The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Sunday, September 30, 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

AMRITSAR
TREE PLATES: The Guru Nanak Dev University unit of the Punjab Eco-Friendly Association organised a programme of affixing plates to the trees on the university campus. The plates bear poems of Shiv Kumar Batalvi urging people to protect trees. Dr Bikram Singh Ghuman, Dean, Students Welfare, affixed the first plate.

IMPLEMENTED: The Punjab Government has implemented a Rs 200 crore master scheme for making improvements in the agriculture sector. This was stated by Mr Gulzar Singh Ranike, Minister for Agriculture, here on Friday.

BARNALA
SEMINAR: The staff and students of Guru Gobind Singh College, Sanghera, Barnala, organised a seminar in the college auditorium on Friday to mark the birth anniversary of Shaheed Bhagat Singh. Dr Devinder Singh Somal, college Principal, Prof Parminder Singh Bawa and Mr Amar Sekha, an executive committee member of the Punjab Students Union, were the prominent speakers during the seminar.

POPPY HUSK SEIZED: The Barnala Kotwali police has impounded a jeep carrying about 200 kg of poppy husk valued at Rs 1.5 lakh in the market and arrested four persons in this connection. Stating this here on Friday, Mr Kanwarjit Singh Sandhu, SSP, said Lakha Singh, Aasu Singh, Jito and Palo — had been arrested and a case under Sections 15, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act registered against them.

BATHINDA
OPIUM SEIZED: Dr Jatinder Kumar Jain, SSP, in a press note issued here on Friday, said Labh Singh of Jandawala village in Sirsa district of Haryana was arrested from the nearby Gurusar village and 200 grams of opium seized from his possession. A case under Sections 18, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act has been registered against him at the Talwandi Sabo police station. He further said that Gurmail Singh of Talwandi Sabo was arrested for running “satta” trade at the bus stand of the town. A case under Sections 13, 3 and 67 of the Gambling Act has been registered against him.

BIRTH ANNIVERSARY: Volunteers of Sahara Jan Sewa, an NGO of the city organised a function on Friday at the local Shaheed Bhagat Singh Chowk to mark the birth anniversary of Saheed Bhagat Singh. Mr Vijay Goel, president of the NGO, garlanded the bust of the martyr. Volunteers of the NGO also planted 10 saplings at local graveyard.

FARIDKOT
CONVENTION: The local National Youth Club and the Nehru Yuva Kendra jointly organised a convention here on Friday to increase awareness among youths about their duties towards society. More than 800 students attended the convention. It was presided over by Mr A. Venu Prasad, Deputy Commissioner.

APPOINTED: Capt Amarinder Singh, President, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, has appointed Mr Gurinder, Singh Lalli, general secretary Youth Congress, Faridkot, as special invitee to the PPCC executive committee.

GURDASPUR
DEAD: Gurvel Singh, a police constable of Khehra Kotli, died on the spot when a private bus hit his scooter on Wednesday near Kahnuwan chowk here. He was posted at Dhariwal. The police has registered a case.

DECLAMATION: The Army inter-school declamation contest trophy was won by Army School, Jalandhar. The contest was held at Army School, Tibri, 5 km from here. Divya and Mukesh Kumar of Army School, Jalandhar and Beas, respectively, won the 1st and 2nd prizes. Brig Gurpal Singh, Chairman, Army School, Tibri and Station Commander, Military Station, Tibri, presided over the function and gave away the prizes.

FOUNDATION STONE: Mr S.S. Langah laid the foundation stone of a duplex complex to be built under the Improvement Trust scheme No 5 on Friday. The complex will have 79 double-storeyed duplex units. Construction Company, Ludhiana, has been given the task of completing the construction of the complex within a year at a cost of Rs 4.54 crore.

HOSHIARPUR
ABSENT FROM DUTY: Ms Mohinder Kaur Josh, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Punjab, made a surprise visit to the Community Health Centre, Harian, a 15 km from here, on Thursday and found Dr Surinder Singh, in charge of the centre, absent from duty. Talking to mediapersons, she said a strict action would be taken against the doctor.

ANNUAL INCOME: Mr Tikshan Sud, Minister for Excise and Taxation, Punjab, speaking at a press conference at the local PWD rest house here on Friday, said the annual income of the Excise and Taxation Department had increased from Rs 1,200 crore in 1996-1997 to 2,757 crore in 2000-2001. He said Rs 90 crore had been spent on development works in rural areas of the district.

BIRTH ANNIVERSARY: The 104th birth anniversary of Acharya Vishva Bandu, founder director of the V.V.R. Institute, Sadhu Ashram, Hoshiarpur, was celebrated on the institute campus on Thursday. Mr Charanjit Singh Channi, MP, was the chief guest on the occasion. He announced a grant of Rs 2 lakh for the institute.

KRISHI CREDIT CARDS: As many as 27,642 krishi credit cards have been issued to farmers in the district by various banks to provide them loans. This was stated by Mr Iqbal Singh Sidhu, Deputy Commissioner, while presiding over the quarterly meeting of bank officers here on Friday.

BAN IMPOSED: Mr Iqbal Singh Sidhu, District Magistrate, Hoshiarpur, has imposed a ban on the setting on fire of paddy chaffs after harvesting with combine machines in the fields throughout the district. This order will remain in force up to November 21, 2001.

APPOINTED: Ms Gurkanwal Kaur, president, Punjab Pradesh Mahila Congress, has appointed Ms Taranjit Kaur Sethi as president of the district unit of the Mahila Congress. This was stated by a DCC spokesman on Friday.

JALANDHAR
HELD FOR MURDER: The district police has arrested two persons, in connection with the murder of Darshan Lal, a resident of Phagwara. The latter was stabbed to death near Gaggret village in Himachal Pradesh about five years ago and his body was buried in a nearby area. Surinder Kumar and Balwinder Kaur have been arrested.

KHARAR
MEETING: The Rotary Club organised its weekly meeting at the Civil Rest House on Saturday in which Mr Harmeet Kahlon, a golf player, was the guest speaker. Mr Karam Singh Mundi, president and Mr Ashoke Sharma former president of the club, also spoke.

MARCH: The Traksheel Society would organise a march here on Sunday to celebrate the birth anniversary of Shaheed Bhagat Singh. The march would start from Khanpur. Free literature would be distributed on the occasion.

NO SUPPLY OF WATER: Mrs Jarnail Kaur, sarpanch of Garangan village has alleged that the residents of Garangan, Mullanpur and Sill villages were not getting the supply of drinking water for the past four days because of a fault in the power supply. She said the fault had not been rectified despite notification to the officers of the PSEB.

LUDHIANA
EXHIBITION: Students of BCM Arya Model Senior Secondary School, organised an exhibition of Gandhiji’s sketches as they celebrated Gandhi Jayanti here on Saturday. Pencil sketches of Gandhiji in varying moods and at various places and events were drawn. Students of the middle class also presented a skit on the life of Mahatma Gandhi. Besides, students of Classes I to V participated in a paper-reading contest. Seven students from each class spoke on the lives of Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri. Mr Satyanand Munjal, president of the school managing committee, was the chief guest. Ms Paramjit Kaur, Principal, applauded the performance of the students.

SEMINAR: A two-day seminar on ‘National regeneration through peace and value education’ organised by the Bethany Education Society, Mangalore, and Dharma Bharthi National Institute, Secundrabad, began at Sacred Heart Convent Senior Secondary School, Sarabha Nagar, here on Saturday. Acharya Sachinand, founder of the Dharma Bharthi, presided over the seminar. He said non-violence, communal harmony and moral education played an important role in the process of national regeneration.

LECTURE: A lecture on ‘Effective Communication’ was organised at the Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology, Civil Lines, here on Saturday. Mr D.S. Menon, management consultant and trainer from Pune, spoke on the role and importance of effective communication for the prospective manager. He narrated interesting anecdotes drawn from his experiences. He said one must think and communicate in the language of a common man. Mr Menon was accompanied by Mr Sunil Aggarwal, an industrialist, who acquainted the students with the knowledge, skill and attitude required to be maintained while working in an Indian industry. Mr G.S. Dua, in charge of the institute, was also present on the occasion.

LOK ADALAT: A special Lok Adalat for settling bank cases will be held on Saturday at Old Courts complex, here. Mr Justice H.S. Bedi, Executive Chairman, Legal Services Authority, Punjab, will preside over the function. Disclosing this, Mr S.S. Arora, District and Sessions Judge, Ludhiana, has urged the litigants to resolve their disputes through lok adalats. Persons willing to settle their cases through the lok adalats may approach the Civil Judge (Senior Division), Ludhiana.

DESIGNER JEWELLERY: A three-day jewellery exhibition has been organised at Hotel Park Plaza. The jewellery displayed at this exhibition include gold-plated silver, diamonds and various stones like rubies, pearls and topaz studded in gold and silver. The designer and manufacturer of the jewellery is Mr Sudhir Rakayan. The designer said there was a lot of difference in the liking of Indians and Europeans. The Europeans tend to go for designs where as the Indians mostly appreciate heavy work.

MALERKOTLA
TWO ARRESTED: The Amargarh police has arrested Lallu and Rehampal, both of Attua Village (UP) and seized 1 kg of opium and 20 kg of puppy husk from them. A case under the NDPS Act has been registered against them, according to the DSP, Mr Kulchinder Singh.

MANDI GOBINDGARH
OWNERSHIP RIGHTS: In view of the policies laid down by the state government, persons in possession of Shamlat’ or government lands in urban areas prior to January 1, 1996, will be given ownership rights said Ms Raghbir Kaur Khera, Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Amloh, to the mediapersons here on Saturday. The SDM further said the beneficiaries would have to reply to her office on the prescribed forms before October 20 after which the process of allotment of lands would start.

BIRTH ANNIVERSARY: The birth anniversary of Shaheed Bhagat Singh was celebrated on municipal council premises here on Friday. Sweets were distributed and Ms Raghbir Kaur Khera, SDM, Mr Dharam Paul, acting-President, Municipal Council, Mr Sukhwinder Singh Bhambri, Mr Rajinder Kumar Teetu, Mr Parkash Singh, Mr Jaswinder Singh Chhota and Mr Lachhman Singh Saini, Executive Officer of the local council, garlanded the photo of the martyr.

ANNUAL FUNCTION: On the occasion of the 26th annual function of Sant Mukand Ji being held on Tuesday at Nirhair Niwas ‘Sarva Dharama Sammelan’ is being arranged under the supervision of Sant Nirmal Ji in which leading religious leaders from all over India will participate. An eye hospital established by Sant Nirmal Ji will also be opened on the same day.

NAWANSHAHR
WOMEN EMPOWERMENT: Ms Romila Dube, Principal Secretary, Social Security, Women and Child Development, Punjab, while addressing a state-level programme organised by the department at JSFH Khalsa High School here on Thursday in connection with the International Year of Women Empowerment, stressed upon the need to create awareness among women about self-employment ventures. She inaugurated the “Swayam Sidha” scheme launched by the Central Government.

SALARIES NOT GIVEN: About 1353 teachers working in the government schools under “Operation blockboard scheme” have not received salary for the past four months, stated Mr Kulbir Singh, district president of the teachers union, in a press note here on Thursday. He urged the authorities concerned to release the requisite funds at the earliest to enable the teachers to get salary.

RIOT VICTIMS: Mr Jagjit Singh, Deputy Commissioner, in a press note here on Friday stated that riot victims who could not submit their applications for getting “Red Cards” were being given another chance to submit their applications along with requisite testimonials up to September 30.

SALARY NOT PAID: Mr Hans Raj Sharma, president of the district unit of the Punjab State Government Aided School Teachers and Other Employees Union, in a letter to the District Education Officer, has urged him to solve the problem of the non-payment of salary to the staff of Doaba Sikh National High School here. It was stated in the letter, a copy of which was released to the press, that the salary and arrears had been denied to the staff by the Manager of the school management committee.

PATHANKOT
CONVICTED: Mr Karnail Singh, Judicial Magistrate, here on Thursday convicted seven persons of criminal assault in two cases. According to information, Sudesh Kumari of Fatehgarh village lodged an FIR with the Sadar police alleging that on June 18, 1995, Sardar Singh, Jarnail Singh, Ajit Singh, son of Bela Singh, Ajit Singh, son of Attar Singh, and Teja Singh of the same village attacked her with weapons. The magistrate sentenced the accused to 1 year imprisonment and also imposed a fine on them. On the same day, Balkar Singh lodged an FIR against Surinder Singh and Kamal Raj of the same village for allegedly assaulting him. The magistrate sentenced the accused to 30 months’ imprisonment and also imposed a fine on them.

SAHNEWAL
CASE REGISTERED: The local police has registered a case against Darshan Singh, Baina Singh, Chanchan Singh, Mohinder Singh, Tehal Singh and Ram Lal for intentionally leaving their animals in fields of the Animal Welfare Department. According to Mr G.S. Chahal, Director Animal Welfare Department, Mattewara, the suspects let loose their buffaloes on 11 acres of green fodder, and destroyed the crop belonging to the department.

SAS NAGAR
LAND ALLOTTED: The local Government Department has been allotted 3.49 acres of land by the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA) in Sector 62 here. A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting held recently between the Housing and Urban Development Minister, Dr Upinderjit Kaur, and the Local Government Minister, Mr Balramji Dass Tandon. Mr K.B.S. Sidhu, Chief Administrator of PUDA, said departments desirous of constructing their head office complex here would be allotted the land. The Panchayat department and the Punjab Mandi Board had already been allotted 3.28 acres and 2 acres of land, respectively. Mr Sidhu said PUDA was offering land at Rs 3,990 per sq yard to the Local Government and the payment of the land had been spread over a period of four years.

KILLED: A man reportedly died on the spot when he was hit by vehicle near Chandaran village on Tuesday night. The deceased has been identified as Suraj Rai of Siliguri in Darjeeling. He was staying at the house of Amrik Singh in Katani Kalan village. A case has been registered under Section 304 A of the IPC at the local police station on the statement of Ghanshayam Das of Kathmandu, who owns a meat shop at Chandaran. The deceased was returning home after buying meat from Ghanshayam Das.

ZIRAKPUR
HEALTH CAMP CONCLUDES: A six-day health camp, organised by Mountview Public School in association with Mukesh Dental Clinic and Grover Homoeo and Eye Care, Bartana, concluded here on Saturday. Around 700 persons, including students, were examined free of cost at the camp. Dr Mukesh Dhomeja and Dr Gagan Grover stressed upon personal hygiene and regular eye check-up. Major Gurcharan Singh (retd), Principal of the school, emphasised the need for health awareness among people.

CHANDIGARH

FANCY DRESS COMPETITION: A fancy dress competition was held at Smartkids Kindergarten, Mohali, here on Friday. Tiny tots were dressed up as bridegroom, bride, magician, snake-charmer and fire-fighter. They were given mementoes and participation certificates.

DELEGATION: A delegation of passengers from Ambala, consisting of Mr Bhupinder Singh, Mr Jagtar Singh and Mr Roshan Lal Kalra, on Friday called on the Additional Divisional Railway Manager and urged him to extend 2U L or 4 U L train up to Saharanpur. In a statement, the members of the delegation said there was no passenger train from 6.45 p.m. and 4 a.m. (next day) from Ambala to Saharanpur. Therefore, passengers were subjected to a lot of harassment. The statement said the two were important commercial cities and people had to travel both during days and nights. The Additional Manager assured the delegation that he would look into the matter and forward the representation to the General Manager, Northern Railways, New Delhi.

HINDI FORTNIGHT: The Hindi fortnight celebrations by Kendriya Vidyalaya School in Sector 31 concluded here on Friday. Different competitions, including Hindi calligraphy, debate, letter writing, display board, ‘shlok’ recitation, essay writing and poem recitation were organised. The chief guest, Wing Commander H.S. Sodhi, said the value of Hindi could not be ignored. The Principal of the school, Dr S.P. Shergill, gave the vote of thanks. The winners of the competitions are: Prateek Joshi Class IX from Kendriya Vidyalaya, Sector 31, and Sarvesh (Class VII) Kendriya Vidyalaya, Sector 47, from junior and senior categories, respectively.

PLEADED: The BJP Councillor, Ms Ranjana Shahi, here on Friday pleaded the UT Election Commissioner, Mr S. Malachami, to change the ward of those people in ward No 17 who had shifted to Mauli Jagaran and Karsani. She met the Election Commissioner in the presence of the Home Secretary, Mr R.S. Gujaral; the Deputy Commissioner, Mr M. Ramashekhar; besides others, and requested that around 8,000 people who had shifted were affecting wards No 17, 18 and 19. She said the people of Sector 31 colony had shifted to these two places but were still required to vote in Ward No 17 despite being residents of ward number 19.

CONDEMNED: The local unit of the Bahujan Samaj Party has condemned the alleged move by some UT Administration officers to interfere in the working of the constitutionally elected body of Dr Ambedkar Bhavan, Sector 37, and their alleged attempt to forcibly take over the control of the bhavan. In a statement issued here on Friday, the party secretary, Ajit Singh Saini, demanded an inquiry into the episode. At a party meeting held here, the members alleged that the incident was a direct attack on the Dalit community. A resolution was passed to launch an agitation if officers continued to interfere in the working of the bhavan. A demand to get the income and expenditure of the bhavan audited by an independent agency was also raised.

DENTAL CAMP: A dental camp was organised by the Lions Club Rose at Government Model High School, Sector 36-D, on Saturday. As many as 350 students were examinated on the occasion. A team of doctors, headed by Dr Som Banerjee, conducted the dental check-up and educated students about dental health. The doctors observed that the lack of general awareness about oral diseases and intake of sweets and sugar in milk were responsible for tooth decay.

DANCE COMPETITION: The Chandigarh Institute of Performing Arts (CIPA) would organise a dance competition, “Dance Dance Dance”, in the Open Air Theatre at Bal Bhavan, Sector 23, here on Sunday. The competition would be based on Western dances, Hindi film dances and folk dances and would be open to participants between the age group of 5 and 25 years. The participants would perform under four categories depending on their age or style of presentation and solo or group performance.

BODY FORMED: A new governing body and managing panel of the Defence Service Officers’ Institute (DSOI), Sector 36, have been formed and its first meeting was held here on Thursday to approve the institute’s new rules and regulations. The new rules will be placed before the Governor of Punjab, Lt Gen J.F.R. Jacob (Retd), who has been designated as the DSOI’s chief patron. The GOC-in-C, Western Command, will be the institute’s patron, while Chief of Staff, Western Command, will be the president of the governing body. The vice-president will be an elected member. The managing committee, on the other hand, will have the Major General Artillery, Western Command, as the chairman, along with serving Army and Air Force officers as ex-officio members and elected members of the DSOI. Meanwhile, some of the members have raised objections to the inclusion of Director, Sainik Welfare, Punjab, and the chairman of the Punjab Ex-servicemen’s Corporation as ex-officio members of the governing body.

RALLY: Members of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation Public Health Workers Union held a rally in Sector 4 on Friday to mobilise support for their mass dharna schedule for on Thursday. A statement issued here stated that the dharna was being organised in support of their demands, which include release of bonus for the last four years, all employees transferred from the UT Administration to the MC be considered on deputation, local travel allowance for Class-III workers and filling up of vacant posts by promoting departmental employees. Meanwhile, members of the Manimajra unit of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation Workers Union organised a rally near the MC sub-office in Manimajra. Their demands included bonus to all UT employees, equal pay for equal work, and payment of arrears from 1988 to 1990 to daily-wagers.

HARYANA

AMBALA
QUIZ CONTEST: As part of the talent search competitions, a quiz contest was held at GMN College, here on Saturday. Dr Vinay Malhotra was the quiz master while prizes were given away by Prof V.K. Puri. The MA Political Science team, consisting of Reena Yadav, Charan Singh and Rakesh Kumar, won the first prize. In second position was the BSC II team, comprising of Jaspreet, Aditi and Subhash, and the third prize was won by the BSc III team, consisting of Sunita Joon, Ashwani Kumar and Parbodh Bajpai.

BABY SHOW: A healthy baby show was organised by the Air Force Wives Welfare Association (AFWWA) with the help of the Station Medicare Centre at Air Force Station, Ambala Cantt on Saturday. Prizes were given away to the winners by Mrs Bala Iyer, President, AFWWA. Special gifts were given to ladies who had recently undergone tubectomy and the men who had undergone vasectomy operations. The three judges were: Mrs Sunita Gautam, wife of Deputy Commissioner; Dr Rashmi Sharma; and Mrs Urvashi Malhotra. Over 60 children, up to the age of five years, participated in the show.

CAMP FOR ANIMALS: A free health camp for animals was organised by Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals Limited at Khatauli village on Saturday. Medicines for animals were distributed free of cost. At the camp, information related to animals was given to their owners. Nearly 200 animals were brought to the camp, according to a press note.

JIND
ABSENT FROM DUTY: To check the presence of employees in local offices of the state government Mr R.P. Bhardwaj, Additional Deputy Commissioner, on Friday conducted raids on the offices of the Executive Engineer, Panchayati Raj, and the DPEP. According to reports, two employees of the Executive Engineer’s office and three employees of DPEP were found absent from duty. Mr Bhardwaj has written to the officers concerned to take action against the absentees.

BLOOD DONATION CAMP: As many as 191 students of the local Government College donated blood at a camp organised on the college premises on Thursday. Mr K.C. Bangar, Chairman, Haryana Public Service Commission, inaugurated the camp. Mr A.K. Chawla, Principal of the college, said the camp was organised to mark the birth anniversary of Chaudhary Devi Lal.

PANCHKULA
CLUB FORMED: The management of Chaman Lal DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 11, launched a “Sparrow Eco-Club” on the school premises here on Thursday. In a press note, the school Principal, Mr V.P. Paul, said Mr R. Mehta, Director of Ministry for Environment and Forest, Government of India, appreciated the club for various environmental and other co-curricular activities carried out by its students. The director also praised the school staff and took interest in the vermiculture and bottle drip irrigation technique. A sappling plantation drive was also launched by the school students and the staff of the school on the occasion.

PROCUREMENT OF PADDY: The procurement of paddy will be made under the price support scheme in accordance with the prescribed specifications by the respective agencies. This was stated by Mrs Jyoti Arora, Deputy Commissiner, here on Friday. She said the interests of farmers would be protected and all the agencies had been instructed to make payments to the farmers within three days after the auction of paddy. She said adequate arrangements for the procurement of paddy during the current paddy season had been made. To ensure smooth functioning of grain market, ADC, SDO (Civil), and tehsildar, had been deputed for daily supervision.

ROHTAK
TWO KILLED: A youth and a four-year-old girl were killed in separate road accidents in the district on Friday. Pratap of Nindana village in Meham subdivision was killed when the auto rickshaw in which he was travelling overturned near the village. The police has arrested Mahabir, the driver of the vehicle. In another accident, Anjali (4) was crushed to death by a mini-bus near the Gohana bus stand.