R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Samrala
Field day on gram: The Krishi Vigyan Kendra organised a field day on “gram” at Pal Majra village on Wednesday. About 100 farmers and 20 farmwomen participated. Deputy director Dr J.S. Chandi advised the farmers to cultivate oilseed and pulse crops. He also motivated them to keep a record of their farming expenditure. Besides, Assistant Prof Dr Parminder Kaur, Assistant Prof Dr Anita, Assistant Prof Dr Manmeet Kaur, Assistant Prof Dr Mandeep Dhaliwal, Assistant Prof Dr R K Dhall, and Assistant Prof Ranjit Singh advised the farmers on various agriculture and allied fields.

Vermiculture unit damaged: A high capacity vermiculture unit situated at a village 10 km from here was totally damaged due to heavy rain and stormy winds on Tuesday. The trainees of vermiculture course run by the Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Samrala, used to visit the unit, according to Dr Parminder Kaur. Meanwhile, the owner of the unit, former sarpanch Amarjeet Singh Bhangu said the damage to the unit was worth lakhs of rupees due to washing away of a special variety of worms. — OC

CHANDIGARH

Chandigarh:
Office-bearers: The GGDSD College Teachers Union, Sector 32, Chandigarh, has unanimously elected the following office-bearers for the session 2007-2008: president - Rakesh Mehta; vice-president - H.K. Khanna; secretary - Dr Anil Parti; joint secretary - Madhu Sharma; finance secretary - M.P. Sharma. — TNS

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Kumarhatti
INSTRUCTED: The district administration has been gearing up to tackle jaundice this summer. This was stated by Lokender Chauhan, additional district magistrate, here on Wednesday. Chauhan instructed the health and IPH departments to take precautionary measures in this connection. — OC

Peeran panchayat: The state government is incurring Rs 35 lakh on the development of peeran panchayat. Panchayat Pradhan Kamlesh Thakur on Wednesday informed that the Government High School at Peeran has upgraded to Senior Secondary School. The Government Primary School at Trahee village under the panchayat has also been upgraded to middle school, she said. — OC

WB projectL: “The 602 panchayats of 10 districts of the state have been selected under the Mid Himalaya Watershed Development scheme of the World Bank. Out of this, 21 panchayats are under Arki Tehsil”, this was stated by Arki sitting Congress MLA Dharampal Thakur on Tuesday.Under the project, Rs 40 lakh was to be incurred in each panchayat on development. The main aims of project was to provide water and to protect forest and land degradation. — OC

CHAMBA
Plea for probe: The Alpine Region Welfare Council has urged the state government to conduct a probe into the functioning of certain NGOs working merely in the name of uplift and wellbeing of masses in the far-flung areas of the district. On Wednesday, the council demanded that verification of these NGOs through a competent authority should also be made mandatory so that their activities could be kept under strict surveillance. — OC

UNA
Gandhian dead: Tirth Ram was the only Gandhian living in the district. He died in Oil Village, 34 km from here, on Tuesday night. He was 98. He was arrested many times during the freedom struggle. he had set up a Gandhi sewa asharm in the village in 1940. — OC