R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Amritsar
ELECTED: Mr Kewal Krishan Sharma has been elected president of the Himachal Sudhar Sabha. The other office-bearers are general secretary- Mr Hoshiar Singh Rana and adviser - Mr Vikram Singh Negi.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The district committee of the Nationalist Trinamool Congress on Friday announced its local office-bearers: president—Dr Harbhajan Singh Chhina; vice-presidents—Mr Kewal Datta, Ms Gurvinder Kaur Chahal, Mr Vipin Kumar Dhand and Mr Sawinder Singh; general secretaries—Mr Harish Kumar Arora and Prof Subroto Seal. The committee also has two joint secretaries, four secretaries and nine executive members.

URGED: The All-India Sikh Student Federation headed by Mr Harminder Singh Gill, on Friday urged to establish a high-tech educational institute in Tohra village in memory of late Gurcharan Singh Tohra, former president SGPC. Mr Gill said the institute should have the facilities of providing coaching for the preparation of IAS, IPS and other high-level competitions, advance study of computer, management course and other job oriented courses.

Bathinda
ACTING PRESIDENT: Mr Inder Singh Sahni, general secretary, District Congress Committee, Bathinda has been made the active president of the committee.

COUNCIL: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local unit of the Consumer Welfare Council: president — Mr Sukhdev Singh; senior vice-president — Mr Heera Lal Bansal; vice-president — Mr N.L. Mishra; general secretary — Mr Kishan Singh; press secretary — Mr M.R. Maddan; cashier — Mr S. L. Goyal, and adviser — Mr P.L. Mittal.

Hoshiarpur
SEIZED: The Tanda police on Thursday arrested Rashem Singh, and seized a fake currency note of Rs 500 denomination. A case under Section 489A of the IPC has been registered against Rashem Singh.

Kapurthala
WHEAT ARRIVAL: The arrival of wheat is picking up in the grain markets of the district according to Mr Rakesh Verma, Deputy Commissioner. Mr Verma said 15,472 metric tonnes of wheat had arrived at 43 procurements centres of the district till Friday. Government agencies like the FCI, Punsup, the Punjab State Godown Corporation, Pungrain, Punjab Agro and traders purchase the wheat.

PROHIBITORY ORDERS: The district Magistrate , Mr R.K. Verma, on Friday imposed prohibitory orders around the examination centres of the plus one and plus two classes.

Phagwara
JUDICIAL CUSTODY: The travel agent couple Balwinder Singh, alias Billa and his wife Davinder Kaur, who were in police remand after their arrest a few days ago, were on Thursday remanded in judicial custody. The couple along with their son Satnam Singh, and an NRI woman Joginder Kaur, had defrauded Surjit Singh of Domeli village of Rs 12 lakh for sending him to Canada.

HARYANA

Hisar
DEAD: A safai karamchari died after inhailing poisonous gas while cleaning manhole in the auto market area the police said here on Saturday. The body of Sajan Kumar was taken out of the manhole and handed over to his relatives after the post-mortem.

KILLED: One person was killed in a road accident near Ahrwan village on Saturday the police said. Mohammad Irshad, a resident of Ahrwan village, was going on his motorcycle towards his village when it collided with a car. He was admitted to a private hospital here where he died. A case has been registered.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Hamirpur
Fire: A fire broke out in the Hiranagar forest area of the town on Friday. The cause of the fire however could not be ascertained. Officials of the Department of Forests were the first to reach the site of fire and put off the fire. Help also came in the form of rain.

Shimla
BODY FOUND: An unidentified body was found from a nullah near Indira Gandhi Medical College Hospital here on Friday. According to the police the deceased appeared to be around 50 years old. A case has been registered.