R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

HOSHIARPUR
Workshop held: A workshop on solid waste management sponsored by the Punjab State Council for Science and Technology was organised at SPN College, Mukerian, on Friday. Dr Rakesh Mohan Sharma, Principal of the college, inaugurated the workshop.

Fined: The District Consumer Forum has directed the New India Insurance Company to pay Rs 1.65 lakh with Rs 15,000 as interest with damages to Gajinder Singh, a former employee of Apollo Fibres Limited, Chohal. The complainant said he had got a policy for his wife, who got treatment from Hero DMC Heart Institute, Ludhiana. But the company refused to pay.

JALANDHAR
Liquor seized: The Bhogpur police has arrested Kishori Lal, Anil and Raj Kumar, all residents of Basti area here and seized 40 cases of illicit liquor from them. The accused allegedly smuggled it from Himachal Pradesh.

KAPURTHALA
Wife beaten up: Sheela, wife of Madho, and a resident of Sultanpur Lodhi, was admitted to the local Civil Hospital on Friday after allegedly been beaten up by her husband. Titli, a 12-year-old niece of Sanjeev, went missing. Sanjeev came to know that she was last seen with his wife. Sanjeev, after recovering the clothes of the girl from Sheela, beat her up severely.

Ludhiana
Workshop held: Aagaz Charitable Foundation, an NGO, working incessantly for the cause of downtrodden and weaker sections of society, has made a pioneering effort by organising a workshop on ‘Goal Setting and Time Management’ in collaboration with Orpheus (Mumbai-based Organisation). The trainer was Mr Arjun Vats (Management Trainer in the organisation). He has trained more than 2500 participants for middle and senior levels of managers. He has achieved excellent feedback from the participants and his clients are from ICICI Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Pritish Nandi Communications, MTNL and so on.

Book discussed: In a meeting of Punjabi Sabhyachar Academy, a recently written book ‘Sachi Kahani Batware Di’ (true story of Partition) written by Mr Ishar Singh Sobti was discussed). Dr S.N.Sewak read a detailed paper on the book while Mr Jagdev Singh Jassowal, Mr Shiv Singh and Prof Gurbhajan Gill comprised the presidium. The meeting, held at Punjabi Bhawan here was attended by many scholars and litterateurs of the city.

Dental camp: The Khalsa Welfare Society will hold a free dental check-up camp in Janj Ghar in Vishvakarma Colony Main Market here on August 21 in collaboration with Lifeline Hospital. Giving this information here Mr Balwinder Singh Billu, president of the society said the president of the district Akali jatha (Urban), Mr Hira Singh Gabria, would inaugurate the camp and the area councillor, Mr Sohan Singh Goga, would be the guest of honour at the camp.

SSB function: A function was organised at Synetic Business School (SBS) to mark the beginning of the Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGPM) course session. Mr Rajinder Gupta, MD, Trident Group, was the chief guest on the occasion. Mr S.K. Rai, MD - Hero Cycles Ltd and Dr D.V. Jindal were the guests of honour. Welcoming the new students Dr. M.A. Zahir, Chairman - SBS, stressed on adopting a teaching-learning pedagogy with great emphasis on student presentations, workshops, case studies and role plays.

No pest problem: Pest management plays an important role for obtaining economic yield of cotton. It is essential to educate farmers about the pest-management strategies. The PAU is operating in the cotton belt in three districts of Bathinda, Mansa and Ferozepore with the aim to create awareness among the farmers about the judicious use of insecticides. Keeping this in mind, last week, the PAU, under the IRM project, organised field days in the districts of Bathinda, Mansa and Ferozepore.

Training for youth: Punjab National Bank (PNB) has decided to begin training programmes for rural unemployed youth in the agro-processing industry. The bank, along with Nabard and the PAU, will organise a 10-day Entrepreneurial Development Programme on Post-Harvest Handling and Food Processing here next week. The idea is to acquaint young entrepreneurs with the scope of food processing business in India, to enhance their technical knowledge and practical skills for commercial ventures, said Mr Harwant Singh, general manager, PNB, Punjab zone.

Scholarships: The district administration has invited applications from disabled students/trainees for award of scholarships for 2005-06 under the national scholarship scheme for persons with disabilities awards constituted by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment by August 31, 2005. Giving details, the Deputy Commissioner said the applications should be submitted in the office of Assistant Commissioner (General) in prescribed form, which could be obtained from there.

VAT ‘irritants’: The Apex Chamber of Commerce and Industry has alleged that the irritants the government promised would end with the introduction of Value Added Tax (VAT) still remain. The chamber said delay in refund of excess amount paid was troubling the industry. The chamber also said that several items which should have automatically be included in the four per cent category were still being charged 12.5 per cent tax.

Nawanshahr
Science seminar: The District Education Department organised a district-level seminar on “A century of physics — achievements and challenges” at Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Rahon, 7 km from here, on Thursday. Mr Balihar Singh Bains, District Science Supervisor, gave away the prizes to the winners, said Ms Harkanwal Kaur, principal.

Raksha Bandhan: Rakhi was celebrated at the Ralla Mal Bhucher DAV Public School, here on Thursday, said Ms Madhu Sehgal, Principal.

PHAGWARA
Remains found: The police found partial remains of a skeleton of human body from sugarcane fields of nearby Mehtan village on Saturday. The fields belonged to Joginder Singh, who spotted the skeleton. The remains had been sent for a DNA test.

Mishap averted: An accident involving a train was averted here on Friday even though two rickshaws and one cycle were mangled. The incident occurred at Satnampura level crossing which was closed for Nawanshahr-Jalandar DMU train. No one was hurt.

Phillaur
Inaugurated: Local MLA Santokh Singh Chaudhry inaugurated a veterinary dispensary at nearby Haripur Khalsa village on Thursday.SDM Surinder Mohan Sharma, DSP Manjit Singh Dhesi, market committee chairman Rakesh Sharma also addressed.

Pathankot
Oral health: The local unit of the Indian Dental Association on Thursday launched “National oral health care programme-2005” here which was inaugurated by local MLA Ashok Sharma.

PATIALA
Distributed: The state government has started distributing cheques to the widows and senior citizens in 104 villages in Patiala district. Mr Malwinder Singh distributed cheques till July worth Rs 25 lakh to panchayats of 59 villages at Baran on Friday.

honoured: Gursharanjit Kaur Tiwana has been honoured by the American Biographical Institute with a commemorative medal in recognition of her selection as Woman of the Year for outstanding community and professional achievement. She was chosen for her poetic work ‘Nostalgia’.

Promoted: The Punjab PWD Draftsman Association (PPDA) has welcomed the promotions of circle head draftsman and chief draftsman to the posts of sub-circle engineers in accordance with quota reserved by the state government. In a press note,the PPDA patron, Mr Kirpal Singh, and the state president, Mr Gurcharan Singh Jaggi, hoped that in future also posts would be filled at the earliest.

Raikot
Nursing passouts: The students of the local Shri Guru Hargobind Nursing College gave a farewell party to the outgoing batch of GNM. Dr B.L. Bansal, director of the institute, urged the outgoing students to dedicate themselves to the service of sick. He said the role of the paramedical staff was more important than doctors.

HARYANA

Ambala
COURSE: A one week course on “Effective teaching” was conducted from August 16 to 20 at M.M. Engineering College, Mullana. The programme was organised by National Institute of Technical Teachers Training & Research, Chandigarh. The object of the programme was to develop requisite knowledge and skills to plan, organise, implement and evaluate instruction. About 50 faculty members of the college participated in the programme. Mr Tarsem Kumar Garg, Chairman M.M. Education Trust Group of Institutions, awarded certificated to the teachers.

CAMP: A blood donation camp will be organised in DAV College, Ambala City, on Monday in memory of Maj Amit Ahuja. According to the principal of the college, besides the college students, members of social organisations and voluntary blood donors will donate blood at the camp. The Deputy Commissioner Mr. J P Kaushik will inaugurate the camp.

CELEBRATED: The DAV Public Senior Secondary School, Ambala City, on Saturday celebrated the 61st birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi. Children took pledge to ban the use of polythene bags. Mr A.C. Chaoudhary, MLA Faridabad was the chief guest. 

URJA DIVAS: Akshay Urja Divas’ was celebrated at the local Panchyat Bhavan here on Saturday. Mr J.P. Kaushik, Deputy Commissioner, launched the celebrations to create awareness about renewable energy sources and technology.

KAITHAL
Drive against criminals: The Superintendent of Police, Mr S.P. Ranga, while addressing a press conference here on Friday after taking charge said his first priority would be to improve law and order situation and take steps to regulate road traffic. He said a special drive would be launched soon against the anti-social elements in the district.

Kidnapped: A woman, Poonam, has allegedly been kidnapped from Kaul village of this district. On a complaint lodged by Mahabir, husband of the victim, the police has registered a case under Sections 363, 366 and 120-B of the IPC against Ashok Kumar and Mukesh, both sons of Dharam Singh Luhar of Dachar, Sanju, Satish and Dinesh, all sons of Puran of Barna village, and wife of one Satish kumar, who used to visit their house.

SONEPAT
2 held: The police has arrested two youths, alleged to be the chain snatchers, and recovered gold chains, cash and other valuables from their possession. SP Anil Kumar Rao said here on Saturday that the youths, identified as Joginder and Sandeep, alias Sonu, residents of Kabirpur village, were involved in a number of incidents of chain snatching. The police had recovered three gold chains, one gold ring and other valuables worth Rs 30,000 from their possession. A motorcycle without registration number was also recovered.

Protest: A large number of residents of Thana Khurd village held a demonstration and raised slogans against the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) in front of a power house at Kharkhauda town, 19 km from here, on Saturday. The residents were protesting against the non-replacing of two transformers in the village, which were burnt several days ago. The residents alleged that they had been facing severe power crisis but all their complaints had fallen on deaf ears.