R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Abohar
2 killed in mishaps: One person was killed in a road accident which occurred on the Raisinghnagar-Gajsinghnagar road in the neighbouring Sriganganagar area on Monday. According to sources, the mishap involved a motorcycle and a four-wheeler. One of the three motorcycle riders, Bunty, son of Raj Kumar, was killed on the spot while Mahesh and Rajan had been admitted to a hospital for treatment, sources added. In another mishap, one Satnam Singh alias Sattu (34) was killed when the trailer which he was repairing, lost its balance and crushed him near the bus stop of Kikkarwali village in the same area.

Amritsar
Punjabi heritage fair today: To make students aware of Punjabi culture JDS Public School, Fatahpur, is organising a Punjabi heritage fair on December 5. A number of competitions would be held as part of the event, besides putting up exhibits relating to the region’s history in every classroom. School-level competitions would be also there in rangoli, speech, painting and poster making.

Ram Bagh: Tourism and Cultural Affairs Department, Punjab, is planning to include Ram Bagh as a historic monument under Section 4 of the Historical Places and Archeological Sites and Remains Act, 1964. In this regard, deputy commissioner K.S. Pannu has invited objections from anyone who takes exception to the move to include more than 48 kanals of the Ram Bagh area in the list of sites identified under the Act.

Volunteer Day: Big 92.7 FM, in association with ‘We Volunteer’, would celebrate International Volunteer Day on December 5. As a part of this celebration, Big 92.7 FM would distribute clothes, eatables and shoes to the needy people of slum areas.

Bathinda
Youth commits suicide: One Pappu (23) allegedly hanged himself to death at his house near the Power House Road, here on Tuesday. Soon after receiving the information, Civil Lines police reached the spot. Volunteers of the Sahara Jan Seva took the body to the civil hospital, Bathinda. Police sources said the deceased was earning his livelihood through embroidery. Information about the incident has been sent to the family of the deceased in Bareilly.

Protest rally: Following a call given by the labour organisations, AITUC and CITU, various employees unions of the PRTC and PSEB jointly organised a protest rally at the PRTC bus-stand against the privatisation of the public sector by the Punjab government. The CPI’s district secretary, Jagjit Singh Joga, and the CPI (M)’s tehsil secretary, Inderjeet Singh, said that if electricity, banks, transport, insurance and water are all privatised, then the welfare of the people would take a backseat. Only the profit motive would matter which will not bode well for the masses.

FAZILKA
Pulse polio: Teams of the health department led by senior medical officer S.P. Garg and child specialist Hans Raj administered polio drops amongst 1,200 children in Fazilka. The thrust of this campaign was to cover children living in slum areas, rice mills and brick kilns to eradicate polio. In rural areas also, seven mobile teams constituted under the Primary Health Centre, Dabwala Kalan, administered polio vaccine doses amongst 1,372 children living in the far-flung rural areas.

Protest: The sponsoring committee of the CITU and AITUC along with the representatives of other public sector employees unions took out a protest rally in town bazaar here today and blocked traffic on the busy Malout-Ferozepur road for two hours, forming a human chain. Prior to this rally, members of different employees organization gathered in large numbers at the local Pratap Bagh and worked out a strategy to fight the ‘anti-employee’ and privatisation policy of the state and central governments.

Camp: A two-day personality development camp was organised by students of the local army school in Odian village on the outskirts of Fazilka. The camp was inaugurated by Brigadier R.K. Bhutani. Camel ride, horse riding, exhibition of army weapons, tent pitching competition, shooting and capturing bunkers of enemy were some of the interesting and educational activities displayed at the camp. Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA), Fazilka president, Deepa Bhutani, distributed prizes amongst the winners.

Ferozepur
Workshop on environment: An environment protection workshop was organised by the ECO club in the Government Senior Secondary School, which was presided over by the ADC Jaskiran Singh. On the occasion, various competitions including debate, drawing and essay writing were organised in which hundreds of students from 22 schools participated.In debate competition, Sonia stood first, Pritpal Singh stood second whereas and Shakti got the third place. In essay writing, Sonia got the first place, Pooja Gupta and Rachna shared the second place and  Rani grabbed the third place. In painting competition, Karanjit Singh stood first, Amandeep Kaur obtained second and Pardeep Kumar got the third place.

Body found: The police found the unidentified body of a youth from the roadside near Peer Khan Shek village under the Mamdot police station here on Tuesday. According to the preliminary information, the body bore injury marks. SHO Gurinderjit Singh took the body in custody and further investigations were on. Police sources said that from the condition of the body, apparently, it seemed as if the youth had been hit brutally and left on the roadside after the assault.

LALRU
Charred body recovered: A person was found charred to death at a hutment near a factory on Tuesday morning. According to the police, the hutment seemed to have caught fire on Monday night and the person seemed to have burnt to death. The police said inquires were on identify the deceased. The body was sent to the Dera Bassi civil hospital.

Youth found dead: A youth was found dead on the railway tracks. The youth, Pritpal Singh, seemed to have been run over by a train. Police sources said the victim was a resident of Dadu Majra and had come to Lalru.

PATHANKOT
Trade unions hold rally against UPA govt: More than 200 employees of trade unions affiliated with CITU and AITUC organised a rally here on Tuesday to protest against the anti-labour policies of the UPA government and demanded the immediate revision of daily wages and minimum wages for general labour. Raj Kumar Sarna, converner of the rally, said the contract system introduced by the government in public and semi-government had affected the labour community. He said the government should review its economic policies and ensure that it was for the betterment of the labour community.

5 held under excise, gambling Acts: The police arrested three persons under the Excise Act and two under the Gambling Act here on Tuesday and recovered 1,425 lt illicit liquor and some cash from their possession.They had been identified as Harbans Lal, Raman Kumar, Man Singh, Vivek Sharma and Punit Puri.

SANGRUR
On-line banking service introduced in UBI: The local branch of the Union Bank of India (UBI) has introduced an on-line banking facility to its customers under the core banking solution (CBS). Giving this information here on Tuesday. Senior manager of the local branch Darshan Singh said with the introduction of this facility, customers could deposit and withdraw their money from any branch of the bank in the country. Executive Officer of the local Municipal Council Vijay Kumar inaugurated the on-line service at a simple function here on Monday.