R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Abohar
DEATH: The daughter of a migrant, who was set on fire by a youth inside her residence, succumbed to burn injuries at the Nehru Memorial Civil Hospital here on Friday. The Pravasi Mazdoor Union condemned the incident and urged the police to arrest the culprit immediately.

BOOKED: The Railway Police has booked Sukhwinder, Om Parkash and Surender Kumar, residents of Sirsa, on the basis of an alleged “suicide note” found in the pocket of Harshran Singh who reportedly committed suicide by jumping before a train on the Abohar-Bathinda section. They had borrowed money from him but allegedly threatened him of dire consequences when he requested for repaying.

SENTENCED: Seven persons have been sentenced to six months’ imprisonment each under Section 295 A and Cow Slaughter Prevention Act by a local court. The police had arrested Panchhi Ram of Dhani Bisheshar Nath, Anvar Mohammad of Kandla, Babu Khan and Usman Ali of Neola, Akram Chaudhry of Muzaffarnagar and truck driver Satish Kumar in 1997 as they were taking 53 cows from here to UP.

Hoshiarpur
FINALISED: As many as 30,678 cases of pensioners in various categories, including old age, destitute children, widows and handicapped persons, have been finalised by the Panchayati Raj in Hoshiarpur district during a special session of panchayats. Disclosing this, Mr D.R. Bhagat, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development), said here on Thursday that with new enrolment the number of pensioners in the district had now increased to 81,508.

Nawanshahr
ORGANISED: All branches of Punjab National Bank (PNB) in the district organised a “retail lending function” here on Thursday. Mr A.R. Mishra, Senior Regional Manager, Jalandhar, presided over the function and disbursed loans amounting to Rs 6 crore on the occasion. Addressing the officials of the bank, he said keeping in view the decision of the Centre regarding enhancing credit facility to the agriculture sector, the PNB had asked its rural and semi-urban branches to link at least 100 farmers with institutional credit for promoting self-employment ventures like horticulture, fisheries and organic farming.

PROTEST MARCH: Activists of the Jamhoori Kisan Sabha, Jamhoori Kandi Sangarsh Sabha and the Jamhoori Dhodhi Sabha took out a protest march in the town and held a dharna in front of the office of the Deputy Commissioner on Thursday in support of their demands, which included grant of Rs 10,000 per acre as drought relief, restoration of free power and supply of irrigation water to the farmers.

RAKHI MAKING CONTEST: Ralla Mal Bhucher DAV Public School organised a Rakhi-making competition here on Saturday. While Abhinav, Deeksha and Harleen excelled in junior classes, Baljot, Aarnish, Nishant, Kulwinder and Suraj won top positions in the senior category. Mr Yogesh Duggal, Principal, gave away the prizes.

PATIALA
DEMONSTRATION: A live demonstration of fire fighting equipments was given to the students and staff of Kendriya Vidyalaya No 1 by a fire fighting expert from ‘Ceasefire’ Mr Gur Avtar Singh here on Friday. The principal of the school S.K. Sharma was present.

SEMINAR: The Indian Farmers Fertilisers Cooperative (IFFCO) organised a seminar on Friday to apprise farmers under its “opinion leader” programme about the latest techniques of hybrid seed production, fruit and vegetable production and maintenance of farm machinery. Mr Amarinder Singh, Manager, IFFCO, Patiala, said IFFCO was making efforts to promote a balanced use of fertilisers. Former IFFCO Director M.S. Guara, Dr S.S. Malhi, former Associate Director, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Patiala, Dr J.S. Chandi, Deputy Director of the Krishi Kendra here and Dr S.S. Sodhi, soil scientist of the Punjab Agricultural University, also interacted with the farmers.

PAINTING CONTEST: Karamjeet Singh, Simranjit Singh, both local students, and Gagan Singh, Nabha bagged first, second and third position, respectively, in a district-level painting competition (age group of 5 to 8 years) organised by the District Children Welfare Council at Government Senior Secondary School, Civil Lines here on Friday. In the age group of 9 to 12 years, Sarbjit Singh and Baljinder Kaur, local students and Ramanpreet Kaur of Zirakpur, were first, second and third respectively. In the age group of 13 to 16 years, Jagjit Singh, Mandeep Kaur, Nabha and Ekweer Kaur, of here got first, second and third respectively. In the physically-challenged category of the age group between 13 to 16 years, Swathi Gupta and Sunita Rani both local students were bagged first and second respectively while Kamal Deep Sapna of Nabha was third. The Deputy Commissioner presented cash prizes of Rs 400, 300 and 200 respectively to the winners.

Phagwara
LAUNCHED: An eye donation awareness campaign had been launched by the Health Department, said Dr Subhash Sharma, SMO, Civil Hospital, Phagwara. It would continue till September 8, he said here on Thursday.

DONATED : The Rotary Club, Chachoki, donated 65 desks to the Government Elementary School, Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar, Tibbi, here on Friday. According to a press note, Rotarian Sukhdev Singh Lall gave 45 desks and Rotarian Ramesh Kumar Mittal donated 20 desks in memory of his brother, Charanjit Mittal. The SDM, Mr Pritam Singh, was the chief guest. The club had adopted the school. It had repaired its ramshackle building, installed 12 fans besides blackboards.

Phillaur
STOLEN: A car belonging to Mr Rashpaul Singh Gill, manager, Punjab and Sind Bank Phillaur, was stolen from his residence in Green Park area here on Friday. A report was lodged with the police.

CHANDIGARH

CAMP: An eye donation awareness camp was organised at the Food Craft Institute here today. Dr Amit Gupta, Associate Professor at the Department of Ophthalmology, PGI, was the main speaker. A multi -media presentation was given to motivate the students for donating eyes.

Panchkula
SCHOLARSHIP: Four students of Chaman Lal DAV Senior Public School have won a scholraship for Rs 5500 each. The students- Mohit Sharma of Class IX, Yogesh Sharma of Class X, Smita Kalwaniya of Class XI, and Ashima of Class XII, were presented the cheque by cricketer, Mr Chetan Sharma on Thursday. The scholarship has been instituted by Shanti Niwas Scholarship Committee, Australia.

ATM: Mr K.C. Sharma, Financial Commissioner & Principal Secretary, Haryana, has inaugurated ATM facility at newly renovated and computerised main branch of Canara Bank, Sector 10, Panchkula.

OPEN DARBAR: The Deputy Commissioner, Ms Neelam P Kasni, on Friday asked the village panchayats to construct toilets and curb the practice of open defecation. She was addressing the open darbar organised at Mallah village. The administration received requests regarding holding of an employment camp in the area , loose electrict HT cables, construction of roads, repair of water supply pipe line in Lohgarh village etc.

Mohali
Programme: A Raksha Bandhan programme was organised at the local Rajyoga Centre, here on Saturday. Brahma Kumari sisters tied rakhis to the wrists of all mediapersons present at the function. On Friday they had tied rakhis on the wrists of police officers and other personnel. 

HARYANA

AMBALA
BLOOD DONATION: A blood donation camp was held at Air Force Station Medicare Centre, Subroto Park on Friday. Western Air Command organised the blood donation camp. The camp was inaugurated by Air Marshal S.P. Tyagi, AOC-in-C Western Air Command and Mrs Vandana Tyagi. The camp was held under the aegis of Armed Forces Transfusion Centre. 133 Air Force personnel donated blood. 

PAINTING CONTEST: A district-level painting competition was held at Bal Bhavan, Ambala city on Friday. As many as 270 students from 30 schools participated. Deputy Commissioner Ambala R.P. Gupta and Bal Kalyan Parishad president Madhu Gupta appreciated the efforts by physically challenged students. In 5 to 8 years age group, Harshita Gupta was first, Twinkle Chauhan second and Ranu Jakhad third. Nikita and Yash Bali won the consolation prize. In 9 to 12 years age group, Himakshi Sharma was first, Durgesh Kumar Agnihotri second and Ankush third. Rahul Jain and Manvika Mohan won the consolation prize. In 13 to 16 years age group, Sanjam Sachdeva was first, Priyanka Sharma second and Rashmi Parmar third. Among the physically challenged, in 5 to 10 years, Shyam Bahadur was first, Apoorva second and Vinkle third. Aishwarya and Adarsh Deep won the consolation prize. In 11 to 16 years age group, Vijay Singh was first, Neha Rani second while Manjeet Kumar was third. Charu Malik and Jaskirat won the consolation prizes 

TALENT SEARCH: A talent search competition was held in DAV College (Lahore) Ambala city on Friday. Thirty students participated in music competition and 35 students participated in dance competition. College principal Dr K.L. Gomber said that there was inherent talent in every student.

CELEBRATION: A week-long celebration was held at Air Force Station, Ambala in memory of first Indian Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Subroto Mukherjee. The highlights were a sports meet, a guest lecture on stress management by Dr Sushil Kansal, a painting competition on the ‘Indian Air Force’ theme and a sapling plantation drive at Air Force School. In 1939, Flt Lt Subroto Mukherjee took over as Squadron Commander of No 1 Indian Air Force Squadron. The squadron had moved to Ambala in 1938.

Hisar
RAID: The Haryana Finance Minister, Professor Sampat Singh, raided the Civil Hospital on Friday and found 12 employees absent from duty. The minister reached the hospital at 8.45 a.m. and got the main gates locked around 9 a.m. Following this, he personally carried out a roll call of the employees, in which 12 were found absent.

DEMONSTRATION: Residents of New Mahabir Colony and some other localities staged a demonstration in front of vidyut bhavan here on Friday. The protesters alleged that many residents had applied for electricity connections in 1999 and had deposited the requisite amount, but the connections had not been provided. They also submitted a memorandum to the Chief Engineer.

KALKA
MARRIAGE SCHEME: The State Bank of Patiala main branch here on Saturday launched a SBP-shubh vivah’ scheme to meet the expenses of self marriage, marriage of daughter or son and also dependent brother and sister. Under this scheme a minimum sum of Rs 50,000 will be given as loan while the maximum limit is Rs 2.50 lakh. The eligibility for the loan was minimum annual income of Rs 25,000 per annum. The rate of interest will be 12 per cent, said Mr S.C. Dhall, Manager.

Karnal
INLD rally: The ruling INLD has decided to hold a state-level rally on September 25 in Fatehabad on the occasion of the birth anniversary of the late Devi Lal. The Transport Minister, Mr Ashok Arora, announced this on Saturday.

NATIONAL AWARDS: The cooperative sugar mills of Shahabad and Sonepat have won five national awards for best management, production and technical efficiency for the crushing season 2003-04. The technical committee of the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories, New Delhi, had recently announced these awards. In order to gain more profits, the Haryana Government had decided to install a distillery at the Shahabad Cooperative Sugar Mills.

Yamunanagar
BURGLED: Five shops were burgled in Amar Market and Deep Market of Chhachhrauli area here on Wednesday. The loss was estimated at Rs 1 lakh.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Kumarhatti
TB CENTRE : Dr V.K. Chopra, State TB Officer, has promised to arrange the basic infrastructure for the state’s first TB Training, Research and Demonstration Centre at Dharampur TB Sanatorium, 4 km from here. Dr Chopra was at the sanatorium on Thursday to attend a function on the completion of the 10-day training of the first batch.

CHALLANED : The Parwanoo police has challaned 52 vehicles for violating various traffic norms under Zero Tolerance Day on the Kalka-Shimla National Highway on Thursday. Meanwhile, during the drive one girl and three youths were arrested for roaming about under suspicious circumstances near Timber Trail Resort. A case has been registered.

SHIMLA
MONTHLY RETURNS : To tighten up the grip over the stone crushers, the government has decided to make filing of monthly returns compulsory for such units. The units will be required to furnish details like quantity of minerals crushed, electricity consumed, power generated in case of captive plants and fuel consumption in diesel-run units, number of workers employed and wages paid. The returns will have to be submitted by 10th of every month. No new units will be allowed within 150 metres of the national and state highways and 100 metres of link roads.