R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Fatehgarh Sahib
Ministerial Services Union: The following have been elected office-bearers of the district unit of the Punjab State Ministerial Services Union: president — Mr Ajit Singh Mann (Health Department); senior vice-presidents — Mr Jaswant Singh Kahlon (Food and Civil Supplies Department) and Mr Tarlok Singh (DC Office); vice-presidents — Ms Vijay Lakshmi (Statistical Department) and Mr Jodh Singh (Excise Department); general secretary — Mr Rajesh Kumar (Education Department); secretary — Mr Kulwant Singh (Education Department); press secretary — Mr Gurbachan Singh (DC Office); cashier — Mr Rajinder Singh (DC Office).

Ludhiana
ATWAL HONOURED: THE Urban Estate Ramlila Dusehra Committee honoured Mr Charanjit Singh Atwal, Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha, at a function held at Dugri on Friday. Various speakers recalled the tenure of Mr. Atwal as Deputy Speaker in the Panjab Vidhan Sabha during the Akali-BJP rule and also lauded his services to the country. Office-bearers of the committee including, Mr Raj Garg, presented a siropa and a portrait of Lord Rama to Mr Atwal.

SEMINAR: “Chronic backache, joint pain and spine-related diseases should be properly treated”. Dr Salil Saha, a spine surgeon from Fortis Hospital, Gill Road, Ludhiana, said this at a seminar held here. In the seminar more than 100 doctors from Ludhiana and adjoining villages participated.

SAMRALA
MEETING: A public-police meeting was held at Hedon village on Saturday. Panches, sarpanches and lambardars of nearby villages participated. It was decided to educate the youth against drug addiction. Mr Sarbjit Singh, SHO, Samrala, appealed to the public to help the police in checking crime.

CHANDIGARH

Camp: The Chandigarh chapter of the Indian Council of Social Welfare (ICSW) organised a one-day special camp for adolescent girls from the weaker section of society at Dhanas colony here on Sunday. The girls, majority of whom do not go to school, were advised to take care of their health and personal hygiene. Dr Neena Goyal addressed the participants. Medical check-up facilities were also provided. An interactive session with the Dr Goyal and some social workers was followed by a question-answer session. Free medicine were also distributed.

Blood donation: More than 205 persons donated blood at a camp at the PGI. The camp was organised by the Thalassaemic Children Welfare Association. Ms Madhu Bansal, wife of MP Pawan Kumar Bansal, inaugurated the camp. A team of doctors from the Department of Blood Transfusion, PGI, conducted the camp.

HARYANA

Karnal
BARBER HELD: A local hairdresser murdered his employee with a pair of scissors here on Friday in an inebriated state following a quarrel. The hairdresser, Yashpal, has been arrested.

Sonepat
YOUTH HELD: A 22-year-old youth, Krishan, has been arrested by the police in connection with the murder of his mother, Kela, on June 14 at Bhawar village in the district. According to a report, the youth has confessed to the crime.

RAPE CASE: A seven-year-old was allegedly raped by a youth, Arun, in Hanuman Nagar here on Friday. According to a report, the girl was lured by the youth and taken to his house where she was raped. The police has registered a case against the youth.

FATAL FALL: Mahavir Sharma, an assistant lineman, was killed on the spot when he fell from a transformer at Gangana village, about 50 km from here, on Friday. The police has sent the body for a post-mortem.

CBI RAID: A CBI team raided the office of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited here on Friday and took away some files maintained during the tenure of Mr Chander Shekhar, a former General Manager of Sonepat Telecom district who had been arrested by the CBI for allegedly taking a bribe from a contractor during his posting at Rohtak.

YOUTH BOOKED: The police booked a youth on the charge of molesting a woman in Rishi Colony on Saturday. According to a report, the youth, Sanjay, of Jatwara Mohalla, however, managed to escape after the incident.

DEMONSTRATIONS: A large number of women living in Tara Nagar and the adjoining areas held a demonstration in front of the office of the Executive Engineer of the Public Health Department in Model Town here on Saturday in protest against the non-supply of drinking water for the past one week. According to another report, hundreds of women, under the banner of the Chetna Manch, held a demonstration in front of the SDM’s office at Gohana town, 35 km from here, on Saturday in protest against erratic supply of power and drinking water.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Dharamsala
STUDENT HELD: The police has arrested a Class VI student for allegedly stealing Rs 29,000 from the house of Sunil Kumar, a teacher at Government High School, Sandhol. According to a case registered at the Lambagaon police station, Rs 24,000 was stolen from the teacher’s house nearly two weeks ago. However, the boy was caught stealing a sum of Rs 5,930 by the schoolteacher on Thursday.

ILLEGAL KIOSKS: In a special drive carried out on Thursday, the Nurpur police registered cases against 23 persons for causing obstruction to traffic.

Mandi
LITERACY: Thakur Kaul Singh, IPH Minister, has said Himachal is poised to attain the top position in literacy in the country. At present, the state is ranked second in the country in literacy, the first being Kerala. The minister said this while presiding over a prize distribution function at Thaltukhor in the remote Chuhar valley on Friday. He said Rs 1,100 crore would be spent on education and priority would be accorded to backward areas in the state in this regard.

Nurpur
POLICE REMAND: Malkiat, his wife Vaishno Devi and their driver Jasbir, who were arrested by the Jawali police for allegedly killing Malkiat’s father Pyar Chand (70), a resident of Dhanuna village in Fatehpur tehsil, were remanded in police custody till June 25 by a local court on Friday.

Palampur
ENCROACHMENTS: The Palampur welfare and Environment Protection Forum and Save Palampur, both voluntary social orgnaisations, on Saturday demanded the removal of all roadside encroachments in the town. In a joint press note issued here, the presidents of the organisations urged Deputy Commissioner Siri Kant Waldi to intervene and get encroachments remove.