R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Amritsar
DENTAL CONGRESS: The local chapter of the Indian Dental Association will hold an interstate dental congress and three-day 44th Punjab state dental conference on December 3. Dr Vimal Sikri, organsing chairman, said Justice Umesh C. Banerjee (retd), former Justice Supreme Court and President SAARC (Law), would be the chief guest. Around 1200 delegates from different states and 75 dental surgeons from Pakistan are likely to participate in the conference.

JAGRAON
MEDICAL CAMP: The Punjab Police State Apex Committee for NGO Projects, Jagraon, will organise an eye check-up camp and drug de-addiction seminar at Government Elementary School, Malsihan Bajan (Sidhwan Bet), on Sunday. Scientists, psychologists and educationists will deliver lecturers on evils of drug addiction. Mr Rajiv Ahir, SSP, Jagraon, will be the chief guest and Dr Reena Sandhu, SMO, Sidhwan Bet will preside.

RALLY: Members of the Bharti Kisan Union under the leadership of Mr Hardial Singh Bhundri, district general secretary (finance), and Mr Joginder Singh Achharwal, general secretary (press), held a rally and sat on dharna on Thursday at the sugarmill near here. Addressing the gathering, Prof Manjit Singh Kaddian, president of the Punjab unit, and Mr Bhupinder Singh Maheshwari, secretary (press), Punjab, demanded Rs 154 per quintal as price for the sugarcane. The leaders also blamed the state government for selling mollases at Rs 125 per quintal to the wine manufacturing units. The union leaders demanded the balance of payment outstanding to the farmers immediately by the government.

Mandi Ahmedgarh
dharna: To resent against the recommendations of the Punjab State Electricity Board for privatisation of the board, activists of the Technical Services Union organised a dharna and burnt an effigy of the board management in front of its local office on the Pohir road on Wednesday. While addressing the gathering, the speakers accused the management of harassing those employees who dared expose the misdeeds and corruption of the senior officers. The people had identified the misleading statement made by the management and they would not let them take arbitrary decisions, said the leaders.

nutrition camp: The ICDS Block, Dehlon, and the Department of Social Security and Women joined hands to organise a two-day nutrition camp at Government Senior Secondary School, Dehlon, on Thursday. It was inaugurated by Mr Surinder Kumar, District Programme Officer, Ludhiana. According to Mr Gurcharan Singh, CDPO, Dehlon, Anganwari workers of the area and a large number of expectant and nursing mothers also attended the camp. During the interaction session, the women discussed their individual problems with the nutrition experts. They learnt how to provide more calories and nutrients to the children at a low cost.

Nawanshahr
CONVOCATION: The IITT College of Engineering, Pojewal, organised its annual convocation on the college premises, 25 km from here, on Monday. Dr S. K. Salwan, Vice-Chancellor, Punjab Technical University, presided over and conferred degrees on as many as 100 engineering graduates.

ORGANISED: Amardeep Singh Shergill Memorial College, Mukandpur, along with the Guru Nanak Trust, Glasgo, and Sadhu Singh DAV Rural Public School, Mukandpur, organised a "run for fun" at Mukandpur, 25 km from here, on Monday. Tejinder Singh, Mangat Ram and Amandeep Singh in men's section and Satwinder Kaur, Baljit Kaur and Vandana in women's section won the first three positions, respectively.

CELEBRATED: The local Banke Bihari Gaushala organised a three day "mahayagya", which concluded on Monday, to celebrate 'Gopal Ashtami'. Thakur Jagnohan Maharaj from Samastipur (Bihar) and Swami Krishnanand Maharj Beenewal Wale enthralled the devotees with religious discourses and bhajans.

ELECTED: Mr Varinder Ummat and Mr Vinod Aroa have been elected president and secretary, respectively, of the local Rotary Club. Phagwara

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Phagwara rural circle unit of the Shiromani Khalsa Dal: president - Mr Kultar Singh Malikpur; vice-president - Mr Hardip Singh Narangpur; general secretary - Mr Kulwant Singh Sapror; cashier-cum-spokesman - Mr Bhupinder Singh Kala Lakhpur; and press secretary - Mr Bikramjit Singh Thakarki.

Patiala
ELECTED: Ms Raina Nehria was elected president of the Inner Wheel Club (District 309) at an installation ceremony of the club here on Thursday. On the occasion, Mr D.K. Dua, former Member Secretary of the Punjab Pollution Control Board, was the chief guest while Mr A.S. Bhalla, AGM of the State Bank of Patiala, was the guest of honour. Ms Kuljit Banga was elected the secretary for the year 2003-04.

BLOOD DONATION: The fifth Punjab battalion of the NCC organised a blood donation camp at the ITI to mark the World AIDS day here on Wednesday. Nearly 110 NCC cadets donated blood on the occasion which was also marked by several rallies taken out by students. Those present on the occasion were Col Manjit Singh, Commander, NCC, group Patiala, Mr M.K. Rastogi, Deputy General Manager, State Bank of Patiala and Mr V.K. Bansal, Principal of the Industrial Training Institute (ITI) for boys. The programme was sponsored by the State Bank of Patiala.

residents’ BODY: Mr Manmohan Arora was elected president of the Urban Estate (Phase-3) Residents Welfare Association at a meeting held here on Thursday. The other office-bearers are: Mahinder Singh (senior vice-president), Mr Nachatar Singh (vice-president), Mr Harbans Singh Dhiman (general secretary), Mr Nishan Singh (secretary), Mr Ravinder Khosla (joint secretary), Mr Navdeep Singh (treasurer) and Mr Ramnish Ghai (press secretary). 

Tarn Taran
INAUGURATED: The local Cooperative Sugar Mills, Sheron, started its 18th cane crushing season here on Wednesday. Mr Paramdeep Singh Sandhu, chairman, inaugurated the season. Mr S.S. Bajwa, General Manager, while addressing farmers gathered on the occasion, said arrangements for timely payments to farmers had been made.

DISTRIBUTED: Sweaters and copies were distributed among as many as 150 students of various schools of the area in a function organised by the local Citizen Council here on Wednesday. SDM Beerpal Singh was the chief guest.

BOOKED: Karaj Singh, sarpanch of Puhla village and an aid of controversial Nihang chief Baba Ajit Singh Puhla, has been booked under the Excise Act by the Bhikhiwind police. Nine other accused have also been booked during raids conducted by the police.

HARYANA

AMBALA
Athletics meet: Students of Springfield Public School, Ambala City, have done well at the CBSE North Zone Athletics Meet held at Shri Guru Tegh Bahadur Public School, Patiala recently. The students have won two silver and one bronze medal. Ravinder won silver medal in 200 m and bronze medal in 400 m in the category of u-19 boys. Manish won silver medal in 400 m race u-16 boys category. The students have been selected for the CBSE national athletic meet to be held at Hyderabad in January, school chairman Mr Naresh Guglani said. 

sahyog manch: A district-level meeting of the Bharat-Tibet Sahyog Manch was held at Ambala Cantonment on Thursday. The office-bearers of the manch criticised the violation of human rights in Tibet. They decided to hold peace march to protest against the death sentence announced for Tenzing Lama. They demanded that the Government of India must pressurise the Chinese Government for the release of Lama, a press note issued here said. 

Quiz contest: The Postgraduate Department of Commerce, Government College, Ambala Cantonment, organised an inter-college quiz competition on Thursday. Sixteen teams took part in the contest. Six teams qualified in the preliminary written test. Sandeep, Nidhi and Sohan Lal of University College, Kurukshetra, stood first, Manish, Madhu and Deepika of Government College, Ambala Cantonment, stood second while Kritika, Neha and Arti of D.N. College, Kurukshetra. stood third. The Principal, Dr S.S. Phulia, gave away the prizes. The Head of the Commerce Department, Mr M.P. Sharma, was also present on the occasion.

Kaithal
SENTENCED: Additional District and Sessions Judge Raj Rahul Garg sentenced Maan Singh of Chakku Ladana to eight months' jail and levied a fine of Rs 1,000 for carrying 20 kg of poppy husk.

INSTRUCTED: Deputy Commissioner H.S. Malik has instructed various departments to step up efforts to curb the menace of child marriage. In a press statement, he said in creating awareness among the people the departments of health, education, panchayat and revenue could play an important role.

POWER CUTS: The long unscheduled power cuts have affected the normal life in the town and other parts of the district. The situation aggravated during the past few days due to even more frequent and long power cuts. The tubewells remain inoperative and the sewer pumping stations do not function, which resulted into choked sewer lines.

Panipat
INAUGURATED: Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala inaugurated the newly constructed Police Lines at Siwah village on the national highway here on Wednesday. The Police Lines is built on 66 acres at a cost of Rs 15.29 crore. It consists of an administrative block, barrack, computer room, entertainment centre, play and parade grounds. Besides, 314 residential houses for police personnel have also been built.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Bilaspur
IMPRISONED: Mr R.L. Azad, Additional Sessions Judge of the Fast-Track Court, at Ghatti village to three years rigorous imprisonment and fine him Rs 5,000 under Section 306, IPC, and one-year rigorous imprisonment and fine of Rs 5,000 under Section 498, IPC, for having beaten up and maltreated his wife Anju, daughter of Mr Om Prakash of Chhater village in Nurpur Tehsil of Kangra district.

Nahan
RALLY: Health and Family Welfare Department organised a rally of schoolchildren at Chaogan Maidan here on the occasion of World AIDS Day on Wednesday. Deputy Commissioner M.L. Sharma flagged off the rally. He said there was a need to create awareness in society as prevention was the only cure of AIDS.

Nurpur
INSURANCE CLAIM: The Kangra District Consumers Redressal Forum at a camp held at Dehra on Wednesday directed Oriental Insurance Company to pay the insurance claim amounting to Rs 1,23,500 to the complainant, Ghian Chand, of Dhol village, along with a compensation of Rs 5,000. The complainant had filed a complaint before the forum on October 5, 2003, alleging that the company had not released the insurance claim pertaining to his Qualis vehicle which had met with an accident.

Sundernagar
CHARITY FAIR: The local Red Cross Society along with the NSS unit of MLSM College here organised a charity fair on the college campus on Wednesday. Deputy Commissioner Ali Raza Rizvi inaugurated the fair. MLA Sohan Lal Thakur was the chief guest. A blood donation camp and a free health check-up camp were also organised on the occasion.