R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
GRIEVANCES: A deputation of Ranjit Avenue Welfare Association the met Deputy Commissioner at a sangat darshan held in Circuit House here on Friday. Mr Jaswinder Singh Samra, president of the association, apprised the DC of difficulties faced by residents on account of piling up of wheat stocks in front of residential buildings by various procurement agencies. He demanded the removal of the grain.

BANNED: The District Magistrate, Mr Narinderjit Singh, has banned trucks, mini trucks and light transport vehicles, barring those carrying milk, oil and gas cylinders, from entering the municipal limits of the city between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. The orders will remain in force till July 26.

BATHINDA
MEDICAL CAMP: The Goodwill Society will organise a medical check-up camp for all types of diseases at the Goodwill centre in Paras Ram Nagar on Wednesday. Mr K.K. Garg, general secretary of the society, said medicines free of cost would be provided to the patients during the camp.

KABIR JAYANTI: A meeting of the Punjab Pradesh Dhanak Samaj held here on Saturday decided to celebrate Kabir Jayanti all over Punjab on June 6.

EYE CAMP: The Divine Eye Research Foundation will organise a free eye check-up camp and eye donation awareness camp on June 3 at the Narayan Bal Mandir here. In a press note issued here on Saturday, Mr Rakesh Narula, president, of the foundation, said Dr H.S. Heyer would examine patients. 

HOSHIARPUR
MOLESTATION: The Hariana police has registered a case under Sections 376, 511 and 223 of the IPC, against Hardip Kumar of Bassi Wazid for attempting to rape a student of plus two studying in Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Hariana, on Friday.

ASSAULT: Three youths allegedly assaulted and injured Santosh Mahant of Dera Naugaja Peer at Birampur village on Thursday. While two of them fled, Kunal Mehta, the third accomplice, was caught by villagers and handed over to the police. A case has been registered.

JAGRAON
LIQUOR SEIZED: Mr Surinder Singh, sub-inspector, and his party during excise checking at Andloo village seized 276 bottles of country liquor in 23 card boxes in a Mohindra vehicle (HR-23A-7301). Mr Hardev Singh of Rodian village and his accomplice Bhupinder Singh alias Thunia of Dhurkot village, who were identified by Shiv Kumar Sharma, Excise Inspector, Raikot, escaped in spite of the chase by the police. A case has been registered under Sections 61 and 14 of the Excise Act at Raikot police station.

POPPY HUSK SEIZED: Mr Mewa Singh, sub-inspector, police station, Raikot, arrested Satnam Singh alias Satta of Raikot and seized 30 kg of poppy husk from his possession. The police has registered a case under Sections 15, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act.

KHAMANO
BSP DHARNA: The BSP will hold a state-level dharna at Matka Chowk in Chandigarh from June 4 till June 30 against the practice of bonded labour in Punjab. This was stated by Mr Man Singh Manhera, secretary, BSP, Punjab. He said from June 5, 100 party workers would sit in dharna daily at Matka Chowk.

ARRESTED: Amar Bahadar, a resident of Raniganj in Uttar Pradesh, was arrested when he was allegedly selling illegal liquor at Borwali village on a scooter. According to the Khamano police, 24 bottles of desi liquor (gulab) were recovered from him. A case has been registered under Sections 61, 1 and 14 of the Excise Act.

LUDHIANA
CELEBRATED: Well decorated sweet water chhabeels and langars all over the town marked the festive day of Nirjla Ekadashi on Saturday. Huge colourful shamianas had been put up in busy commercial centres by various shopkeepers’ associations in their respective markets. At all of these places sweetened and flavoured cold water was served in abundance while at some places langars were also served. The day being probably the hottest of the season so far, all these chhabeels witnessed a great rush of passersby and the residents. Though even well-to-do persons could be seen having a bite at these langar sites, the rush was mainly caused by people belonging to the economically weaker sections of the society. Migrants, rickshawpullers, daily wagers and the like could be seen in long queues at several places. At the chhabeel-cum-langar site near the Bharat Nagar chowk, this correspondent even witnessed a brief fist-fight between a couple of migrants over jumping the queue. All Hindu temples in the town witnessed hectic activity since early morning as people started coming with their offerings of milk, melons and hand fans in accordance with the religious tradition.

EXHIBITION: “I was greatly impressed by the artists of the renaissance period, so I have named my exhibition ‘Renaissance Art,” said Kakul, who is holding an exhibition of fabric, glass block paintings at Rajguru Nagar. The exhibition will be on till Sunday. Kakul is a postgraduate in fine arts as well as in history of arts from Panjab University. This is her first exhibition and in most of her fabric painted suits the leit motiv of rural Rajasthani women with pitchers runs through. The details have been taken care of. The colour scheme is very attractive and soothing. A variety of fabrics, like crushed tissue, cotton, synthetic, etc, are used. The paintings on glass are fabulous, and are painted in flamboyant colours. Kakul is adept in water colour painting, too. The paintings of birds and flowers in water colours are almost life-like.

YOG SAMMELAN: The state unit of Bhartiya Yog Sansthan will organise a Yog Maha Sammelan at Punjab Agricultural University on Sunday. Mr Tulsi Das Jaitwani, patron, and Mr Krishan Lal Gupta, president, Punjab unit of Bhartiya Yog Sansthan, in a joint statement on Saturday said the sammelan will be organised between 5.15 a.m. to 7.00 a.m. and Mr Kuldip Singh, SSP, will be the chief guest on the occasion.

INITIATIVE HAILED: The Indian Ex-Services League (Punjab and Chandigarh) has welcomed the initiative taken by Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister, Punjab, for taking up the proper rehabilitation of the families and children of soldiers who left barracks in the wake of Operation Blue-star. According to a press statement Col C.S. Dhillon, president of the league, said on Saturday that the recruitment in the Army on the merit basis also deserved appreciation. Col Dhillon alleged that the discrimination against Punjab was introduced during Congress regime. He said that the discrimination against Punjab should now be removed so that the youth of Punjab freely contribute to the country’s security.

MACHHIWARA
BOOKED: Mr Charanjit Singh, secretary of the Powat Cooperative Agricultural Society, Herian Focal Point, has been booked under Sections 408, 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC for misappropriation of funds of the society worth Rs 2,54,441. The FIR has been lodged against him by the Assistant Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Samrala. According to the information available, the issue of misappropriation of funds came to light some years ago when it was observed by officials that the society was losing, day by day. The affected members of the society have demanded from the Minister for Cooperative Societies, Punjab, a high-level probe into the fraud. They have further demanded the declaration of the names of those officials who are in connivance with the guilty secretary.

MALERKOTLA
PRIZE DISTRIBUTION: SB Public School has organised its prize distribution and annual day function. The SDM, Mr Gurlovleen Singh Sidhu was the chief guest. He gave away the prizes to the students. A cultural programme was also held.

SEWERAGE PROBLEM: Residents of Al-Falah Colony have forwarded a letter to the Director, Local Bodies, regarding the choked sewerage in their colony. The residents alleged that the sewerage had been blocked for the past five years and repeated complaints to the Executive Officer had not borne any result.

BODY FOUND: The body of an unidentified youth was found near the Delhi Gate here on Friday. It was sent to the local Civil Hospital for a post-mortem examination. A case under Section 174 of the Cr PC has been registered.

MOGA
POPPY SEIZED: The SSP, Moga, Dr Sharad Satya Chauhan, said here on Friday that the district police had seized a truck carrying 80 bags of poppy head. He said the police had geared up the drive against drug peddlers and smugglers.

NAWANSHAHR
FUNDS MOBILISED: The local World Vision Club has mobilised funds from philanthropists to help a poor woman who has to undergo operation— Hysterectomy — at the Civil Hospital here. Mr Pardeep Sharda and Mr Madhusudan Duggal, president and secretary, respectively, of the club stated this in a press note here on Saturday.

ELECTED: Mr Sat Pal Ummat and Mr Prem Pal Singh have been elected president and secretary, respectively, of the local unit of the Punjab State Aided School Teachers and Other Employees Union.

PATIALA
APPOINTED: Dr Harbans Pathak has been appointed as Head of the Department of Public Administration, Punjabi University, here on Saturday. Dr Pathak has written more than 60 research papers published in national and international journals and books and attended more than 70 conferences and seminars. More than 30 scholars have taken his guidance for their Ph.D and M. Phil preparations.

BAJIGAR DAL: Mr Sukhvir Singh Ablohwal, president, Bajigar Sewa Dal Wing of the Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal said that the Punjab Government had promised of providing jobs to the unemployed youths and providing 30 units of electricity to the Dalits free of cost. Mr Ablohwal claimed that rather than providing free electricity units, the electricity security charges had been increased from Rs 780 to Rs 1,280. He added that even the hospital, school and college charges had increased and a number of unemployed youths were suffering.

DISCRIMINATION ALLEGED: The Punjab unit of the All-India SC-ST-BC and Minorities Welfare Organisation has alleged discrimination by citing that in no university in the state the reservation policy had been adopted in teaching categories. In a press note, Prof Harnek Singh, president of the state unit of the organisation, alleged that the universities had yet to adopt the reservation policy despite the fact that the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Central Government had already given their consent to this effect. He said that there were some highly educated teachers from among the backward classes, but seldom was a chance given to them to reach the top in the academic sphere. He claimed that this discrimination was being meted out to the Dalits and other backward classes since Independent and that so effort had been made to further the interests of the community as yet.

NET EXAM: IBM India has announced the national entrance test (NET) for admission to IBM advanced certificate in software engineering (IBM ACSE) course. Issuing a press note, the authorities said the test for the eight-month course would be conducted on June 10 in about 100 cities. The course will commence form July 2 and will train the graduates as well as the post-graduates along with diploma holders in the latest and industry development tools of information technology.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Arya Samaj Mandir: local chief patron — Mr Virender Kumar; president — Mr Ved Paul Tuteja; vice-president — Mr Parshotam Dass Singhal; secretary — Mr Ram Saran Arya and treasurer — Mr Shivram Mahajan.

CHANDIGARH

CENTRES OPENED: Aptech Computer Education has opened two education centres at Sector 37 and Mani Majra. Mr Deepak Khullar, Regional Head, inaugurated the centres on Friday.

HARYANA

AMBALA
CONVENTIONS OF EX-SERVICEMEN: The secretary of the All-India Ex-servicemen Cell, AICC, Capt Praveen Davar (retd) on Saturday said that state-level conventions would be held soon. Capt Davar said that a meeting in this regard was held in Chandigarh. Among others, Col Bhupinder Pal Singh (retd) from Haryana, Col Zorawar Singh from Punjab, Brig Yudhvir Singh from Himachal Pradesh and office-bearers attended the meeting. He said the convention for Punjab would take place on June 30, the convention for Haryana would take place on July 15 at Rukmini Devi Hall at Ambala and the convention for Himachal Pradesh would take place on September 5.

KALKA
PROTEST WEEK: A protest week observed by the Uttariya Railway Mazdoor Union (URMU) and the Northern Railway Mazdoor Union (NRMU) under the banner of the Northern Federation of Indian Railway (NBFIR) concluded here on Friday. The protest call was given by Mr B.C. Sharma, general secretary of the URMU. During the protest week, which started on May 26, dharnas and rallies were organised at Kalka. According to Mr M.L. Kashyap, branch secretary of the URMU, the Dhoolkot-Shimla section and vice-president Ambala section, said that they were protesting in support of their long-pending demands which included a ban on privatisation and contract system, settlement of anomalies, restoration of casual leave, grant of pension for additional year of service, revision of transport allowance and hazard allowance, etc. On the concluding day of the protest week, thousands of railway men pledged to intensify their stir, if their demands were not met by the government.

KURUKSHETRA
ARRESTED: Kuldeep Singh, alias Laddi, proprietor of a transport company, was arrested on Friday, under Sections 379, 411, 467, 468, 471, 420 and 120-B of the IPC for allegedly stealing a car and a Tata Sumo, faking the documents and cheating innocent customers. The district police chief, Mr Desraj Singh, said the police had recovered a Tata Indica car and a Tata Sumo from him.

SONEPAT
ATTACKED: Mr Vijender Sharma, a Ranger in the Forest Department, was allegedly attacked by four drunk employees of the department while he was sleeping at his house on Friday night.

BODY FOUND: The police found the body of an unidentified youth from a field at Khanpur Kalan village, about 30 km from here, on Friday. A case of murder has been registered.

PISTOL SEIZED: The Gannaur police arrested a youth on Friday for possessing a country-made pistol. The youth was identified as Ompal of Meerut district in UP. A case under the Indian Arms Act has been registered against him.

ARRESTED: The police arrested Sohan Lal of Kot Mohalla on the charge of gambling here on Friday. A case has been registered against him.