R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AHMEDGARH
ONE ARRESTED: The Latala police has arrested a truck driver, Chamkaur Singh of Rajgarh village, for allegedly causing death of Jaspreet (16), due to negligent driving. The in charge of Latala police chowki, Mr Ashok Kumar, told The Tribune that the deceased had come to Chhapar from Johlan, his native village. His body had been handed over to his parents after the postmortem, he added.

HOSHIARPUR
OPIUM SEIZED: The city police in a special campaign on Tuesday intercepted a truck and seized 2.5 kg of opium from its driver, Tarlochan Singh of Mukho Mazra village . A case under Section 18, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act has been registered. The Sadar police also recovered 120 gm of smack from Jasvir Lal of Dadiana on Tuesday. A case has been registered against him.

KHATRI SABHA: At its general meeting held at the Arya Samaj Mandir, Kamalpur, on Tuesday, the Khatri Sabha, Hoshiarpur, appealed to all Khatris to discourage the abortion of the female child and avoid sex determination tests. Dr D.B.Kapoor, president of the Sabha, said the above social evils had resulted in a heavy decrease in the female population. He criticised the health authorities concerned for not implementing the law to avoid sex determination tests.

KAPURTHALA
CHAIN SNATCHED: Two youths on a scooter and a motor cycle snatched a gold chain from the neck of a woman , an employee of the Life Insurance Corporation, on Monday from the Model Town area. The chain weighed around 30 gm. The police has registered a case.

KHAMANO
‘RASTA ROKO’: “The Punjab government, under the pretext of removing encroachments, is ruining the life of the poor people,” this was alleged by Bibi Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, former Chief Minister of Punjab, during the `rasta roko abhiyan’ here yesterday against the removal of kiosks of Dalit families from shamlat land by the Nagar Panchayat, Khamano. She assured the villagers that Congress, would support them in their struggle against the atrocities of the government. When told about the rude behaviour of EO, she said that she would take up the matter with the Chief Secretary, Punjab. The gathering was also addressed by BKU (Ekta) president, Mr Pishora Singh Sidhupur and Mr Gurtejpal Singh among others.

KHANNA
PENSIONERS : In order to help old-age pensioners, the Punjab Government has ordered banks to open their accounts in branches which were near the pensioners’ place of residence. Mr Sukhwinder Pal Singh Gill, the SDM of Khanna, informed that the pensioners of ward No 1 and 2 would get pension from the State Bank of Patiala, New Grain Market; ward No 3 and 19 from United Bank of India; ward No 4 and 5 from Central Bank of India; ward No 6 and 20 from State Bank of India; ward No 7 and 25 from Punjab National Bank; main branch, ward No 10 and 11 from Indian Bank; ward No 13 and 14 from Allahabad Bank; ward No 12 from OBC; ward No 15 and 16 from Canara Bank; ward No 17 and 18 from State Bank of Patiala; main branch; ward No 21 from Punjab National Bank; Bank Colony; ward No 22 and 23 from Bank of India and ward No 24 from Punjab and Sind Bank, Khanna.

TEACHER REQUIRED: Ms Parkash Kaur, the sarpanch of Sahibpura village, has informed that there has been no teacher in the primary school of the village for the past three months. She said that the panchayat had appealed to the Education Minister of Punjab the DPI (primary), Punjab and the DEO (primary), Ludhiana, to appoint a teacher for the school, but to no avail. In such circumstances, the panchayat would be forced to close down the school, she warned.

UNION HOLDS RALLY: Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union, Technical Services Union, Bharti Kisan Union, Roadways Employees’ Union, Moulder and Steel Workers’ Union, Lok Sangharsh Committee, and some other unions held a rally regarding the arrest of residents of Bhatian village in connection with the octroi post burning case. Calling the rally a ‘victory rally’, the speakers claimed that the police officials had told them that it had been found that the villagers were innocent, and so the cases against them would soon be withdrawn. They also criticised the economic policies of the state and Central governments.

MEETING: A meeting of Bazigar Sewa Dal, a wing of Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal), will be held on July 1 at the residence of Mulk Raj Mashall, senior vice-president, BSD. This was stated by Gian Chand Mann, general secretary of the Dal.

YOUTH CONG PRESIDENT: A meeting of the youth Congress workers was held here on G.T. Road, near the Grain Market. Mr Akshay Bhanot, president, District Youth Congress (Urban Development Cell), announced the appointment of Mr Jaspal Singh Parmar as the president of Block Youth Congress (UDC), Ludhiana. He also criticised the economic policies of the Punjab government. Those present on the occasion included Jarnail Singh Grewal and Navneesh Malhotra, convenor and general secretary of the Youth Congress Cell, respectively, Amarpreet Aulakh, Kapil Dev Kalia, Shashi Vardhan, general secretary, DCC, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ram Singh, Municipal Councillor, Darampal Angrish, president, PTUF, Haridal Singh Bajwa, Surinder Pal Singh, Sanjeev Kumar and Amandeep Singh. They flayed the sangat darshan programmes organised by the Badal government.

INAUGURATED: First Cricket Tournament, organised by the Independent Sports Club here at Naresh Chander Stadium, was inaugurated by Mr Vinod Ghai, secretary, A.S. Senior Secondary School. The tournament, meant for boys below 18 years, will continue till June 28. Various teams from the adjoining areas are participating in it. 

CHALLANED: The encroachment inspector, Municipal Council, Khanna, Mr Faqir Chand, issued challans to those shopkeepers of Guru Amardass Market, who had encroached upon the land of the Municipal Council, on Wednesday. He also held a meeting with the shopkeepers of Subhash Bazar and Karnail Singh Road, and asked them to remove the encroachments. He warned that if they failed to do so, they, too, would be issued challans.

KHARAR
POLICE REMAND: Ms Harinder Sidhu, Judicial Magistrate, Kharar, remanded Sukhwinder in police custody till June 21 on Wednesday who was arrested by the SAS Nagar police following the recovery of smack from his possession. Similarly, the court remanded Gagandeep Gill and his wife Ms Rajbir Kaur Gill and another accused, Habir Singh, in judicial custody who were arrested by the SAS Nagar police on the charge of carrying smack business.

LUDHIANA
STREET-PAVING WORK: Mr Surinder Dawar, President, District Congress Committee (Urban), laid the foundation stone for the work of paving streets in New Shivaji Nagar. The Block Congress Committee president, Mr Jasbir Singh Chadha, presided over the function. Speaking at the occasion, Mr Dawar lauded the development work done in the area by the councillor, Ms Ravinder Kaur Chadha, during the last four years. Most of the localities had paved streets and drains and street-lights, he added. Among those present at the occasion were Mr Sunil Sharma, Mr Gursharan Singh Pappu, Mr Kanwaljit Bobby, Mr Deepak Sood, all ward presidents and Mr Inderjit Sweety, Mr Suba Singh, Mr Dilbagh Singh and Mr Ram Malhotra.

BIRTHDAY: Shriman Master Tara Singh Yaadgari Committee will organise an elaborate function to observe the 117th birthday of the veteran Shiromani Akali Dal leader here on June 24. According to Mr Kulwant Singh Dukhia, councillor and president and Mr Pritpal Singh, chairman of the committee, a function will be held in an open pandal outside gurdwara Dukhniwaran in the evening, which will be presided over by Chief Minister Mr Parkash Singh Badal, who also heads the SAD-B. A free medical camp at Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Guru Arjan Dev Nagar in the morning and a seminar on the life and teachings of Master Tara Singh at GGN Khalsa College in the afternoon on the same day, will be part of the celebrations.

FOUNDATION DAY: The Shri Krishna Sanatan Dharam Sabha started its week-long foundation day celebrations at Krishna Mandir, Model Town, here today. The celebrations would continue for seven days during which ‘katha’ and ‘bhakti’ programmes would be performed by Acharya Rameshji, according to Mr P.L. Singla, president of the sabha.

MALERKOTLA
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the state body of the Punjab Health Department Subordinate Offices Clerical Association: president — Mr Sukhwinder Singh; general secretary — Mr Jagdev Singh; and cashier — Mr Bikram Jit Singh.

SAMRALA
SHAHEEDI SAMAGAM: Speaking on the occasion of the ‘shaheedi samagam’ of Sepoy Surjit Singh, who had sacrificed his life during the Kargil war, at Behlopur village, Mr Rupinder Singh Mundi, the Khanna police district president of All India Youth Akali Dal, alleged here that Mr Parkash Singh Badal had ignored all the sacrifices made by Punjabis in the past. Mr Mundi alleged that after becoming the Chief Minister of Punjab, Mr Badal had forgotten the Panthic agenda and adopted the RSS agenda. He appealed to the people to support Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal and its allies, and defeat anti-Panthic forces, in the next Assembly elections. The gathering was also addressed by Mr Narinder Pal Singh Baja, Mr Rajinder Singh Mundian and Mr Faqir Singh Hayatpura.

FAREWELL PARTY: A grand party was organised by the Patwari, the Kanungo, and the staff of SDM, Tehsildar, Samrala, and Naib Tehsildar, Machhiwara, on Monday evening to bid farewell to Mr Sandeep Hans and Mr Navdeep Singh Sidhu, the outgoing SDM, Samrala, and Naib Tehsildar, Machhiwara, respectively, and to welcome the new SDM, Ms Raghbir Kaur Khaira. Speaking on the occasion, the state cashier of the Patwari Union, Mr Sukhdev Singh Chauhan, lauded the services rendered by Mr Hans for the people of Samrala subdivision.

CHANDIGARH

RALLY: A large number of members of the UT Subordinate Services Federation held a rally in front of the office of the Sub-Divisional Engineer, Sector 35, here on Wednesday. They were protesting against the withdrawal of cycle allowance given to the mason, painters, carpenters, electricians. While addressing the rally, the leaders of the federation said that the cycle allowance was must for the workers as they had to lift sand, bajri, wood, bricks, glass, paint and other material on their own cycles beyond 8 km.

HARYANA

AMBALA
SMALL SAVINGS: Ambala district has collected Rs 137 crore in small saving schemes in the year 2000-2001. Last year this amount was Rs 109 crore. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr D.D. Gautam, said the target for the next year has been enhanced by 10 per cent.

PROTEST: The framers of some villages in Barara block took out a procession in protest against the installation of new electricity meters on their tubewells. The HVPN has started installing new meters in the villages of Barara block far past one week. According to information, the farmers of Deenarpur, Hasanpur Wajidpur and Kesri villages have been dispossessing their new meters and returning them to the HVPN. They are demanding that meters should not be installed on their tubewells when they have been provided electricity on flat rate.

RECOVERED: Five hide of wild animals were recovered by the police in Barara on Wednesday. The hide were recovered from a kiosk-owner. The hide were of cheetah and three skins of deer. The kiosk-owner had reportedly hidden the hide in the roof of the kiosk.

SEWA SANGH: Shri Shiv Kawad Sewa Sangh will be organising a camp for the facilities of Shiv Kanwarias from July 5 to 19 at Sanatan Dharma Sant Niwas, Jagadhari Road, Ambala Cantonment. A press release said that the sangh has been organising this type of shivirs for the last three years. “We provide all types of facilities like food, shelter, medicines etc to shiv kanwarias on the way from Goumukh and Hardwar to various stations of Punjab and Chandigarh,” he said.

SUMMER CAMP: The Convent of Sacred Heart, Ambala Cantonment, held a summer camp on the school premises. During the camp, variety of courses including English language and conversation, music and dance, creative arts and skating were conducted. “Children of various age groups, enrolled for this summer camp were provided an enriching experience, which shall enable the development of their personality,” a release said. On the concluding day, a cultural show and art exhibition was staged. The participants were awarded certificates of participation.

FARIDABAD
ARRESTED: Two persons, Hakim of Bhadkhal and Sanjay of Ballabgarh, were nabbed for possessing countrymade revolvers. A case under the Arms Act has been registered. In another case, the police is looking for a youth, identified as Manoj, for attempting to murder his wife with a knife.

SONEPAT
DEMONSTRATION: Residents of Shiv Colony held a demonstration in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office here on Tuesday in protest against the issuance of notices to them by the Country and Town Planning Department asking them to demolish their houses in an allegedly unauthorised colony.

ACCIDENTS: In an accident on the Sonepat-Gohana road, near Kheri Damkan village, on Tuesday, two persons, including a woman, were injured in a collision between a jeep and a tanker. The driver of the tanker tried to flee but was nabbed and handed over to the police.

PROGRESS REVIEWED: The Commissioner-cum-Secretary Development, Haryana, Mr Bhaskar Chatterjee, on Tuesday reviewed the progress of development schemes undertaken by the district administration. He took serious note of the delay in the completion of such works. He directed officials of HUDA, the Municipal Council and the Country and Town Planning Department to take up the work on a war-footing.

CLEANLINESS CAMPAIGN: The local Municipal Council has launched a special two-week long cleanliness campaign. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr S.N.Roy, said here on Wednesday that the entire city had been divided into zones for making the campaign a success. He added that the civic administration had also set up a special cell for the redress of public complaints about insanitation, blocked sewage and poor streetlighting.

ARRESTED: The police has arrested two youths, Om Parkash and Narinder , in connection with the alleged assault on Mr Suresh Aggarwal, owner of a sari shop in the Mandi area last week.

BODY FOUND: The Ganaur police on Wednesday claimed to have recovered the decomposed body of a 18-month-old boy, Ajay alias Deepak, from a field at Ram Nagar village. The body has been sent to the Medical College Hospital at Rohtak for a post-mortem examination. The police also arrested a youth, Diwana, on an alleged charge of kidnapping and murdering a child. The suspect has allegedly confessed the crime.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the HVC, Ghumarwin (youth wing): president — Mr Dinesh Sharma Bhutto; senior vice-president — Mr Pawan Sharma; vice-presidents — Mr Rajesh Kumar, Mr Sohanlal, Mr Naresh Kumar, Mr Raanjeet Kumar, and Mr Tilak Raj Sharma; general secretaries — Mr Kashmir Singh, Mr Ashwini Kumar, Mr Rajender Kumar, Mr Rakesh Sankhayayan, and Mr Viney Kumar; organising secretary — Mr Ajay Thakur; secretaries — Mr Praveen Kumar, Mr Sukhdev Singh, Mr Gian Chand, Mr Rakesh Kumar, Mr Pawan Kumar; and treasurer — Mr Lal Chand.

DEMAND: The Himachal Pradesh State Underpaid Technocrats and Diploma Holder Work Inspectors Association has demanded that employees who have completed five years’ service as daily wagers should be regularised. The association criticised the government’s decision to introduce the contributory pension scheme for all newly appointed employees.

URGED: Guardians and parents of students, who had taken the class X annual examination in March this year have urged the Education Board to grant special grace marks to students in Punjabi paper as there are no teachers to teach the language in the schools.

AWARENESS CAMP: The Mahila Mandal, Jabbali, in collaboration with the HP State Science and Technology and Environment Council, Shimla, organised “Mahila Jagrookta Shivirs” at Brahampukhar, Jukhala, Sagirthin and two other places in the past week. The women attending these camps demanded the provision of mulberry (shehtoot) plants for plantation before the onset of the monsoon.

KUMARHATTI
WATER SHORTAGE: There is an acute water shortage in Barog, about 4 km from here, as the supply to all private connections has been discontinued and the public taps are getting water supply on alternate days, said Mr Sanjay Kumar, vice-president of the Barog panchayat. The Galiana water lifting scheme for the Barog area is lying abandoned due to the department bottlenecks and political considerations, alleged Mr Kumar.

NURPUR
LEGAL AWARENESS: Mr S.K.Chowdhary, member-Secretary, State Legal Services Authority, while presiding over a legal literacy camp here on Tuesday said women, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, minors, mentally retarded persons, and persons having an annual income up to Rs 25,000 were entitled to free legal aid.

SHIMLA
RELEASE STAMP: Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, has urged the Union Communication Minister, Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, to release a postage stamp on the famous painter, Sardar Shobha Singh, on his birthday on November 29. In a letter to Mr Paswan, the Chief Minister said that the release of the stamp would be a befitting tribute to the painter par excellence.

SOLAN
DENIAL: Dr P.D. Bhardwaj, PRO, Parmar University, in a statement issued here on Tuesday denied allegations made by Dr S.K. Bhardwaj, Senator, that impure water was being supplied to the university statutory officers residences. The press note also denied that sewage water flowed into the khud from which the university lifted water.