R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMLOH
CULTURAL PROGRAMME: ‘Pendu Sabhyacharak Sath’ of Bhadson village at a meeting held on Monday, which was presided over by Harinder Singh Khatra, decided to hold its function on December 23. It was also decided in the meeting to invite Punjabi singers, film actor Gurdas Mann and comedian Jaswinder Bhalla and Bal Mukand Sharma. Among other singers Gurkirpaul Surapuri, Mohammad Sadik, Biba Sukhjeet Sukhi, Ranjeet Kaur have also been invited. Ms Satinder Kaur from Doordarshan will be the stage secretary.

AMRITSAR
TECH-FEST: A fair, Tech-Fest 2002, was organised at the local DAV College on Tuesday. Mr M. Laeri, principal of the college, inaugurated the fair in which computer competitions were held.

TRIBUTES PAID: Mr Mangat Ram Pasla, secretary, CPM, Punjab, addressed a function organised by the party to pay tributes to communist leaders Darshan Singh Jhabal, Mohan Singh Mahawa and Mohan Singh Jandiala at Jhabal here on Monday. Mr Pasla said the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, had failed in keeping his election promises. He stressed the need to strengthen the third front for the solution of the people’s problems.

HOSHIARPUR
MAN ROBBED: Amarjit Singh of Bhagowal village in Hoshiarpur district was robbed of Rs 32,000 and his mobile phone while he was returning home from Delhi on Wednesday last, according to a delayed report. A few youths befriended him and offered him biscuits. After eating the biscuits, he fell unconscious. He was later admitted to hospital.

BAN NOORMAHLIA SECT: The Sikh Students Federation (Mehta) has demanded ban on the activities of the Noormahila sect of Baba Ashutosh. In a press note here on Monday, Mr Mandip Singh Lachowal, general secretary of the federation, said certain mischievous elements were trying to infiltrate into the Khalsa Panth. He hoped that new office bearers of the SGPC would make efforts for further promotion of Sikhism.

TRAVEL AGENT: On the complaint of Mrs Sumiter Kaur, wife of Jagat Singh of Naraingarh, the Dasuya police has registered a case under Section 420, IPC, against Tarsem Lal of Boothgarh. In her complaint she has alleged that Tarsem Lal had taken Rs 1,97,000 for sending her son Lakhwinder Singh to Korea. He neither sent her son abroad nor returned the money.

KHAMANO
TEACHERS’ DELEGATION: A delegation of the Democratic Teachers Front (Punjab’s State Committee) will meet the DPI (Secondary and elementary) on December 4 about the demands. Giving this information, Mr Yashpal of the state committee of the DTF said the problems and demands of the teachers include payment of salaries of teachers for about six months and pending promotion cases.

LUDHIANA
SATSANG CONCLUDES: A satsang organised by the Manav Uthan Sewa Samiti at Subhash Chowk in Harbans Pura concluded on Monday. Swami Ram Walianand and sister Kunti gave discourses at the satsang. Others who attended the satsang included Mr Shiv Sagar Gupta, Mr Ashok Malhotra, Mr Lal Chand Patel and Mr Radhe Shyam.

SHIVA JAGRAN: A Shiva jagran was held on the Kashmir road on Sunday night by the Jangam Sabha, Punjab. According to Mr Gian Chand, head of the Jangam Sabha, the purpose of holding the jagran was to convince the administration that jangams were not beggars but kul-purohits of Lord Shiva. Among those who attended the jagran were Mr Sunil Mehra, Mahant Narayan Dass Puri, Mr Naveen Mittal, Mr Ramesh Sharma and Mr Balbir Threeke. 

SUNDERKAND: The Marwari Mitter Sangh organised a weekly recitation of Shri Sunderkand in Sunder Nagar on Monday. The flag-hoisting ceremony was performed by Mr Surya Parkash, who also started the recitation. Others present on the occasion included Mr Surinder Rajpurohit, Mr Prahlad Prajapat and Mr Ramesh Lohia.

MAUN VRAT: Mahasati Hem Kunwar, after obtaining permission from the current Jainacharya Shiv Muni, rounded off her 131-day “maun-vrat” at a function held at Jain Sthanak in Rama Mandi on Monday. The ceremony, known as ‘paarna’ was performed by Mr Vijay Kumar Jain, from Malout. Mr M.L. Jain from Bathinda was the chief guest at the function, which was also attended by Mr Jitender Jain, Mr Rattan Lal Jain.

SHAHIDI PARV: A three-day programme would be held at Gurdwara Dukh Niwaran from December 6 to 8 in connection with the martyrdom day of Guru Tegh Bahadur, according to Mr Pritpal Singh, head sewadar of the gurdwara. A nagar kirtan would also be taken out under the aegis of Guru Granth Sahib at 1 pm.

CHRISTMAS FUNCTION: The United Masihi Dal held a meeting here to finalise its Christmas plans. Mr Bachan Masih, president of the dal, said Christmas would be celebrated at a function to be held on December 20 on the Tajpur Road in Sanjay Gandhi Colony. A special programme of hymn-singing would be held from 10 pm to 2 am in which senior artists would offer prayers. The meeting was attended among others by Pastor Prem Sagar, Pastor Ashok Masih, Pastor Irfan Masih and Pastor William Bansi Lal. Meanwhile, a meeting of the Ludhiana Masih Welfare Association resolved to urge the state government to celebrate Christmas officially like the previous government. Among others who attended the meeting were Mr Sadanand, Pastor Oliver, Mr Samson Bhatti, Mr G.L. Bansi, Mr Jaswinder, Mr Arshad Masih, Mr Nitin Gill and Pastor Eric.

OPPOSED: The President Primary Teachers’ Association, Mr Piara Singh Dhillon, stated in a press note that the association firmly opposed the New Education Policy — 2002 which had come into force. According to the New Policy, Primary Directorate will be replaced by Elementary Directorate which is not acceptable to the primary teachers. The effigy of Elementary Directorate was burnt symbolically as protest at Chandigarh on Monday. A deputation of the association has been invited by the DPI to meet on January 5 to discuss the problems. The teachers, according to this body, are planning a series of protests in future.

BAR COUNCIL POLL: The Organisation of Young Lawyers, Ludhiana, has fielded its convener Mr Sandeep Kapoor for the post of joint secretary in the forthcoming annual elections of the District Bar Association scheduled to be held on December 20. This was announced here on Tuesday by Mr Harjasdeep Singh Rana, chairman, and Mr Malwinder Singh Ghumman, president of the organisation

MACHHIWARA
CONG LEADER DEAD: Former chief of Nagar Panchayat Machhiwara and Block Congress Committee Machhiwara Dr Anand Swaroop Sharma passed away after a prolonged illness on Monday night. He was 77. He was an associate of late Chief Minister Beant Singh. He was cremated at the local cremation ground with full honours.

MANSA
TWO HELD: The police on Tuesday arrested Harvinder Singh, alias Bhola, and Inderjit Singh, under Sections 353, 186 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code. The accused allegedly tore the uniform of police constable Deep Singh when he tried to stop their jeep.

DISTRIBUTED: Mr S.K. Ahluwalia, Deputy Commissioner, distributed 200 sewing machines among Scheduled Caste girls on Tuesday who had completed their diploma in tailoring and cutting from the 75 centres being run by the District Red Cross Society.

PATIALA
ANNUAL FUNCTION: Narain Public School organised its annual function ‘Vibes-2002’ in the Central Library Auditorium here on Tuesday. The Chief-Director Vigilance, Mr A.P Pandey, was the chief guest on the occasion. Managing Director of the School, Mr Avtar Arora, stressed that the aim of the school was not just to ensure academic excellence of its students but also strive for their overall personality development. He also said that special emphasis was being given to sports in the school.

CULTURAL MEET: Punjab National Bank (PNB), Region-B, organised its annual sports and cultural meet on Tuesday at the local Government Polytechnic College. The Senior Regional Manager of the bank, Mr N.C Jain, stressed that sports and cultural activities were an indispensable part of the overall development of the human mind and body.

KNITTING CONTEST: Over 400 students from 27 different schools participated in the zonal knitting contest organised by the Vardhman Spinning and General Mills Limited at the Central State Library Hall here on Tuesday. Winners from 27 intra-school level competition participated in the event which went on for three hours. The students knitted different patterns with the yarn provided by the company. Mr Harish Bhatia, Product Manager, Vardhman Spinning and General Mills Ltd., said the objective behind organising such events was to introduce the skill of knitting to the modern generation. Mr V.K Goyal, Chief Executive of the company, said such events helped the children in revealing and developing their artistic ability, technical skills and aesthetic sense.

PHAGWARA
ONE KILLED: One person was killed and six others injured in a collision between a tempo and a Tata Safari near Banga on Monday evening. The driver of the tempo was killed in the accident.

HARYANA

AMBALA
BODY FOUND: The body of a watchman working in a factory was found near Mandhore village, 5 km from here on Tuesday. According to the police, the deceased Paras Ram, a resident of Kurukshetra district, had been working in cable factory at Mandhore. The cause of the death could not be ascertained so far. The police has registered a case.

ONE KILLED: A resident of Ambala city was runover by a train near Jandli village on Tuesday. According to information, the deceased Sharwan Kumar was an employee in Haryana Roadways posted at Chandigarh. Sharwan was going for the morning walk. While crossing the railway track he was hit by a train. The Railway Police has registered a case.

COMPUTER QUIZ: A computer quiz was organised by District Information Technology Centre, Ambala, at Bal Bhavan. The Additional Deputy Commissioner, Ms Neelam Kasni, was the chief guest. She said computers were playing a crucial role in today’s world and awareness regarding computers must be generated. Eight teams participated in the competition. GMN College team won the first prize, SA Jain College team won second while Dev Samaj College, Ambala city, won the third prize. In seminar, Sudesh of MDSD Girls College was first, Mandeep of DAV College stood second and Shailendra of GMN College was third. 

NSS QUIZ: National Service Scheme quiz was organised at Government College, Ambala Cantonment on Tuesday. In the quiz competition, team of Sachin, Kamal Aggarwal, Yusuf Ali and Pale Ram was first. Team of Dinesh Chauhan, Ganesh Das, Ajay Sharma and Manmohan were second while Muktesh Kumar and Hardev were third. The quiz coordinator was Prof Hemant Verma while scorer was Ashwini Chauhan. 

MEETING: The Rationalist Society, Haryana held a meeting under the presidentship of Mr Satish Bahadur on Tuesday. They paid condolences to journalist Chattarpatti. They demanded that government should check the mushrooming of camps set up by so-called holy men. They pointed out that there were several instances of wrongdoings in some campus, a release said.

BHIWANI
MAN SUSTAINS BURNS: Mange Ram, 50, of Santokhpura village under Charkhi Dadri subdivision suffered burn injuries on Monday when he sat on a burning heater at his house. He was rushed to the Civil Hospital at Charkhi Dadri. His family members described him as a mentally challenged person.

IMA REMARKS FLAYED: The state branch of the National Integrated Medical Association has condemned the statement of Dr Raman Agarwal, vice president, Indian Medical Association, Punjab, for calling the registered practitioners as quacks. In a statement issued here on Monday, the state president of the association, Dr R.B. Goel, said as per the verdict of the Supreme Court GAMS or BAMS doctors had every right to prescribe allopathic medicines. The IMA should refrain from issuing such absurd misinformation in the press.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

DHARAMSALA
GANG ARRESTED: The Kangra police has nabbed a gang which had looted a car owner on November 30 near Ujjain under Kangra police station. One member of the gang Karam Chand was arrested the same night. On his information other members namely Sanju, Sanjay, Anup and Nasib, all residents of Samela village were arrested on Sunday.

SHIMLA
OFFICE-BEARERS: Dheeraj Bhaik and Sanjay Chauhan have been elected president and general secretary, respectively, of Government College, Sanjauli.