R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
OFFICE COMPUTERISED: The office of the District Social Security Officer has been computerised. This was stated by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Narinderjit Singh. There were 1,19,538 beneficiaries in the district who were receiving financial assistance of Rs 20.50 crore every year, he added.

BATHINDA
EYE CAMP: A free eye check-up camp was organised by the Punjab State Electricity Board at Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant (GNDTP), here on Saturday. Mr U.S. Lucky, General Manager, GNDTP, inaugurated the camp. Around 200 patients got their eyes tested at the camp.

GURDASPUR
LOK ADALAT: Mr M.R. Batra, District and Session Judge, said here on Tuesday, that a Lok Adalat would be held at the court complex on Saturday. Cases relating to marital disputes, motor accidents, recovery of banks and criminal cases would be taken up.

HOSHIARPUR
POPPY HUSK SEIZED: The Garhshankar police arrested Satnam Singh of Delowal Khurd village and seized 17 kg of poppy husk from him while he was going on a scooter here on Monday. Meanwhile, Talwara police has arrested Chhaju Ram of Alera village and seized 6,000 ml of illicit liquor from him.

HOUSE BURGLED: Miscreants reportedly stole Rs 1.28 lakh from the house of Joginder Kaur, owner of Bhangala Filling Station, at Mukerian on Monday. The owner was away when the incident took place. A case has been registered in this connection.

JAGRAON
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Lions Club: president — Mr Subhash Kapoor; secretary — Mr H.S. Sehgal; and treasurer — A.S. Plaha.

FOUNDATION STONE: Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal, MP, laid the foundation stone on March 18, for the construction of roads by the Municipal Council in Old Anaj Mandi in the presence of big gathering which included Mr Jaspal Mittal, SDM, Mr Baldev Krishan Dhir, President, MC and Mr Suraj Parkash Sharma, Executive Officer. In spite of the foundation no work has started.

KHARAR
WATER SHORTAGE: About 60 residents of ward numbers 9 and 10 of Khanpur village, which falls in the Kharar municipal limits, have alleged that residents of about 200 houses in the village were not getting supply of drinking water for the last about one month. In a letter given to the executive officer of the committee on Tuesday, they demanded that necessary action be taken in this regard.

SAD MEETINGS: The SAD Ropar district, has decided to organise meetings of workers in Morinda on May 9, Nangal on May 11, Nurpur Bedi on May 13, Chamkaur Sahib on May 15, SAS Nagar on May 18, Ropar on May 19. Giving this information here on Monday, Mr Pritam Singh Sallomajra, president SAD, Ropar district, said that these meetings were being organised to prepare lists of those workers who were to be honoured by the party president on May 29 in a conference to be organised in Gurudwara Bhatta Sahib.

TELEPHONES NOT WORKING: Mr Mohinder Singh, Sarpanch Hundal and Mr Hardev Saini, Panch of Tewar village of Kharar tehsil alleged that telephones of the village of the remained non functional for many days. They said that the department had not deputed any technician in the village for the repair of these telephones. They demanded action in this regard.

LUDHIANA
TUBEWELLS INAUGURATED: Mr Surjit Singh Ahluwalia, a former Senior Deputy Mayor, inaugurated tubewells in the Maya Nagar and Prem Nagar localities in Civil Lines on Monday. Speaking on the occasion, he explained in detail various development projects being undertaken and to be taken up in the near future in these localities. Among others, Mr Hans Raj Jassa, Mr Hem Raj, both councillors, Mr B.K. Gupta, Assistant Commissioner, MC, Mr Ravi Sehgal, president, Nagar Sudhar Sabha, and Mr Gurpreet Singh Gogi were present.

OPENED: Lala Lajpat Rai, a member of the Rajya Sabha, inaugurated a consultancy set up by a retired Superintending Engineer of the Ludhiana Improvement Trust, Mr M.K. Khosla, at Mall Plaza here. Among many other dignitaries, Mr Madan Mohan Vyas, Chairman of the Improvement Trust, was also present. According to Mr Khosla, the consultancy would undertake execution of construction of quality works, supervision, training to young engineers, architectural services, surveying and real estate.

NOMINATED: Mr Sat Pal Bhandari, president, Bharatiya Janata Party (West Mandal), has nominated Mr Dharam Pal Kochar as vice-president of the unit. The nomination has been made in consultation with the district president of the party, Mr Harbans Lal Sethi.

INDUSTRIALISTS’ PLEA: The United Small Industries Association has urged the state government to notify the localities of New Janta Nagar and adjoining colonies as industrial area so that hundreds of small and tiny units located here could carry on their activities without any hindrance. A meeting of the association, held under the presidentship of Mr Avtar Singh Azad, discussed various other problems being faced by the industrial units. Mr Mohan Singh Chauhan, an activist of the SAD(B), was felicitated on the occasion for his nomination to the District Excise and Taxation Advisory Committee.

RECOVERED: During campaign against evasion of octroi duty, enforcement staff of the Municipal Corporation has unearthed 51 cases of evasion and Rs 1.55 lakh being octroi duty and penalty was recovered from the offenders. Giving this information, Mr Raminder Singh, Additional Commissioner of the MC, has issued a stern warning to those indulging in octroi evasion, saying that anti-evasion drive would continue. He urged the supervisory staff to maintain strict vigil against evaders.

EMBROIDERY CONTEST: An embroidery contest of schoolchildren, organised by the Vardhman Group, was started on Tuesday at Baba Ishar Singh Senior Secondary School. Students from various schools of Ambala, Karnal, Chandigarh, Patiala, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur are participating in the contest. The winners will be given on the spot prizes. The contest is in continuation with the knitting contest organised by Vardhman in which 25,000 students from 100 schools of the state had participated. The competition will conclude on May 29.

ENTRANCE TESTS: Several city students appearing for the engineering entrance tests have demanded a change in the schedule of the CET Jalandhar as it clashes with other entrance tests including PET Rajasthan entrance tests. In a press statement signed by over a dozen students and their parents, they said that both CET Jalandhar and PET Rajasthan entrance tests were scheduled for May 27 so it would be difficult for the students to appear for both CET and PET tests. The students have requested the authorities concerned to revise the dates and provide relief to anxious students.

EMPLOYEES’ SALARIES: Erstwhile employees of the Central Seed Farm, Ladowal will be paid their salaries by Punseed. This was stated here on Tuesday by Mr Rameshinder Singh, Principal Secretary (Industries), Punjab. As many as 184 employees of the Central Seeds Farm, Ladowal, have been shifted to the Punjab Land Development and Reclamation Corporation after the acquisition of farm land by the Punjab Government. But the Punjab Land Development and Reclamation has become sick and the employees have not received salaries for the past 14 months. Mr Rameshinder Singh said even the Punseed was in the red and the employees would get their salaries when the industrial plots were sold at the farm.

STRIKE BY STUDENTS: The strike by the students of the College of Agriculture, Punjab Agricultural University, entered into 8th day on Tuesday. A spokesman of the students said that their main demand was that agriculture should be introduced as a subject in the schools and the B.Sc (agriculture) graduates passing out from PAU should be absorbed as teachers in schools as decided during a meeting with the Chief Minister, Punjab, during March. The Vice-Chancellor, PAU, Dr K.S. Aulakh, also met the Chief Minister here in this connection and pressed for the acceptance of the demands of the students.

COOKING COMPETITION: To create awareness on healthy eating, VLCC organised a ‘low-cal inter-club cooking competition’ on Tuesday on their premises. Over 19 participants from four ladies clubs of the city participated in the contest. The participating clubs were Geetanjli, Gayatri, Niharika and Roopika club. A total of 25 recipes were prepared by the contestants. The entries were made under the four categories of Indian, punches, desserts and jhat-pat Snacks. Ms Rohini Sood, clinic manager, VLCC, said such events, helped to improve interaction among the members of various clubs. Ms Gunjan of the Gayatri Club won the first prize for Indian-vegetarian layered biryani. Ms Rajeshwari of the Gayatri Club won the first prize for her fruit punch. Ms Manju Dewan of Geetanjli Club and Ms Anju Sudha of the Niharika Club shared the prize for desserts. Ms Nita Bajrang and Ms Charneet, both from the Niharika Club, won the first prize in the Jhat-pat snacks category.

GPTA MEETING: The Government Primary Teachers Association, Punjab, is once again on the warpath against the Education Minister, Mr Tota Singh, for his press statement about the clubbing of 2,400 middle and primary schools of the state together. Mr Piara Singh Dhillon, president of the association, said in a press note here on Tuesday that in view of the Minister’s utterances, a meeting of the joint action committee had been schedule called for May 12 at Jalandhar at which a rethinking would be done about the proposed protest rally on June1. He further stated that the change in the ministerial decision to carry on with teachers’ transfers upto June 30 was also detrimental to the interests of the teachers. He said the earlier decision of completing all such transfers before May 31 should be followed. He also said that mutual transfers should also be accepted by the government.

MALERKOTLA
AUCTION CANCELLED: The Improvement Trust, here on Tuesday cancelled the auction of the plots in a shopping complex, which was to be held on Wednesday near Talab Bazar, following the interference of the Cabinet Minister, Mr Nusrat Ali Khan. Residents protested against the shopping complex scheme and demanded that a park should be built instead of the complex.

MOGA
URGED: Residents of Saphuwala Darolibhai and Ghalkalan villages said here on Monday that the 15-mile stretch of the road linking these villages had a large number of potholes. They urged the authorities to get the road repaired.

INAUGURATION: The Punjab Education Minister, Mr Tota Singh, presided over the inauguration of Senior Secondary Public School at Jawahar Singhwala village here on Tuesday. He assured villagers that a stadium would also be built at the village.

NAWANSHAHR
INAUGURATED: Mr Sewa Singh Sekhwan, Revenue Minister, inaugurated an information technology institute of the STG here on Sunday. He said moral education should be included in the school syllabus.

ELECTED: Mr Harbhajan Singh Gahoon and Mr Tarlok Singh Phillaura have been elected president and general secretary, respectively, of the district unit of the Adhiyapak Dal, Punjab.

OFFICE-BEARERS: Dr Shiv Kumar Tejpal and Mr Sat Pal have been elected senior vice-president and junior vice-president, respectively, of the local Municipal Council.

BOOKS DISTRIBUTED: The local Lions Club distributed text books and stationery items to around 90 students of Tara Singh Kahma Memorial School, Industrial Area Mahalon, here on Monday. Mr Iqbal Singh Transporter, president of the club, presided.

PATHANKOT
CONSTRUCTION WORK: The construction work on the 40 km-long link road in the Dhar block will be completed before June 30. This was stated by Mr Mohan Lal, Minister for Higher Education, Punjab, at a forest rest house while talking to mediapersons here on Monday. The completion of the project would benefit the residents of Harial, Dhar, Narianpur, Baroya, Lehroon, Bungal and Fangota villages.

CHANDIGARH

WORK SUSPENDED AT DISTT COURTS: The lawyers of district courts abstained from work on account of funeral of Mr P.D. Kalsi, member of Punjab and Haryana Court Bar Association, said the President of the District Bar Association, Mr H.S. Hundal, in a press release here on Tuesday. Mr Hundal informed that the lawyer, who was a resident of Ludhiana and had come here to attend his case, had died at the local court on Monday.

HARYANA

AMBALA
MECHANIC ELECTROCUTED: One person was electrocuted in Ambala city on Monday evening. According to information available Prem, a mechanic, suffered a shock when he was using the welding machine. He was rushed to the Civil Hospital, where he was declared dead. After conducting the post mortem the hospital authorities handed over the body to the relatives of the deceased.

ANNUAL FUNCTION: Government Industrial Training Institute, Ambala City, celebrated its annual function on Tuesday. The Member of parliament from Bhiwani, Mr Ajay Chautala was the chief guest on the occasion. Students of the institute presented colourful cultural items on the occasion. The principal of the institution, Mr S.S. Sihag, narrated the achievements of the institution the Social Welfare minister, Mr Risal Singh, Agriculture Minister, Jaswinder Singh Sandhu, Balwant Singh and Jasbir Malour (both MLAs), district president of INLD Surjit Singh Sonta, senior leader of INLD women wing, Shashi Kesri, district president of youth wing of INLD Suchha Singh Baknor, Deputy Commissioner Ambala, D.D. Gautam and SP Ambala Sandeep Khirwar were also present on the occasion.

WOMAN RAPED: A rape incident was reported in a village close to Naggal on Monday. According to information, two youths came to the residence of the victim when she was all alone. The youths allegedly raped her and absconded. The police has registered a case.

TWO INJURED: Two persons were injured in a road accident near Sahjadpur on Monday. According to information, Gurvinder and Amarjit were injured when they were hit by a tractor. The police has registered a case.

RESIDENTS AIR GRIEVANCES: The BJP Haryana unit president and Ambala MP, Mr Ratan Lal Kataria, heard the grievances of the people at the PWD Rest House in Ambala Cantt on Tuesday. Mr Kataria said an order to solve the problems of the people, the party had given him the charge of Ambala and Kurukshetra. Mr Sangwan had been given charge of Bhiwani and Sonepat and Mr I.D. Swami of Sirsa and Karnal. Rohtak and Mahendragarh would be attended by Ms Sudha Yadav and Mr Ram Chandra would listen to the problems of Faridabad and Hisar residents he added. He said that he would listen to the problems in Panchkula on the first Monday of the month, on Tuesday at Ambala, on Wednesday at Yamuna Nagar and on the consecutive Monday at Kurukshetra and on the coming Tuesday at Kaithal. Demands of the residents included opening of an ITI, upgrading of hospital, construction of drains and re-laying of road. Among others, Ms Neeta Khera, Mr Shish Pal Bhola, Mr Faqir Chand, Mr Kirti Prasad Jain, Mr Raj Singh and Mr Shubhadesh Mittal were present.

BHIWANI
PROHIBITED: The District Magistrate here on Monday prohibited the sale of ice and eatables in open and their storage under Section 2 of the Epidemic Disease Act, 1987, to prevent outbreak of diseases. The orders will remain effective till December.

JUDICIAL CUSTODY: The Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mr R.K.Tewatia, here on Monday remanded the three accused in judicial custody, who had attempted to sell kerosene on the black market. Around 4,300 l of kerosene was seized from a truck driver, following which two more persons were arrested by the Siwani police.

BODY FOUND: The police on Monday recovered a body clad in white shirt and a black pant from the Paposa Sunder branch. Sarpanch Rangi Ram, who first saw the body, had informed the police.

KAITHAL
STORM: High-velocity winds lashed parts of the district on Tuesday morning, uprooting a large number of trees, disrupting traffic and damaging electricity poles.

SIRSA
SENTENCED: The Chief Judicial Magistrate here on Monday, sentenced Sushant Bhargava Managing Director of the Unilink Pesticide, Videsha, Madhya Pradesh to one-year rigorous imprisonment and fined him Rs 2000 in a case related to the quality of a pesticide.

SONEPAT
SUICIDE: A young married woman committed suicide allegedly by taking celphos tablets in her house at Maqimpur village, about 13 km from here, on Monday. The police is investigating.

KILLED: A man was run over and killed by a train at Harsana Kalan Railway Station, about 5 km from here, on Monday. According to the GRP, the victim was crossing the track when the accident occurred.

BODY RECOVERED: The Gohana police recovered the body of a resident of Delhi lying on the Meham road at Gohana town, 35 km from here, on Monday. According to the police, the deceased was identified as Surat Singh.

ATTEMPT TO KIDNAP: Three persons reportedly made an attempt to kidnap a six-year-old girl from Khanna Colony, here on Monday. Two of the culprits managed to escape while the third was caught by the residents and handed over to the police.

RESENTMENT: Resentment prevails among residents of Jamalpura Mohalla against the blockage of sewers for the past one month. This has resulted in the flow of sullage on the road.

DEMONSTRATION: A large number of brick-kiln workers held a demonstration in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office here on Tuesday to register their protest against the alleged harassment and non-payment of wages in accordance with the Minimum Wages Act by the brick-kiln owners of the district. They also threatened to self-immolate themselves if no action was taken.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

MANDI
HOUSE GUTTED: The house of Tara Chand Sharma of Janjehli was gutted in a fire on Monday causing a loss of about Rs 10 lakh. No loss of life was reported. The fire, however, was prevented from spreading to the neighbouring houses.

PALAMPUR
KILLED IN FIRE: A 12-year-old child perished and property Rs 5 lakh was destroyed in a fire which broke out at Arla village, near here, on Monday. Three heads of cattle were also killed in the fire. A fire engine put out the flames.