R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
EXHIBITION: The National Book Trust ( NBT), New Delhi, organised a three-day mobile book exhibition on the Guru Nanak Dev University campus here on Thursday. Mr Miserdeep Bhatia, coordinator, NBT, said the main objective of the trust was to provide quality publications at cheaper rates.

SEMINAR: The History Department, Guru Nanak Dev University, will organise a one-day seminar on ‘Partition and Amritsar’ on February 25 at the Conference Hall of Guru Nanak Bhavan of the university.

ELECTED: Mr Amandeep Bedi of the local Khalsa College has been nominated district president of the Private Colleges Non-teaching Employees Union, Punjab and Chandigarh. The other office-bearers are Mr Kulwant Rai, DAV College, finance secretary, Mr Sugriv Singh, Hindu College, organising secretary, Mr Sahib Kumar, DAV College, internal auditor, Mr Davinder Sharma, BBK DAV College for Women, elected secretary, GNDU wing, informed here on Thursday.

INVITED: Prof Sarbjit Singh China, Head, Department of Economics and Sociology, has been invited by Treat University Ontario, Canada, to participate in a conference-cum-workshop on multicultural society of Canada.

BATHINDA
BLOOD DONATION : Eleven units of blood were collected at a blood donation camp organised at Laaz market on Thursday by the United Welfare Society. This was stated in a press note issued on Friday.

VAN MAHOTSAVA: The Bathinda Vikas Manch, an NGO, and the State Bank of India will plant sapling at Phoos Mandi and Jassi Pauwal villages on Saturday, according to a press note of the NGO.

DONATED: Under the community development programme the Bathinda unit of Indian Oil Corporation (Kandla-Bathinda pipeline) on Thursday donated seven ceiling fans, 50 sets of benches and tables to senior secondary school of Gulabgarh village. The IOC also got a toilet block constructed in the school.

FATEHGARH SAHIB
DISTRIBUTED: The state government is committed to fulfil all poll promises and to make the overall development and the current financial year is being observed as the development year and record development projects would be initiated, said Dr Harbans, Minister for Forest, while speaking at a function organised by the District Environment Protection Society at Sirhind town on Friday. The function was organised to distribute cheques of grants announced earlier by the minister to various social, religious and educational institutions of the area. The minister distributed the cheques worth Rs 6.5 lakh.

GURDASPUR
CONDEMNED: The Dhariwal Block Congress Committee in a resolution on Thursday condemned the Gujarat Government for falsely implicating two Congress ministers and an MLA in a sex scandal. Mr Narinder Sharma, president, said the involvement of Congress leaders was politically motivated.

HOSHIARPUR
STIR THREAT: The Punjab Nagar Palika Karamchari Sangthan, Hoshiarpur district, at a meeting held under the presidentship of Mr Kulwant Singh Saini, criticised the announcement of the Punjab Government to abolish octroi from July 1. Mr Ravinder Thakur, district president of the sangthan, said the announcement was made on account of forthcoming municipal elections to woo the electorate of urban areas of state. He warned that in case the state government tried to abolish octroi without making alternative arrangements the sangthan would launch a statewide agitation.

JALANDHAR
EXHIBITION: An exhibition of rare photographs by Mr T.P.S. Sandhu and Mr Ranjodh Singh was inaugurated by Commissioner, Jalandhar Division, Mr R.S. Sandhu here on Thursday. Speaking on the occasion, the Commissioner, said photographs depicted nature and its various hues in the original prospective.

KHANNA
BHOG: Bhog ceremony of social worker Sohan Singh Rosha was performed at the local grain market on Friday. People from different walks of society attended the ceremony. Preneet Kaur, MP, Patiala, Jasjit Singh Randhawa, Public Health Minister, Shamsher Singh Dullo, MP, Ropar, and Harbans Kaur Dullo, MLA, Khanna, were among those who spoke on the occasion.

BASANT QUEEN CROWNED: Ms Basant Queen Contest-2003 was held at hotel Park Plaza on Friday. The 16 contestants who walked down the ramp were dressed in glowing hues of yellow and gold. Ms Deepika Nayyar was elected the “Basant Queen” whereas Ms Rinku Gurum and Ms Ashima Dhawan were adjudged first and second runners up, respectively. The judges were Ms Sunil Aggarwal, Ms Rajni Bector and Ms Nomita Khanna. There was a demonstration of flower decorations by Ms Usha Thapar.

KHARAR
EYE OPERATION CAMP: A free eye-operation camp will be organised in the Arya College for women here on Sunday, in collaboration with the local Civil Hospital. Patients will be given free lenses and medicines at this camp.

HOMAGE: The Bahujan Samaj Party is organising a ‘Shaheedi Samagam’ on Sunday at Daon village near here to pay homage to five workers of the party who were killed by terrorists at Dhawali village during the Punjab Vidhan Sabha elections of 1992.

MC POLL: The Punjab Chief Election Commissioner, Mr C.L. Bains, has issued a notification for the March 9 elections of the Kharar Municipal Council. The Kharar SDM, Mr Sukhwinder Singh Gill, has been appointed the returning officer. The candidates shall file their nomination papers from February 24 to 27 and the scrutiny of the nominations shall be on February 28. The last date for the withdrawal of nomination shall be March 1.

REMANDED: The local Judicial Magistrate, Ms Harinder Sidhu on Friday sent two accused, namely Baldev Singh and Rajeev Rana, who used to dupe people while impersonating as employees of a gas company, in police remand till February 22. The public prosecutor, Mr Jatinderjeet Singh Punn, said the accused used to impersonate as employees of the gas company and take money from them in lieu of the repair work done. They accumulated thousands of rupees by this way. However, on inquiry, it was found that they were not the employees of any such company.

LUDHIANA
CULTURAL FEST: Ehsaas-2003, an inter-college literary-cum-cultural festival, was organised at the Punjab College of Technical Education here on Friday. As many as 36 teams from various management and technical colleges of Punjab and adjoining states participated in the festival. First prize for solo dance was won by Riat Institute at Nawanshahr, Guru Gobind Singh College, Kharar, was declared second and third prize went to SCD Government College, Ludhiana. In turn coat, SCD Government College won the first prize, Guru Nanak Institute of Management got second place and Apeejay College at Jalandhar was declared third. Flower arrangement competition was won by Devki Devi Jain Institute of Management and Technology. Dr S.K. Salwan, Adviser to the Punjab Technical University, was the chief guest. Dr K.N.S. Kang, Director of the college, thanked the teams for their participation.

‘CONG TO WIN’: The Punjab Agriculture Minister Ms Rajinder Kaur Bhattal has claimed that the Congress will score a massive win in the ensuing Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh because the electorate appeared to be fed up with five years of misrule by the BJP. Addressing workers of the District Youth Congress, Ms Bhattal maintained that the mood of the electorate in HP was a clear pointer that people wanted a change and there would be a clear verdict in favour of the party.

MEETING: GHG Khalsa College Alumni Association, Gurusarsadhar, will organise its second annual general meeting on February 22 at Nihang Shamsher Singh Auditorium on the college campus under the chairmanship of Principal M.S. Khattra. The association will also honour and felicitate Harbhajan Halwarvi on the occasion. Halwarvi, is a renowned journalist and poet and has recently been awarded Sahitya Academy Award.

COLLEGE WINS LAURELS: The team of ‘Satya Club’ Shanti Tara College Ahmedgarh, gave a superb performance in the play “Gufaien” at competition organised to mark the Silver Jubilee of Maha Shakti Kala Mandir, Barnala. A total of 32 teams from different areas participated in this competition. The team, sent under the supervision of Prof Amandeep Singh won the third position. Jasbir Kaur Pandher, won the best actress award for her role in ‘Gufaien’.

DE-ADDICTION CAMP: Residents of Birmi got to learn about the benefits of meditation and drug addicts learnt how to free themselves through meditation and homeopathic medicines specially prepared by Prajipita Brahma Kumaris at their main dispensary at Mhow. Brahma Kumaris, in their plan and strategy to bring in relief to victims of drugs, are holding spiritual and drug addiction camps in villages of the state. Sister Raj said they send their teams to villages in advance to survey and the team meets the sarpanchs of the villages and in charge of gurdwaras of the village. After that they send doctors and guides to the villages. Doctors distribute medicines that are a product of research done by the doctors of Global Hospital. The team has visited 40 villages. More than 75% drug addicts in villages are on their way to recovery.

SEMINAR: A seminar was held on the “Role of community to prevent female foeticide” at the GHG Khalsa College of Education, Gurusar Sadhar (Ludhiana), on Thursday. The seminar was sponsored by Adult, Continuing and Extension Education, Punjab University, Chandigarh. Dr Harjinder Singh Brar, the seniormost lecturer welcomed the quests. Dr Gurbachan Singh Gill, SMO, Premjit Memorial Hospital, Gurusar Sadhar, Dr Sushil Kaur, GHG Khalsa College, Gurusar Sadhar, Ms Navkiran Kaur, a teacher and a social worker and two students of college Ms Satwant Kaur and Mr Ravi Inder Singh were among the main speakers. From Adult, Continuing and Extension Education Department, Prof Saveen and Prof Prabha Vij also participated in the programme. During discussion they answered the queries of the students.

DONATED: The local MP, Mr Gurcharan Singh Galib, has donated a sum of Rs 3 lakh for the construction of the community centre at Malsihan Bhaika village near Jagraon. Mr Galib presented the cheque for Rs 3 lakh to the members of the Village Development Committee on Thursday. Speaking at the function Mr Galib maintained that the Congress Government in the state was committed to all round development. Development Committee members, including its general secretary Parminder Singh, ex-sarpanch Surjeet Singh, and Mr Hakim Singh thanked Mr Galib for his benevolence. 

TALK: Dr Rajeev Gupta, Consultant Psychiatrist, gave a talk on “Stress Management Strategies” in the department of Extension Education at Punjab Agricultural University here on Thursday. The talk was part of the training and visiting programme for farm women that was organised in collaboration with IFFCO. Dr Gupta discussed the reasons and remedies of the rising stress related problems among rural women in the state. He said today’s women had their own aspirations and expectations from the family and their social and family role had become multi-dimensional but the society was unable to come to terms with the newly emerging prominence and aggression of the modern women. And thus assertion of their rights lead to conflicts and rising tensions.

SAMRALA
INAUGURATED: Guru Nanak Public School was inaugurated at Bharthala village, 2 km from here on Friday. Mr Balbir Singh Rajewal, national general secretary of the Bharti Kisan Union, was the chief guest on the occasion.

MEETING: A meeting of the local Bharishtachar Virodhi Front was held here on Friday under the presidentship of Comdt. Rashpal Singh in which members decided to approach the voters of Samrala not to accept liquor, Bhukki and money from candidates during the forthcoming Municipal elections. Mr Mehma Singh Kang, Prof. Hamdardvir Nausheharvi, Mr Braham Dev Anjan also spoke against corruption by officials.

SAHARAN MAJRA
CELEBRATED: The jayanti of Guru Ravidas ji was celebrated with fervour and enthusiasm in spite of adverse weather conditions. People from all walks of life joined the colourful procession taken out on the occasion. Members of Gram Panchayat, Saharan Majra, Mr Raghvir Singh, chairman, Milk Plant, Ludhiana, Sarpanch Mohinder Singh, Charanjit Singh, Dr Jasvinder Singh, Saudagar Singh, Malkit Singh were also present on the occasion.

TARN TARAN
DECIDED: The local unit of the Employee’s Federation of the Panjab State Electricity Board at a meeting has decided to support SAD candidates in the forthcoming elections to the local municipal council. A meeting in this regard was held here on Thursday under the presidentship of Mr Harjinder Singh.

HARYANA

AMBALA
AIDS RALLY: A rally against AIDS, which started from Kolkata, reached SD College, Ambala cantonment, on Friday. A number of NCC cadets were present at the rally. They staged plays to highlight the dangers of AIDS and the way it can be prevented. Students of SD College, GMN College and Government College were present on the occasion.

DEMAND: The Haryana Exporters Association on Friday demanded that a surprise check of the food served in the Shatabadi Express should be carried out. The association said during the past six months, a number of foreign customers had visited Ambala for purchasing laboratory instruments and they had complained about the poor quality of the food served in the train. The association said visitors were from the UK, UAE, the USA, Malaysia and Singapore. The association demanded that the Railway Ministry should make proper arrangements for checking of the foodstuff.

MEDICAL CAMP: An orthopaedic camp was organised at MM Medical College and Hospital under the guidance of Mr Tarsem Kumar Garg. A number of villagers were treated on the occasion. At least 14 patients were selected for knee joint operations through laser machines. The operations were carried out by Dr Anil Lokhande, Dr Kulbhushan Gupta, Dr Ajay Arora and Dr S.K. Mittal.

VAT OPPOSED: The General Merchants Association has opposed the proposed VAT tax system. In a communique addressed to the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, the association had demanded to drop the clauses of imprisonment and penalties proposed in the new VAT tax system for healthy growth of business.

DEMONSTRATION: The All-India Anti-terrorist Front district president, Mr Virendra Kapoor, constituted the youth wing of the front here on Thursday. Mr Amit Kumar is the wing president and Mr Sonu Panang is the vice-president; Mr Surendra Sarwan is the secretary and Mr Akash Deep is the general secretary. The Ambala unit of the, AIATF also held a demonstration against Pakistan at Jagadhari Gate in Ambala city.

KURUKSHETRA
PARK DEVELOPMENT: A park would be developed near Saraswati Tirath, and a bhavan would be constructed for people coming to Pehowa to offer “pinddan” in the memory of their ancestors. This was disclosed by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Abhilaksh Lekhi while reviewing the projects at Pehowa, 27 km from here.