R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Amloh
POSTPONED: Elections to the Truck Union Bhadson scheduled for today was postponed till March 24 by Mr Novtej Singh, SDM, Nabha.

Amritsar
CONCLUDES: A four-week general orientation course organised by the Academic Staff College of Guru Nanak Dev University for college and university teachers concluded here on Saturday. Dr SP Gautam, Professor of Philosophy of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, while presiding over the valedictory function lauded the role of the University Grants Commission and the Academic Staff College in motivating the teachers to acquire knowledge and training for better teaching and research.

Bathinda
LOK ADALAT: As many as 171 out of 334 cases were solved at a quarterly Lok Adalat, which was organised at the local court complex on Saturday. Mr HS Dhaliwal, Civil Judge-cum-Secretary, District Legal Aids Authority, said a compensation of about Rs 8074480 was awarded.

Ferozepore
FIVE HELD: The Ferozepore police has arrested five persons in connection with a case in which a 12-year-old girl was forcibly married to a 45-year-old person. According to police sources, the girl named, Pritam Kaur, daughter of Mewa Singh belonging to Makhu was forcibly married to Gurmukh Singh in Gurdwara Bhagoke under Mallanwala police station.

Hoshiarpur
BODY FOUND: The body of Sandip, a Bihari beggar, was found in a pond near the cremation ground of Ahiyapur Tanda on Saturday. The police took the body into its custody and sent it to the Civil Hospital, Dasuya, for a post-mortem.

Jagraon
OPIUM SEIZED: The police has arrested Gurnam Singh of Barewal road, Ludhiana, seized 500 gm opium. A case under Section 18-61-85 of the NDPS Act has been registered.

Khanna
lecture: Mr Devinder Singh Chhina a lecturer of the G I T C, stressed the need to protect biodiversity while delivering a lecture on ‘Environment education to studets’. Mr Chhina was interacting with teachers at teachers training programme here at Government Girls Senior Secondary School on Saturday. Discussing global warming Mr Chhina said that more than one third of all species in several regions of the world were at the risk of extinction by 2050 if global warming was not checked immediately.

Mandi Gobindgarh
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the District Tax Bar Association, Fatehgarh Sahib: president — Mr Prem Kumar Bansal; secretary — Mr Anil Khullar; vice-President — Mr Subhash Satija joint secretary — Mr Sat Pal Garg and treasurer — Mr Sanjeev Sharma.

MEDICAL CAMP: In association with the Eye Relief Society, Desh Bhagat Ayurvedic College and Hospital Mandi Gobindgarh, organised a medical check-up camp on Thursday at Bhadson, village near here. As many as 242 patients were examined and medicines were provided free of cost. 

HELD: During the campaign launched by the district police against anti social elements, the Gobindgarh police has arrested Mr Arun Kumar, son of Ranjit Singh Dogra, a resident of Dasmesh colony, Mandi Gobindgarh who had been allegedly duping people by posing as a reporter of a weekly paper published from Mandi Gobindgarh. On a complaint, the police arrested the accused red-handed while he was allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 2000 from the complainant. The police has registered a case under Sections 384, 506 of the Indian Penal Code against the accused.

Nawanshahr
CAMP: A one-day NSS camp by the IITT College of Engineering, Pojewal, was organised at nearby Gogon village. As many as 60 volunteers participated in the camp and undertook projects like cleanliness of the surroundings, adult literacy classes and AIDS awareness seminar.

Pathankot
LOK ADALATS: Three Lok Adalats were organised here on Saturday by the subdivisional Legal Services Authority in the court complex. The adalats were presided over by the Additional Civil Judge (Senior Division), Mr R.K. Garg, and Civil Judges (Junior Division), Mr Ranjit Singh and Ms Kiran Bala. As many as 83 cases were taken by these adalats of which 58 were decided. An amount of Rs 22,71,614 was awarded to the litigants in the shape of a compromise.

REMANDED: Mr Raj Kumar Garg, Subdivisional Judicial Magistrate on Saturday remanded Rajinder Jain, allegedly involved in purchasing a car on the basis of a forged pay order in police custody till March 21, According to police sources, the accused was arrested on Friday by the Jammu and Kashmir police near Kudh while he was trying to give the police the slip.

Tarn Taran
NABBED: The local city police has nabbed Rachhpal Singh, a resident of Dhotian village falling under Sarhali police station who got himself released from Central Jail, Amritsar, by impersonation on July 7, 2004, A.32 bore along with four live cartridges too have been recovered from his possession. Mr Paramjit Singh Grewal, SSP, at a press conference said the accused, Rachhpal, was responsible for a number of killings.

CHANDIGARH

RELEASED: A book on “Advanced study in money and banking — theory and policy relevance in the Indian economy” by Dr Perminder Khanna, Reader of Economics in the Department of Correspondence Studies, Panjab University, was released by the Registrar of the university, Prof Paramjit Singh.

Mohali
BOOKED: Local police on Sunday booked five persons for allegedly assaulting a couple in Nayagaon last Friday. The couple, injured during the assault, was admitted to the local Civil Hospital. The two, Daljit Singh and his wife Surjit Kaur, had early last week given a written complaint to the SP (Mohali) stating that they owned a shop in Nayagaon but were fearing that it would be grabbed by some persons. The SP asked the DSP to inquire into the matter. The DSP was supposed to visit complainants on Saturday. The police booked Baj Singh, Yadvinder Singh, Rajwinder Singh Gurbachan Singh and Hardeep Singh Bhatia, all residents of Nayagaon under Sections 323, 452, 148, 149 of the IPC.

HARYANA

AMBALA
Competitions: Women Study Centre of Sohan Lal DAV College of Education, Ambala City, organised different competitions on its premises on Friday. The college Principal, Dr D.P. Asija, said the competitions like poster making, slogan and essay writing and paper reading contests pertaining to women related issues and problems were held. In essay writing competition, Sushil got first prize, Pooja and Gurpreet got second prize while Jai Prakash and Usha Devi received the third prize. In slogan writing contest, Jaspal got first prize, Rajiv bagged second prize and Vijay got third prize. Consolation prize was won by Sunil. In poster making competition, Anil got first prize, Ruchi stood second and Sunil Kumar was declared third while Deepak Singla was awarded consolation prize. In paper reading, Kirti bagged first prize, Gurvinder got second prize, Gurpreet won third prize and consolation prize was given to Ekta.

Inaugurated: UTI Bank Ltd inaugurated its third offsite ATM in the city on Saturday. Mr Harcharan Singh Bhatia, president, Wholesale Cloth Market Association, inaugurated the ATM located at Hotel Malik Regency. UTI Bank branch head, Ms Anu Joshi said the bank would open more ATMs in Ambala.

Sangharsh Vahini: Sangharsh Vahini will field candidates from all 31 wards of Ambala Sadar for the Municipal Council’s election. Its president, Mr Hira Lal Yadav, said an 11 member committee had been constituted to select candidates for the election. The members were Mr Brij Anand, Mr Kamlesh Gupta, Mr Kundan Lal Kashyap, Mr Omkar Singh, Mr Kanwaljeet, Mr Kuldeep Saxena, Mr Karamchand, Mr Pankaj Sharma, Mrs Sunila Vig and Mr Sunil Thakur. Mr Yadav said those who were interested in contesting the election should submit their application by March 22 at the Sangharsh Vahini office on the Ram Bagh road.

Appointed: The newly-appointed SP, Mr Rajinder Singh, said today that his first priority would be to uphold the credibility of the Police Department among general public and provide clean administration. He said all police officials of the district had been directed to impose law and order strictly and added that a concrete security plan would be chalked out to protect the banks with the help of its officials.

Nomination papers: About 165 candidates have filed their nomination papers for the Zila Parishad elections of 17 wards before the Additional Deputy Commissioner Mr M.L. Kaushik, who is also the returning officer for this election. The nominations for the member of block samiti, panch and sarpanches were also filed in the district. The election would be conducted in two phases on April 3 and 9.

Bhiwani
DIRECTIVE: The District Consumers Dispute Redressal Forum has ordered National Insurance Company, Bhiwani, to pay charges for accessories of a jeep belonging to Kailash Chand of Badi Mohalla which had been stolen. The company will bear all litigation charges borne by the consumer.

Jagadhri
ARRESTED: The local police arrested three stamp vendors who were allegedly black-marketing stamp papers here on Saturday. The demand for stamp papers has gone up in the wake of the ongoing nomination filing process for the panchayat and zila parishad elections.

Panipat
MEMORANDUM: Owners of nearly 150 private schools of the district under the aegis of the Haryana Shikhsha Vikas Sanghthan have handed over a memorandum to Deputy Commissioner Mehtab Singh demanding the abolition of Haryana education policy, 2003. The state president of the sangthan, Mr Shiv Narayan Verma, said the decision to close a large number of private schools should also be withdrawn.

Sirsa

DEAD: A member of the panchayat of Raghuana village was found dead on Friday in his native village. According to police sources, the deceased was identified as Thane Singh. Meanwhile, the police has registered a case.

Sonepat
DISTRIBUTED: Mr Anil Thakkar, Congress MLA, distributed as many as 22 bicycles among girl students at a function organised by the Education Department under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan, launched by the state government, on the premises of Government Senior Secondary School in Model Town here today. Mr Jatinder Singh Malik, another Congress MLA, also distributed 18 bicycles among the girl students of Dewru village.

Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the District Bar Association, Sonepat: president — Mr Bhagat Singh; vice-president — Mr Vikas Kundu; secretary — Mr Rajiv Khatri; assistant secretary — Mr Devinder Dahiya; and treasurer — Mr Anil Kumar Bhardwaj.

Yamunanagar
NOMINATIONS: A total of 235 nominations have been filed for 18 zila parishad wards and 671 for 132 block samitis. The elections to the zila parishad, block samitis and 459 panchayats are scheduled for April 3 and 9.

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

Giving the crippled a leg up

Raj Aggarwal, an NRI who hails from Ambala Sadar, is a man with a mission. Settled in the USA, he is keen to transform the lives of the physically challenged and do something constructive for the needy.

With this aim, he established the Lala Durga Charan Charitable Artificial Limb Centre at Mahavir Dal Hospital, Ambala Cantonment.

The centre was set up to provide artificial limbs to the physically challenged free of cost.

It is being run in collaboration with a well-known Jaipur-based organisation, the Bhagwan Mahavir Viklang Sahyata Samiti.

A media-shy person, he even avoids being photographed. "I want the focus to be on our effort so that other physically challenged persons can benefit from it, " he had said during a visit to this town.

According to P.C. Jain, who helps in organising medical camps for the physically challenged through Bhagwan Mahavir samiti, a series of medical camps are being held in Ambala, Saharanpur and Kalka. The camps serve the patients free of cost.

Aids like callipers are prepared by trained technicians who come specially from Jaipur to take part in the camps.

Gesture as good as gold

In a laudable show of honesty, Haryana Roadways staff recently handed back to a woman her lost bag containing gold ornaments worth over Rs 1 lakh and Rs 3400 in cash. Satya Devi of Mandi (HP) had boarded a Delhi-bound Haryana Roadways bus for Panipat.

She alighted from the bus at Jalandhar for refreshments. After a few minutes, the bus left for Delhi without her.On the way, the conductor and the driver of the bus noticed that the woman had not boarded the bus at Jalandhar. They, therefore, deposited her bag at the Panipat bus stand with a roadways employee, Rajpal Khurana. He informed his senior officers, including traffic manager Jaipal Singh, about the incident.

Later, the woman reached this bus stand and enquired about her bag. After ascertaining her identity, the bag was handed over to her in the presence of roadways officers. Her gratitude knew no bounds at this restoration of her valuables.

Missionary zeal

Rajendra Rana, a social worker who heads the Sarv Kalyankari Society, was recently honoured with the Himachal Shri award by the Himutkarsha Sahitya Sankrit Avan Jan Kalyan Parishad for his service to the needy.

Hailing from Baloh (Patlander) village of Hamirpur district, Rana is full of zeal to serve needy persons, particularly war widows, the children of defence personnel who laid down their lives for the nation and mahila mandals.

With his efforts, the society has so far arranged the marriages of 45 poor girls from various parts of the state. Rana is a father figure for these girls.

Hundreds of poor students too have been helped monetarily by Rana to pursue studies. His society has adopted 30 students from Class VI to plus two who are financially backward but diligent in studies.

Rana feels that poverty is the root cause of most suffering and that mankind owes it to the poor to do its best to alleviate their suffering.

The society has now decided to help the women folk by providing them various items that they need.

On getting the Himachal Shri, he says, “I succeeded in infusing a sense of purpose among the poor and needy and no award is greater than the satisfaction that I get from my work”.

Weight & watch

HEAVY GAIN: Kapil with his grandfather.

A three-and-a-half-year old child of Satrod village in Hisar district has become a subject of curiosity for the local residents. Named Kapil, the child is 3 feet 2 inches tall but weighs as much as 41.5 kg.

Interestingly, his weight is nearly three times that of his brother, Vikas, who is nearly three years older than him. Kapil weighed 3.7 kg at the time of his birth.

According to his parents, Vinod and Santosh, his growth was normal for a month or so initially. Later, he started putting on weight rapidly and his body developed cuts and muscles that are peculiar to wrestlers.

This worried his parents, who took him to the PGI hospital at Rohtak. The doctors carried out several tests on him, but no real disorder was detected.

Kapil’s grandfather, Sheo Ram, claims that a doctor even wanted to adopt the child and offered a hefty amount to the family.

“But we plainly refused to part with our child…After all, he is God’s gift to us and we will bring him up to the best of our capacity,” he asserts. Kapil is very attached to his grandfather, whose word is law for the child.

Showing all the makings of a sumo wrestler, Kapil’s diet of fruits, milk and ghee-laden chapattis is surely meant to give him more muscle power. His aversion for spicy food make cooked vegetables a no-no for him.

He has not started going to school as yet as he finds it difficult to walk long distances. Schooling may have to wait but he sure has a head start in the matter of weight.

Contributed by Sunit Dhawan, Rahul Das, Dharmendra Joshi and Chander Shekhar Sharma