R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMLOH
DEVELOPMENT WORKS: Mr Sukhdev Singh Libra, Member, Rajya Sabha laid 12 foundation stones at Majra Manna Singh Wala, Machhrai Kalan, Himmatgarh Channa, Mallowal, Amloh (ward no 3,5,6), Brihma, Ghulu Majra villages on Saturday for different development works. Public gatherings in each village were addressed by Mr Chanda Singh, district president SC/BC wing Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal, Jathedar Kahla Singh Baini, circle president SHSAD Amloh, Jaswinder Singh circle president, youth wing, master Harbans Singh, Jathedar Amar Singh, besides Mr Libra and Ahluwalia, and cheques worth Rs 6,05,000 were distributed.

STIR PLANNED: A meeting of the Paramedical and Health Employees Union was held at Bhadson, near here, which was presided over by Mr Narinder Mohan Sharma, district president. A memorandum was submitted to the government which included demands to allot 5 per cent residence allowance to all eligible employees, deletion of the condition on employees to reside within 3 km from the place of posting, General Provident Fund (GPF) to be maintained at the drawing — officer (DDR) level to issue notification pertaining to the service condition of paramedical staff, free accommodation to the radiographers-laboratory technicians, etc. The office- bearers of the union will sit on a 24- hour hunger fast in front of the office of Director Health Services, Punjab, in Chandigarh on September 20.

AMRITSAR
EXHIBITION: An exhibition was inaugurated by Dr S.P. Singh, Vice-Chancellor, Guru Nanak Dev University, here on Thursday on the occasion of the birthday of Padam Shri G.G. Thakar singh. The twelve participants of the workshop were honoured by the Indian Academy of Fine Arts.

WORKSHOP CONCLUDES: A painting workshop at the Indian Academy of Fine Arts (IAFA) here concluded on Thursday. About 15 eminent painters participated in the workshop.

BLOOD CAMP: The NSS unit of Guru Nanak Dev University organised a blood group testing camp here on Thursday. Dr S.P. Singh, Vice-Chancellor of the university, inaugurated the camp and also got his blood group tested on the occasion. More than 600 students, teachers and non-teaching staff of the university got their blood group tested at the camp. Dr Sikram Singh Ghuman, Dean, Students Welfare, Dr Guljit Singh, Head, Department of Laws, Mr R.B. Sobti, Director, Public Relations and Dr M.D. Singh, Reader, Department of Laws also participated in the camp.

BATHINDA
BJP MEETING: A meeting of the district unit of the BJP was held here on Thursday under the presidentship of Mr Narinder Mittal, BJP district president. It condemned the beating up of two BJP Municipal Councillors, Mr Krishan K Garg and Mr Basant Bhatia, allegedly by some Akali workers. It has demanded the arrest of the culprits.

NIGHT SCHOOLS: Appu, a social organisation, has decided to run night schools for poor children. Mr Amritpal Singh, president of the organisation, in a press note issued here on Friday said a meeting in this connection was held here on Friday.

URGED: The Workers’ Union of the local Baikospin has urged the authorities concerned to restart the mill. A meeting of the workers was held on the premises of the mill on Friday. Mr Tara Singh, president of the union, said the mill was closed due to the wrong policies of the authorities.

15 ARRESTED: The police has arrested 15 persons under a drive against antisocial elements. This was stated by Mr Kanwarjit Singh Sandhu, SSP, in a press note here on Friday. He said these persons were found indulging in the satta rackets and gambling. Cases have been registered under Section 13-A of the Gambling Act.

TEACHERS HONOURED: Six teachers of Baba Gandha Singh Public School and the local Doon Public School were honoured as best teachers by the Lions Club at a function organised to mark Teachers Day at Doon Public School. This was stated by Satvinder Singh Jandu, president of the club, here on Friday.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Consumer Council: chairman — Mr Bal Krishan Goyal; president — Mr Gokul Gupta; vice-president — Mr Satish Sindhwani; and secretary — Mr Sanjay Garg.

DORAHA
STONE LAID: Mr Sadhu Singh Ghudani, MLA , Payal on Saturday laid the foundation stone of the roads leading to Satnam Nagar, Sapera Basti and Bazigar colony in Doraha. The whole project would cost a total sum of Rs 5,60000. Among those who were present on the occasion were Mr Sudarshan Kumar Pappu, president, Nagar Council, Mr V K Mehta, executive officer, Mr Tarsem Lal, S O, Mr Vinod Gupta, secretary, Durga Sewa Dal, Mr R P Sharma, Mr Avtar Singh Dhamot, councillor, Mr Darshan Singh and vice- president, Mr Surinder Pal Sood.

HELD FOR GAMBLING: A case under Sections 13-A 3 and 67 of the Gambling Act has been registered at the Payal police station against Ram Singh of Jarg village and a sum of Rs 465 was recovered from him.

CASE REGISTERED: A case under Sections 61, 1 and 14 of the Excise Act has been registered at the Sahnewal police station against Amrik Singh Chota of Sahibana village who was allegedly caught with nine bottles of illicit liquor at Dhanauda village by a head constable on Thursday.

FARIDKOT
CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED: The BSNL Employees Union (Punjab circle) has launched a campaign to bring other unions like All-India Telecom Employees Union Class III, All-India Telegraph Traffic Employees Union (NN) Class II and Indian Telecom Employees Union L\SD under its banner in the state. The process in Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Ferozepore and Chandigarh has been completed. This was stated by Mr R L Moudgil, state president of the union, here on Friday.

BANNED: Mr A Venu Prasad, Deputy Commissioner, has banned the use of combines in the harvesting of the paddy crop from 7 p.m. to 9 a.m. in the district. The order which will be implemented from September 10 will remain in force for two months.

HOSHIARPUR
EXCISE RAID: Officials of the Excise Department headed by Mr Balbir Sharma, Excise Inspector, conducted raids at Bassi Mustfa village on Wednesday and seized 36 litres of whisky from Raghubir Singh. In a press note Mr P.C. Piyasa, Assistant Excise and taxation Commissioner, Hoshiarpur, said the whisky was meant for sale in Chandigarh. he said Raghubir Singh was arrested under Section 61, 1 and 14 of the Excise Act.

BOOKED: On a complaint of Mr Mukhtair Singh, the Tanda police registered a case under Section 406 of the IPC against Ram Chand on Wednesday for cheating the complainant. Ram Chand took Rs 1,59,000 from Mukhtiar Singh for sending him abroad.

JALANDHAR
NRI SABHA: The decision of the Central Government to revise the blacklist of NRIs was a significant achievement of the NRI Sabha, Punjab, which had been struggling hard for the cause of NRIs. Mr Satish Chandra, chairman of the sabha, in a press note issued here on Thursday, said the sabha was continuously pleading the case of hundreds of Punjabi NRIs with the government.

ANNUAL CONVENTION: The Punjab State Scheduled Castes Officers Association would organise its second annual convention at Gurmukh Singh Musafir Hall, Chandigarh, on Sunday, said Mr Rakesh Ahir, president of the association, here on Thursday.

KAPURTHALA
LIFE IMPRISONMENT: Mr Gurdev Singh, District and Sessions Judge, on Wednesday convicted Surjit Singh Jhita of Mohabat Nagar here under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code on the charge of poisoning Jasbir Singh to death and sentenced him to undergo life imprisonment.

KHAMANO
INQUIRY ORDERED: Deputy Commissioner of Fatehgarh Sahib Vikas Partap has ordered an inquiry into the happenings at Jawahar Navodiya Vidyalaya Farour (JNU Farour). This was stated by ADC Fatehgarh Sahib M.P. Arora to mediapersons during his visit to JNU Farour. The Principal informed the ADC that when he came to know about the incident, the students responsible for the act of vandalism were suspended and were ousted from the school after informing their parents. He refuted the charges of drinking at boys’ hostel and entering of girls hostel by boys.

BAD ROADS: Despite repeated claims by the Punjab Government that all roads will be repaired in a short time, most of the roads in the Khamano area are in a bad shape. Big potholes have developed on these roads. The Khamano -Khanna road from Khamano up to Barwali is in such a bad condition that it is difficult to pass this road during rain. The Khamano-Khanna road from Khamano up to Barawali is also in a bad condition. The Khamano-Amrala road via Khamano Kalan-Khamanon Khurd has not been repaired for the past many years. The roads of adjoining villages — Farour Ranwan, Bahtan, Luharmajram Bhambri, Thikriwala, Mansadpur, Dhanaula, Khamano to Lutheir via Badeshan - Hawara —too need to be repaired.

ANIMAL DISPENSARY: Cabinet Minister Dr Rattan Singh Ajnala will inaugurate an animal dispensary on September 10 at 10 a.m. at Panjkoha village near here. The Deputy Commissioner of Fatehgarh Sahib, Mr Vikas Partap, will preside over the function. The minister will also inaugurate an animal dispensary at Hawara village. This was stated by Akali leader, Mr Bhagat Singh Panjkoha.

LUDHIANA
SAD ADVISER: Mr Amrit Lal Aggarwal, has been nominated advisor of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal). “The nomination is made by the party president, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, keeping in view your dedication to the Shiromani Akali Dal,” says the letter issued by SAD-B secretary, Mr Kirpal Singh Badungar. Mr Aggarwal said he would soon lead a campaign to bring in more and more non-Sikhs from all walks of life into the fold of the SAD-B all over the state.

MALERKOTLA
TEACHERS HONOURED: The New Century Lions Club here honoured seven teachers of the town at a function organised at the local Malerkotla Club on Thursday. According to Mr Rajesh Anand, president of the club, those honoured were Mr Jagdish Raj, Mr Madan Mohan, Mr Tarsem Lal, Mr Kasturi Lal Madan, Ms Sudershan Arora, Ms Sukhjit Kaur and Ms Gurmeet Kaur.

NAWANSHAHR
BLACK BADGES: Employees of the local Central Cooperative Bank, on a call given by the Cooperative Bank employees Federation, Punjab, have been wearing black badges since Monday 3 to protest against the “callous” attitude of the Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Punjab, towards their long-pending demands.

TEACHERS’ STRIKE: On a call given by the PCCTU, the teachers of the privately managed government-aided colleges observed a strike for two periods and held dharnas in front of the offices of the Principals in their respective colleges to protest against the state government’s inordinate delay in implementing the pension and gratuity scheme.

PATIALA
RICE SHELLER OWNERS MEET: A rice sheller owners’ meet was organised by the State Bank of Patiala (SBOP) at Samana and Patran here on Saturday. Issuing a press note, Mr J. Kishore, liaison officer of the bank, said the meet was attended by 45 rice sheller owners. Mr S.K. Sreen, deputy general manager of the bank, spoke about the new rice shelling policy in which various relaxations for the current fiscal year were allowed. Mr Sham Lal Singla, president of the Samana Chamber of Industries, also spoke on the occasion. 

PHAGWARA
CHAIN SNATCHED: A gold chain, weighing 2.5 tolas, belonging to Ms Suman Bhanot, was snatched here by two scooter-borne persons on Thursday.

CHANDIGARH

MEDICAL CAMP: A free medical check-up camp will be organised at Jakar Majra village on September 16 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Patients will be given free medicines. The inauguration will be done by Dr Rajinder Singh Saggu, a civil surgeon, of Ropar. 

HARYANA

REAPPOINTED: Mr Pradeep Singh Poonia has been reappointed spokesman for the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee. According to a Congress press note issued here on Friday, Mr Poonia will have his headquarters here.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

PALAMPUR
PASSING-OUT FUNCTION: The passing-out function of veterinary graduates was held at the local Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University on Friday. Dr M.P. Yadav, Director, India Veterinary Research Institute, Izzatnagar, said the institute, developed an effective vaccine to control PPR disease in sheep and goats. Dr Tej Partap, Vice-Chancellor, presided over the function.