R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Abohar
DEAD: Pintu (6) died when the roof of a house collapsed at Bakainwala village due to heavy rains here on Friday. His elder brother, Bittu and mother, Indira Devi (34), were also injured.

IMPOUNDED: The police has started impounding motor cycles that carried the Valentine Day writings instead of registration numbers on the number plates.

Amritsar
TERCENTENARY: The Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee President, Bibi Jagir Kaur, said the committee would observe tercentenary of the 40 'mukhtas' (liberators) in Muktsar, according to a press note here on Thursday. She said "akhand path" would be started on February 13 at Muktsar to mark the event.

SGPC SUB-OFFICE: The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) will establish a sub-office at Kurukshetra to redress the problems of the Sikhs in Haryana. The SGPC will make arrangements for the devotees in Haryana who are keen to join Sikh jathas for Pakistan. The SGPC has written to the Haryana Government to send the list of aspirants in this connection.

Jalandhar
SEMINAR: Intel Corporation organised a seminar in the auditorium of the DAV Institute of Engineering and Technology here on Thursday. The company shared their latest state-of-the art technology with students under the "intel university programme". Mr Rahul Dev, channel executive of the company, was the chief guest. He gave live demonstration of emerging technologies. Mr C.L. Kochhar, Director-cum-Principal, and Prof Manoj Mahajan, Head, Department of Electronics and Communication, were also present on the occasion.

Ludhiana
Medical camp: The International Sikh Dharam Parchar, in association with Gurdev Hospital, organised a free medical camp here on Thursday. A team of doctors, comprising Dr Waheguru Pal, Dr Kapil Mahajan, Dr Deepinder Arora, Dr Neeraj Arora and Dr Ashwani Kumar, examined more than 500 patients on the occasion. Free medicines were provided to the needy and various tests were conducted free of cost.

Basant Panchami: Pearls Nursery School celebrated Basant Panchami on Friday. Children were dressed in yellow to mark the festival. Teachers told the students about the significance of Basant. A kite-flying competition was also held.

Camp: The Rameshwar Welfare Trust along with the Nehru Yuva Kendra and the Ministry for Youth Affairs and Sports organised a five-day camp at the Shivpuri government dispensary. The camp was inaugurated by Mr Parmjit Singh, district youth coordinator, Government of India. One room and toilets were constructed for patients during the camp. As many as 28 volunteers and 12 members of the trust participated.

Nabha
ARRESTED: The Vigilance Bureau, Patiala, has caught Labhvir, a patwari, while taking a bribe of Rs 3,000 from Harbhagwan Singh, a resident of Lubana Teku village. He was demanding the money in lieu of effecting mutation of property.

Nawanshahr
CAUGHT: A team of Vigilance Bureau here on Thursday caught Harkanwal Kaur Grewal, a clerk in the local district agriculture office, while taking a bribe of Rs 2,000 from Jatinder Pal Singh, a resident of Kangrour village, on the pretext of providing him good quality of sugarcane seed and subsidy thereon. A case has been registered.

Pathankot
SUICIDE: An unidentified woman allegedly committed suicide by jumping into a khud at Kath Da Pull here on Thursday. Villagers of Dheera recovered her body from the khud. The body was brought to the local Civil Hospital. The police was investigating the matter.

PRIZE: A team of eight cadets of the local S.D. College has participated in the NCC function ‘Cadets 2005’ held at Karori Mal College, Delhi. Dr Samendra Sharma, Principal of the college, said the cadets had won the first position in Bhangara, second position in Rangoli and the best cadet competition.

PATIALA
DONATION: The rural student scholarship programme launched by Punjabi University Vice-Chancellor Swarn Singh Boparai for the Yadavindra College of Engineering, Talwandi Sabo, on Friday received a sanction for the donation of Rs 4.8 lakh from the National Fertilizer Ltd. (NFL), New Delhi. Dr Baltej Singh Mann, Professor, in charge of the Resource Mobilisation Department, said the NFL had selected two students of the Yadavindra College of Engineering Kamaldeep Kaur of Nangal Kalan village and Manjeet Singh of Jhanda Kalan village for the award of two NFL rural scholarships during the current year.

PMT, CET COACHING: The IAS and Allied Services Training Centre of Punjabi University, Patiala, will start coaching classes for PMT and CET from March 22, for SC, OBC and minority communities and general category candidates, said Dr G.S. Bajwa, director of the centre. He said that interested eligible candidates who are appearing in 10+2 examination or have passed 10+2 examination with 50 per cent marks may apply by February 16.

APPOINTED: Dr D.S. Bhullar, Senior Medical Officer and medico-legal consultant for department of Forensic Medical and Government Medical College, Patiala, has been appointed Divisional Commissioner (Medical) in the St John Ambulance Brigade.

ROPAR
SPEED LIMIT: With a view to prevent accidents in the district due to heavy traffic, the Deputy Commissioner, Ropar, Ms Seema Jain, has ordered to fix the speed limit of vehicles in all major towns of the district. As per orders the speed limit of heavy vehicles is fixed 40 km, 45 km for light vehicles and 35 km for two wheelers within the limit of Municipal Councils of town including Ropar, Anandpur Sahib, Nagal, Kharar, and Morinda.

SAMRALA
Farewell: Students of local Nankana Sahib Public School bid adieu to the students of Class XII. Amritveer Kaur and Sukhwinder Singh were declared as Mr and Miss Nankana Sahib Public School. Inderpreet and Naripjot Kaur were adjudged as the first runner-up while Deepak and Geetika were adjudged as the second runner-up. Traditional dances were held.

Commemorated: The N.R. College of Girls organised a function on Friday to commemorate the third centenary of the martyrdom of the Sahibzadas of Guru Gobind Singh. The students expressed their views and threw light on the sacrifice of the Sahibzadas.

Sangrur
COMMITTEES: The Senior Superintendent of Police, Mr Harinder Singh Chahal, has asked the Station House Officers of the district to form committees at the village and city levels to tackle social evils. He said the police would issue identity cards to them.

CHANDIGARH

MEETING: At a general body meeting of the Accounts Officers and Senior Audit Officers, Harayan (AG and Audit), held here on Friday, it was decided to implement the agitation programme given by the All-India Body of the Employees Association. Demands of the employees are upgrading of pay scales of Accounts Officers to Rs 8000-13,500 and Sr Accounts Officer Rs 10,000-15,200.

Mohali
BURN INJURIES: A 24- year-old woman living in Phase V suffered severe burn injuries here on Thursday. The victim, Mrs Geeta, was taken to a private hospital from where she was referred to the PGI, Chandigarh, as she had reportedly suffered from 80 per cent burns. In her statement to the police, Geeta had said that her clothes caught fire after the stove got burst.

PANCHKULA
PROGRAMME: An orientation programme on prevention of female foeticide and importance of girl child was organised by local branch of Family Planning Association of India, on Friday. As many as 55 participants comprising grassroot level workers, teachers, anganwadi workers and local voluntary groups, participated in the programme.

DONATED:- Members of Panchkula Sanatan Dharam Sabha have donated a sum of Rs 25,000 to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund. The money has been donated to help out the tsunami disaster victims.

BLOOD DONATED: As many as 35 units of blood was collected during a blood donation camp organised by Staff Training Centre of State Bank of India here on Friday. The blood was donated to Command Hospital, for the benefit of soldiers. The camp was inaugurated by Chief General Manager of bank, Mr H.G. Contractor.

DEMANDED:- The Constitutional Rights Protection Council has demanded that the old system of registeration of vehicles and issuing of driving licence be computerised, and time limit for giving of NOCs by registeration authority be fixed.

KISAN CLUB MEETING: The monthly meeting of Kisan Club was held at Mini Secretariat on Friday and 150 farmers from all over the district participated. Officers from agriculture department and Krishi Vigyan Kendra apprised the farmers about the latest know how on sunflower, sugarcane and other summer vegetables. Farmers were also told about the various schemes available and subsidies offered to them.

HARYANA

AMBALA
SEMINAR: A seminar was held at SD College, Ambala Cantt on Friday. The seminar was on impact of entertainment, media, information and communication on our social and cultural environment. The seminar was held in collaboration with Prerna, an organisation associated with the spread of Indian culture and art. Principal Dr Desh Bandhu inaugurated the seminar. Gurpreet Kaur of MDSD College, Ambala City was first, Karan Bhardwaj, Department of Law, PU, Chandigarh was second while Sukhversha of SA Jain College, Ambala City was third. The judges were Mr Manmohan Gupta, Mr Harjit Purewal and Dr Paul Kaur.

Rewari
URGED: The district committee of the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) has urged the state government to pay compensation to farmers whose mustard crops were damaged by hailstorm in the district. Mr Ramesh Chander, spokesman, demanded a special girdawri of the affected villages to assess the losses.

Sonepat
RAIN: The local city and its surrounding areas were lashed by torrential rain and hailstorm on Friday. All the main roads and streets in interior areas were submerged with rainwater. Attendance in government offices and schools was thin.

RECOVERED: The police claims to have recovered a girl who was allegedly kidnapped from her house at Bagru village last month. A youth was arrested in this connection.

INJURED: A servant, Vimal Kumar, was injured when two unidentified motor cycle- borne youths attacked him at Ganaur, 16 km from here, on Friday. He had gone to market to purchase fodder for milch animals.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Bilaspur
NALWARI MELA: A state-level Nalwari Mela will be held on the Luhnu ground from March 17 to 23. Presiding over a meeting of the mela management committee, Mr Ram Lal Thakur, Forest, Youth Services and Sports Minister, said national-level wrestling bouts would be held for five days instead of four days. He said various programmes and competitions would be held on the occasion.

URGED: Mr Ram Lal Thakur, Forest, Youth Services and Sports Minister, has urged the management of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) to ensure that, apart from environmental balance, the eco-system of the area where 800-MW Kol Dam is being constructed, is maintained. He was addressing a meeting of officials of the Kol Dam at Barmana, near here, on Tuesday. He asked the NTPC authorities to make efforts to solve the rehabilitation problems of the oustees of the Kol Dam.

RECOVERED: The police on Wednesday recovered 5,49,000 ml of illicit liquor and arrested three persons during raids at various places. The Additional Superintendent of Police said here on Thursday that the police intercepted a tempo at Bhallu Bridge and seized 106 cases of countrymade liquor totalling 4,77,000 ml. The driver of the tempo fled. The Barmana police seized 45,000 ml of illicit liquor from the possession of Sanjiv Kumar of Laghat and 27,000 ml of liquor from a car, and arrested Shashipal, Surender Kumar of Khanqad in this connection.

Mandi
AWARDED: The Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Central Range, Mr O.C. Thakur, has been awarded President's Police Medal.