R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Abohar
ARRESTED: Major Singh, a resident of Dharam Nagri here, was arrested on Friday. He, along with one Raja Singh, allegedly attacked Narender Kumar, an employee of a local liquor shop, and took away cash and bottles of liquor on Thursday night. A case was registered under Section 382/34 of the IPC.

MERGED: The Private Shops Employees Union has been merged with the Brickkiln and Allied Workers Union. The decision was taken at a meeting presided over by Mr Naveen Kumar here on Friday. It was regretted at the meeting that more than 75 per cent shops remained opened on Sundays and after the scheduled hours.

ARREST DEMANDED: The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh has condemned the local police for not arresting those who attacked Kanhaiya Lal, a migrant labourer, last week. Mr Mohan Singh Mann, a leader of the sangh, submitted a memorandum to the local DSP in this connection on Friday.

Amritsar
WORKSHOP: A national workshop on “Identification and remedial measures of existing and future problems of sugar and textile industries,” organised by the Department of Applied Chemical Science and Technology, Guru Nanak Dev University, in collaboration with the All-India Council for Technical Education, New Delhi, concluded here on Friday. Among other things, experts demanded the government should change the policies on sugarcane pricing.

Ferozepore
LAPAROSCOPY: The Indian Medical Association (IMA) organised a seminar on advanced laparoscopy surgery, the management of chronic hepatitis-B and hepatitis-C and therapeutic ERCP at Railway Officer Club here on Friday. According to Dr B.B. Sharma, president of the local chapter of the IMA, Dr A. Ghosh and Dr N.J.S. Malhi gave a talk on these topics.

Jalandhar
DHARNA: Residents of the Paragpur area here staged dharna outside the residence of the Mayor, Mr Surinder Mahey, here on Friday sat to protest against irregular drinking water supply and poor sewerage system. They alleged that despite repeated requests to municipal corporation officials in this regard, no action had been taken.

Ludhiana
Blood donation: A blood donation camp was organised by Guru Nanak Engineering College (GNEC) in collaboration with Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) on the GNEC campus on Saturday. A team of doctors and technicians from the Department of Transfusion Medicine, DMCH, under the guidance of Dr Amarjit Kaur, head of the department, collected the blood from the donors. The camp was jointly inaugurated by Dr R.P. Suker Chakia, Principal of the college, Prof Sudhir Ghai, Dr Amarjit Kaur and Dr Parveen Sobti. Sixty units of blood was collected.

Workshop: Punjab College of Technical Education (PCTE) organised a workshop on networking using Linux on Saturday. Nearly 60 students and 20 professionals from the local industry participated. The workshop was conducted by Mr Anuj Chopra, networking consultant, and Mr Rohit Ranjan, Chandigarh-based networking professional.

SAMRALA
Old-age pensionS: Mr Bhupinder Singh Benipal, a former chairman of the block samiti and now sarpanch of Madpur village has expressed doubts with respect to feasibility and practicability of the Punjab Government’s notification regarding disbursement of old-age pensions and other financial help to the needy. Mr Benipal criticised the list of nine conditions which were mandatory to be complied with to become eligible for pension. Mr Benipal appealed to the government to consider the case again and the notification be withdrawn or simplified. 

SCHOLARSHIP: A scholarship examination will be organised by the Adhyapak Chetna Manch, Samrala, on April 25, said Mr Mehma Singh Kang, president of the manch, here on Saturday at the local Government Senior Secondary School for Boys. Students who has passed in Class V and students who are already been appeared in Class VIII examination will be eligible to appear in the examination. Successful students would be honoured at a function in May by Dr Jagtar Singh Khattra, DPI (E), Punjab.

Pathankot
GANG OF CHEATS BUSTED: The district police has busted an inter-state gang of cheats and booked its four members, Kartar Singh, Prem Masih, B. Masih and Harbhajan Singh. Mr Narindra Bhargav, SSP, said here on Saturday that the gang had duped 12 persons for lakhs of rupees making false promises to send them abroad. He said 18 passports and three Tata Sumo had also been seized from them.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Bilaspur
HONOURED: The Superintendent of Police, Mr Chander Shekhar, honoured Dinesh Kumar “Bhuto”, Anil Kumar, Gopal and Vijay Kumar, all of Padyalag, and presented them appreciation letters and cash rewards here on Friday. They had helped the police in apprehending three youths, Gopal Bharti, Jiwan Kumar and Parveen Rana, who were fleeing after attacking a youth, Rakesh Kumar, with a knife at Baba Da Ghat, near Bharadi, on Thursday.

Chamba
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Sri Hari Bhakti Mahasammelan here: president — Mr Atma Ram Sharma; senior vice-president — Mr Sham Lal Mahajan; vice-president — Mr Shakti Prasad Mahajan; general secretary — Mr Bhupender Sharma; joint secretary — Mr Devi Prasad Sharma; and cashier — Mr Jagmohan Sharma.

Hamirpur
CONG OFFICE COMPUTERISED: The Congress party here on Thursday installed a computer fitted with all sorts of facilities along with a fax machine in its media office here to interact with local outside media. Mr Rajesh Anand, media in charge of the party, said that in future mediapersons located in Hamirpur would get the party’s releases by fax and e-mail.

Kangra
GIRL DIES IN MISHAP: A girl (11) was killed and two others were injured in two different accidents in the district on Wednesday evening, the police said here on Thursday. Simpa Devi of Kthwasi Fathepur in this district was hit by a scooter at Kuthwasi. She was admitted in a private hospital at Pathankot where she succumbed to her injuries. Gaggan Singh, driver of the scooter was arrested following the registration of a case against him by the Jawali police station. In another accident two persons were injured at Chowgan at Nurpur on Wednesday. Their scooter collided with a private bus. Driver of the scooter Suresh Kumar of Rajol and the pillion rider were shifted to Dr R.P. Government Medical College Hospital.

SEVEN ARRESTED: The police in a drive against illicit distillation arrested seven persons including two women and registered four cases under the Excise Act against them. Kangra District Police Chief S. Zahoor H Zaidi said here on Wednesday that Santosh Kumar of Harnaid was arrested on Wednesday night under the Excise Act from Chaitroo Bazar under the police station here while he was selling illicit liquor. The SSP said liquor was recovered from his possession.

Nurpur
MINISTER’S OUTBURST: Forest Minister Chander Kumar, who is contesting the Lok Sabha election from the Kangra parliamentary seat, after addressing a press conference here on Friday, attacked the president of the local Press Club, Mr Rakesh Bharti, over his style of reporting. The minister allegedly insulted the journalist in the presence of Congress workers and Rural Development Minister and local MLA Sat Mahajan. The Press Club later boycotted the conference.