R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Amritsar
HELD WITH GANJA: The district police claims to have recovered 6.15 kg of ganja. A police party headed by the Sub-Inspector of the Vijay Nagar police station laid a naka and apprehended Sanjay, a resident of Patna, in Bihar. A case was registered against him under the NDPS Act, at the Sadar police station, Amritsar.

BODY FOUND: The body of Gurpreet Singh, alias Kaka (16), son of Balwinder Singh, was found under mysterious circumstances from the border village of Pandori. The Ramdas police has registered a case. The police suspect that Gurpreet Singh may have died of electric shock.

Bathinda
ARRESTED: The Kotwali police on Saturday arrested a man posing as CBI Inspector. The accused is a resident of the Guru Nanak Pura locality here. A woman of the locality had lodged a complaint against him. She said that the man had extorted thousands of rupees from her on the pretest of getting her a job in the CBI.

BOOKED: Three Nihangs have been booked for sodomising a 14-year-old boy in Talwandi Sabo. All of them are absconding. Sources said they first kidnapped the boy and then sodomised him. The police has found the boy.

RALLY: Various local organisations along with Rajasthani migrants to take out a rally on the issue of Pawani Bai, who was allegedly tortured and raped in police custody on Saturday. They were demanding action against “accused police officers”.

Dera Bassi
BLOOD CAMP: The Bharat Vikas Parishad here organised a blood donation camp where 84 people donated blood. Mr Avtar Singh, chairman of the Sukhmani Institute of Medical Research, was the chief guest, while Mr N.S. Sangha, the SDM presided over the function. The president of the Municipal Council, Mr Amrit Pal Singh was also present. A team of PGI doctors, led Dr Usha Rao, conducted the camp. TNS

Hoshiarpur
SMO DEAD: Dr Inder Mohan Sud Senior Medical Officer and In charge of Civil Hospital, Dasuya, of this district died at Ghai hospital Jalandhar on Saturday. He was 54 and is survived by his wife one son and a daughter. At a condolence meeting at local Civil Hospital, Mr Romesh Chander Dogra, Health & Family Welfare Minister, Punjab, Dr K.K. Sharma, Director Ayurvedic, Punjab, Dr G.P.S. Bedi, Senior Medical Officer and many others condoled the death of Dr Inder Mohan Sud and paid tributes to him.

TB DRUGS: To make the state free from tuberculosis (TB) drugs are being provided free of cost to all its patients in the state under the revised National Tuberculosis Programme. This programme had now been extended to all the districts of Punjab, said Mr Romesh Chander Dogra, Health and Family Welfare Minister, Punjab, after inaugurating a free medical check up camp organised by Shri Harinam Sankirtan Trust at local Nai Abadi area here on Saturday.

DOWRY VICTIM: Beant Kaur, wife of Joginder Singh, who was allegedly set on fire by her mother-in-law and sister-in-law on Friday, was struggling for life at Civil Hospital, Tanda. Beant Kaur (27), daughter of Dalip Singh of Bains Avan village said that she was married to Joginder Singh of Prempur about three years ago. She alleged her in-laws used to torture her for bringing less dowry. She said on Friday morning her mother-in-law Nirmal Kaur and sister-in-law Paramjit Kaur sprinkled kerosene on her clothes which caught fire. A case under Section 498 A, 307, 34 IPC against her husband Joginder Singh, mother-in-law Nirmal Kaur and sister-in-law Paramjit Kaur has been registered. The police has also arrested Paramjit Kaur, wife of Kamaljit Singh.

Kharar
CONFERENCE: The third state-level annual conference of the Chandigarh Punjab Union of Journalists (CPUJ) will be held at Desh Sewak auditorium in Sector 29, Chandigarh, on May 2. It will be inaugurated by the Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh. Mr Venod Sharma, Excise and Taxation Minister, Haryana, Mr Surinder Singla, Finance Minister, Punjab, and Mr Avtar Henry, Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, Punjab, would be the guests of honour. 

LUDHIANA
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Private-Aided School Management Association: president — Mr Daljinder Singh; secretary — Mr Mohanlal Ropar; senior vice-president — Mr Narinder Jain; secretaries — Mr Parminder Singh, Mr Mohinder Singh and Mr Surinder Kumar; and cashier — Mr Ved Gupta. 

Pathankot
DOWRY CASE: Mr R.K. Garg, Subdivisional Judicial Magistrate, here on Saturday summoned three family members of in laws of Sunita Devi, a local resident, for maltreating her for bringing less dowry. The accused were summoned under Sections 406-498 A of the IPC. According to victim she was married on October 15, 1998, with Om Parkash, a resident of Mukerian. She alleged that Labhu Ram, her father in law and Satya Devi, mother in law harassed her for bringing less dowry. She was also beaten up mercilessly.

Patiala
RETIREMENT: Dr Raj Kumar Sharma, Principal, Government Mohindra College, Patiala, retired from service on Saturday. Dr Sharma undertook the task of renovation and beautification of the college campus, added new lecture theatres, got facade lighting installed and started UGC-sponsored job-oriented courses. He was given a warm send-off by the college faculty. 

Phagwara
SIX INJURED: Six picnickers travelling in a Toyota Qualis, five women, sustained injuries when their vehicle overturned on GT road near Mehtan village, near here, on Friday. They were being treated at the local Civil Hospital. They were returning to Prem Nagar from a picnic spot on the Jalandhar-Nakodar road when the vehicle overturned.

CHANDIGARH

INAUGURATED: The 6th Annual Registry Meet of the Indian Society of Vascular and Interventional Radiology, being organised by the Department of Radiodiagnosis and Imaging, was inaugurated by the Director, PGI, Prof K.K. Talwar on Saturday. In this two-day meet the data of all the vascular and non- vascular radiological interventions done all over the country in the preceding year will be analysed and discussed. 

MOHALI
WELCOMED: The Mohali Industries Association (MIA) has welcomed the measures announced in the credit policy by the Reserve Bank of India for the year 2005-06. Mr Gurmeet Singh, president of the association, expressed satisfaction here on Saturday over the increased credit limit to farmers by double the amount through Produce Marketing Scheme and at the same time giving access to external commercial borrowings to promote investment in commercial sector 

AIDS CAMP: An AIDS awareness camp was organised by the Disabled Persons Welfare Organisation, Punjab, on the premises of Government Homoeopathic Dispensary in Phase-VII here on Saturday. It was inaugurated by Mr Phoolraj Singh, municipal councillor, and Mr Varinder Sandhu, patron of the organisation. Dr B.S. Chandhok, SMO in charge of the dispensary, spoke on the measures that could be adopted to prevent the disease.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Bilaspur
HOUSE TAX: The local Elder Citizens Association has urged the state government to pass orders for waiving house tax for the residents of Bilaspur town by the Nagar Parishad. As such declarations were repeatedly made by local MLA Tilakraj Sharma and Forest Minister Ramlal Thakur in this regard. A resolution to this effect was passed at a meeting of the association, presided over by Col A.P. Gautam (retd) here, on Thursday.

HEALTH CAMP: Mr Tilakraj Sharma, MLA, inaugurated a health care camp at Kothi Tobka village. It was organised by the Asha Kiran the Sangini Sangh, both social organisations ‘Medical Specialists from teh Sanjivini Hospital, Sunder Nagar, examined 250 patients and the organisations provided medicine to the patients free of cost.

Chamba
DALITS BACK FARMERS: The Bharatiya Dalit Sahitya Akademi has supported the indefinite dharna by farmers of five panchayats in the district. Mr Krishan Lal Shah, president, district unit of the akademi, said on Saturday these farmers were justified in their demand for compensation for the land lost due to the construction of the Chamera project (stage-II).

Dharamsala
FUNCTION: Kendriya Vidyalaya, Yol Cantonment, held its annual prize distribution function here on Saturday. A cultural programme featuring saraswati vandana, Nepali group dances, a Sanskrit play and Haryanvi group dances was organised. ‘Pheri dance’ was declared the best item. Ms Madhu Chopra, wife of Major-Gen Vinod Chopra, was the chief guest.

Kumarhatti
LIQUOR SMUGGLING: A Dagshai resident, Uttam Chand, and his two accomplices from nearby Anhech have been arrested for allegedly smuggling liquor. They were nabbed near Shamti at around 11.30 pm on Friday night during a special naka by the CIA staff, Solan. As many as 468 bottles of liquor and 12 bottles of foreign-made liquor were seized from the van (HP-02-2731) in which they were travelling.

FAKE CDs SCAM: The Kasauli police busted a fake CDs racket on Friday. Mr Shiv Rattan Kumar Sharma from Arhat Bazaar and owner of S.K. Electronics, was arrested for giving pirated and obscene CDs on rent. A case under Section 63 of the Copyright Act has been registered.

Kulu
EYE CAMP: An eye camp will be organised at the Eye Hospital, Raison, in this district from May 9 to 18 by the National Society of Prevention of Blindness. A team of doctors from AIIMS, Delhi would conduct the camp.

Nahan
SCHOOL FUNCTION: Speaker G.R. Musafir, while presiding over the annual prize distribution function of G.S.S.S, Naina Tikker, in Sirmaur on Friday asked students to opt for vocational courses. The Vice-Chancellor of Horticulture and Forestry University, Nauni, Dr Jagmohan Chauhan, said discipline in life was the key to success.

INAUGURATED: The Speaker, Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha, Mr G.R. Musafir, on Thursday laid the foundation stone of an Ayurvedic dispensary at Dahan Rajgarh subdivision, Sirmaur. He also inaugurated recently constructed portion of high school there. The Speaker announced to upgrade the school upto the high school level. He sanctioned Rs 5 lakh for the school building. At Badhawdhar, he announced to launch a regular bus service from Badhawdhar to Rajgarh.