R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMLOH
SALARY NOT PAID: Shortage of staff in government schools has affected education especially in rural areas, while trained unemployed teachers agitating for their appointment on vacant posts, said Mr Balbir Singh Ghuman, president Government Teachers Union district Fatehgarh Sahib, here on Saturday. The government had come out with ‘Sikhya Karmi’ scheme in 1999-2000 in Sirhind Block-5 at Amloh, where 51 person were appointed Sikhya Karmi against the vacant posts at Rs 2000 per month fixed but they have not been paid their salaries so far. Representatives of Sikhya Karmi teachers had met the Deputy Commissioner, Fatehgarh Sahib, on Friday at Suhagheri village in a sangat darshan programme and urged for early payment of their salary. 

AMRITSAR
AWARD PRESENTATION: Mr M.L. Aeri, Principal, DAV College, at the 45th award presentation ceremony of the college said as many as eight students had bagged the first position in the university examination. Dr Harbhajan Singh Soch, Vice-Chancellor, Guru Nanak Dev University, gave away the prizes to 572 students and sportsmen of the college.

ELECTED: Mr Rajmohinder Singh Majitha, SAD MLA, was on Saturday elected president of the local Khalsa College Society. This was stated by Mr Charanjit Singh Chadha, Honorary secretary of the committee.

CAR STOLEN: A Gypsy (PB08-N-7865) belonging to Mr Satnam Singh Kala, General secretary, District Congress Committee, was stolen from outside his residence at Gobind Nagar. A case has been registered.

BATHINDA
RAILWAY BUDGET: The Railway Passengers Association (RPA), North Zone, has condemned the proposals of the Union Railway Budget. In a press note issued here on Saturday, Mr Pawan Tayal, President of the RPA, said the states like Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh had been neglected. He said during the past 50 years only 16,000 unmanned level-crossings had been converted to the manned ones.

'PUNISH CULPRITS': The District Congress Sewa Dal in a press note issued here on Saturday said the corrupt ruling alliance at the Centre should resign immediately and the culprits be punished.

PROHIBITORY ORDERS: The District Magistrate has imposed Section 144 at Maisar Khana village in view of the religious celebrations to be held at the village on March 31. The carrying of arms and inflammable materials have been banned. This was stated in a press note issued here on Saturday.

RALLY: Activists of the Field and Workshop Workers Union of the Public Works Department (PWD) will hold a rally in front of the office of the Chief Engineer, Public Health, on Monday in protest against the non-acceptance of their demands by the governments. This was stated by Mr Suresh Sharma, president of the union, in a press note issued here on Sunday.

DONATED: The Goodwill Society here on Sunday handed over a draft for Rs 54,276 to the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Jaspal Singh, for the rehabilitation of victims of the Gujarat earthquake, Mr K.R. Jindal, general secretary of the society, said in a press note issued here.

DORAHA
CONDEMNED: The federation of the non-government colleges of Punjab and Chandigarh has condemned the non-implementation policy adopted by the Punjab Government regarding the repeatedly demands of the teaching and non-teaching employees. According to Dr Ishwar Singh, president, Non-Government Colleges Management Federation of Punjab and Chandigarh, “The federation demands immediate implementation of the pension-cum -gratuity scheme, payment of arrears to the teaching and non-teaching employees, review of posts in all the colleges, release of pending grants of the last two years.

FARIDKOT
COALITION GOVT: The local District Congress Committee has hailed the decision of the party high command to forge an alliance with other secular parties to form a coalition government at the Centre. In a press note issued here on Sunday Mr O.K.. Gupta, President and Mr Satish Bagi, Press Secretary of the committee, urged Ms Sonia Gandhi to convene a joint meeting of all like-minded parties. 

GURDASPUR
KISAN MELA: A kisan mela was organised here on Saturday by the district Agriculture Department. Dr Mewa Singh Sonar, Director (Agriculture) presided and Mr Gulzar Singh Ranike, Agriculture Minister, was the chief guest. Agriculture experts advised the farmers to make the balanced use of fertilisers. Mr Ranike said the state had been divided into 1,600 markets.

LUDHIANA
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Garment Machinery Manufacturers Association president Mr J.S. Sodhi; general secretary Mr Ram Krishan; vice-president Mr Sunil Puri; secretary Mr Malkiat Singh; and treasurer Mr Narinder. 

ANNUAL DAY: Kids and staff of Love Dale Montessori celebrated their annual day at Punjab Agricultural University here on Sunday. Tiny tots of the school presented a cultural programme on the occasion. The programme began with a welcome speech delivered by Medha and Kashish, both students of class nursery. This was followed by lamp lighting by Dr M.A. Zahir, Dean, College of Basic Sciences, PAU, who was the chief guest on the function. 

MACHHIWARA
BUDGET MEETING: A meeting of the General Body of Nagar Panchayat Machhiwara was organised by the president Mr Anil Sood on Friday. It has passed the annual budget of Rs 22.10 crore for 2001-2002. According to Mr Balwinder Singh, Executive Officer, Machhiwara , a total amount of Rs 89.15 lakh would be spent on the town’s development works, Rs 64.35 lakh would be spent on the salaries of employees and Rs 6.50 lakh was kept reserved for miscellaneous expenses, an amount of Rs 50 lakh which would be achieved by selling property of the Nagar Panchayat would be put in fixed deposits.

LOAN RECOVERY: The local branch of Primary Agricultural Development bank, has led in loan recovery throughout the Ludhiana district. According to Mr Bhupinder Sharma, Branch Manager, the recovery position of bank was recorded 93.9% at the end of last month. The last year’s figure was 90.5 per cent. Meanwhile, Mr Chanan Singh, Chairman of the bank, Mr Charanjit Singh and Gurcharan Singh, both the nominees of state Agricultural Development Bank applauded the working of the staff. 

MALERKOTLA
LOK ADALAT: A lok adalat on pre-litigation bank loan cases was organised here on Saturday under the chairmanship of Mr R.M. Gupta, Sessions Judge, Sangrur. Out of 626 cases 410 were settled and a sum of Rs 50 lakh was recovered.

ANNUAL BUDGET: The local nagar council at a meeting presided over by its president, Mr Jarnail Singh Samra, passed its Rs 2,46,50,000 annual budget for the year 2001-2002 on Sunday. Mr Samra said Rs 1.48 crore would be spent on projects like water supply, sewerage, street lights, and repairing of the roads, drains and streets. He said the council would not impose any new tax in this financial year. 

CHANDIGARH

HELPLINE: The Bharat Petroleum Corporation started a 24- hour Bharatgas Helpline — a free service to its LPG, consumers. The customers can dial 9814064072, according to a press note of the corporation. Mr S. K. Kudaisya, Regional LPG Manager, in the presence of Mr Y.K. Gupta, Regional LPG Coordinator, and other officials flagged off the scooter here on Saturday. The scooter is a gift from three distributors of the city.

HARYANA

FARIDABAD
SDO CAUGHT: Mahesh Kumar, SDO, posted at Uncha village substation near Ballabgarh town was caught red handed and arrested while accepting a bribe of Rs 2,000 from Madan Mohan of Raghubir colony of the town.

FATEHABAD
ANNUAL FUNCTION: Government College for Girls organised its annual prize distribution function here on Saturday. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Anil Malik, was the chief guest. Mr Leela Krishan Choudhary, MLA, and Mr Hanif Qureshi, SP, were present on the occasion. Mr R.K. Sehgal, Principal, read out the annual report of the college. The Deputy Commissioner said the new college building would be completed soon.

DATE EXTENDED: The DHBVN has extended the date of the self-declaration of power load scheme till March 31. The commercial, industrial and agricultural consumers can benefit from this scheme without being fined. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Anil Malik said here on Friday that those who want to benefit from this scheme could do so by writing the actual load consumed on their application forms.

HISAR
ACCIDENTS: At least two youths were crushed to death while one was seriously injured in three road accidents during the past 24 hours in the district. According to the police, a Food Corporation of India employee Mahaveer Singh was crushed under the rear tyre of a Haryana Roadways bus near Jat College. Rajinder Singh (19), student of Pabra village, was crushed under a Haryana Roadways bus at Bahabalpur village. Satta sustained serious injuries when he was hit by a vehicle on the Mirzapur road here on Saturday. He was admitted to the local Civil Hospital.

KAITHAL
LOK ADALAT: The Chief Judicial Magistrate-cum-Secretary Legal Services Authority, Mr N.P. Dewet, said here on Saturday that a special lok adalat would be organised to settle prelitigative bank loan cases at the local district courts on March 24.

NARNAUL
KEROSENE SEIZED: The local police along with the District Food and Civil Supplies Department on Friday seized 250 litres of kerosene. Those arrested have been identified as Mahesh Chand, Bhim Sain, Pawan Kumar and Jewan Bahadur. A case has been registered. The accused were produced before the ilaka magistrate on Saturday, who sent them to judicial custody.

SONEPAT
LOK ADALAT: As many as 694 cases were settled through negotiations at a Lok Adalat held at the new courts here on Saturday. A compensation worth Rs 54.53 lakh was awarded in 38 accident cases and Rs 95,650 was imposed as penalty on the erring persons.

SHOT AT: Narinder, a Delhi police constable, was shot at by three youths near the local railway station on Saturday. The assailants, however, managed to escape. The constable was going to Bhatgaon village in the district. He was immediately hospitalised and is stated to be out of danger. A case has been registered.

ROAD ACCIDENT: One person was injured when a truck hit a car on the Sonepat-Rohtak road near Kharkhauda town, 19 km from here, on Saturday. The injured person was immediately hospitalised and is stated to be out of danger. A case has been registered against the truck driver.

CHECK-UP CAMP: A medical check-up camp was organised at Ganaur, 16 km from here on Saturday. As many as 253 patients were examined by a team of ENT doctors from the local civil hospital and the PGI, Rohtak.

ROBBERY: Thieves entered a jeweller’s in the Model Town area here on Saturday and decamped with gold and silver jewellery worth several thousand rupees.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

PRIZE DISTRIBUTION: Mr Sudripto Roy, Secretary (Education), Himachal Pradesh, while addressing the 52nd annual prize distribution function of Vallabh Government College on Saturday called upon the youths to revive the rich cultural heritage of the country. Mr Dinkar Burathoki, Principal, read out the annual report of the school. Mr Roy distributed prizes to the students.