R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Abohar
Re-elected: Mr Bhupinder Singh, a senior lecturer at the DAV College of Education here, has been re-elected as a member of the Panjab University Academic Council. He was polled 868 votes and enjoyed fifth position among 15 successful candidates.

Amritsar
Honoured: Former advocate-general Hardev Singh Mattewal was honoured by the SGPC here on Wednesday. SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar said Mr Mattewal had always upheld the true ideals and never compromised for personal interests.

Barnala
Booked: Major Singh, a resident of Kattoo village, is alleged to have killed his brother-in-law Tarsem Singh by offering him poisoned liquor. Disclosing this here on Thursday, SSP G Nageshwara Rao said a case under Section 302 of the IPC had been registered against the accused.

Farmers' meet: A meeting of the farmers was hosted by the State Bank of Patiala (SBOP), Barnala Agricultural Development Branch, at Jhaloor village, 10 km from here, on Wednesday. Mr V.K. Kochhar, AGM, SBOP, inaugurated the meet. The bank honoured Mr Bhagat Singh, chairman, Market Committee, and Mr Rajinder Singh, member, Planning Board. Mr J.R. Garg, Manager, SBOP, thanked the farmers for their participation. 

Hoshiarpur
Minor raped: A case of rape of a ninth class student of Thay village had been reported at Hajipur police station on Thursday. According to police sources, Gurmeet Singh, son of Surat Singh and Harjinder Singh, son of Mohinder Singh, both of Behbowal Chanian, allegedly kidnapped the 16-year-old girl and took here to Mawa village where Harjinder allegedly raped her twice. A case under Sections 363, 366A, 376, 506 and 34 of the IPC has been registered.

Jalandhar
Bulletin: ‘Vama,’ the first issue of ‘JCI Jalandhar Gurlz Club’ on the theme—”Salute to Motherhood”— was released here on Thursday. Mr Rajesh Mayor, the Director of Mayor World School, released the issue at the school premises.

New mall: A new shopping, food and entertainment mall, Centrum Jyoti Mall, was launched by 3S Infrastructures here on Friday. Dr Bal Sidhu and Mr Jindi Khera, the promoters of 3S Infrastructures said the mall would be a six-storeyed structure with floors dedicated to outlets of jewellery, wedding wear and would also have a zone for children, a pub and a dance floor.

Cancer camp: Republic Day was celebrated on a different note at Patel Hospital here, where a cancer awareness and free check-up camp was organised. The team of doctors comprised Dr Harpreet Singh, Dr Shikha Chawla, Dr Rajesh Khurana, Dr B.S. Chopra, Dr Swapan Sood, Dr Deepak Chawla, Dr R.R. Saggar and Dr Pramod.

Kapurthala
Republic Day: The Revenue and Rehabilitation Minister, Punjab, Mr Amarjit Singh Samra, unfurled the national flag here on Thursday to mark the Republic Day celebrations. He took a salute from contingents of Punjab police, home guards, NCC cadets and school children. At Rail Coach Factory, the General Manager, hoisted the flag.

HARYANA

Hisar
Diet counselling centre: The Department of Food and Nutrition under College of Home Science of Haryana Agricultural University here has started a diet counselling centre which will provide guidance on health-related problems to people free of cost. Dr R.S. Dalal, Dean, Home Science College, said here on Wednesday that the centre would remain functional till May next. The Head of the department, Dr Saroj Dahiya, said the centre would remain open on Friday and Saturday between 11 am and 1 pm.

Employment bureau: The Haryana Government has decided to set up a foreign employment bureau to provide overseas employment opportunities to the educated youth of the state. This was stated by the Divisional Commissioner, Mr R.R. Fuliya, while addressing a division-level meeting of the officials of the Employment and Social Welfare Departments. 

Seminar: A seminar on water conservation and management was organised at local Government College on Tuesday. Yuva Bharat Sangh president and environmentalist Ram Avtar Rana was the chief guest on the occasion. Addressing the gathering, Mr Rana exhorted the students to boycott products made by multi-national companies.

Sonepat
Patwari held: Om Parkash, a patwari of Sewli village, has been arrested by the Vigilance Department, headed by Magistrate Hoshiar Singh Siwach, on the charges of accepting Rs 800 as bribe from Ranbir Singh, a farmer of the same village.

Two killed: Sushil (23) of Chatia Aulia village was killed in a road accident while on his way to Sonepat. In another incident, Ram Khilavan (35) of UP died after he fell from the tractor-trailer in which he was travelling.