R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Amritsar
COMPETITION: Shalini Trehan and Pranay won the senior and junior on-the-spot painting competition, here on Sunday. The competition was organised by the Archeological Survey of India (ASI), Chandigarh circle, to mark the Independence Day celebrations under their Cultural Awareness Programme. Ankur Mahajan and Madhvi Kholia secured the second and third positions in the senior category. Sangeeta and Shakshi Vyas were second and third in the junior category.

Nawanshahr
CAMP: A voluntary blood donation camp was organised by the Lions Club (Nawanshahr city) in collaboration with the Blood Donors Council to mark the Independence Day at Blood Donors Complex here on Sunday. Mr Ravi Manuja, vice district governor, Lions Club, was the chief guest and Mr Mohan Singh Kahma, presided over the camp. About 121 persons donated blood.

SEIZED: A team of the Excise Department led by Mr Randhir Singh, ETO, intercepted a car at a naka at Singhpu village of Garhshanker-Anandpur Sahib road, here on Saturday and seized 25 boxes (300 bottles) of English wine, which were being allegedly smuggled from Chandigarh. The car has been impounded.

Patiala
Papers on Sikhism: Prof Gursharan Singh Sandhu of the Department of Philosophy and Dr Rajinder Kaur Rohi of Department of Religious Studies, Punjabi University, presented their papers on “Sikhism in Parliament of World’s Religions” held at Barcelona in Spain recently. This was stated in a press note issued by the university on Tuesday.

CONDOLEd: The state Language Department organised a meeting to condole the death of Punjabi folk singer Jaswant Bhawra. Paying tributes to the departed soul, Additional Director of the department Manmohan Lal Banga said Punjab had lost a great folk singer.

BLOOD DONATION CAMP: The State Bank of Patiala sponsored a blood donation camp at the Government Bikram College here on Monday in which Lions Club Patiala headed by Mr Balbir Singh also played an important role. Dr R.S. Atwal, in charge, blood bank, Government Rajindra Hospital, said more such camps should be organised. As many as 70 students from Bikran College donated blood on the occasion, Principal Mrs Harinder Kaur disclosed.

YOG FOUNDATION: Mr Rajeev K. Gupta has been unanimously elected Chairman of the Samagra Yog Foundation. The other office-bearers of the foundation are president — Mr Jatinder Sharma; vice-president — Mr Sukh Ram; and general secretary — Mr Mukesh Puri.

I-DAY: Mr R.N. Dhoke, Commandant, 36th Battalion, PAP, Bahadurgarh, hoisted the National Flag at the Independence Day celebration at PAP complex in the presence of jawans and their families and distinguished gathering on Sunday. A patriotic cultural programme was also organised on the occasion. Mr N.S. Sekhon, Assistant Commandant, 36th Battalion and Mr Rajinderpal Singh Anand, DSP, 36th Battalion were also present.

Honoured: The local Rotary Club felicitated NASA contest winners at its meeting held at the Academy of Sikh Religion here on Monday. The Director of the Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Dr S.C. Saxena, and the Principal of Budha Dal Public School, Dr Amrit Aujla, were the chief guest and the guest of honour, respectively. The president of the club, Prof S.C. Sharma, presented mementos to the team members. 

SEMINAR: The Department of Correspondence Courses, Punjabi University, Patiala, will organise a two-day national seminar on “Emerging issues and problems in the North-West Region of India under the New Economic Policy Regime” in association with ICSSR, Chandigarh, from Wednesday. Prof Harbans Singh Sidhu, Chairman, Punjab School Education Board, will deliver the Key note address. Mr Swarn Singh Boparai, Vice-Chancellor, will preside over the ceremony. Giving this information, Dr S.S. Khaira, Head of the Department, said participants from Ahmedabad, Jammu, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Delhi, Shimla, Ludhiana and Bathinda will take part in the seminar.

Phagwara
PROTEST MARCH: Activists of the Bajrang Dal held a protest march against the geographical and political division of the country in 1947. The march was led by Mr Chhavi Bhaskar, Viwagh Sanjojak and the protesters presented a memorandum to the SDM, Mr Pritam Singh, according to a press release here on Sunday. Renewing their pledge for making an Akhand Bharat, the protesters asserted that the Partition was a national tragedy.

CHANDIGARH

SCHEME: Simriti Jagdev, a Sector 8 resident, won the mega prize of Maruti 800 under a lucky draw organised by Samsung India Electronics Ltd on Monday as part of its campaign — “Balle-Balle”. The winners included Neeru, B.R Chawla, Amit Jain, Krishna Banti, Nishan Singh, Hardeep Kaur, Madhu Bala, Ramandeep Kaur, Sumit Aggarwal, Amanjit Kaur, Amanpreet, Dimpy, Saroj Bala Mittal, Sanjay Piplani, Jasbir Singh, Garmotton Singh, Khamshenu, Rajesh Panwar and Karan Chand. 

Panchkula
I-Day CELEBRATIONS: Members of Bharatiya Yog Sansthan celebrated Independence Day at HUDA Park on Sunday. Almost 200 sadhaks participated. Mr Surinder Verma, a yog expert, talked on a healthy life. The members sang patriotic songs as well as ghazals. 

Forum For Common Cause: The Forum For Common Cause celebrated Independence Day at the Community Centre, Mansa Devi Complex. The President of the Municipal Council, Ms Seema Chaudhary was the chief guest. Mr Deepak Rai Walia, president of the forum, said more than 60 children from Mansa Devi Complex participated. Shamim Iqbal enthralled every one with ghazals.

INAUGURATED: The State Bank of India set up a core banking facility in its branch located at Industrial Estate here on Monday. It was inaugurated by the Deputy General Manager, Haryana, Mr Mrinal Shanker. Branch Manager, Mr Sanjay Kansal, said this was the first branch of the Haryana module on core banking.

HARYANA

Ambala
LIONS CLUB: Mr Rajnish Dutta has been elected president of Lions Club, Ambala City. The other office-bearers who have been elected are secretary — Mr Satish Gupta; treasurer — Mr Rajesh Bansal; and directors, — Mr Chaman Lal Gupta, Mr Ravi Mehra, Mr Chander Gupt, and Mr Virender Nagpal.

APPOINTED: HPCC chief Bhajan Lal has appointed Davinder Bajaj president of the Ambala unit of the Congress Vichar Manch. A number of Congress leaders, including former minister Phool Chand Mulana, DCC, chief Kiran Bala Jain and senior leaders Narender Pali and Rajan Guglani, have welcomed the appointment of Mr Bajaj.

FLOOD RELIEF: Lions Club, Ambala City, has adopted the flood-affected areas of Kabir Nagar and Goverdhan Nagar to provide these with daily need items like atta, sugar and candles and eatables. The club has also provided residents of these areas, with tarpaulin sheets.

ELECTED: Mr Chander Shekhar Mangal has been elected president of the Northern Regional Insurance Employees Association. The other office-bearers elected are Vice-president — Ms Raj Rani Sharma; Secretary — Mr Ashwani Kumar; joint secretaries Mr Pawan Kalra and Mr Pankaj Bhalla; cashier — Mr Ishwar Chand Sharma, and auditor — Ms Madvi Kapil.

ELECTED: The National Working President of the Indian Homoeopathic Organisation, Dr Har Prakash Sharma, has been elected member of the Council of Homoeopathic System of Medicine (Haryana Government) from Ambala constituency. The other elected members are Dr Nirmal Tej Singh from Karnal, Dr Anil Bishnoi from Hisar, Dr S.S. Bhardwaj from Rohtak, Dr U.K. Khanna from Kurukshetra, Dr Manphool Dhiman from Panchkula, Dr Anil Sharma from Faridabad and Dr Vinod Sangwan from Bhiwani.

Fatehabad
AUGMENTED: The Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam has augmented the capacity of the 33 kv power sub-station at Sadhanwaad village by doubling its capacity. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Mahtab Singh Sehrawat, informed mediapersons here on Monday that the Nigam had installed an additional transformer of 5 mva capacity. Earlier, the supply was being made from a single transformer.

ELECTROCUTED: A youth, Balbir Singh (21), was electrocuted at Dadupur village when he was trying to rectify a fault in the power line. His body was handed over to his kin after the postmortem.

Sonepat
DACOITY : Armed persons attempted to loot Ramesh, while he was going on his motorcycle towards Dhaturi village on Sunday night. The youth raised the alarm and the alleged armed men escaped after injuring him. He was rushed to a hospital where his condition was stable. Meanwhile, the police arrested two youth while they were looting passersby near the Atlas Mess in the Model Town area on Sunday night.

ASSAULT : A constable was beaten up by six persons who were under the influence of liquor near a hotel on Sunday night. The police arrested all six persons and their medical examination was done.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Shimla
DHARNA: Employees of the State Bank of Patiala, Himachal Pradesh on Monday held a dharna in front of State Bank of Patiala Regional office Shimla. Addressing those on dharna Mr H.P. Singh, a leader of the employees, demanded jobs on compassionate ground for dependents of deceased employees and an end to outsourcing of contract labour.