R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
DATE EXTENDED: Guru Nanak Dev University has extended the last date for submission of admission forms to the Head of the School of Punjabi Studies for Postgraduate diploma in translation till June 30, a university press note said here on Monday.

COORDINATOR: Dr Gurnam Singh, Professor of Political Science, Guru nanak Dev University, has been appointed coordinator of the advisory committee constituted by the Vice-Chancellor, Dr S.P. Singh, for the newly introduced course of Bachelor of Social Sciences (Honours). This was stated in a university press note here on Monday.

BODY FOUND: The body of Dharminder Singh (24), son of Karnail Singh, a resident of Ghanupur Kalen, was found on Sunday at Rani Ka Bagh. Dharminder Singh had been missing since Saturday night. The police has registered a case under Section 302 of the IPC. According to the police, a friend of the deceased, Ram Singh of the same locality, came to his house on Saturday night and took him along. Both were reportedly not on good terms and had a fight a few days back.

MEETING CALLED: Dr Joginder Dayal, CPI state chief, has given a call for a district-level all-party meeting to discuss the issue of “sham polling” process for the forthcoming panchayat elections. he alleged that negligence was being practised in the scrutiny of nomination papers.

GURDASPUR
ROAD MISHAP: Harcharan Singh died on the spot while his brother Chatarbir Singh was injured when their scooter hit a truck near Dinanagar on Sunday. Chatarbir Singh was admitted to Bajwa Hospital, Dinanagar.

HELD WITH LIQUOR: The police on Sunday arrested Ashwani Kumar, a resident of Sujanpur, and Kali masih, a resident of Atwal under the Dharwial police station, for possessing illicit liquor. Kuldeep Singh, a resident of pathankot, however, managed to escape. The SSP said 1,000 bottles of illicit liquor, 15 kg of lahan and a working still were seized.

KHANNA
ELECTED: The election of the Bulepur Cooperative Agricultural Society was held here on Monday. Mr Inderjit Singh and Mr Sukhwinder Singh were elected president and vice-president of the society.

GURDWARA LOOTED: Two unidentified youths looted a gurdwara at Galwadi village on Sunday night after making the sewadars unconscious. According to the police, two youths came to the gurdwara and told sewadars that they were opening a dairy and wanted to distribute ‘pakoras’ and milk to devotees. They handed over the eatables to them and left the gurdwara. Sewadars became unconscious after taking milk. In the night, the youths reached the gurdwara again and fled away with 40 gm of gold and Rs 5,000. A case has been registered.

LUDHIANA
CAMP: A two-day camp to impart knowledge about reiki concluded at Sukhdev Bhavan, Punjab Agricultural University, here on Sunday. Ms Ritu Nanda, an expert from Bhopal, said: “Reiki is ‘touch therapy’ in which we absorb cosmic energy. This energy is transmitted by touch. It cures physical ailments.” Ms Nanda has been practising reiki for the past six years.

IGNOU SCHEDULE: Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has altered the schedule of academic session for certain graduate and postgraduate programmes. Dr U.C. Pandey, Regional Director, said all annual programmes like BA, BCom, BSc, BCA, MA in English and Hindi would now have sessions beginning from July. He said this had been done taking into account the interest of the plus two students who would not have to wait for another six months and would thus be able to save time.

PROGRAMMES: To provide a push to diversification in agriculture, the Department of Extension Education, Punjab Agricultural University, has planned to hold various training programmes in subsidiary occupations and home-based entrepreneurial activities. Dr Ranbir Kaur Randhawa, Head of the department, said 18 refresher training programmes for officers and extension functionaries of the Directorate of Agriculture, 13 for horticulture officers and one for animal husbandry officers had been planned. Similarly, 12 specialised courses in dairy, fish farming, mushroom cultivation, beekeeping, poultry and floriculture would also be held. Three practical training courses in agriculture, of three-month duration each, would be held for young farmers. There would also be five home science in-service training courses during the year and two correspondence courses, one each for farmers and farm women.

EYE CHECK-UP CAMP: The Rangla Punjab Club, in coordination with Nehru Yuva Kendra, held a free eye check-up camp at Kila Raipur on Sunday. The camp was organised under the guidance of Mr Hardeep Devgan and Mr Chamkaur Singh. The patients were given free consultation by Dr Rajesh Batra and Dr Robert. More than 200 patients with eye ailments were given free medicines. Thirty-five volunteers enrolled for blood donation. Mr Jagjit Singh of Nehru Yuva Kendra said the club would organise such activities in future also. He said a blood donation camp would be organised in the month of August at block Pakhowal.

BHOG: Tributes were paid to social worker Kulwant Kaur on the occasion of her ‘bhog’ and ‘antim ardas’ at Gurdwara Kalgidhar here on Sunday. Kulwant Kaur, wife of a prominent Congress leader and Chairman of Punjab Chamber of Small-Scale Sewing Machine Industries, had passed away after a brief illness. Mr Harnam Das Johar, Minister for Higher Education, Mr Malkiat Singh Birmi, Minister of State for Jails, Mr Rakesh Pandey, Minister of State for Printing and Stationery, Mr Nahar Singh Gill, Mayor, Mr Jagmohan Sharma, president of the District Congress Committee (Urban), Ms Sushil Gupta, Deputy Mayor, and Mr Pritpal Singh Pali, president of Gurdwara Dukhniwaran, were prominent among those who attended the prayer meeting and paid homage to the departed soul.

MISUSE OF WATER: A delegation of the Human Welfare Club, headed by Mr Nirmal Singh Virk, met the Joint Commissioner of Municipal Corporation, Mr Prem Chand, to apprise him of the misuse of municipal water by a number of industrial units in the city. The delegation pointed out while a sizeable population of the city was facing scarcity of water, these industrial units were drawing bulk supply of water from the municipal network through bigger size pipes and motors. The delegation urged the MC to check the menace firmly.

HONOURED: The district administration on Saturday presented a roll of honour to Mr B.R. Kaushal, a Punjab Government pensioner who retired from the post of Additional Registrar, Co-operative Societies, in April, 1993. He was the founder-president of the Punjab State Pensioners’ Confederation. He pursued the Project of Pensioners Information Centre, Ludhiana, since its very conception a decade ago.

ANNUAL MELA: The annual mela and ‘bhandara’ of Baba Maula Shah concluded with religious fervour in Chhawni mohalla here on Sunday under the supervision of head sewadar Dina Nath Sidhu. The flag-hoisting ceremony was performed by Mr Jagmohan Sharma, president, DCC, and the holy flame was lit by Mr Parminder Mehta, secretary, PPCC. Among others present on the occasion were Mr Chander Shekhar Sahota, Mr Lal Jeewan Kumar, Mr Som Dutt Sahota, Mr Jagdish Gill, Mr Rajinder Sharma, Mr Joginder Joshila, Mr Gulshan Bawa, Mr Baljinder Sandhu, Mr Krishan Lal Malhotra, Ms Sandhya James, Ms Poonam Sharma, Ms Pal Kaur, Mr Babu Ram Sidhu and Mr Paramjit Thapar. Various speakers at the function exhorted the gathering to follow the teachings of Baba Maula Shah.

ACUPRESSURE CAMP: An acupressure camp, organised by the Ludhiana Sewa Sangh, began at Durga Mata Temple, Hazoori Road, on Sunday afternoon. A large number of patients attended the camp. Dr Rajeev Gupta treated patients suffering from joint pains, disc problems, cervical problems, blood pressure, diabetes and obesity. Mr Suresh, president of the sangh, said the acupressure camp would continue till June 28. The timings would be from 7am to 10 am and from 5pm to 7pm. Mr Shaym Sunder Malhotra, Mr Deepak Gupta, Mr J.K. Billa, Mr Mohit Kapila, Mr Jagraj Gupta, Mr Mangal Passi, Mr Parveen Gupta and Mr Sanjay Sood helped in organising the camp.

RESENTMENT: The Aggarwal community has taken strong exception to the claims of a former adviser to the Shiromani Akali Dal, Mr Amrit Lal Aggarwal, that he had resigned from the party, along with 500 other members of the community. In a joint statement, leaders of the Aggarwal Sabha, including the vice-president, Mr Kasturi Lal Mittal, and the secretary, Mr Naresh Aggarwal, alleged that Mr Amrit Lal Aggarwal was trying to misuse the name of the community for his personal and vested interests. They challenged Mr Amrit Lal to prove that he had resigned from the Akali Dal, along with so many members. Mr Mohinder Aggarwal and Mr Kulwinder Singla observed that no member of the community should try to serve political ends by using the name of the community. Other leaders who attended the meeting included Mr Ashok Jain, Mr Vimal Jain, Mr Govind Ram Bansal, Mr Surinder Aggarwal and Mr Shiv Mittal.

PATHANKOT
‘INTRODUCE BOATING’: A former Higher Education Minister of Punjab, Mr Mohan Lal, has urged the state government to introduce boating in Ranjit Sagar Dam to ferry residents of Fangota, patralwa, Sarti, Sharkua Bhagla, Madlawa and Dunera villages situated across the dam. Talking to reporters here on Sunday, Mr Lal said residents of these villages had to cover a distance of more than 35 km by road to reach their place of work at Ranjit Sagar Dam.

POPPY HUSK SEIZED: The police has seized 12 kg of poppy husk from Parkash Singh, a resident of Lamin village in Hoshiarpur district. According to the police, the contraband was seized during a search by the police near the Nangal Bhoor area. The police claimed that the man had confessed that he had brought the contraband for sale in the city.

HEALTH SERVICES: The Gandhi Visionary Forum, a non-government organisation, has decided to extend its health services programme to the rural areas also. Mr R. Vashisht, secretary of the forum, said here on Sunday that it had been running free-of-cost dispensaries for the poor.

PATIALA
PANCHAYAT POLL: District Assistant Returning Officer Jagwant Singh Brar said a total of 1239 election booths had been established for the election of district gram panchayats which were scheduled to be held on June 29. He said total panchayats of the district has been divided into 74 clusters and one Returning Officer and one Assistant Returning Officer had been appointed for each cluster. There are a total 2603 and 10258 candidates for the post of sarpanches and panches in the districts, respectively.

SAMRALA
STRIKE: Employees of various cooperative land mortgage banks, including cooperative banks of Samrala sub-division, observed a day-long pen down strike here on Monday. Talking to mediapersons, Mr Romesh Chander, vice-president of the Co-operative Agriculture Development Banks, and Mr Karnail Singh, executive member, said the strike was near total in Punjab, causing inconvenience to general public. Both demanded the state government to accept and implement their demands otherwise they would be forced to observe a strike on June 30.

CHARGE TAKEN: Sub-Inspector Kuldeep Singh took over as SHO of Machhiwara police station, 9 km from here, on Sunday. He was earlier posted in Anti-goonda Staff at Khanna.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been nominated office-bearers of the Brahamin Sabha, Samrala, for a term of two years: senior vice-president — Mr Krishan Kumar Tewari; vice-presidents — Mr Pawan Kaushal, Mr Bachna Ram, Mr Amarjit Sharma, and Mr Ashwani Kumar; general secretary — Mr Tarsem Kumar Sharma; cashier — Mr Jatinder Nath Tewari; auditor — Mr Sudesh Kumar Sharma; chief adviser — Mr S.K. Vashishta and Mr Raj Kumar Kaushal; press secretary — Mr Ashwani Bhardwaj and Mr Harish Tewari.

HARYANA

AMBALA
DOCTORS MEET: A meet of the Obstetrics and Gynaecologists Society of Ambala was held here on Monday. The meet was inaugurated by Dr Sharda Ranjan. He said it was a good effort and similar meet should be held in the future. The president of the society, Dr Sangeeta Jain, said about 75 doctors from Ambala, Yamunanagar, Rajpura, Naraingarh and Pehowa attended the meet. Talks were on role of ultrasound in diagnosing congenital defects and foetal well being, hypertension in pregnancy and ovarian disorders.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Golden Park Welfare Association: president — Mr Ajit Singh Sethi; vice-president — Mr Madan Lal Dhiman; secretary — Dr Mahendra Pal Singh; additional secretary — Mr Gagandeep Singh; treasurer — Mr Surendra Kumar; and press secretary — Mr Sanjay Garg.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
NAVRATRA FAIR: The 10-day Shravan Ashtami Navratra fair will begin at the Naina Devi shrine, 70 km from here, on July 30. Presiding over a meeting of district officers regarding arrangements for the fair at Naina Devi on Saturday, Deputy Commissioner P.C. Jassal said around 10 lakh pilgrims were expected to visit the shrine.

NAHAN
3 SENTENCED: The Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate of Paonta, Mr Purinder Vaidya, has sentenced three persons to rigorous imprisonment of three years for an offence punishable under Sections 394 and 34, with a fine of Rs 5000 each, and three years rigorous imprisonment for an offence punishable under Section 25 of the Arms Act, with a fine of Rs 3000 each. The Magistrate has further ordered that the sentence of the three convicts — Kanti Grover, Vijender Sharma and Rajendir Singh — will run concurrently. The three had extorted Rs 3,50,000 from a trader.

PALAMPUR
SHIFTING OF COLLEGE: The Gram Shiksha and Jankalyan Samiti has opposed the shifting of Capt Vikram Batra College from Kharot village in Palampur. The samiti has announced to launch an agitation if the college is shifted. Mr Onkar Nath Sharma, president of the samiti, while talking to mediapersons here on Monday, said the order of the state government in this regard was uncalled for and it was great injustice to the residents of the Changer valley who were being benefited from this college. he said the decision was politically motivated with an intention to please the Revenue Minister, Mr Brij Butail.

REMARKS FLAYED: The Himachal pradesh School Lecturers Association has criticised the H.P. School Education Board employee leaders for making unceremonious remarks against Mr B.R. Rahi, Chairman of the board. In a press note issued here on Sunday, Mr K.K. Prashar, press secretary of the association, asked the board employee leaders to desist from maligning the image of the Chairman of the board, who belongs to the teaching community.

PAONTA SAHIB
ROAD IN BAD SHAPE: The old Dehra Dun road is in bad shape, especially from Vishawkarma Chowk to Rampur Ghat. Repeated complaints from the public in this regard have fallen on deaf ears.