R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Amritsar
CONDEMNED: The Junior Doctors’ Association (JDA) has condemned the alleged dictatorial attitude of Baba Farid University that has put the career of 35 junior doctors in jeopardy. In a press note here on Wednesday, Dr Sarbjit Thind, a spokesperson for the JDA, said strict rules regarding thesis plan submission without taking students’ representatives into confidence had created problems for these junior doctors.

Barnala
Loan mela: Loan worth Rs 72 lakh was given to 65 persons at a loan mela organised by the State Bank of India ( SBI), Rampura Phul branch, on Wednesday. Mr Samir Saran, Deputy General Manager, SBI, Ludhiana module, who was chief guest distributed the loan.

Hoshiarpur
NO PENSION: A number of beneficiaries of the old-age pension scheme have been awaiting pension for the past couple of months. According to official sources, as many as 57,830 pensioners of various categories had been given pension of Rs 3,46,98,000 for three months from April, 2003 to June, 2003 in Hoshiarpur district.

CRITICISED: The state committee of the Technical Services’ Union (vigianik kendra) of the PSEB has criticised the move to disband the electricity board. The members of the committee warned that if the PSEB was disbanded, the union would launch a statewide stir.

Ludhiana
NSS CAMP: A 10-day camp was organised at the Research and Development Polytechnic under the guidance of Ms Hirdepal Grewal, Director, and Mr J.S. Rahi, Assistant Director, Youth Services. The volunteers were appraised of health services, environment, energy conservation, traffic rules and objectives of the NSS during the camp. The volunteers celebrated the vanmahautsav a week by planting saplings. Mr Gagan Pal Singh was declared the best camper and Mr Dharmesh Kumar was honoured for best discipline. 

Painting Contest: A painting competition was organised by Fevicryle Company at Everest Public Senior Secondary School here. Students were also given training in preparation of stickers from fevicol. The winners were given prizes by the company. First prize was given to Sonam, second prize to Jai Kaur and third prize was awarded to Amandeep Singh. Five consolation prizes were also given to Sumit, Deepak, Amandeep, Manoj and Geetanjali.

STUDENTS INSURED: The Khalsa Educational Council, governing body of the Gujranwala Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology (GGNIMT), has introduced an insurance policy for the students of BBA, BCA, MBA and MCA from the session 2004-2005. It covers tuition fee plus Rs 2 lakh for the student expenses in the event of the death of parents/guardians in accident. Every student will have to pay less than Rs 120 per year for this policy. 

Calligraphy contest: A calligraphy competition was held in Guru Gobind Singh Public School, Pakhowal Road, here on Thursday. Students participated in English, Punjabi and Hindi handwriting competitions. 

Malout
Stolen: Unidentified thieves broke into a shop in the New Grain Market on Tuesday night and stole several bags of wheat. The owner of the shop came to know about the theft on Wednesday. He reported the matter to the police. This is the fifth incident of theft in the city within two days.

Sangrur
NEW DC: Mr Husan Lal on Wednesday took over as Deputy Commissioner in place of Mr Sarvjit Singh who has been transferred as Director, Rural Development and Panchayats.

Samrala
NEW FRONT: A new anti-corruption front was formed here on Tuesday to provide justice to the poor in this subdivision. Convener of the front Sudesh Sharma, talking to mediapersons, said the front would take up the issue of a link road towards the Civil Hospital. Sewerage work had started along the approach road to the hospital, causing inconvenience to the patients.

HARYANA

Rewari
CASE REGISTERED: On a complaint lodged by Jyoti, the Rewari Sadar police has registered a case of cruelty, criminal breach of trust and criminal intimidation under Sections 498-A, 406, 506 of the IPC against the woman’s husband Brahm Prakash, mother-in-law Savitri, brother-in-law Raju and two sisters-in-law Kamlesh and Bal. However, no arrests has been made.

ARRESTED: The Dharuhera police has arrested Babloo Saini, an ice cream vendor, on charges of enticing and assaulting a minor girl on Tuesday.

Rohtak
NOMINATED: Mr Ram Chander Jangra, has been nominated vice-president of the Haryana Bharatiya Janata Party, according to a press release issued by the state office of the party here on Thursday. Mr Jangra, who is a former general secretary of the Haryana Vikas Party, had joined the BJP on Wednesday. He fills a vacancy caused by the elevation of Mr Kishan Singh Sangwan, MP as a national secretary of the BJP. The party has also nominated three others members on its state executive. They are: Mr Rajesh Jain, Mr Tek Chand Sharma and Mr S. D. Tyagi.

Sonepat
BURGLARY: Atleast six houses were burgled at Rohna village, 15 km from here, on Tuesday. The thieves are reported to have taken away cash, gold ornaments and other valuables worth Rs 3 lakh from these houses.

ACQUITTED: Mr A. K. Shouri, Additional Sessions Judge, Fast Track Court, acquitted Sandeep, Sushil, Sanjay, Gurdayala, Naresh, Manjit and Praveen involved in a case of dacoity attempt for lack of evidence. According to a report, the Kharkhauda police had registered a case against them on March 10, 2001 and consequently arrested them.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Bilaspur
RALLY HELD: Students of Government Postgraduate College, under the banner of the Himachal Vikas Students Union, held a rally in the college premises after boycotting their classes on Wednesday. They were protesting against the signing of an MoU by the state government with the Central Government which, they said, would be detrimental to the interests of the students and the unemployed educated youths. They demanded the immediate abrogation of the arrangement.

CRITICISED: The location of Senior Secondary School Science Laboratory to be financed by NABARD has created a division in the Congress. One group of Congress leaders has criticised the government move to shift the Rs 50 lakh project from Government Boys Senior Secondary School, Bilaspur to Government Senior Secondary School at Kandraur and has alleged that this has been done at the instance of local Congress MLA who resides in the Kandraur area.

Kangra
ARRESTED: Three persons were arrested under the Essential Commodities Act when they were unloading wheat and rice belonging to a society at their personal godown in the upper Shahpur area on Tuesday night. The Kangra district police chief S. Zahoor H. Zaidi said on Wednesday that Amin Chand a resident of Baag Chawari, Banti, alias Vikas Mahajan , a resident of Upper Shahpur and Akshay Kumar, a resident of Shahpur were nabbed while unloading 82 bags of wheat and 37 bags of rice, belonging to a society, at their personal godown. A case under Sections 3 and 7 of the Essential Commodities Act has been registered against the accused.

Nahan
INAUGURATED: Mr M. L. Sharma, Deputy Commissioner, Sirmaur, inaugurated the building of a panchayat bhavan at Katola in Nahan tehsil. Mr Sharma said with the construction of the panchayat ghar a long-standing demand of the people of the area had been met.

Nurpur
DEMANDED: The Himachal Pradesh Rajput Union has demanded that the state government should intervene in the alleged irregularities being committed by the Rajput Kalyan Trust, Kangra. Mr Sanjiv Guleria, a spokesperson for the union in a statement here on Wednesday alleged that the trust had been misusing the income from the assets. Mr Guleria demanded an inquiry into an attack on a correspondent of the electronic media and a member of the trust Mr Raghav Guleria on July 11 at Kangra.

MANGO EXHIBITION: The Himachal Pradesh Horticulture Department is organising two-day state mango exhibition-cum-seminar at Jachh, near here, from tomorrow. According to Mr Baldev Singh, Deputy Director, 300 mango growers will participate in the seminar. OPPOSED: The Himachal Pradesh Government Teachers’ Union has taken exception to government move to set up its own pay commission. Mr Onkar Rana, president Kangra district unit of the union, in a statement here on Wednesday said the union would oppose the move as it was in favour of employees.