R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
BOOK RELEASED: Dr Satinder Singh, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Guru Nanak Dev University, released a book on folk songs by Mr Kulwant Singh Aulakh at a function organised by the School of Punjab Studies on the campus here on Wednesday.

CONDEMNED: A meeting of executive members of the Punjab State Veterinary Officers Association has condemned the suspension of the Deputy Director ( Animal Husbandry), Dr P.K. Gandhi, here and two deputy directors of Faridkot and Hoshiarpur. It said a sense of insecurity prevailed over the suspension on ‘‘flimsy grounds’’. It had decided to submit a memorandum on the issue to the local MP, Mr B.S.Randhawa, the president of the association said in a press note here on Wednesday.

YOUTH MURDERED: An unidentified youth was found murdered in fields at Rasulpur village under the Sadar police station here in the wee hours on Thursday. He was stabbed to death. The district police has registered a case under Section 302 of the IPC.

DORAHA
EYE CAMP: A free eye check-up camp was organised by the State Bank of Patiala, Doraha, in collaboration with Seva Punjab India at Kaddon village on Thursday. Mr S.K. Singla, Assistant General Manager of the bank, inaugurated the camp. Mr S.K. Goyal, Branch Manager, said as many as 1010 villagers suffering more various eye ailments were provided medicines free of cost apart from being examined thoroughly.”

HOSHIARPUR
DHARNA: On a call given by the Punjab Employees Struggle Committee, government employees of Hoshiarpur staged a dharna in front of the Deputy Commissioner's office here on Wednesday to oppose the privatisation policy of the state government. Speaking on the occasion, leaders criticised the government for making proposals to privatise certain boards and corporations.

JALANDHAR
CYCLE EXPEDITION: A cycle expedition, being organised by the Army to spread the message of peace and harmony among the youth, was flagged off by the General Officer Commanding of Panther Division from Katoch Stadium at Jalandhar cantonment here on Wednesday. Led by Lt Karam Singh of a Sikh regiment and comprising a JCO and eight other ranks, the expedition will go through areas of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh and traverse a distance of 170 km.

LUDHIANA
PROGRAMME: New Senior Secondary School, Sarabha Nagar, organised a cancer awareness programme in collaboration with Global Cancer Concern, India. Ms Savita Sodhi, Deputy Director, Resource Development, and Ms Vaneet Marwaha showed slides to students and told them about the symptoms, causes of the disease. The students from ninth standard onwards attended the lecture. The Deputy Director and the Principal, of the school, Mr N.C. Gupta, presented the vote of thanks.

RESIDENTS’ DEMAND: Residents of New Chander Nagar Colony have been facing problems due to the demolition of the bridge on Budha Nullah for the construction of a new one. At a meeting of area residents, presided over by Mr Kala Sahota, it was pointed out that the bridge being the shortest route to several schools, a college, hospitals, main market and the cremation ground, the authorities ought to have provided an alternative passage at least for the pedestrians till the new bridge was completed.

Children’s Day: The Krishna Nagar Welfare Society will organise district-level competitions, for school children on November 13 on the eve of Children’s Day. According to Mr Ashok Kapoor, president of the society, there will be several events of competitions, including folk song, group folk song and choreography. For the painting competition, entries would be open for posters, portraits and work on the given subjects.

DEBATE CONTEST: In an inter-college debate contest organised at the Government College for Boys here on Wednesday, Bikramjit Singh of the same college won the first prize. The topic was: ‘It is the man who has failed and not the institution’. Twenty eight students participated in the contest. It was organised by Nehru Sidhant Kendra to mark the 113th birth anniversary of Mr Jawaharlal Nehru. Mr Rakesh Bharati Mittal presided over the function. The second position in the debate was won by Ms Sukhmeet Bedi of the Khalsa College for Women. Paramjit Singh of the BCM College of Education won the third prize while Sumit Gupta of the Arya College for Boys was awarded a consolation prize.

WELCOMED: The Union Agriculture Ministry’s decision to enhance the superannuation age of teachers and scientists of agricultural universities from 60 to 62 from October 13 is most welcome, says Mr Yahpaul Ghai, Additional General Secretary of Punjab Government Pensioners Association here on Thursday. Mr Ghai has urged the Punjab Government to implement the decision w.e.f. October 13 this year in respect of the PAU, and teachers and scientists be taken back who retired on October 31.

CAMP: The Shaheed Dr Kalicharan Memorial Trust will hold a free eye check-up camp for one month from Friday at the Kalicharan chowk at Chaura Bazar. A similar camp will be held at Sarabha Nagar also.

Awareness week: To enlighten the public against acts of corruption, students and staff of GMT Senior Secondary Public School, Jalandhar bypass, are observing an awareness week from November 3 to 9. Teachers deliver lectures on anti-corruption methods during morning assemblies. The school organised a debate on anti-corruption methods on Wednesday. On the concluding day, Mr K.S. Thind and Mr J.S. Thind, directors of the school, shared views in this regard with the staff. 

COMMERCE BODY: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Commerce and Management Association: president—Mr Bharat Dua; vice-president — Ms Shivani General Secretary — Mr Mohit Gulati; joint secretary; — Mr Bhuvan Gupta; assistant joint secretary — Mr Amit Gupta; and finance secretaries; Mr Sumit, Ms Ankita, Ms Rajni

PATIALA
HONOURED: The local National Theatre Arts Society (NTAS) at its special talent recognition session, held in the Garden Theatre arena, honoured the city’s three prominent personalities — Principal A.K. Shahi, head, Mathematics Study Circle, Mr Arvind Modgil, Director, Sai Model High School, and Mr Vijay Goel, president, Patiala Social Welfare Society. The NTAS president, Mr G.S. Kakkar, theatre couple, Pran Sabharwal and Sunita presented them bouquets, gifts etc. The dignitaries also gave away prizes to 30 NTAS artistes.

ANNUAL FUNCTION: The local St Peter’s Academy School organised its annual function ‘Ambience 2003’ here on Thursday. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Tejveer Singh, was the chief guest. The Principal of the School, Sister Alveena, presented the annual school report. The function started with the traditional lighting of the lamp by the chief guest. Students enthralled the audience by presenting cultural items.

SANGRUR
SYMPOSIUM: Mr Rakesh Nath, Chairman of the BBMB, will inaugurate a two-day national symposium on ‘‘Emerging technologies for efficiency improvement in energy sector’’ on Saturday at the Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology at Longowal village, about 20 km from here.

CHANDIGARH

DANCE PARTY: An “ultimate dance party” will be held here on Saturday with India’s leading DJ Ivan to enthral Chandigarhians with Ibiza-style music. The party, “Smirnoff Experience” will take place at the Forest Hill Golf and Country Club. After Chandigarh, the show will travel to Lucknow, Guwahati, Pune, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Mumbai and Goa. “Smirnoff Experience” will present an electrifying combination of DJ Ivan and India’s popular MTV VJ Nikhil Chinnappa along with international dance artistes.

HARYANA

BHIWANI
RESULT: The result of the senior secondary supplementary examination held in September, 2003, by the Board of School Education, Haryana, will be declared on November 7. As many as 48,563 candidates appeared in this examination, of whom 25,646 candidates were declared pass. Girls fared better, with a pass percentage of 56.98 in comparison to boys, who had a pass percentage of 50.35. Sources said the result would be available on the websites: http://results.nic.in and http ://haryana.nic.in on November 7 after 9 am, besides in the offices of the DEOs.

FATEHABAD
SUB-COMMITTEE: The Civil Surgeon, Fatehabad, on Thursday set up a sub-committee of the Foeticide Control Committee to check ultrasound clinics in this district. The sub-committee comprises a gynaecologist, a social worker and the District Drugs Inspector, and will check clinics every month. The Civil Surgeon will supervise the operations. Meanwhile, a meeting of the Foeticide Control Committee was also held here on Thursday.

KAITHAL
VISIT BY TEAM: A team headed by the Regional Director (SC/ST), Chandigarh, Mr Tenjing Wangyal, visited Kaithal on Tuesday. The team, it is learnt, came here to apprise itself of cases of victimisation of Dalits and the follow-up action taken by the government and the local administration to provide them financial and other help. The team apprised the Deputy Commissioner and the Superintendent of Police of the schemes launched by the Central Government for the welfare of the SC/ST communities.

KURUKSHETRA
LOK ADALAT: Sunday will be observed as Legal Services Day at Kurukshetra. Stating this here on Thursday, the Chief Judicial Magistrate-cum-Member Secretary, District Legal Services Authority, Kurukshetra, Mr Rajinder Goel, said on this occasion, a special lok adalat would be organised at the District Courts here.

YAMUNANAGAR
JE HELD: A Junior Engineer of the Yamunanagar Municipal Council was on Wednesday caught by Vigilance Bureau while taking a bribe of Rs 5,000. The Junior Engineer, Mr Jagdish Arora, demanded a bribe from a contractor, Som Parkash, for demarcation of land and was arrested while taking it at the council office.

TRIBUTES PAID: Tributes were paid to Prof Prem Parkash Singh, a linguist and scholar of Punjabi here on Wednesday. Paying tributes to his life and works, Mr Bhupinder Singh Jauihar, president of the World Punjabi Organisation and Chairman of Khalsa educational institutions, said Prof Prem Parkash Singh devoted his life to the research and development of Punjabi.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
CHARAS SEIZED: The police seized 750 gm of charas from a scooter at Barmana on the Salnu-Khangad-Dehar road, near here, on Tuesday. The police said the driver, Taahir Mohammed, of Mandi fled while the pillion-rider, Dil Husain, also of Mandi, was arrested. A case has been registered.

CHAMBA
PETROL STATIONS: Transporters have demanded petrol stations at Bharmour in Bharmour tribal subdivision, Surangani in Churah subdivision and Chowari in Bhattiyat subdivision taking into account the increasing number of vehicles in these subdivisions of Chamba district. The transporters of these areas have to drive for long distances to fill petrol.

NURPUR
DOCTORS: The Himachal Pradesh Ayurvedic Doctors Association has alleged that the Virbhadra Singh government has failed to fulfil its commitment to cancel the appointments of non-Himachali doctors who were given jobs in the state by the previous government allegedly in violation of the rules. Mr Sanjiv Guleria, president of the association, in a statement here on Thursday, said the Health Minister, Mrs Chandresh Kumari, had promised to cancel these appointments.

CENTRE FLAYED: The national secretary of the Bahujan Samaj Party, Mr Mann Singh, has alleged that the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government has launched a tirade to tarnish the image of a BSP leader and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Ms Mayawati. Addressing a meeting of BSP activists here on Wednesday, he alleged that the government was misusing the CBI against Ms Mayawati.