R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

DEPUTATION MEETS SDM: A deputation of the Consumer Movement led by its chairman, Mr Sat Pal Khariwal, met the SDM here on Friday. They complained that the ban imposed by the District Magistrate on preparing cheese from milk was being flouted by the local traders. This had caused shortage of milk resulting in the rise of its price in the subdivision.

AMRITSAR
PROFESSOR RETIRES: Dr Ashok Uppal, Head, Department of Neurology, Government Medical College, sought voluntary retirement on Thursday. Addressing the gathering on the occasion, Dr Uppal said he had offered his services to teach the students of the college and treat poor patients on honorary basis.

NOMINATED: Mr Sardool Singh Sham, President , local Akali Jatha (Urban) has nominated Mr Manmohan Singh Chadha as president of Ward No 7 of the party. He also nominated Mr Swaran Singh Haripura as senior vice-president of the Akali Jatha (Urban) and Mr Gurcharan Singh as vice-president of the party.

WHEAT STOCK: Addressing a gathering at Gehri Mandi here, Mr Ranjit Singh Brahampura, Minister for Cooperatives, Punjab, informed that the government agencies were expecting an export order of 3 lakh MT of wheat. Twenty per cent of the rain affected wheat stocks were lifted by Markfed and other state agencies. Besides, Markfed has reportedly obtained orders for export of 25,000 MT of wheat. Mr I.S. Sekhon, DM, Markfed, informed that three rakes of wheat were despatched to Jandiala and Beas.

TRAINING CAMP: A pre-recruitment training camp for the children of serving, retired and expired security personnel will commence on Monday. The training will be imparted free of cost for recruitment to the Air Force, Navy, Army, BSF and the CRPF. According to Mr J.S. Mann, Deputy Director, Army Welfare, Amritsar, free lodging would also be provided during the camp.

BATHINDA
MEDICAL CAMP: Desh Bhagat Dental College organised a medical check-up camp on Thursday at Udekaran village. Mr Rakesh Aggarwal, ASP, Muktsar, inaugurated the camp and Dr Zora Singh, chairman, Desh Bhagat Group of Institutes presided over the camp. In a press note issued here Mr Anshu Kataria, administrator of institute, said about 720 patients were examined by the doctors. Dr Akshay Sharma, dental surgeon, Dr Yuvraj Markan, eye specialist, Dr Minakshi Marken and Dr Kanwaljit Kaur, gynaecologists, examined the patients.

DERA BASSI
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Yuva Brahmin Sabha: chairman — Mr Girja Kumar Sharma; chief patron — Mr R.D. Sharma; president — Mr Sanjay Attri; senior vice-presidents — Mr Rakesh Bhardwaj and Mr Sanjiv Sharma; vice-presidents — Mr Arun Bhardwaj, Mr Janak Raj Sharma; general secretary — Mr Pramod Kumar Sharma; secretaries — Mr Rakesh Sharma, Mr Ashutosh Sharma and Mr Rajesh Kaushik; treasure — Mr Yogesh Sharma; and organising secretary — Mr Ravinder Kumar Sharma.

DORAHA
MILK PRODUCERS: The Milk Producers Sabha organised a special programme at Nizampur, which was presided over by Jathedar Sadhu Singh Ghudani. Mr Ghudani appreciated the dairy farmers and awarded cheques to the most progressive ones. Mr Partap Singh got a cheque of Rs 8,653, Mr Mohinder Singh got Rs 5,978 and Mr Karam Singh get Rs 5,584. Mr Avtar Singh Dhamot, an Akali leader, asked the farmers to take up dairy-farming along with agriculture. Mr Amrik Singh, president, discussed the problem of farmers.

GURDASPUR
GANG BUSTED: The police claims to have busted a racket of impostors engaged in extorting money from innocent persons for getting them Class IV jobs in government departments. They used to forge the signatures of the CM, Punjab and direct the head of the department concerned to employ the applicant. Mr Sukhdev Singh, SSP, identified the arrested persons as Labh Singh and Chanan Singh of Amritsar, Surinder Masih and Sulakhan Masih of Khokhar, 6 km from here, and Gurmej Singh of Sirsa. A case under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC was registered against them on July 27.

KHAMANO
COMPLAINT LODGED: The Block Development and Panchayat Officer, Mr Gurnetar Singh, has lodged a complaint against some persons of Manderan village who had disrupted the meeting in connection with the election of Sarpanch of the village on Thursday.

LUDHIANA
SEMINAR: A seminar on general health was organised by the Lions Club, Ludhiana (South) at Government Primary and Middle School, Dr Ambedkar Nagar, Ludhiana. Dr Y.S. Walia delivered a speech on general health. He told the children about germs, how they spread and the dangers posed by these. The function was presided over by the Regional Chairman, Mr Kanwaljit Singh Sohal. The stage was conducted by Mr Kuldip Singh Kreer who introduced Mr Walia and Mr Sohal to children. Mr Charnajit Singh, District Chairman, thanked the children, teachers and members for their cooperation and active participation. 

APPOINTED: Mr Rajeev Tandon, who left the Hindu Surksha Samiti to join the Shiv Sena (Bal Thackeray) was elected general secretary of the district unit of the body here on Friday. At a function organised here, the District head of the party, Mr Sandeep Mittal, appointed Mr Tandon as general secretary, Mr Sanjeev Ghai as secretary, and Mr Manoj Dhiman as the deputy secretary of the unit. All of them have joined the Shiv Sena after leaving the Hindu Surksha Samiti. 

NOMINATED: Mr Vijay Danav, National joint-secretary of Bharatiya Valmiki Dharam Samaj and a member of the working committee of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) has been nominated member of the Telecom Advisory Committee of Ludhiana Telecom District. 

AKALI JATHA: Dr Jagdev Singh Khalsa has been nominated vice-president of the District Akali Jatha (Urban) by the acting district president of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal), Mr Avtar Singh Makkar. 

WELFARE SOCIETY: ‘The Danga Peerit Welfare Society’, Punjab, has urged the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) leadership to nominate an activist of the riot victims’ body to Ludhiana Rural Assembly constituency in the forth coming elections. The society further urged the government to allow the riot-hit families to make payment of houses and plots allotted by Ludhiana Improvement Trust in easy instalments in 25 years without interest as had been done in the case of allotments made by PUDA. 

RESENTED: The state unit of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has resented the appointment of Mr Badruddin as president of Labour Wing of the party by the district NCP Chief Mr Rashpal Singh Gill. The party PRO Ustad Charanjit Chanchal has said in a press statement that the appointment had been rejected by the state unit. 

MEMBERSHIP CAMPAIGN: The local unit of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad started its membership campaign in all colleges of the city today. Mr Sandeep Kapoor, president of the unit, said the campaign has been launched with an aim to end tuitions by the government and private college teachers. He said members would also meet the parents of the students to know about the various problems being faced by their wards in schools and colleges.

TRANSFER CONDEMNED: Punjab Education Department Ministerial Staff Association has condemned the transfer of Mr Anil Sandhir, superintendent in the primary wing of District Education office and Mr Jatinder Singh Mangat, junior associate in the same office. Mr Shingara Singh, president of the association said the transfer orders should be cancelled immediately. He said the association has decided to hold meeting with the Chief Minister and Education Minister in this regard. 

FAREWELL CEREMONY: Prof Madan Gopal Sharma, Lecturer of Education at GHG Khalsa College of Education, Gurusar Sadhar was given a warm farewell at a function organised here today. Mr Hardia Singh, vice-president of the college managing committee, said Professor Sharma had rendered 30 years of service at the college. 

COUNSELLING DATES CLASH: Students seeking admission in Engineering colleges of Punjab Technical University, as well as College of Agricultural Engineering, Punjab Agricultural University, are in a fix as the date of counselling for both the courses coincides. The students said counselling to both the courses has been scheduled on August 8 for the reserved category and August 9 for the general category and it would not be possible for the students to appear in both the centres on the same day. 

DECLARE MERIT LIST: Candidates of the reserved categories, from the district, who have been seeking admission to Sri Guru Ram Das Medical College, Amritsar, are annoyed as their merit list has yet not been declared. The students said a list had been displayed for the general category students but not for those falling under the reserved quota. They said this had caused much trouble to those coming from far off places to know about the results. The students from Chaukiman village, Sidhwan Kalan and Jagraon who had applied under the reserved category for rural candidates said when they went to Amritsar the officials concerned told them that they might be ineligible as their parents were working as government employees. The students said this condition was not mentioned earlier and alleged that the new rule was made to give admissions to some preferred candidates of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, which manages the college affairs. 

CERTIFICATION: Top Careers and You — commonly known as TCY has achieved the rare distinction of achieving ISO 9001 certification. TCY has been the first Indian test preparation organisation, in its segment, to achieve the distinction, said Mr Kamal, CEO of the company. The organisation had been started three years back with a single minded approach toward quality and results and though our certifying body is TUV, Germany, which is very strict on standards, we didn’t have to face much difficulty in obtaining the certification. Our endeavour is to assign each faculty member to his area of expertise so as to give our students the best of inputs” he said.

MANDI GOBINDGARH
SANKALP RALLY: A ‘Sankalp Rally’ to be held on August 12, here, will be addressed by Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav, President of the Rashtria Janata Dal, and Ms Rabri Devi. This was stated by Mr Rakesh Verma, district unit president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal in a press note released here today.

NAWANSHAHR
KILLED: Amarjot Kaur (19), a student of Amardeep Singh Shergill Memorial College, Mukandpur, was killed and more than 10 other students were seriously injured when the college bus (PB-08-2060) in which at least 22 students were travelling overturned near Hakimpur village about 20 km from here, on Thursday.

SANGAT DARSHAN: The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Jagjit Singh, took a serious note of the absence of officials of the Punjab State Electricity Board, Water Supply Department, and Sewerage Board at the “sangat darshan” programme organised at Dhahan Kaleran village, about 20 km from here, on Wednesday. About 50 complaints were disposed of on the spot during the programme.

INAUGURATED: Mr Mohan Lal Behram, MLA, Banga, inaugurated the newly constructed building of the market committee office, Banga, 13 km from here on Thursday.

NEW SCHOOL BUILDING: Mr Jatinder Singh Kariha, local MLA, inaugurated the newly constructed building of Government Middle School, Nethu Mazara, 2 km from here, on Thursday.

PATIALA
ELECTED: Mr Rajbir was elected as president of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarathi Parishad (ABVP) during a meeting held at Bundela Sarvhitkary school here on Friday. The other office-bearers are: vice- presidents — Dr Shani Vashisht, Dr Ashok Singla and Mr Gurpreet Singh; secretary — Mr Tejinder Dutt and Joint secretaries — Mr Pankaj Thakur, Mr Tarun Dutt and Mr Satinder Singh.

HEALTH CAMP: The local branch of the State Bank of India organised a free health check-up camp here on Friday. Patients were examined by Dr J.S.Parwana and free medicines were distributed to them on the occasion. Speaking on the occasion, Chief Manager of the bank, Mr Pala Ram said the bank offered a high rate of interest, up to one per cent, on deposits to senior citizens, apart from loan facilities to pensioners, personal loans, housing loans, car loans and mortgage loans to individuals.

DELEGATION MEETS MINISTER: A delegation of the Punjab Medical and Health Employees Action Committee on Friday met the Health Minister, Mr Manoranjan Kalia, to put forward their demands. The chief demands included filling of vacant posts for nursing staff and class four category posts in Government Medical College and Rajindra Hospital, filling of post for Director Research and Medical Education (DRME) and allotment of a residents quarter on an empty land of the Health Department. The committee also demanded repair of government quarters in the hospital and college. The president of the committee, Mr Ram Asra, said the authorities must ensure that the machines used for testing purposes was brought in working condition so that patients could be examined properly.

PHILLAUR
DOWRY DEATH: Kamaljit Kaur allegedly committed suicide by consuming celphos tablets at her in-laws house at Damtali village on Wednesday. The Bilga police has registered a case of dowry death on a complaint lodged by her parents.

SAHNEWAL
CAMP: An awareness camp organised on the topic of ‘Breast-feeding’ was held at Harmilap Mandir at Nandpur village. The speakers stressed the importance of breast-feeding and its good effects on mother and child. On this occasion the new building for Aanganwari workers was also inaugurated. Mr Gurcharan Singh, SDPO, stressed the need for women development and detailed the steps being taken by the government in this regard. The Medical Officer, Ms Ramninder Kaur, spoke on the administration of polio drops and the proper precautions to be taken regarding the dreadful disease of AIDS. Mr Jasvir Singh thanked the audience.

SANGRUR
SEMINAR: A seminar on “promotion of breast feeding — why and how” was organised by the local unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), in collaboration with the Breast Feeding Promotion Network of India, here on Thursday. It was organised to celebrate the “World Breast Feeding Week”. Dr Surinder Singla, senior vice-president of the Punjab unit of the IMA, presided. He gave a call to promote breast feeding to save the infants from various types of diseases.

CHANDIGARH

NOMINATED: Mr H.S. Lamba, president of the joint action committee of the Chandigarh Housing Federation of Tenements, has been nominated as the member of the local Telecom Advisory Committee by the Ministry of Telecommunications, according to a press note.

HARYANA

AMBALA
PATWARI HELD: A patwari was nabbed on Friday by sleuths of the Vigilance Bureau for demanding and accepting a bribe. The patwari of Teek village was nabbed when he accepted Rs 3,000 from a village. The complainant had told the bureau that the patwari had demanded the money when he had gone for ‘fard’ of a land. The bureau team, led by Inspector Mam Chad, nabbed the patwari after the accepted the gratification. A case has been registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

THEFT: More than Rs 1 lakh cash and gold ornaments were stolen from the house of Mr Surinder Kumar Bhardwaj here on Wednesday when none of the family members was at home.