R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMLOH
APPOINTED: The Punjab Pardesh Congress Committee (PPCC) has appointed Mr Baldev Singh Aulukh, councillor, as the general secretary of the Backward Classes Cell, Punjab, in a letter issued by Mr Jasvir Singh, former Minister and president of the cell, here on Saturday.

BATHINDA
CONSTABLE KILLED: Amrit Pal Singh, constable posted at the Thermal police station, died in an accident near the thermal plant here on Friday. He was on his scooter when a tractor-trailer hit him. He was taken to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected as office -bearers of the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Sports and Youth Club, Teona Panjaria village: President — Mr Gurpal Singh; Vice-President — Mr Jagjit Singh Chahel; Secretary — Mr Tek Singh; Press Secretary — Mr Malvinder Singh; and Treasurer — Mr Bhupinder Singh.

HOSHIARPUR
IDOL THEFT: Swami Varindranand Giri, president, Shri Sanatan Dharam Math Mandir Security Samiti, Himachal Pradesh, has shown concern over the recent theft of two idols from the temple of Jagannath, Puri, and ornaments from the Lingaraj Temple in Bhubaneswer. He said that these thefts have put a question mark on the working of managements of these temples and also the Orissa Government.

KHAMANO
MEETING: A meeting of the local unit of the Akali Dal (A) was held at Gurdwara Sahib Mele Walia, which was chaired by its president, Mr Mohinder Singh Maneli. The introduction of POTO was condemned in the meeting. The meeting demanded that loans up to Rs 50,000 for those who owned less than 5 acre of land, should be waived. They demanded that conditions should be lifted for the supply of 100 units of free electricity to the poor people of scheduled caste. The meeting was also addressed by the district senior vice-president, Mr Amrik Singh Shahi, vice president, Mr Jang Singh, among others.

DEMANDED: Various Akali leaders, sarpanches and panches of the area, under the leadership of planning board member Sarwan Singh Suhavi, have demanded in a letter to the Chief Minister that roads falling under the market committee should not be changed from Xen Fatehgarh Sahib to Xen Ludhiana, as it would cause problems since Fatehgarh Sahib was only about 20 km from Khamano whereas Ludhiana was 50 km away. They said the repair work of roads done by the Fatehgarh Sahib authority was satisfactory. The letter bore signatures of sarpanches of Mirpur, Bilaspur, Mansurour and some other villages.

BLACK DIVALI: ‘Black Divali’ was observed by panchayat secretary and the Samiti Employees Union under the leadership of Mr Nirmal Singh Lodhimajra, president, Punjab unit of the union. The effigy of Badal government was also burnt on the occasion. The speakers alleged that they had not been given salaries for the past four months. They also raised slogans against the State Government. Mr Narinder Singh, president, Chamkaur Sahib block; Mr Santokh Singh, president, Khamano block; and others addressed the demonstrators and appealed them to attend a state-level dharna at Chandigarh on November 20.

LUDHIANA
HEALTHY BABY CONTEST: The district unit of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics would organise a Healthy Baby Contest on Sunday at the Lions Club, Shaheed Udham Singh Nagar. Dr Rajinder Gulati, general secretary of the academy, in a statement on Saturday said the academy had already registered over 400 children below the age of 5. He said the participants would be divided into 5 groups. Leading paediatricians would examine the babies. Dr Surinder Likhi, president of the branch, said an ‘IAP baby of the year 2001’ would be honoured with a cash prize of Rs 2,100. Dr K.S. Aulakh, Vice Chancellor, Punjab Agricultural University, will be the chief guest on the occasion.

PHARMACISTS’ RALLY: A state-level rally and demonstration by the Punjab State Pharmacists’ Association would be held on Sunday at Lambi in protest against the non-implementation of their accepted demands in June 2001. Mr Kulbhushan Singla, State Finance Secretary, in a press note on Saturday stated that resentment prevailed among pharmacists over the indifferent attitude of the State Government towards their long-pending demands. He said their demands included removal of anomalies in the pay scales, change in designation of pharmacists after eight years of service as primary officer and chief pharmacist grade II as Senior Pharmacy Officer. He said the association had earlier postponed the agitation after receiving an assurance by the Government. The association members threatened to resort to rallies and protests if their demands were not accepted by the government.

MALERKOTLA
CAMP CONCLUDES: A dental camp organised by the Samaj Seva Club, concluded at Government School, Kup Kalan, here on Friday. Mr Lakhwinder Singh, president of the club, said about 350 persons were examined in the camp.

ELECTED: Mr Kewal Jindal was on Friday re-elected Vice-President of the Municipal Council, Malerkotla, for a second term. Of 27 the municipal councillors, 23 voted in his favour.

NAWANSHAHR
SCHOOL INAUGURATED: The local MLA, Mr Jatinder Singh Kariha, inaugurated the newly constructed school building at Mahalon village on Friday. He praised Mr Didar Singh Dhillon and his family for giving donations for the construction of the building.

STUDENTS HONOURED: The Lions Club (City Smile), Banga, organised a function at Government Middle School, Bhootan, about 8 km from here, on Friday. The club distributed uniforms to poor and needy students. Meritorious students and players were also honoured, said Mr Surinder Parkash Nayyar, president of the club.

PATIALA
ANAESTHETISTS’ BODY: The Patiala branch of the Indian Society of Anaesthetists has been formed under the patronage of Dr Viney Sood. The following have been elected office-bearers of the branch: president — Dr Jasbir Kaur; vice-presidents — Dr O.P.S. Kande, Dr Manjit Kaur and Dr G.S. Sidhu; general secretaries — Dr J.P.S. Bhupal and Dr D.S. Gill; and joint secretaries — Dr Neelam Kumar and Dr Ajay Goyal. 

APPOINTED: Dr G.R. Kataria, a professor in the Department of English, Punjabi University has been appointed Head of the department under the provision of headship by rotation. Dr Kataria has been appointed for a period of 3 years.

SAMRALA
ONE KILLED: Mr Paramjeet Singh Dhillon (30), a wine contractor and nephew of Mr Amrik Singh Dhillon, Congress MLA, was killed in a road accident on Friday night. The car in which he was travelling hit an electricity pole while saving a scooter on his way back home from Khamano. The scooterists also received serious injuries and were referred to Ludhiana. Various prominent figures of the area, including former Minister, Mr Harnek Singh Mangewal, attended the cremation.

APPOINTED: On the recommendation by Capt. Amrinder Singh, President PPCC, Mr Gurdev Singh Lapran, president Ludhiana district (rural) DDC, has appointed the senior congress leader, Mr Anil Sood, president of the Nagar Panchayat, Machhiwara, as the general secretary of the DDC (Dihati) Ludhiana. The appointment was hailed by prominent leaders, including Mr J.P. Singh Makkar, Dr Sunil Dutt, Mr Shakti Anand, Mr Amrik Singh Kahlon, Mr Ishar Singh Meharban, Mr Kasturi Lal Mintu, Mr Tejinder Singh Kooner, and other workers of the party, here on Saturday.

HARYANA

BHIWANI
INJURED: At least 7 persons sustained injuries in a feud that occurred on a trivial matter at Dhirana Kalan village in the district on Saturday. Both groups used lathis and iron rods. Mani Ram, Bijender and Kheta Ram from one group and Suresh, Bhajnu and Ghopal from another group have been admitted at the local Civil Hospital.

DISCOVERED: A 300-year-old idol of Lord Hanuman was discovered while renovating an ancient Hanuman Mandir here on Saturday. It weighed 150 kg.

KAITHAL
PADDY ARRIVALS: The paddy arrivals in the district touched 3,55,520 tonne as compared to 3,13,304 tonne during the last year till Saturday. This was stated by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Fateh Singh Dagar. Common varieties of paddy were purchased at Rs 530 per quintal, ‘A’ grade paddy at the rates ranging between Rs 504 and Rs 625 and the basmati variety was being purchased at the rates ranging from Rs 920 to Rs 1281 per quintal.

DISRUPTED: The telephone services in Bhagal, Bhusla, Ratta Khera, Mengra, Syali and The Banera villages were disrupted because of a fault that hit the Bhagal telephone exchange, according to information received here. A large number of consumers have demanded immediate rectification of the defect in the Bhagal telephone exchange.

SEIZED: The district police seized four working stills and 1320 kg of Lahan in October. This was stated by the SP, Mr A.S. Chawla, while talking to mediapersons here on Saturday. It also recovered looted property worth Rs 9.37 lakh and seized 11 kg of poppy husk, three pistols, 17 cartridges, 430 pouches of illicit liquor.

SIRSA
POTO: The BJP district general secretary, Mr Jaimal Singh, has urged the political parties to not try and get political mileage by opposing the Prevention Of Terrorist Ordinance (POTO), a Bill introduced by the Central government to deal with terrorism. He said that political narrow-mindedness had made the opposition parties to trivialise the crucial issue of national security.

SONEPAT
3 INJURED: Three persons, including two women, all members of a family, were seriously injured in a clash between two brothers at Bhadana village, about 10 km from here, on Friday. The injured persons were taken to the local Civil Hospital where they were said to be out of danger. The police has registered a case but no arrest has been made so far.

YAMUNANAGAR
MOTORCYCLIST KILLED: One motorcyclist was crushed to death by a fast-moving truck. According to information received here on Saturday, 19-year-old Rohit was going on his motorcycle on Friday when he was hit by a truck at Buria, about 10 km from here. He died on the spot and the truck leaving fled away from the site leaving his vehicle behind. The Buria police has registered a case.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

MANALI
ADVENTURE TRAVEL: A 15-day adventure travel guide course, organised under special component plan and sponsored by the Himachal Pradesh Tourism and Civil Aviation Department, concluded here on Friday. As many as 20 Scheduled Caste candidates participated in the course which was organised to generate self-employment opportunities in adventure tourism related activities in the valley.

ARTIFICIAL LIMBS: Mr Rakesh Kaushal, Deputy Commissioner, Sirmour, distributed artificial limbs worth Rs 2.10 lakh to 98 disabled persons at a function jointly organised by the Red Cross Society of Sirmour, DRDA, and the Rotary Club of Nahan.

NURPUR
SHOP GUTTED: A fire broke out in a wholesale shop of watches at Jassur, near here, on Friday due to a short circuit. An estimated loss of Rs 1.25 lakh has been reported by the police.