R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Amritsar
EDUCATION: Bibi Jagir Kaur, President, Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, said about 35 children belonging to Punjabi families who were rendered helpless by tsunami tidal waves in Campbell bay in the Andaman Nicohar islands, would be provided education here from May, according to a press note here on Tuesday.

URGED: The Amritsar Vikas Manch (AVM) on Tuesday urged Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to fill the vacant posts of teachers and paramedical staff in the local Government Medical College. Mr Satwant Singh, a member of the AVM, said at present 57 posts of doctors, 130 posts of nursing staff and 112 posts of paramedical staff were lying vacant.

Bathinda
ELECTED: Mr Jethu Ram Bansal, Prof N.K. Gosain and Dr J.S. Anand have been unanimously elected president, vice-president and manager, respectively, of the managing committee of the local MHR Senior Secondary School.

Ferozepore
AWARENESS DRIVE: The District Legal Services Authority has initiated a special drive to spread awareness among women about their rights, according to Mr J.S. Chawla, District and Sessions Judge and Chairman, District Legal Services Cell. He said underprivileged and economically backward strata of the society, including the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, the handicapped and the undertrials could avail of free legal services. He said a special panel of advocates had been constituted for the purpose.

Hoshiarpur
BODY FOUND: The body of an unidentified girl (15) was found on a rail track in the outer area of the local railway station on Tuesday. The body was sent to the local Civil Hospital for a post-mortem examination. According to GRP sources, the girl committed suicide by jumping before a train.

CASE REGISTERED: On the complaint of Additional Chief Administrator, PUDA, Jalandhar and Garhshankar police has registered two separate cases under various Sections of the PUDA Act against Dalbir Singh, son of Bhoj Singh, Karam Singh, Bishan Singh, Vikram Singh and Jarnail Singh, all local residents. In complaint, the Administrator alleged that the aforesaid persons constructed illegal colonies without getting permission and licence from the PUDA.

ALLEGED: On the complaint of Inderjit Kaur, a resident of Basiala, Garhshankar police has registered a dowry case against her husband, Ramjit Singh, father-in-law, Daulat Singh and mother-in-law, Nasib Kaur.

JAGRAON
CHILD SODOMISED: Paramjit Singh, alias Sunny (6), of Jhordan village was sodomised by Jagjit Singh, son of Gurmel Singh, of the same village. The Raikot police has registered a case under Section 377 of the IPC.

OPIUM SEIZED: Surinder Singh, alias Tuti Master of Bihar was arrested from the area of Mandiani village and 1 Kg of opium was seized from his possession. A case under Sections 18, 61, 85 of the NDPS Act has been registered. In another incident the police arrested Chander Bose of Mujjafarnagar from the area of Dakha and recovered 10 kg of poppy husk. A case under the NDPS Act has been registered.

RECOVERED: The police on a tip-off raided a chemist shop at Kacha Malak Road Jagraon, and seized 580 tablets of lomotel, 349 tablets of Truesen, 9 packets of pansidril, 140 capsules of provxion, 10 packets of corex syrup and 269 tablets of pevon from Vikas Sahi son of Darshan Kumar Sahi of mohalla Guru Teg Nagar. A case under Sections 22, 61, 85 of the NDPS Act has been registered.

Ludhiana
RETIRES: Dr Anup Kaur Bansal, Principal of the Guru Nanak Khalsa College for Women, retired on Monday after putting in 32 years of service. She remained Principal for more than 19 years. Meanwhile, Ms Manju Chawla, Vice-Principal, was appointed officiating Principal.

Moga
INAUGURATED: To mark the completion of three years of the Congress government in the state, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Mandeep Singh, here on Tuesday inaugurated an exhibition in which various departments have displayed their achievements during the period. The DC also gave send off to 14 inmates of a de-addiction centre being run by the District Red Cross Society following their de-addiction.

Phagwara
AWARDED: The National Assessment Accreditation Council, Bangalore, a body of the UGC had awarded “A” grade to the local Kamla Nehru College for Women.

CHANDIGARH

PANCHKULA
CONTRIBUTED: Officials of Haryana Roadways, Chandigarh depot, have contributed Rs 3.03 lakh to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for the victims of tsunami disaster. The General Manager of Haryana Roadways, Mr Kamlesh Kumar, said the money had been collected from the one day salary of the employees.

AWARDED: Dr Bajinder Singh, Assistant Professor in the Department of Nuclear Medicine, PGI has been awarded membership of the National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS) as an acknowledgement of his achievements in the field of nuclear medicine. He will receive the scroll at the convocation and the 44th annual conference of NAMS, which will be held at the Bombay Hospital Institute of Medical Sciences, Mumbai on April 30.

UNION POLL: The annual elections of the PGI employees union (Group B, C and D employees) will be held in April as the general body meeting of the Union unanimously rejected the proposal of its President Subhash Chander to postpone the elections by six months. Body also rejected the move to expel the primary membership of its general secretary of the union for six years. The union will also appoint the Chief electoral officer to conduct the elections for the eight posts of the office bearers of the union.

HARYANA

AMBALA
COLLEGE ELECTION: S.A. Jain College, Ambala City, management committee election was held on Tuesday. Mr Sushil Kumar Jain was elected president while Mr Kamlapat Jain secretary. Mr N.K. Jain is the additional secretary and Mr Om Prakash Jain treasurer. The election process was presided over by Mr Raj Kumar Jain.

PUBLIC ISSUE: The Punjab National Bank Senior Regional Manager, Mr K. Rai, said on Tuesday that PNB was all set to launch its follow-on public issue. Mr Rai said public offering of 8 crore equity shares of Rs 10 each at a price to be determined through book building would open for public from March 7 to March 11 and the allotment would be made within 15 days. Mr Rai said while the PNB would offer 8 crore equity shares to be public, the net offering would be 6.4 crore shares with 10 per cent reserved for the employees and another 10 per cent reserved for the existing shareholders.

Karnal
DEAD: A 20-year-old boy, Rohit, allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself at Sultanpur village on Monday night. His family members said he was mentally upset.

Rewari
DROWNED: A woman, Manisha (26), along with her baby reportedly fell into a canal near Juddi village, about 40 km from here, when she lost balance while walking along the banks of the canal here on Monday. Parvesh (6), who was walking besides his mother, also jumped into the canal. Both baby and Parvesh died while their mother survived. A case has been registered.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Shimla
DEMOLITION: As part of its campaign against unauthorised constructions, the Special Area Development Authority (SADA), Kufri, demolished an illegal structure here on Monday. It was constructed by Mr Tara Dutt. The SADA authorities warned that stern action would be taken against the guilty.

DELEGATION: A delegation of the Shimla Hotels and Restaurants Association here on Tuesday met the Tourism Minister, Mr G.S. Bali, and apprised him of the various problems being faced by the hospitality industry. They said, they were facing the problem water shortage and larger area was needed for parking. The minister assured the delegation he would do the needful.

Sundernagar
CONVICTED: In a judgement passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Mr Sureshwar Thakur, Mohan of Narol, district Kulu, has been convicted under the NDPS Act and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 10 years and pay a fine of Rs 1 lakh for possessing 4 kg of charas. He was nabbed by the police near Panarsa on November 14, 2003.