R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
ELECTED: Dr N.S. Neki, Assistant Professor and in charge of the department of medicine at Government Medical College here, has been elected life member of the British Geriatrics Society. Dr Neki is already a fellow of the Geriatrics Society of India. He is reportedly the only doctor from Punjab to have been elected life member of the British Geriatrics Society.

DEMANDED: The All-India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) has demanded proper verification of the migrant labour, “which is becoming a formidable force for vote-bank politics”. Mr Karnail Singh Pir Mohamed, president of the federation, said such labour should be checked, as many anti-social elements from among them tend to create dissension in the local labour class.

BATHINDA
BODY FOUND: An unidentified body was fished out from water near the Mansa road by the volunteers of the Sahara Jan Seva on Saturday. Mr Sham Murari, spokesman for the organisation, said the body was cremated by the volunteers of the NGO after a post-mortem at the local Civil Hospital. A case has been registered in this connection.

LOK ADALAT: A lok adalat was held on Saturday at the courts complex, Talwandi Sabo, which was presided over by Mr Karunesh Kumar Kakkar, Civil Judge. A press note here said of the 61 cases put up before the adalat, 28 were decided. Mr A.C. Sohi, Manager Loans, SBI, Ludhiana, members of the Subdivisional Bar Association also attended the lok adalat. Cases of Rs 19.5 lakh and Rs 2.6 lakh were decided.

DISTRIBUTED: Mr Rakesh Narula, president, Bathinda Vikas Manch, in a press note issued here on Saturday, said copies, pens and other items were distributed to the needy students of government schools in Jassi Pau Walli and Phoos Mandi villages. He said these items were sponsored by the Agriculture Development Branch of the State Bank of India. Students with good academic and attendance records were also honoured.

WHEAT MSP: Mr Isthpal Singh Khialiwalla, district president, SHSAD, in a statement here on Saturday alleged that by not increasing the minimum support price of wheat the Union government had played a cruel joke on the farmers. He alleged that while the prices of inputs of agriculture had been increasing regularly, the farmers were not being offered attractive prices for their produce.

SPECIAL LOK ADALAT: Mr Lakhbir Singh, District and Sessions Judge, chaired a special lok adalat here on Saturday. Cases of loan defaults of cooperative banks were dealt with at the adalat. As many as 418 cases involving an amount of Rs 1.37 crore were put up. The adalat settled 354 cases involving Rs 87 lakh and the loanees were offered a relaxation of Rs 15.71 lakh.

FATEHGARH SAHIB
CAUGHT RED-HANDED: The district Vigilance Department on Thursday caught red-handed a Junior Engineer of the PSEB while accepting bribe from a farmer. A case was registered against him. According to the DSP Vigilance, Fatehgarh Sahib, Jaspal Singh, a resident of Dangherian village, informed the department that Sadhu Ram, a J.E., posted at Badali Ala Singh, was demanding Rs 1,400 from him for reducing the load of his electric meter. A case was registered at Sirhind police station. 

KHAMANO
INSPECTOR HELD: A Dairy Inspector, Swaran Singh was caught red-handed by the Vigilance Bureau while taking a bribe of Rs 5,000 from a farmer of Gaggarwal village. Currency notes were recovered from the accused. A case has been registered under the Preventio of Corruption Act.

LUDHIANA
COMPLAINT: Vinod Kumar, a local resident, has moved the State Election Commission complaining that in spite of the issuance of DO letter by the State Election Commissioner to the Deputy Commissioner, Ludhiana, to depute an officer from the Headquarters for the verification of fictitious votes, the orders have not been complied with. 

OPIUM SEIZED: The Dakha police has arrested Swarn Singh of Mohi village on the link road in the area of village Rurka for being in possession of 2 kg of opium. A case under Sections 18/61/85 of the NDPS Act has been registered. 

METHOD DEVELOPED: Yash Paul Chugh, a student of B.Sc. final year (Non-Medical), studying in S. Govt College of Sc. Edn and Research, Jagraon, has developed a long division method to find the cube root of any rational number. 

HAILED: The local unit of the SAD has hailed the appointment of Mr Tarlochan Singh as Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities. Senior leaders, Mr Amarjit Singh Bhatia and Mr Avtar Singh Makkar, said it was an honour for the Sikh community. They have also appealed to Mr Tarlochan Singh to initiate steps to ensure the release of Sikh youths in jail for the past many years. 

CONDEMNED: Senior vice-president of the Punjab Youth Congress, Mr Amarjit Singh Tikka, has condemned senior BJP leader and former Chief Minister of Delhi, Mr Madan Lal Khurana, for allegations against the Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh. In a statement here on Saturday, Mr Tikka regretted that the BJP leaders had stooped too low for petty partisan gains. 

DENTIST HONOURED: Dr Gagan Dogra, a dental surgeon, practicing dental implantology at Tagore Nagar here was honoured with a Fellowship of the International Congress of Oral Implantologists by Dr Charles Babbush (USA) at an international conference hosted in Mumbai. 

SKILL UPGRADATION: Under the State Bank’s Project Uptech Programme for the modernisation of hosiery cluster at Ludhiana, a skill upgradation programme for the operators of garment stitching machines was organised on Friday. The programme was conducted by the task force of the project. The programme aimed at improving the motivation level and technical skills of operators of garment stitching machines. 

RESERVED POSTS: The Chairman of the SC ST cell of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, Mr Mohinder Singh Kalyan, has urged the government to clear the backlog of reserved posts in the country so that the children of SCs and STs can get employment. 

SENTENCED: Mr Baldev Singh, Sessions Judge, Ludhiana, has sentenced Bablu Chauhan (30) of Uttar Pradesh to undergo a rigorous life imprisonment for murdering Puttan Singh, a tailor, on March 10, 2001. A fine of Rs 10,000 was also imposed upon the accused. The accused suspected that Puttan Singh was having illicit relations with his wife. An FIR had been lodged against the accused under Section 302 of the IPC at police station division no. 6, by Meeran, wife of the deceased. 

HOMOEOPATHIC CAMP: A free homoeopathic camp will be organised at Lions Bhavan, Udham Singh Nagar, on Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The camp is being organised by the Lions Club, Ludhiana, in collaboration with the Lord Mahavir Homoeopathic Medical College and Hospital. Giving the information, Dr Vipan Gupta, camp in charge, said Dr Ravinder Kochhar, Principal, Lord Mahavir Homoeopathic College, Dr Umesh Kumar, Dr Rupinder Kaur, Dr Razika, Dr Govind Swami will examine the patients and medicines will be provided to them free of cost. 

HIKE OPPOSED: United Cycle and Parts Manufacturers Association has opposed the proposed hike in power tariff being planned by the PSEB. It said the PSEB had already announced its plan to increase the tariff of all categories and monthly minimum charges. It said they would resist this hike. 

DENTAL CAMP: The SDP College for Women, Ludhiana, organised a one-day dental check-up camp in the college premises on Saturday. The camp was organised under the auspices of Mr Balraj Bhasin, president, SDP Sabha, and Mrs S. Verma, Principal. A Team of doctors from CMC Dental College visited the campus and examined the teeth of more than 200 students. 

PATIALA
BADUNGAR CRITICISED: The Teachers United Front (TUF) of Punjabi University on Friday alleged that SGPC President Kirpal Singh Badungar was unnecessarily interfering in the functioning of the university and that he did not have any moral right to speak on Punjabi language. In a statement issued here, the forum’s convener, Dr Bhupinder Singh Khaira, and the co-convener, Dr Balwinder Singh, expressed surprise at the “late awakening” of Mr Badungar on the affairs of the university. The leaders asked him to clarify his position on the moral degradation of the university during the tenure of Dr Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia. They also asked Mr Badungar to clarify his position regarding the establishment of English-medium schools by the SGPC. 

COMPLAINT: Students of the Department of Pharmacy of Government Medical College here have claimed that the college administration was not providing them even the basic facilities. The students of department, who are doing a two-year course in pharmacy, complained that the department had an ill-equipped laboratory and no water-cooler. The head of the Pharmacy Department, Dr D.K. Sharma, when contacted, said he was not aware of the problems being faced by the students, but asserted that the department was offering adequate facilities to them. 

GUNNY BAGS: The Punjab Rice Millers’ Association has urged the Punjab Government to purchase gunny bags for procured wheat stock during rabi season from private firms rather than the DGSD as the rates offered by private firms are less. He stressed that the state government could save more than Rs 70 crore if the gunny bags were bought from private firms. 

MEDICAL TEACHERS’ PLEA: A deputation of the medical teachers of the Punjab State Medical and Dental Teachers Association met the Punjab Health Minister, Dr R.C. Dogra on Saturday and urged him to accept their long standing demands. Dr. B.S. Sohal, secretary said the medical teachers expressed their resentment over the non-implementation of several of their already accepted demands including that of redesignation of medical and dental teachers. 

PHAGWARA
OPIUM SEIZED: Opium weighing 1 kg was seized from Jaspal of Hardaspura village, falling under the Bharoli police station of Bareilly district in Uttar Pradesh but presently residing at local Satnampura. A press note of the police said that he was nabbed in a police naka on a tip-off that Jaspal was coming from village Bhanoki side with opium. He seud to reportedly smuggle it from Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh and sell it in districts of Kapurthala and Jalandhar.

SAMRALA
RALLY HELD: The Bhrishtachar Virodhi Front here took a rally “Chetna March” in the civil court and tehsil complex on Saturday which later marched through the town. The march was led by Commandant Rashpal Singh and Mr Mehma Singh Kang. 

CHANDIGARH

CULTURAL SOCIETY: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Municipal Employees’ Welfare and Cultural Society here : president — Mr Avtar Singh Solkhian; senior vice-president - Mr Jaspal Singh Bassi; vice-presidents - Mr Suresh Kumar, Mr Harmesh Singh Handesran, Ms Rajinder Kaur; secretary general - Mr Sanjivan Singh; general secretary - Gurvinder Singh, Ms Satwinder Kaur and joint secretary - Mr Baljit Singh Latheri, Mr Sukhwinder Singh Rana, Ms Adarsh Bala and finance secretary - Mr Ravinder Ravi. 

HARYANA

AMBALA
ONE KILLED: One person was killed in a road accident near Binjalpur on the Ambala-Jagadhri road on Friday evening. Bahadur Singh died on the spot when a truck hit him. The police has registered a case in this regard.

CAR RECOVERED: The CIA Staff, Ambala City, has arrested Balkar Singh and recovered a Maruti car from his possession. The police said the accused, who was arrested on Saturday was a member of a car-lifters’ gang.

KILLED: One person was run over by a train near a railway crossing in Ghel village near Ambala City on Thursday. Jaspal Singh (25) was crossing the rail track near his village on his bicycle when a superfast train passing there hit him. Jaspal died on the spot. His body was sent to the local Civil Hospital for a post-mortem examination. 

OPPOSED: The Federation of Welfare Societies/Associations has opposed the recent order of the Haryana Government withdrawing the order authorising the unauthorised colonies. 

DEMONSTRATION: The All-Haryana PWD Mechanical Karamchari Union staged a demonstration to press for the fulfilment of their demands on Friday. The demonstration was held under the presidentship of Mr Ramesh Sharma and union members from Ambala, Yamunanagar, Naraingarh and Panchkula participated in it. The demonstrators opposed retrenchment, rationalisation and decrease in the daily allowance of employees. 

PENSION PASSBOOKS: The Deputy Commissioner here Mr D.D. Gautam, on Saturday said the books for the pension to aged, widows and disabled would issued this month. Mr Gautam said the pension for January would be disbursed through the passbooks. The passbooks were being prepared by Patwari in the rural area and municipal council employees in the urban areas. 

FATEHABAD
DEMONSTRATION: The Sarva Karamchari Sangh on Friday accused the Atal Behari Vajpayee government of working at the behest of the WTO and the IMF. Mr Virender Singh Rawat, president of the district unit of the Sangh, said that on a call given by the Federation of Central Government Employees, trade unions and employees’ organisation, a demonstration would be organised in front of Parliament on February 26.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
DHARNA: Oustees of the Kol Dam project, hailing from Chamyon, Bahot and Kasol villages, staged a dharna under the banner of the Kol Dam Oustees Joint Welfare Samiti here on Friday. The major demands of the samiti include removal of the Land Acquisition Officer and posting of an officer from Bilaspur district in his place, enforcement of market rates while fixing prices of various categories of land, proper categorisation and evaluation of land according to records of the Revenue Department, allotment of land for their resettlement and also for agricultural purposes after consulting the committee and after due talks between all parties concerned, appointment of government technical staff instead of private staff for evaluation of land.

PARWANOO
TAX COLLECTION: The toll tax collection by the BJP government at the barrier here has become a source of nuisance, as it causes traffic jams due to frequent scuffles between the contractor and people crossing the barrier. On Wednesday, a military vehicle was stopped for payment of toll tax. The Army officer refused to pay the tax, saying that military vehicles were exempt from it, but he was not allowed to go. On Thursday again a military truck carrying jawans entered into an argument with the tax collecting men. The situation was defused by the local police.