R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMLOH
DHARNA ON JULY 12: Government Teachers’ Union of Fatehgarh Sahib district at a meeting held here on Sunday, decided to stage a dharna in front of the offices of District Education Officer (Secondary) and DEO (Primary) at the district headquarters on July 12 in support of the demands of the unemployed ETT teachers, who have been agitating for more than a year. The meeting which was presided over by Mr Balbir Singh Ghuman, district president of the union, urged the government to accept the genuine demands of the unemployed teachers and save their lives who were sitting on fast unto death. The meeting also demanded formation of a statutory transfer policy and allocation of work related to GPF accounts of the employees to the drawing and disbursing officers (DDOs).

AHMEDGARH
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Lions’ Club, Ahmedgarh: president — Mr Rakesh Kumar Chand, vice-presidents — Mr Ranjit Thind, Mr Jaswahar Mittal and Mr Sanjeev Singla; secretary — Mr Jatinder Kumar Laddi; and treasurer — Mr Jai Mahesh Ashri. Similarly, the following have been elected as office-bearers of the Lions’ Club, Greater Ahmedgarh: President — Mr Naresh Kumar Garg; vice-presidents — Mr Vijay Kakkar, Mr Parneesh Jain and Mr Pralhad Rai; secretary — Mr Jaswant Singh; and treasurer — Mr Ashok Garg.

CHEQUE PRESENTED: Mr Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal, a former minister of Punjab, presented a cheque for Rs 1 lakh to the panchayat of Pohir village in Qila Raipur Assembly segment on Sunday for the development of village from the quota of local MP Gurcharan Singh Tohra, who is also the president of the SHSAD. Mr Sukhwinder Singh, sarpanch, and Mr Jagjit Singh, panch, were among others who spoke on the occasion.

BARNALA
ROTARIANS INSTALLED: Mr Navdeep Jindal and Mr Sampuran Sharma were installed as president and secretary, respectively, of the local Rotary Club at an impressive function hosted by the club at Shorey Palace on Sunday. Rotarian Ravi Kant Gupta, District Governor nominee for the session 2002-2003 was the chief guest. Mr Paramjit Singh Khalsa, General Secretary, Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) who was the guest of honour, announced a grant of Rs 50,000 for various projects of the club on behalf of Mr Simranjit Singh Mann, MP, Sangrur from the MP’s Local Area Development Fund.

DERA BASSI
PLANTATION DRIVE: As many as 100 saplings of different species of shady trees were planted by students of Sarswati Vidya Mandir, Mubarikpur, here on Monday. Ms Shakuntla Sharma, Principal, informed that Mr Ramesh Kumar Gupta, a former chairman of the Dera Bassi Market Committee, inaugurated the drive by planting a sapling. Mr Pawan Sharma, president of the Youth Club and other members were also present on the occasion.

KHAMANO
MEETING: A meeting of the apprentice Linemen Union, Punjab, was held under the chairmanship of Mr Gurcharan Singh Dulwan here on Monday. They demanded that the selection of apprentice linemen as linemen in the Punjab State Electricity Board be made time-bound. Mr Karam Chand Khanna, state president, PSEB Employees’ Federation, in his address raised the demand of filling the thousands of posts laying vacant. The apprentice linemen threatened to launch an agitation if their demands were not met.

LUDHIANA
WORLD ZOONOSIS DAY: The World Zoonosis Day was observed in the Veterinary Clinical Services Complex by the college of Veterinary Sciences in collaboration with the Indian Immunological Limited at Punjab Agricultural University here on Monday. Dr K.B. Singh, Professor and Head, Department of Veterinary Clinical Services, said the objective of this programme was to educate the public about the preventive measures against rabies. The Indian Immunologists Limited provided anti-rabies vaccines free of cost for 50 dogs.

JOB-TRAINING COURSE: The Seed Technology Centre of Punjab Agricultural University organised a job-training course on Seed technology for the students of BSc (hons) of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar on Monday. The students were given the necessary information and skills pertaining to the seed production system, distribution and quality control through lectures, discussions and laboratory demonstration. Dr J.S. Samra, Director, Seeds, PAU, spoke on the concluding day of the training course. The course was organised at request of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.

ANIMAL WELFARE DAY: The Department of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Extension of PAU organised Animal Welfare Day at Katani Kalan village on Monday. A team of experts delivered lectures and participated in the technical-cum-interactive seminar with the dairy farmers. Dr M.P. Gupta delivered a lecture on “common diseases of animals and the importance of vaccination”. Dr J.S. Bhatti discussed about the importance of proper sheds.

BADAL GOVT CRITICISED: Sikh Students Federation led by Harminder Singh Gill alleged on Sunday that the Chief Minister had the shares in the Spice Telecommunications, the only mobile service provider in the state. Addressing a press conference here on Sunday the leaders of the federation who alleged that the Badal government was showing undue favours towards the company. They also criticised Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Pradesh Congress Committee president Capt Amarinder Singh for their statements about Dr Jagjit Singh Chauhan.

MOGA
ENCROACHMENTS: Vehicle owners and school children have urged the Moga Municipal Council to remove encroachments in front of commercial establishments by rehriwalas and chhabriwalas in the main bazar. Haphazard car parkings make the movement of shoppers difficult. They also urged the authorities to repair roads leading to the railway station.

SHIFT LIQUOR VENDS: Residents of Baghapurana town in the district, at a meeting held here last evening, urged the district administration to shift all the liquor vends situated near religious places to remote areas. They also requested them to take action against the police for implicating Congressmen in false cases. Cleanliness of the town was also discussed at the meeting. They also urged the administration to repair roads connecting several villages with the town before the arrival of paddy.

PATIALA
OFFICE-BEARERS: Mr Jagdev Singh was elected as chairman of the Drivers and Technical Employees, Punjab Pollution Control Board at a meeting held here on Monday. The other office-bearers are: vice-president — Mr Pritam Singh; senior vice-president — Mr Hardeep Singh; vice-president — Mr Hardeep Singh Bedi; general secretary — Mr Surinder Singh; and assistant secretary — Mr Sukhdev Singh.

CHARGE TAKEN: Mr D.P. Reddy took charge as Commissioner, Patiala division, here on Monday. Earlier, he served as Senior Regional Manager, FCI, Punjab, the Additional Principal Secretary, Chief Minister, Punjab, the Deputy Commissioner of Muktsar, Jalandhar and Ropar and the Additional Commissioner, Excise and Taxation Department, Punjab.

UGC COURSE: The three-week UGC refresher course on ‘global markets and challenges to the management’ organised by the Punjab School of Management Studies, Punjabi University, concluded here on Monday. Mr A.K. Purwar, managing director, State Bank of Patiala stressed upon production and quality on account of globalisation and opening of the economy in order to meet challenges. He said there was need to evolve an effective work culture based on trust and responsibility. He added that the role of service industry such as banking, insurance and marketing was increasing day by day and is helpful in achieving an upper edge over competitors. Dr M.S. Bedi, co-ordinator of the course, said 36 specialists were invited for interaction.

SAMRALA
RAIN WATER CREATES PROBLEMS: Though heavy rains since Friday gave the people of Samrala a relief from scorching heat, they faced a great difficulty because of standing water in the areas of Dabbi Bazar, Durlabh Nagar, Guru Nanak Road, Rama Mandi and some other low-lying areas. Kuldeep Khullar, a social worker, demanded that the sewerage system of the town must be put in order.

SAHNEWAL
CHEQUES DISTRIBUTED: Mr Santa Singh Umaidpuri, Chairman, Market Committee, Sahnewal, distributed 50 cheques worth Rs 1 lakh to farmers on Saturday in the committee office, as a way of compensation for distress sale of paddy between September 21 and October 14, 2000. Among those present on the occasion were Mr Tarsem Singh, BDPO, Mr Pawan Kumar Tinku, BJP leader, Pandit Ram Saroop, vice-chairman, Market Committee, Mr Karamjit Singh Bhairomunna, circle general secretary, Akali Jatha, and Baba Jagroop Singh.

WRITERS’ MEET: The monthly meeting of Punjabi Writers’ Association, Rampur, was organised at Rampur village, under the presidentship of Mr Sukhminder Rampuri. Mr Satwant Singh read out his story ‘Asliat’, Mohinder Kaidi recited a song penned by him, Harcharan Mangat sang a ghazal and Amarjit Singh Mangat sang a religious song.

TARN TARAN
RESTRAINED: The Sikh Gurdwara Judicial Commission, Amritsar has restrained Ms Baldev Singh, president, Gurdwara Talabwali, Fatehbad, from opening and counting of golaks and collecting the rents of shops belonging to the gurdwara and also receiving amount from the college functioning in the gurdwara complex till July 19. The commission passed this order on the petition filed by Mr Jagjit Singh, Mr Manjit Singh, Mr Rattan Singh, Mr Kashmir Singh.

POWER TO PANCHAYATS: The Punjab Government will give powers to the village gram panchayats to recruit teachers in the respective schools of the village to fill the vacant posts. This was stated by Mr Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, Minister for Cooperation, Punjab, while upgrading government middle school, Shahabpur, here on Saturday.

CHANDIGARH

TRAINING CAMP: A two-day training programme for the master trainers under the National Green Corps, organised by the Department of Environment, Haryana and the Environment Society of India ended here on Monday. The participants had gone to Khuda Ali Sher for practical demonstration in vermiculture biotechnology, beekeeping, tree plantation, duck rearing and pond cleansing.

BLOCK PRESIDENT: Mr Hukam Singh, a resident of Mauli Jagran Complex has been appointed block president of Block 21 of the local unit of the Chandigarh Nationalist Congress Party. He will look after party affairs in Mauli Jagran, Colony 1 and 2, Mariwala, Govind Puri, Mani Majra and Shivalik Enclave.

PLEA: The president of Rajiv Gandhi Market, Sector 46, Mr Mohan Lal, and a former Mayor, Mr Gian Chand, have requested the Administrator of Chandigarh to make allotment of all 128 booths to fire victims. In a statement issued here on Monday by Mr Mohan Lal, he demanded that the booths were constructed for the fire victims of Sector 46 rehri market. He said many persons who had no shops in this market were, however, trying to grab booths on the pretext of having identity cards issued from the Estate Office by unfair means.

ELECTION: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Election Commissioner Employees Union: president — Mr Baljit Singh; vice-president — Mr Karnail Singh; general secretary — Mr Surjit Singh; joint secretaries — Mr Vijay Sharma and Mr Rajesh Kumar; and treasurer — Mr Amin Chand. The executive members are Mr Arvind Kumar, Mr Dinesh Singh, Mr Surinder Kumar, Mr Harnek Singh, Ms Madhu Gupta, Mr Nand Lal, Mr Narain Singh Rana, Mr Tirath Rai and Mr Jyoti Ram.

HARYANA

TRAINING PROGRAMME: The Department of Humanities, C.R. College of Engineering, Murthal, has organised at 12-day training programme on management and communicative skills, about 8 km from here on Monday. Dr Rajbir Singh and Ms Rekha, course coordinators, said the teachers of technical institutes and colleges could participate in the programme. Outstation teachers would be paid second class fares. The course had been sponsored by the AICTE and the ISTE, New Delhi. Earlier, Dr S.P.S. Dahiya, Registrar, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, inaugurated the course.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

KULU
COMMITTEE FORMED: The panchayat pradhans of development blocks in the district have constituted a committee. The following have been elected office-bearers of the committee: president — Mr Brijender Singh; senior vice-president — Mr Ishumala; vice-presidents — Kishan Chander Negi and Mr Tikkam Ram; general secretary — Mr Inder Dev; joint secretary — Ms Uma Bajir; and treasurer — Mr Nanak Chand.

NAHAN
BODY FOUND: Mr S.P. Singh, SP, Sirmour , said here on Saturday that an unidentified body of a man (35), had been recovered from the industrial area, Gondpur on Friday.

PARWANOO
PRESS CLUB PARWANOO: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Press Club, Parwanoo, for the year 2001-2002: president — Capt M.M. Bhandari; vice-presidents — Mr Girish Sharma; and Mr Surinder Mehra; general secretary — Mr Darshan Gupta; secretary — Mr Ish Kapoor; cashier — Mr Satish Shingla; chief adviser — Mr S.S. Chauhan; and patron — Mr Rattan Gupta.

MEETING: A meeting of retired officials of various boards and corporations was held here on Sunday under the chairmanship of Mr Rameshwar Singh Gupta, secretary general of the Himachal Pradesh Corporate Sector Employees Coordination Committee. The general secretary appraised the retirees of the latest position of pension scheme and said the Government of Himachal Pradesh would soon start disbursing pension to the corporate retired employees. A resolution was passed to form a body under the name “HP State Corporate Sector Retired Employees Federation “and Mr Gian Chand Sharma was unanimously elected its convener. Mr R.C. Sharma and Mr H.K. Kaushik were entrusted with the responsibility of enrolling retired employees as members of the federation.

SHIMLA
MEMORANDUM: The ABVP on Saturday submitted a memorandum to the Vice-Chancellor, Prof S.K. Gupta, seeking settlement of their long-standing demands. They sought the withdrawal of hike in hostels fee, starting B.Ed (Arts) and building new girls hostel in this session.