R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Amritsar
NCP OFFICE-BEARERS: The Nationalist Congress Party announced its district office-bearers here on Friday. Dr Harbhajan Chhina was elected President while four vice-presidents were chosen. Mrs Ripudaman Kaur was nominated president of the district Mahila Wing of the NCP, while Ms Parminder Kaur and Ms Arti were nominated vice-presidents.

ELECTED: Dr S.S. Shergill, Professor and Head of the Department of Ophthalmology, Government Medical College, was elected president of the North Zone Ophthalmological Society here, a press note said on Friday.

SACRILEGE DECRIED: Mr Manjit Singh Calcutta, honorary secretary, SGPC, demanded that miscreants of sacrilege of Kishanbagh Abadi in Hyderabad be exposed. The SGPC official said on Friday Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister should have the incident probed by SGPC chief Gurcharan Singh Tohra.

Bathinda
BODY FOUND: The body of Harjinder Kaur, a resident of Patiala district, was taken out from the Bhakra mainline near Golewala village in the district by volunteers of Sahara Jan Sewa, a social organisation, on Saturday. The body has been handed over to the kin of the victim after a post-mortem.

LUDHIANA
Workshop: A week-long workshop organised for the parents of children going to Love Dale Montessori, Sarabha Nagar, concluded here on Saturday. Ms Pritima Behl, in charge of the school, said seminars and practical exercises were held daily to guide the parents how to best handle their children and improve their communication skills. Dr Jasmine, a psycho-consultant, and Dr Prasad, speech therapist, gave advice and counselling.

Conference: In a recently concluded Asia Pacific Conference on breastfeeding and National Convention of Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India (BPNI) in New Delhi, the BPNI Ludhiana branch was awarded the scroll of honour as the best district branch in appreciation of its contribution towards the World Breastfeeding Week. Dr Rajinder Gulati, district coordinator, received the award on behalf of the branch. As many as 550 delegates from 30 countries participated. 

Nawanshahr
MEMO TO MLA: The district unit of the Punjab and Chandigarh Patrakar Parishad on Friday gave a memorandum to MLA Parkash Singh, Deputy Commissioner Harjit Inder Singh Grewal and SP (HQ) Gurdev Singh, demanding action against local Municipal Councillor Harmesh Kumar Puri for threatening Mr Kushal Khare, a correspondent of Amar Ujala. The scribes boycotted the press meeting also.

FLAG DAY FUNCTION: Flag Day was observed here in the office of Deputy Commissioner on Thursday where sacrifices of the armed forces were lauded.

INSTALLED: Mr Iqbal Singh, Mr A.S. Bhatti and Mr Vijay Parmar were installed president, secretary, and treasurer, respectively, of the Lions Club (Nawanshahr City) here at a function on Friday.

Patiala
HYDEL PROJECT: The Punjab State Electricity Board has decided to raise generation capacity by installing Micro hydel Project, besides other small hydro generation plants. PSEB Chairman Y.S. Ratra said on Friday that Hydel project was under construction at Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Plant, Ropar, whose six units of 210 MW each were already in operation. Mr Ratra stated that the project would cost Rs 1,761 lakh and scheduled to be completed by 2005.

SAMRALA
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Youth Welfare Sports Club, Otalan: president — Mr Major Singh (UK); general secretary — Mr Dharminder Kumar Saddi; cashier — Mr Balwinder Singh Otal and chief adviser — Mr Behari Lal Saddi. Twelve members of the executive committee have also been elected.

Sangrur
GUN GOES OFF: The gun of security guard, Mr Bharpur Singh, went off on Friday when he was cleaning it in Bharat Sanchar Nigam office complex here. No one was injured in this mishap. The guard belonged to the Punjab Ex-Servicemen Corporation (PESCO).

Tarn Taran
ACCIDENT: Kulwant Singh (35) of Sheron village, who was a class IV employee of the Market Committee, here, died in a road accident on Thursday on the Sarhali road, when his bicycle was hit by a private bus. The police has registered a case under Sections 304A, 279, IPC, against Bagicha Singh, the driver of the bus.

CHANDIGARH

MOHALI
TRUST FORMED: The family members of City Channel journalist Simmi Marwaha, who died in a road accident early this year have formed a memorial charitable trust in her name. According to a press note issued by the trustees here on Saturday, the Trust has provided for a telephone facility at Mohali Cremation Grounds for the use of the general public. 

CAMP: More than 70 girls participated in an awareness camp on anaemia organised by the Mohali unit of Ranbaxy Community Healthcare Society at Chunni Kalan village here on Saturday. The interactive session was for adolescent girls and was held at the ITI centre at the village. 

CABLE OPERATORS: Free to air cable operators of chandigarh, Panchkula, Mohali and adjoining ares have formed an association to fight against those cable operators who have allegedly monopolised the area with the help of agents of paid channels and are charging high rates. The association in a press note issued here on Saturday gave a list of the various cable operators who had formed the association. While Mohinder Singh of Panchkula will be the Chairman of the association, Mr R.B. Singh of Mohali will be the president. Santosh Kumar and Anil Kapoor will be the vice-presidents and Amarjit Singh will be the general secretary. Sahib Singh will be the treasurer and Kulwant Singh Gill the media coordinator.

PANCHKULA
ELECTED: Ms Suman Gupta has been elected as Chairman of Uma Kala Kendra, a social, sports and cultural society during the elections held today. The other office-bearersof the society are: president — Uma Sharma; vice-president — Simta Aeri; general secretary — Asha Sharma; secretary — Vijay Luxmi Nehra; finance secretary — Poonam Prajapati; and auditor — Meena Sharma.

HARYANA

Fatehabad
SUICIDE: A youth allegedly committed suicide in front of the Sadar Police Station here on Thursday night. Anil Kumar (25), according to sources, was found lying outside the local Sadar Police Station in an unconscious condition by a cop. He was rushed to the local general hospital, where he died.

REMANDED: A court on Friday sent a man in judicial custody till December 19. Jagdish Rai of Mandi Dabwali allegedly tried to get Maruti car transferred from the local SDM’s office on the basis of a false affidavit. A case has been registered.

Kaithal
TRIBUTES PAID: Tributes paid to Mr Babu Ram Gupta, advocate, at a meeting here on Friday. Representatives of several organisations were present on this occasion. Mr Gupta was state Vice-President, of the Haryana Chamber of the Commerce and Industry.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Dharamsala
MINISTER'S DIRECTIVE: Himachal Civil Supplies Minister Singhi Ram on Friday said that the benefits did not reach the needy. He was addressing officials here on Friday. The minister asked civil supplies inspectors to ensure that essential commodities were available at the state fair price shops and there was no shortage of gas and kerosene in winter. He directed them to ensure that price lists were displayed a every shop.

Mandi
BAR ASSOCIATION: Mr S.P. Parmar was elected president of the Bar Association here for the second term. Mr Neeraj Kapoor was elected general secretary. An executive committee was also elected.

Nahan
LOAN DISTRIBUTED: The State Bank of India, Chandigarh, circle, disbursed loans of Rs 50 lakh here on Thursday. The bank presented two ceiling fans to Astha Special School.

Una
WOMAN KILLED: A woman from Nepal was killed on Friday when she accidentally stepped on some explosives kept in the forest of Oel village. The deceased, Sheela Kumari, was going to the forest in the morning when the incident took place. She was shifted to Gagret Government Hospital where she succumbed to her injuries. A case under Section 304A of the IPC and the Fire Arms Act was registered.