R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Abohar
NEW BPEO: Mr Shyam Sunder Sharma has replaced Ms. Kulwant Devi as Block Primary Education officer for Block Number 1 here. Mr Sharma had been promoted and posted at Guruharsahai block last year. Those present at the taking over ceremony included Mr Gurmail Singh district president and other office bearers of the Democratic Teachers Front.

Amritsar
DAV TEAM: The local DAV college team was given a warm welcome by the college authorities on their return here on Saturday. The college team had bagged second prize for its skit “Dharamraj di kachachri” in national youth festival that recently concluded in Varanasi. The skit had bagged the top honours in the zonal final and inter-varsity youth festivals earlier. As many as 400 students participated from 18 universities all over the country.

Barnala
FEMALE FOETICIDE: Mr S.R. Laddhar, Director, Social Security, Child and Women Development, called upon the Punjabis to curb the menace of female foeticide with determination. He was in the city to attend the annual function of the BGS public school.

Batala
CONSUMER RIGHTS: The Sub-Divisional Consumer Welfare Forum, Batala, organised a lecture-cum-workshop on “Rights and Responsibilities of Consumers” on Monday at the R.R. Bawa D.A.V College for Girls, Batala. Mr Parneet Bhardwaj, Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Batala, graced the occasion and declared the office-bearers of this unit: Mrs Raj Sharma, chairperson, 2) Mrs Navjot Barney, convener and, 3) Mrs Chetna Sodhi, general secretary. Mr Vijay Mehra, general secretary and Mr Dev Raj Sharma, president of the Consumer Welfare Forum, Amritsar, delivered an informative lecture on the rights and responsibilities of the consumers.

Bathinda
5 INJURED: Five occupants of a car suffered multiple injuries when a speeding bus coming from opposite direction hit the same while trying to overtake a vehicle near Karamgarh Satran village on the Bathinda-Malout road on Monday. The injured included Mr Manjit Singh, sarpanch of Buladewala in this district.

DONATION: Mr Pankaj Arora, president, District Tax Bar Association (DTBA), handed over a demand draft for Rs 51,000 to Mr L. R. Nayyar, Commissioner, Income Tax, Bathinda, help for tsunami disaster victims. Mr Nayyar appreciated the members of the DTBA for their contribution towards the tsunami victims who lost their near and dear ones in the tragedy. The management and staff of local S. D. Mahabir Dal Hospital contributed Rs 7,500 to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund as help for tsunami victims.

Hoshiarpur
RAMOOWALIA’S PLEA: All 117 MLAs of Punjab should formulate a legislation against those NRIs of the state who have deserted their wives. They should hold a special session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha for this purpose at the earliest. Mr Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, President, Lok Bhalai Party, told mediapersons at PWD Rest House, Garhshanker, 40 km from here yesterday.

Jalandhar
APEEJAY EXCELS: Students of the Apeejay College of Fine Arts have excelled in the national youth festival held at Benaras Hindu University. The college students bagged trophies for good performance in music and theatre. The team bagged first prize for classical vocal, light vocal, percussion and mimicry. Second prize was won by the students in Indian group song and one act play.

LUDHIANA
MEETING: A meeting of the Sanskriti Sewa Pratistha, Punjab, was held on Monday at Takshila Career Academy.The members discussed about 20 centres being run by the pratisthan, in which free education was provided to poor children and stitching training was given to girls. The members decided to organise ‘Basant Utsav’ on February 12 and 13 at Kamla Lohtia S.D. College. There will be a cultural programme as well as fun games at the utsav in the aid of education of poor and needy students. Funds will be raised through entry-cum-lucky couple of Rs 5. The meeting was attended by Mr Satish Soni, Mr Shree Paul, Mr Munish Bhanot, Mr Vinaya and Mr Hari Pal.

DONATED: The Northern Railway Pensioners Welfare Association at their monthly meeting here recently observed two- minute silence in the memory of those killed in tsunami waves last month. Mr Sher Singh, president of the association, appealed the members to donate generously to the PM’s Relief Fund for tsunami victims. The association contributed Rs 5,000. Mr G.S. Sodhi and Mr V.P. Bhandari contributed Rs 1,000 each.

Seminar: The PG Department of Commerce and Management, Kamla Lohtia Sanatan Dharam College, will organise a national seminar on ‘Changing scenario in capital market’ on January 29. The objective of the seminar is to explore the major issues involved in financial sector reforms taking place in the country. The seminar will provide an opportunity to identify the challenges being faced by financial sector and will suggest policy initiatives needed for future.

Nawanshahr
MOBILE DISPENSARY: Mr J. Minhas, ex-president, Rotary Club, Vancouver ( Canada), launched the ‘mobile dispensary’ facility at the Guru Nanak Mission Hospital, Dhahan Kaleran, being run by the Guru Nanak Mission Medical and Education Trust here on Monday to mark the ‘silver jubilee celebrations’ of the trust, scheduled to be held on February 5 and 6. The donations totalling Rs 10 lakh have been given by the Vancouver (Canada) based NGOs, Rotary Club and Canada India Education Society.

SEWING CENTRE: Mr Parkash Singh, Parliamentary Secretary ( Local Bodies and Information Technology Department), inaugurated a free sewing training centre at Mubarakpur village on Sunday.The centre was opened by the local NGO, Doaba Seva Samiti, informed Mr Rattan Kumar Jain, here on Tuesday.

NRI WRITERS: The Zila Sahit Ate Kala Manch, in collaboration with Likhari Sabha, Jagatpur, and Punjab Sahit Sabha, Balachaur, organised a “Parvasi Lekhak Sanmann Samaroh ate Kavi Darbar’ at Babbar Karam Singh Memorial Yadhgari Trust, Daulatpur, about 10 km from here on Sunday. Mr Harjit Inder Singh Grewal, Deputy Commissioner, was the chief guest and Mr Sham Singh, News Editor, Punjabi Tribune, presided over the function. NRI Punjabi writers and poets – Mr Ajit Singh Rahi, Mr Lachhman Singh Rathour , Mr Bhag Singh Kakker, Prof Jasjit Singh, Mr Major Singh Mauji, Mr Balbir Singh Changiara, Mr Barban Singh Akalgarh, Mr Harinder Pal Singh, among others were honoured on the occasion.

PATIALA
CHEMISTS’ PLEA: The Punjab Chemists Association has urged the Central Government to withdraw hike in excise duty on medicines. President of the association Surjit Mehta said the hike in excise duty would increase rates of medicines and would hit the consumer and small-scale industries.

IDENTIFICATION FOR PENSION: The Punjab and Chandigarh Indian Ex-Servicemen League on Tuesday said ex-servicemen and widows would not be identified by the bank concerned from where they draw their monthly pension and would not be required to visit the office of the DPDO for this purpose. League president Prabhjot Singh said this demand had been accepted by the Controller of Defence Accounts (Pension), Allahabad.

FREE RATION: The Dedicated Brothers Group held free of cost ration distribution camp at the Navi Disha Study Centre at Tripri. Mr Jasbir Singh, Manager, State Bank of Patiala, presided over the function.

SAHIT PARISHAD: The Treveni Sahit Parishad organised a function to deliberate upon a book by Amritpal Singh Saidan at the DAV Public School.

SCOUTS AND GUIDES: District Education Officer (Secondary) Pritpal Kaur presided over a function of the Scouts and Guides at the Government Senior Secondary School, Tripri. Guide Master Jagmohan Singh said more than 30 girls and 60 boys were imparted training in discipline.

FUNCTION: Divisional Forest Officer Karamjit Singh Jattana said his department would provide 25,000 saplings to the Basant Ritu Youth Club at a function organised at the Van Chetna Bhavan here. Club president Rajesh Sharma said the club also promised to help the Forest Department to spread awareness on environment.

Office-bearers: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Sangrur District Income Tax Bar Association for the year 2005; president – Mr Hans Raj Gupta, vice-president — Mr Ram Pal Singla; and secretary — Mr Abhinandan Bansal.

HARYANA

KALKA
LAUNCHED: "Super Suraksha",insurance scheme was launched by the SBOP at a function held at the main branch here on Monday. Mr V.A. Ghai, Assistant General Manager of the bank's regional office in Panchkula launched the scheme. The Kalka Branch Manager, Mr S.C. Dhall, said a special counter of the scheme had been set up at the banks main branch.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BADDI
ONE ARRESTED: The Nalagarh police has arrested Rakesh Kumar for involvement in satta. Rupees 900 and satta slips were recovered from him. He is resident of ward no. 3 of Nalagarh. A case under the Gambling Act has been registered. Also nine bottles of country made liquor were seized from Het Ram near Vakanghat under the Kandhaghat police station on Monday.

PARWANOO
SUICIDE BID: A man has allegedly tried to commit suicide by consuming poisonous substance on Monday. Ashwani Saklani a resident of Gumma village near here said his friend D.D. Bhatia that he would commit suicide. D.D. Bhatia approached his friend Mansuk about the matter. They rushed to Ashwani home and found the main door closed from inside. They entered the home and found Ashwani gasping for breath. They removed Ashwani to local ESI hospital where he was declared out of danger. A case under Section 309 of IPC has been registered against Ashwani.