R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

ABOHAR
‘FULFIL’ PROMISE: The Railway Passengers' Association (North Zone) has regretted that the Central Government had not fulfilled its promise of running DMU train on the Bathinda-Abohar-Sri Ganganagar section for past four years. The previous government had sanctioned two inter-city Express trains linking Abohar with New Delhi and hardwar. Mr Hanuman Dass Goel, Joint Secretary of the association, in a memorandum faxed to the Railway Minister on Wednesday suggested that the frequency of ordinary passenger trains on this section could be increased by rescheduling the existing trains.

AMRITSAR
FREE CARDIAC CAMP: Patients with heart problems can now attend a free cardiac camp organised by the Fortis Heart Institute. Besides free check up and consultation, the camp will provide facilities for tests like ECG free of cost. The camp will have top cardiac specialists on its team from the institute besides other doctors. The camp will be held on May 25 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at BBK DAV College for Women.

HOSHIARPUR
SEMINAR: A seminar was organised by a local milk plant at the Milk Chilling Centre, Balachaur, 62 km from here on Wednesday. As many as 150 members of the Cooperative Milk Producers Societies of Balachaur and Sorya blocks along with Mr S.K. Sharma, General Manager, Mr S. Paramjit Singh Ghuman, Manager, (Milk Procurement); Dr L.R. Thakur, Manager (Quality); Milk Plant, Hoshiarpur and others participated.

ANTI-TOBACCO DRIVE: A deputation of schoolchildren from Gyan Niketan Public School and St Martyras School, Ram Colony camp, under the patronage of the local Guru Gobind Study Circle (Nawanshahr zone) met the SSP, Mr Gurpreet Deol, on Wednesday and presented a memorandum against the use of tobacco at public places. The SSP assured the deputation that necessary action would be taken in this regard.

KHARAR
THE ANNIVERSARY: The Dr Ambedkar Bhalai Manch, Kharar, has decided to celebrate the birth anniversary of Dr B.R. Ambedkar on May 24 on the grounds of Christian High School, here. Ch. Santokh Singh, Cabinet Minister, Social Security and Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes will be the chief guest and Mr Bir Davinder Singh, local MLA, will preside over the function

MALERKOTLA
DENTAL CAMP: A dental check up camp was organised by the local Rotary Club at Government Senior Secondary School, Kuthala, here on Wednesday. According to Mr Raj Kumar Jindal, secretary of the Rotary Club, about 700 schoolchildren were examined by Dr Mohd Shabbir, CMO (Dental) and his team.

MOGA
SHOPKEEPER KILLED: the district police on Thursday arrested two persons namely, sukhbir, alias Rolu Singh, a resident of Nathewal and Rajinder singh, a resident of Ugoke, for allegedly killing a shopkeeper, Hans Raj of Malha Kalan village, some time ago. This was stated here on Thursday by Mr Virinder Kumar, SSP. A case has been registered in this regard.

NAWANSHAHR
DISPLAY RATE LISTS: Mr Ashok Kumar Gupta, Deputy Commissioner, while presiding over the meetings of the field staff of the Revenue and Rural Development Departments at Banga and Nawanshahr on Wednesday, asked them to work honestly so that the aim of the state government to provide corruption free and transparent administration could be translated into reality at the grassroots level. He directed the patwaris to display the government approved rate lists for issuing copies of various types of revenue records and other works at the walls of their offices. Telephone numbers of the tehsildar and the SDM concerned should also be displayed so that the people could contact them.

APPOINTED: Mr Ashwani Kumar Ballagan has been appointed acting President of the district unit of the BJP in place of Ms Varinder Kaur Thandi who has gone abroad. This was stated by Dr Shiv Kumar Tejpal, general secretary of the district unit of the BJP, in a press note issued here on Wednesday.

PATHANKOT
LIONS’ CLUB: Mr harish Mahajan has been elected president of the Lions’ Club (Greater) in the presence of Mr Vinod Mahajan, district governor of the club, here on Wednesday.

CHEMISTS’ UNION: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Chemists Association: president — Mr Rajesh Arora; general secretary — Mr G.S. Arora; and treasurer — Mr Rajesh Jandial.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
DEMONSTRATION: The President of the district-unit of the Congress, Mr Hoshiyar Singh Thakur, alongwith the state Congress party members, Mr Rajesh Dharmani and Mr Dilaram Dhiman, a large number of Congress activists drawn from all four Assembly constituencies of the district, staged a three-hour dharna outside the District Collectorate on Tuesday. They were demanding removal of the Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi. They also presented memorandum through the Deputy Commissioner to the President of India.

SHOPS LOOTED: Thieves broke the locks of at least six shops at Sikroha village near Namhole, about 25 km from here, on Tuesday and decamped with cash and other commodities worth thousands of rupees. This was stated on Wednesday by panchayat vice-president Rooplal Verma. An FIR has been registered in this regard.

HAMIRPUR
ENCROACHMENTS: The Himachal pradesh Minister of State for Revenue, Dr Rajan Sushant, said here on Wednesday that encroachments on government lands especially national and state highways, public places and educational institutions would not be regularised. Talking to reporters, he said 95 per cent of the total land encroachers were poor people and once their encroachments were regularised, the problem would be solved. he said there were 8,553 cases of encroachments in the district and added that maximum cases were from Sujanpur Tira tehsil.

WATER SHORTAGE: The Himachal Pradesh Minister of State for Revenue, Dr Rajan Sushant, lambasted the district officers for the shortage of water in various parts of the district and the town. While talking to reporters here on Wednesday he said the funds would not come in the way of supplying water to the people. If a person who was given the work of supplying water through tankers failed to perform his duty, his tender should be cancelled and the work be allotted to the next man. Dr Sushant directed the officers of the Department of Irrigation-cum-Public Health to ensure that there was no water shortage in the home district of the Chief Minister and added that at least three tankers should be put on duty for the town.

BIOTECH PROJECT: The Himachal Pradesh Government has selected Bamsan as one of the 20 blocks in the state for promoting business based on biotechnology products. The diversification of farming with medicinal and aromatic plants followed by their extraction and processing along with appropriate business tie up will be one of the major activities of the Department of Biotechnology set up in the state. This was stated by Dr P.K. Khosla, Senior Scientific Adviser to the Department of Biotechnology on Thursday. He said at least 500 farmers in each of the 20 blocks would be selected and given training by the Rural Development Department in association with the line department.

KULU
NATURAL DYES WORKSHOP: A three-day workshop on natural dyes was organised at the Weaving and Designing Training Centre, here on Wednesday, by the Wool Research Association, Thane. The woollen industry of Kulu, Kandi and kangra districts attended the workshop. The programme was sponsored by the Asia Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology, New Delhi, under the UNDP assistance.

KUMARHATTI
WATER SCARCITY: The North India’s prestigious TB sanatorium at Dharampur, about 4 km from here was facing scarcity of water. As against the daily need of 10,000 litres of water by patients, their attendants and staff the water supply was much below the demand.

PAONTA SAHIB
OPIUM SEIZED: The Majra police has seized 7.60 gms of opium from Prakash Chand, a truck driver. A case under Sections 20, 61 and 85 has been registered against him. In another case at least 35 bottles of illicit liquor have also been seized from Deep Chand of Kanshi Pur village and another 35 bottles from Kamaljit of Badri Pur. Separate cases under the Excise Act have been registered against them.