R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

ABOHAR
DROWNED: Jagdish Chander, a labourer of Nasnglabeed village in Aurayia district of Uttar Pradesh, was drowned when he fell into a reservoir at Giddervanwali village in the subdivision on Thursday. A case under Section 174, IPC, has been registered.

RALLY HELD: Three hundred NCC cadets, including 100 girls, from Ferozepore and Moga districts held an AIDS awareness rally here on Friday. They were participating in a 12-day combined training camp. Col B.S.Saunkhla, Commanding Officer, NCC, flagged off the rally at the DAV campus.

AMLOH
OLD-AGE PENSION: Ms Atto, an 80-year-old widow belonging to Marando village of Amloh tehsil, had been getting old-age pension since October 24, 1998, but it was discontinued with effect from December 11, 2000. She gave a representation to the SDM, Amloh, who suggested her to contact the District Social Security Officer, Fatehgarh Sahib, as the records were maintained by his office. Her records could not be traced there. She also gave a representation to the Chief Minister, Punjab, with a copy to the Deputy Commissioner, Fatehgarh Sahib, to get her case traced and to take action against the persons responsible for causing her harassment.

MAN BEATEN UP: Three persons, including Arshbir, alias Arshi, a resident of Lakhasinghwala, and Amolak Singh, a resident of Kanjari village, allegedly beat up Bitoo Kumar, a resident of ward 2, in the main bazar here on Friday. The local police has registered a case under Sections 341, 323, 506, 160 and 34-A of the IPC. No arrest has been made so far.

LAXITY ALLEGED: Councillors Kishore Chand Sharma and Baldev Singh Aulakh, talking to the mediapersons here on Saturday, alleged that the Department of Local Government was acting slowly on the complaints of encroachment on the municipal land. They said they had made a complaint to the higher officials on March 28, alleging that encroachments were being made in connivance with the influential persons of the municipal council. They were asked by the executive officer, municipal council, to attend the office on June 22 to discuss the matter, but no officer was present. They alleged that the department was not serious about putting an end to the encroachments.

AMRITSAR
ILL-MAINTAINED: The Citizen Forum headed by Mr Brij Bedi, husband of super cop Kiran Bedi, has stated that sangat darshan by the Chief Minister is just a big hype and the situation at the grassroots level remains atrociously ill-maintained. Citing an example of Industrial Development Colony, next to Guru Nanak Dev University, he said though the area was producing modern-day items in factories, yet it had no metalled roads while the sewerage overflowed and the water pipes consistently leaked.

HOSHIARPUR
CHAIN SNATCHED: Two unidentified scooter-borne youths snatched a gold chain weighing about 30 gm from Ms Kamalesh Kaur of Model Town here on Thursday. The police has registered a case under Sections 356 and 34 of the IPC.

WIFE KILLED: Ranjit Kaur of Heyatpur succumbed to injuries at DMC, Ludhiana, on Thursday. According to the police , her husband and mother-in-law sprinkled kerosene on her and set her on fire for which the Garhshankar police had registered a case under Sections 307 and 34 of the IPC which has since been amended into Sections 302 and 34 of the IPC.

HOUSE BURGLED: At least four unidentified persons looted at gunpoint the house of Gopal Singh of Shahpur village on Wednesday night, according to information received here on Friday. According to the police, the persons forcibly entered the house and looted three guns, gold ornaments weighing about 55 gm, 2 kg silver and fixed deposit postal bonds of Rs 20,000. They also took away Gopal Singh’s jeep and escaped in it. The police has registered a case.

KHAMANO
“BADAL WILL BE CM”: The SAD-BJP government has done more development works in its tenure in Punjab than what has been done in 45 years of Congress rule and so the next government in the state will also be formed under the leadership of Mr Parkash Singh Badal. This was stated by Mr Gurpreet Singh Bhatti, Fatehgarh Sahib district president of Akali Dal (B) youth wing, while addressing a meeting of youth wing workers here on Saturday. He appealed to party workers to participate in the conference to be held at Fatehgarh Sahib on Tuesday in large numbers.

MALERKOTLA
CONDEMNED: The National Integrated Medical Association has condemned the Punjab Government’s admission policy underwhich students securing 40 per cent marks in pre medical test after plus two will be eligible for BAMS professional. Dr Pawan Vashisht, president, and Dr Kamal Bharti, press secretary of the Punjab unit of the association said this in a press note here on Saturday.

MEETING HELD: A meeting of the board of directors of Punjab Agriculture Development Bank was held under the chairmanship of Mr Malkeet Singh Siar at Maloud village on Friday. Members of the board decided to take strict action against defaulters.

MANDI GOBINDGARH
PLEA TO GOVT: Dr Sakinder Singh, president, District Congress Committee, Fatehgarh Sahib, in a press release issued here on Saturday, has urged the Punjab Government to withdraw the ‘harsh’ order, which has made even those students ineligible for appearing in the PMT examinations, who are bonafide residents of Punjab and passed their matriculation examination from this state, but have passed their Plus Two examination from Chandigarh. He questioned the logic behind considering students passing their examination from Chandigarh as outsiders when the Punjab government claimed the city to be a part and parcel of the state. He said that students belonging to Ropar, Patiala and Fatehgarh Sahib and the neighbouring districts of Chandigarh, who had joined colleges there, were the most affected by this decision.

ELECTED: Mr Amir Dhawan, the president-elect of Panjabi Lakhari Sabha, Mandi Gobindgarh, released the list of following office-bearers, here on Friday. patron — Mr Surjit Singh Marjara; advisors — Mr Ishar Singh Passi, Mr Anokh Singh Jawanda, Mr Dutt Khanvi, Mr Mehma Singh Arshi and Mr Ranjit Singh Grewal; vice-presidents — Mr Anoop Singh Khanpuri and Mr Gurcharan Singh Bhatia; general secretary — Mr Rajesh Bhatia; secretary — Mr Harpreet Singh Naag and Mr Ranjodh Singh Khanpuri; press secretary — Mr Gurnam Singh and Mr Mukhtiar Singh Mahi; finance secretary — Mr Kulwant Singh.

MANSA
PROTEST RALLY: Employees of the offices of the Deputy Commissioners from all districts of Punjab and employees of various departments held a state-level protest rally in front of the office of the Deputy Commissioner here on Friday. They demanded an immediate arrest and suspension of Rajdeep Singh Brar, Assistant Commissioner (Complaints), Mansa, in connection with the death of Kartar Singh, a clerk of the office of Deputy Commissioner, Ferozepore, and his two daughters. The rally was addressed by union leaders including its state president Mr Sukhraj Singh Sandhu.

NAWANSHAHR
COMPENSATION: Mr Jagjit Singh, Deputy Commissioner, in a press note here on Saturday said the district administration had received Rs 1, 86, 67, 000 to be disbursed among 5,474 farmers who had sold their paddy crop at a price less than the minimum support price in the district from September 21 to October 14 last year. The compensation was being disbursed at procurement centres, he added.

DONATED: Mr Hardev Singh Kahma and Mr Ved Parkash Laroyia, local philanthropists, donated school uniforms and ceiling fans, respectively, to the students of Tara Singh Kahma Memorial School, industrial area, (Mahalon), here on Saturday. This was stated by Mr Didar Shetra, ‘Sakharta’ project coordinator.

ARYA SAMAJ: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Arya Samaj of the local Ghas Mandi: president — Mr Prem Kumar Bhardwaj; secretary — Mr Surinder Mohan Tejpal; and treasurer — Mr Kulwant Rai Sharma.

PATIALA
PLAY STAGED: A play ‘Sirhind’ de Deewar, was staged by the Nat Kala Manch at the Quila Mubarak here on Friday. Staged under the direction of Rajesh Sharma, the play showed the origin of Sikhism, the struggle between the two religions of Sikhism and Islam and the sacrifices made by the sons of Guru Gobind Singh for humanity.

CHANDIGARH

SAS NAGAR
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the managing committee of the Mundi Cooperative House Building Society Ltd; Sector 70, Mohali: Mr Satpal Singh Ghuman; Dr Rakesh Sharma; Mr Angrej Singh; Mr Balvinder Singh Sehra; Mr Jai Bharti; Mrs Surinder Kaur; and Mr Naresh Kumar Goel.

HARYANA

AMBALA
FRONT: The Anti Terrorist Front, Haryana, will burn the effigy of Gen Pervez Musharraf at Delhi during his visit to India. It was stated by the president of the state unit of the front, Mr Viresh Shandilya, in a letter written to President of India demanding not to allow the self-styled Pakistan President to visit India. He said that Mr Musharraf had always encouraged terrorist activities across the border, he added.

URGED: The Ambala Electrical Appliances Manufacturers Association has urged the state government not to accept the proposal of the HVPN to hike the electricity rate in the state. The President of the association Bhupinder Kumar Ittan said in a statement here on Saturday that the rate of electricity was revised six months back.

INAUGURATED: Wills Lifestyle store was inaugurated by Air Commodore V.R. Iyer at Ambala Sadar on Saturday. Mr Malhotra, the store owner, told newspersons that the Wills sport range of branded premium apparel was now all set to go national. “The store at Ambala is the fourth store to be opened today,” he said. He said that ITC limited had launched its lifestyle retailing business division with the ‘Wills Sport’ range of branded apparel, through a premium store.

FUNCTION: The annual prize distribution function of Rotary Club Ambala was held at Rukmini Devi Hall on Friday. Rotary Club Ambala president Capt (Retd.) Baldev Singh said that the awards were presented to active Rotarians, who had participated in the day-to-day functioning of the club, Dr Jaidev was awarded “service above self” on account of his contribution to the Rotary cause, he said. While Capt Baldev Singh was declared the best president in the Rotary district at the conference held at June 10 in Chandigarh, Mr Ajay Aggarwal was declared outstanding secretary of the year in the Rotary district. Capt Baldev Singh said that the club was awarded outstanding club of the Rotary district. Mr A.D. Gandhi and Ms Promila Gandhi were the chief guests at the function. Dr Anil Jain will be taking over as the new president from July 1 from Capt Baldev Singh.

FARIDABAD
BODY FOUND: The police found the highly decomposed body of an unidentified person near the Canal Rest House in Sector 16-A here on Friday. The body has been sent for the post-mortem examination by the police.

IMMUNISATION: About 54,789 children below one year of age have been immunised so far, against TB, tetanus, polio, measles and other diseases under the Worldwide Immunisation Scheme, during the current fiscal year according to the official sources.

JHAJJAR
DACOITY: Two armed youths looted Rs 26,000 from two women cashiers of a gas agency at Bahadurgarh town on Thursday. The cashiers were counting the money during lunch-break when the miscreants robbed them at gunpoint, the police said. The police has registered a case. However, no arrest has been made so far.

JIND
ARRESTED: The police has arrested Sanjay and Jagga of Dhatrath village in the district for planning to loot occupants of vehicles on the Jind-Safidon road. Stating this here on Saturday Mr OP Singh, Superintendent of Police, said two country-made pistols and two cartridges had been seized. A case under Sections 307, 399 and 402 of the IPC and the Arms Act had been registered, he added.

PANIPAT
LIVESTOCK: The Animal Husbandry Department has formed 25 flood-control relief units to protect livestock against contagious diseases during the rainy season and particularly in case of floods in Panipat district. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr M.R. Anand, said each unit, headed by a veterinary surgeon, would cover three to 12 villages.

ROHTAK
ARRESTED: The police on Friday arrested four youths who were allegedly conspiring to loot a petrol station at Jind Chowk here. Three pistols, six live cartridges and a knife were recovered from their possession. A case under Sections 399 and 402 of the IPC and Sections 25, 54, and 59 of the Arms Act has been registered.

SONEPAT
FIRE: Fire broke out in a private bus parked on the Kharkhauda-Delhi road, near Pipli village, about 25 km from here, on Friday. Occupants of the bus escaped unscathed. It took the fire brigade an hour control the fire.

SUICIDE: A housewife allegedly committed suicide by consuming an insecticide at Mohalla Kalan here on Friday. A family quarrel was reportedly the cause of the suicide.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Murthal Road Market Association: president — Mr Ram Lal; vice-president — Mr Surjeet Singh; secretary — Mr Vinod Jain; assistant secretaries — Mr Brij Mohan and Mr Bhupinder Gill; and treasurers — Mr Arjun Dev and Mr Ashok Kumar.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
SAMITI SPLITS: The Kol Bandh Visthapit Sanyukta Sangharsha Samiti has split into two groups within 10 days of its formation. One group is being led by its Chairman Shashi Sharma and the other by its secretary Premlal Thakur, thus, damaging seriously the interests of the oustees of Kol Dam which they had proposed to serve according to a press note here on Friday.

HAMIRPUR
STUDENTS’ DHARNA: Fifteen activists of the National Students Union of India (NSUI) on Friday staged a dharna outside a local college in support of their various demands. Mr Naresh Thakur, President of the district unit of the NSUI, led the dharna and handed over a memorandum to the college Principal. Mr Thakur said the dharna was organised against the decision of Himachal Pradesh University not to allow the students placed under compartment in plus two to join the college. He warned the state government of an agitation if their demands were not met.

PARWANOO
CREMATED: The local Nagar Parishad authorities cremated an unclaimed body of Tulsi Ram (80) on Friday who died on Thursday at the Local ESI hospital here. According to the hospital authorities, Tulsi Ram was admitted to the hospital on June 14 in a serious condition for treatment and was said to be a resident of Nepal. Tulsi Ram was staying in a village near Datiyar on Kalka — Shimla national highway. Since nobody came forward to claim the body, the hospital authorities handed over the body to the Nagar Parishad through the local police for cremation.