R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Zirakpur
Function by youth club: A religious programme “Ek Sham Sai Ke Naam” was organised by the Youth Welfare Club, Baltana, on Sunday. Zirakpur MC president Narinder Kumar Sharma and Simranjit Singh Chandumajra were the chief guests on the occasion. Bhajans were sung by Sanjay Sharma and Pawan Kapur and langar was also organised. Club members Harpal Singh Pali, Harjinder Singh and Pankaj Gupta honoured the chief guests with siropas.

CHANDIGARH

Police station gheraoed: Accusing the police of acting in a biased manner in a landlord-tenant dispute, members of the Tenants Association of Industrial Area, Chandigarh, staged a protest outside the Industrial Area police station tonight. The protesters alleged that the police had taken side with the landlord of an industrial plot Sandeep Bajaj and implicated Jaswinderpal Sethi. The police today booked Sethi on the charges of trespass and criminal intimidation on a complaint lodged by Bajaj.

HARYANA

AMBALA
Counting centres: Two counting centres will be set up in Ambala district for counting of votes of three assembly segments of Ambala Cantt, Ambala City and Mullana. DC Sameer Pal Srow has imposed Section 144 as a measure of precaution for the maintenance of public peace and order. The assembly of more than five persons within 300 meters of the counting places in the district will not be permitted. Carrying of explosives, fire arms, etc. within 500 meters of the counting places from 6 May to 28 May has also been prohibited. Counting will be done at SD College, Ambala Cantt and Planetarium Complex Bhartia Public School, Ambala Cantt.

KAITHAL
Ultrasound facility: The ultrasound facility, which had been in doldrums for the past three years, has been restored in the civil hospital here. Earlier the the ultrasound had to be closed for want of staff when the Health Department authorities made efforts to start the services the machine went out of order. The patients had to get this facility at higher cost from the private ultrasound centres.

KARNAL
Car taken away forcibly: There is no trace of the Ascent car which was forcibly taken away by some youths near DAV Public School here on Saturday. The miscreants also took away Rs 25,000 and a mobile lying in the car. The owner of the car, Abhimanyu, reported the matter to the police, but investigations made so far have not made any headway. The police said efforts were being made to trace the car and the culprits and hoped that the vehicle would be located soon.

REWARI
Protest over erratic water supply: Hundreds of irate residents from Shadipur, Kosli, Usmapur, Rattanthal, Ahmedpur Partal, Surakhpur, Guraora, Khera Alampur and a dozen other villages of the Kosli subdivision, held a demonstration before the SDM’s office at Kosli on Monday in protest against the persistent erratic water supply. HJC leader and former minister Dharambir Yadav also joined the demonstration. They said while the water supply in their villages had remained erratic for the past two months, it was all more agonising that their repeated requests made to the authorities concerned had gone unresponsive as well. Later, they submitted a memorandum warning to tehsildar Jitender Kumar that if remedial measures were not taken expeditiously, they would intensify their agitation.

‘Cong misleading people’: HJC candidate from the Gurgaon constituency and former minister Rao Narbir Singh has asserted that regional political outfits would, in all probability, play a crucial role in the formation of a Third Front government at the centre after the on-going Lok Sabha polls. He made this assertion while addressing a meeting after inaugurating his election office at Bawal, 14 km from here, on Monday. Alleging that the Congress was simply misleading the people regarding its claim of development works carried out by the Hooda government in the past four years, he exhorted them to discard the Congress and vote for the HJC which alone could provide a fair deal to the “neglected” Ahirwal-Mewat region.

SONEPAT
Complaint lodged: The Small-Scale Industries Manufacturing Association has condemned the alleged misbehaviour by managing director of the State Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) Rajiv Arora with a team of the association which met him in his office on April 15. The association had lodged a complaint with the Chief Minister and copies of the complaint had also been sent to chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, HSIIDC, ML Tayal and Commissioner (Industries) Yudhvir Singh Malik. President of the association Madan Lal Gandhi has said that a team of the association went to the office of HSIIDC MD to meet him, where he misbehaved with them like an English ruler and said he did not want to meet them and they should get out from his office.

Gangsters held: “The Sonepat police arrested eight gangsters, including the notorious criminal Surender alias Sonu of Shaharmal Pur in Panipat district, on Monday when they were planning to loot a petrol pump on the Gohana-Panipat road. The others were identified as Rajesh of Shaharmal pur, Rakesh and Ranbir of Gohana localities, Birbal of Bhainswan Khurd, Anil of Prahladpur, Somvir of Kidoli and Jai Karan of Biholi in Panipat district. According to SSP Navdeep Singh Virk, the police also seized an Innova car, Safari jeep, one pistol loaded with five cartridges, a knife, iron rods and a battery. They were produced in the court on Tuesday and were remanded in judicial custody.