R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Amritsar
WWF WORKSHOP: The Harike Wetland purifies nearly 60 per cent of water in Sutlej river. Dr Anish Dua, Professor of Zoology, Guru Nanak Dev University, stated this here on Saturday at a workshop of Worldwide Fund at Springdale Senior Secondary School here on Saturday.

DEPUTY REGISTRAR RETIRES: Mr Ramesh Raj Bhandari, Deputy Registrar (conduct), Guru Nanak Dev University superannuated here on Saturday after 34 years of service in the university. The Officers’ Association gave him a farewell.

CAMP ENDS: The 10-day NSS camp organised by the Khalsa College for Women at Ghanupur Kale concluded here on Saturday. Volunteers gave primary education to children, women and old persons and spread awareness on AIDS among people.

FACILITIES: The Durgiana Committee will provide medical facilities to the poor and the needy patients. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Durgiana Temple Committee held under the presidentship of Mr Gopal Chand Bhatia here on Sunday.

Bathinda
SCHOOL OPENED: A school for the underprivileged, Siksha Kendra, was launched by the local branch of Delhi Public School here on Saturday. The Senior Superintendent of Police, Mr Kapil Dev, was the chief guest. The Principal, Mrs Sunila Malhotra, explained the concept behind the institution. Children from Bhokra and Gillpatti, near here, will benefit from the opening of the school.

DERA BASSI
Annual function: Students of Shivalik Bharti Senior Secondary School, Dera Bassi, and Shiv Mandir Shivalik Bharti Shivalik Public School, Mubarikpur, presented colourful items to mark the annual function held at Ram Mandir Dera Bassi on Saturday. Folk songs, group songs and poetry recitation marked the function. Students were given prizes by Mrs Bhupinder Kaur, wife of a director of a drug manufacturing industrial unit. Earlier, the Principal read out the annual report.

Fazilka
SUICIDE: Gurcharan Singh (35), a commission agent of Mandi Roranwali in the subdivision, allegedly consumed some poisonous substance and committed suicide. He was admitted to the local civil hospital on Sunday night, where he died.

Hoshiarpur
ACCIDENT: One person died and 16 were injured when a truck collided with a bus of Azad Bus Service Hoshiarpur near Bhunga village on the Hoshiarpur-Dasuya road, 20 km from here, on Saturday afternoon. The injured were admitted in Bhunga Primary Health Centre from where six were referred to Civil Hospital, Hoshiarpur. Injured were identified as Jarnail Singh, truck driver of Bhalta Kalan (Nawanshahr), Sant Kaur wife of Mukhtiar Singh of Mansoorpur, Sukhjinder Kaur and her husband Bachan Singh of Jhanda Lubana, Kushida wife of Mashum and Kishan Singh of Kandhalian.

MISHAP: Daljit Singh died and his brother Manjit Singh and servant Dinesh Kumar of Ibrahimpur were injured when a truck hit their Maruti car near Garhshankar on Friday. The injured were admitted in the Civil Hospital Garhshankar. The Garhshankar police has registered a case against the truck driver. In another accident Mohinder Singh and another person were injured when a tracter-trailor hit their Esteem car near Chabewal on Friday. The police has registered a case.

LUDHIANA
Grant IDA Day: The BSNL Employees Union, Punjab circle, will observe “grant IDA day” on Tuesday in protest against “non-release of interim dearness allowance”. Mr Balbir Singh, circle secretary, BSNL Employees Union, in a statement here on Monday, said as decided by the central headquarters of the union, demonstrations would be held in front of offices of GMT’s all over the state. The union would send telegrams to the Union Minister for Telecommunications and Information Technology, Mr Arun Shourie, and Mr V.P. Sinha, CMD, BSNL, to press for its other pending issues. He said BSNL employees would also participate in one-day nationwide strike on February 24.

Concessions sought: The Government Pensioners Association has sought concessions from the Union Government in the proposed vote-on-account, to be presented before the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. Mr Yash Pal Ghai, additional general secretary of the association, said the Union Finance Minister had already taken care of almost all segments in his ‘mini-budget’. Employee and pensioners were now looking forward to some favourable announcement regarding the merger of DA with basic pay or pension in line with recommendations of the Fifth Central Pay Commission, he said.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The Ludhiana branch of Indian Academy of Paediatrics, at its annual general body meeting held here on Sunday, elected new team of office-bearers: Dr Rajinder Gulati — president; Dr Arun Handa — general secretary; Dr Harinder Singh — treasurer; Dr Rajiv Verma — joint secretary; and Dr Pradeep Handa — vice-president.

Mandi Ahmedgarh
SADHNA CAMP: Sidhamrit Surya Kirya Yog Sadhna camp was held at local MGMN Senior Secondary School and Harisar Herbs at the Pohir road on Sunday. Around 200 persons participated in the camp and performed yog sadhna. Swami Budh Puri ji, elaborated various aspects for human physiology and said the sun is the ultimate source of energy. He said human skin and eyes could receive useful radiations from the sun. These rays, when fall on retina, stimulate hypothalamus and pituatory glands. Swami Puri claimed cerebral and organic diseases can be cured by this physiotherapy.

Moga
COLONY: The Improvement Trust, Faridkot has decided to set up a colony named after the late president Giani Zail Singh. The trust has acquired 26 acres on the Faridkot-Sadiq road for the purpose and has sanctioned Rs 93 lakh for providing basic amenities in the colony.

Pathankot
OLD STUDENTS: The Old Student Association of Municipal Board School (now Government Senior Secondary School) here held a function to honour old students, including Mr Roshan Lal Khosla, Mr R.N. Sharma, Mr B.R. Gupta, Mr Tirath Ram Mitter, Mr Avtar Singh Sidhu, and Mr Navneet Dogra on Saturday. Mr Ashok Sharma, MLA and Chairman, Punjab Tourism Development Corporation was the chief guest.

PATIALA
Opening ceremony: Gupta Physiotherapy Hospital and Clinical Lab, Samana, will be inaugurated on February 5. The Financial Commissioner (Development), Dr B.C. Gupta, will be the chief guest on the occasion.

Kisan Divas: The Democratic Youth Organisation for Development celebrated Kisan Divas at Ajrawar village here recently. The objective was to provide scientific and professional guidance to farmers of the area. The chairman of the organisation, Mr Sukhjit Singh Sidhu, said scientists from the Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Rauni, and the Agriculture Advisory Centre of PAU, delivered lectures to the farmers on the various topics.

Recruitment rally: The Army will organise satellite recruitment rallies for Sikh candidates of all district of Punjab on February 7 at Patiala and on February 8 at Lalru.

TWO ARRESTED: The local police on Sunday arrested two persons and recovered two computer and nearly 700 fake CDs from them. According to the information, Tarnveer Singh Sidhu, a resident of Bharpur Garden, and Gurjot Inder Singh, a resident of Raghumajra, were accused of having stolen two computers, from Jhukla village near here. During a raid, nearly 700 fake CDs were also recovered from their residence. A case has been registered against the two.

Tarn Taran
BOOKED: Balwinder Kaur and her son, Dilbag Singh, both residents of Mandala village under Verowal police station, have been booked under Section 457, 380 of the IPC for stealing Rs 50,000 from the house of a resident of the same village. Mr Jagtar Singh lodged the complaint in this regard.

CHANDIGARH

mohali
Akhand Path: Authorities of Tiny Tots Foundation School, Phase 10, Mohali, organised an Akhand Path on the completion of work on the new school building. Parents and schoolchildren attended the bhog ceremony. Gp Capt Manmohan Singh thanked the gathering. He exhorted the schoolchildren to work hard in life.

panchkula
CELEBRATIONS: As part of the birth celebrations of Satguru Dev Swami Devi Dayal Ji Maharaj, a week-long yoga camp concluded at Divya Yog Mandir at Shivalik Enclave in Mani Majra, near here, on Sunday. According to a press note, a large number of persons, suffering from backache, joint pain, cervical spondylistis, hypertension and other diseases, benefited from the camp. Women, learnt “asanas” for reducing weight and improving their facila beauty through yoga. Children received training in performing “asanas” to improving memory. They were also given tips to keep off tension and strain from their lives.

HARYANA

AMBALA
HVP meeting: A meeting of the district unit of the Haryana Vikas Party was held under the presidentship of Mr Jaspal Raja on Monday. Mr Arvind Sharma was the chief guest. It was decided to held a rally on February 29 at Jind, which would be addressed by Mr Bansi Lal. Among others, Mr Vibhor Jain, Mr Nikhil Shekhawat, Mr Ashwini Kumar, Mr J.K. Bhandari, Mr Parminder Singh, Mr Ashu, Mr Manish Goel and Mr Bharat Bhushan were present.

Annual Meeting: The annual general body meeting of the local unit of the Haryana Medical and Sales Representatives Union was held on Monday. The meeting was presided over by Mr D.B.S. Parmar. Mr R.P. Arora, state secretary, HMSRU, and Mr A. Sawhney, Punjab state secretary, addressed the gathering, according to a press note. The following were elected office-bearers of the union: president — Mr D.B.S. Parmar; vice-president — Mr Hitesh Bhardwaj; unit secretary — Mr Sanjay Bhojgi; joint secretaries — Mr Kamal Kant Sehgal and Mr Sanjeev Mehndiratta; treasurer — Mr Anil Sharma and office secretary — Mr Manoj Kakkar.

Meeting: A meeting of the Uttariya Railway Mazdoor Union was held here on Monday. The union members criticised the government for pursuing “anti-employee” policy. They demanded that their grievances be redressed at the earliest. The demands include formation of Sixth Pay Commission and no contract for regular work. The election to elect the office-bearers was also held. They are: divisional president — Mr Natha Ram, vice-president — Mr Rahat Ali Ansari and Mr Rajinder Singh; divisional secretary — Mr Vijay Chopra; assistant divisional secretaries — Mr M.L. Kashyap, Mr K.P. Sharma, Mr Soorma Singh, and Mr Ashok Lehri; divisional organising secretary — Mr Gopender Nath; and divisional treasurer — Mr Mahabir Prashad.

Sirsa
OPIUM seized: Opium weighing 1.5 kg was seized from the district jail premises here on Sunday. According to information, a raid was conducted by the district police chief and the SDM in the local jail premises at night on a tip-off.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Dharamsala
BUS STAND: A bus stand at Nagrota Baagwan, constructed at a cost of Rs 83 lakh, was inaugurated by the Himachal Transport Minister, Mr G.S. Bali, on Sunday. The foundation stone was laid in 1992 and the cost estimated at Rs 19 lakh then has now shot up to Rs 83 lakh.