R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Abohar
15 GOATS KILLED: Stray dogs devoured 15 goats in a shed on Sunday at Choohriwala Dhanna village, near here, residents said. Residents said dogs entered a goat shed inside the village and devoured 15 goats. As hue and cry rented the village, dozens of residents carrying lathis forced the dogs to run, leaving behind another 10 injured goats.

BADDI
POPPY HUSK SEIZED: The Nalagarh police has seized 2 kg of poppy husk from a man on Sunday. The police party, led by Mr Shamsher Singh, SHO, Nalagarh police station, arrested Inkar Singh and seized poppy husk from his possession.

Bathinda
BLOOD CAMP: A blood donation camp was organised by Mr Surinder Maheshwary, a local resident, on “Namkaran” (giving name to new-born child) of his son with the help of the Naujawan Welfare Society at Kikkar Bazar here on Monday. As many as 18 persons donated blood at the camp.

Fatehgarh Sahib
Relief fund: Students of the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme of Saffron City School, Fatehgarh Sahib, have donated Rs 10,000 for the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.

Jagraon
Protest rally: Hundreds of farmers from Sidhwan Bet and Jagraon blocks, on the call given by Bharti Kissan Union (Ekta) district committee, held a protest rally and organised a dharna near the office of local SDM today for the fulfilment of their demands. They demanded an immediate restoration of continuous electric supply for agriculture and domestic purpose and to reverse its decision on privatisation of the PSEB. They also extended their support to unemployed ETT teachers.

Mass Marriages: The Guru Nanak Charitable Trust Glasgow, UK is going to arrange mass marriage of 21 poor girls on February 4 at a gurdwara in Cheemna village. All expenses will be borne by the trust on this occasion.

Illicit liquor seized: Gurdev Singh of Sherewal was arrested by the CIA staff, Jagraon, and seized 37.680 litre of illicit liquor. In another incident Baljinder Singh of Sherpur Khurd was arrested from the Sidhwanbet area and 15.180 lt of illicit liquor was seized. Cases under Section 61-1-14 of the Excise Act have been registered.

Hoshiarpur
TSUNAMI AID: The management, staff and workers of JCT Ltd. (Filament Unit) here has contributed Rs 1,11,000 towards tsunami relief fund. Mr P.S. Bhatti, vice-president of the factory, presented the cheque to Deputy Commissioner D.K. Tewari on Monday.

Mansa
LOANS DISBURSED: The local branch of the State Bank of Patiala under its scheme, Produce Marketing Loan, disbursed loans of Rs 63 lakh to 55 farmers on Saturday. Mr M.K. Rastogy, Deputy General Manager, said the aim of scheme was to protect the farmers from distress sale at the time of harvesting. He said the scheme would be implemented in all branches of the bank in Punjab.

Pathankot
POWER CUT: There was a ‘complete blackout’ in the city on Saturday. As the annual examination is drawing near frequent power cuts are affecting students the most. PSEB officials blame the power cut on less supply of power.

Patiala
Sweaters distributed: The Inner Wheel Club Patiala (Main) distributed sweaters caps and shoes among 15 students of Lachkani village, near here, on Monday. Kuljeet Banga, Rama Nohria and Sarita Nohria of the club visited the village to distribute items.

BLOOD DONATION: A blood donation camp was held at Baradari Gardens here in the memory of cricketer Dhruv Pandove, who lost his life in an accident 12 years ago. Among those who donated blood was Dhruv’s father, Mr M.P. Pandove, and his younger brother, Mr R.P. Pandove.

CONDEMNED: Dr Sucha Singh Gill and Mr Vidhu Shekhar Bhardwaj, president and secretary, respectively, of the Association For Democratic Rights, Punjab, have condemned the police repression on teachers in Patiala on January 29. Mr Gill said it was the democratic right of the unemployed teachers to agitate to get jobs.

LECTURE: Prof Harbans Singh of the Department of Encyclopaedia of Sikhism will organise Col Harpartap Singh Memorial Lecture in the science auditorium on February 3 at 11 am. The lecture will be delivered by Sikh scholar Dalwinder Singh Grewal of Engineering College, Malout. 

WORKSHOP: On the second day of the seven-day Rabab training workshop being organised by the Department of Gurmat Sangeet, Punjabi University, Patiala Dr S.P. Singh, Vice-Chancellor, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, paid a visit and congratulated the university for its mega effort in the revival of traditional form of Gurmat Sangeet. Prof Jagbeer Singh, a Punjabi scholar, also applauded the university’s efforts in the development of Gurmat Sangeet.

Phagwara
PATIENTS EXAMINED: About 400 patients were examined and given medicines free of cost at a free medical check-up camp organised at Partap Singh Bahra Memorial Hospital, Chachoki, on Sunday. The Nagar Council President, Mr Malkiat Singh Ragbotra, inaugurated the camp.

HARYANA

Jagadhri
SHOT AT: A Jagadhri-based trader, Rajiv Kumar Jain, was shot at Pathrawala market here on Saturday. Unidentified assailants fired at him when he was returning home on a motorcycle from the Jagadhri bus stand.

Kaithal
FLAG MARCH: Jawans of the Haryana police and paramilitary forces organised a flag march here on Sunday. Mr Ranbir Sharma, SP, told mediapersons that five companies of paramilitary forces and one company of the ITBP had arrived here to help the state police forces in conducting the Assembly elections in a peaceful manner.

Sonepat
YOUTH KILLED: A youth was killed and another injured when the bicycle they were riding was hit by a truck on the Sonepat-Meerut road, near Bahalgarh Chowk, 12 km from here, on Monday. The deceased was indentified as Sanjay and the injured as Ravi of Jhundpur village. They were returning to the village on the bicycle. The police has registered a case against the truck driver.

Mandi
KATHAK WORKSHOP: As many as 35 persons participated in the week-long kathak dance workshop that concluded here on Sunday. Mr Dinesh Gupta, president, Kala Kshetra Yuva Mandal, said the programme was dedicated to the kathak guru Shambhu Maharaj.

DEMAND ACCEPTED: The HPPWD Ministerial Staff Association (Mandi unit), general secretary Umesh Thakur, has thanked the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, for accepting their demands.