R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Abohar
Tragedy averted: The generator on the roof of a shop at the circular road here gave sparks causing a fire. Some persons noticed this and informed the shopkeeper. The fire brigade was informed but people extinguished the fire before the arrival of fire engines.

Amritsar
Welcomed: Mr Bhupinder Singh Walia, Senior vice-president, Punjab Subordinate Services Federation (PSSF), on Saturday welcomed Mr Charanjit Singh Walia, former member of Parliament joining the Congress.

BLOOD CAMP: Hundred persons donated blood at a camp organised by the Sant Nirankari Mandal here on Saturday. Dr Harjoginder Singh Gill, Deputy Director-cum-Civil Surgeon, inaugurated the camp.

Bathinda
DONATED: The Amway Opportunity Foundation, Northern Chapter, New Delhi, on Saturday donated detergents for kitchens, floors to Mahant Gurbanta Dass School of Deaf, Dumb, and Blind here.

FATEHGARH SAHIB
Tobacco pouch in Pepsi: Mr Sanjeev Kumar, a resident of Bassi Pathana, was surprised to see a pouch in the Pepsi cold drink bottle, which he purchased from the market. He brought a sealed bottle of the soft drink, containing a pouch of Rajdarbar tobacco, to The Tribune office here. Though the controversy over the contents in soft drinks had not yet ended, one could well imagine how careful these companies were towards maintaining cleanliness in their bottling plants, he added.

Nawanshahr
PATROLLING SCHEME: M.F. Farooqui, SSP, launched ‘City Patrolling Scheme’ in the district here on Saturday. Under the scheme, the city has been divided into 10 beats and equipped with Hero Honda Motor cycles fitted with red and blue lights, siren, public address system etc. Forty constables have been put on patrolling duty. The public can access the patrolling party on phone number 100.

BANK FUNCTION: Mr Ashok Dutt, AGM, Allahabad Bank, Jalandhar region launched “Kisan Shakti Yojna” at a function held at the local branch of the bank on Saturday to commemorate the 140th raising day of the bank. He also launched personal accident insurance for saving bank depositors, introduction of gold card and silver card scheme for privileged customers, opening of retail banking boutiques on the occasion.

IMA OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Indian Medical Association, local unit: president — Dr Kashmir Singh; vice-president — Dr Kuldeep Singh Kochhar; general secretary — Dr Gurjeet Singh Dhaliwal; organising secretary — Dr Dinash Gupta; joint secretary — Dr Monika Gupta; press secretary — Dr Ajit Singh; treasurer — Dr (Mrs) Haripal Kaur Dhaliwal.

Tarn Taran
ARREST KILLERS: Followers of dera Akal here demanded the arrest of the killers of dera head Baba Jagtar Singh and his disciple Nihang Manjit Singh who were shot dead by two armed persons on April 14. The bhog of the deceased was performed on Saturday. Bibi Paramjit Kaur widow of Baba Jagtar Singh was nominated head of the dera.

CHANDIGARH

COMPLAINT: Residents of Sector 47-C here have complained that the scheduled power shutdown in their area lasted much longer than announced. Even after the power cut ended at 5 p.m, power supply was not restored till 9 pm to many parts of the area. In other areas, the voltage was very low.

Panchkula
Trapped: It was a harrowing time for seven persons, who were trapped in a lift of the Shakti Bhavan in Sector 6, here on Friday. According to information, the persons were trapped inside the lift when it developed a technical snag and was stuck on the basement of the building around noon. Even as efforts to open the door failed, persons inside felt suffocated. Sources said Fire Department personnel struggled for about 45 minutes before the door of the lift could be opened and trapped persons rescued.

Meeting: A meeting of the Sarav Karamchari Sangh was held here Friday. The president of the district unit of the sangh, Mr Lal Chand Kasana, said the meeting demanded the right to strike and re-employment of retrenched Haryana Government staff. Mr Kasana informed that employees of the Haryana Urban Development Authority(HUDA) would protest outside the HUDA office in Sector 6 on May 5.

Alleged: Mr Ravinder Singh, a resident of Sector 27 in Chandigarh, on Friday alleged that he found fungus in a bottle of cold drink of a premier soft drink company. Mr Singh was offered the cold drink by the proprietor of a shop in NAC Market, WORKSHOP ON TB: To strengthen the monitoring mechanism under the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme, a state-level workshop for officers of the Directorate of Health Services was held here on Friday. The World Health Organisation Consultant for Haryana, Dr Manju Behl, made a presentation on strategies and policies of the programme. A computerised monitoring system, which had been developed by the state headquarters, was discussed in detail.

WHEAT PROCUREMENT: During the current rabi season, 10,336 metric tonnes of wheat has been procured in the district. While the government agencies have procured 9,037 metric tonnes, traders have procured 1,299 metric tonnes. According to official sources, 4,983 metric tonnes have been procured from Barwala, 3,720 metric tonnes from Raipur Rani. A quantity of 1,633 metric tonnes have been procured from Panchkula grain market.

HARYANA

AMBALA
annual function: The annual function of Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 4 was held here recently. Brig MS Gill, Commander No.1 Arty Bde and Chairman, Vidyalaya Management Committee was the chief guest. The Principal, Ms Indu Kaushik said Brigadier Gill gave away the prizes to the meritorious students. A cultural programme was presented. 

Karnal
WORKSHOP ON MILK: A workshop on “Clean Milk Production in Global Scenario” will be organised on April 28 at the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) here where more than 200 scientists from various states of the country are expected to participate. At the workshop delegates will deliberate on animal health-related aspects pertaining to clean production, processing and marketing of milk.

Kurukshetra
WORKSHOP ON POLLUTION: Inaugurating a workshop on ‘Prevention and Control of Pollution Due to Harvest Residue’ at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) here on Saturday, the NIT, Board of Governors, Chairman, Prof B.L. Dhoopar stressed the need of communication between scientists and the technologists. Problems and diseases due to air pollution were also discussed.

Yamunanagar
FLOOD RELIEF TRAINING: One-week Flood Relief Training Camp was organised by the Revenue Department and district administration here on Saturday. The camp was organised from April 18 to April 24 in which 40 persons were trained to control floods. Mr A.L. Satija, Deputy Secretary, Flood Relief, Haryana said that 750 persons were trained in Flood Relief.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Kulu
LEPROSY PREVENTION: Doctor Om Prakash Ghandwal, District Leprosy Officer, here said on Saturday that 10 Prevention of Disability (PoD) camps were held in this district during this month to create health awareness. The camps were organised as part of activities under the World Bank-aided National Leprosy Control Programme.

Kumarhatti
GRAIN STORAGE: A 10-day camp, organised by the Agriculture Department, concluded at Barog on Saturday. At the camp rural women were given training on the storage of grain. The objective of the camp was to keep grains safe from insects. The department distributed 50 drums free of cost to store grains.

Shimla
MISHAP: Gurpreet Singh (25), a resident of Summer Hill locality, died on Friday night after he fell from a moving bus near the Summer Hill chowk. He had received a head injury.

Solan
TWO HELD: The police on Saturday raided the shops of Prem Singh and Kedar Dutt Sharma and confiscated 23 and 604 fake CDs, respectively, from their shops and they were arrested. A case under Sections 63 and 68-A of the Copyright Act and 420 of the IPC was registered against them.

Sundernagar
POLL CODE PANELS: The Assistant Returning Officer here has formed Standing Committees for Nachan (61) and Sundernagar (62) Assembly Segments to enforce poll code for fair and free polling. Mr Hukam Chand (Indian National Congress), Dinesh Sharma (BJP) for Sundernagar Assembly Segment were taken on the committee. Mr Kahan Singh (Indian National Congress) and Ved Sharma (BJP) for Nachan Assembly Segment) are on the panel. 

Una
POLL OBSERVERS: Election observers for Himachal Pradesh — Mr Jaswinder Singh Rana, Principal Secretary and member, State Finance Commission, Gujarat and Mr Alok Kumar, Additional Commissioner, Income Tax, Delhi — reached here on Thursday to review poll arrangement. They can be contacted contact on telephone numbers 01972-222542, 222519 and 222552 regarding poll-related grievances.