R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
PIRACY: As many as 34 pirated CDs of films, including 10 pornographic, were seized along with 500 duplications and 89 new CDs from Sukhpal Singh, a resident of New Kangra Colony, by the CIA staff here on Sunday. In another incident, a case was registered against Gurmeet Singh and Santokh Singh, both brothers and residents of Chowk Passian, for manufacturing duplicate CDs.

FATEHGARH SAHIB
ROTARY CLUB: The Rotary Club, Sirhind, organised a free dental check-up camp at Nand Pur Kalour village on Monday. Dr P.L. Goyal, Civil Surgeon, inaugurated the camp. A team of doctors led by Dr Arvind Kukreja from Bawa Dental Care Centre, Bassi Pathana, checked up more than 315 patients. Schoolchildren and other patients were provided toothbrush and toothpaste free of cost by the club.

GURDASPUR
ARRESTED: The police on Sunday arrested Kewal Krishan, resident of Mohalla Qazian, Pathankot, for pirating video cassettes. According to Mr R.P.S. Brar, SSP, the police recovered 1,081 video cassettes, including 60 blue films.

JALANDHAR
DENTAL DRIVE : The Punjab Government has decided to Install ultra-modern dental equipment in all government hospitals of the state. Stating this, the Punjab Medical Education and Research Minister, Choudhary Santokh Singh, while presiding over a seminar on “ Indirect restorations and periodontics for General practitioners” organised by the Punjab Chapter of the India Dental Association here on Sunday, said it had been decided by his department to launch a special dental care drive in slums and villages.

KAPURTHALA
CREMATED: Mr Gurmel Singh Cheema, former Food and Supplies Minister, Punjab, who died on Saturday, was cremated in his native village, Eusowal, in Sultanpur Lodhi on Sunday. He was father of Mr Navtej Singh Cheema, president of the District Congress Committee (I).

DEVELOPMENT: Mr Gurjit Singh Rana, a local Congress MLA and Chairman of the Kapurthala Development Board, has announced overall development of Hothian village, 14 km from here. Mr Rana announced to arrange a fund of Rs 10 lakh for development schemes in the village.

LUDHIANA
CONDOLENCE MEETING: Dr Amarjit Singh Dua, Dean College Development Council, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, who is on a “Gyan Yatra” along with Ms Nisha Sharda, DPI (Colleges), and principals of various colleges falling under Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, (Principal S.S. Chatha, Principal P.P. Sharma, Principal Reeta Bawa, Principal Airy, Principal Sukh Gurmit Kaur Bawa, Principal Mehal Singh) held a condolence meeting in Pune to grieve the demise of the wife of Mr N.S. Ratan, Principal Secretary, Higher Commission.

MOURNED: The Adhyapak Dal Punjab mourned the death of Darshan Singh Deol, the younger brother of Gurnam Singh Deol, senior vice-president of the Adhyapak Dal, at a meeting held here on Monday. 

11 HURT: Eleven persons were injured when a private bus (PB-10X-7373) coming from Ludhiana collided with a truck (RJ-13G-4237) near Sidhu Filling Station, 7 km from Jagraon, here on Monday. The injured included both the drivers of the vehicles, and three women. The driver of the bus has been admitted to a hospital here while the rest of the injured have been referred to the Civil Hospital, Jagraon. The bus was on its way to Jagraon when the truck loaded with bananas collided at about 9 am. Those injured are: Simran Kaur of Mullanpur, Kuldip Singh of Kular, Gurmel Singh (truck driver), Charan Kaur of Ludhiana, Nachhattar Singh of Sheikhdaulat, Bhupinder Singh (bus conductor), Harpreet Kaur of Ludhiana, Sarjiwan Singh of Sudhar, Avtar Chand, Jasbir Singh Jassowal and bus driver.

LAHAN SEIZED: Mr Jaswant Singh, in charge, Punjab Police, Galib Kalan, arrested Amar Singh of Galib Khurd and seized 40 litre of lahan from his possession. The Sidhwan Bet police has registered a case under the Excise Act.

NSS CAMP: The 10-day NSS camp, which is currently under way on the premises of Kamla Lohtia Sanatan Dharam College, entered its fifth day on Monday. Mr S.S. Juneja, a traffic training missionary, visited the camp and delivered a lecture on “Road Safety”. He asked the students to cooperate with the traffic police. Volunteers showed their eagerness to participate in such activities. Prof Sandeep Chanana, a Lecturer in economics, talked about the importance of yoga. Dr Yograj Angrish and Prof Mohd. Saleem, programme officers, NSS, urged the volunteers to take part in social activities helpful in uplifting the slum dwellers and weaker sections of society.

EXTENSION LECTURE: An extension lecture was delivered by Dr Agayajit Singh on Friday at the GHG Khalsa College of Education, Gurusar Sadhar. Retired as Professor and Head Department of Psychology, Punjabi University, Patiala, in 1999, he is presently Principal, Punjab College of Education, Raipur, near Patiala. He delivered the lecture on “Motivating yourself to be an effective teacher”. He talked about extrinsic and intrinsic factors as well as needs and drives in motivating students. Only positive attitude and confidence could work wonders and it could be attained only by knowing oneself, knowing one’s students and subject, he said. Value system could also play a major role in motivating the child.

NSS CAMPS: Two NSS camps for boy and girl units started at GHG Khalsa College, Gurusar Sadhar, here on Sunday. Around 200 volunteers are attending the camps. The camps were formally inaugurated by Mr Manjit Singh Khattra, Director of GHG Khalsa Institutions. The chief guest highlighted the importance of National Social Service in transforming the society into a healthy and informative one. Earlier, NSS programme officers Prof Major Singh, Prof Gurdev Singh, Prof Ranjit Jiwan Kaur and Dr Rajinder Singh talked at length about the aims and objectives of the NSS. The major thrust area during the camps was “Awareness about energy, pollution and sustainable development”.

NAWANSHAHR
SCHOOL WINS LAURELS: The local JSFH Khalsa High School has won as many as 10 prizes, the maximum by any school, in a district-level contest organised by the Punjab School Education Board, SAS Nagar. The school students have excelled in bhangra, gidda, lok geet, shabad gayan, kavishri, painting and declamation competitions.

TRIBUTES TO MARTYR: Mr Maninderjit Singh Bitta, president, All-India Anti-Terrorist Front, paid floral tributes to Shaheed-E-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh at his statue situated at Khatkar Kalan, on the occasion of the birth anniversary of the martyr on Sunday. Mr Bitta, stressing on the need to inculcate patriotism among the youth, lamented that neither the state government nor social, educational or political organisations had done anything in this regard.

PATHANKOT
TUBE WELL CONNECTIONS: Mr Raman Bhalla, administrative member of the Punjab State Electricity Board, has said that ex-servicemen of kandi area will be given tubewell connections on a priority basis. Addressing an open darbar at Lamini village, here on Sunday, he said he had directed the power authorities to take immediate steps to redress the grievances of farmers.

PHAGWARA
INTERFACE: The Bharat Vikas Parishad, Phagwara, led by Mr Raman Narang, on Saturday night organised an interaction with Mr H.C. Punia, Divisional Railway Manager, Firozepur Division, Northern Railway. Mr Ashok Gupta, Project Director, said on Sunday a new train, Jan Shatabdi, between Amritsar and Delhi with a halt at Phagwara was demanded by participants.

PHILLAUR
RALLY BY FARMERS: Hundreds of farmers belonging to the Bhartiya Kisan Union held a rally and blocked road and rail traffic during a two-hour-long protest at the Rurka Kalan level crossing, Goraya, here on Monday. The rally was addressed by the union’s state secretary, Mr Lamber Singh Taggarr, BKU leader, Mr Dayal Singh Thapa, among others. Their demands included clearance of arrears of sugarcane worth Rs 100 crore, arrangements for lifting of paddy, besides other problems faced by the farmers. They opposed the government move to privatise the Punjab State Electricity Board. The police had made adequate security arrangements for the rally. The railways also took steps to prevent any untoward incident during the agitation. It has opened emergency rail offices at main railway stations, including Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Pathankot, Jammu, Ferozepore, etc to keep vigil on the situation.

SANGRUR
EYE CAMP: More than 525 patients were examined by a team of eye specialists, led by Dr Ashwani Jain from Delhi, at an eye camp organised by Garib Parivar Fund and Sri Vishal Durga Sankirtan Mandal, Lehragaga, at the Garib Parivar Fund Dharamshala complex at Lehragaga. Medicines were provided free of cost.

HARYANA

AMBALA
HVP PROMISE: Mr Surender Singh, general secretary of the HVP, said 24-hour electricity supply would be made available in the state if his party came to power. He was addressing a rally at Majri village in Naggal constituency here on Monday. He said the Congress was a divided house in Haryana.

MEDICAL CAMP: The woman wing of Haryana Kisan Sangathan organised a free medical check-up camp in Ghel village close to the City. The president of the woman wing, Ms Aarti Gill, was the chief guest.

MASTERS’ BODY: The Haryana Master Varg Association held a meeting here on Monday. The meeting was presided over by Mr Ram Gopal Sharma. Association members opposed the rationalisation policy and said it was anti-teacher. They said the government had failed to implement 1:50 teacher, students ratio.

PINJORE
SCHOOL GAMES: Zonal Tournaments were held at Government Senior Secondary School at Kalka recently. St. Vivekanand Millennium School of HMT Pinjore bagged first seven positions in various games. According to Mr D.K. Kaushal, Principal of the school, the school also won eight events in athletics.

MAN KILLED: An unidentified man was killed in a mishap while crossing the National Highway 22 near the HMT bus stop. As per report he was hit by a speeding car.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

KANGRA
HELD FOR RAPE: The Kangra police on Sunday evening arrested a 51-year-old state government employee for allegedly raping a woman in his neighbourhood in Donga Bazar locality here and registered a case under Section 376, IPC, against him. The district additional police chief, Mr Santosh Patial, said a woman residing in Donga Bazar had lodge a report with the police that she was raped by her neighbour in her house on Saturday night.

NSS DRIVE: Eighty volunteers of the National Service Scheme (NSS) of the local MCM DAV College have adopted a middle school in Kohala, near here, and are holding a multidimensional camp in the village. Dr Ashok Kumar, in charge of the NSS unit, said on Sunday that this 10-day NSS social service camp was inaugurated by the SDM, Kangra, Dr Ashwani Kumar.

PARWANOO
DAV SCHOOL: Students and staff of the local DAV School organised felicitation ceremony on Monday at Hotel Windsmoor to honour Savita Manuja, Principal, DAV School, Sector 8, Chandigarh, for receiving a national award. Mr B.L. Raghav, Assistant Commissioner, Parwanoo, Shashi Gupta, Regional Director of DAV Institutes of the area and Principals of various DAV schools of the area were also present.

UNA
FEDERATION: Mr DD Dogra, president, All-India Social Studies Federation, and Kanwar Hari Singh, general secretary, at a joint press conference here said a meeting of the federation was held here on Sunday. They demanded that there should be a transparency in fresh appointments in government jobs and there should be no political interference in recruitment.