R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

HOSHIARPUR
COMPUTERISATION: Computerisation of all police stations of Punjab will soon be done on the Andhra Pradesh pattern with the financial assistance of the Central Government. This was stated by Mr D. R. Bhatti, Additional Director-General (Computer and Communication), while talking to mediapersons here on Sunday.

WATER SHORTAGE: Residents of Aglore, Sansarpur, Mukowal, Shingial and Sangowa villages of Talwara block in the district have been facing acute scarcity of potable water for the past many days. They have approached Mr R. C. Dogra, Minister for Health and Family Welfare, in this connection. Mr Dogra told this correspondent here on Sunday that he had instructed Executive Engineer, Public Health Department, Talwara, to immediately restore the water supply there.

CAR THIEF HELD: The police arrested Jasbir Singh of Mohalla Sukhiabad here from Bulhowal with a car stolen by him on Saturday. He reportedly stole the car of Sandeep Khullar of Mohalla Jagatpura here from the Civil Hospital. In another case, Mukhtiar Singh, alias Mukhu, and Avtar Singh of Pathralian were arrested and 10 kg of poppy husk was seized.

RAIDED: The police on Friday raided the house of Balwant Singh at Mahajana Mohalla here and seized 10 pornographic films and 18 pirated CDs. It also raided the house of Vipan Kumar of New Colony here and seized 13 pirated CDs.

1 KILLED: Kamna of Mohalla Aslamabad here was killed while her two sisters were wounded when a jeep hit their scooter at the Hoshiarpur-Chandigarh road on Friday. They were on their way to home from Bajwara to Aslamabad.

FATEHGARH SAHIB
RENOVATION: A large number of people participated in a function organised on the account of starting of renovation of the cremation ground at Sirhind town on Sunday. Mr Didar Singh Bhatti, a senior Akali leader and SAD candidate from Sirhind, performed the ceremonies and laid the foundation stone. Mr Rakesh Mitter, a social worker of the area, said the cremation ground, which was in a pitiable condition, would be renovated at a cost of approximately Rs 10 lakh. Mr Naresh Sharma, Mr Ashok Sood, former president of the council, Mr R.N. Sharma, president, Citizen Welfare Council, Mr Sanjeev Sharma, president, Bharat Vikas Parishad, Mr Parshotam Singla, former Rotary Club president, and Prof Balraj Sood, local BJP president, were also present on the occasion.

KHANNA
STIPEND: The Punjab Government has resumed the payment of stipend to studying children of police martyrs. It was frozen by the previous Akali-BJP government in 1997. The SSP, Khanna, Mr Devinder Singh Garcha, distributed, the released amount of stipend of Rs 1,02,000 to 11 families of police martyrs on Monday. Mr Garcha said the decision of the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, would help these families to meet their financial needs. Rs 4,200 each were given to 22 students. A grant of Rs 500 each was also given to the families of the martyrs whose children were not studying. The SSP assured these families that their problems would be solved on priority.

LUDHIANA
DEMAND: The North Zone Printers Association has urged the Union Government to withdraw the 16 per cent excise duty to be levied on various printing products like letter pads, receipt books, order books, bill books, memo pads, diaries, account books and other similar articles. The printers belonging to Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Chandigarh passed a unanimous resolution at a meeting held here on Sunday and said the proposal to levy 16 per cent excise duty will hit them hard. The resolution said the printers were already paying heavy excise duties on their inputs like printing plates, paper and inks and further burden of excise duties on stationery items will prove disastrous for them. Arguing their case for the amendment to the budgetary proposals, they urged the Union Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, to withdraw the excise duty and help the printing industry which was already facing several hardships.

IDOLS INSTALLED: Idols of various members of Lord Shiva’s family were installed at the Rangji Mandir in New Shivaji Nagar here on Sunday at the conclusion of a function. Idols of Lord Shiva, Parvati, Ganesha and Kartikeya were installed amid chanting of sacred verses and hymns. A recitation of Sunder Kand was also organised on the occasion by the Shri Hanumant Sewa Sangh under the supervision of Mr Vinod Chopra. Others present on the occasion included Mr Sunil Rawat, Mr Ajay Jindal, Mr Krishan Lal Thapar, Mr Ajit Thapar and Mr Vivek Bedi.

DHARNA: In protest against the move of the Punjab Government to quash the selection of all the lecturers appointed during the tenure of Ravi Sidhu, the PPSC Selected College Lecturers Association has decided to hold a dharna at Matka Chowk, Chandigarh, on Tuesday. Giving this information, Ms Antar Jyoti Ghai, convener of the association, said they would be joined by professionals like doctors, veterinarians and agri-technocrats.

PATIALA
LINEMEN UNION: The Unemployed Linemen Union, Punjab, at its meeting held on Saturday appealed to the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, to ensure that the vacant posts of linemen in the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) were immediately filled. The president of the union, Mr Mandeep Singh said, the recent order of the government to freeze new recruitments in the PSEB would have an adverse effect on the unemployed linemen.

PHAGWARA
2 HELD: The police on Friday arrested Jaswinder Singh, alias Kala, and Balwinder Kumar of Gobindpura Mohalla under Sections 419, 420 and 120-B, IPC, and recovered Rs 15,000 from them which they had reportedly cheated from Bikram Chauhan of the nearby Chauhoki village.

GRP JAWAN DEAD: Government Railway Police (GRP) jawan Gian Chand died at the Civil Hospital on Saturday allegedly after he had consumed celphos tablets.

REFLECTORS: Now, bicycles, rickshaws and other vehicles without tail-lights will have reflectors or tapes instead. According to a press note issued by the local SDM, Mr Zora Singh, today, this was being done on the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. A special drive would be launched in this connection.

RELIEF SENT: Residents of Phagwara on Friday sent a second truck of relief material to Jammu and Kashmir, according to Mr Romesh Kaura, an NGO activist. Mr J.B.Singh Chaudhary , District Governor, Lions and Mr Sudarshan Goel, Parbandhak, Hanumangarhi Mandir, flagged off the truck

SAMRALA
CELEBRATIONS: Kabir Jayanti was celebrated with enthusiasm here on Monday in the local civil rest house by the members of the weavers’ community. On this occasion, Mr Jaspal Singh Jassi, SDM, Samrala, and Mr J.S. Aulakh, DSP, Samrala, appealed to the people to follow the footsteps of Kabir.

STRIKE: Employees of the Punjab State Land Mortgage Banks would observe pen-down strike on Tuesday and would go on mass casual leave on Thursday, said Mr Romesh Chander Chhandran, vice-president of the Punjab State Land Mortgage Banks Employees Union here on Monday. They employees would also stage dharna in front of the office of the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Punjab and Chandigarh, on Thursday in protest against the formation of the Disinvestment Committee by the Punjab Government. Mr Romesh Chander said the cooperative banks were going in profit and these were being run with the help of NABARD and not by the Punjab Government. The government had no role in the running of these banks, he said.

HARYANA

AMBALA
CYCLE EXPEDITION: The multi-purpose cycle expedition of 65 Engineer Bridge Regiment reached Paonta Sahib on Monday. The team visited Nahan, Renuka Lake, Paonta Sahib and the power house. Trekking was undertaken on steep slopes in the hilly area of Nahan and Paonta Sahib.

MEETING: A meeting of the Multi-Purpose Health Employees Association was held at Ambala. The Association decided that they would not help in carrying out family planning procedures. They alleged that health officials were not cooperating with them. They said the men and women who were taken to the hospital by them for carrying out family planning procedures were not treated well, according to its press note. 

CONDEMNED: Different Congress leaders on Monday condemned the hooting of former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal during the HPCC rally in New Delhi. Among others, Mr Arjun Lal Kalra, Mr Om Prakash Malik, Mr Darshan Lal Budhiraja, Mr Gulshan Chabra have written a letter to the Congress President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, in this regard. They claimed that the whole episode was pre-planned. 

INAUGURATED: A new science block of S.A. Jain College, Ambala, was inaugurated by Mr Surender Kumar Jain on Sunday. A prominent Jain saint, Aacharya Vijay Ratnakar Soorishwarji Maharaj, was also present. The president of the college management committee, Mr Kuldeep Jain, the secretary, Mr Kirti Prashad Jain, and the Principal, Mr C.L. Singla, were also present.

FATEHABAD
ILLICIT LIQUOR: The police on Monday arrested three persons and seized a huge quantity of illicit liquor from their possession. On a tip-off, the police arrested Kulwant Singh, a resident of Tiwana village near Jakhal, and seized 25 bottles of illicit liquor from his possession. In another case, the police arrested Billo, alias Partap Singh, a resident of Mohamadpur Sottar village, and seized 120 kg of lahan, besides 20 bottles of illicit liquor from him. The police also arrested a woman at Ahrawan village with eight bottles of illicit liquor. The three have been booked under the Excise Act.

HISAR
ACCIDENT: A person was killed in a road accident near Bass village, about 45 km from here, on Sunday. According to the police, Pappu Singh, a resident of Ellenabad in Sirsa district, was going to Bhiwani from Jind in his Canter when a truck coming from the opposite direction collided head on with the Canter. Pappu Singh died on the spot. The police has registered a case against the truck driver.

KAITHAL
OVERTURNED: A truck driver of the Public Works Department was killed and eight labourers were injured when the vehicle carrying them overturned near Titram village on the Kaithal-Jind road on Saturday. The truck was going from Kaithal to Kithana. Labourers identified as Mahavir, Rameshwar, Ramsarup, Dhoopa, Ram Kumar, Som Dutt, Manga Ram and Leela Ram were rushed to the Civil Hospital.

PIRATED CDs: The police raided a premises near the Partap gate and seized thousands of pirated audio and video CDs worth lakh of rupees here on Saturday. The SP, Mr A.S. Chawla, said Mr Sikander Kumar of the T-Series company, Mr Sansar Sharma of the EMI company and Mr Dharmender of the Eagle company had complained to the police that Rakesh Kumar of Bobby Midtown Digital Studio, near the local Hanuman temple, was selling pirated CDs bearing the labels of their companies. Rakesh Kumar has been arrested.

YAMUNANAGAR
PENSION: The state government has allocated Rs 12.80 crore to Yamunanagar district for old-age pension and pension for widows. According to an official press note here on Friday till now Rs 3.47 crore had been disbursed among 59,537 beneficiaries. 

HIMACHAL PRADESH

NURPUR
THREE BOOKED: The Indora police has lodged an FIR under Section 436 of the IPC against Baljinder Singh of Rey village and Chaman Singh and Rammurti of Raitpur village for allegedly setting on fire six huts of labourers at Rey Pattan on Saturday. However, no arrest has been made so far.

LABOURER DIES: A migrant labourer, Chandan, died here on Saturday after he was bitten by a snake. According to the local police, Chandan, who was sleeping in his house, was rushed to the ESI Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.