R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

SUICIDE: Devi Lal, son of Nanak Ram, a resident of Sherewala village, reportedly shot himself dead. Family sources said the 55-year father of four had been under depression for months. Devi Lal fired a bullet using a .12 bore rifle.

Amritsar
SANCTIONED: The Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi, has sanctioned Rs 3.18 lakh to Dr P.S. Raikhy, senior professor, and Dr Paramjit Nanda, Reader, Punjab School of Economics, Guru Nanak Dev University, for their joint research on a project, “Impact of liberalisation and globalisation policies on Punjab industry”. In a press note, Mr Raikhy said a survey of about 1,000 industrial units would be conducted to examine the impact of domestic and international policies and to identify the nature of problems faced by the Punjab industry.

DOGRAI DAY: Dograi Day, commemorating the victory of the Indian Army over the Pakistan forces in 1965, was celebrated somewhere in the western sector on Wednesday. In one of the hardest fought battles of the 1965 Indo-Pak war, the Indian Army took possession of Dograi town, located on the eastern bank of the Ichogil canal in Pakistan, after the sacrifice of 105 gallant soldiers. Formation commanders laid wreaths at the Dograi War Memorial. Homage was paid to the valiant martyrs.

PROCUREMENT: The government agencies would start procuring paddy before the date announced. This was informed by Mr Raminder Singh, Deputy Commissioner, while presiding over a district agricultural production committee here on Wednesday. Now the agencies would purchase paddy from September 27.

ASHIRWAD SCHEME: The District Planning and Development Board has demarcated Rs 153.73 lakh for the Ashirwad scheme under which Rs 6,100 would be given to beneficiaries, including Scheduled Caste girls, Christian girls and daughters of widows. This was informed by the Deputy Commissioner in a press note issued here. He said this would benefit 2,520 persons.

Barnala
SADBHAVNA DIVAS: Employees and students of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Air Force Station, organised Sadbhavna Divas on the school campus on Thursday, dedicated to the memory of Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister of India. According to Mrs T. Isac, Principal, a sarav dharam prayer was held in which faculty members and students took part. A cultural programme was also organised on the occasion.

Bathinda
CONTEST: The Geography Department of the local Government Rajindra College organised a paper reading contest on ozone layer depletion here today. In his speech, Prof Kulwinder Singh Sidhu, principal of the college, highlighted the importance of ozone.

FATEHGARH SAHIB
FREE LEGAL AID SERVICES: To create awareness among the people at grassroot level, the Punjab Legal Services Authority organised a camp on free legal aid services at Mahala Singhpura, Bassi Pathana. The camp was organised in coordination with the Directorate of Field Publicity, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, under the guidelines of Mr J.S. Klar, District and Sessions Judge, Fatehgarh Sahib.

MARTYRDOM YEAR: Mr D.S. Jaspal, Principal Secretary to the Punjab Government, reviewed the arrangements made by the district administration here to observe the 300th martyrdom year of younger Sahibzadas, Baba Zorawar Singh, Baba Fateh Singh, and Mata Gujri. Mr Jaspal said the government had been making all-out efforts to celebrate the event in a historic and a traditional manner. He said a master plan had been drawn up for the overall development of this historic place. The government would give priority to widening and strengthening of roads leading to the historic gurdwaras of Fatehgarh Sahib, he added.

Tarn Taran
DEAD: Gurdial Singh (18), a rickshaw puller and a resident of Mughal Chak Pannuan, who was hit by a Maruti van on September 19, succumbed to his injuries at the local Civil Hospital on Wednesday.

CHANDIGARH

HONOURED: Headmistress of Kendriya Vidyalaya High Ground Chander Ummatt and teacher of Kendriya Vidayala No.2, Chandi Mandir, Nimmi Bhatt were honoured with the Kendriya Vidyalaya Incentive Award by Union Human Resource Minister Arjun Singh at a ceremony held in Delhi on Wednesday. The award comprised of a certificate, a shawl, and Rs 10,000.

FUNCTION: The Institute of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers Students Forum was inaugurated in the Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology by Wg Cdr P. Prabhakar (retd). The inaugural session began with lamp-lighting ceremony and saraswati vandana. Professor Prabhakar exhorted students to organise various activities on a regular basis.

OZONE DAY: The Ozone Day was observed in the Government High School, Khuda Lahora. The ‘Ashoka Eco Club’, under the guidance of Ms D. Aggarwal, Headmistress of the school, organised a function to observe the day. The Project Officer of the Education Department, Mr Bahadur Singh, was the chief guest. Ms Gursharan Kaur, science mistress of the school, conducted the function.

RALLY: A joint deputation of the All-India Oriental Bank Employees Federation and All-India Oriental Bank Officers Association on Thursday submitted a memorandum, addressed to the Chairman, to the Regional Director of the bank registering their protest on the issue of merger of private sector Global Trust Bank with Oriental Bank of Commerce. Addressing a rally held later at the bank square, general secretary of the federation. T.K. Dutta said the mismatch in the salaries of employees would not be tolerated. It is perhaps for the first time that there were two scales of salaries for the employees in the same bank, he said.

WORKSHOP: A two-day seminar-cum-workshop on indigenisation of aviation spares concluded at No. 3 Base Repair Depot (BRD), Air Force, here on Thursday. Addressing delegates, Air Officer Commanding, 3 BRD, Air Cmde SPS Virk stressed the need to develop aviation spares within the country to achieve self-reliance in the area to save foreign exchange. The aim of the seminar was to create awareness amongst the users of operating units about the importance of self-reliance by promoting design and development of aviation spares within the country.

SHAHEEDI DIVAS: Haryana Shaheedi Divas function was organised by the district administration and the Sports and Youth Welfare Department at Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex, Sector 3, on Thursday. Addressing the function, City Magistrate Vandana Disodia said freedom fighters had made great sacrifices to get independence and we must work for maintaining the unity and diversity of the country. A declamation contest for schoolchildren was also organised, where Shagun Sharma of DC Model School won the first prize, Kumal Kushwaha won the second prize, and Animesh remained third.

EXHIBITION: An exhibition of reproductions of art works of legendary artist Raja Ravi Verma is on at Art Folio here till September 25. It has been put up by Santosh Ahluwalia and Ratna Verma of Touchwood, Delhi.

PANCHKULA
ELECTED: Mr Vishnu Mohan Vikrant has been elected as President and Mr TD Pandey has been elected as General Secretary of the Nagar Sudhar Sabha, Panchkula. The other office bearers of the sabha are as follows:- Wg Cdr. H L Ratta as Advisor, Mr Jaspal Rai Gupta as organizing secretary, Dr SP Bhardwaj as Senior Vice President and Mr Suresh Gupta and Mr Rajesh Jain as Vice Presidents.

Blood Camp: A blood camp is being organised by the Sant Nirankari Mandal, on September 26, at Nirankari Satsang Bhavan, Sector 9 here. The camp is being organized in association with the a team of doctors from PGI, Chandigarh.

SWASTIK VIHAR: The following persons have been elected as office bearers of Swastik Vihar (Phase 3) Residents Welfare Association:- President:- Mr YC Vinayak, Vice President:- Prof YR Bhardwaj, General Secretary:- Mr Surinder Sobti, Finance Secretary:- Mr Vineet Chaudhary, and Secretary:- Mr Sanjay Marwaha.

OFFICE-BEARERS: Vishnu Mohan Vikrant was elected president and Mr T.D. Pandey general-secretary of the Nagar Sudhar Sabha, Panchkula. The other office-bearers of the sabha are Wg Cdr H.L. Ratta Adviser, Mr Jaspal Rai Gupta — organising secretary, Dr S.P. Bhardwaj — senior vice-president.

HARYANA

AMBALA
YOUTH FESTIVAL: The technical zone youth festival will be held at MM Engineering College, Mullana. The Principal of the college, Dr S.C. Gupta, said the festival would be held from October 14 to 16. About 36 professional colleges affiliated to Kurukshetra University would participate in the festival.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of Staff Road Traders Association: president — Mr Subhash Sharma; secretary — Mr D.P. Sharma; and treasurer — Mr Pardeep Sawhney. The executive members are; Mr I.K. Dham, Mr Bhim Sain Gupta, Mr Anil Kumar, Mr K.V. Singh, Mr Varinder, Mr Vinay Kumar, Mr N.K. Gupta and Mr Shiv Kumar.

TRAINING CAMP: Major-Gen Rakesh Dass, ADG (B), NCC, visited the annual training camp of NCC cadets at Nilokheri on Wednesday. Major-General Dass visited annual training camps of 10 Haryana Battalion and 1 Haryana Girls Battalion, NCC. He was briefed by Commanding Officers on training activities and camp administration. He motivated the cadets to join the Services and had an interaction with Associate NCC officers.

TALK HELD: A talk on “Corruption - its causes and cures” was held at the Institute of English Studies, Ambala cantonment on Wednesday. Dr Anil K Aggarwal, chairman of the All-India Welfare and Anti-Corruption Society, delivered a talk while Dr Krishan Malhotra presided over the programme. Dr Aggarwal said the government must provide social security and economic uplift.

Hisar
DEMANDED: A delegation of the local municipal councillors met the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Balbir Singh Malik, on Wednesday. They requested him to call a meeting of the council because they wanted to bring a no-confidence motion against the president of the council, Mr Yashvir Goel.

Jhajjar
ARRESTED: The police has arrested Mr Rajiv Jain and Mr Manoj Jain, owners of Gudia Fireworks Factory situated near Yakupur village. They have been booked under Section 304 B of the IPC. In a fire incident on July 29, at least 10 workers of the factory had succumbed to burn injuries.

REMANDED: Three accused—Naresh, Rajesh and Satbir— of the murder of Sanjeev Rathee, local chief of the INLD, were remanded to seven days' police custody by a local court here on Wednesday. Earlier, they said they had a brawl with the deceased on Rakshabandhan Day. Sanjeev had threatened them, following which they decided to kill him. The accused said there was old enmity between the two families.

PROCESSION: About 300 workers of Parle Biscuits Limited situated on National Highway No. 10 near Bahadurgarh, held a procession here on Thursday. They called on the DSP and submitted a memorandum of demands, including unlocking of the unit immediately. The procession began from the factory and culminated at the DSP office. The management had closed the factory three days ago, alleging that the workers were vitiating the atmosphere on the factory premises.

Karnal
SUICIDE: Ishwar Singh (40) of Prem Khera village committed suicide by hanging himself on Wednesday. He was a habitual drinker. He was upset for the past few months being debt-ridden.

DIED: Sunder (40), a resident of Modipur village, died at the Civil Hospital here on Wednesday. The police said a few persons had throttled him on Sunday following a quarrel. He was battling for life in the trauma centre of the hospital. The police has registered a case against the suspects.

HELD: The Haryana State Vigilance Bureau has caught Rattan Chand, an office assistant in the office of the District Transport, Kurukshetra, and Rajesh Kumar, a transporter, while accepting a bribe of Rs 6,000 from Joginder Singh, a resident of Sani Majra village, in lieu of issuing a certificate for his bus ( HR-37-1617). The bureau has registered a case under Sections 7 and 13 of the Prevention and Corruption Act, 1988.

Rewari
BOOKED: With the arrest of Charan Singh and Pooran Singh, both residents of Shahpur village in Bawal tehsil, the railway police claims to have solved the murder of Satbir Singh, a gateman, whose body was found on the Rewari-Jaipur track on July 12.

Sonepat
ASSURANCE: The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Vidya Dhar, has assured the residents of Sisana village that a criminal case would be dropped against the five persons of the village if they would not indulge in hooliganism and blockade of road in future. A case had been registered against them in connection with blockade of the Sonepat-Rohtak road in protest against the erratic power supply.

ELECTROCUTED: A youth, Krishan (32), was electrocuted at Mandora village, about 25 km from here, on Wednesday. He was making holes with a drill machine when he was electrocuted.

DIED: A farmer, Kapur Singh, died when he was hit by a bull in the field at Gopalpur village, about 25 km from here, on Wednesday. The victim had gone to the field to bring fodder for animals.

KILLED: Two persons were killed on the spot when a truck hit them on the G.T. Road, 15 km from here, on Wednesday. The victims were identified as Suraj Mal (55) of Sanpera village and Sadhu Ram (50) of Pipli Khera village. The driver of the truck fled. The police has registered a case against the driver.

ARRESTED: The police claims to have arrested five persons in connection with the alleged looting of Rs 2 lakh from Sahara Bank on the Bawa-Tarana road on July 9. The arrested persons were identified as Ram Niwas, Shamsher, Naresh, Mahinder and Ravinder, all residents of Busana village.

ELECTROCUTED: A youth, Surinder (19), was found hanging with a high voltage transmission line passing over a house on the Sonepat-Kakroi road on Wednesday. 

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Shimla
Awareness Drive: Dalmia Consumer Care (DC) has launched a drive to spread awareness about the harmful impact of smoking and tobacco chewing in the hill state. A spokesman of the company said few were aware of the fact that 2,200 tobacco - related deaths took place in India everyday or that 1.6 lakh people became victims of oral cancer every year on account of tobacco usage, whether smoked or chewed. The company provides substitutes in the form of Vardan and Chabaaza to help addicts give up tobacco. The company will use vans to reach out to the million of rural consumers who otherwise have no access to availability of safer and effective tobacco alternative.