R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
SHIRTS FOR BLIND STUDENTS: The State Bank of India, Karmo Deori Branch, presented shirts to 60 blind students under its community service programme here on Monday, Mr J.S. Dhiman, Branch Manager, said.

BATHINDA
MARCH: Sankalap, an NGO, will organise a march here on Wednesday to create awareness among residents against the use of narcotics. Deputy Commissioner Anurag Verma will lead the march that will start at 9.45 a.m. from near the fire brigade office and conclude near Bhagat Singh Chowk.

FAZILKA
SUSPECT HELD: A resident of Tamil Nadu was arrested near the Indo-Pak border in Fazilka sector. He was trying to cross over to Pakistan, according to BSF sources. He was nabbed on Sunday night. He has been identified as Aruna Chalam, alias Krishna Murthi (48), resident of Vadarampatti village, Trinal district of Tamil Nadu. Aruna Chalam, not sound mentally, has been handed over to the Sadar police here.

RELIEF DEMANDED: Mr Hans Raj Josan, MLA, has demanded relief for farmers in the state as they made additional input for the transplantation of paddy. He has pleaded payment of the difference between the MSP and the distress sale price of paddy.

HOSHIARPUR
TRAVEL AGENTS BOOKED: On the complaint of Mr Jagtar Singh of Gagnohli village, the Sadar police has registered a case under Sections 420 and 120B of the IPC against travel agents Gurmail Singh, his wife Gursharan Kaur and Narain Singh of Pathralian on Monday. In his complaint, Jagtar Singh alleged that the travel agents took Rs 1.40 lakh from him for providing employment to him in Italy. They neither provided employment nor returned the money.

KILLED: Jarnail Singh of Attalgarh village was killed when a tempo hit his motor cycle on the Mukerian-Naushera road on Monday. A case has been registered.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Octroi Staff Union, Municipal Council, Hoshiarpur: chairman — Mr Hind Pal; president — Mr Mukhi Ram; vice-presidents — Mr Kuldip Kumar and Mr Ashok Kumar; general secretary — Mr Amarjit Khosla; and cashier — Mr Harish Kumar.

KAPURTHALA
ETT DHARNA: Hundreds of elementary training teachers (ETT) of Janata College blockade traffic on the Kapurthala-Jalandhar road near Mansoorwal Dona village on Monday. They sat on a dharna in the middle of the road. They presented a memorandum to the Kapurthala MLA, Mr Gurjti Singh Rana.

LITERACY MISSION: A district-level orientation programme for panchayats, other community leaders, officials of various departments and other involved in the literacy project was organised in association with the Regional Resource Centre, Chandigarh. As many as 500 participants attended. The Deputy Commissioner, Chairman of Zila Sakharta Samiti, Mr Rakesh Verma, said the project for total literacy for the district was sanctioned in March, 2000 and was expected to be completed by December, 2001, but could not be started due to various reasons. He stated that the project would go on full steam and would be completed in 12 months. A revised project report was being sent to the National Literacy Mission.

LUDHIANA
MEETING: A state-level meeting of the Punjab Judicial Courts Personal Staff Association was held here at which problems faced by stenographers were discussed. The meeting was presided over by Mr Gurdial Singh, president of the association. It was unanimously resolved that the association would be a party to a writ petition filed by the “All Judges Association” before the Supreme Court as the final report of First National Judicial Pay Commission, headed by Mr Justice Shetty was likely to be submitted soon.

MANDI GOBINDGARH
MEETING HELD: The Punjab Pardesh Beopar Mandal has convened a meeting of its working committee on October 6 at Residency Hotel in Jalandhar, said Mr O.P. Gupta , president of the mandal, in a press note issued here on Tuesday. According to the press note, matters pertaining to the proposed draft of VAT Act 2002, abolition of octroi checking under Section 14-B and proposed increase in power tariff would be discussed and a line of action decided in the meeting.

MEDICAL CAMP: The Manav Bhalai Manch, in collaboration with the Civil Hospital Amloh, will organise a dental medical camp in the hospital on Wednesday. Mr Manohar Lal Verma, secretary of the manch, told mediapersons here on Tuesday that patients with dental problems would be checked and medicines provided free of cost.

NAWANSHAHR
BLOOD DONATION DAY: The local Blood Donors Council organised a blood donation camp here on Tuesday at the BDC complex to mark the national Blood Donation Day. Mr Ashok Kumar Gupta, Deputy Commissioner, inaugurated the camp in which about 150 units of blood were collected, Mr Pushap Raj Kalia, founder secretary of the council, said.

MEETING: A meeting of Chairmen and secretaries of the village education development committee (PASVAKs) of the block was organised here on Tuesday at JSFH Khalsa High School to activate them for the successful implementation of the Mid-day Meal scheme in primary schools. Mr Sumer Singh Gurjar, ADC (Development), was the chief guest and Mr Krishan Chand Kapoor, District Education Officer, presided over the meeting.

ELECTED: Mr Rakesh Nayyar has been elected senior vice-president of the state unit of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI).

PATIALA
RALLY: The Department of Transfusion Medicine, Government Medical College, and the Punjab State AIDS Control Society will organise an awareness rally on Wednesday to mark National Blood Donation Day.

SAPLINGS PLANTED: Army School on Tuesday celebrated vanamahotsava by planting more than 300 saplings around the school complex. The function was inaugurated by Mr Rajiv Aggarwal, GM, Pepsi Foods. The headmistress of the school, Ms Rupinder Chahal, exhorted the students to plant more saplings so as to ascertain a green and pollution-free environment.

FUNCTION: The Students Federation of India (SFI) on Tuesday organised a function in memory of two SFI leaders, Swaran Singh and Harjit Singh, who had been killed in police firing at Moga in 1972. Attended by several state-level and district-level leaders, including Gurpal Singh Dhaliwal of Punjabi University, the leaders protested against the government’s decision to decrease the grants given to private colleges in the state and demanded that the government must ensure that private colleges were not deprived of funds as it would lead to an increase in the fee structure.

SAMRALA
CONDEMNED: Mr Parminder Singh Gill, general secretary, PPCC, said here on Tuesday that policies adopted by the Central Government regarding the MSP and paddy procurement had shown that the BJP and the Akali Dal were working against the interests of Punjab and farmers. He said that arrest of Capt Amarinder Singh, along with Mr H.S. Hanspal and other leaders at Delhi, after a rally was unconstitutional. Every political party had a right to protest and make demands in a peaceful way, he said.

FUNCTION: At a meeting of the general body of the Adhyapak Chetna Manch, Samrala, members of the manch decided to hold a function at Government Senior Secondary School, Samrala, on October 12 in which brilliant students of the tehsil would be facilitated for their performance in the recently held PSEB examinations. Five topper students of Classes V, VIII, X and XII would be honoured by Dr Jagtar Singh Khatra DPI (Schools), said Mr Mehma Singh Kang, president of the manch.

HARYANA

AMBALA
MEETING: A meeting of the BJP was held on Tuesday in Ambala to observe Anti-Terrorism Day. The chief guest, Mr Faqir Chand Aggarwal, while criticising terrorism, said the killing of innocent devotees in Gujarat showed that the militants had stoped to the lowest levels of humanity. Among others, Mr Rajinder Guddu, Mr Ratan Singh, Mr Ganpat Bali, Mr Ramesh Aggarwal, Mr Sandeep Sachdeva, Mr Chandra Mohan Fauji, Mr Roshan Lal, Mr Dharam Pal Dhangar, Mr Krishan Kumar Anand, Ms Nirmala Bansal and Mr Balbir Singh were present.

VLCC CENTRE: Ms Vandana Luthra, president, Curls and Curves India Ltd, said VLCC centres would be opened in foreign countries soon. Talking to mediapersons here, she said the centres would be opened in Dubai and Kuwait later this year. “We will also be opening a centre in London next year. Twenty centres are going to be opened all over the country this year,” she said. Ms Luthra announced the names of winners of ‘Meri Tamanna’ offer. The winners were Anjali first, Sarika second and Anita Khanna third.

FATEHABAD
BANNED: The district administration on Tuesday banned the transportation of paddy husk and paddy straws from the district to other places. The Subdivisional Magistrates, Tehsildars and Block Development and Panchayat Officers have been instructed to implement the orders. The district administration has also appealed to the farmers not to burn paddy husk and straws so that these could be used as fodder in the district.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

CHAMBA
SHEPHERD IN CUSTODY: Shepherd Nasib Singh is in police custody. A case has been registered against him. The primary-pass shepherd belongs to Ganshana village of Gandoh tehsil in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir. On September 27 he was at Ghodi-tha-Gate. Three armed persons accosted him and asked him to find out the exact location of security forces in Chamba. Security forces arrested him there.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Chamba Retired Employees Welfare Association: president — Mr D.N. Pardesi; vice-president — Mr Hari Chand; general secretary — Mr Gurmukh Singh; cashier — Mr Laxmi Dhar Mehta; adviser — Mr Dewan Chand Kampani; and six executive members.

HAMIRPUR
CO-OP SOCIETIES: Mr Rikhi Ram Kaundel, Minister of State for Co-operation, Himachal Pradesh, addressed a meeting of the secretaries of various co-operative societies and fertiliser sellers of districts of Hamirpur, Una, Solan, Kangra, Mandi, Bilaspur and Sirmaur here on Monday. He said there were 4,340 co-operative societies working in the state and they had total deposits worth Rs 4,105 crore with them.

NAHAN
BLOOD DONATION: The Blood Bank of Zonal Hospital organised a blood donation camp at the local Government Postgraduate College. Amil Aggarwal, who have donated blood 68 times, Yogesh Gupta (31 times), Amit Jaswal (12 times) and Gagan Garg (20 times) were honoured on the occasion.

NURPUR
PROBE SOUGHT: The Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB) Technical Employees Union has demanded a high-level probe into the massive purchases made recently by the board officials. Mr Kuldeep Sharma, state general secretary of the union, in a press note issued here on Tuesday termed these purchases by the officials an exercise to mint money.

SHIMLA
FRUIT GROWERS: Mr Narinder Bragta, Minister of State for Horticulture, said Himachal and Uttaranchal would cooperate for the development of horticulture in the two states. He was addressing a high-level delegation led by Mr D.P. Uniyal, president of the Fruit Federation, Gerhal Mandal.

LIBRARY: Prof T.A.V. Murthy, Director (INFLIBNET) of UGC, Ahmedabad, has said the UGC will come out with a scheme of the state-of-the-art network infrastructure of universities. INFLIBNET will play an important role in it. The UGC will link 14,000 colleges and 263 other institutions with the library network centre.