R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Abohar
DEMAND: The Punjab Pradesh Dhanak Samaj has urged the state government to put the dhanak community in category while selecting candidates for provincial services. Mr Raj Arya, state president of the organisation, said here on Friday that the Haryana Government had already placed some backward communities, including Dhanak, in the category. In Punjab also the political parties while giving tickets for the Vidhan Sabha or the Lok Sabha elections had not given the community any consideration. He said the conferences would be held at Amritsar, Ludhiana, Moga, Jalandhar and Bathinda soon to bring awareness among the community.

Amritsar
PROTEST: The Guru Nanak Dev University Teachers Association will hold a two-hour rally in front of the office of the Vice-Chancellor on January 3 to protest against the appointment of a Head of the Department of Sports, Medicine and Physiotherapy. Dr Devinder Singh, president of the association, said this was decided at a meeting here on Friday. He alleged that the appointment was made on the directive of the Chancellor which was a violation of the university calendar.

Batala
RETIRED: Prof (Major) Jeet Singh Sandhu, a lecturer in mathematics, retired after putting in 35 and half years of service in Akal Degree College, Mastuana, about 25 from here, on Friday.

Hoshiarpur
MEDICAL CAMP: The District Health Department organised a free medical check-up camp at Beh Bidiya village on Thursday. As many as 450 persons were examined in the camp. Mr Ramesh Chander Dogra, Health and Family Welfare Minister, Punjab, said a sum of Rs 1 lakh each would be given to 22 health sub-centres of the district for the improvement of their health centres.

STRANGULATED: Juggler Roop Lal of Dwakhri village died due to strangulation while he was showing tricks at Sango Katrala village on Friday evening.

Moga
APPEAL: The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Mandeep Singh has said the government employees of the district will donate their one-day salary to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund for the tsunami victims. Mata Gurdayal Kaur Educational Trust and Golden Travel Advisers have donated Rs 5,000 each to the PM’s relief fund. The Deputy Commissioner has appealed to NGOs and people to donate generously for the noble cause.

Patiala
HONOUR: The Mehak Cultural Forum will honour film producer and lyricist, Gulzar, with a life time achievement award on January 15 on occasion of all-India mushaira. The mushaira is being organised by the forum at the Central State Library. This was stated by Dr Naresh Raj, president of the forum.

Phagwara
OUT OF ORDER: Residents of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar and Scheme No 3, woke up on Saturday morning found their telephones out of order. The disruption of telephone service disappointed several resident its who wanted to send new year wishes to friends and relatives. Rain and chilly winds had reportedly led to the disruption of telephone service in the city.

Phillaur
MEETING: The Bhartiya Janta Party Kishan Morcha national executive will meet on January 1 and 2 at Panipat in Haryana to discuss the problems which had forced several farmers to commit suicide. This was stated by Sukhminderpaul Singh Grewal, national executive member, here on Friday. He said the BJP president, Mr Lal Krishan Advani, would address the gathering on January 2.

DISSOLVED: In a sudden development, Shiv Sena north zone in charge P.N. Hoon has dissolved all district units of Shiv Sena and appointed a five-member high-level committee to run the affairs of the Sena. Stating this Sena state vice-president Pawan Parbhakar said here on Saturday that Mr Hoon has appointed Parveen Minhas, Pawan Parbhakar,Rajiv Tandon, Subhash Talwar, and Navneet Kapoor, all state vice-presidents, as committee members. He said this high-powered committee will constitute district level committees within one month.

CHANDIGARH

Chandigarh@@prayer meeting: The Anglican Church held a prayer meeting in the memory of tsunami victims at the Indira Holiday Home on Friday night. The meeting appealed to the people to donate for the victims.@@MEETING: The Labour Court’s Bar Association held a farewell meeting for Mr TR Bansal, Presiding Officer of the Labour Court here on Sunday. Mr Rajesh Kumar and Mr Kuldeep Singh, the newly-appointed Presiding Officer of the Tribunal, were also welcomed at the meeting.@@Cut in interest rate: The Chief General Manager of the State bank of India, Mr Hemant Contractor, announced a special reduction in the interest rates on housing, personal, festival and two-wheeler loans for the festival period upto January 15 for Lohri. Housing loans for all durations upto 20 years would be given at 7.75 per cent per annum while personal and festival loans would be given at 11 per cent per annum while two-wheeler loans would be given at 10.5 per cent.@@Meeting: A meeting of the general house of the Assistant Audit Officers, Section Officers Association was held on Friday to express grief over the Tsunami losses in South Asia. The members decided to contribute their one-day salary towards the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.

HARYANA

Bhiwani
COMPLAINT: The District Jail Superintendent has lodged a complaint with the police that a prisoner, Anand of Pichopa Kalan, who had gone on parole had not returned after the expiry of the time limit of his parole.

ARRESTED: Three persons have been arrested while they were planning to loot a petrol filling station at Loharu. Three of their accomplices allegedly however, managed to escape. The arrested persons have been identified as Rajesh of Shyam Kalan, Vedpal of Jhajhadwas and Raj Kumar of Gothada village. A case has been registered.

Rewari
VISIT: The Chief Minister of Haryana, Mr Om Parkash Chautala, said here on Friday that Prof Sampat Singh, Finance Minister, along with his secretary would visit Chennai on Sunday. They would meet the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Ms J. Jayalalithaa, to seek information about the requirements of the Tsunami-affected people, he added.

NSS CAMP: As many as 101 students, including 31 girls, participated in a 10-day NSS camp which concluded in the Kishan Lal Public College, here on Friday. In the concluding function, the Principal, Mr Suraj Bhan, lauded the work done by the NSS volunteers.

BABY SHOW: As many as 65 infants along with their mothers, participated in a baby show organised at the Lalita Memorial Hospital on Saturday. The check-up conducted at the hospital found most of the babies in good health.

Sonepat
SEIZED: The local CIA staff claims to have seized a German-made revolver from the possession of Narinder Tyagi, a resident of Karnal. A case under the Indian Arms Act has been registered.

Yamunanagar
BODY FOUND: The body of Ravi Chawla, a resident of the camp area, was found along the Western-Yamuna canal near city centre here on Friday. He had been missing since December 19. A case has been registered.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Bilaspur
NEW BRIDGE: Himachal Pradesh Forest and Youth Services and Sports Minister Ram Lal Thakur said here on Thursday that a new bridge would be constructed to replace Ghagas bridge near here on National Highway. He said the Centre had given permission to convert a forest area into herbal garden near Ghagas at the cost of Rs 30 lakh.

AGITATION: Mr Roshan Lal Sharma, state president of the Himachal Pradesh State Government Teachers Union, said here on Friday that they would launch an agitation if time was not given for talks till January 16. He said they had already given an ultimatum to the Secretary, Himachal Education, in this regard.

PROJECTS: The Deputy Commissioner has announced that a sum of Rs 1.50 crore would be spent on water shed projects in the district. He was presiding over a meeting of Rural Development Authority held here on Friday.

URGED: Villagers of Gehadwin have urged the Chief Minister to pass orders for removal of the encroachments on both sides of the Siru-Salasi road. They have been facing a lot of problems because of heavy rush of traffic.

Darlaghat
BLOOD DONATED: As many as 35 persons donated blood at a blood donation camp organised by Gujarat Ambuja Cement Limited Hospital here on Friday. Mr Rakesh Goyal, Additional Commissioner of Income Tax, Solan, inaugurated the camp.

Kullu
SENTENCED: The District and Sessions Judge, Mr B.M. Chandel, has sentenced Karan Bahadur, a Nepalese, to 10 years rigorous imprisonment and also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on him for possessing 5 kg of charas. The accused will have to undergo an additional imprisonment of four years in case he fails to pay the fine.

CELEBRATIONS: The New Year celebrations were a low-profile affair this year here due to the tsunami tragedy. Though a few hotels in the main town here had a gala evening but participation was thin. Moreover, it kept on raining the whole day. The weather God did not oblige the tourists with snow. They had to see to Solang Nallah and Kothi to enjoy the snowfall. A ‘Kavi Sammelan’ was organised at the Lal Chand Prarthi Kala Kendra in which a number of poets participated.

Nurpur
DEMANDED: The Kangra district Bhartiya Janata Party has taken a strong exception of the sudden transfer of a police official probing into the alleged scam of distribution of fertilisers and farm implements at subsidised rates at Palampur. Mr Vipin Parmar the district general secretary of Kangra district BJP and a former minister, Mr Kishan Kapoor have demanded a CBI probe into the scam.

OFFERED: The Kangra district Himachal Medical Officers Association HMOA has offered its medical services for the tsunami victims. In a joint statement issued here on Saturday by Dr Naresh Gupta and Dr Ajay Dutta, president and general secretary, respectively of the HMOA appealed to all members of the association to contribute at least one day’s salary to the Chief Minister’s relief fund to help the tsunami victims.

ATM RANSACKED: An Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) booth of the State Bank of Patiala, here was ransacked by some unidentified miscreants on Friday night causing a loss of Rs 15,000. According to Mr Pradeep Sood, Manager of the bank, a case has been registered. No loss to ATM or cash could be found, Mr Sood added.

RAID: The Health and Family Welfare Department conducted raids at Fatehpur, Dhameta and Rey villages in the Jawali subdivision on Friday. According to Mr S. Jahoor Zaidi, SP, Kangra, in a joint raid conducted by the authorities of the Health Department and the police, cases were registered against Ram Dutt, Kewal Singh and Mukesh Mehra under Section 18C of the Drugs and Chemist Act.

Palampur
HOME FOR SENIOR CITIZENS: The Palampur Rotary Helpage foundation has started Basera, a home for senior citizens with limited means. Dr Shiv Kumar, chairman of the Rotary Helpage Foundation said Basera was open for all permanent citizens of India, who has attained age of 60 years. The foundation will give preference to the residents of Himachal Pradesh and retired members of the defence and civil services.