R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Amritsar
ERADICATE CONGRESS GRASS: The Pollution Control Committee here on Friday urged Ms Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Agriculture Minister, Punjab, to declare parthenium hysterophorus, also know as gajjar buti or congress grass, a noxious weed in the state due to its harmful effects on humans, animals and crops. The committee also demanded the effective eradication of this noxious weed.

Bathinda
TRAFFIC PANEL: The Deputy Commissioner here on Friday said that government agencies should take traffic-problems into account before sanctioning sites for educational institutions, marriage palaces and other buildings to prevent accidents. The DC said a traffic advisory committee headed by him would be set up in the city to deal with traffic problems. SSP, Kapil Dev, senior civil and police officials and prominent citizens attended the meeting. 

Jagraon
Liquor seized: The Sidhwanbet police in two separate incidents seized 28.6 litre illicit liquor and arrested two person. According to information, Balbir Singh, alias Bugro, of Kotumra was arrested and 22.5 litre illicit liquor seized from his possession. In another case, Arjan Singh of Sherewal was arrested with 6.1 litre illicit liquor. Both have been booked under Section 61/1/14 of the Excise Act.

bookies held: Rakesh Kumar, alias Raju, of Manuke, Pardeep Kumar, alias Bittu, of Kukar Gali Agwar Gujran, Jagraon, Rakesh Kumar of Jagraon and Ashwani Kumar of Mohalla Birla were separately arrested by the police on the charge of alluring people to multiply their money by making investment in various game. They have been booked under Section 13/3/67 of the Gambling Act.

Jalandhar
SEMINAR : Cardiologists of the city organised a seminar at BBC Heart Care Foundation on Friday. Dr Shushant Srivastava, claimed that wrong eating habits were behind the rise in the number of heart patients, particularly in Punjab and Gujarat.He advised exercises like brisk walk for remaining fit.

CRUSHED TO DEATH: An unidentified labourer was crushed to death by a bus near the bus stand here on Friday. The body was sent to the civil hospital here for a post-mortem examination.

LUDHIANA
BSP LEADER BEREAVED: Harmanpreet Singh Sohal, younger son of Mr Rabinder Singh Sohal, senior vice-president of the Punjab unit of the Bahujan Samaj Party, died recently in an accident. He was 25 and was doing MBA from Gurgaon. A number of social and political organisations have condoled the death of Harmanpreet and expressed sympathies with the bereaved family. The bhog ceremony will be held at Gurdwara Singh Sabha, Model Town, Ludhiana, on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Phagwara
SUCCUMBS TO BURNS: Suraj (10), a son of a migrant couple, who received serious burns in a fire on June 25, succumbed to his injuries on Saturday at DMC, Ludhiana. His three siblings are said to be out of danger.

ASSAULTED: Mr Raman Kumar (27) , a workshop instructor in a college here, was assaulted by eight persons and injured seriously, near Kay Gee Resort on the Phagwara-Hoshiarpur road on Friday night. Raman was returning to his village Sahni on his motor cycle. He was admitted to the Civil Hospital here.

DIES OF SNAKEBITE: Ram Lal (40) of nearby Palahi village, died of a snakebite here on Friday.

BANKS’ SECURITY: The DSP here held a meeting with the bank managers and told them to use bank gunmen for the security duty only. Sixty five managers attended the meeting.

2 DIE IN MISHAPS: Kanwaljit Singh (16) a class XII student, was knocked to death by a truck on the Railway Overbridge Opposite JCT Mill on Saturday. He was on a scooter when the truck hit him. In another incident, Bachni (55) of Labour Colony opposite JCT Mill, here was crushed to death under a train near Gobindpur Mohalla here.

Patiala
MEETING: Members of the Temporary Engineers Association, Punjab Irrigation Department, Chandigarh, held an emergency meeting on Saturday to show solidarity with the Engineers of Punjab PWD (B&R) and condemn the manner in which action was taken against the engineers merely on a complaint by a carriage contractor without verifying the facts from the department.

Rotary club: Mr Devi Dayal Goyal has taken over the charge of the president of the Rotary Club, Patiala, Mid Town, on Saturday for the year 2004-05 with his team. Mr Rameshwar Gupta has been appointed secretary, Mr Som Nath Goyal as the treasurer and Mr N.K. Jain as sergeant-at-arms.

IMA PLEA: The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has urged the Union Finance Minister, Mr P.Chidambaram, to ease the tax load on government employees by making drastic changes in the income tax policy to be announced during the Budget presentation for the year 2004-05.

Phillaur
MURDER: Jagir Kaur, a widow, was allegedly murdered by some unidentified assailants near Palakdin village here on Friday night. The police has registered a case.

Tarn Taran
DOWRY DEATH: Amandeep Kaur (18) was allegedly poisoned to death by her in-laws for not bringing sufficient dowry. The police registered a case under Section 174 of CrPC at Sarhali police station here on Friday.

CHANDIGARH

Camp for girls: A special one-day camp for adolescent girls was organised by the Indian Council of Social Welfare (ICSW) at Dhanas village on Friday. More than 25 girls from the village and its neighbouring colonies attended the camp which was coordinated by Mr Rakesh Chopra. Dr Neena Gupta addressed the participants and educated them about hygienic food. 

HARYANA

Bhiwani
ONE SHOT DEAD: Om Prakash resident of Hetampura village was shot dead by five persons due to a dispute over land on Friday night. Body of the deceased was brought to the Civil Hospital here for a post-mortem examination. A case has been registered.

2 BOOKED: A case was registered on the complaint of Vinod of cirucular road here against Jitender and Vedpal of Ravi Das Mandir for allegedly attacking him with a knife and Vinod is under doctor’s observation at the Civil Hospital here.

SARV SHIKSHA ABHIYAN: The function of Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan held at Government Girls Senior Secondary School concluded here on Friday. The training camps organised under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan was aimed at improving quality of education by ‘effective’ teaching.

Fatehabad
JE REMANDED: Ramesh Kumar, a junior engineer of Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam, who was arrested for accepting a bribe, was remanded in police custody for one day on Friday by a court here.

FARMERS’ CAMP: A farmers’ training camp was organised on Friday in the grain market here. As many as 225 farmers participated. Mr H.R. Sharma, Deputy Director, Agriculture, here inaugurated the camp. Mr P.S. Poonia, SDO, Agriculture, exhorted farmers to sow pulses like moong, mooth and arhar as such crops added to their income and helped increase fertility of soil.

5 HURT IN CLASH: Five persons, including woman, were hurt in a clash between two groups over the laying of electricity wires in Ashok Nagar locality here on Friday. The electricity supply of the area had been cut off for the last two days after a labourer was electrocuted while working on a construction site. A case has been registered.

Karnal
NDRI FIELD TRIALS: The National Dairy Research Institute has started field trials of dairy technology. The trials are being conducted in selected villages — two in each block of the district, said Dr J.C.Markanday , Head of the KVK and the project leader. The trials are being conducted on high-milk yielding animals. The trials will be completed by this year-end.

Panipat
APPOINTED: Ms Savitri Ghanghas has been appointed president of the district Rural Congress Committee by Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

TICKETLESS FINED: The Railways on Friday arrested 261 persons for travelling without tickets at the Railway station here and fined them Rs 2 lakh.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Chamba
RAIN IN TRIBAL BELT: Tribal belt of the district had rain intermittently since Thursday night. Reports here on Friday said the Chamba-Satrundi highway remained closed at different points due to widespread rain, but traffic resumed after the debris was cleared.

Hamirpur
ACCIDENT: One person was killed and two others were injured when a Maruti car they were travelling by collided with a bus near Jhaniari village 7 km from here on Friday evening. The car was on way to Dharamsala from Shimla. DSP Madan Lal said L.R. Rana succumbed to his injuries in the hospital here. Condition of R.S. Rana and Tripta Rana was stated to be stable. A case has been registered and bus driver Narendra Chand, taken into custody.

Kangra
SENTENCED: A court here on Friday sentenced Vidya Sagar of Sunehar village to six months imprisonment and fined him Rs 1,000 for possessing country liquor. In another case, the same court sentenced truck driver Bhagwan Dass of Tiara to six month imprisonment and fined him Rs 2500 for causing grievous injuries to Lalit Awasthi in an accident at Kuthman.

Mandi
MISHAPS : Abhinav, the only son of gas agency owner Vinay Baba, here was killed and his mother Seema (38), a lecturer, sister Abha (14) and driver Hemant Singh were injured seriously when the car they were travelling by fell into a gorge on Wednesday night. They were coming from Batala when the car overturned near Gumma.

Palampur
SHOPKEEPER BEATEN UP: A shopkeeper at Daroh, 15 km from here, was beaten up by certain persons when he tried to save a student from them on Thursday night. They were demanding money from the student.