R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AHMEDGARH
DEATH ANNIVERSARY: The CPI observed 45th death anniversary of Baba Harnam Singh Kama Gata Maru at Gujjarwal village in Qila Raipur. Delivering his presidential address, Mr Kartar Singh Buani alleged that the Punjab Government had forgotten the contribution of the freedom fighters. Songs and skits/plays on the theme of patriotism directed by Gursharan Singh were also staged on the occasion.

HONOURED: Punjabi University, Patiala, has honoured Mr Amarjit Singh Parag, Principal, Shanti Tara College, for his outstanding performance as convener of youth festival held in December, 2000. He was presented a memento and Rs 1,100 at a function organised on the university campus.

SONG COMPETITION: The local unit of the Bharat Vikas Parishad organised a national group song competition for school and college students at DAV School recently. In senior category, the Rashtriya College for Women and MGMN Senior Secondary School won first and second prizes, respectively. In junior category, Government High School, Jandali Khurd, got first position, and the local DAV School came second. Mr Nusrat Akram Khan Bagga, Sports Minister, Punjab, gave away the prizes.

AMLOH
JUDICIAL CUSTODY: Eleven persons detained by the police on suspicion of being followers of Sant Piara Singh Bhaniarawala were produced before the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, on Wednesday and were sent in judicial custody under Sections 107 and 151.

GHERAO: The Punjab State Pharmacists’ Association has decided to gherao Dr Baldev Raj Chawla, Health Minister, Punjab, during his official visits. This was stated by Mr Sham Lal Sharma in a press note issued here on Thursday. He added that if their accepted demands were not implemented, the association would hold a rally at Lambi on November 1. The demands that have already been accepted include renaming of pharmacists as pharmacy officers, review of pay anomaly by the anomaly committee, and right of prescribing medicines to the pharmacists with 10-year experience in government service in the absence of medical officers. Mr Sharma said though the Health Minister had accepted these demands on January 3, The Finance Minister had endorsed his decision on May 23, and the Chief Minister had also approved their demands on June 22 in a meeting with the association, but these had not been implemented so far.

AMRITSAR
AGITATION: The office of the Deputy Controller (Local Audit) of Guru Nanak Dev University was closed on Wednesday in response to a call given by the Non-Teaching Employees Federation. The Executive Committee members led by its president, Mr Sukhminder Singh Randhawa, are agitating against the non-implementation of their accepted demands. They threatened to further continue their agitation, said Mr Amarjit Singh Bai, secretary of the association, in a press note issued here on Wednesday.

BARNALA
SEVEN HELD: The Barnala police has arrested seven members of an inter-state gang of car thieves and recovered 18 cars from them. This was stated here on Wednesday by Mr Kanwarjit Singh Sandhu, SSP. The members were identified as Titu, Jagjit Singh, alias Raju, Gurcharan Singh, Pawan Kumar, Sushil Kumar, Ashok Kumar, Roshan Lal, Sunil Kumar and Shamsher Singh.

BATHINDA
LAWYERS’ PROTEST: Members of the Bar Association, Rampura Phul observed a strike on Thursday. In a press note issued here, Mr A.S. Mundle said the strike was observed in protest against sacrilege and suicide attack on the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.

DORAHA
RAMLILA REHEARSALS: With Dasehra round the corner, the Rama Natak Club is holding rehearsals for Ramlila, to be performed from October 16 onwards. According to Mr Chander Shekhar, director, and Mr Krishan Lal Gupta, stage secretary, the characters performing the roles of Gods and Goddesses have been chosen purely on the basis of talent.

GURDASPUR
WATER SUPPLY: Raja Narinder Singh, Public Health Minister, addressing a public meeting at Rangar Nangal, 40 km from here, on Thursday said two lakh persons living in the rural areas of the district would be provided with drinking water facilities within this year. Nabard has sanctioned Rs 32 crore in this regard, he added. Earlier, he inaugurated a water supply scheme constructed at a cost of Rs 36.85 lakh.

JALALABAD
TWO ARRESTED: According to the police, two persons allegedly involved in the murder of Krishan Kumar have been arrested. They have been identified as Amrik Singh of Ludhiana and Manjeet Kaur. The police is still looking for three other suspects namely Pritpal Singh, alias Kuki, Paramjit Singh and Jagat Singh. The guns used for committing the crime were also seized by the police.

LUDHIANA
RALLY ON OCT 10: The Arya College Non-Teaching Employee Union has decided to hold a rally on October 10 demanding implementation of pension-cum-gratuity scheme and payment of arrears. Stating this in a press note, Mr Ashwini Thakur, president of the union, said the Punjab Government had assured that the arrears due to them from January, 1996, to January, 1998, would be paid to them soon but nothing has been done even still. He said that since the government was not conceding to their demands, they were forced to resort to forceful ways. It may be mentioned that the members of the union are on strike for the past two months and have given repeated representations to the DPI office. The members said that they would continue with the strike till their demands are fulfilled.

CHAMPION: Parteek Singh Virk of Tagore Public School, Aggar Nagar, gave a stupendous performance to win laurels for his school. Parteek Singh, a student of Class XI stood tall among others when he was declared champion in the super weight category in the Ludhiana District Boxing Championship held recently, according to a press note issued by the school principal.

MANSA
LAWYERS’ STRIKE: Lawyers here observed a strike on Thursday in protest against the burning of seven “birs” at Tarkhan Majra village in Fatehgarh Sahib. Mr Ajit Singh Bhangu, president, District Bar Association, at a meeting of the lawyers demanded the registration of a case under Section 302 of the IPC against the accused.

MOGA
STRICT ACTION: The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Kanwalbir Singh Sidhu, on Thursday warned representatives of the procurement agencies that if they were found involved in corruption while making procurement of paddy, strict action would be taken against them. He said these instructions had been issued following complaints of corruption levelled against them by the President of the Punjab unit of the BKU, Mr Ajmer Singh Lakhowal.

PATIALA
PADDY PROCUREMENT: Various procurement agencies have procured 1,08,707 metric tonne of paddy in the district till now, of which about 94,000 MT has been procured by government agencies, and nearly 14,000 MT has been procured by private procurement agencies. Stating this here on Thursday, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Jasbir Singh Bir, said the paddy procured last year by this time was about 62,000 MT. He urged the agencies that payment of paddy should be made within three days.

BLOOD DONATION CAMP: Students of Government Medical College (GMC) organised a blood donation camp at Rajindra Hospital on Thursday, said, Gupreet Singh Badal, Onkarbir Singh Rai and Baldev Singh Rai, the three medicos who organised the camp in collaboration with the State Bank of Patiala (SBOP). Fifty units of blood were collected in the camp. Dr Ravinder Singh, Principal of the GMC, inaugurated the camp.

SAMRALA
CONDEMNED: An urgent meeting of Sikh Budhijivi Council was held here on Wednesday under the presidentship of Dr Balwant Singh Chahal, Additional Secretary, Nankana Sahib Public School. The council hailed Jagdev Singh Talwandi, president, SGPC, for his statement that a case of murder should be registered against Baba Bhaniaranwala and those involved in burning the ‘Birs’ should be severely punished. A resolution condemning these unfortunate incidents was also passed at the meeting.

APPOINTED: Mr Sukhmohan Singh Chawla took over as the District Food and Supplies Officer, Samrala, here on Wednesday. The post of DFSO was lying vacant since March 31, 2001. The arhtiyas of the local mandi have welcomed his appointment.

NATAK MELA ON OCT 13: The Paras Rang Manch will organise third Natak Mela on October 13 at the Government Senior Secondary School. The mela will be inaugurated by Mr Amrik Singh Dhillon, MLA, and presided over by Mr Shamsher Singh Dullo, MP. Mr S. S. Brar, the local SDM, will be the guest of honour.

INAUGURATED: Kirpal Singh Khirnian, member, SGPC, inaugurated Balmiki Dharamshala at Baghaur village, 5 km from here, on Thursday. The village has also been provided streetlights and pucca roads, according to Mr Jasbir Singh Tiwana, sarpanch of the village. The Punjab Government will give a grant of Rs 25,000 for the dharamshala and bear the total expenses of the cremation shed, said Mr Khirnian.

SANGRUR
POLLUTION CAMP: A pollution check-up camp was organised by the local Lions Club here on Wednesday. The camp was inaugurated by Mr Manpreet Singh Chhatwal, DTO, by fixing a reflector on the back of a tractor-trailer. About 80 vehicles were issued certificates free of cost. A seminar on “pollution control” was also organised by the club at Mandir Sri Naina Devi here.

HARYANA

THREE HELD: The police has arrested Krishan of Machhri village and seized 24 bottles of countrymade liquor from his possession. The SP, Mr Paramjit Singh Ahlawat, told mediapersons here on Thursday that the police had also arrested Harish of Raj Mohalla and Bishan Dass of Kot Mohalla on a charge of satta gambling. A case under the Gambling Act was registered against them.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

CHAMBA
WILDLIFE: Mr Mohinder Pal, Conservator of Forests, has underlined the need to make people aware about the conservation of wildlife. He was speaking at a function organised by the Wildlife Wing of the Forest Department to mark the ‘wildlife week’ here on Thursday. He also appealed to the people to protect and conserve the endangered species. Various competitions on the themes focusing on wildlife were also organised during the week and prizes were distributed to the participants.

KULU
CRUSHED TO DEATH: Mahanti Devi (65) of Jarad village was crushed to death by a Mazda truck at Sharabai, near Bhuntar, 12 km from here, on Wednesday. The driver of the truck was absconding, the police said. A case has been registered in this regard.

SHIMLA
TRANSFERS: The Himachal Medical Officers Association (HMOA) has demanded that indiscriminate transfers of doctors should be stopped and their seniority taken into account while transferring them. In a letter to the Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal, the vice-president of the HMOA, Dr Sanjay Pathak, said in the absence of a well laid down transfer policy, the Health Department was in a perpetual state of flux as transfers of doctors were frequently ordered.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Himachal Pradesh Agriculture and Horticulture Service Association (HIMAHSA): president — Dr Vinod Sharma; senior vice-president — Dr Gian Thakur; general secretary — Dr I.D. Gupta; vice-president — Dr Devinder Thakur; joint secretary (general) — Dr K.R. Rattan; and joint secretary (finance) — Dr Vidya Sagar.