R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

DERA BASSI
BANK STAFF: Employees of the local of State Bank of Patiala, protested outside the main branch of the bank, here on Wednesday. Wearing badges and raising slogans against the bank management, the bank employees were protesting on the call of the All India State Bank of Patiala Federation to press their demand. The bankers were demanding compassionate jobs for dependents of deceased employees, recruitment of clerical and subordinate staff, stopping out-sourcing and contractual labour and some other issues.

Gurdaspur
ELECTED: Mr Gurbachan Singh Babehali was elected president of Milkfed in Gurdaspur district on Tuesday.

CANDIDATURE: The General Category Welfare Association decided at its meeting here on Tuesday to field Mr Prabjit Singh as a candidate for the Punjab University senate elections. The association also flayed the statement of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for advocating reservation in the private sector.

Hoshiarpur
PLEDGED: A function was organised at JR Government Polytechnic on the concluding day of an Eye Donation camp here on Tuesday. Dr. Y.C. Markan, Civil Surgeon, presided over the function. Mr J.B. Behl, president of the Eye Donation Association, Hoshiarpur, said during the camp about 87 persons pledged to donate their eyes.

Jagraon
POPPY HUSK SEIZED: The Humbran police seized 40 kg of poppy husk burried at Bhatha Dhuan village recently. A case has been registered under sections 15/61/85 of the NDPS Act against a certain person. In another incident ASI Amrik Singh, in charge, Bhundri police post seized 30 kg of poppy husk from Kot Umra and registered a case against Bittoo of Bhundri and against certain persons, of Sidhwan Kalan.

Nawanshahr
ORGANISED: The Arya Samaj organised a 10-day Ved Parchar & Jan Samapark Abhiyan here on Tuesday. A havan yajna to mark Shri Krishna Janmashtami was also organised at Doaba Arya Senior Secondary School. Ms Sushila Arya, veteran Arya Samaj leader, Mr Prem Bhardwaj, Mr Surinder Mohan Tejpal, president and secretary, respectively, Arya Samaj, and Mr Sat Pal Ummat, officiating principal of the school, among others, delivered lectures to highlight life and philosophy of Lord Krishna.

PATIALA
GITA GYAN LECTURES: A series of lectures on “Gita Gyan Yagya” by Swami Subodhananda, head of the north India chapter of the Chinmaya Mission opened here on Tuesday. According to Mr Mohan Lal Garg, Secretary of the Patiala branch of the mission, the lectures will be held every day from 7.15 a.m. to 8.30 a.m. and from 7 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. till September 13.

CONCRETE DAY: The Department of Civil Engineering and Indian Concrete Institute, Patiala Centre in association with ACC organised a seminar on the topic ‘Probabilistic procedure for design of reinforced cement concrete’ at Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology (TIET) here on Wednesday. The Assistant Professor department of Civil Engineering, TIET Maneek Kumar said that the basic objective of the seminar was to mark the occasion of Concrete Day and to make engineers aware about various new designs.

Phagwara
URGED: The Senior Citizens Forum, Hadiabad, here on Tuesday urged the Union Railway Minister, Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav, to provide stoppage of two trains, Malwa Express and Sri Hemkund Sahib at Phagwara.

SAMRALA
TAKES CHARGE: Mr Baldev Singh on Wednesday took over as SDM, Samrala, here. He replaces Mr J.S. Jassi, who had been transferred to Malout. Earlier, Mr Baldev Singh was posted as SDM, Malout.

DHARNA: Lawyers of the local Bar association staged a Dharna here on Wednesday in front of the courts complex in protest against the lathi-charge on lawyers in Lucknow. The lawyers wore black/red badges. The call was given by the Bar Council of India.

STRIKE: Teachers of the local Malwa College, Bondli-Samrala, observed strike for two periods starting from Wednesday to protest against the non-payment of salaries for the past four months. The president of the PCCTU, Samrala, unit Prof Baldeep Singh, said the grant had not been issued by the Punjab Government. He demanded release of the grant immediately.

ZIRAKPUR
SAPLINGS PLANTED: As many as 100 saplings of medicinal and other trees were planted by students and staff members of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Zirakpur, to mark a vanamahotsav, here on Wednesday. Mr S.K. Sharma, president of the Environment Society of India, who was the chief guest. He stressed on the need to improve the environment besides protecting flora and fauna, informed Mr HK Sikri, principal of the school.

CHANDIGARH

MOHALI
JANMASHTAMI: The Shri Sanatan Dharam Mandir Sabha, Sector 48-C, celebrated Janmashtami in the community hall on Tuesday with gaiety and fervour.

HARYANA

Ambala
JAIN MILAN: Jain Milan held a religious function in Ambala City on Tuesday. Prof V.K. Jain said the main objective was to generate awareness about Jainism among the youth and hold religious programmes. He said such functions help encourage amity. He said they would be holding social welfare programmes in the future.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of Shri Ramlila Committee, Anaj Mandi: founder — Mr Prem Chand Gupta; working president — Mr Subhash Goel; general president — Mr Naresh Gupta; president — Mr Randhir Choudhary; senior vice-president — Dr Ved Prakash; vice-presidents — Mr Anil Kumar, and Mr Satish Gupta; general secretary — Mr Santosh Aggarwal; and cashier — Mr Ajay Kumar Aggarwal.

CRITICISED: BJP district general secretary Banto Kataria, criticising the UPA government on Wednesday, said women were upset following the rise in prices. She said household budgets had been upset due to poor governance by the UPA government.

BLOCKADE: Shopkeepers on Wednesday blocked Staff Road near the Capital chowk in protest against the anti-encroachment drive of the Cantonment Board. The shopkeepers blocked the road following an anti-encroachment drive carried out by the board. The shopkeepers claimed that they were being harassed and no intimation was given to them. An official pointed out that encroachments led to traffic bottlenecks. He said despite repeated requests, the shopkeepers continued to encroach upon the road. He stated that there would be no let-up in drive.

CHAMPIONSHIP CONCLUDES: The two-day badminton championship concluded at Gandhi Memorial National College on Wednesday. GMN College team won the inter-zone level badminton championship. The team comprised Ankush Puri, Kapil, Deepak Mishra, Ankit jain and Sumit defeated SD College in the finals.

Rohtak
OSHO CAMP: A nine-day Osho meditation camp will be organised at Haryana Tourism’s Tilyar tourist complex from September 25. According to a press note, Osho Sahlendra Sarawati, a brother of late Swami Rajneesh, will be among those who will conduct the camp.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Bilaspur
CREMATED: Martyr Vipin Kumar (23) of the Rashtriya Rifles 57 Grenadiers unit, and of Bhanglehda village was cremated with full military and state honours near his village, about 50 km from here, on Tuesday. He died while fighting terrorists at Bhadpura village in the Pulwama area of Jammu and Kashmir.

Kumarhatti
URGED: The Senior Citizens Association, Parwanoo, has urged the government to catch monkeys at Parwanoo on the pattern of Shimla. Mr J.L. Kaul, founder president of the association, said the simian population had increased during the past few years. The ever-increasing incidents of simian antics had set the alarm bell ringing for residents who were virtually clueless to get rid of this menace, he asserted.