section 13/3/67 of the Gambling Act and recovered Rs 535 in cash. Both the accused were granted bail later. 

KHANNA
LOOTED: One person was injured and Rs 800 (eight hundred) were looted from a liquor shop at Dau Majra village in Khanna police district 18 km from here on Wednesday night. According to information, two persons came to the liquor shop of Dau Majra village around 9.15 p.m. They demanded a case of liquor of a particular brand. They had an altercation with the employee of the shop and fired upon him with a 315 pistol, resulting in injuries to the employee, identified as Tilak Raj. The accused then looted Rs 800 and fled away. A case has been registered in the Sadar police station in this connection. 

KHARAR
CASE REGISTERED: As per the orders of Mr R.L. Chauhan, Judicial Magistrate, Kharar, the Kharar police on Thursday registered a case of cheating and preparing false documents against Nirmal Singh of Karoran village. According to the police the accused prepared false documents and presented these in the court. 

COUNTER SOUGHT: Ex-servicemen on Thursday demanded from General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Hqrs Western Command, Chandimandir, that a separate counter for issuance of liquor and other canteen items be arranged in CSD canteen, Chandigarh, as they could not stand in queue for a long time. According to a press note issued by Capt Dharam Pal, such facilities were being provided to them in public dealing offices of the government. 

INQUIRY: The SSP of Ropar on Thursday gave the case of inquiry into Incane Mutual Benefit Ltd, Kharar branch to the Anti-Fraud Cell, Ropar. According to a press note, a cheating case against branch manager and others was registered on March 16, 2000, but no considerable progress has been done so far. 

LUDHIANA
LOANS SANCTIONED: The Additional Deputy Commissioner (Dev), Mr A.K. Sinha, has urged commercial banks to disburse financial assistance to the unemployed youth under the ‘Prime Minister Rozgar Yojna’ (PMRY), expeditiously. Presiding over a function, organised by the District Industries Centre (DIC) on the conclusion of a training camp for prospective beneficiaries under the scheme, he advised the youth to utilize the loan amounts judiciously. Mr Harbans Singh, general manager of DIC, speaking at this occasion, informed that different banks had sanctioned 902 cases for providing financial assistance to unemployed youth and out of these, 570 loans had already been disbursed. He said all pending cases under the PMRY, would be cleared by the end of this financial year. Mr B.S. Sanga, general manager, Research and Development Centre, also addressed the function. 

INSPECTION: Mr Justice A. S. Gill, Judge, Punjab and Haryana High Court, will carry out the inspection of all civil and criminal (judicial and executive) courts of Ludhiana Sessions Division from March 12 to March 17. Giving details, Mr S.S. Arora, District and Sessions Judge, informed that Mr Justice Gill would arrive at the Circuit House on March 12 in the morning, where he would be received by the judicial, executive and police heads of the district, along with other judicial and district officials. Apart from inspection of the district courts, the High Court Judge would also review the progress of the ongoing construction of new judicial courts complex in the mini Secretariat here. Mr Justice Gill would hold a meeting with the representatives of the District Bar Association to discuss the speedy disposal of pending court cases in different courts here. 

MALERKOTLA
UNION: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Punjab State Electricity Board Employees Union: President — Mr Jagmohan Singh; senior vice-president — Mr Harmel Singh; secretary — Mr Kuldeep Singh Chaprauda; joint secretary — Mr Zora Singh; and treasurer — Mr Anil Gupta.

TEACHERS’ UNION: The following have been elected office-bearers of the district unit of the Punjab State Aided School Teachers and Other Employees Union: president — Mr jeet Singh Tiwana; secretary — Mr Pawan Bansal; and treasurer — Mr Mohinder Kumar Dheer.

MANDI GOBINDGARH
WATER PURIFICATION: Eight teams of local schools participated in a paper reading competition on water purification organised by SNAS Model Senior Secondary school here on Wednesday, sponsored by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Anil Suraj, General Secretary, School Managing Committee said, the aim of the venture was to arouse public awareness for a healthy environment. Dr P.K. Gupta, SMO, Local Civil Hospital and Ms Promila Gupta, principal of the school, also spoke on the occasion. Mr Rishi Shrivastava, senior scientist of the National Institute of Secondary Steel Technology, who was the chief guest, gave away the prizes to Rajni and Tanu Jindal of the Model School who got first and second position respectively. 

MANSA
BAN SOUGHT: The local NGOs have demanded a ban on the use of loudspeakers in parties and jagrans at night. In a representation to the Deputy Commissioner on Wednesday, the president of the local branch of Apex International, Mr Bhushan Walia, said the use of loudspeakers caused noise pollution and inconvenience to students and patients.

ROPAR
LIQUOR SEIZED: The Nangal police on Tuesday seized 14,400 bottles of liquor that was allegedly being brought for sale in Nangal and Nurpurbedi during the Hola Mohalla celebrations. The Nangal police intercepted the trucks carrying illegal liquor, during a routine naka near Nangal. All occupants of both trucks were arrested.

SAMRALA
SNAKE FOUND: A live snake (about 9 inch long) was discovered in the tap water in the house of a prominent businessman of Samrala, Mr Inderjeet Rattan. Mr Rattan captured the snake in a bottle and handed it over to the local SDM, Mr Sandeep Hans. The SDM has asked the concerned municipal officials for a report. 

PROMOTED: The Field Officer of Land mortgage bank, Samrala, Mr Tarlochan Singh Dharni, and a senior clerk, Mr Vijay Kumar, have been promoted as Assistant Managers in the Land Mortgage, Bank of Khamanon and Machhiwara respectively. 

CHANDIGARH

SAS NAGAR
BLOOD DONATED: About 107 employees of the Mohali II plant of the Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited donated blood at a camp organised here on Wednesday, under the supervision of a team of doctors from the PGI. Mr S.K. Bhandari, donated blood for the 59th time. 

HARYANA

AMBALA
TRADER'S APPEAL: The Ambala Cantt Traders Federation, in a meeting held here, has appealed that in view of the deaths in Gujarat due to the earthquake, Holi should not be celebrated. At this time of crises, it is our earnest appeal that we must show solidarity with the victims of Gujarat earthquake by not celebrating Holi. Among others, Dr N.C. Jain, Mr Gyan Chand Aggarwal, Mr Hira Lal Yadav, Mr Aggarwal, Mr V.P. Walia, Mr Naresh Chaddha, Mr Darshan Lal Dua, Mr Harish Budhiraja, Mr P.D. Jain, Mr O.P. Malik and Mr Ajay Jain have appealed, a press note said. 

KURUKSHETRA
CHEQUE PRESENTED: A delegation of the Commerce Association of Indira Gandhi National College, Dhanora (Ladwa) on Wednesday met the Registrar of Kurukshetra University, Dr Hawa Singh, and presented him a cheque for Rs 31,000 for the aid of Gujarat earthquake victims.

PANIPAT
HOUSE TAX ASSESSMENT: The survey work for the assessment of new house tax is in full swing in all 31 wards of Panipat Municipal Council. It is likely to be completed by the end of March. As many as 14 teams have been constituted and each team is visiting 25 to 40 houses every day, according to the Deputy Commissioner, Mr M.R. Anand.

SONEPAT
EXAMINATION CENTRES: The Board of School Education, Haryana, has set up 176 examination centres in the district for conducting the matriculation and plus 2 examinations this year. The board has taken steps to check the menace of copying in the district and elsewhere in the state.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

KULU
Measles death: Three children reportedly died of measles in a remote area falling under Bhalan-II Panchayat of Banjar subdivision of this district during the past one week. Mr Ved Ram, vice-president of the panchayat, said the disease was spreading like an epidemic in many villages in Sainj and Banjar areas.

PALAMPUR
ILLICIT LIQUOR: The police has arrested Ashwani Kumar, Rakesh Kumar and Santosh Kumari of Sujanpur for selling illicit liquor. The police has seized 45 litres of liquor from them. A case has been registered.