R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

BATHINDA
EYE CAMPS: The Divine Eye Research Foundation, an NGO, organised three eye check-up camps at slum area, BVS Sainik School and Government Primary School, Dhobiana Basti, here, on October 2, 4 and 6, respectively. In a press note issued here on Saturday, Mr R. Narula, president of the foundation, said Dr Pritpal Singh, Dr P.K. Bansal and Dr Rupinder Puri, examined about 512 persons during the camps. The camps were organised to pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi.

MASS MARRIAGES: The RCC Welfare Club will organise marriages of five poor girls and organise a “Jagaran” on October 20. In a press note issued here on Saturday, Mr Hans Raj Mithoo, office-bearer of the club, said the marriages would be performed at the Guru Nanak Club.

NFL PROFIT: The city unit of National Fertilizers Limited (NFL) earned a record profit of Rs 27.31 crore in financial year 2000-2001. Mr M.K. Varshney, general manager of the NFL unit here, in a press note issued here on Saturday, said in the first five months the units at Nangal, Panipat, Bathinda and Vijaypur produced 12.89 lakh tonnes of urea. He added that the Bathinda unit was recently given National Safety Award for 1999.

HOSHIARPUR
THEFT: A few miscreants broke open the lock of the main gate of the house of Mr Jagdish Saini, at Preet Nagar, Darapur Tanda, and stole Rs 45,000 cash and gold ornaments weighing 19 tolas while he and his wife were away on Friday. Mr Saini is posted as a District Public Relation Officer in Jalandhar. The Tanda police has registered a case under Sections 457 and 380, IPC.

KHAMANO
EYE CAMP: A free eye operation camp was organised at Jatana Newan village, near here by Shaheed Baba Hari Singh, Baba Mast Ram Prabandhak committee and village gram panchayat. About 450 patients were examined and about 75 eye operations were performed. The operations were performed by a special team of doctors from Rajan Memorial Eye Hospital, Jalandhar. This camp was inaugurated by a SGPC member, Jathedar Kirpal Singh Khirnia, said Sarpanch Preet Inder Singh.

KHANNA
MEETING: A meeting of panches and sarpanches of the subdivision was held under the chairmanship of Mr Pardeep Kumar Sabharwal, SDM, here on Friday. The SDM asked the panchyats to put up display boards of development activities in villages so that people could know about the grants by the government to the villages and also to highlights those schemes. He asked the sarpanches to put up sign board of their respective villages on entry points for the convenience of outsiders. He assured them that their grievances would be heeded to. The sarpanches also highlighted their grievances and assured cooperation to the administration.

LUDHIANA
SCIENCE EXHIBITIONS: The District Education Office, will hold a series of science exhibitions in the district this month and in November at the block and district levels. According to a circular by the department, the first exhibition of the series would be held at Doraha on Monday and Tuesday. The other exhibitions would be held at Samrala on October 11 and 12, at Nasrali on October 15 and 16, at Daddahoor in Raikot tehsil on October 18 and 19, at Roop Chand Jain Public School, Jagraon on October 22 and 23, in Ludhiana West at Sanatan Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School on October 29,30 and 31, in Ludhiana East at Sargodha Co-educational High School and at Guru Harkrishan Public School, Dugri Road, on November 7, 8 and 9. On the first day of these exhibitions, quiz contest for kids and an on-the-spot poster contest and a speech making contest for teachers would also be held. Display of models would be organised on the second day of these exhibitions.

INAUGURATED: An administrative block with all modern amenities was inaugurated by the Manager of Lord Krishna Bank, Mr Mukesh Aggarwal, today. Mr Aggarwal lauded the efforts of the authorities for giving the school a look of the 21st century. Foundation stone of new computer block, art work room, project room and airy class rooms were also laid.

DECISION WELCOMED: The local unit of the Indian Medical Association has welcomed the decision of the Punjab Government to revise the electoral rolls of the Punjab Medical Council. Dr Gursharan Singh, president of the association, in a press statement on Saturday said the decision would pave a way for the revival of the council which was lying defunct for over a decade. He also urged doctors to send their latest details to the office of the Punjab Medical Council in Chandigarh by listing the latest qualification and present address.

RESIGNATION ACCEPTED: The resignation of Mr Narinder Mehta, president, Punjab Ophthalmic Officers Association, was accepted during the executive body meeting of the association, here on Saturday. Mr Jaswinder Singh, general secretary of the association, in a statement said Mr Harpal Singh would be the acting president of the association and all other office-bearers would remain the same.

SEMINAR: First Choice Info Services, a city based multi-level marketing company, held a seminar on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti. The slogan of the seminar was, ‘Welcome the domestic, expel exotic and make India a golden sparrow’. The seminar was dedicated to the Father of the Nation on his birth anniversary. Over 5,000 distributors attended the seminar. Mr D.S. Chawla, an industrialist, was the chief guest on the occasion. Mr Jaswant Singh Balloh, a social worker presided over the seminar and Padamshree Kartar Singh was the guest of honour.

URGED: The Sehajdhari Sikh Federation on Saturday urged the Deputy Commissioner, to order the registration of cases for attempt to disturb peace, cause communal discord and hinder the electoral process, against those elements which burnt Sehajdhari Sikh voter forms in front of his office on Friday. Mr Paramjeet Singh Ranu, president of the federation, said the act amounted to contempt of court as the matter of Sehajdhari voters was still sub judice. Mr Ranu lamented the fact that no action had been taken against the miscreants though the incident took place on the premises of the Deputy Commissioner’s Office. He further drew attention a number of activists of the Khalsa Action Committee, naming some who were suspected to have burnt the voter forms.

INQUIRY SOUGHT: The Gobind Nagar Welfare Society, along with a number of political leaders, has demanded a high-level inquiry into the alleged suicide by a clerk of the Excise and Taxation Department. The demand was made at the bhog ceremony of the deceased, Mohinder Singh, which was held in the colony on Friday. He had committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance in his house at Gobind Nagar last week. In a suicide note recovered later, he had accused AETC Partap Singh of creating circumstances leading to his death. The AETC had denied the accusation. He said he was innocent and was available for any kind of inquiry. Mr Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal, MLA, while speaking on the occasion condemned the attitude of the police in the case. He demanded a high-level inquiry, preferably by a senior police officer, into the case as the family was not satisfied with the police action. Mr Jagjit Singh Lyalpuri, Mr Tarsem Singh Jodhan and Mr Kirpal Singh Aujla condemned the rude behaviour of the DSP who was investigating the case. The leaders said the family of the victim would approach the Punjab Human Rights Commission unless the police made an impartial inquiry into the matter.

CHECK DRUG ABUSE: The Guru Gobind Singh Study Circle has urged the Chief Election Commissioner to check the menace of drugs during the coming Assembly elections. The circle also suggested some ways to tackling the menace more effectively. It suggested that strict and clear instructions be issued to all political parties and contestants in advance and NGOs be empowered to monitor and complain about drug abuse to the Chief Election Commissioner during the election period. Since the study circle has been appointed as state secretary for the Federation of Indian NGOs working for the prevention of drug abuse, it has a network of NGOs and units in almost all 117 constituencies of the state. A large number of eminent and upright non-political academicians, both serving and retired, could be mobilised to serve as observers.

TARN TARAN
FOUNDATION STONE: The foundation stone of Shani Dev Mandir wa s laid here on Friday at Sri Madan Mohan Mandir here. Congress leader and Sarpanch of Jodhpur village Sucha Singh Jodhpur laid the foundation stone in the presence of a large number of devotees. Mr Jodhpur donated Rs 50,000 for the construction of the mandir.

HARYANA

BURN INJURIES: Kuldeep, travelling on the roof of a passenger train, sustained serious burn injuries when he was hit by the high-tension overhead power lines near Rathdhanna railway station on Friday evening. He was rushed to the local Civil Hospital and later shifted to the PGI, Rohtak.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

HAMIRPUR
DISTRIBUTED: Mr Rikhi Ram Kaundel, HP Cooperation Minister, presided over a function to distribute kisan passbooks to the farmers at Tounidevi village of the district on Friday evening. He said the decision of the state government to give a special grant of Rs 3 lakh per annum to the thickly populated Dalit ward in every gram panchayat of the state would help the downtrodden sections of society. He distributed 300 kisan passbooks.

NURPUR
CHEMIST BOOKED: In yet another case of criminal intimidation at the local Civil Hospital, the police booked a chemist on Thursday under Sections 353 and 506 of the IPC for misbehaving and intimidating a doctor and staff nurses on night duty. The accused, along with a few musclemen, allegedly entered the hospital premises on Thursday night and abused the staff on duty and intimidated them.

SHIMLA
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the HPPWD AMIE Junior Engineers Association: president — Mr Pradeep Bhardwaj; vice-presidents — Mr K. S. Pal and Mr Virender Guleria; chief adviser — Mr Raj Kumar Verma; general secretary — Mr Ashok Sharma; joint secretary — Mr Nand Lal Chauhan; finance secretary — Mr Hardeep Chowdhary; and press secretary — Mr Ajay Soni.