R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Amritsar
SEMINAR: Eminent scholars participated in a one-day seminar organised at Guru Nanak Dev University on the life and contribution of Baba Budha on Thursday. Mr Kapur, a noted historian and former pro vice-chancellor of the university, while presiding over the seminar described Baba Budha as the first Sikh of Guru Nanak.

DEMAND: Rejecting the inquiry report that gave a clean chit to ASI Arjun Singh, who had allegedly assaulted Dharma Singh and his family, Ms Laxmi Kanta Chawla, vice-president of the state BJP, has demanded a high-level inquiry to ascertain facts against the then SSP of Tarn Taran regarding the incident at Thatthi village. Dharma Singh and 12 others of his family were booked under the Arms and IPC Acts on January 26 this year. Mr Chawla had alleged torture and police high-handedness in the case.

Batala
KILLED: Harbaksh Singh Bajwa, alias Goldie, 26, died on the spot when his scooter was hit by a tractor-trailer laden with bricks near a private school on police lines road in the town on Friday. Civil Lines Police Station SHO Sanjeev Kumar said the driver of the tractor-trailer was detained and the vehicle was seized. The body of the victim has been sent to the local civil hospital for post-mortem, examination.

Faridkot
FUNCTION: A colourful function was organised at the local Saint Mary’s Convent School here on Friday as part of the silver jubilee celebrations. More than 2,000 students of the school took part in it. Presiding over the function Mr Kulshinder Singh, SSP Faridkot, asked the students to pay attention to their studies and other curricular activities for the betterment of society. Students presented a cultural programme also on the occasion. Later, the district police chief distributed prizes among students and inaugurated a basketball ground in the school.

KHULA DARBAR: The district administration has decided to hold a district-level khula darbar at Pucca village to redress the grievances of the villagers. This was announced by Mr Hussan Lal Deputy Commissioner, on Thursday.

Hoshiarpur
ARRESTED: The Garhshankar police has arrested Gurpreet Singh, son of Garcha Singh a resident of Palsora, Sector 39, Chandigarh , under Sections 61,1 and 14 of the Excise Act. Gurpreet Singh was bringing 53 cases of liquor to Dasuya in his car on November 19, 2003. The liquor was meant for sale in Chandigarh. On the way his car met with an accident with a Punjab Roadways bus of Hoshiarpur depot at Padrana. He was arrested on Thursday.

Kapurthala
PROTEST: Workers of the Hindu Shiv Sena took out a procession in the town to protest against hike in the sewerage and water tariff. The protesters presented a memorandum to Mr Rakesh Kumar Verma, Deputy Commissioner, for forwarding the same to Governor, Punjab. The workers also held a rally on the district court premises. It was addressed by Mr Jagdish Kataria, district president of the Hindu Shiv Sena.

Pathankot
ShAHEEDI DIVAS: The local Mirpur Colony Welfare Society, under the chairmanship of Mr Gurdeep Singh, celebrated Mirpur Shaheedi Divas at Raghunath Mandir here. Tributes were paid to martyrs on the occasion.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Bilaspur
FUNCTION: Hundreds of students of Government Swami Vivekanand Degree College at Ghumarwin participated in a function held to mark the Environment Day on Wednesday. Principal of the college M.K. Mattu presided over the function. Students also participated in a cleanliness drive on the college premises.

YOUTH CAMP: A five-day youth work camp organised by the Nehru Yuvak Kendra in collaboration with the Saraswati Yuvak Mandal concluded at Anandghat-Jhandutta near here on Wednesday. Yuva Kendra youth co-ordinator Somnath Zara said here on Thursday that participants were trained in the implementation of various national programmes started by the Centre and state government at the camp.

Hamirpur
CELEBRATED: The 101st birth anniversary of Late Dalip Singh, a veteran freedom fighter and first MLA of Hamirpur was observed here on Wednesday. Mr Sushil Rattan, Chairman of the HP Freedom Fighter’s Welfare Board, was the chief guest on the occasion Mr B R Rahi, Chairman of the HP State Education Board, also attended the function. The function was organised by the family of Mr Thakur.

Kumarhatti
DRIVE: The Doordarshan Kendra, Kasauli, has launched a drive against private cable operators who are not airing the DD News Channel in the region. A team of the centre officials, led by Mr M. S. Duhan, Station Engineer of the centre, had visited various places in the region to ensure that the channel was being aired by the cable operators under the Cable Network Regulation Act. The centre has also sent letters in this regard to the Deputy Commissioners of Solan, Sirmour, Panchkula, Ambala and Kurukshetra.

Nurpur
RESENTMENT: The poor service being provided by the BSNL in the town has irked a number of subscribers. The BSNL has installed its mobile tower in the town but the signal is poor. Subscribers have demanded that the range of the BSNL tower should be increased immediately. Residents are also facing a lot of inconvenience due to the withdrawal of the facility of telegram booking at the local sub-post office.

CHALLANED: In a special drive to check the violation of traffic rules, the Railway and Traffic Police, Dharamsala, challaned 64 vehicles owners in Nurpur and Indora subdivisions on Thursday and imposed a penalty of Rs 22,400 on the defaulters.

LOANS: As many as 1500 branch offices of Punjab National Bank will be connected with ATM in the country. This was stated by Mr N.C. Kakkar, Senior Regional Manager of the bank, while presiding over the loan distribution function organised at Jassur on Thursday by the local branch of the bank. He distributed loans to the tune of Rs 1.43 crore among 47 persons under the bank’s retail lending scheme.

DEMAND: In a meeting held at Sukhar, near here, on Wednesday the local unit of the Other Backward Classes Association demanded representation in the state Assembly, boards, corporations and in panchayati raj institutions. The association also urged the state government to prepare a roster of jobs to be rendered on the basis of reservation.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local unit of the Himachal Vikas Congress: president - Mr Sanjiv Guleria; vice-presidents - Mr Prem Kumar and Mr Vikram Mandol; secretary - Mr Manohar Lal; coordinators - Mr Sohan Sapya and state delegates - Mr Manmohan Sharma.