R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Abohar
CELEBRATED: Christmas Day was celebrated at the Methodist Church in Jammu basti here on Friday. A play was staged to highlight the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.

BOOKED: On a complaint of Mr Rajesh Bhadoo, a commission agent, the police booked Baldev Singh, Angrej Singh and his father Ajaib Singh, residents of Dalmeerkhera village, in a case of cheating, here on Friday.

Amritsar
SIKH JATHA: A Sikh jatha consisting of 800 members led by Mr Paramjit Singh Sarna will leave for Pakistan to celebrate New Year. Mr Harpal Singh Bhullar, president, International Bhai Mardana Yadgari Kirtan Society, said the BJP leader, Mr Madan Lal Khurana, would accompany jatha.

RALLY: The Amritsar Consumers Welfare Forum organised a rally on the occasion of national Consumer Rights Day here on Saturday. The motive of the rally was to spread awareness about consumer’s rights. Dr H.S. Sidhu, chairman, Punjab State Education Board, flagged off the rally. About 5,000 students from various schools of the city took part in the rally.

MOURNED: Ms Satinder Kaur Gujral, Vice-President of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, and other leaders of the Congress mourned the demise of former Prime Minister, P.V. Narasimha Rao, here on Saturday. Speaking on the occasion, she said he was statesman, scholar and linguist who contributed a lot to the nation during his political career.

CELEBRATED: Police DAV Public School, Police Lines, celebrated Christmas and New Year on the school premises here on Saturday. Tiny-tots presented a dance show.

CASE REGISTRED: A case has been registered against D.R. Singh, manager of the local branch of Canara bank, Avtar Singh, owner of a chemist shop and Ashok Kumar for their alleged involvement in a bank fraud case.

Jagraon
Cycle rally: Hundred of members of the Akhil Bharti Smast Babria Samaj Sangathan organised a cycle rally through Hathur, Lakha, Akhara, Gurusar Kaunke, Nanaksar and Jagraon and many other villages to strengthen their organisation and educate members to unite for the cause of their community. Mr Harbans Singh Leelan, district president, demanded their due in reservation.

X-mas celebrated: A number of Christians gathered here today at the premises of Chapple Church of India on Tehsil Road, Jagraon, to celebrate Christmas. Mr Deepak Parkash, Father, advised the gathering to follow preaching of Jesus.

Ludhiana
AIDS AWARENESS: An awareness camp on AIDS was organised by medical professionals, Dr D.N. Kotnis Acupuncture Hospital and members of Lions Club Ludhiana Royal here yesterday. The camp was held at Octroi Post, GT Road Ludhiana-Jalandhar Highway. Truck drivers, cleaners and other staff was given kits and literature on AIDS.

PATIALA
Legal literacy camp: A legal literacy camp was organised at Amalala village in Patiala district under the directions of the Punjab Legal Services Authority. Mr Rakesh Kumar, Assistant District Attorney (Legal Services), said under the Legal Services Authority Act-1987, a person belonging to the SC/ST, a victim of begaar, a woman, a child, an industrial workman, a person in custody and a person having an annual income of less than Rs 30,000, were entitled to the free legal aid.

Sports Utsav: The Mata Gujari Sahara Trust organised a blood donation camp on the occasion of its third Sports Utsav. Mr Nakshatra Singh gave details of the Trust at the function which was presided over by Sub- Divisional Magistrate T. P.S. Phulka. The school Principal, Mr Aulakh Singh, former Finance Minister Captain Kanwaljeet Singh, and the representatives of the Young Sikhs Association, Singapore, also attended the function. 

Christmas celebrations: A Christmas function was organised at the Barandari Church, here on Saturday. On the occasion, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and his wife Mrs Preneet Kaur said Christians were an important part of the Punjabi society and they had made useful contributions towards the development of the state.

National Karate Championship: The National Karate Championship was inaugurated by Mayor Vishnu Sharma, here on Saturday. President Mr Ajay Thapar accorded a warm welcome to all and informed that Captain Amarinder Singh would also come on December 26 to give his blessings to the participants. He also added that a total of 400 sportsmen from 15 states were participating in this championship.

Rally: The Punjab State Pharmacists’ Association will organise a protest rally in support of their demands in front of the Civil Surgeon’s office here on January 10. The president of the association, Mr S.K.K. Singla, said their demands included clearance of pending ACP cases, supply of essential medicine, stationery to rural dispensaries and issuance of GIS statements.

Paper presented: Prof Ashwani Kumar of the Bikram College of Commerce presented his paper at the All-India accounting conference held at Utkal University, Bhubaneswar. The title of the paper was “Target valuation in mergers and acquisitions’. he represented the states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

New parking: The Managing Director of the State Bank of Patiala, Mr A.K. Das, inaugurated a multi-level parking for SBOP employees on the Mall Road here on Friday. Mr Yogesh Aggarwal, Managing Director (designate) was also present. Speaking on the occasion Mr Das informed that the building had been constructed by the bank at the cost of Rs 108.85 lakh. He said the facility would solve the parking problems of the staff as well as customers besides facilitating the easy flow of traffic.

Prizes given: Meritorious students of various government schools of the district were awarded prizes by the District Red Cross Society here on Friday. The prizes were given away by the Deputy Education Officer, Mr Yashpal Manvi, to students belonging to Government Girls High School, anardana chowk, and government girls senior secondary school, old police lines. According to Mr kaka Ram Verma, District Officer, Red Cross, these students had participated in various competitions held on Children’s Day at Chandigarh recently.

Function: The valedictory function of the Rural Entrepreneur Development Programme on machine shop and sheet metal shop jointly sponsored by NABARD and the State Bank of Patiala was held at the Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, here on Friday. In this six-week training programme, 27 entrepreneurs were introduced to various self-employment schemes.

Christmas Celebrations: Students of Springles-Kidzee celebrated Christmas Eve by organising a dance and music show here on Friday. The Director of the school, Ms Sunil Pandhi, and the Managing Director, Mr Sameer Pandhi, initiated the celebrations by cutting a cake.

Ropar
1 dies in mishap: One person was killed while another injured seriously when their car was hit by a truck here on Friday. The accident took place in the morning over the Sirsa canal bridge near Inderpura village. Subir Khehra from Nangal died on the spot while Amit Verma of the town sustained injuries and was admitted to a hospital.

PTU merit list: Students of the Institute of Engineering and Technology, Bhaddal, have bagged 38 meritorious positions in six branches in the exams conducted by the PTU. The first position secured by students in three different branches of the eighth semester were Ms Triveni Gaba in the CSE branch, Ms Anu Sachdeva in the EIE branch and Ms Rupinder Verma in the ECE branch, said the principal of the institute here today.

Bloc meeting: Senior leaders from New Delhi and Punjab will take part in a state-level meeting organised by the All-India Forward Bloc at Netaji Model School on December 27, said Mr V.P. Saini, the state General Secretary of the organisation here on Friday.

Samrala
X’MAS CELEBRATED: Christmas was celebrated here on Saturday in the local church here by members of christians, Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims. On this occasion Salim Masih, Jacob William’s distributed cakes and sweets.

MOURNED: Commission agents of grain market here under the presidentship of Mr Harpal Singh Dhillon, chairman of the market committee and president of the Arhtiya Association mourned the death of Mr Malvir Singh Khattran, member panchayat samiti Samrala.

CHANDIGARH

Function: The All-India Seva Samiti celebrated the Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya jayanti here on Saturday. The persons, who participated in the cultural programme were given prizes by the president, Mr Inderjit Bajaj, a press note said.

Panchkula
Appointed: Mr Dalbir Singh, Municipal Councillor from Rajiv Colony, has been appointed vice-president of the Haryana Pradesh Youth Congress Committee.

Meeting: A meeting of the Bharatiya Janta Party (East Mandal) was held at Sector 11 on Friday. Discussions on preparing BJP workers for the forthcoming Haryana Vidhan Sabha elections were held. The following were elected office-bearers of the East Mandal of the party: president — Mr B.M. Talwar, vice-presidents — Mr S.P. Kapoor, Mr Vinay Panday, Mr Ramanad Singh; general secretary — Mr Virender Garg; and secretaries — Mr Sushil Sharma and Mr Inderjit Gupta.

Demanded: A meeting of the Graduate Engineers Association was held under the chairmanship of Mr K.K. Jaitly on Wednesday. Appreciating the efforts of the Punjab Government to weed out corruption, the association demanded immediate reversion of 25 diploma holders, sub divisional engineers charge holder, who are occupying the posts of graduate engineers in excess of their prescribed quota.

Seminar: The Punjab National Bank organised a one-day seminar for its auditors at a hotel here on Wednesday. As many as 40 senior auditors participated in the seminar. The seminar was inaugurated by the Assistant General Manager, Mr P.S. Bedi.

HARYANA

AMBALA
X-MAS CELEBRATED: Students of Cecil Convent School, Ambala Cantonment, celebrated Christmas with enthusiasm on Saturday. Santa Claus cut of the Christmas cake and distributed gifts to the students. The students then presented a play and sang Christmas carols. 

Fatehabad
THREATENED: The Nagarpalika Karamchari Sangh has threatened to launch an agitation against the non-acceptance of their demands. A meeting of the sangh was held here on Friday in this connection. Mr Om Parkash Lot, president, alleged that the municipal authorities had not fulfilled its promise of payment of arrears of the 39 months as recommended by the Fifth Pay Commission.

Jhajjar
CASE REGISTERED: On a complaint of the Joint Director, Social Justice Department, Chandigarh, a case of defraud has been registered against Rajender Prasad Lamba, an accountant, of the Social Welfare office. It is alleged that he embezzled Rs 2,99,228.

Sonepat
INJURED: Four students were injured in a clash outside Bawa Cinema on the Tarana road here on Saturday. They were taken to hospital for treatment.

KILLED: One person was killed and three were injured in an accident on National Highway No.1 here on Saturday. The victim was identified as Sham Lal (65), an employee of Moti Lal Nehru School of Sports at Rai. The injured were Ram Mohan, his wife, Raken and son, Parveen.

Yamunanagar
SEMINAR: A seminar, on statutory obligation of principal employer and contractor under the Contract Labour Act 1970, was organised by the Haryana Labour Department in collaboration with the Haryana Safety Council here on Friday. It was inaugurated by the Deputy Commissioner. The Additional Labour Commissioner informed the participants about the provisions and rules of the Act. Mr M.L. Chakraborty, DGM, Balarpur Industries, presided.