R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
MEDICAL CAMP : The NSS Department (boys wing) of DAV College here along with the Lions Club, Golden Temple, on Wednesday organised a free medical and eye check-up camp at Naushehra village where free medicines were given to nearly 400 persons.

SALARIES DENIED: Even as the Centre has handed over the salaries of all medical employees working under the Family Planning Programme to the state government, these have not been given to the employees yet. This was alleged by Ms Laxmi Kanta Chawla, a former BJP MLA, in a letter to the Chief Minister and the Health Minister here on Wednesday.

BATHINDA
RELEASED: The district police released Mr Jagmail Singh, a kisan activist and six student activists of kisan organisations on Thursday. They were arrested by the police during a lathi charge at the district Civil Hospital on Wednesday.

JALANDHAR
SIX HURT : Six members of a Gurgaon based family were injured when their car collided with a tractor-trailer near Mathre village on the Jalandhar-Ludhiana GT Road on Wednesday. The incident took place when the car being driven by Ravinder skidded off the road and hit the tractor-trailer. The injured — Ravinder Kumar, his wife Anita, Dipsahu, Pravin, Rahul and Anil, all from the Rajiv Nagar locality of Gurgaon in Haryana — to Government Hospital at Phillaur and Jalandhar’s civil hospital.

LUDHIANA
KASHMIRI SABHA: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Kashmiri Sabha: president — Dr M.K. Mann; vice-president — Mr S.K. Ladhoo; general secretary — Mr A.K. Pandita; joint secretary — Mr K.L. Razdan; finance secretary — Mr Ramesh Koul; and executive members — Mr Vinod Bhat, Mr Sanjay Tikko, Ms Usha Mam, Ms Rajdulari Koul, Mr Ravinder Shala and Mr Rakesh Raina.

HINDI DIVAS: The monitoring cell of the State Bank of India celebrated last month as Hindi Divas. During this month several competitions were organised. On Tuesday a function was organised in which Mr Samir Sharan, Vice-Chairman, urged the bankers to make more use of Hindi.

PLEA DISMISSED: The Additional Sessions Judge, Mr D.R. Arora, has dismissed the bail application of Shamsher Singh Jaghera, who was booked for raping a woman in dera on July 17. He was arrested on the same day.

DEAD: A former Head of the Department of Zoology, Government College for Boys, Ludhiana, Prof P.S. Dhami, died at Toronto. He is survived by his wife, Prof J.K. Dhami, son, Dr Mandeep Singh, and daughter, Dr Ripple Dhillon.

FAREWELL: Dr Kashmira Singh Sekhon, Dean, Postgraduate Studies, PAU, retired after putting in 34 years of service. He was given a warm farewell at the Pal Auditorium. The Vice-Chancellor, Dr K.S. Aulakh, praised Dr Sekhon’s services to the university.

MANDI GOBINDGARH
DE-ADDICTION CAMPAIGN: The local branch of Praja Brahman Kumari Vishav Vidyala has completed its campaign of “Gram Vikas Nasha Mukti Jagrukta Abhyan” by covering 453 villages. Brahma Kumari Sakshi Behanji, its in charge, said on Thursday that the month-long campaign completed on September 30. It covered Amloh, Sirhind, Bassi Pathana and Khamano blocks in Fatehgarh Sahib district. During the drive medicines and booklets were distributed among residents.

MANSA
BANNED: Mr Raj Kamal Chowdhary, District Magistrate (DM), Mansa, has banned harvesting of paddy with the help of combine harvesters in the district between 7 p.m. and 8 a.m. The order issued on Tuesday will remain in force till October 29.

PATIALA
MEDICAL CAMP: Vir Hakikat Rai Public School, in collaboration with the Punjab Medical Representative Association, Patiala, on Thursday organised a free medical check-up camp. As many as 500 patients were examined in the camp and medicines distributed among them. The sabha has also opened a clinical laboratory on the school premises. The manager, Mr Tarsam Lal Tiwari, said tests in the laboratory would be conducted at concessional rates. The team of doctors included Dr J.P.S Walia, Dr Yadwinder Singh Banda, Dr Gyatri Sharma and Dr Rajesh Chopra.

SANGRUR
3 KILLED: Two persons were killed in separate road accidents, while one person reportedly committed suicide since Tuesday in the Dirba area. A man got killed when he was hit by a vehicle near Maur village on the Sangrur-Dirba road on Tuesday. Jiwan Kumar from Dirba was killed Wednesday morning near Patran when his scooter was hit by another vehicle. Karnail Singh of Gujran village near Dirba “committed suicide” by hanging himself from a hook in his room.

CHANDIGARH

SAS NAGAR
SEMINAR: A seminar on safety in hazardous materials and chemicals in SAS Nagar was organised by the Safety Consultants Consortium on Wednesday. Sponsored by Anshu Fire Protection, Faridabad, the seminar highlighted safety aspects in management, storage and handling of hazardous materials and chemicals. Mr Jaspal Singh, Director of Factories, Punjab, was the chief guest on the occasion.

HARYANA

AMBALA
TALK ON ENVIRONMENT: The Economics Association of SA Jain (PG) College, Ambala City, on Thursday organised a talk on environment economics. The talk was delivered by Dr Ashok Chauhan, Department of Economics, Kurukshetra University. He discussed various aspects of environmental pollution and emphasised upon the need for environmental protection for the development of the country. The Principal of the college, Dr C.L. Singla, said environmental balance and protection against air and noise pollution would be of great help.

PRESIDENT’S AWARD: Seven scouts of Shri Atmanand Jain Senior Secondary School, Ambala City, have been selected for the President’s award. The Principal of the school, Mr M.L. Bansal, said an examination camp for the President’s award was held at Taradevi, Shimla. Out of 13 scouts selected from Ambala, seven were from the school. Last year, 15 scouts of the school were selected for the award. The award presentation will take place in November 2003.

YAMUNANAGAR
DEMOLISHED: The administration demolished the berms and entrance of Hotel J.K. Residency here on Wednesday under the supervision of the City Magistrate. Mr Rakesh Walia, proprietor of the hotel, alleged that it was an act of vengeance as court had granted him a stay.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
ACHIEVEMENT: Mr Manoj Kumar Sharma, NCC Officer at Government Senior Secondary School, Kandraur, near here under the HP-1 Naval Unit (NCC) had stood first in the National Refresher Training Course for the NCC Officers held at the naval base in Vishakhapatnam, the unit said here on Wednesday. Mr Manoj Kumar Sharma belongs to the nearby Badoa village.

CHAMBA
NURSERY: The Himachal Pradesh government has decided to set up a unique nursery farm for raising latest improvised seeds of high-yielding cash crops at Udaipur in Chamba district under a Rs 15 crore Green Gold Project funded by the Centre. The high-altitude alpine region of Chamba was ideally suited for this project, said Mr Harsh Mahajan, Minister for Animal Husbandry, after inaugurating a newly upgraded senior secondary school at Udaipur on Wednesday.

SHIMLA
CM’S ADDRESS : Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, on Wednesday said the state government was giving special attention to bringing about qualitative improvement in the education system. He was speaking at the annual-day function of St Edward’s School here.

SOLAN
RADIO SCHOOL: The regional centre of the National Afforestation and Eco Development Board based at Dr Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry at Nauni began a radio school on the National Afforestation Programme from Thursday. The Programme being organised in collaboration with the All-India Radio, Shimla, will broadcast 26 talks on different subjects. Every Thursday, between 7.25 am and to 7.59 pm, a question will be posed by the announcer to the listeners. Those replying correctly to a maximum number of questions will be awarded at the end of the programme on March 6, 2004.