R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
FLIGHTS RESCHEDULED: Uzbekistan Airways, an international carrier operating from here to Tashkent, suspended five flights during this week in view of the closure of Afghan airspace on Monday. A spokesman for the airways, in a press note issued here on Friday, said it had rescheduled its flights. Now the airways will fly thrice a week on Sundays, Mondays and on Thursday with their Boeing 757 aircraft connecting Amritsar with Europe, England and Tashkent.

DHARNA: Activists of the Revenue patwar Union, Punjab, on Thursday held a dharna in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office. The union threatened that if the administration failed to fulfill its demands, it would intensify its stir. The president of the union, Mr Nirmaljit Singh Bajwa, alleged that the government had accepted the demands, but the DC was not implementing these. The union has given an ultimatum till September 27 after which the patwaris will stage a dharna the next day and go on a long break.

HUNGER STRIKE: Residents of Basant Vihar Abadian Ghanupur, Sher Shah Suri Road, Sat Kartar Nagar, Modern Colony and Shakti Nagar observed a hunger strike here on Thursday in protest against the lack of civic amenities like sewerage and drinking water.

BATHINDA
MEDICAL CAMP: The Health Department, Muktsar, Chirewan gram panchayat and Guru Teg Bahadur Sports Club in the district held a medical check-up camp at Chirewan village on Thursday. In a press note issued here, Mr Jagjit singh, Deputy Medical Commissioner, Muktsar, said 549 patients were examined at the camp and given medicines free of cost.

FEROZEPORE
SHOPKEEPER MURDERED: Hakumat Rai (65) was stabbed to death by some unidentified persons on Thursday morning. It is learnt that the deceased was running a grocery shop in the Harpreet Nagar locality near Dhawan Colony. he was the father of a former District Congress President (Mahila Wing), Ms Usha Chopra. The police has registered a case under Section 302 and a manhunt has been launched to arrest the assailants.

GURDASPUR
BAN ON USE OF SOIL: Mr Kulbir Singh Sidhu, District Magistrate, on Wednesday by an order prohibited the use of soil as raw material for bricks between the national highway and the Chakki river on the Pathankot-Jalandhar road in this district till November 12, 2001. The ban would be effective on all brick-kilns falling along the Chakki river beyond the Chakki bridge up to the jurisdiction of this district.

HOSHIARPUR
GANG BUSTED: After an exchange of fire for 10-15 minutes, the district police arrested four members of an inter-district gang of robbers and killers on Thursday. The Superintendent of Police, Mr B.S. Grewal, told mediapersons that the police had received a tip-off that the gang was planning to loot a petrol pump at Shergarh and a branch of Cooperative Bank at Mehlanwali. The police arrested Jagdish Singh, Tarlochan Singh, Balwinder Singh and Deepak Kumar while Amarjit Singh Rana, leader of the gang, Sital Singh and Didar Singh escaped. None was injured in the firing.

JAGRAON
EX-SERVICEMEN RALLY: Ex-servicemen of the district would hold a rally at Gurdwara Sidhwanbet on Monday in which Mr S.K. Sandhu, Deputy Commissioner, would be the chief guest and distribute BCCL grant cheques among war widows of the World War II and ex-servicemen. They have raised the demands for one rank one pension, increase in medical allowance from Rs 100 to 500, job for a member of the family of the servicemen in case of the death of either ex-servicemen those currently serving. They have also demanded a separate pay commission for defence personnel, 25 per cent seat reservation at all levels, establishment of military hospitals at district level and equal compensations to war widows since 1947. 

KHAMANO
PROCUREMENT OF PADDY: The bid for newly-arrived paddy started here on Friday. Around 25 tonnes of paddy was purchased by government agencies warehouse, PUNSUP, simultaneously. Sources said the moisture content in paddy was around 12.5 per cent although as per government policy the limit was 18 per cent. 

DHARNA: A dharna would be organised on Wednesday in front of the SDO (Canal) office against the transfer of two employees of the department concerned by higher officials without any evident reason. They would continue with their struggle until their transfers were cancelled. The speakers decided to participate in the dharna at Matka Chowk being organised by the Daily-wage Work Charge Regular Employees action committee. This was stated by Gurbinder Singh, general secretary of the local branch of the union. 

EYE OPERATION CAMP: A two-day free eye operation camp will be organised from Friday at Shaheed Baba Hari Singh, Jatana Neecha by Baba Hari Singh Ji Parbhandhak Committee, Baba Masat Ram Ji Parbhandhak Committee and gram panchayat, Jatana Neecha village. The check-up will be done on Friday and operations on Saturday. Mr Kirpal Singh Khirnian, member SGPC, will inaugurate the camp. This was stated by the sarpanch of the village, Preet Inder Singh, and Jaswinder Singh Ruby, president of a village club. 

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Nagar Panchayat: Mr Harwinder Singh Laly Kang — president; Mr Surinder Singh Rana — vice-president; Mr Rajinder Kumar — general secretary, Mr Sukhjinder Singh Bhangu — secretary, Mr Pardeep Kumar — treasurer, Mr Mukesh Kumar — assistant treasurer and Mr Gopal Krishan, Mr Navneet Singh Tangri, Mr Harpreet Singh and Mr Harpreet Laly — advisor. 

KHANNA
ONE HELD FOR CHEATING: Mr R.N. Dhoke, SSP, stated here on Friday that the police had arrested Jasdev Singh of Bhattian, Machhiwara, on a complaint by Hardial Singh Atwal of cheating by allegedly withdrawing a sum of Rs 9.15 lakh from their joint bank account. A case under Sections 406 and 420, IPC, has been registered at the Machhiwara police station. 

LUDHIANA
ANNUAL CONFERENCE: Nearly one lakh people are likely to attend the annual conference in memory of Hazrat Sultanul Hind Khawaja Garib Nawaz to be held here on Satruday by the Faizane Khawaja Garib Nawaz Conference Committee, according to a press note. Some prominent maulanas and Urdu poets from the country are likely to attend the conference, which would be held from 8 pm to 5 am, according to Mr Sukhdev Mehra, president of the organising committee. 

VACCINATION CAMP: The Rotary Club organised a Hepatitis B vaccination camp at New Senior Secondary School, Sarabha Nagar, here on Friday. More than 200 students and teachers were administered the first dose of vaccination. Mr Sunil Maria, president of the school managing committee, and Mr H.C. Gupta, Principal, told the students about the importance of vaccination against Hepatitis B. 

QUIZ CONTEST: A quiz contest was organised at the Devki Devi Jain Memorial College for Women on Thursday. Five teams of three students each were selected for the final round on the basis of a written test. The team from BCom II stood first, followed by the teams from +2 (arts) and BA III. Question-answer rounds were also held for the audience. Ms Neelam Nayyar, lecturer, conducted the contest and Dr Rekha Sharma, Principal, emphasised on the need for conducting such contests. 

TEACHERS HONOURED: The Lakshmi Ladies Club celebrated Teachers Day on Thursday in which teachers from the city were honoured for their contribution towards the profession. The teachers who were honoured included Ms Avinesh Kaur Walia, founder principal and director, Spring Dale Public School; Ms Kamla Aggarwal, former principal, N.M. Jain Public School; Ms Ritu Gogana, former teacher at Kundan Vidya Mandir; Ms Asha Bangia, Teacher Bharti Vidya Mandir; and Ms Ruby Fernandes, Principal, Ludhiana Public School. According to a press statement, the club had also arranged some surprise gifts for the tallest lady, lady with longest hair and lady with longest nails. 

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Urban Estate Ramlila-Dussehra Committee: patron— Mr B.R.Kaushal; president— Mr Adarsh Vijay Manga; vice-presidents—Mr Dev Dutt Sharma and Mr Om Prakash; general secretary— Dr Shiv Gupta; convenor—Mr Raj Garg; finance secretary—Mr Pawan Kumar Singla; assistant treasurer—Mr Om Prakash Sharma; joint secretaries— Mr Hardeep Singh Dhillon and Mr Naveen Kumar Sharma; assistant secreatries—Mr J.S.Raikhy and Mr H.S.Takkar; and organising secretaries—Mr Tejinder Lakhanpal, Mr Ajay Goel and Mr Shiv Kumar Gupta. 

FREE SURGICAL CAMP: A free polio corrective surgical camp will be organised at Shri Krishna Charitable Hospital on October 4 and 5. Mr P.L. Singla, president of the hospital, in a press note on Thursday stated that patients would be examined and operated upon by Dr S.V. Adinarayana Rao, Orthopaedic Surgeon, Prema Hospital, Visakhapatnam, and his teammates. He said over 2,000 patients had already been registered. Operations on over 500 patients would be performed during the camp. They will be provided free medicines and meals and the operations will be conducted free of cost. 

TARN TARAN
APPOINTED: Mr Ajit Singh Bhullar, Panchayat Officer of the local Block Development Office, has been appointed Administrator of the Palasour gram panchayat by the District Development and Panchayat Officer, Amritsar, to carry out development works. The Punjab Government has given grants worth Rs 13 lakh to the village for development works.

CHANDIGARH

HUNGER STRIKE: The hunger strike by members of the JCT Electronics Employees and Workers Union entered its eighth day on Friday. Employees have been demanding salaries from May 2001 to August 2001. 

HARYANA

AMBALA
BOOGIE-WOOGIE: Vatsal Raj Toor and Khushboo Chopra of Springfield Public School, Ambala City, were presented awards on Thursday by Principal R.K. Walia on bagging the first prize at a dance competition. The duo had stood first in the Boogie-Woogie dance contest organised by the Junior Chamber of Ambala Industry. 

TALENT SEARCH: A talent search competition was inaugurated by the Ambala Cantonment MLA, Mr Anil Vij, at Government College on Thursday. Mr Vij said a large hall would soon be constructed in the college. About 100 students participated in the competition which was presided over by the Principal, Mr M.M. Sehgal. 

FARIDABAD
HEALTH CAMP: A health camp for mine workers was inaugurated on Thursday by the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Mr Mehtab Singh, in the Pali-Mohabatabad crusher zone in the district. According to health officials, about 700 workers and their families are likely to benefit from the health camp.

FATEHABAD
DECLAMATION CONTEST: A zonal declamation contest was organised at the local Government College for Women on Thursday as part of the ‘Chetna Saptah’ being observed to commemorate the birth anniversary of the late Devi Lal, former Deputy Prime Minister of India. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr O.P. Indora, was the chief guest on the occasion.

ROHTAK
YOUTH KILLED: A youth was run over and killed by a car in front of the Myna tourist complex here on Wednesday. The deceased has been identified as Manoj Chauhan, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, who was staying at Jhang colony here. The victim was taken to the PGIMS where he succumbed to his injuries. The police has registered a case against Sanjay of Tej Colony, the driver of the car.

THEFT: In two separate incidents of theft, thieves made away with computer parts and household goods worth nearly Rs 1.7 lakh here on Wednesday. It is learnt that thieves struck at the PGSL computer centre at Rupalaya Complex in the Model Town area and stole parts of computers and CPUs worth about Rs 1.5 lakh. In another incident, thieves stole cash and clothes worth about nearly Rs 15,000 from the house of Satish Manchanda in the Garhi Mohalla locality here.

DEAN APPOINTED: The Vice-Chancellor of Maharshi Dayanand University on Thursday gave the charge of Dean, College Development Council, to Dr D.S. Dahiya, Principal, University College, in addition to his own duties with immediate effect, relieving Dr Ravi Prakash.

SONEPAT
BUS PASSENGERS LOOTED: Passengers travelling on a Delhi-bound Haryana Roadways bus were looted by a group of armed miscreants between the Samalkha and Haldana border on t he G.T. road, about 30 km from here, on Thursday. According to preliminary reports, the incident occurred in the area falling in Panipat district. The passengers reported the case to the Ganaur police in Sonepat district. The police of both districts has launched joint combing operations to arrest the culprits.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

CHAMBA
CMO’s DENIAL: The Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Mr S. Sharma, has refuted the allegations regarding financial irregularities and harassment of multipurpose health workers posted in Kihar medical block of the Health Department in the district. In a press note issued here on Thursday, the CMO said on a demand raised by the Multipurpose Health Workers Union, an inquiry was conducted into the allegations and no financial irregularity, pendency of any bill or evidence of harassment of field workers was found.

DENTAL HEALTH CAMP: The Department of Preventive and Community Dentistry in Government Dental College here organised a dental health check-up camp at Senior Secondary and Primary School, Boileauganj, on Thursday and examined 650 students.