The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Wednesday, November 8, 2000,
Chandigarh, India

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

R E G I O N A L B R I E F S

PUNJAB

BATHINDA
PRACTICAL EXAMINATIONS: The district unit of the Punjab Civil Medical Services Association has demanded that the practical examinations of the plus 2 (science group) should be held before the theory examinations. Dr Ajit Pal Singh, district president of the association, said on Monday that this would improve the results.

COACHING: The district employment office gave pre-recruitment coaching to 30 students for the clerical examination to be held in the first week of December. Mr Vivek Aggarwal, Additional Deputy Commissioner, said the coaching for the next batch for the bank probationary officers examination to be held on February 11 would start soon. Students could contact the District Employment Officer till November 27 for it.

FEROZEPORE
ROZGAR YOJNA: A loan of Rs 65 lakh has been distributed by the Industries Department under the Prime Minister’s Rozgar Yojna during the current financial year. Disclosing this, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Kulbir Singh Sidhu, said loan would be given to 550 unemployed youth of the district to help them start their own business. He said 195 cases had already been sanctioned.

GURDASPUR
DHARNA: Ten advocates sat on dharna here on Tuesday at the district courts in protest against the decision of the authorities to divide the district . They said the dharna would continue till an assurance was given by the authorities that this would not be done.

LIONS CLUB: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Lions Club (Royal) here: president — Mr Pranav Sharma; secretary — Mr Sunil Mahajan; and treasurer — Mr Rana.

KISAN MELA: Mr Gulzar Singh, Chief Agriculture Officer, while addressing farmers at a Kisan Mela at Kaler Kalan, 17 km from here, on Tuesday said the Punjab Agriculture Department had planned to persuade farmers to reduce the area under wheat and paddy cultivation. The emphasis of the department, Mr Gulzar Singh said, was to bring about 12-13 per cent of the total area of the district under sugarcane cultivation against an earlier area of 7 per cent for this purpose.

LUDHIANA
MEETING: The general body meeting of Ludhiana Machine Tool Makers’ Association will be held on November 10 at Baron. The association will invite guest speakers, to apprise members on the latest issues and challenges being faced by the machine tool industry. One of the guest speaker on the occasion will be Mr S.J.S.Kullar, Director, SISI. According to an official press release, points on marketing and measures to be taken to improve the already crumbling industry and impact of liberalisation and globalisation after implementation of WTO will also be discussed on the occasion.

PENSION GIVEN: The 13th widow pension distribution function was held at the Dandi Swami Tapowan Ashram, on Monday, under the guidance of the chairman of Dhanda Charitable Trust, Mr Sohan Lal Dhanda. About 52 widows were given relief in the form of cash and ration. Amongst present on the occasion were Mr Rakesh Dhanda, Mr Rajesh Dhanda, Mr Jaidev Dhanda, Pt. Mahanand Ji and Pt. Kashi Nath Tripathi.

CAMPAIGN: The Rotary Club of Ludhiana (North) organised more than 45 centres for giving polio drops to children. Dr Rajinder Kaur, Civil Surgeon and Rotarian Arun Jain inaugurated the Model Town centre in which more than 100 Rotarians participated .About 40,000 children were given polio drops at various centres.

APPOINTED: Mr Akshay Bhanot has been appointed Chairman of district Unit of Urban Development Cell of Indian Youth Congress. This was stated by Mr Pawan Diwan, Chairman of the IYC Urban Development Cell.

INFORMATION CENTRE: A Pensioners’ information centre is being set up at Mini Secretariat here and necessary directions have already been issued by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr S.K.Sandhu, to this effect, after a meeting with a deputation of the Punjab State Pensioners’ Confederation, led by its president Mr B.R.Kaushal. The Additional Deputy Commissioner Mr S.R. Kler inspected the proposed site and assured the representatives of confederation that the proposal would be submitted to the state Chief Architect and the Executive Engineer, Provincial Division, PWD, B and R for preparation of a suitable design and the estimate for the centre.

ELECTED: The District unit of CPI (ML) Liberation has been reorganised and new office-bearers were elected in a meeting of the delegates, presided over by Mr Ramesh Sharma. Mr Kishore Kumar would be the in charge of labour welfare wing and Mr Rajendra Sharma will be responsible for setting up new party units in the rural areas. The district has been divided in to five zones, which will be headed by Mr Sunder Lal (north), Mr Mohammed Kalamuddin (east), Mr Rama Kant, Mr Manoj Kumar and Mr Mathura Prasad (central), Mr Ram Bahadur (south) and Mr Param Singh (Gill Road and Industrial Area-B). Mr Ramesh Sharma informed that a CPI-M activist and a former branch secretary of Northern Railway Mazdoor Union, Pathankot, Mr Ramesh Gautam had joined the party and was entrusted the responsibility to set up a new party office in the Dakha assembly segment.

PATIALA
FUNCTION ORGANISED: The Aradhana Kala Manch, a social and welfare society of Patiala, organised a mass- marriage function at Laxmi Palace. Marriages of nine girls, orphans and those from the weaker section were solemnised on the occasion. Many dignitaries of the city, businessmen and government officials attended the function and blessed the newly wedded couples. The project was completed under the supervision of Mr Vimal Sharma, President of the society. The newly wedded couples were provided with domestic articles and utensils.

WELFARE SOCIETY: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Punjab Naturopath Welfare Society: Adviser — Mr Joginder Singh; Chief Patron — Dr Attar Singh; President — Dr Kanwaljit Singh; Senior Vice-President — Dr G.S. Akal; and General Secretary — Dr Vijay Rattan.

ELECTED: An association of retirees of the Excise and Taxation Department has been formed keeping in view the hardships and problems being faced by the retirees of this department in getting their retirement benefits. The office-bearers of the association are: President — Mr D.S. Virk; Vice-President — Mr Sukhdev Raj Garg; General Secretary — Mr K.S. Bedi; and Cashier — Mr Tarlochan Singh.

ROPAR
NSS CAMP: An NSS camp in which 180 volunteers from six states are participating is being organised at Government College here. Ms Satwant Kaur Sandhu, Minister for Youth Services, Punjab, inaugurated the camp.

SANGRUR
WRITER AWARDED: Gurmail Madaharh, a local Punjabi short- story writer, has been awarded Nanak Singh Puraskar for 2000 by the Language Department, Punjab, for his book “Ikhlaq Gum Hai”.

TRAINING CAMP: Mr Anirudh Tiwari, Deputy Commissioner, inaugurated a district-level farmers training camp, organised by the Agriculture Department at the office-complex of the Chief Agriculture Officer here on Tuesday. An exhibition was also organised at which agriculture-related printed material and agriculture products were displayed.

CHANDIGARH

CRITICISED: A former General Secretary of the Chandigarh District Congress Committee, Mr O.P. Kalyana, assailed the former Union minister, Mr Venod Sharma, for his veiled remarks on the Congress President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi. In a press release, he criticised Mr Sharma for commenting that Mrs Gandhi was accountable for bringing the party on the verge of collapse.

WELFARE ASSOCIATION: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Residents Welfare Association, Sector 42: President — Mr S.R. Kalra; Vice-President — Mr J.S Arora, Secretary — Mr Satish Sharma; Treasurer — Mr B.K. Jain; and Legal Adviser — Mr R.N. Rana.

CONVENTION: Acting on the call given by the Mulazim Action Committee, SAS Nagar unit, a massive convention was organised at Bal Bhavan, Sector 23, here on Tuesday. More than 40 representatives of various organisations related to the committee in Chandigarh and SAS Nagar raised their voice against the privatisation of electricity, transport, CITCO. They also demanded the revival of closed units, including Super Bazar and Punwire.

EYE CAMP: As many as 350 persons were examined at a six-day free eye camp organised by the Lions Club Kurali. According to the club Secretary, Mr Ram Chand Sangar, eye operations of 56 patients were conducted during the camp held at a local hospital.

RALLY: The Anganwadi Workers, Helpers Union, Punjab, is holding a state-level rally in Sector 17 on Wednesday. Issuing a press release here, the General Secretary of the union, Ms Harpal Kaur, said that many national and state-level trade union leaders would address the rally.

HARYANA

AMBALA
SIGNATURES: A workshop on "Your signatures and your personality" was held at the Shri Atmanand Jain Institute of Management and Technology, Ambala city, on Tuesday. The President of the Youth Management Club of the institute, Mr Tarun Goel, said that the workshop was headed by the Principal of Sohan Lal DAV Education College, Dr D.P. Asija, who explained in detail regarding analysing one's personality through the signature, a release said. Dr Asija said that the size, pressure and slope of the handwriting reflected the traits of a person's personality.

WELFARE MEET: A quarterly welfare meeting of Army separated families was held at Kharga Auditorium, Ambala cantonment, on Tuesday. Mrs Gita Vij, wife of the GOC 2 Corps, Lieut-Gen K. Vij, presided over the meeting which was attended by 227 separated families. A total of 614 separated family quarters are existing in Ambala cantonment for officers, junior commissioned officers and other ranks posted in field areas. Among others, Mrs Pratibha Pathak, wife of the Chief of the Staff 2 Corps, Major-Gen T.S. Pathak, the Station Commander, Brig N.D. Prasad, the officiating administrative commandant, Col Suresh Gupta, and officers from the MES participated in the meeting.

FARIDABAD
GIRL TRACED: The police has traced a teenaged girl who was allegedly abducted from her house in Shyam Colony of Hodal town in the district on November 3. She was staying with Nainsukh at Chhatana village in the district.

DRIVER DIES: Balbir, a truck driver from Alwar, died when the truck he was driving rammed into an electric pole on the Pali road here on Sunday.

JIND
ARRESTED: The local police has arrested Dharampal for allegedly taking away a Maruti car at gun-point from Mr Pawan Kumar, a resident of Narwana. Mr Rajpal Singh, SP, said on Monday that Dharampal, along with two other accomplices, took away the car from Mr Pawan Kumar near Narwana on November 2.

SIRSA
CHEAT NABBED: The district police arrested a person for cheating people by posing to be an officer of the Electricity Department. According to sources, the police arrested Ishwar Chand of Dhanoor village on a complaint by Dhanvant Singh of Vaidwala village who alleged that the former came to his village on November 4 posing to be a special flying squad officer of the HVPN and asked him to pay Rs 500 on the charge of tampering with his electricity meter.

TWO KILLED: Two persons were killed and two others injured on Tuesday when a canter loaded with vegetables coming from Karnal rammed into a truck on the Hisar road just outside the city. The driver of the canter, Rajbeer, and a vegetable merchant, Lakshman, died while the driver and the cleaner of the truck, who were replacing one of the tyres of the truck, were injured.

SONEPAT
BOY INJURED: A five-year-old boy was injured when he was knocked down by a car on the Sonepat-Meerut road near Palri village, 18 km from here, on Tuesday. According to a report, the boy was playing on the road when the accident occurred.

“BOMB” EXPLODES: Rajbir, a student, sustained serious injuries when a “bomb” exploded in his house at Shamri village, 45 km from here, on Monday. According to a report, the student opened an almirah to take out clothes when the “bomb” fell down and exploded. According to the police, it was a cracker and not a bomb.

FIRE: Goods worth several lakhs were destroyed in a fire which broke out in a private hospital on Monday evening. The cause of the fire is being ascertained.