R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Amritsar
FUND GIVEN: Mr Navjot Singh Sidhu, MP, on Friday visited the office of the municipal corporation and gave Rs 10 lakh from the MPLADS fund for the upkeep of the MC building and library.

MERIT POSITION: All merit positions in the (10+2) examination of the Punjab School Education Board were bagged by Khalsa College here. Japleen Kaur stood 8th while the 9th & 10th positions were bagged by Gurveen Pal and Jagpal Kaur of college, respectively.

WOMEN HELD: The police reportedly arrested five women thieves for stealing bundles of cloth from Shastri market. A case has been registered against Raj Kumari of Dina Nagar and here four accomplices.

Barnala
annual function: The annual prize distribution function of the S.D. College of Education was held on Friday. Mr Arvind Khanna, MLA, Sangrur, was the chief guest. He gave away prizes to the students.

Batala
PARISHAD ELECTIONS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Bharati Vikas Parishad, Batala: president — Mr Bhudush Aggarwal; vice-presidents — Mr Jatinder Malhotra, Mr Ashok Aggarwal and Mr Bhuvnesh Verma; Secretary — Mr Rajinder Rathore; joint secretaries — Mr Raman Sharma, Mr Deepak Aggarwal and Mr Jagdish Trehan; office secretary — Mr Jugal Kishore; finance secretary — Mr Kamal Aggarwal; and public relation officer — Mr Shashi Verma.

Mansa
1 KG OPIUM SEIZED: The police has arrested Satvir Singh and recovered 1 kg opium from his possession. the accused was arrested at a check post near Gharagna village. A case has been registered against him.

Nawanshahr
MOURNED: The District Bar Association organised a condolence meeting to mourn the death of Davinder Kaur Grewal, mother of Mr Justice K.S. Grewal, Judge of the Punjab and Haryana Court on Friday. A two-minute silence was observed.

PROTEST MARCH: On the call given by the PSEB employees Joint Forum, activists of the various PSEB Employees’ Unions, including the Technical Services Union, the Employees Federation, the Ministerial Services Union, the JEs Council belonging to Nawanshahr, Rahon, Jadla and Aur subdivisions, held out a protest march in the town, and burnt the effigy of the chairman of the PSEB on Friday in protest against the policy of privatization and contract system.

CONDEMNED: Mr Balwant Singh, secretary of the state unit of the CPM, has criticised the proposed move of the state government to hand over government schools to private establishments. He has said Left parties, including the CPM and the CPI, will hold a rally in Jalandhar on May 10 against the move.

EYE CAMP: The local unit of the CPI, in collaboration with the District Eye Donation Society, organised an eye check-up camp at Comrade Mehli Bhavan here on Thursday to commemorate the birth anniversary of Karl Marx. A team of doctors examined 250 patients. Medicines were given to needy patients free of cost.

MEDICAL CAMP: The local Red Rose Public School organised a three-day medical check-up camp for schoolchildren on Saturday on its premises. Dr D. P. S. Sandhu, eye specialist, Dr L. R. Badhan, child specialist, and Dr Mohinder Singh, dental surgeon, examined the students. This information was given by Ms Swaran Sikka, Principal of the school.

LIONS CLUB: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Lions Club (Nawanshahr City): President — Mr Iqbal Singh; vice-presidents — Mr Gurcharan Singh, Mr Gurjit Singh and Mr Kulwinder Singh; secretary — Mr Dilbagh Singh Pabla, treasurer — Mr Vijay Parmar; membership chairman — Mr Joga Singh Nagra; and PRO — Mr Tarlochan Singh.

Phagwara
TWO HELD: Sultanpur Lodhi police has arrested two men, Sarabjit Singh, alias Ladi of Phulghuduwala village, and Bhajan Singh, alias Daroga of Lattianwala village in a poppy husk case. This was stated by Kapurthala SSP Arun Pal Singh on Saturday.

Sangrur
SEMINAR HELD: A workshop-cum-seminar on personality metamorphosis ‘ GOAL’ (Getting over all limitations) was organised by the Bhai Gurdas Institute of Management and Technology on its campus on Sangrur-Patiala road, near here, on Friday. Mr Asit Ghosh, Bhaskar Award winner and leading behavioral specialist, was the key speaker at the seminar.

Tarn Taran
PROTEST RALLY: The local units of the Government Teachers’ Union, Democratic Teachers’ front and the Adhayapak Dal organised a rally here on Friday and presented a memorandum to the SDM against the move of the state government to privatise the educational institutions.

HARYANA

Jagadhari
3 KILLED: A labourer was killed after he accidentally fell into an oven of a brick kiln here on Thursday. Two other labourers, including a minor, hailing from Bihar were crushed to death by an unidentified vehicle near Civil Secretariat here on Thursday. A case has been registered against the unidentified vehicle driver.

Rewari
SHIFTED: As many as eight Sub Inspectors , 11 ASI, six Head Constables and eight constables , working at various police stations of the district, have been transferred. The shuffling exercise on such a scale has been undertaken to tone up the police administration in the district.

Sirsa
CHASSIS RECOVERED: The district police has recovered the chassis of a Maruti 800 car dumped in a pit on the premises of a mazar in the Grain Market area on the Rania road. Vipin Kumar, the accused, was arrested when he was trying to sell parts of the stolen car in the local market. The father of the accused is a sevadar at the mazar, but he has claimed ignorance over the whole episode.

2 HURT IN MOB ATTACK: Municipal Councillor and his companion received serious injuries when they were attacked a by a mob in the Chhaatargarh Pati area here on Saturday afternoon. Vinod Kumar, the councillor and Congress leader, alleged that he was robbed of Rs 20,000.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Mandi
URGED: Member of the Himachal Pradesh Human Rights Commission, Mr I.D. Bali, on Friday urged officials of the Horticulture Department and the environmentalists to check the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides being used in the production of the fruits and vegetables in the state. He was speaking at the human rights awareness camp at Ner Chowk near here.

Shimla
DHARNA: Central Government Employees staged a day-long dharna in front of the General Post Office to seek the withdrawal of profession tax and the setting up of the 6th Central Pay Commission on Friday. A lunch hour demonstration was also held at which the speakers flayed the government for imposing profession tax on the working class.

Solan
CONSTITUTED: The pharmaceutical investors of Himachal have constituted the HP branch of Indian Pharmaceutical Association at Baddi. The State Drug Controller , Mr Sher Singh, has been nominated the patron-in-chief while Dr Shushil Khanna of Vectra Pharmaceuticals has been nominated the founder president. The executive body members have been nominated from other pharma companies in the region, including Cadila, Alembic, Bio-Genetics, Wings Pharma, Alchem, etc.