R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

BATHINDA
THERMAL PLANT: Mr U.S. Lucky, Chief Engineer, Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant, on Sunday said the local unit had achieved a record of sorts by producing 2450.28 lakh units of electricity during April. He pointed out that all arrangements had been made for meeting the power demand during the paddy season.

FATEHGARH SAHIB
TRIBUTES PAID: Rich tributes were paid to Gurdev Singh Randhawa, a social worker of the area, at his bhog ceremony at Bhambri village in Amloh division on Monday. Capt Kanwaljit Singh, Finance Minister, announced the setting up of a computer centre and a library in memory of the deceased.

SPECIAL TRAINING: The Senior Medical Officers (SMOs) of the district were given special training about the referred system by the Punjab Health Systems Corporation at the local Civil Hospital on Monday. Dr Harpal Singh, Civil Surgeon, said the referred patients would not be charged admission fees.

FEROZEPORE
RELIEF MATERIAL: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal would flag off 300 truck loads of relief material, including wheat, cloth and fodder, for drought-hit areas of Rajasthan from Abohar on Wednesday.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local MES Civilian Workers and Employees Union: president — Mr Atma Singh; senior vice-president — Mr Kishan Lal Savatra; general secretary — Mr Balraj; and treasurer — Mr Amrit Lal.

WELFARE ASSOCIATION: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local DIET Students Welfare Association: president — Mr Anil Prabhakar; senior vice-president — Mr Tarsem Singh; general secretary — Mr Gian Dev; and treasurer — Mr Sukhdev Singh.

GARHSHANKAR
DRINKING WATER: The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Iqbal Singh Sidhu, has said that residents of the Baet area would be provided drinking water. He announced this while listening to the grievances of the residents of Achalpur village, 20 kms from here, on Saturday.

CAR RECOVERED: The police on Sunday claimed to have recovered a Maruti car which was forcibly taken away by four youths on Thursday. The four accused involved in the case have been identified.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local PCCTU unit: president — Mr P.S. Bansal; and general secretary — Ms Jaswinder Kaur.

DRINKING WATER: The villages of Posai, Paddi Khushi and Chansu Jatan are without supply of drinking water for the past two months. The residents are forced to drink water of abandoned wells. They have demanded improvement in the supply of drinking water.

HOSHIARPUR
HOSPITAL BUILDING: The Punjab Health System Corporation has completed construction of 30 buildings in the state so far. This was stated by Mrs Mohinder Kaur, State Minister for Health and Family Welfare, after inaugurating the newly constructed link road from Chakowal Shekhon to Hargarh on Saturday. She said a modern hospital would be set up in the Shamchaurasi segment in near future.

JALANDHAR
DIPLOMA ENGINEERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Diploma Engineers Association (Water Supply and Sewerage Board), Punjab: president — Mr Vishnu Kumar; senior vice-president — Mr Parveen Makaul, vice-president — Mr S.S. Bahiya; general secretary — Mr Tarsem Singh; and treasurer — Mr J.L. Bansal.

KHANNA
SUICIDE: Gurmeet Singh, resident of the local Guru Nanak Nagar, committed suicide by consuming some poison on Saturday.

LUDHIANA
MANDAL CHIEFS: The following have been elected chiefs of the local BJP mandals: Ludhiana west — Mr Satpal Bhandari; Ludhiana south — Mr Ruldu Ram Garg; Ludhiana north — Mr Bhushan Verma; and Ludhiana east — Mr Subhash Verma.

CHILDREN’S DAY: The local Bhagwan Sri Sathya Sai Seva Samiti celebrated its annual children’s day on Sunday. A fancy dress competition and a cultural programme were main attractions of the programme.

PATIALA
BOOKS, UNIFORMS DISTRIBUTED: Fifty students were given books, school uniforms, shoes, admission fee and tuition fee at the distribution function of Helping Hands, Patiala, at Sunflower, Complex, Tripuri, on Tuesday. The general body meeting of the society was held after the distribution funcion. Mr V.K. Gupta, Mr Surinder S. Dhawan, Mr K.C. Suthar and Mr J.S. Narula were elected President, General Secretary, Secretary Finance and Project Co-ordinator, respectively.

CHANDIGARH

HC STAYS CAT'S JUDGEMENT: Issuing notice of motion, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday stayed the operation of a judgement by the Central Administrative Tribunal setting aside the appointment of Ms Ritu Puri, Ms Subhakshi and Ms Manisha Jain as Assistant District Attorneys and Law Officer. Seeking directions to the Union of India and five other respondents to quash the judgement dated April 4, the petitioners had also asked for directions to permit them to continue “in view of their selection and appointment to the post”. Describing the Tribunal’s order as “illegal”, the counsel for the petitioners had contended that the same was “liable to be set aside”. Giving details, the counsel had stated that the Tribunal had “exceeded its jurisdiction by interfering in the selection criterion. The order, the counsel had added. was based on “erroneous presumption of facts and law”.

ADDITIONAL CHARGE FOR VARSHA JOSHI: The Administrator of Chandigarh has given the charge of the Registrar of Cooperative Societies to Ms Varsha Joshi, Chief Executive Officer, Chandigarh Housing Board, in addition to her own duties, with immediate effect.

BAN ON SALE OF OIL LITED: The Director Health Services-cum Food (Health) Authority has lifted the ban on the sale of Hafed Agmark mustard oil grade-I in packed condition in the Union Territory of Chandigarh, including Manimajra.

DALIT SENA HOLDS MEETING: The local unit of the Dalit Sena held its meeting at Indira Colony on Monday. Ms Latika Sharma, General Secretary of the All-India Dalit Sena, was the chief guest. She claimed that the dalit Samaj had been used by political parties and now the Union Communication Minister, Mr Ram Bilas Paswan, had given a call to all Dalits to get together under one umbrella.

AIR MARSHAL GUPTA'S VISIT: The Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the IAF’s Maintainance Command, Air Marshal S.S. Gupta, is arriving on a five day official visit to No. 3, Base Repair Depot (BRD), here on Wednesday. A statement issued here said he would be accompanied by his wife, Ms Kusum Gupta, President of the Air Force Wives Welfare Association (Regional). During his visit, Air Marshal Gupta will inspect the various units and sections of the depot, while Ms Gupta will take stock of the welfare activities being undertaken by 3 BRD for the families of the airmen.

GURU SINGH SABHA OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of Sri Guru Singh Sabha of Gurdwara Sri Guru Nanak Sahib, Milk Colony, Dhanas: President — Mr Karminder Singh Gill; Senior Vice-President — Mr Mewa Singh; Vice-President — Mr Paramjit Singh; General Secretary — Mr Amar Singh; Joint Secretary — Mr Gurcharan Singh; Cashier — Mr Harjit Singh; and Aditor — Mr Gurmit Singh.

KHARAR
WORKERS' UNION OFFICIALS ELECTED The following have been elected the office-bearers of the Kshetriya Punjab Khadi Mandal Workers Union Kharar: President Mr Chhaju Ram Saini; Vice-President — Mr Surjit Singh; Secretary — Mr Gurbachan Chand; Cashier — Mr Manjit Singh; Propaganda Secretary — Mr Rajinder Singh.

GRANTS TO THRESHER VICTIMS: Mr Nagar Singh Dhadak, Chairman of the Market Committee of Kharar, and the others distributed cheques of grants to the thresher victims of Jhanjheri, Kailon, Jhungian, Chunni, Kharar and Badi Choti Nagal villages. Mr Nagar Singh has urged the government to release the grant to the victims whose cases are pending.

TELEPHONE CONNECTIONS SOUGHT: Mr Hardev Saini, a Panch of the nearby Tewar, village has urged the Telecommunication Department to release connections to the applicants here from the village telephone exchange which has already been built two months ago. He said the cable had already been laid, but, the connecitons had not been given.

FACILITIES AT BARRIER DEMANDED: Mr Daljeet Singh Saini, President of the Kharar unit of the Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal, has demanded that the Punjab Government should provide more facilities at the sales tax barrier on the Kharar SAS Nagar road in Balaungi village. He said long queues of trucks could be seen at the barrier, causing a lot of hardship to the drivers. He demanded that some barriers should be removed.

HARYANA

ROHTAK
LOOTING INCIDENT: Rs 2.25 lakh were looted from a fruit trader by some unidentified armed youths here on Monday. The trader was also stabbed and has been admitted to a hospital here.