R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Bathinda
INAUGURATED: Mr K.S. Palne, Managing Director, Punjab State Cooperative Bank Limited, inaugurated the Sunday banking in one of its local branches here on Sunday.

Jalandhar
WORKSHOP ORGANISED: The District Organising Committee organised a workshop, “Year of scientific awareness-2004” at Government High School, Rainak Bazar, on Sunday. The aim of the workshop was to develop scientific awareness among the masses through dramas and poetry.

SAPLINGS PLANTED: As part of the Vanamahotsava celebrations, the Lions Club planted saplings of gulmohar and makren on the premises of Khalsa Girls Senior Secondary School here on Saturday. The saplings were planted under the club’s project, “Clean city-green city”.

LUDHIANA
ANNOUNCED: The bhog of an akhand path, which was started at a gurdwara in Sher Pur Kalan by residents to pray for rains, was performed on Sunday. Mr Nahar Singh Gill, Mayor, who was present on the occasion, announced a grant of Rs 50,000 for the construction of the second floor of the gurdwara building. Mr Manish Tiwari, Mr Surinder Dawar, Mr Jagmohan Sharma, Mr Malkit Singh Birmi, Mr Sardul Singh Grewal, Mr Parveen Bansal, Mr Raju Thapar and Mr Kuldip Singh were present, among others. 

PROGRAMME: The Bharat Vikas Parishad organised a ‘gau seva and gau pujan’ function at Prachin Gaushala here on Sunday. Activities included ‘jyoti prajvalan’, Vande Mataram recital and bhajan singing. Members of the parishad also cleaned various wards of the gaushala. Mr Harish Gupta, president of the parishad, exhorted the gathering to educate the new generation about ancient Indian values and culture. Among others present on the occasion were Mr Dalbir Nanda, Mr Brij Bhushan Bansal, Mr Deepak Seth, Mr Dhari Shah Singla, Mr Kewal Krishan, Mr Vinod Kumar and Mr Vipin Kwatra.

Sangrur
SEMINAR ORGANISED: A seminar on ‘‘Exclusive breast feeding : the gold standard - safe, sound and sustainable’’ was organised by the Lions Club in collaboration with the Sangrur district branch of Breast Feeding Promotion Network of India here  on Sunday.

CHANDIGARH

PANCHKULA
APPOINTED: The National President of Shiv Sena (Hindustan), Mr Pawan Kumar Gupta, today held a meeting of its activists at Durga Mandir, Sector 7. He appointed Mr Suresh Chaudhary as district president of the party. He decried the efforts of the Andhra Government to give quota to Muslims in government jobs and educational institutions.

HARYANA

AMBALA
RALLY: Mr Aseem Goel, state treasurer of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, said on Monday that they had intensified their agitation on the SYL issue. Talking to mediapersons here, Mr Goel said that they would hold a major rally at the Matka Chowk in Chandigarh on Wednesday. The BJP yatras, which originated from six different places in Haryana, would also converge in Chandigarh on August 4. Mr Ashok Mehta, state vice-president of the morcha, said that they had raised issues concerning students. 

Bhiwani
FARE: In the wake of drought in the district, owners of private transport samities have decided to reduce the bus fare for the Dadri-Bhiwani route. The decision came into effect from Sunday. Now , the bus fare would be Rs 10 instead of Rs 16 for Charkhi Dadri.

LOK ADALATS: Special Lok Adalats will be held for petty cases of crime at Bhiwani, Laharu, Siwani and Charkhi Dadri on August 7, according to the District & Sessions Judge here.

RECOVERED: The police recovered a dead body near city railway station on Sunday. The deceased was identified as Alok, a resident of New Housing Board Colony. The police sent the body for postmortem and was investigating the matter.

Kaithal
FAREWELL: Social, voluntary trade and commerce organisations yesterday, organised a farewell in honour of the former Deputy Commissioner, Mr Anurag Agarwal, who has been transferred to Gurgaon as Deputy Commissioner. Representatives of these organisations appreciated his style of functioning and the introduction of the Ekal Seva Kendra that provided several services under roof.

Kurukshetra
accused held: The local police claimed to have arrested a murder accused, who had escaped from the police custody on Saturday from the LNJP Hospital where he had been undergoing treatment since July 27.According to police sources, on a tip-off, the murder accused, Satish, was arrested from Kirmach village. He was produced in a local court here today and was remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.

Rewari
SERVICE COMMISSIONED: The Union Minister of State for External Affairs, Mr Rao Inderjit Singh, commissioned two global subscriber module (GSM) -cum-wireless in local loop (WLL) service projects at Guraora and Berli Kalan villages respectively, in Rewari district on Saturday.

Sonepat
DEMONSTRATION: The District Mahila Congress Committee will organise a demonstration in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office on August 3 to protest against the increasing crime against women and deteriorating law and order situation in the district.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Nahan
BLOOD DONATION CAMP: Sant Nirankari Mandal organised a blood donation camp at Nirankari Satsang Bhavan here on Sunday. The Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha Speaker, Mr G.R. Musafir was the chief guest. Nearly 150 people donated blood on this occasion.

Nurpur
DEMANDED: The commuters of the town and its surrounding areas have been facing inconvenience in boarding long-route buses of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) as these used to ply via Jassur, 3 km from here. Mr P.D. Sahotra, general secretary, Town Welfare Committee, has urged Transport Minister G.S. Bali to direct the authorities concerned to divert the buses via Nurpur.

PROTEST: Hundreds of workers of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) at Jachh workshop protested against the state government's decision to allot bus body building work to an outsider contractor. They also constituted a joint action committee headed by Mr Thakur Chand to chalk out the future line of action.