R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Chandigarh
Panel to look into BJP's poor performance: The Punjab BJP today decided to form a committee to look into the reasons behind the defeat of party candidates in 11 assembly segments. The meeting was presided over by state unit president Ashwani Sharma. Those who attended the meeting included legislature party leader Bhagat Chunni Lal, general secretaries Kamal Sharma and Manjit Singh Rai and former state presidents Balramji Dass Tandon, Madan Mohan Mittal, Prof Brij Lal Rinwa and Prof Rajinder Bhandari.

Ludhiana
Medical camp: A free eye-checkup camp was organised by Bharat Dharm Prachar Mandal, Ludhiana, at its 54th meeting. Free eye operations were also conducted during the camp. Free dental and health checkup camps were held with the help of Ved Mandir Dental Hospital and Bhaskaranand Homeopathic.

Ghazal manch’s monthly meeting: Monthly meeting of the Punjabi Ghazal Manch was held at the Punjabi Bhawan. It was presided by poet Sardar Panchhi. He said that schools in Punjab must allow students to converse in Punjabi, and the government needs to take steps about such unacceptable practices.

Tarn Taran
Heroin seized: The police has arrested Neelam Kumar Neelu, a resident of Patti with 260 gm of heroin. The consignment is worth Rs. 1.25 crore in the international market.

DEHRADUN

Kumaon Briefs
Miscreants poison fish to death: A case of hundreds of fish being poisoned has come to light in the Kaladhungi-Ramagar stretch of Nainital district. Some miscreants allegedly killed hundreds of fish in the Baur and Khicdi streams by adding poison to their waters. The Khichdi stream flows in Dola and the Patkot area of Ramnagar while the Baur stream covers the Kotabagh area. Villagers have complained that instead of fishing with nets and chords, people are resorting to mass killing of fish by adding poison to the waters. They have sought that officials of the Forest Department should check the malpractice.

Water crisis in Haldwani localities: A large number of localities in Haldwani are facing water crisis as tubewells that supply water to them have becoming non-functional. The residents of areas like Heera Nagar, Rajpura, Oonchapul and Ramdi Aan Singh have complained that they are not being supplied water over the past 10 days. This has led to inconvenience to them. Similar problems are also being faced by residents of Deval Talla, Gayatri Nagar, Sadbhavna Colony, Talli Haldwani, Mota Haldu, Kusumkheda, Gora Padav and Gaula Paar areas. The people are agitated over the fact that there is no alternative arrangement put in place to provide respite to them.

Man robbed of cash, cellphone: Two miscreants allgedly robbed a government employee of Rs 10,000 in cash and cellphone in the Bhimtal area of Nainital district. Leelambar Arya is a resident of Hadiya village. The incident took place when he was on his way to home.

Woman run over by vehicle: A woman was run over by a vehicle in the Sitarganj area of Udham Singh Nagar district. Suna Singh (32), a resident of Nepal, was travelling in a bus. She had got down from the vehicle that had been parked near an eating joint on Kitcha Road to help her son relieve himself when she was hit by a speeding vehicle. She died on the spot. Police investigations are on in the matter.

‘Banks must offer credit to small units’: Almora District Magistrate DS Garbyal has expressed displeasure at a poor progress made towards increasing the credit deposit ratio in the district. At a meeting held on Saturday, Garbyal pointed out that the banks are not moving towards spending money for improving the lot of the people in proportion to the deposits being made in the banks. He suggested that the banks must offer more credit towards starting small production units so that along with providing the economic strength to the people, the CD ratio also goes up. He also called for the early disposal of applications put up for loans.

(Compiled by Rajeev Khanna)