R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Batala
TWO ARRESTED: The police arrested some persons and recovered 260 gram gold ornaments from them. Those arrested are Sardar Mashih of Hasanpura and Balkar Singh of Shukarpura. A case under Sections 356, 454, 457/380 of the IPC has been registered in this connection.

Jalandhar
RALLY: The Indian Academy of Pediatrics on Friday organised a rally in front of Lyallpur Khalsa College for Women here. Around 200 women participants formed a human chain holding placards on the significance of pulse polio drive. Students of Lyallpur Khalsa College for Women were educated on the benefits of polio drops for children.

LUDHIANA
BHANDARA: The management of Kali Mata Mandir organised a bhandara in connection with Shivaratri celebrations on Saturday. A langar was also organised at Shiva Temple in Daresi Ground.

SPECIAL TRAIN: A special train, carrying devotees, will leave the city for Mumbai on March 20. The devotees will take part in the closing ceremony of the Guru Vijay Vallabh Rath Yatra to be held at Samadhi Mandir at Bycula on March 22 and 23.

IDOL INSTALLATION: Idols of Maha Kali and Sheetla Mata will be installed at the newly constructed Sheetla and Kali Maa temple in Street No. 2 of Chander Nagar, Civil Lines, on Monday. The idols will be installed at the end of a ceremony to be held in the afternoon, according to Mr Mangat Rai Moong, a trustee of the temple. He added that a community kitchen would be organised after the installation ceremony.

Nawanshahr
RELIEF: Mr Vikas Garg, ADC, on Friday flagged off a truck-load of relief material containing ration donated by the local residents for the Jammu and Kashmir’s poeple, here at Balbir Complex, Sloh Road on Friday. The goods were collected under the aegis of local Sewa Bharti headed by Baba Naybat Rai. The relief material would be distributed among 400 families in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday.

Pathankot
SCHOOL FUNCTION: Mr Shyam Chadha, a senator of the Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar has urged the people to take care of their education and health. He was speaking at a function of the Blooming Buds school here on Friday.

PATIALA
MEETING: A cluster meeting of Patiala and 12 other units of the Northern Zone Insurance Employees Association (NZIEA) was held here on Sunday. As many as 200 activists participated in the meeting, which took stock of he situation prevailing in the insurance industry and the country. Divisional secretary Rajiv Sehgal, divisional president Ashwani Sharma also spoke on the occasion.

BLOOD CAMP: The Punjab College of Education, Raipur, organised a blood donation camp here on Friday. As many as 35 students donated blood. The camp was inaugurated by the Secretary, Punjab State Electricity Board, Ms Jaspreet Talwar.

SEMINAR: Power House GYM Youth Club organised a seminar on “Children and Primary Education” at Government Primary School, Rajindra Hospital, here on Friday. The president of the club, Mr Jatwinder Grewal, said there was a need to spread awareness among people about the importance of primary education. The secretary of the club, Mr Rajinder Dhaliwal, Adviser, Mr Hardeep Singh Sidhu, Mr Gurdeep Singh, and cashier, Mr Satwinder Singh, were present on the occasion. 

VISIT: Dr Nisha Sharad, DPI (Colleges), Punjab, visited an NCC camp organised by the Punjab NCC branch under the commanding officer, Lieut-Col N.S. Sidhu. Nearly 500 NCC cadets are attending the annual training camp. Dr Sharad said the NCC played a vital role in inculcating discipline and sense of duty among the youth. 

FAREWELL PARTY: SDSE Senior Secondary School organised a farewell party for its students of Class XII. A colourful cultural programme was organised by the students.

SAMRALA
Inspection: The Deputy Director, Health Services, Punjab, Dr P.C. Singla, on Sunday inspected various polio drop centers here. While answering a query, Dr Singla said not even a single case of polio had been reported during this year. Meanwhile, Dr J.P. Singh, SMO, has stated that more than 3,200 children were given polio drops and more than 17 teams took part in the drive on Sunday.

CHANDIGARH

FUNCTION: A large number of devotees gathered at Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya Math in Sector 20 here on Sunday to participate in “Virha Mahotsav” of Srila BD Madhav Maharaj, who was the founder acharya and spiritual master of the All-India Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya Math. The function was commenced with performance of guru puja, followed by a ceremony of paying obeisance to Srila Maharaj. Swami BV Vishnu said that Srila Maharaj established more than 25 preaching institutes and wrote about 25 religious books in his lifetime.

HARYANA

AMBALA
Seminar: The dependence and converting the hearts and minds of people into e-heart and e-mind was the root cause of development of e-threats, said Mr S.N. Panda, a senior professor of SA Jain College, here on Friday. In a paper presented at a conference on “Save the country from cyber crime” Mr Tanda said to minimise e-threats there was need for awareness on e-security, and different kind of cyber threats. He suggested that an e-security volunteer team should be formed at national level to check the problem. 

Fatehabad
SCHOOL FUNCTION: Bal Vatika Fest, —annual function of the Bal Vatika School here was celebrated yesterday. Dr Sushil Indora, Member of Parliament was the Chief Guest and Ms Swatanta Bala Chowdhary MLA presided over it. School children presented dance, one-act play, giddha and bhangra.

Kurukshetra
POLICE MODERNISATION: Haryana has spent Rs 194 crore to modernise the police in the past three years. Dr M.S. Malik, Director-General of Police, Haryana, stated this at a meeting in Kurukshetra police lines here on Saturday.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Bilaspur
ADMISSION SCHEDULE: Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya near here at Kothipura is to fill 15 seats in class IX from next academic session of 2004-05. Admission test for the seats would be held on May 23, this year. Last date for the submission of forms for admission test is April 10. Admission forms can be had, free of cost, from Navodaya Vidyalaya, Kothipura and office of the Deputy Director of Education Bilaspur or any Principal of Senior Secondary Schools.

Nahan
SPEAKER’S ANGUISH: The Himachal Speaker expressed displeasure, over the slow progress, of schemes by the Public Works Department and directed these to be speeded up. MLA Nahan Sadanand Chauhan raised the question of incomplete road in Kaulanwala Bhood in his constituency. Non-official member Davender Shastri called for regular inspection of schools.

Shimla
FIRE: A hardware shop was gutted in a fire at Bhattakufar on Friday morning. The fire was reportedly caused by an electric short-circuit. There was no loss of life.

BJP RIDICULED: Mr Ram Lal Thakur, Industries Minister, and Mrs Asha Kumari, Education Minister on Friday alleged fiscal mismanagement by the previous BJP regime. The two ministers said that during the BJP rule the outstanding debt increased to cross the Rs 15,000 crore mark halting development work.

SURVEYORS’ DEMANDS: The state Underpaid Diploma Holder Work Inspector and Surveyors Union will submit a memorandum of its demands to Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister. The union is demanding removal of anomalies in pay scales of diploma holders, work inspectors and action against those promoted as junior engineers on the basis of fake certificates by the previous government.