R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Amloh
Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Bar Association, Amloh, for the year 2005. President — G.D. Bector; vice-president — Pandit Tara Chand; secretary — Mewa Singh and cashier — Hardeep Singh. Mr G.D. Bector also holds the office of the president, Punjab Human Rights Commission, Amloh 
unit.

Amritsar
COUNCILLOR BOOKED: Ajit Singh, a ruling party Municipal Councillor, has been booked by the Majitha police for allegedly possessing illicit liquor (lahan). The police has recovered 800 Kg of lahan from him. He was absconding after the registration of a case under Sections 61/1/14 of the Excise Act. Ms Vibhu Raj, SSP, said the accused had been a Municipal Councillor for more than two decades. She said the police had started a campaign against the bootleggers.

TSUNAMI AID: The Guru Nanak Dev University Non-Teaching Employees Association has decided, in its executive meeting held here on Wednesday, to donate their one-day salary towards the aid of tsunami victims. The meeting held under the chairmanship of Mr Sawinderjit Singh, president of the union, paid tributes to the tsunami victims by observing a two-minute silence.

PROF BEDI ELECTED: Dr Harmohinder Singh Bedi, a senior Professor and Dean Faculty of Languages, Guru Nanak Dev University, has been elected a member of the Hindi Advisory Committee of Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, for three years by the Government of India. The Punjab Government had already honoured him with the Shiromani Sahitkar Award. He has written 30 books.

Gurdaspur
ILLEGAL WHEAT SALE: The district police has booked three persons for selling wheat meant for the yellow card holders in the open market. The SSP, Gurdaspur, Mr Ishwar Singh, said on Wednesday that a depot owner, Kanta Devi, a resident of Dhariwal, had been indulging in the sale of wheat provided under the public distribution system (PDS) for the past one year. The police had received a reliable information recently that the accused Kanta had taken 49 quintals of wheat from the PUNSUP for distributing it among the yellow card holders through her PDS depot. She had, however, sold the entire wheat to Trilok Singh, son of Sohan Singh, at a rate of Rs 600 per quintal.

JagraonHoly dip: Thousands of devotees thronged Gurdwara Nanaksar, near here, to have a holy dip in its ‘sarover’ and to pay their obeisance at ‘Sach Khand’, where Sant Baba Nand Singh devoted most of his lifetime meditating. This will continue for the entire month beginning from Thursday. Mr Rajiv Ahir, SSP, has ordered adequate security arrangement on this occasion. 

Hooch seized: The police has arrested Joginder Singh of Akoowal, from the area of Sherpur Khurd, and seized 22.5 litres of illicit liquor from his possession. A case under Section 61-1-14 of the Excise Act has been registered.

Jalandhar
AWARD: Harjap Singh Bhangal, Director of the London Immigration Advice and Appeal Services, Jalandhar, the only company to be managed by a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales, has been awarded the “Bharat Gaurav Award” by former Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde. Mr Bhangal said on Wednesday Mr Shinde gave him the award on January 8 in Mumbai at a function which was also attended by Mr Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Science and Technology.

Nawanshahr
TSUNAMI DONATION: Mr Harjit Inder Singh Grewal, Deputy Commissioner, presented a draft of Rs 28.87 lakh to the Chief Minister, Captain Amarinder Singh, at village Tapparian Khurd( Nawanshahr) on Wednesday, as part of the contribution of the district for the relief and rehabilitation of the tsunami victims.

E-INITIATIVE: The district police, which has taken a lead in the state in launching its website (www.nsrpolice.org), with a view to make itself people-friendly by being easily accessible especially for the NRIs, has started receiving kudos from the NRIs for the significant step aimed at qualitative improvement in the functioning of the police.The website was launched by the Chief Minister, Captain Amarinder Singh, on January 4. Though it is in its infancy, yet the SSP, Mr, M.F.Farooqui, has received a number of e-mails congratulating him for it.

Phagwara
SUGARCANE PRICE HIKED: The Wahid-Sandhars Sugars Ltd, Phagwara, had raised with an immediate effect the price of sugarcane, thus benefiting thousands of cane growers. Mr Sukhbir Singh Sandhar, Joint Managing Director of the Mill, said on Wednesday that as against the earlier price of Rs 110 per quintal the mill had raised it now to Rs 120 per quintal. For boosting the cane plantation, the mill had also started providing one bag of urea fertiliser free of cost per one acre of cane planted, added Mr Sandhar.

FRAUDSTER HELD: The police has arrested the kingpin of an inter-district gang involved in presenting fake “Jamanbandi Pharad” and false persons in courts in order to secure bails for the accused persons. SHO City Police Station, Phagwara, Sub-Inspector Gurwinder Singh on Wednesday said the kingpin was Harbans Singh of Mohalla Rampur. He had secured bails in the courts at Nakodar, Jalandhar and Phagwara through fake documents. On directions of Kapurthala SSP Arun Pal Singh, Harbans Singh was arrested under Sections 420, 205, 467, 468, 477,120-B, IPC, for fraud, forgery, impersonation, fraudulent cancellation or destruction of will etc. Harbans Singh was remanded in the police custody.

PATIALA
LOHRI: Members of the Bharat Vikas Parishad celebrated Lohri at Prem Dham Sarvhitkari School, Sanouri Adda, on Thursday. A cultural programme was presented by children. State organising secretary of the parishad Harinder Gupta, and branch president Hari Kishan Gupta were also present. Meanwhile, students of Fine Arts and Dance Department, Punjabi University, celebrated the festival. A fine arts scholar, Dr B.N. Goswami, was the chief guest. Students of different departments participated in the celebrations with enthuasism.

Ropar
E-GOVERNANCE: The Chief Secretary, Punjab, Mr Jai Singh Gill, on Wednesday, held first video conferencing session with the Deputy Commissioner, Ropar, Ms Seema Jain, to review e-governance projects. Mr Gill directed the district administration to use video conferencing facilities for holding review meetings with the district-level officers in the state and also for the execution and monitoring of various development projects, said Ms Jain.

Samrala
Celebrated: Lohri was celebrated at Malwa College, Bondli, near here. The Principal of the college, Dr Parminder Singh, addressed the students. He talked about the historic importance of the festival. Prof Harinderjit Singh Kler and Prof Baldeep Singh talked about the recent steps taken by the Punjab Government to celebrate Lohri for the girl child.

Mourned: Two-minute silence was observed here on Thursday at the local Civil Rest House by members of the Akas Rang Manch, Samrala, and the trustees of the Ulta-Pulta Bulletin in the memory of film actor Amrish Puri, who died on Wednesday. The director of the manch, Mr Rajwinder Samrala said the role of Amrish Puri may be serious or humorous, was different and it would remain in memory of all his fans.

Tarn Taran
NRI SABHA: Dr Pawitter Singh Bhullar has been elected president of the local sub-division unit of the NRI Sabha. Dr Bhullar was given the letter in this regard by Mr Birpal Singh SDM- cum-Chairman of the sabha on Wednesday here. Mr Gurminder Singh Rataul, secretary PPCC, Mr Gurcharan Singh Walia, district president of the sabha, and others decided to donate liberally for the tsunami victims.

MISHAP: Jasbir Kaur (50), a midwife posted at the community Health Centre, Sarhali, was crushed to death by a mini-bus at adda Sarhali on Wednesday morning when she was crossing the road. The Sarhali police has registered a case under Sections 304A, 279 IPC against the driver of the bus, who absconded from the spot. The body was handed over to the wards of the deceased after the post-mortem.

CHANDIGARH

PANCHKULA
LOHRI: Lohri was celebrated with fervour at Delhi Public School, Sector 12- A on Thursday. A bonfire was lit and students and staff members sang songs and danced around the fire. Competitions related to Lohri were also held. At DAV Senior Public School, Surajpur, a havan was performed in the school as part of Lohri celebrations. Students sang the Lohri songs and danced around bonfire, lit in the school.

HARYANA

Sonepat
DEAD PHONES: Hundreds of telephones in five villages falling under the Nahra telephone exchange continued to remain dead for the past one week or so following stealing of telephone cables by a gang of thieves. The villages affected are Nahra, Nahri, Katlupur, Majra and Kheri Manajat. The telephone link between these villages and rest of the country had been cut off since the stealing of telephone cables.

Village sans power: Khanda village in this district has remained in darkness for the past 12 days following the burning of a transformer on account of overloading. This has caused strong resentment among the residents of the village, particularly womenfolk. Fodder machines, flour mills and tubewells have been lying idle.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Mandi
CELEBRATED: Saraswati Vidya Mandir and other schools in the district celebrated International Youth Day on Wednesday, which coincided with the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda.

DIED: Shama Kumari (7) of Bhota town, who was hit by a truck, succumbed to her injuries at district hospital here on Wednesday. She was returning home from school when the accident took place. The Hamirpur police has arrested the truck driver and registered a case.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local unit of BSNL Employees Association: president — Mr Jarnail Singh; vice-president — Mr Jeevan Kumar; general secretary — Mr Rajesh Pal; joint secretary — Mr Ramesh Kumar; cashier — Mr Gopal Chand; and auditor — Mr Rajesh Sangra.

Shimla
UPGRADED: Himachal Pradesh University plans to expand the e-resources base of its library by increasing access to 4,000 research journals from the existing 1,300. A cyber centre has been established in the library, which has satellite- connectivity. 

CONDEMNED: Mr Suresh Bharadwaj, the state BJP chief, on Wednesday lambasted Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh for appointing Mr B.B.Butail, who was dropped from the ministry during the downsizing exercise, as his political secretary with Cabinet rank. He said his action violated the spirit of the law restricting the size of ministry.