The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

NEWS AND VIEWS

PUNJAB

HARYANA

JAMMU & KASHMIR

HIMACHAL

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R E G I O N A L B R I E F S

PUNJAB

ABOHAR
Succumbs to burns: Thirtyfive-year-old Satpal succumbed to his burns at the Nehru Memorial Civil Hospital here on Friday. A painter by profession, Satpal had reportedly caught fire while puffing beeri during work under the influence of liquor at Panjkosi village,15 km from here, last week. He had been under treatment for past 10 days.

Protest rallies: Protest rallies were held here on Friday by technical employees working in Abohar and Muktsar circles.They were protesting against the termination of the services of seven members of the Technical Services Union (TSU).A meeting of the circle committee has been called for September 24.

Polio drops: Even as the state government decided to observe a public holiday for offices and educational institutions, the para-medical staff at the 100-bed Nehru Memorial Civil Hospital here administered polio prevention drops to children of families of migrants.The department had announced that drops would be administered during a three-day campaign beginning Friday. But the migrants said they were unaware of the holiday as most of them neither had access to newspapers nor owned TV sets in their dwellings located on the outskirts of the sub-divisional town.

Bassi Pathana
Nagar kirtan taken out: To pay tributes to Guru Nanak Dev, a nagar kirtan was taken out from Gurdwara Kalgidhar Sahib here, on Friday. The nagar kirtan passed through the main markets of the town. The organisers said religious diwans would be organised at the gurdwara tomorrow and former head granthi of Gurdwara Fatehgarh Sahib, Giani Baldev Singh, would perform the ardas during bhog ceremony and address the sangat. MP Sukhdev Singh Libra, MLA Didar Singh Bhatti and SAD (B) leader Rajeshpal Singh Lalli would also address the gathering.

Fatehgarh Sahib
Agriculture camp: In view of the fast approaching Rabi season, the agriculturists from the Punjab Agriculture University held interactions with the farmers at a special camp organised to inform them about the latest and the best techniques that can be adopted to increase the yield per hectare, on Friday. The camp was organised at the old market committee of Sirhind. Speaking on the occasion Sirhind MLA Didar Singh Bhatti, who was the chief guest, said despite the challenges being faced by the state farming community Punjab was still making a huge contribution to the national pool. He said that at present corrective measures should be initialed to check the reducing land fertility, depleting ground water and excessive use of pesticides.

Cop gets lifetime award: A lifetime achievement award for excellence in sports was conferred upon Vikas Sabharwal, additional station house officer of Fatehgarh Sahib police station, for his outstanding accomplishments at the national and international level. Vikas was presented a memento along with a certificate of recognition by the director general Punjab Police N.P.S. Aulakh, at a ceremony held in Jalandhar, recently. Vikas was presented the award for having won a number of medals in the national and international tournaments in the field of gymnastics. He joined the armed forces in 1994, has represented the country in prestigious tournaments like the World Gymnastic Championship, Friendship International Cup and Open Championship of North England.

Hoshiarpur
Protest held: Rehal Youth Club activists staged a demonstration and burnt effigies at Gol Chowk on Friday against the remarks made by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi about the existence of Lord Rama. The protesters were led by the club’s president Saurav Anuj Maidan and BJP Tanda vice-president Harpreet Singh. Maidan said they would continue their agitation till Karunanidhi took his objectionable words back.

Jalandhar
Local holiday on Sept 25: The district administration has declared a local holiday on September 25 to enable the people to take part in the Sidh Baba Sodhal mela. Deputy commissioner A.S. Pannu said all government offices and educational institutions would remain closed on that day.

Grant: Bikram Singh Majithia, minister for public relations, water supply and sanitation, announced a grant of Rs 3 lakh for the sports centre from his discretionary fund. He was addressing a gathering on the concluding day of the three-day Punjab Police inter-zone cultural meet at the PAP stadium here on Thursday. Those present on the occasion included ADGP Rajan Gupta, IG G.S. Sahota and DIG P.S. Sidhu.

Kharar
PSEB conducts raids: A Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) team today conducted surprise raids in villages of Kharar, Morinda and Kurali. Fifty-four cases of power theft were detected in Jai Singhwala, Sikandarpur, Nanuwal, Lullu, Khant, Panchkotla, Dumchheri, Badhwali, Badhwala, Chakla and Sarahana villages. Penalties worth Rs 3.5 lakh were imposed in total. A team under XEN P.S. Bains comprising SDO, Kharar, Harbans Singh, SDO, Morinda, Jaspal Singh and SDO, Kurali, Sanjeev Gupta conducted the raids. Gharuan Division additional SDO Mahinder Pal said the raids were conducted as per directions of the board.

Phagwara
Aid for needy: With other social service projects, the Rotaract Club of the Kamla Nehru College for Women distributed copies, pencils among children of Government Elementary School, Phagwara.

Ropar
‘Power plant defamed’: A meeting of regional body of PSEB Engineers' Association, Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Plant (GGSSTP) region, was held here on Friday. The engineers expressed concern over alleged false propaganda being carried out by some elements about the performance of the plant. The engineers unanimously condemned these elements, who they said they were misinforming the public about the performance of the plant. They claimed that GGSSTP is one of the best plants of the country and has been bettering its own record of generation every year. The generation at the plant during this year up to end of August has been better than the generation during the corresponding period of the last year.

CHANDIGARH

Chandigarh
Nominated: The Haryana Government has nominated six non-official members of the District Public Relations and Grievances Committee, Gurgaon. The newly appointed non-official members are Mohan Lal Saini resident of ward no.2, Sohna, Gurgaon, Pratap Singh Khatana resident of VPO Rithoj, Sohna, Gurgaon, Sanjay Raghav resident of VPO Bhondsi, Sohna, Gurgaon, Subedar Chander Pal Singh, VPO Kadarpur, Sohna, Gurgaon, Rakesh Sharma resident of Parnami Bhawan, New Colony, Gurgaon and Hariom Singh, Advocate of ward no.14, Thakurwara, Sohna, Gurgaon.

Parliamentary secys: The Haryana Government has ordered that Dr. Krishna Pandit parliamentary secretary, shall aid and assist the Chief Minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda in respect of Administration of Justice and Hospitality Department and Ram Kishan Gujjar, parliamentary secretary shall aid and assist the Chief Minister in respect of Civil Aviation Department. While Sharda Rathore, parliamentary secretary shall aid and assist the urban local bodies minister, A.C. Choudhry in respect of the Employment Department.

Panchkula
Youth Congress rally: A mass rally to promote the ‘Congress membership drive’ under the supervision of Ajaib Singh, youth congress leader, was organised at Sector 12, here on Friday. National Youth Congress chairman Ashok Tanwar presided over the rally and condemned the violence in relation to Ram Setu. Ashok Around 1,000 congress workers attended the rally.

HARYANA

AMBALA
Ration card survey sought: Braham Dutt Dhyani, member, District Grievances Committee, demanded on Friday that survey of the ration card holders should be carried out so that irregularities in distribution of kerosene oil can be stopped. Dhyani said that there seems to be black marketing of kerosene oil, which leads to revenue loss for the government. He said that the ration cards of LPG owners must be marked clearly.

Statement criticised: BJP Ambala unit general secretary K.L. Sehgal strongly criticised DMK leader M. Karunanidhi's statement on Ram Setu, on Friday. K.L. Sehgal said the sentiments of the Hindu community have been hurt. He said Karunanidhi's statement is unfortunate and he demanded that Karunanidhi must retract his statement.

PANIPAT
Insurance: The district administration on Friday gave away cheques of Rs 13 lakh to dependants of those who died in accidents and natural calamities in the district. Deputy commissioner Mahender Kumar said 13 families had benefited under the Rajiv Gandhi Family Life Insurance Scheme. Each family was given Rs 1 lakh as insurance amount. He said residents were insured against accidents and natural calamities.

YAMUNANAGAR
Staff member beaten: Five persons armed with iron rods and a pistol, riding on two motorbikes, allegedly stopped the staff bus of Ganpati knowledge temple near Shiv chowk, Bilaspur, and beat up a staff member present in the bus on Thursday. M K Sehgal, CEO of the institution in a complaint to the police said the miscreants used abusive language while women staff members were also present in the bus. The staff member, Rajeev Gupta, sustained injuries from the beating. Sehgal said the incident had created panic among the girl students and their parents. A case has been registered.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
Pensioners’ body: Himachal State Pensioners Welfare Association has thanked the state government and the Chief Minister for accepting and implementing some long-pending demands during the past one and half years and also the state-level Joint Consultative Committee meeting held on October 6, 2006 at Shimla with state association under chairmanship of the Chief Minister. Association’s state president and the Bilaspur district senior vice-president said the government should ensure holding of quarterly meetings of joint state consultative committee with the association as was decided in the first JCC meeting on 6 October, 2006.

DHARAMSALA
Suicide: Anju Devi allegedly committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance at Khanni Chaugan village near Nurpur on Friday. The police has registered a criminal case on the complaint of her father Janak Raj against her husband Brij Bhushan, sister-in-law Sudha Rani, brother-in-law Vijay Kumar and one Rimpu Devi, a family member, on charges of forcing Anju to commit suicide and harassing her of dowry prior to her death.

Liquor seized: Seventyseven cases of Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) were seized from a truck (HP-22-4706) and a Mahindra pick-up vehicle (PB-07-R-0319) near Sukkar village on Thursday night. Rajesh Kumar of Bahadurpur street in Hoshiarpur, Naresh Kumar and Yashpal of street No. 18 of Roopnagar mohalla in Hoshiarpur were arrested and a case registered.

HAMIRPUR
Condoled: Dr Chander Pal Chauhan (45), brother-in-law of former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, was cremated at Hamirpur on Friday. An ayurvedic doctor, he died on Thursday due to liver infection at the Fortis hospital, Mohali. A large number of people, including Prem Kumar Dhumal, district BJP president Baldev Sharma, former MP Kirpal Pramar along with others attended the funeral.

Campaign: State committee of the SFI on Friday has decided to launch a statewide campaign against privatisation and commercialisation of education in the coming months. State secretary Ashok Negi said a Bill was passed in the state Assembly to open private universities in the state which was approved by both the Congress and the BJP. He said the SFI would launch a campaign from October 1 to oppose this policy and would hold rallies in all colleges on October 12.

Demands: Ex-servicemen on Friday highlighted their demands of one rank one pension, 100 per cent pension to widows of ex-servicemen and creation of commissions at the Central and state-level. National president of the organisation and the state president have urged the Central and state governments to redress the grievances of ex-servicemen.

Launched: Bajaj Allianz Insurance Company has launched a new unit ‘Gain Plus Gold Scheme’ to benefit the investors. Area manager Kuldeep Singh Rana said the scheme would have new features like high allocation of funds up to 85 per cent, guaranteed life cover, family income benefit and critical illness and hospital cash benefits.