The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Thursday, January 25, 2001,
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

AMLOH
CONDEMNED: The decision of the Punjab State Electricity Board to subject the board employees of 50 years and above, in order to terminate their services on medical grounds, was strongly protested and criticised by the PSEB Action Committee, in a protest rally held here on Monday. Mr Pirthipal Singh, president of the committee, Amloh Divison, while addressing the rally alleged that the employees had been transferred under political pressure. Declaring solidarity with the striking employees of the Bhatinda division, he warned that if injustice is done with the employees and the police cases against them are not withdrawn, they will also join hands with the striking employees. He said that a large number of employees will participate in the dharna of February 7, at the PSEB headquarters at Patiala and employees of Amloh sub-division will join them the strike on February 14. This information was given by Mr Jagir Singh, Secretary, Amloh sub-division, in a press note released here on Wednesday. In this press statement, he added that rallies in PSEB Shamashpur, Tohra and Bhadson, which is under Amloh sub-division, were also held on Tuesday against the PSEB decision.

DHURI
DISTRIBUTED: The local Nishkam Seva Sabha distributed 130 sweaters, 24 caps and 60 blankets among needy persons in the town during the past week. This was stated by Mr Pritgaya Pal, president of the sabha, here on Wednesday.

HOSHIARPUR
CASES SOLVED: With the arrest of Gurcharan Singh, alias Vicky of Naru nangal here on Monday, the city police claims to have solved several cases of theft. Mr Sanjeev Kalra, SSP, Hoshiarpur, said in a press note here on Tuesday that during interrogation Gurcharan admitted that he and his accomplices were involved in several of thefts in and around the city.

POPPY HUSK SEIZED: The Mahilpur police has arrested Sadda Ram of Thakrowal village, near Thapran, and seized 5 kg of poppy husk from his possession. A case has been registered.

COLD STORAGES: Mr Sardara Singh, a senior member of the Punjab Cold Storage Owners Association, said here on Wednesday that cold storages in rural areas of the state were getting power supply for only six hours daily. He urged the Chief Minister, Punjab, to provide regular power supply to the cold storages.

KILLED: Santokh Singh, son of Mela Singh of Ravi Nagar, Delhi, died on the spot and Paramjit Singh, son of Pritam Singh of Delhi, was seriously injured when their scooter ( DDM-6243) was hit by a Maruti car ( DL-8L-7609) near Bohan village on Tuesday. Paramjit was admitted to the local civil hospital. The Sadar police has registered a case against the car driver Kuldip Singh.

BURGLARY BID: A police party foiled the attempt of four miscreants to commit a burglary at the post office in Bulhowal, 12 km from here, on Tuesday. The miscreants, however, escaped under the cover of darkness. The Hariana police has registered a case under Sections 457 and 380 of the IPC.

LIQUOR SEIZED: The Sadar police has arrested Parabh Singh of Mona Kalan and seized 6.75 litres of liquor from his possession.

KHARAR
ROADS: “All existing roads in the state would be widened and repaired within the coming five months.” This was announced by Mr Sucha Singh Langah, PWD Minister, Punjab, while addressing a gathering in nearby Nia Shehr village after laying the foundation stone of Badala-Randhawa road on Wednesday. He addressed similar meetings at six places in Kharar area. He said the Punjab Government would spend about 2700 crore for construction of four lanes of Zirakpur-Anandpur Sahib, Ropar-Phagwara, Kharar-Ludhiana, Zirakpur-Patiala and Amritsar-Pathankot highway. He said work on 23 over bridges on various level crossings, including Morinda and Kurali, would start soon. Mr Avinash Jaiswal, Secretary, BJP Punjab, Mr Amrik Singh Mohali, MC, SAS Nagar and Mr Khushwant Rai Giga also spoke on the occasion. Mr Langah announced a grant of Rs one lakh for the development of the village.

LUDHIANA
CELEBRATE: The Sutlej club, Ludhiana, will celebrate Basant Panchmi on January 28 in the club lawns. Breakfast, fruit juices, cocktails and mocktails would be served to the club members on reduced rates. According to Mr A.S.Chawla, general secretary of the club, for the benefit of club members and affiliated members, the club management has decided to connect all activities of the club with the information technology by opening a website(www.sutlejclub.com) of the club. The members will get latest information about the club activities from their destination. The website would be launched by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr S.K.Sandhu. The human resource committee of the club has decided to honour the dependents of the club members who got distinctions. The prizes and scholarships will be given to the scholars by Mr S.K.Sandhu. A bumper tambola will be held and there will be kite flying competition among the club members and their dependents on this occasion.

PRIZE DISTRIBUTION: Nearly 65 students of the Arya College for Women were given away prizes for their performance in academics, sports and cultural activities on the occasion of annual function held here on Wednesday. The programme began with vedic rashtriya gayan, followed by lighting of lamp by Lala Lajpat Rai, MP and president of the college managing committee. Clad in colourful kurta dhoti, the girls of the college performed bhangra. A play on the menace of dowry was also enacted by the students. Tulika of B.Com II enthralled the audience with her performance on Kathak. Leena presented the folk song, Loongi. This was followed by Rajasthani dance. Sonia sang the ghazal, Be sada shahr hai, awaaz lagaoon kaise. The programme concluded with gidha presented by BA students. Ms Satisha Sharma, in charge of the college, highlighted the annual achievements of the college students and Mr V.K. Mehta, Principal, appreciated the efforts of the students.

DECISION WELCOMED: The Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings has welcomed the Punjab State Electricity Board's decision of re-introducing the Voluntary Disclosure Scheme for domestic, commercial, small power and medium supply consumers of electricity. Mr Inderjit Singh Pardhan, president, and Mr Avtar Singh, general secretary of the chamber, in a press statement said that the chamber has hailed the congenial decision of the Power Minister, Mr Sikandar Singh Maluka, and the board. They said that such attitude was the need of the hour in view of globalisation and the WTO agreement. The chamber urged the board authorities and the Power Minister to include large supply category of consumers in the scheme so that they also get their loads regularised.

DONATED: The Rotary Club, Ludhiana North, donated a generator to Aashirwad, a school for mentally challenged children. The club has been regularly donating something or the other for the school children. There are about 80 such students in the school.

HAILED: The Janata Dal (United) has welcomed the renewed agreement between India and Pakistan for continuing Samjhauta Express for another three years. In a statement the chariman of the industry and commerce cell, Mr K. S. Budhiraja, while hailing the decision, hoped this will help in further interaction between the people of the two countries and bring them closer. Mr Budhiraja said the governments of India and Pakistan should take measures to enhance trade among themselves as it can help in reducing the tension. He said, the trade should not be restricted to a few things only.

FUNCTION: The Lions Club, Ludhiana, organised an Award Night in honour of the District Governor, Dr N. K. Grover. Speaking on the occasion Dr Grover appreciated various activities of the club aimed at welfare measures. He urged the club members to widen their area of activity so that maximum number of people are benefited. Outstanding members of the club were also honoured by the district governor at the function.

MANSA
MEDICAL CAMP: As many as 152 patients were examined during a medical camp organised as part of a 10-day NSS camp at Bhai Behlo Government Senior Secondary School in Phapre Bhaike village. Dr Tejinder Paul Singh Rekhi, Dr Parneet Kaur Rakhi, Dr Baljit Kaur and Dr Nishan Singh examined the patients and distributed medicines free of cost.

MOGA
KEROSENE SHORTAGE: Farmers of several villages in the district on Tuesday requested the district authorities to ensure adequate supply of kerosene for their tractors. The farmers complained that the villages in the district had been experiencing a shortage of kerosene for several months.

NANGAL
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Rotary Club, Bhakra Nangal: president — Mr Ashok Manocha; secretary — Mr Pradeep Sony; and treasurer — Mr Sudershan Chaudhary.

NAWANSHAHR
TRAINING CAMP: A three-month camp to train farmers in the latest techniques in agriculture and self-employment ventures will be conducted at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Langroya, in the district from February 1 to April 30. This was stated here on Tuesday by Dr B.S. Kang, Deputy Director of the vigyan kendra.

PHAGWARA
EXEMPTED: Dr Raman K. Aggarwal, Chairman, Indian Medical Association (IMA) College of General Practitioners, Punjab, said here on Tuesday that the fellows of the college had been exempted from appearing in Part I of the Diplomat of National Board (Family Medicine) examination conducted by the National Board of Examination. Now they would be eligible to appear in Part II of the examination directly after completing two years’ training in a hospital approved by the board, he said.

HIT-AND-RUN CASE: A mill worker, Karnail Singh (55), was run over and killed by a vehicle early on Tuesday near Khurampur village, near here, on the Phagwara-Hoshiarpur road.

PATIALA
PROTEST: The campus unit of the ABVP burnt foreign goods on the campus on Wednesday in protest against the WTO. Gurman Singh Virk said the implementation of the agreement would exploit the farmers and small-scale industrialists. Among others who spoke on the occasion were Sandeep Kapoor, Ramninder Singh Jyoti, Vishal Mahajan, Baljit Singh, Pankaj Grover.

PATHANKOT
ROTARIAN DEAD: Rotarian Brij Lal Bhutani (90), a social worker died here on Tuesday. He is survived by his wife and two daughters.

ARRESTED: the police has arrested Jagtar Singh, son of Ishar Singh of Rajpura village in Pathankot, and seized 12 bottles of whisky from his possession. A case under Section 61 of the Punjab Excise Act has been registered against him.

CHANDIGARH

ARTISTES' PLEA: Pran Sabharwal, a theatre activist, said here on Wednesday that he along with other prominent theatre personalities, including G.S. Kakkar and Sunita Sabharwal, president and secretary, respectively, of the National Theatre Arts Society, Patiala, had appealed to the Punjab Government to frame a theatre policy to revive the Punjab State Cultural Affairs Advisory Board, the District Kala Parishads and theatre groups. He said they had met the Finance Minister, Punjab, and urged him to spare funds to keep the theatre movement alive.

MACHINE DONATED: Ms Harpal Kaur, a resident of Mauli Jagran, who had lost her husband in a road accident some time back, was given a sewing machine by the members of the Lions Club Rose recently. The poor widow had not got any other source of income to bring up her two small children.

NOMINATED: Mr I. Willam, advocate of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, has been nominated as a member of the National Executive Committee of the All-India Minority Morcha of the BJP, according to a letter written by Dr Usmani, president of the Minority Morcha of the party. Mr William is associated with several educational institutions of the region, including St Xavier's Senior Secondary School, Sector 44-C, here.

DEMANDED: The executive body of the PGI Employees Coordination Committee, in a representation to the PGI Director, Prof S.K. Sharma, and the Financial Advisor demanded implementation of transport allowance for the PGI campus employees with effect from August 1997. According to Mr R.K. Khanchi, chairman, and Mr K.K. Mukheja, general secretary of the committee, the residential area of the PGI employees is beyond the limit of 1 km as prescribed by the Government of India for entitlement of the transport allowance. The matter, as per office-bearers of the committee, has been pending at the institute level as the Centre had conveyed in the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission.

HONOURED: To pay homage to martyrs of Kargil, namely Brig B.S. Shergill and Capt Atul Sharma, a procession will be taken out from the Sector 20 and 30 traffic lights by the All-India Anti-Terrorist Front, here on Thursday. The front will also present siropas to their family members. This was announced by Mr Avinash Malik, general secretary of the front, in a press note.

RALLY: The local unit of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions held a rally at Tribune Chowk, here on Wednesday. The protest was against the Centre’s industrial and globalisation policies. Mr Chandershekhar, general secretary of the CITU, Punjab, said in the name of globalisation and liberalisation, the Union Government was causing destruction to the country’s economy and industrial sector. Among others who spoke on the occasion were Mr Chaman Lal, vice-president of the local unit of CITU, Mr Inderjit Singh Grewal, president of the unit, Mr Bhag Mal Rana and Mr Satpal, president of the Federation of the U T Employees and Workers.

DISTRIBUTED: Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd distributed artificial limbs, tricycles, and hearing-aides among 50 handicapped persons belonging to the SC, ST and OBC categories, here on Wednesday. The appliances were distributed through the Jyot Charitable Trust, Chandigarh, at Nevedac Prosthetic Centre, near airport. Mr T. S. Sawhney, Chief Regional Manager and Mr Krishan Kumar, Senior H R Officer, HPCL, distributed the items. The corporation is contributing Rs 2.5 crore annually for upliftment of weaker sections and has taken up various projects for social development. Dr V J S Vohra, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of the centre, expressed his gratitude to the corporation. He appealed other government and non-governmental organisations to come forward for the welfare of handicapped persons.

CONTESTS: Nearly 5,000 students from various schools of Chandigarh, SAS Nagar and Panchkula participated in painting competitions organised at the Rock Garden here on Wednesday. The Punjab Governor, Lieut-Gen J.F.R Jacob (retd), was the chief guest and gave away prizes. A cultural programme was presented by students. The first position in the junior category was bagged by Anamika Chauhan, in the middle category by Navneet Sandhu and in the senior category by Rajesh Kumar. The best school trophy went to Shishu Niketan School, Sector 22.

HARYANA

AMBALA
EXHIBITION: A two-day philatelic exhibition was organised by the Army Postal Service in Air Force Public School, Ambala Cantonment. It was inaugurated by the president of the AFWWA (L), Ms Bala Iyer. With the help of frames, compact discs and audio-visual aids, children were shown different collection of stamps. The aim of the exhibition was to create awareness among the children towards philately. A number of school students also put up their collections on display. The exhibition was coordinated by Lieut-Col Sanjay Sharan and Capt D.P. Barak. Among others, the Director, Army Postal Service, Brig S.K. Sen, and the Air Officer Commanding, Air Commodore V.R. Iyer, visited the exhibition.

ROBBED: Three scooter-borne persons looted an employee of a liquor shop at gunpoint located near Dehlu Majra village, 15 km from here, on Tuesday. According to the police, three persons came on the scooter and asked for liquor. As soon as an employee of the shop offered them liquor they snatched his bag and took away Rs 1,200 from his possession. They also took away the scooter of the shop owner parked outside the shop. The police has registered a case.

KALKA
CHARCOAL SEIZED: The Parwanoo police seized 30 bags of charcoal from a truck on Monday. This was stated by Mr Sanjeev Lakhanpal, DSP. He said the truck (HP 15-1239) had been impounded and its driver Ashok Kumar and coal contractor Amar Nath arrested under the Forest Act.

SIRSA
APPOINTED: A local astrologer Dr Rohit Sehgal has been appointed Senior Professor by the International Council of Astrological Sciences in the USA.

INAUGURATION: The inauguration of the Panchayat Bhavan in Chautala village did not take place on Monday as the chief guest of the function, Mr Abhay Singh Chautala, MLA from Rori, failed to turn up.

SONEPAT
HOLY DIP: Thousand of devotees from the city and other parts of the district took a holy dip in the Yamuna near here on the occasion of Mauni Amavasya on Wednesday. Later, the devotees thronged religious places and offered prayers.

SUICIDE ATTEMPT: Jagbir, a youth, reportedly attempted suicide by swallowing poison at his house in Bayyanpur village, near here, on Tuesday.

BODY FOUND: The Government Railway Police found the body of Yoginder, 24, on a railway track near the railway station here on Tuesday. According to the police, it was a case of suicide.