The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

NEWS AND VIEWS

PUNJAB

HARYANA

JAMMU & KASHMIR

HIMACHAL

REGIONAL BRIEFS

NATION

OPINIONS

MAILBAG

BUSINESS

SPORTS

WORLD

SPECIAL COVERAGE

CHANDIGARH

LUDHIANA

DELHI

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

R E G I O N A L B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Abohar
SEIZED: The police has seized more than 5,000 pirated CDs from an electronics shop located on the Jain Nagar road near the bus stand here. The raid was conducted on a complaint of Mr Sanjiv Handa, a senior official of the Copy Rights Protection Group, Ludhiana. The owner of the shop, Sanjeev Kumar, alias Bunty, has been arrested.

PROTEST: As many as 41 organisations on Monday joined hands in expressing resentment against the alleged failure of the police in arresting some persons, including a police constable, for abetting Deepmala (20), daughter of Jagdish Kumar, to commit suicide. Numerous residents from various villages and local colonies assembled at the Gandhi Ground here and organised a protest march.

Amritsar
CONTEST: Sidhant Datta and Parandu Kaul of DAV Public School claimed the first position in the declamation contest on 'Free Legal Aid' held here on Monday. Disha Mehra secured the second position while the third position was jointly won by Roshani and Harnit. District and Sessions Judge Gurdev Singh gave away the prizes.

Barnala
DECIDED: Members of the Punjab Government Vocational School Attendants Union (PGVSAU) have decided to organise a jagrata and a protest rally on November 20 in front of the residence of state Education Minister Harnam Dass Johar at Ludhiana. Mr Charanjit Singh, general secretary of the union, said the decision was taken to draw the minister's attention towards their long-pending demands. Jalalabad.

SHORTAGE: The acute shortage of DAP fertiliser is affecting the sowing of wheat crop in this border belt. Farmers of the area alleged that the supply was deliberately restricted in order to charge more prices. A total of 35,000 hectares is under wheat cultivation which requires at least 80,000 bags of fertilisers, whereas only 30,000 bags have been provided so far by the government as well as private suppliers.

DERA BASSI
CULTURAL PROGRAMME: A cultural programme was organised by students of the local Deepmala Public School to celebrate Divali on Wednesday. The students participated in various competitions, including diya decoration, poem recitation and dandiya. Ms Gurdeep Kaur, municipal councillor of the area, inaugurated the programme. Ms Deepmala, chairman of the school, asked the teachers to inculcate moral values in the students. Ms Anita Mittal, principal of the school, highlighted the achievements of the school.

Hoshiarpur
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Welfare Committee of public health employees, Hoshiarpur: chairman - Mr Avtar Singh; president - Mr Vijay Kumar Sharma; vice-president - Mr Rajinder Kumar; acting president - Mr Shinder Pal Sidhu; general secretary - Mr Surinder Sharma, joint secretary - Mr Raj Kumar Sharma; and cashier - Mr Bishan Dass Atri.

THEFTS: Two shops in Jalalpur village and one house in Kamalpur village were burgled on Tuesday. A sum of Rs 10,000 and Rs 1,000 was stolen from the shops of Pawan Kumar and Jit Singh, respectively. Later, they committed a theft in the house of Darshan Singh of Kamalpur village and decamped with gold ornaments and Rs 12,000.

CASE REGISTERED: The police has registered a case against Bindu of Sahri village for allegedly killing Santokh Singh, son of Mr Durga Das of Ajram. It is alleged that he beat up Santokh Singh with a wooden rod while playing cards. He was admitted to hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

BOOKED: Two travel agents, Kashmiri Lal of Bhularai village and Joga Singh of Prempura Mohalla, have been booked. They duped Mr Tarlok Singh of Bhularai village of Rs 65,000 on the pretext of sending him abroad. A case under Sections 420 and 406 of the IPC has been registered.

Jalandhar
ANNUAL CONFERENCE: The Akhil Bharat Rachnatmak Samaj, a federation of Gandhian organisations and social activists, will hold its annual conference here from November 23 to 25, during which communal harmony, social change without violence and Indo-Pak friendship and peace will be discussed.

KHARAR
FUNCTION: A Children’s Day function was organised by the Lions Club (Umang) in association with the Health Department at the local Civil Hospital here on Wednesday. Later, the children were examined by, Dr Inderjit Singh Bhatia. Medicines were distributed by Cipla among the needy children free of cost.

Nawanshahr
MURDERED: Pritam Singh Sahota (75) of Dhaleta village, near Goraya, was allegedly found murdered at his residence at Gandhi Nagar, Banga, 13 km from here, on Monday. A property dispute is suspected to be the cause of the crime. The police has registered a case.

NSS CAMP: A one-day NSS camp was organised at Singhpur village by the I.I.T.T. College of Engineering, Pojewal, 25 km from here, on Monday. Sarpanch Ram Dass inaugurated the camp. Mr Vijay Joshi, programme officer, said 103 volunteers participated in the camp and undertook projects like cleanliness, tree plantation and awareness drive for educating people regarding the dowry system, and AIDS.

Patiala
CAMPAIGN: The Department of Social Work, Punjabi University, organised a fund-raising campaign to encourage the efforts of various non-governmental organisations (NGOs) targeting special children and poor women and farmers on the concluding day of the Youth Festival at the university campus on Wednesday. This was an exhibition-cum-sale of products like soft toys, candles organic pickles and pulses prepared by children of the School for Deaf and Dumb, Amar Ashram and Navjivni School of Special Education, self-help groups of poor women under the Bosco Institute of Rural Development, and the self-help group of farmers of Manthan, an organisation working for the promotion of chemical-free farming in India.

BLOOD DONATION: A blood donation camp was organised by NSS and NCC units of the local Modi College. Dr V.K. Sharma, principal of the college, inaugurated the camp. Prof J.K. Miglani, Prof Balvir Singh, Dr Rajeev Sharma, programme officers of the NSS, and Capt V.P. Sharma, NCC officer of the college, organised the camp in which more than 50 volunteers and NCC cadets donated blood.

Sangrur
RECORD SAVINGS: Mr Mohan Sharma, Senior District Savings Officer, said on Monday the District Small Savings Office was heading towards a new record during the current financial year as it had collected Rs 123.33 crore by the end of October this year as compared to Rs 102.45 crore during the corresponding period last year, resulting in an increase of 20 per cent in the collections so far.

HONOURED: Students of the local General Gurnam Singh Public School were honoured by representatives of the SOS Children's Villages of India at a function here on Monday. Ms Raveen Pandey, Principal, said the students were honoured for collecting Rs 1.56 lakh through voluntary donations for the SOS organisation.

HARYANA

Ambala
INAUGURATED: A Health screening programme of Air Force School was inaugurated by Ms Anuradha Malhotra, president, AFWWA (L) Air Force Station, at Station Medicare Centre on Wednesday. A clinical check-up of students will be done. Gp Capt Vipan Chandra, Senior Medical Officer, stressed the need for an early detection of eye squint problems, nutritional deficiency and behavioural problems in young children.

SPORTS DAY: Kendriya Vidyalaya No.3, Ambala Cantt, celebrated the annual sports day on Wednesday. Mr JD Kalra was the chief guest. Rushika of class VIII was declared the best girl athlete. She had represented the Vidyalaya at a KVS national meet.

Bhiwani
AWARDED: The local Neki Ram Sharma Library has been given the best library award for 2003 in North India. The award, which carries a prize of Rs 50,000 and a certificate of excellence, was announced by the Raja Ram Mohan Roy Library Institution, Kerala, on Monday.

Hisar
GIFT SCHEME: A gift scheme has been launched to reward the farmers for selling their agricultural produce in the grain markets. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Balbir Singh Malik, said the scheme was open to all farmers who would sell their produce worth Rs 5,000. A gift coupon on form "J" would be issued by the Market Committee. Later, a lucky draw would be held. He said there would be two first prizes of Rs 40,000 each, eight second prizes of Rs 25,000 and 12 third prizes of Rs 10,000 each.

Kaithal
SENTENCED: The Additional District and Sessions Judge, Ms Raj Rahul Garg, has sentenced Harjinder Singh, a resident of Patti Samana, to one-year imprisonment and fined him Rs 5,000 after holding him guilty of possessing 180 gm of opium.

BAIL REJECTED: The Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ms Bimlesh Tanwar, has rejected the regular bail application of Constable Narinder Singh. He was allegedly involved in distributing posters levelling serious charges against the local Superintendent of Police and creating dissension in the police force.

KILLED: Balbir Singh (25), a postman and resident of Guliana village, was reportedly killed in a road accident near Tara Garh village on the Kaithal-Jind road here on Tuesday. He was hit by an unidentified vehicle. A case has been registered.

Panipat
CONSUMES POISON: Madhav Singh (52) of Ugra Kheri village mistakenly consumed some poisonous substance here on Tuesday. He was admitted to the local Civil Hospital where his condition was stable.

Sonepat
SUICIDE: Kishan (25) reportedly committed suicide by jumping before a train Sonepat and Sandal Kalan railway stations near here on Wednesday. The victim belonged to Ashok Vihar. He took this extreme step after knowing that his beloved had committed suicide.

INJURED: Four persons, including a one-year-old boy, were injured when their motor cycle was hit by an unidentified vehicle on the Sonepat-Bahalgarh road near Dewan Palace, 5 km from here, on Tuesday. The injured were identified as Narinder, his sisters Kaushalya and Ganga, and a child, Mukul, all residents of Nazafgarh.

DEAD: Dharampal (36) died on the spot when he fell from the roof of his house in Anand Colony here on Wednesday.

ARRESTED: A youth, Vijay Singh, was arrested by the police here on Wednesday. A country-made pistol was seized from his possession. A case under the Indian Arms Act has been registered.

DIED: Balbir of Kakoda village died and two others were injured when his motor cycle collided with another motor cycle near Sardhana village, 25 km from here, on Monday. The police has registered a case.

Yamunanagar
DECLARED: Guru Nanak Khalsa College here has been declared the best college of Kurukshetra University for the session 2003-04. Dr Swaran Singh, Principal, said the college was given the honour because of its contribution to academics, sports, research and welfare activities and value-based education.

ALLEGED: Residents of Kathwala village have alleged that the sarpanch of the village sold 50 quintal of wheat meant for labourers employed under the ‘Kam Ke Badle Anaaj’ (food for work) scheme to an agent, Rajesh, in a Jagadhri mandi. Additional Deputy Commissioner Praveen Kumar is investigating the matter. The sarpanch, however, denied the allegations.

BRICK PRICES: The Brickkiln Owners Association and the District Administration have fixed rates for bricks, tiles and transportation charges. Now the price for 1,000 bricks will be Rs 1540 and for tiles 1720 for development. The transportation charges are: Rs 200 per 1000 bricks (or tiles) up to a distance of 10 km from the kiln, Rs 215 for a distance between 10 and 15 km and Rs 230 for a distance between 15 and 20 km. Beyond a distance of 20 km, a transporter can charge Rs 230 plus Rs 4 extra for per km for 1,000 bricks or tiles.