R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

NO SALARIES: Three women cooks of Government Girls Secondary School hostel here have not been paid their salaries for the past four months. Mr Shashikant, senior vice-president of the All Employees’ Coordination Committee and Mr Harbhajan Singh Khunger, general secretary of the Punjab Subordinate Services Federation, Ferozepore, on Tuesday urged the Education Department authorities to release the salaries of the cooks.

HOSHIARPUR
2 KILLED: Two persons were killed on the spot and eight injured in a head-on collision between two trucks near Baghotipur village on the Jalandhar-Pathankot highway on Monday. The police has identified the deceased as Chamkaur Singh (27) and Gholu (23) and the injured have been admitted in different hospitals. A case has been registered in this regard.

KAPURTHALA
STIPENDS: The district administration has received a sum of Rs 32.50 lakh for disbursement among 12125 Dalit primary girl students of the district as a school-going incentive, according to Mr Rakesh Verma, Deputy Commissioner.

LUDHIANA
SPIRITUAL MUSHAIRA: A spiritual mushaira — Yaad-e-darshan — was organised at Kripal Ashram in Rakh Bagh on Monday evening by the Sawan Kirpal Ruhani Mission in the memory of Sufi saint Darshan Singh. Randhir Kanwal, a gazal singer, lit the candle and Mr Jaswant Singh inaugurated the mushaira. Prem Nath, Manjit Singh Rajput, Goldy, Ricky Sherpuri and Gurcharan Jalota were among those who recited their devotional compositions at the mushaira.

KRISHNA UTSAV: Shri Mahadev Sewa Dal organised its third Krishna Utsav in Tulsi Ram Dharamshala on Monday. A 'parbhat pheri' was also taken out in this connection from Sanglan Wala Shivala. Members of the Mahila Sankirtan Mandal chanted hymns. Among others who chanted hymns at the smagam were Kamlesh Paruthi from Delhi and Lalita Sakhi and Rajesh Arora from Vrindavan. Those who attended the utsav included Mr Pardip Kumar, Mr Ashok Goyal, Mr Devinder Jain, Mr Hazari Lal Malhotra, Dr Shiv Sharma, Mr Devinder Rasia, Mr. Gulshan Sharma, Mr Charanjit Sharma, Mr Sunil Manga, Mr Badri Nath, Mr Vinod Sharma, Ms Veena Malhotra and Ms Saroj Verma. Several prominent citizens were honoured on the occasion.

SATSANG: The Hare Krishna Prachar Samiti organised a satsang at Shri Radha Kunj Bihari Mandir on the Tibba road on Sunday. Bhagat Tarsem, Ved Kathuria and Ashok Bhandari gave discourses. Among those present on the occasion were Mr Vikas Chopra, Mr Raj Kumar, Mr Gautam Dev, Mr Vinod Kumar and Ms Anita Bhandari.

RELIEF DISTRIBUTED: Relief in the form of ration and woolen clothes was distributed among 621 widows at a function organised by the Shri Gyan Sthal Mandir Committee on Sunday. Marriages of two girls were also solemnised on the occasion. Mr Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Manager, Airtel, was the chief guest. Mr Jagdish Bajaj, president, Shri Gyan Sthal Mandir Sabha, presided.

TRAINING PROGRAMME: The Ludhiana unit of the Food and Nutrition Board, Department of Women and Child Development, Community Food and Nutrition Extension Unit, Government of India, is organising a five-day training programme in nutrition education for trainers on the Punjab Agricultural University campus from December 17 to 21 for the benefit of the CDPOs, lady health visitors, medical officers, district programme officers and supervisors connected with nutrition and health promotion activities. The objective of this programme is to update their knowledge on Food, nutrition and health-related issues so that the same may be utilised by them during their field activities to combat malnutrition. Some other relevant activities — video film on nutrition topic, mini exhibition, diet display of pregnant and nursing mothers and low-cost recipe demonstration, particularly on local base food availability would also be conducted.

MANSA
TWO DIE: Himmat Singh of Gurthari village and Bhagwan Singh of Samaon village died on the spot in a head-on collision between a scooter and a Maruti car near Bhikhi in the district on the Bhikhi-Barnala road on Monday. Leela Singh of Samaon village, pillion rider suffered multiple injuries. Himmat Singh, the driver of the car, lost control of the vehicle which led to the mishap. A case has been registered.

PATHANKOT
CONGRESS RALLY: A Congress rally is being organised here on Thursday. Mr Ram Murti Mahajan a senior Congress leader said here Tuesday that the rally would be attended by Mr H.S. Hanspal and Mr Davinder Singh Babbu, presidents, the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee and the Punjab Youth Congress, respectively. Ms Sukhbans Kaur Bhinder, a prominent leader of Punjab, was also expected to attend the rally, Mr Mahajan said.

POPPY HUSK FOUND: The police here has arrested Kanshi Ram of Dabra Gwalior (MP) and found 8 kg of poppy husk from him. A case under Sections 15, 61, 85 of the NDPS Act has been registered.

PHAGWARA
CHARGE TAKEN: Mrs Hardip Kaur Anand took over as senior vice-president of the Nagar Council, Phagwara on Monday. She was elected to the office on December 5.

SAMRALA
‘THIKRI PHERA’: Mr G.S. Aulakh, DSP, Samrala, on Tuesday ordered all police NGOs to implement orders regarding ‘thikri pehra’ in all villages of the subdivision keeping in view the thefts. A police/public meeting was organised on the premises of the local police station which was attended by prominent citizens, panches/sarpanches and lambardars.

DEAD: Subedar Karnail Singh, Superintendent, Sant Kirpal Singh Sewa Panthi School, died due to the heart attack on Monday.

SPORTS MELA: A sports mela will be organised by the Malwa Sports Association, Samrala, from December 20 to 22 in Malwa College, according to Mr Jagjiwan Singh Kheernian, cashier of the Sports Association, here on Tuesday.

HARYANA

AMBALA
MEETING: The Nagar Palika Karamchari Sangh, Haryana, on Tuesday held a gate meeting at Municipal Council, Ambala Sadar in protest against alleged assault on an employee at the behest of a Municipal Councillor. The sang members claimed that an employee, Maya Ram, was assaulted by three persons, including a man, claiming to be a vigilance official. They alleged that the man claiming to be the vigilance official was a Municipal Councillor. They demanded that a case must be registered against the three persons.

TEST: A rehearsal test for students who are going to appear in the class X CBSE examinations was conducted by the Chandigarh centre of PIE Education, here on Tuesday. More than 2,000 students took the test at eight different centres in the city. PIE Education is one of the leading training institutes for IIT-JEE tests. The institute has completed one year in the city.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
PANCHKARMA CAMP: As many as 1860 patients were treated at a two-week “panchkarma” camp, organised by the Himachal Ayurveda Department at Baba Balaknath Deotsidh, 70 km from here, in collaboration with the temple trust.

DHARAMSALA
HPCC CHIEF ACCUSED: The Kangra district BJP president and the MLA from Baijnath, Mr Dulo Ram, has criticised the Congress party and its state chief Ms Vidya Stokes, for ignoring the interests of Kangra before the Delimitation Commission.

RESERVATION FOR OBCs: The President Him Jan Morcha, Mr Romel Singh Wadia, has demanded 27 per cent reservation for OBCs as recommended by the Mandal Commission. Mr Dhumal’s statement that there were only 15 per cent OBCs in Himachal Pradesh was an incomplete piece of information. He said how could the Chief Minister give this figure when no census on the basis of caste had been undertaken in the country.

SHIMLA
SFI DECRIES RULES: The district committee of the Student’s Federation of India (SFI) has criticised the local Chepsless School for cutting two marks in each subject of all those students who absented themselves from the school on November 5, the day after Divali.

PRESS WORKERS DHARNA: Workers of the Government of India Press, Tutikandi, will stage a dharna on December 11 outside the state secretariat along with their families. The press workers have the support of the CITU, AITUC and the INTUC.