R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Abohar
ORDERS: In compliance with the order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Mr K.A.P. Sinha, District Magistrate, Bathinda, has ordered to ban manufacture and use of polythene bags having 20 microns or recycled plastic bags. All the wholesale dealers of the district should get their firms registered with the Punjab Pollution Control Board within 10 days of the order, according to a press note here on Tuesday.

Bathinda
FAST: Members of the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union (PCCTU) have decided to observe fast on March 17 and 18 in their respective colleges to protest against the non-acceptance of their long-pending demands, Prof N.K. Gosain, district president, PCCTU, said here on Wednesday.

Hoshiarpur
BODY FOUND: The body of an unidentified youth was found from the forest area of Jahan Khelan here on Tuesday. The body was sent to the local Civil Hospital for post-mortem.

Dead: Parminder Singh of Bodal village succumbed to his bee bites at the local Civil Hospital, Dasuya, on Monday. According to the police, he was bitten by bees while he was working in the fields at his village on Sunday.

Malerkotla
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Shri Guru Ravidass Naujawan Sabha: president-Mr Krishan Singh; vice-president-Mr Ram Lal; general secretary-Mr Varinder Kumar; and cashier-Mr Kamal Kumar.

FAREWELL: Staff of Primary School Khedi Chenlan here on Tuesday organised a farewell party in the honour of Ms Dharam Kaur, in charge of the school, on her retirement. She retired after putting in 36 years of service at the school.

Nawanshahr
URGED: Mr Surinder Mohan Tejpal, member, subdivision level grievances committee, has raised the problems of traffic and eve-teasing at committee meeting. He urged the local administration to install traffic lights at Chandigarh Chowk and depute a constable at Shaheed Bhagat Chowk to regulate traffic. He also urged the administration to ensure regular police patrolling on Rahon road and Pandora Mohalla to check the menace of eve-teasing.

PATIALA
Medical camp: A medical camp to detect diabetes, thyroid, hormonal imbalance and impotence and will be held on March 19 from 9 am to 1 pm at Brain Diseases Hospital, here. Dr Surya Kant Mathur, DM, endocrinology, PGI, Chandigarh, will conduct the camp. Laboratory tests will be done free of cost at the camp.

Astrological camp: A two-day free astrological counselling camp and All-India Astrological Conference is being organised under the aegis of “The Times of Astrology,” New Delhi, a renowned astrological magazine edited by Mrs Rajeshwari Shanker.

CHANDIGARH

Mohali
COURSE: The Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology of the National Institute of Pharmaceutical ducation and Research (NIPER) here will organise a two-day intensive course in Histopathlogy: Spontaneous and induced Lesions in wistar Han: Bri Rats” from March 18. According to a NIPER press release, Dr Klaus Weber from RCC Ltd, Switzerland, has agreed to deliberate and coordinate the workshop, which will focus on several instances of induced as well as spontaneous lesions in almost all organs of rodent species. It will be inaugurated by Dr K.K. Talwar, Director, PGI, Chandigarh, at the institute convention centre.

HARYANA

Hisar
DEMANDED: The District Bar Association has sought the establishment of a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court at Hisar. Mr Jaimal Singh and Mr Ashwini Kumar, president and secretary, respectively, of the association, submitted a charter of demands to Mr Justice M.M. Kumar of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in this regard here on Tuesday. Mr Justice Kumar was in the city to inspect the local judicial complex. Apart from this, the association has demanded the establishment of a transport tribunal, a CBI court, an environmental court and a debt-recovery tribunal in the city.

Karnal
ESSAY COMPETITION: Naveen Yadav of Government Postgraduate College, Karnal, Gautam Sharma of Government College, Jind, and Priyanka Kamra of Government College, Gurgaon, have been adjudged first, second and third, respectively, in a science essay writing competition. They won prizes of Rs 5,000, Rs 3,000 and Rs 2,000. The competition was organised by the Haryana State Council for Science and Technology on March 11.

Sonepat
Clash: At least four students were injured, two of them seriously, when rival groups clashed with each other on the premises of the CR State College of Engineering at Murthal, 8 km from here, on Wednesday. The injured students are Vinay, Sanjeev and Lok Pal.

SUICIDE: Harilal, a worker, is reported to have committed suicide by taking celphos tablets in his house in New Jiwan Nagar here on Wednesday. According to a report, he took this step after his second wife had deserted him. The police has sent the body for the post-mortem examination.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Bilaspur
BAN ORDERS: Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Magistrate Subhasheesh Panda has enforced Section 144, IPC, in and around Shah Talai areas with immediate effect till April 14. He has banned carrying of all types of arms and ammunitions and explosives in the area. This has been done to ensure peace and safety during the Baba Balaknath fair which commenced from Monday.

Chamba
BLANKETS DISTRIBUTED: The National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) Ladies Welfare Association, Chamera (Stage-III), distributed woollen blankets among 975 poor people, including windows, handicapped and old-age persons identified from 25 villages falling in the Durgathi and Aura panchayats in the district at a function at Durgathi on Wednesday.

Nurpur
DRIVER CONVICTED: Mr Yashwant Singh, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Nurpur, on Tuesday convicted Kamal Kishore, a driver of Palampur Dhar private bus, for rash and negligent driving and sentenced him to two years’ imprisonment and fined him Rs 2,500. The police had registered an FIR under Sections 279, 337 and 304 (a) against the accused when he was driving a Palampur-Pathankot bus which fell into a gorge due to rash driving on June 29, 1997, near Kotla in which four passengers were killed.

PROTEST: Members of the local Bar Association on Wednesday abstained from court work in protest against the imposition of service tax on the lawyers by the state government in the coming financial year. They also held a meeting and demanded withdrawal of the services.