R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Amritsar
Army recruitment rally: An Army recruitment rally will be held from December 5 to December 19 at Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district for the youths of Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Nawanshahr district.

BATHINDA
Function: A function to celebrate National Legal Week was organised at Mahant Gurbanta Dass School for deaf and dumb on the Tuesday. Presiding over the function, the District and Sessions Judge, Mr K.C. Puri, said this campaign had been launched to sensitise doctors, patients and others with regard to the rights and needs of the mentally ill. 

FARIDKOT
Workshop: The Bharatiya Gyan Vigyan Samiti will organise a week-long national-level workshop at Jaito from Saturday to work out schemes and plans to promote the Sakharta campaign in the country. More than 100 delegates from different parts of the country are likely to participate in the workshop.

Health week: All those suffering from mental ailments will be extended free legal services, said Mr U.S.Gera, District and Sessions Judge, while addressing the inaugural session of Mental Health week at Ferozeshah village, on Tuesday.

Hoshiarpur
NRI cheated: A case of cheating an NRI by his mother, brother and sister-in-law of local Piplanwala locality was reported in city police station on Tuesday. According to police sources, NRI Pritpal Singh in his complaint said he had been working in Malaysia for the past 10 years. After returning to home he came to know that his mother Surinder Kaur, brother Satwinder Singh and sister-in-law Aprint Kaur had sold the ancestral land at Kantia and Piplanwala village by producing his fake power of attorney in the court.

Ban orders: Mr D K Tiwari, Deputy Commissioner, has reimposed Section 144 CrPC in the district. He has banned the assembly of five and more persons, taking out of processions without permission , shouting of slogans, carrying of unlicensed firearms and sharp-edged weapons in public places in the district. He has also banned the use of military colour uniforms, motor cycles, jeeps and cars by the civilians.

Jalandhar
4 youths caught: The police on Tuesday arrested four youths in an inebriated condition when they tried to snatch weapons of the police PCR van outside a local hotel. The four youths, Lakhwinder Singh, Paramdeep Singh, Sarbjot Singh and driver Kulwinder Singh were arrested by the police and taken to hospital for medical examination. A case under Sections 186, 353, 506, 511 of the IPC has been registered.

destitute’ home: Under a noble initiative, senior citizens and orphans will soon have a home, ‘Apna Ghar’ here with facilities like dispensary, school and vocational training institute among others. The Rotary Club of Jalandhar Greater has taken the initiative to build a home for needy orphans and the aged at Canal Road, Godaipur, Jalandhar. Bhoomi poojan ceremony was held on Sunday at the proposed land site.

KHANNA
Laurels for A.S. College: Boxing team of A.S. College, Khanna, won third position in the Punjab University Boxing Inter-college Team Championship by winning two gold and five bronze medals in individual events, held at Panjab University, Chandigarh from October 7 to 9. Mr Jarnail Singh won the gold medal in heavy weight and Gurcharn Singh won the gold in fly weight category. Shiv Kumar Kirandep and Meval Singh have won bronze medals in bantam, light weight and feather weight categories, respectively. 

Invited: Dr S.S. Vithal, national vice-president of the Indian Institute of Homoeopathic Physicians, has been invited as chief speaker at the national homoeopathic seminar for North East doctors to be held at Guwahati on October 22 and 23. Dr Vithal will speak on homoeopathy for acute ailments and homoeopathic management of paediatrics. He is the first homoeopath from Punjab who has been given this opportunity.

Nawanshahr
Decision hailed: Dr Jaspal Singh Randhawa, secretary, Guru Nanak Dev University Principals Association, in a press statement here on Tuesday hailed the statement of the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, in which he had said that the Congress government would fulfill the pre-poll promise of granting pension to the staff of Government aided colleges along with other remaining promises soon. 

Two arrested: Tarsem Singh and Gurdip Singh have been arrested under Sections 8, 9 of the Prevention of Corruption act, for allegedly trying to bribe the SSP, Mr Arun Pal Singh on Monday.

Office-bearers: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local unit of Punjab and Chandigarh Patrakar Parishad: president — Mr Rakesh Nayyar; vice-president — Mr Vivek Markanda; secretary — Mr Vasdev Pardesi; joint secretary — Mr Amit Sharma and treasurer — Mr Bahadur Chand Arora. 

Phagwara
Smack seized: The Sadar police on Tuesday arrested Amar Sodhi, alias Babbu and seized 250 grms of smack worth Rs 1 lakh. The arrested was made at a naka at Darveshpind village on the Phagwara-Jandiala road. 

BJP meeting: Punjab BJP president Avinash Rai Khanna has summoned a state executive meeting of the party on October 15 at Nangal. Stating this, Mr Khanna told newsmen here on Tuesday that the meeting would finalise the programme of BJP national president Lal Krishan Adwani, who will be visiting Jalandhar on October 23 to address a rally of Punjab BJP SC/ST Morcha. 

Phillaur
Disrupted: Up line rail traffic on the Ludhiana-Jalandhar rail section remained disrupted for about 20 minutes following panel failure at the railway station here on Tuesday. Railway sources told the correspondent that Amritsar bound 2029 up Shatabadi Express was stopped between Ladhuwal and Phillaur railway station for 15 minutes. Later, it proceeded with manual pilot arrangements. BJP MP from Amritsar Navjot Sidhu and Punjab BJP president Avinash Rai Khanna were travelling in the same train. 

CHANDIGARH

Brand recognition: Leading players in manufacturing sectors, including FMCG, automobile, textiles, light engineering goods and electronics will showcase their products at the first ever industrial expo to be organised in Chandigarh from November 11 to 13.

Mohali
CONDEMNED: Mr Manohar Singh Gujral, a resident of Phase 9, through a press note condemned the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA) for issuing notices to residents for planting hedges outside their houses. Stating that the hedges were not blocking traffic movement on the roads outside their houses, Mr Gujral pointed out that PUDA should instead focus its energies on solving chronic problems like stray cattle and cleanliness in the township. 

COMPLAINT: Residents of wards 17 and 18 here have complained to the Punjab State Electricity Board that the electronic meters installed by them are faulty and are giving inflated bills. The meters “run” even when no power was being consumed, said the residents in a press note adding that the electronic meters procured by the board should be checked for faults. 

PENSIONERS’ DEMAND: Mr S.S. Jaspal president of the pensioners and Senior Citizens Welfare Association, has stated that the Punjab Government has discriminated against those persons who retired before 1.4. 2004. Stating that according to a new notification, the dearness allowance has been added to the pension of those who retired after 1.4.2004, Mr Jaspal said those who retired before this date were getting less pensi on than the others. He demanded that the Punjab Government should take action and remove this anomaly. 

DEMAND: Members of the All-India Defence Brotherhood here have demanded that Mohali be made a district. Brig Harwant Singh (retd), president of the brotherhood, said Mohali was becoming one of the most prominent cities of the state and was now the centre of major sports, industrial and commercial activities. He added that its subdivision status was now not able to do justice to the growing needs of the people who were shifting here to take advantages of the expanding opportunities. 

AUTONOMY MOVE: Members of the Punjab School Education Board Retired Officers Welfare Association have shown their solidarity with the board employees agitating against the move of the Punjab Government to end the autonomy of the board. Mr Jagmohan Sharda, general secretary of the association, has said the employees demand for retaining the board’s autonomy were genuine and should be met.

HARYANA

KAITHAL
‘Sanjhi‘ competition: To preserve the old cultural heritage of Haryana, the Public Relations Department organised a ‘Sanjhi’ competition at Mini Secretariat here on Tuesday. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr R.C. Verma, gave away prizes. A large number of women artistes from different parts of the district participated in the competition. 

KARNAL
Stray animal menace: The problems of 132 kv power house colony were discussed at the meeting of grid TL sub-unit of the All Haryana Power Corporations Workers’ Union here on Tuesday. The president, Mr Surinder Singh, and the secretary, Mr Narender Singh, of the sub-unit said the colony was facing the menace of stray animals. Besides, almost half portion of the colony had not been whitewashed and maintenance was inadequate. 

REWARI
Allocated: The Haryana Government has made an allocation of over Rs 5 crore for the construction of a link canal which will connect JLN canal with the Masani barrage. The Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, will lay the foundation stone of the link canal at Sangwari village on October 23. 

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Bilaspur
Truckers warned: The Additional Superintendent of Police, Mr Santosh Patial, has warned all dhaba owners, workshop mechanics and truck drivers to observe rules and regulations and traffic norms. He said the police had launched a campaign against violation of traffic rules. 

Kangra
Board secy: Mr K.D. Lakhanpal on Tuesday assumed the charge of Secretary, Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education, in place of Dr Sunil Choudary who was transferred recently. Mr Lakhanpal was earlier ADM Hamirpur. 

Shimla
Dhumal’s challenge: Former Chief Minister and BJP leader P.K. Dhumal, on Tuesday challenged Mr Virbhadra Singh to convene the Assembly session before Divali so that important issues unemployment, price rise and deteriorating law and order situation could be raised in the House. In a statement issued here, the BJP leader said it was surprising how the Chief Minister was accusing the BJP of failing to raise important issues in the Assembly. 

Campaign: To draw the attention of the government towards the problem of man-animal conflict in the state the Gian Vigyan Samiti will launch a state-wide campaign to ensure that it becomes an issue in the ensuing panchayat elections. The data collected by samiti, which organised a farmers’ conferences to discuss the issue, here on Sunday revealed that as many as 2269 out of the total 3000 panchayats in the state were affected by the problem of human-animal conflict in one form or the other. 

Protest rally: The Lok Morcha, a joint forum of the Left organisation, will organise a state-level rally on October 27, here in protest against the ruinous policy of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation of the UPA government. Addressing a press conference, here on Sunday, Mr Kashmir Singh, convener of the morcha, said the purpose of the rally would be to educate people about the policies which would spell doom for the country’s economy in the long run.