R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
DHARNA: The Jamhoori Kisan Sabha, along with five other kisan unions, on Saturday held a dharna at Booter, near Mahta, here. The unions were protesting against a private sugar mill for allegedly paying Rs 20 less per quintal of sugarcane to farmers. Mr Rattan Singh Randhawa, general secretary of the sabha, alleged that the government rate for sugarcane was Rs 100 per quintal while the mill in Booter village was paying Rs 20 less.

HONOURED: Dr N.S. Neki, in charge of the Department of Medicine, Government Medical College here, has been honoured with the Fellowship of the Indian College of Physicians at the 58th annual conference of the Association of Physicians of India held at Varanasi (UP).

LIQUOR SEIZED: The police seized 91 litres of illicit liquor and arrested six persons during raids here on Sunday. Those arrested are Gurdip Singh of Sandupur village, Amrik Singh of Radala, Ajit Singh of Khiala Kalan village, Kaka Singh of Rajasansi, Kunana Singh Bhucha of Jhanjoti and Kashmir Singh of Vichla Kalan. Harbhajan Singh, alias Baba, of Kotla Doom village has been arrested and 300 kg of lahan, along with an illicit distillery, seized. A case under the Excise Act has been registered.

SEMINAR: Mr Bert and Mr William De Feijter, experts from a non-government organisation, the Netherlands Management Cooperation Programme, on Sunday explained the proper management of solid waste in houses to students of the Shahzada Nand College for Girls here. They were speaking at a seminar on “Human environment and solid waste management” organised by the college.

FOUNDATION STONE: Mr Sardool Singh Bandala, Excise and Taxation Minister, laid the foundation stone of Bhai Sada Nand Library to be constructed at Gurdwara Baba Jiwan Singh at Sabji Mani Walla, near here. In a press note issued here on Sunday, he said the library would be dedicated to Bhai Sada Nand, father of Baba Jiwan Singh. He said a grant of Rs 1 lakh would be given to construct the building.

BATHINDA
STRIKE: The press secretary of the Berozgar Adhiyapak Front, Mr Baljinder Singh, in a statement issued here on Saturday, said their fast had entered 32nd day. Three of their activists had been discharged from the hospital and had rejoined the fast. He said they would continue their agitation until they were given jobs.

FAKE TRAVEL AGENT: A case under Section 420, IPC, has been registered against Sukhmandar Singh, a resident of Khialiwala village of the district, for cheating innocent youth on the pretext of sending them abroad. Mr Ishwar Singh, SSP, in a statement here said the accused had cheated Hoshiar Singh of the same village and caused a loss of Rs 60,000 to the complainant.

FAZILKA
PADDY BONUS: Davinder Sachdeva, president of the local Arhtiya Association, in a statement here on Sunday, alleged that the local authorities of Markfed had not paid a bonus of Rs 20 per quintal to farmers on paddy. He said Markfed had purchased 85,000 quintals of paddy from Fazilka and a bonus of Rs 17 lakh was due for payment.

MEMORANDUM: As many as 25 students of Government Secondary School, Fazilka and Karni Khera, and S.D. Secondary School, Fazilka, in a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner, have complained that their studies were being affected due to noise from loudspeakers.

GURDASPUR
LOK ADALAT: A lok adalat was held here on Saturday, which was presided over by Mr A.K.Sharma, District and Sessions Judge. As many as 303 cases of the 342 taken up were decided. A compensation of Rs 54.71 lakh was distributed.

KHANNA
INAUGURATED: A multispeciality centre, Khanna Nursing Home, was inaugurated by Shamsher Singh Dullo, MP, on Sunday. The heart clinic at the centre was inaugurated by the Medical Director of the Fortis Heart Institute and Multi-Speciality Hospital, SAS Nagar, Dr R.B. Karnjaker. Dr Ranjit Khanna, director of the nursing home, said this 40-bed hospital would provide all modern medical facilities under one roof. He said this hospital would be the first of its kind in the area which would provide medical facilities at cheaper rates. He said that there would be free OPD for poor patients on every Thursday. The hospital would have 24-hour emergency.

DISCOURSE: Jain Muni during his discourse at Bagh Wali Gali said female foeticide was a sin. He said Indians always condemned violence and the struggle between violence and non-violence had been a long one. Man was getting more violent than beasts in the modern age. Unless the public realises the gravity of it in social milieu, then a time will come, when it would be difficult to find girls. The male-female ratio has already declined at a rapid rate.

EXHIBITION: Science and Art exhibitions always give the students a chance to show off their creativity and help develop their scientific temperament. Keeping this in mind, a, science exhibition was organised in CFC School. The exhibition was inaugurated by the director of the school, Dr D. Abraham. About 80 models were displayed at the exhibition.The students from classes VI to IX had made beautiful paintings on glass, fabric, mural, canvas etc.The judges, Mr Sanjay Shroff and Ms Preeti, appreciated the efforts of the students specially of Inderjeet Kaur, Seema and K. Sekar. The judges appreciated the models of radar, volcanoes, digestive system, pnuematic arm and evolution of man.

BEREAVED: Ms Amar Kaur, mother-in-law of Mr Teja Singh Dhaliwal, honorary general secretary, Punjab Basketball Association (PBA), died here on Saturday. Amar Kaur (73) wife of late Mr Santa Singh, is survived by two daughters, Ms Rattan Kaur and Ms Jamna Devi. She was cremated at the Civil Lines cremation ground today in the afternoon. Her funeral was attended by a large number of people from different walks of life. Prominent among others who were there in attendance include representatives of various sports associations, officials of the Punjab Sports Department, former and present sportsmen and sports women and sports organisers.

KHARAR
RESENTMENT: Resentment prevails among residents of the township over the decision of the cable operators to increase the rates of cable subscription to from Rs 150 to Rs 210 per month. In this connection a meeting of the residents was held and a committee, “Cable Consumer Rights Protection Committee,” was formed under the presidentship of Mr Avtar Singh Dhanoa. The other office-bearers are Mr Ashok Kabli — secretary, Mr Karam Singh Mundi — vice-president; and Mr Krishan Kumar Lamba — joint secretary.

LUDHIANA
WORKSHOP: BCM Arya Public School held a workshop in ELT (English Language Teaching) in their school on Saturday. As many as 50 teachers from several schools participated in the workshop. The workshop was conducted by Ms Paramjit, Principal of the school. During the workshop, speaking, reading, listening and writing of English discussed. Teachers discussed how to improve the basic skills of the students.

TOURNAMENT: The second Sabina Cup Cricket Tournament will be held from February 6 to 9 at the Shanti Tara College Ground, Ahmedgarh. According to Mr Amarjit Singh Sidhu, principal of the college, 16 teams drawn from different clubs, schools and colleges will take part in this tournament to be sponsored jointly by Coca Cola and Maharaja Band. The matches will be played on knockout basis.

MANSA
TWO INJURED: Gurdev Kaur (50) and her husband Balbir Singh (55), both residents of Delluana village in the district, were injured after being shot at by Jitpaul Singh, son of Sukhwinder Singh of the village, following a dispute. A case has been registered .

EX-HEADMASTER GETS BAIL: Mr Pargat Singh, former Headmaster of local Khalsa High School, has been released on bail by the court of Ms Baljinder Kaur Bhatia, Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Mansa. He was booked along with 13 others for criminally misappropriating funds of the school amounting to Rs 22 lakh.

NAWANSHAHR
IMA MEETING: A meeting of the district unit of the Indian Medical Association was held here on Saturday under the chairmanship of Dr Jaswinder Singh to discuss the arrest of doctors in the kidney scam. The meeting demanded that a probe should be conducted into the matter as the procedure of transplant did not involve doctors alone, and all those found guilty should be punished.

PATIALA
BAR ASSOCIATION: Mr K.P. Bajaj was elected as president of the District Taxation Bar Association at a meeting held here on Saturday. The other office-bearers are: vice-president — Mr Ashok Kumar Jain and Mr Anil Arora; general secretary — Mr Amrik Singh Juneja; secretary — Mr Ashwani Kanojia; and auditor — Mr Ajay Alipuria.

OFFICE-BEARERS: Mr Prem Chand has been elected as President of the district unit of the Punjab State Karamchari Dal (Public Health). The other office-bearers are: chief adviser — Mr Sushil Kumar Chopra; general secretary — Mr Gurcharan Singh; senior vice-president — Mr Papu Prithi; cashier — Mr Balbir Singh; and propaganda secretary — Mr Gurpal Singh.

HAILED: The Rashtriya Sikh Sangat (RSS) has welcomed the decision of the Centre of directing it’s foreign missions to mitigate the hardships of Sikhs settled abroad illegally. In a press note, Mr Rulda Singh, its national secretary, said the Sikh youths had no option except to go abroad during the days of terrorism.

COURSES: The New Delhi-based Rai Foundation has announced the launching of two job-oriented programmes for 2003-2004 academic session at the Guru Harkrishan College of Management and Technology. This was stated by Mr Vinay Rai, Chairman of the foundation, at the convocation of the college. The programmes are: Postgraduate programme in print and electronic journalism and Postgraduate programme in advertising, public relations and corporate communication.

SANGRUR
THEFT: More than 40 mobile phone sets were stolen from a shop in the Patiala Gate area here on Saturday night. A case has been registered.

CHANDIGARH

CONTEST: Thumping beats filled the air as Punjabi junior and senior singers excitedly swayed under colourful blinking lights during ‘Dance competition-cum-entertainment mix 2003’ held at Bal Bhavan in Sector 23 on Saturday. The programme started at about 6 pm and picked up momentum as the evening progressed.

HARYANA

AMBALA
CAMP: The Rotary Club of Ambala on Sunday organised a TB camp at Naraingarh with the cooperation of the Health Department. The club president, Mr Naresh Bharadwaj, said this was the seventh camp in the district. He said during the last six camps, nearly 2,000 persons were tested and 475 were found to be suffering from TB. He said all TB-afflicted patients were being given proper treatment through the club.

FATEHABAD
SWEATERS GIVEN: The Inner Wheels Club, District 309, on Saturday organised a function at the local Mother Teresa Public School to distribute sweaters, socks and shoes among poor students of government schools in the town. The district secretary of the club, Ms Leela Jaswal, told mediapersons that the club chairperson, Ms Anju Dumra, distributed these items among the students.

KARNAL
DHARNA: The All-India Pensioners Association staged a dharna here on Sunday regarding their demand for the revision of basic pension, with the merger of DA relief up to 1,740 points. 

KURUKSHETRA
PHONE CONNECTIONS: The Union Minister of State for Communication and Technology, Dr Sanjay Paswan, said on Saturday that the target to release 1.2 lakh phone connections in the Haryana circle would be achieved by March. These would include landlines and 68,000 mobile phones and those based on the WLL technology.

YAMUNANAGAR
HELPAGE: HelpAge India has changed the lives of seven million persons through 3084 projects, said Col Akhilesh Sharma (retd), Head, Mobile Medicare Unit Programme, while speaking at a gathering at Milk Sukhi village, about 15 km from here, on Sunday. A mobile medicare unit was donated by Mr Sewa Singh Kohli of the UK in memory of his parents — Kishan Singh Kohli and Karam Kaur. Mr Jaswinder Singh Sandhu, Agriculture Minister, Haryana, inaugurated the unit.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

KULU
TICKET ASPIRANT: All 192 panchayats in the district were allocated equal funds out of Rs 28 crore received by the zila parishad for development works during the past two years. This was stated by Mr Khimi Ram, Chairman of the parishad, at Sainj, about 35 km from here, on Saturday at a public meeting. Mr Khimi Ram is an aspirant for the BJP ticket for the coming Assembly elections.