R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Abohar
COMPETITIONS: Srishti Sehgal of DAV Senior Secondary School won the first prize in the inter-school essay-writing competition organised by young scribes of the region at Tender Heart Senior Secondary School here. Rajni Sehgal of Genius International School stood second and Virender Kaur of Abohar Public School got the third position. The first prize in the painting competition went to Manisha of Amrit Model School. Raj Kumar of Tender Heart School stood second while Shimpy and Sanjay shared the third position. Kamal Nagpal, a senior journalist from Rajasthan, was the chief guest.

RESOLVED: The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has resolved to create awareness among students about drugs. Stating this, Mr Ajay Kataria, state joint secretary of the ABVP, said here on Friday that educated unemployed youths were being lured to these evils by vested interests that conspired to weaken the nation and the ABVP would launch a campaign to create awareness.

THEFT: Mobile phone sets worth Rs 8 lakh were stolen from a Nokia showroom in the Gurkripa Market near the Main Bazar on Thursday. Mr Raj Kumar Gupta, proprietor of the shop, told the police that the iron rods of the roof cover had been cut by someone. Investigations revealed that the miscreants entered the showroom through the adjoining building.

ASSAULTED: Six persons, including two women, were injured in separate incidents of assault. Some financiers from Bathinda allegedly assaulted Rakesh Kumar, his wife Rekha and mother Satya Devi here after two cheques issued against a loan had been bounced. In another incident, a milkman working as financer reportedly assaulted Raj Kumar in the Fazilka road colony over a dispute on interest payment. Meanwhile, Baksheesh Singh of Dalmirkhera village was injured allegedly by some persons over a land dispute. The police has registered separate cases.

KILLED: Raj Kumar Baghla, son of Mr Kishori Lal of Nai Abadi, died when the jeep he was driving went out of control near Chakra village here on Thursday. The victim, an employee of a liquor vend contractor, was returning home with his colleagues after collecting money from Amarpura village, sources said. Another occupant of the vehicle received minor injuries. 

AMLOH
SMO JOINS: Senior Medical Officer Tirath Ram Goyal, following his transfer from the Civil Hospital, Mandi Gobindgarh, has joined as SMO at the Civil Hospital, Amloh. The post had been lying vacant for long.

HEALTH CAMP: The local Manav Bhalai Manch has decided to hold a health check-up camp at Government Elementary School, Bhadhalthua village, on October 2. This was stated by Mr Manohar Lal Verma, general secretary of the manch, in a press note here on Saturday.

APPEAL FOR AID: Mr Dilbagh Rai Sood, local resident and former general secretary, District Congress Committee, has appealed to government and charitable organisations to come forward to save the life of his brother, Mr Rattan Chand (54), a law graduate, undergoing treatment for kidney at Hoshiarpur. The family has exhausted all its resources on his treatment. The donors may contact the hospital authorities directly, he stated.

Amritsar
ARRESTED: The Kotwali police has arrested Tej Bahadur, Ravi, Surinder Kumar and Mandeep Singh of Brothers Dhaba for allegedly stealing the purse of an NRI, Ms Naval Rao, a resident of Sharjah. A case under Sections 379 and 380 of the IPC has been registered. The NRI said her purse contained $ 5,000, Rs 50,000 in Indian currency, one mobile phone, passports and train tickets.

NABBED: Senior Superintendent of Police Dilbagh Singh Gill said the Vigilance Bureau had nabbed junior engineer Rashpal Singh of canal lighting subdivision Harike, while accepting a bribe of Rs 15,000 from Mr Jagtar Singh of Lohia village, Jalandhar, on Friday. A case has been registered.

SUPPLEMENTARY EXAMS: Supplementary under-graduate examination of Guru Nanak Dev University will commence on September 27. A university press note issued here on Friday said the roll numbers had been despatched and the students who did not receive the roll numbers by September 22 should collect it from the examination branches before September 24.

MEETING: The delimitation board for demarcating municipal wards in the city, headed by the Chairman, Dr Swarn Singh, Divisional Commissioner, Jalandhar, would write to directorate local bodies for re-survey of the population figures. This was decided at a meeting, attended by Municipal Commissioner K.S. Kang, Mayor Sunil Datti, MLAs and four councillors each representing a political party, held here on Friday.

APPOINTED: Navdeep Singh, has been appointed general secretary of the Punjab unit of the National Students Union of India. MEDICAL CAMP: Ms Anu Chona, vice-president, Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA), inaugurated a week-long health fair here on Friday. The camp is being organised by the Military Hospital, Amritsar Cant.

ALLEGATION: Capt D.K. Khanna (retd), resident of Ranjit Avenue, alleged that residents in his locality were cutting trees to facilitate encroachment. As a result the road was becoming narrower leading to traffic congestion and frequent brawls in the locality. Mr KS Kang, Municipal Commissioner, said the matter would be looked into and the encroachments would be removed.

FATEHGARH SAHIB
VISIT: A delegation comprising eminent agriculture scientists along with innovative farmers from China, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka visited Mr Manjit Singh’s farm situated at Jandali village in the district on Tuesday. The delegation was welcomed by Additional Deputy Commissioner M. P. Arora. The members took keen interest in various activities adopted by farmers. Manjit Singh has successfully adopted the water conservation technique by transplanting Basmati without puddling. He has also successfully used integrated post management technology in rice and saved big chunk by cutting down the use of pesticides in rice. Dr Ajmer Singh, Director, Agricultural, Punjab, also accompanied the delegation.

Kharar
FLAYED: Mr Harsukh-inder Singh, general secretary of the All India Youth Akali Dal (Badal), flayed the Punjab Government for failing to provide adequate power to the farmers of the state. While talking to mediapersons here on Friday, he said if no immediate solution was worked out by the government, the Youth Akali Dal would be forced to launch an agitation in this regard. He said when the government was collecting lots of revenue from farmers by withdrawing the facility of free power, it should have acted in a more responsible way. Farmers were agitated as their paddy fields were almost drying up due to shortage of water.

PROTEST: Employees of Gharuan subdivision of the Punjab State Electricity Board organised a dhol march in protest against the move of the government to privatise the board. They raised slogans against the government. The protesters said the government should scrap the Power Bill, 2003, in order to safeguard the interests of board employees. They said unbundling of the power board would lead to deterioration in power services. They said if the government privatised the board even power consumers would be burdened as power would be provided at a much higher tariff.

LUDHIANA
INSTALLATION CEREMONY: The new team of the Lions Club Vishal under the leadership of Arun Jindal will be installed on September19. The installation ceremony will be performed by past multiple council chairman KK Sawhney.

HINDI DIVAS SAMAROH: Indian Food Corporation organised Hindi Divas here on Saturday. District organiser Amrik Singh urged the people to give a place of honour to Hindi. There would be obstacles in using it for everyday use in official work, but the obstacles have to be overcome, he added. Mr Pramod Kumar Sharma assistant director of Hindi language Department was the chief guest. Others present on the occasion were Mr Vidya Bhushan, Mr Gurucharan S, Mr Rajinder Gupta, Sudesh Kumari. Mr Jagdish Bal had compered the show.

DELEGATION MEETS PM: A delegation of Guru Gobind Singh Study circle went to Delhi to meet Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. It apprised him of the steps their organisation was taking in curbing the menace of drugs in Punjab. They also emphasised that the government should assist NGOs in this job.

Patiala
blood donation camp: The Rotary Club, Patiala mid-town organised a blood donation camp in collaboration with the NSS unit of the Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology on its campus on Friday. It was inaugurated by Dr C.S. Saxena, Director of the Institute, while Mr Devi Dayal, president of the club, presided. Nearly 100 units of blood were collected.

Plea: The National Theatre Arts Society (NTAS), Patiala, during the Hindi Divas celebrations held at NTAS Mandir here stressed the need for adapting popular Hindi plays into regional languages and vice versa to promote love for the national language.

FUNCTION: The Ramgarhia Cultural Council in collaboration withthePunjabiRangmanch organised a function here on Saturday. Dr Dalip Kaur Tiwana, a noted writer released a book ‘Yug Vartara Te Hor Natak’written by P.N Shahi. The function was presided over by Dr Gurdev Singh, ex-head of Punjabi department of Punjabi University.

DEBATE: Punjab College of Education, Raipur ,organised a debate on corporal punishment in schools should be banned for B.Ed students course here. As many as 20 students participated. The Principal - Director of the college Dr Agyajit Singh, said that corporal punishment should be banned .It effects mental health of students.

LECTURE: Jasdev Singh Sandhu College of Education organised an extension lecture : ‘Overview of Psychiatric problems in children’ by Dr Sukhinder Singh Aulakh.

PAINTING COMPETITION : The HDFC Standard Life Insurance organised a painting competition at Playways High School here on Saturday. As many as 600 school students participated .

INVITED: Mr Vikram Raj Singh Chauhan, Chief Forensic Investigator and president of North Zone Forensic Association, has been invited to present his papers: ‘Executant Genuine but agreement forged’ and‘Can the departed soul be lived again’ at the 8th Congress on Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences being held from September 19 to September 24 at the Philippines. 

Phagwara
CRUSHED: An unidentified passenger was crushed under the rear tyre of a private transport company bus on the traffic light crossing on the GT Road near Civil Hospital here on Friday. He died on the spot.

BURGLARY: In a daylight burglary, valuables worth Rs 80,000 were stolen from the house of Mr Jagjit Singh of City Heart Nagar in Hajipur village here. The burglars broke open the locks when the occupants were away to Jalandhar and decamped with 8 tolas of gold, one photo-camera, new clothes and Rs 9,000 in cash.

CONTAMINATED WATER: Residents of the local Dashmesh Nagar on the GT Road here were shocked when dirty water started flowing from their taps on Friday. The residents alleged that even sullage particles were visible in the drinking water of the municipal taps in the locality.

Ropar
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Samaj Kalyan Ate Sadbhawna Sabha, Gobind Nagar, Naya Gaon: president- Mr Karamjit Singh; vice-president- Mr Mohinder Pal Sharma; general secretary- Mr Pritam Singh; secretary- Mr Ajit Singh Saini; cashier- Mr Nanak Chand; and auditor- Mr Vipin Kumar.

Sahnewal
LAND OCCUPIED: Harbans Singh, son of Bhola Singh of village Bhaura, Salem Tabri, Ludhiana, has alleged that Hardev Singh, Surjit Singh and Ajit Singh, sons of Sunder Singh and Gurmukh Singh, Sukhminder Singh and Gurdeep Singh, all residents of village Barwala, tried to beat his servant in his absence and tried to occupy the land, which, is now in his possession. A case has been registered.

CHANDIGARH

QUIZ: An inter-house social sciences quiz was organised for the senior and junior wing of St Soldier Divine Public School. Various rounds like definition round, rapid fire round and visual round were included so as to promote learning and understanding among students. The idea behind organising the quiz was to break the monotony of learning the subject. The results of various competitions in order of merit are as follows:- Junior category, Group A, Himalaya and Nilgiri House, Aravali House and Everest House. Group B:- Aravali House, Himalaya and Nilgiri House, Everest House. Senior Category, Group A: Everest House, Himalaya House and Nilgiri House. Group B: Aravali House, Nilgiri House and Everest house. 

HARYANA

Ambala
fun games: Fun games were organised for tiny tots of Police DAV Public School here on Saturday. These included musical chairs, balloon race, lemon spoon race, three-legged race.

demanded: The Dainik Yatri Seva Sangh on Saturday demanded a stoppage of the Himalayan Queen at Dhulkot. It said railway officials should construct scooter and bicycle sheds there.

meeting: Members of the Uttariya Railway Mazdoor Union met the General Manager, Railway Electrification, here on Friday. They apprised him of the problems being faced by railway personnel.

swimming meet: Students of DAV College (Lahore) here have done well in the inter-college swimming championship at Kurukshetra University recently. The college team won six gold medals, seven silver medals, one bronze medal and the overall second prize. 

Sanskrit Divas: Competitions were held at GMN College here to mark Sanskrit Divas on Saturday. Ninety students from colleges of the region participated in debate, speech contest, shloka recitation competition and quiz.

CAREER WORKSHOP: A career workshop on ‘Aviation hospitality and travel management’ organised by the Career Development and Placement Centre was held at DAV College (Lahore) on Thursday. Resource person Kamal Sahni spoke about job opportunities as air hostess/flight stewards and training in aviation, hospitality and travel industry.

BUS SERVICE: Ambala Cantt MLA Anil Vij on Thursday said that bus service would re-start within the Cantonment Board area soon. Mr Vij met the Sub Area Commander and the Cantonment Board president, Brig G.S. Malhi, to discuss various issues. He said that the Army authorities had consented to start bus service again. The buses will ply 17 times in a day.

FUNCTION HELD: A function was held at The New India Assurance Company Limited office on the Mall Road on Thursday. It was presided over by Dr SK Sharma. Various competitions were held on the occasion. Speech competition: Ms Manju Chandana, Mr Prem Kumar Bhatia 2, Ms Anju Malhotra 3; The consolation prize was won by Mr Jagmohan Jaggi. Quiz: Mr Prem Kumar Bhatia and Ms Sarika Gupta 1, Mr Sunit Verma and Mr Naresh Sharma 2, and Ms Manju Chandana and Mr Ashok Verma 3. Handwriting competition: Sarika Gupta 1, Avneet Gulati 2, and Anju Malhotra 3. Short story: Namita Gupta 1. Poetry recitation: Jagmohan Jaggi 1.

Bhiwani
SENTENCED: The Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr V.P. Sirohi has sentenced four persons to one-year imprisonment and also imposed a fine of Rs 1000 in a dowry case. They include Gobind, husband of Ms Sunita, her father-in-law, mother-in-law and sister-in-law. Ms Sunita, daughter of Mr Shyam Lal of Tigrana village, had married Gobind of Tarannagar, Rajasthan, on December 10, 1994.

ADMIT CARDS: Admit cards for supplementary examinations of Haryana open schools to be conducted by the Haryana School Education Board would be available on the website of the board http://hbsc.nic.in from September 19. This was stated by a spokesman of the board here on Friday. He further said those who did not receive the cards, could obtain them by presenting original receipts and two passport size photographs at the board's office at Bhiwani personally on September 20 and 21. Private candidates who have sent their forms on the old application forms would not be eligible, he said.

Hisar
FAIR: The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Parkash Chautala, will inaugurate the two-day 'farm darshan mela' here on September 19. This 'mela' is being organised by Haryana Agricultural University. 

Karnal
CONCLUDED: A two-day training course on women empowerment concluded here on Friday. It was organised by the Haryana Institute of Rural Development. The Director of the institute, Dr Surat Singh, stressed on the need to adopt a multi-pronged strategy for empowerment of women with special emphasis on rural women.

RESCUED: The Kunjpura police has rescued eight buffaloes from illegal traffickers and arrested four persons in this connection. A case has been registered against Dyal Singh, Kundan Singh, Ram Parsad and Dalel Singh, all residents of Fatilpur village.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

KULU
EXPEDITION: Wing Commander Anil Arora, Commanding Officer, 1, H. P. Air Squadron (NCC), welcomed a team of the Indian Air Force which was on a cycle expedition here on Friday. The team started its expedition from Delhi on September 6 and would reach Rohtang Pass (13,050 ft) on September 20. The team was led by Warrant Officer Bhim Singh. He said the purpose of the expedition was to promote understanding among the masses about the Indian Air Force and to deliver a message of peace, cooperation and unity. The other members of the expedition were LAC Godara B Singh, Mr V K Singh, Mr Shekhar, Mr Renthlai, Mr Vora and Mr Mahesh besides their helpers Sergeant Ansari and Corporal Puhan.

TREKKING: A 30-member team of Government Post Graduation College left for a trekking expedition here on Friday. They started their expedition from Baralacha La (16,000 ft) on the Manali-Leh highway. Mr Nand Lal Sharma, in charge of mountaineering and trekking organisation of the college, flagged off the team and appealed the participants to be particular about the preservation of environment. The adventure games and expeditions always strengthen the will of the youth and increase mutual understanding, he added

Kumarhatti
CONCLUDED: The two-day Siar festival concluded at Arki on Friday. The Himachal Forest Minister, Mr Ram Lal Thakur, said the festival reflected the age-old culture. He expressed happiness that the festival still maintained its old rituals and customs. He said the mela ground would soon be converted into a stadium. He announced Rs 3 lakh for the repair and maintenance of community health centre, Arki. Besides, a sum of Rs 19 lakh and Rs 8 lakh would be arranged for construction of primary healthy centres at Dhundan and Bhumati. The Deputy Speaker, Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha, Mr Dharampal Thakur, also spoke on the occasion.

SEIZED: The Arki police has seized 33 bottles of country liquor from Jeet Ram at Jubla village near Kuhinar. In another case, 48 bottles of English liquor have also been seized from Yash Pal, a shopkeeper at Dhanoghat village on Bilaspur-Shimla national highway.

CASE REGISTERED: A case has been registered against two persons, Mr Om Parkash and his friend who were staying at the PWD rest house, Parwanoo. They had allegedly beaten up the chowkidar of the rest house.