R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
PROMOTED: The Superintending Engineer of the Improvement Trust, Mr Inderjit Chawla, has been promoted Chief Engineer by the Punjab Government. He will look after four corporations of Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala and Ludhiana with the head office located at Ludhiana. A function was held here on Sunday to felicitate him.

JALANDHAR
ELECTRIFICATION: The electrification of the Ludhiana-Jalandhar rail track will be completed by April, 2002, and the remaining part of the Jalandhar-Amritsar section will be electrified by March, 2003, at a cost of Rs 97 crore. Mr A.K. Chopra, General Manager, Central Organisation for Railway Electrification, who was here on Saturday to review the progress, said work on the modification of three girder bridges over the Sutlej and the Beas and one near Chaheru railway station was in full swing to pass the overhead traction wires underneath the bridges as the existing space was not adequate.

LUDHIANA
TRAFFIC WEEK: Traffic week for the NCC students of BCM Arya Model Senior Secondary School, Shastri Nagar, began at Swami Dayanand Hall here on Monday. During the inaugural function, students sang “Vande Mataram” in chorus. Col. P.S. Bedi, Group Commander, lighted the lamp. Addressing the students, he reminded the students about their duty to work for the welfare of the country. Mr Arun Pal Singh, SP (Traffic), said it was important for the students to learn traffic rules. Lieut Col M.S. Chahal, Commanding Officer, 19 Punjab Battalion, said nearly 100 NCC students of the school would take part in the traffic week to be observed till Saturday . Mr Sham Sunder Juneja of the Children Traffic Park would train the students during the week. Mr Suman Kant Munjal, a businessman, was the chief guest and Ms Paramjit Kaur, Principal, was present on the occasion. 

SENIOR CITIZENS: The general secretary of the Senior Citizen Forum, Mr U.K. Mankoo, said on Monday that the forum would organise a meeting of senior citizens on Sunday at 6.00 p.m. All the members had been requested to attend the meeting. 

MOGA
COMPLAINT LODGED: A farmer stated to be a resident of Bhekha village under Baghapurana police station on Sunday lodged a complaint with the police and demanded an inquiry against Tajinder Singh of Daddahur village. He alleged that Tajinder Singh got registered and installed an electric motor in his name on the basis of fake documents and had taken the motor after removing it from his tubewell.

PATIALA
CAMP: A training camp is being organised by the District Education Officer in collaboration with the Red Cross Society from Monday to Thursday at Green Fields Public School, Badhson, near here. The chief concerns during the camp would be to give training for handling accident cases, natural calamities and minor diseases. The training would also comprise of first-aid techniques. Teachers of various schools are also being asked by the District Education Officer (secondary) to encourage children to participate in the camp. 

RESEARCH PAPERS: Three research papers written by Dr Jai Kishan, Professor and Head of the Department of Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases, have been accepted by the Official Journal of American College of Chest Physician and will be published in the journal named ‘Chest’. Dr Kishan has also been invited to present these papers at the forthcoming conference ‘Chest-2000’ scheduled to be held in November. 

CAMP: A blood donation awareness and blood check-up camp was organised by the Dedicated Brothers Group (DBG) and youth wing for fulfilling the need of DBG Mobile Blood Bank here on Monday. Mr Ashok Singla, in charge of the blood bank, said 35 persons got their names registered after blood tests, while the blood sugar, haemoglobin, weight and blood pressure of nearly 195 patients were checked. 

CONVENTION: In a state-wide campaign to replace ‘Politicians’ political agenda with ‘peoples’ agenda, the Punjab Lok Morcha will organise district conventions. The sixth such convention for Patiala district will be held at Trade Union Centre, opposite Circuit House, Baradari Gardens, here on Saturday. Stating this here on Monday, district workers and leaders of seven political parties that joined the morcha, including the SAD (Democratic), the Marxist Communist Party of India, are expected to attend the convention. 

DEMONSTRATION: The FCI Executive Staff Union held a demonstration in front of the district office at Passi Road here on Monday. Issuing a press note, the district president, Mr Parminder Singh, asked for the immediate formulation of scientific norms of storage losses and demanded stoppage in issuing charge-sheets, recoveries and pending case proceedings till the declaration of final decision. 

RESIDENTS’ PLEA: A deputation of the Lok Bhalai Sanstha comprising Guru Nanak Nagar, Gurbax Colony and Juihar Nagar have decided to meet the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, on Friday to raise the issues related with the health of people affected due to uncleanliness. They suggested that the ‘ganda nala’ of main market be levelled or the installation of an underground system for the flow of rainy water so that shopkeepers are not affected. 

PHAGWARA
NOMINATED: Dr R.S. Gupta, Principal, Saint Soldier College, Hadiabad, has been nominated member of the Senate and Syndicate of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, from July 1, according to a press note issued here on Friday. Dr Gupta is the author of several textbooks on business management, it said.

DEVELOPMENT FUNDS: The Punjab Tourism Minister, Mr Swarna Ram on Saturday distributed cheques worth Rs 36 lakh among 24 panchayats for various development projects. An official press note said the minister also presided over a meeting of the local Bar Association and gave a grant of Rs 1 lakh for the library of the bar. He promised that the government would soon construct a record room at the local judicial complex. Mr Harbhajan Dass, Additional Civil Judge (Senior Division), Ms Anshul Beri, Civil Judge (Junior Division) and Mr Amarjit Pal, SDM, were also present.

SAMRALA
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Panjabi Lekhak Manch: president — Prof Baldeep; vice-president — Malkiat Singh Ghuman; secretary — Dr Gulzar Mohamad Goria; joint secretary — Prabhjinder Singh; patron — Prof Hamdardvir Nausheharvi; and advisors — Mr Mohinder Singh Manupuri and Mr Joginder Singh Josh. 

CHANDIGARH

SAS NAGAR
OFFICIAL: The local unit of the Communist Party of India ( CPI) today appointed Mr Baldev Singh Jhajji as the officiating secretary of the local unit in place of Mr Saudagar Singh Grewal. The announcement was made at a function here on Monday. Issues like ill-effects of multinational companies, deterioration in art and culture and strengthening of local trade unions were also discussed on the occasion. The next meeting of the party would be held at Green Field Public School on August 11. 

HARYANA

FARIDABAD
PRINCIPAL HONOURED: Mr P.P. Nanda, Principal, D.A.V. Centenary College, has been honoured for his excellent services in the field of education by the government and has been nominated member of various Maharishi Dayanand University committees.

KURUKSHETRA
KISAN CREDIT CARDS: A two-month special campaign to organise village camps to issue kisan credit cards (KCC) will be launched in the district from Tuesday. Stating this here on Monday, the Kisan Credit Cards Plan Nodal Officer, and Additional Deputy Commissioner, Mr Rakesh Gupta said all needy and eligible farmers of 410 villages in the district would be covered. The KCC facility would be available up to the limit of Rs 3 lakh and the card once issued would remain valid for three years, it was stated.

PINJORE
CONTEST: A classroom decoration contest was held at DAV Senior Public Secondary School, Surajpur, on Sunday. Mr Sushil Sarwan, SDM, Kalka, was the chief guest. Students of both senior and junior wing took part in the contest. Cultural programme was also organised. Mr P.I. Chopra, principal of the school, while speaking on the occasion, said the students must participate in such activities in order to promote healthy competition. Prizes were given to teams. 

TWO INJURED: Mahboob, a Muslim youth, was allegedly attacked with iron roads and lathis by five youths of Idgah Colony here on Sunday night. It was reported that the assailants arrived on motor cycles and fled after assaulting the youth. The cause of the attack was not known. According to another report, Raj Kumar was allegedly attacked by a member of his family at Bhatgaon village, about 15 km from here, on Sunday. The police has registered a case.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

CHAMBA
SHAM-E-GHAZAL: Minerva Communications, a forum for performing and visual arts, organised the first ever Sham-e-Ghazal by Piyush Raj, a famous ghazal singer of Himachal Pradesh, in the Darbar Hall of the local Government Postgraduate College on Saturday night. Mr Sanjay Kundu, Superintendent of Police, Chamba, inaugurated the function.

DALHOUSIE
DHARNA THREAT: The ousted families of Thein Dam project of Dalhousie tehsil have resolved to stage a dharna in front of the office of the Punjab Chief Minister in Chandigarh if they are not provided employment in the project in the near future. Mr P.C. Oberoy, a state leader of the Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC) said he had written to the Punjab and Himachal Pradesh Governments many times in this regard, but to no avail.

KANGRA
DRIVER’S BODY FOUND: The Kangra police has recovered the body of Prabat Singh, driver of the private bus which fell in the Banner Khud on July 16, near here, on Sunday. The police chief, Mr Pratvi Raj said on Monday that the body was recovered from Haripur by a police party and later identified by his brother.

PARWANOO
REMAND: Five persons, who were arrested by the Parwanoo police on charge of robbery, from a house here, have been remanded in police custody for seven days. According to the police, their interrogation is continuing and a lot of cases are expected to be uncovered. It is suspected that they were allegedly involved in various illegal activities in different areas of the state. 

POWER THEFT CASES: The Enforcement Department has registered six cases of power theft amounting to Rs 73 lakh by industrial units on Friday. According to a spokesman of the department, the cases have been registered against three firms of Sirmaur, one of Solan and two stone-crushers of Nurpur.