R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Abohar
TOPPED: Archana, a student of Gopi Chand Arya Mahila College, here, has topped the list of 80 female candidates selected for the Republic Day parade during a selection camp held at Chandigarh. Dr Achla Kant, Principal of the college, said another student, Sandhya, had been selected for SSB training of the NCC at Gwalior.

ARRESTED: A Vigilance team has arrested former sarpanch Jaswant Singh and a panchayat secretary Balbir Singh, for allegedly misappropriating Rs 3.50 lakh out of development funds during the SAD-BJP-run government in the state.

STOLEN: Cigarettes valued at Rs 3.50 lakh were stolen from a godown located on College Road here on Thursday night. No arrests have been made so far.

Barnala
GRANT RELEASED: The Punjab Government has released Rs 14.40 crore for the private colleges of Punjab. Disclosing this here on Thursday, Prof R.S. Brar and Dr Jagwant Singh, president and

general secretary, respectively, of the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union (PCCTU) said that colleges could collect their drafts from the office of DPI (Colleges), Punjab.

Bathinda
SANCTIONED: About Rs 2 crore has been sanctioned for repair of all river water channels falling in Bathinda district. Disclosing this at a public grievances redress camp held in Dayalpura Mirza village of Bhagta block of this district, Mr K.A.P. Sinha, Deputy Commissioner, said the Punjab Government had stated that more funds would be released, if required, for the repair of water courses.

Jalandhar
ARRESTED: An owner of a flour mill, Tara Chand, was arrested for storing and selling sub-standard flour by packing the same into bags of a reputed brand. Dr Raman Trehan, District Health Officer, said following a tip-off, a team of senior health officials conducted raid on the premises of Shri Krishna Rice and Flour Mills at Jalandhar Cantt and found that its owner was selling sub-standard flour by packing the same under the brand of Shakti Bhog Flour Mills, Delhi. He said the police had recovered 155 bags of 50 kg each and 34 bags of 10 kg each from the mill. A case under Section 420 of the IPC has been registered.

APPOINTED: Mr Ashwani Kumar Sharma of Jalandhar has been appointed president of the Punjab State Nationalist Congress Sewa Dal, a frontal organisation of the All-India Nationalist Congress Party, headed by Mr Sharad Pawar.

Nawanshahr
INJURED: Two hawkers, Mr Mahesh Rana and Mr Baljit, working with local newspaper agent were injured when a truck rammed into their stall here at Chandigarh Chowk in the wee hours on Thursday. The newspaper agents and hawkers were counting newspapers when a truck coming from Chandigarh suddenly rammed into them. However, the truck driver managed to flee.

HARYANA

Fatehabad
CONG CHARGE: The Congress on Friday accused the ruling Indian National Lok Dal of befooling the people on the issue of development. In a press release issued here, Dr Atam Parkash Mehta, secretary of the Haryana Pardesh Congress Committee, alleged that the truth about development works done by the INLD government had been exposed now when the bridges made on the “Rangoi” drain recently had started giving way. He said that the way the government had decided to close the Bhuna Cooperative Sugar Mills due to paucity of funds had also exposed the claims of the government that its coffers were full of money.

Kaithal
BAR POLL: The process of elections of the District Bar Association, which were to be held on December 23, was completed earlier when all the office-bearers were elected unanimously on the last day of withdrawal on Wednesday. Mr Nafe Singh Berwal was elected president, Mr Harish Bhukkal vice-president, Mr Ram Phal Sharma secretary and Mr Naranjan Dhull joint secretary.

PHONE FAULT: Dozens of telephone consumers of Kalayat Anaj Mandi, 25 km from here, are unhappy over the faulty telephones and delay in attending repeated complaints. Consumers allege that there is deterioration in services of the BSNL. Their requests to senior officers at Kaithal and the GMT office, Karnal, have evoked no response and they continue to suffer due to faulty telephones.

TRANSFER: The Haryana Government has ordered the transfer of the Block Development and Panchayat Officer, Rai, to Sadhaura block and appointed Mr Hari Singh Sheoran, BD&PO,, Sampla, in his place.

Sonepat
ROBBED: Three armed youths robbed a rickshaw-puller of Rs 580 in Sector 12 here on Wednesday night. The rickshaw-puller identified was as Guddo Yadav of Katihar district in Bihar.

ARRESTED: The police claims to have arrested a student, Ompal of Lath village, who had escaped with an answer sheet from the examination hall of CRZ Senior Secondary School. A complaint had been registered in this connection.

RESIGNED: Mr Vijay Kumar, vice-chairman, and Mr Surinder Mohan, a member of the local Panchayat Samiti, respectively, have resigned from the membership of the samiti.