R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
BIRTH ANNIVERSARY: The 107th birth anniversary of Gurbaksh Singh Preetlari, noted Punjabi writer and novelist, was celebrated at his native village Preet Nagar here on Saturday. A function was organised by Guru Nanak Dev University and Khalsa College for Education.

BATHINDA
ACCIDENT: Mr Avtar Singh and his wife Manjit Kaur were seriously injured in an accident on the Bathinda-Barnala road, 20 km from here. In a press note issued here on Saturday, the president of Sahara Jan Sewa, an NGO, said the injured had been admitted to the local Civil Hospital by their volunteers.

BAR COUNCIL POLL: The annual elections to the district Bar Council were held here on Saturday. Mr Rajbhupinder Singh Sidhu was elected President, Mr Bansi Lal, Vice-President, Mr Navdeep, Joint Secretary and Mr Cheema, Secretary.

GURDASPUR
CONG PROTEST: More than 200 Congress workers belonging to Pathankot, Narot Mehra and Sujanpur constituencies held a fast in front of the office of the Deputy Commissioner on Saturday to demand the ouster of Mr Narendra Modi, Gujarat Chief Minister.

JALANDHAR
PROCESSION: Hundreds of devotees of Lord Krishna organised a procession which passed through various areas of the city on Saturday. The procession was a symbol of communal harmony.

KAPURTHALA
SMACK SEIZED: The police has arrested Bachitter Singh of Bhilla village following the seizure of 10 gm of smack from him, according to a press note issued by the SSP.

MURDER ATTEMPT: The police has registered a case under Sections 307, 336, 148 and 149, IPC, and Sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act against Sukhwinder Singh, Baldev Singh, Sharanjit Singh, Rajbir Singh and Charanjit Singh, all of Sherpur Dogran village, on the charge of attempt to murder and causing bullet injuries to Nirmal Singh, Harjinder Paul Singh and Charanjit Singh of the same village. A land dispute is said to be cause of the attack.

LUDHIANA
FAREWELL FUNCTION: The BSNL Telecom Officers Association, Ludhiana circle, gave a warm send-off, to a telecom official, Mr Harinder Pal Singh, on Saturday. Not only was he awarded several times for his devotion to work but was also one of the finest sportsmen in the telecom department. According to a press release issued by the association, Mr Harinder Pal Singh, had taken voluntary retirement after putting in over two decades of service with the department. He had joined services as a telephone operator only and by sheer hard work he rose to the position of Sub-Divisional Officer with the department.

ANNUAL DAY: To celebrate the successful completion of the first year of Hero DMC Heart Institute (HDHI), a special function will be organised at 7.30 p.m. in the Dumra Auditorium on Monday. Mr Anurag Aggarwal, Deputy Commissioner, Ludhiana will be the chief guest of the occasion. Special prizes will be given to the most devoted employees for providing excellent service to the institute by Mr Brij Mohan Munjal, Chairman of the HDHI and Mr Prem Nath Gupta, Director, HDHI.

BUYER-SELLER MEET: “The Knitwear Club of Ludhiana will organise first two-day international textile buyer-seller meet here on May 15-16, in association with the China Chamber For Import and Export of Textiles. It will provide an opportunity to buyers to access the latest developments and innovations in the filed of fashion at their doorstep and under one roof,” said Mr Vinod Kumar Thapar here on Saturday. He was addressing members of the club at the general body meeting after being re-elected as president of the club. He claimed that the objective of this meet was to bridge the gap between buyers and suppliers on fashion inputs. He hoped that a large number of manufacturers/ suppliers of fashion yarns, fabrics and accessories from India, China and other countries are expected to participate in the meet. 

MOGA
WHEAT STOLEN: As many as 55 bags of wheat procured by a government agency and lying in front of a trader’s shop at Langeana Purana village have reportedly been stolen. Another report said huge quantity of wheat lying in the grain market belonging to a farmer had also been stolen.

SPURIOUS GHEE: The police on Saturday sealed a godown of a businessman of Baghapurana following reports that spurious desi ghee was stored there. The police had earlier impounded a truck carrying tins of spurious desi ghee near Badhani Kalan village.

ALLEGATION: Residents of Mahesari village told mediapersons here on Sunday that staff of the hospital and dispensaries in their village usually remained absent, causing them inconvenience. 

PHAGWARA
ASI SUSPENDED: Congress activists led by the local MLA and former minister Joginder Singh Mann sat on a dharna in front of the city police station on the Phagwara-Banga road and blocked traffic in protest against police “high-handedness”. They lifted the dharna after DSP Harmanbir Singh Gill announced that ASI Jagir Singh had been suspended for dereliction of duty.

SAMRALA
INSPECTION: Mr Jaspal Singh Jassi, SDM, Samrala, after inspecting the grain markets of Samrala and Machhiwara, said here on Sunday that due to rains, the sub-standard wheat have started coming to the markets. A team of Foods and Civil Supplies and PUNSUP officials was also present their. Mr Sukhmohan Singh Chawla, District Food and Supplies Officer, said 29,591 tonnes of wheat was purchased and out of this only 39 tonnes was purchased by the traders and the remaining was purchased by the four purchasing agencies at Samrala. Five agencies have purchased 48,503 tonnes at Machhiwara, he added.

HARYANA

APPOINTMENT: Mr Ramesh Sheoran has been appointed Chairman of the legal cell of the Haryana Vikas Party.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

CHAMBA
DC’S WARNING: The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Rahul Anand, has warned erring cooperative societies and fair-price shops which are flouting PDS norms and directed them to lift ration within two days else the work would be entrusted to other institutions.

TEST LAB: There is a proposal to set up a medical test laboratory at the Red Cross Bhavan, the Deputy Commissioner said at a press conference here on Sunday. He said efforts had been made to strengthen the District Red Cross Society, adding that it had now started providing medicines free of cost to IRDS families.

HAMIRPUR
INTERNET SERVICES: Subscribers of this telecom division are upset over the failure of the Internet services in the area for the past two days. Students are the worst-affected. Cyber cafe owners could not earn anything on Sunday due to the failure of these services.

JAISINGHPUR
BDO’S THREAT: The Gram Panchayat Pradhans and Up-Pradhans Association of Lambagaon block has accused the BDO of behaving in an undemocratic and dictatorial manner. Peeved by the statements of the association, the BDO, Mr J.K. Katoch, has threatened to take the matter to court.

NURPUR
WATER SCARCITY: Residents here have been facing an acute water shortage. With the onset of summer, the situation has worsened. The residents get water supply for only 30 minutes in a day. The situation of those who live in the higher areas is worse. They have urged the authorities to ensure better water supply.

UNA
CASES SETTLED: As many as 66 cases were presented at a district-level “Prashasan janata ke dwar” programme organised at Kinnu village on Saturday. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Kamlesh Pant, presided over the programme. Thirtyseven cases were settled on the spot. Nearly 300 persons apprised the Deputy Commissioner of their grievances.

REVIEWED: Deputy Commissioner Kamlesh Pant, reviewed the public distribution system in the district on Friday. He said commodities worth Rs 4.64 crore had been provided to people through 282 fair price shops during the past three months. A sum of Rs 672 was recovered as fine from the erring dealers.