R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
SEMINAR : A national seminar on iodine deficiency was organised by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting at the ITI, Rayya, on Saturday. Field Publicity Officer Balwinder Attri said the Kandi area of the state had reported a significant deficiency in iodine, which was a cause for concern as it led to several deformities.

PULSE POLIO : A total of 1,786 booths will be set up in the district to administer polio drops to children up to five years from January 4 to February 22, 2004. Of these, 1,191 booths will be set up in rural areas. This was stated by Dr Yashpal Singla, Civil Surgeon, at a meeting in connection with the Pulse Polio campaign.

ABOHAR
VETERINARY CAMP: A total of 348 head of cattle were treated at a camp organised by the Veterinary Department at Kikkarkhera village, near here, on Saturday. The Senior Veterinary Officer, Dr Mahesh Chuchra, Dr Parwinder Singh and Dr Rajinder Prasad informed the gathering about the free vaccination programme launched by the state government.

PHAGWARA
INAUGURATED: The Kapurthala ADC, Mr Harnek Singh, on Saturday inaugurated an ATM provided by the UTI to Palahi village. Mr Jatinderpal Singh Palahi, secretary of several educational institutions in the village, Mr Surjit Lal, Sarpanch, Mr Gurmit Palahi, Principal, Community Polytechnic, and Mr Gurmit Singh, Manager, UTI, Phagwara. addressed the gathering.

SMACK SEIZED: The Sadar police on Saturday arrested Jai Pal and seized 15 gms of smack from his possession. A press note issued by the local DSP, Mr Sajjan Singh Cheema, said Jai Pal was nabbed in Kirpalpur Colony.

CHANDIGARH

AIDS AWARENESS: To generate awareness about the various facets of AIDS among students, GGDSD College, Sector 32, is observing AIDS Day on Monday. Various competitions on AIDS awareness and related topics will mark the day. These include debate on “AIDS awareness is a must in educational institutions”, essay competition, poster-making contest and slogan writing. Dr Gurmeet Singh, medical officer of the college, will give a lecture. The contests will be held 11am onwards.

HARYANA

OFFICE-BEARERS: A meeting of the Gandhi Memorial National Trust and Management Society was held here on Sunday. The following office-bearers were elected: president — Mr Bhupinder Singh Johar; vice-president — Mr Lakshmi Sagar; general secretary — Mr R.S. Goel, joint secretary — Mr Kamaljit Singh Balhaya; and observers — Dr S.S. Phulia and Dr N.K. Matta.

Fatehabad
‘Operation Catch’: The district police on Friday claimed that during ‘Operation Catch’ organised from November 3 to 25, it had arrested 21 bail jumpers. The operation was organised on the directions of the Director-General of Police.

Debate on dowry: Mr Vishnu Bhagwan, a lecturer of commerce at Chowdhary Devi Lal University, said on Saturday that social evils like dowry could not be rooted out through enactment of laws or delivering lectures on the subject. Delivering the keynote address at the local Manohar Memorial College during a debate on dowry, organised by the women’s wing of the college, he said non-governmental organisations should come forward to bring about an end to this evil.

Karnal
Arrested: Naresh, son of Karam Singh, has been arrested on the charge of raping a 13-year-old girl for the past three months at Sultanpur Gamrhi village of the district. In a complaint lodged with the police, Faggu, father of the victim, said Naresh used to rape her minor daughter at their residence when he and his wife went to work.

SIRSA
ROBBED: Surinder Kumar, a resident of Kotli village in the district, was attacked and robbed of 60 grams of gold and Rs 50,000 by four persons. He was admitted to the local Civil Hospital. The victim said he was going to attend his cousin’s marriage at Thobarian village on his motor cycle when he was stopped by four persons, who attacked him with sharp-edged weapons and robbed him. He alleged that these persons were residents of the village. In another case, Bansi Lal, a resident of Risaliakhera village in the district, was attacked with sharp-edged weapons by two persons of the village.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Bilaspur
SANCTIONED: The Central Government has sanctioned the first instalment of Rs 87.53 lakh for implementing Swajal Dhara Yojana under the National Rajiv Gandhi Drinking Water Mission for providing potable water in the district. This was stated by zila parishad chairman Banta Singh Dhiman while presiding over a district-level clean drinking water committee meeting here on Saturday.

Chamba
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the district unit of the Himachal Pradesh Revenue Officers (Tehsildars and Naib Tehsildars) Association : president — Mr K.R. Saijal; senior vice-president — Mr M.R. Aheer; vice-presidents — Mr J.R. Dogra and Mr Shamsher Singh; general secretary — Mr Tej Singh; joint secretary — Mr Prakash Chand Azad; organising secretary — Mr Hem Chand Thakur; press secretary — Mr Mohammad Saleem; finance secretary — Mr Manoj Kumar; and chief adviser — Mr Dharam Pal.

MEDICAL CAMP: A free medical camp on heart ailments was organised under the aegis of the local Swami Dayananda Math on Sunday. A team of doctors from Escorts Heart and Super Speciality Institute, Amritsar, headed by Dr H.P. Singh, examined 300 heart patients.

Kangra
HIT-AND-RUN CASE: A 40-year-old man, identified as Sansar Chand, a resident of Valley Chang Nangalpur, Pathankot, was run over and killed by a vehicle at the excise barrier at Dango Peer, the police said. A case has been registered.

Kumarhatti
RESENTMENT: Residents of over 10 panchayats under the Dharampur block are sore at the discontinuation of the Nalagarh-Patta-Solan bus service. The decision taken by the state transport authorities on the pretext of economic unviability is causing inconvenience to villagers, particularly those of the panchayats of Patta Bariyan, Nalka, Surujpur, Patta Nali, Bhaguri, Kot Beja, Dardwan, Goyala, Chandi and Barotiwala.

Shimla
PANEL FORMED: The Himachal Pradesh Government has constituted a state-level interactive committee under the national plan to combat trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and children. Headed by the Director, Social Welfare, the committee will have a representative of the Director-General of Police, in charge of the women’s cell, Secretary, state Commission for Women, Director, Prosecution, Joint Director, Integrated Child Development Programme, Mrs Mala Singh, municipal councillor (Shimla), and Mrs Savitri Kashyap, chairperson, Shimla zila parishad. The Deputy Director, Welfare, will be the member secretary.