The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Monday, February 26, 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

AHMEDGARH
CAMP: A three-day medical camp started on Sunday at the local Dr Makhan Singh Memorial Hospital. As many as 233 patients were checked up by Dr A.K. Bhandari on the first day. The camp has been organised by the Lions Club, Ahmedgarh.

AMRITSAR
GANG BUSTED: The police has arrested five persons including a woman, and seized sharp-edged weapons, including a kirpan and a knife from them. They have been identified as Anil Kumar, Baljit Singh, Kashmiri Lal, Nirmal Singh, and Kuldip Kaur. Household articles were also seized from them. A case has been registered.

CENSUS WORK: More than 80 per cent houses in the urban and 90 per cent in rural areas have so far been covered under the census operation. This was stated by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Narinderjit Singh, while addressing newsmen here on Saturday. He expressed satisfaction over the work done by over 2,000 enumerators. The Deputy Commissioner said out of 2,000 persons deployed for the census only 717 were teachers.

DERA BASSI
VEHICLES RECOVERED: The police today arrested two vehicle thieves within few hours of the theft and recovered stolen vehicles. In a press statement Mr HS Bhullar, DSP, said that Baljit Singh of Sahapur in Ambala Cantonment had been arrested for stealing a truck (PAH 7989) from Dera Bassi and Yaqub Ali, a resident of Haripur Hinduan village for lifting a scooter (HYE-596) from Kuranwala village on the Dera Bassi-Barwala road, on Friday. Baljit Singh was nabbed at a police naka near Janetpur village while Yaqub Ali was arrested at a police naka near Rampur Sainia. Cases under Section 379 of the Indian Penal Code have been registered against them.

DORAHA
CHEQUES DELIVERED: At least 111 cheques were delivered under Shagun Scheme by Mr Amarjit Paul, SDM, Payal, on Saturday in the office. Each cheque was worth Rs 5100, meant for the families of Harijans. Alongwith this 176 pensions for senior citizens, widows and handicapped were approved. Mr Sadhu Singh Ghudani, was also present on the occasion. Tehsildar Karnail Singh and Naib Tehsildar Parminder Singh, too, attended the function.

GURDASPUR
CHARAS SEIZED: The police on Saturday arrested Mansoor Ahier of Bhatiara in Jammu and Kashmir recovered 500 gram of Charas from his possession. This was stated by Mr Varinder Kumar, SSP. The accused had purchased the charas at Rs 5,000 per kg from Jammu and Kashmir and sold it in Punjab for Rs 20,000 per kg.

KHANNA
BOYCOTT: The Council of Junior Engineers, PSEB, Khanna division, has decided to boycott the anti-electricity theft drive in a meeting held at the local Prem Bhandari Park here on Friday. According to a press note of the council, the decision was taken because no action had been taken by the Board against the electricity thieves caught by Mr Gamdoor Singh, JE. The council alleged that instead of taking action against the accused the board suspended the JE concerned. Mr Baldev Singh, president, Khanna division, claimed that Junior Engineers had brought in revenue to the tune of Rs 92 lakh in the past 10 months for electricity thefts. He demanded the reinstatement of the suspended JE and an independent inquiry against the theft of electricity.

HOSPITAL BUILDING: The construction work of the new building of local civil hospital has come to a halt due to the tussle between the officials of Punjab Health System Corporation and family of the contractor Ajay Gupta who died in a road accident few days ago. Ajay Gupta had got the contract of new building of the hospital from Punjab Health System Corporation at a cost of Rs 1,35,72,544. He was directed to furnish a performance security for an amount of Rs 6,78,627 within 21 days which he deposited in time. The corporation instructed the contractor to proceed with the execution of work in accordance with the contract documents and also informed him that the completion period of the work has been reduced to 11 months from 12 months. However, after contractor’s death his wife Mrs Rani Gupta, requested that Mr Rajinder Singh whom her husband had given power of attorney should be allowed to execute the work. But, the corporation declined to accept the proposal saying that the agreement had not been signed so the work should not be done till further order.

LUDHIANA
CAMP: About 50 eye operations were performed and more than 500 patients were examined during a free eye operation and check up camp organised by the Lions Club, Ludhiana North, at Guru Teg Bahadur Charitable Hospital here on Sunday. The camp was inaugurated by Mr R.S. Kler, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Ludhiana. The patients were provided with medicines and food free of cost. Lenses were provided to the needy and poor patients. Among those present on the occasion were Dr Waheguru Pal Singh, Medical Suprintendent, GTB Hospital, Mr Mohinder Singh Bakshi, Mr G.S. Bansal, Mr K.S.Bawa, Mr Iqbal Singh Khurana and Mr Mohan Singh Bhanwra.

DELEGATION: A delegation of the Youth Akali Dal (Badal) led by Mr Taranjit Singh Bindra met the SP, Traffic, Mr Arunpal, here on Sunday and brought to his notice various problems being faced by the people in the city. Besides others, the delegation also included Mr Mohinder Singh Makar, a senior leader of the SAD (B). The delegation brought to the notice of the SP (T) the undue harassment of public by the traffic policemen. The delegation also suggested various measures for streamlining the traffic in the city. The SP (T) while assuring that all genuine grievances of the people would be redressed immediately sought the cooperation of general public in observing the traffic laws. He pointed out this was necessary as the traffic police alone cannot manage the heavy traffic in the city.

ASSOCIATION: Mr Joga Singh Jaspal and Mr Lachman Singh have been unanimously elected president and general secretary, respectively, of the PAU Drivers and Cleaners Association. The other office bearers of the association are Mr Zora Singh — senior vice president, Mr Inderjit Singh — vice president, Mr Lakhbir Singh — secretary, Mr Darshan Gurjit Singh — propaganda secretary, and Mr Tarlochan Singh — treasurer.

RALLY ORGANISED: The Punjab Roadways Employees Union has condoled the death of veteran CPI leader Inderjit Gupta, saying the trade union movement had suffered an irreparable loss with his death. Addressing a rally organised by the union at workshop gate, the state president, Mr Avtar Singh Grewal attacked the government for pursuing the policies of privatisation and jeopardising the domestic industry and agriculture through WTO and GATT agreements.

FAREWELL: Students of classes X and XII of Sarabha Nagar New Senior Secondary School, were given a warm farewell by their juniors. The function was presided over by Mr Sunil Maria, president of the School Managing Committee. The function started with prayers and these were followed by a colourful cultural programme presented by about 42 students. The programme included solo items, jokes and skits.

MEETING: The first meeting of the Ludhiana Mental Forum was held here on Saturday which aimed to provide a healthy atmosphere for the mental health professionals to interact with each other and to improve the mental services in the city. According to Dr Rajiv Gupta, consultant psychiatrist and convener of the forum, psychiatrists and clinic psychologists working in various city hospitals and doing private practice attended the meet.

MANDI GOBINDGARH
SCHEME LAUNCHED: The pre-paid scheme launched by the Punjab State Electricity Board will prove to be another burden on the industry, passing through a severe crisis. The scheme has been formulated to clear the old losses of PSEB without caring for the consumers. This was stated here in a press note by Mr Anil Suraj, Hony General Secretary, All India Steel Re-rollers Association. The steel rerolling industry, which is passing through a recessionary phase and struggling to pay minimum charges of the Board, will not be able to agree with the scheme. Mr Suraj urged the Punjab government to intervene and save this industry from the arbitrary policies of the PSEB. In order to make the scheme a success, the PSEB should have offered rebates or some other suitable options for customers.

SAMRALA
FUNCTION: The annual prize distribution function of Khalsa High School, Madpur, was held on Sunday. Mr Sandeep Hans, SDM, distributed prizes among winners of cultural programme, according to the manager of the school, Mr Bhupinder Singh Benipal.

CHANDIGARH

CAMP: Scouts and guides enthusiastically participated in the two-day camp organised on the occasion of birth anniversary of the founder of scouts and guides movement, Lord Baden Powell. Held at the KV, Sector 31, the highlights of the camp were sarva dharma prathna led by the Principal of the school, Dr S.P. Shergill. Group dances, songs and skits were presented on the occasion. Other activities included tent pegging, shram dan, community lunch, knotting and trekking. The principal spoke on the life of Lord Baden Powell.

FAREWELL FUNCTION: A cultural programme marked the farewell function of Guru Nanak Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Sector 30, on Sunday. The staff and students of pre-board classes presented dance and song sequences.

STUDENTS' ASSOCIATION: A delegation of All-India Tribal Students’ Association, Chandigarh, led by Mr Shyam Lal Negi and Mr Xavier Pamei, President and General Secretary of the association respectively, met the Chandigarh Administrator and highlighted their grievances. They demanded reservation in the educational institutions, inclusion of Scheduled Tribes population residing and serving in Chandigarh in census report, allotment of flats in the Chandigarh Housing Boards flats (for employees) and filling of backlog of vacancies within Chandigarh. Mr Pamei alleged that despite their representation to the Administrator the census enumerators were not willing to categorise them. The association, whose present strength is around 5,000, was formed on July 3, 2000, with the aim to highlight the grievances of the tribals in the city.

CULTURAL MEET: Students presented a colourful programme on the cultural meet of tiny tots of nursery and LKG at Nav Bal Niketan Model School, Sector 20-A, on Saturday. The programme started with Saraswati Vandana. The kids participated in various dances. Solo and group songs were also presented by them. The chief guest on the occasion was senior business manager, Zee Telefilms, Mr Sai Santosh. The Principal, Ms Srishta Mahajan, handed over a cheque of Rs 5,100 for the Gujarat earthquake relief fund to the chief guest.

HARYANA

AMBALA
DIRECTED: The Deputy Commissioner has directed the District Town and Country Planner to restrain the owner of a piece of land in Ambala City from selling plots for shops by violating the Urban Areas Act. According to a press note of the DTCP, the owner of the land had stated that he was not aware of the existing law and was ready to take licence for it by paying the government fee.

KAITHAL
LOK ADALAT: About 200 cases were settled at a Lok Adalat presided over by the Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mr R.C. Gupta, here on Saturday. A large number of bank disputes were amicably settled. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Gupta, ADJ-cum-Chairman of the district Legal Services Authority, said more such adalats would be organised in the near future. Manager of the State Bank of Patiala (Kaithal branch), said 19 cases of their bank were also settled in this Lok Adalat.

RELIEF FUND: Teachers of the primary schools of Pundri and Rajound blocks of the district have sent Rs 1.71 lakh through Shashi Parbha, DPEO, to the Gujarat Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.

KURUKSHETRA
RECARPETING: A sum of Rs 167.54 lakh has been spent on recarpeting of 75.96 km-long roads by the Haryana Agricultural Marketing Board. The work was in progress on 30 other roads of the district. This was stated by mediapersons here on Saturday by the Deputy Commissioner, Mrs Jyoti Arora. She said 11 new roads of about 30 km connecting various villages had been constructed at the cost of Rs 3.40 crore in the district so far.

DEVELOPMENT WORK: Under the ambitious ‘sarkar aap ke dwar’ programe launched by Mr Om Prakash Chautala, as many as 363 rural development works had been completed so far at a cost of Rs 5.49 crore. This was disclosed by the Deputy Commissioner, Mrs Jyoti Arora. She said under the Haryana Rural Development Fund scheme a sum of Rs 6.32 crore had been allotted for developmental works. Ms Arora said 81 rooms were being constructed in the schools at a cost of Rs 87.14 lakh, 95 chaupals for the Scheduled and Backward castes were under construction at a cost of Rs 1.13 crore and six panchayat houses were also being constructed at a cost of Rs 30 lakh.

GUJARAT RELIEF: The Additional Deputy Commissioner, Mr Rakesh Gupta, has donated Rs 54,548 to Mrs Jyoti Arora, Deputy Commissioner, on behalf of the staff of ADC, DRDA, Xen Panchayati Raj, DDPO, Gian Jyoti, Zila Parishad and BDPO of the district who have contributed their one-day salary towards the Gujarat Relief Fund.