The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Tuesday, January 15, 2002, 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
DEMANDED: While the local Water Supply Department has asked consumers to get water meters installed. The department is charging a fix rate for the water supply without checking the meter reading. Municipal Committee Officer is not releasing water connections to the consumers without meters. The Secretary of Punjab State Employment and Labour Cell (Congress) has demanded that either the bill be charged according to the meter reading or the condition of meter be withheld.

DORAHA
TRAFFIC AWARENESS CAMP: The traffic police has organised a camp at the first aid post here, as part of Traffic Awareness Week. Speaking on the occasion, Mr R.N. Jassal, Additional District Transport Officer, said road accidents were increasing as people were either ignorant about the traffic rules or didn’t care to abide by them. A medical camp was also organised under the supervision of Dr Kuldip Singh Dhaliwal and Dr Ravi Sharma. Nearly 150 drivers were examined. Mr Tarlochan Singh, district secretary, Transport Union, and Mr Bhajan Singh, president, Truck Union, attended the camp.

LUDHIANA
FIRE IN FACTORY: Fire broke out in the store of a hosiery unit in Sai Nagar, Pakhowal Road, on Saturday. Hosiery goods estimated at Rs 10 lakh were gutted. With the timely arrival of fire tenders, the fire did not spread to other parts of the factory. The flames were doused in half an hour. A short circuit is suspected to have caused the fire.

ASSOCIATION: The local newspapers suppliers formed the Newspapers Suppliers Welfare Association here at Ghantaghar Chowk on Monday. Mr N.K. Arora, the spokesperson of the association, in a press statement said that the association was formed to raise the socio-economic status of its dealers. He said the association would work at establishing cordial relations with media. The newspaper dealers will also be told about their duties and rights. ”We will try to promote our social and cultural heritage”, added Mr Arora. Mr Devi Chand Lamba, Mr Raghubir Singh, Mr Rajinder Sharma, Mr Rajinder Bhatia, Mr Narjeet Singh, Mr Avtar Singh Bedi, Mr Gurbachan Singh and Mr Upkar Singh, were present.

MALERKOTLA
ARRESTED: Two employees of the Food Corporation of India, Sukhdev Singh and Jagdish Singh, have been arrested on the charge of accepting a bribe of Rs 20,000 from a rice mill owner. On a complaint lodged by the owner of M/s Krishan Gram Udyog Samiti, Mr Jai Pal Singh, DSP, Vigilance Bureau, Patiala, conducted the raid and recovered the amount from them. A case has been registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

SAMRALA
AKALI WORKER KILLED: An Akali worker, Mr Balbir Singh, was killed in a road accident near Jatana village on Sunday night, while his wife and daughter were seriously injured. The deceased is the brother of Chairman Market Committee, Mr Kuldeep Singh Gharkhana. The body was handed over to the family after a post-mortem examination at the local Civil Hospital and was later cremated at Gharkhana village, 3 km from here. Mr Kirpal Singh Khirnian, members SGPC and other Akali leaders attended the funeral.

CHANDIGARH

FUNCTION: The Punjab Vidhan Sabha Secretariat’s Sports and Cultural Activities Club organised a colourful cultural programme on Lohri. The function was organised under the leadership of Mr Nachhattar Singh Mavi, Secretary, Punjab Vidhan Sabha. Staff members also participated in the cultural programme. The function ended with a prize distribution ceremony.

RALLY: The Lions Club International organised a rally against female foeticide here on Sunday. Speaking on the occasion, Dr P.S. Jassi, a former Director of Health Services, Punjab, and present Indian Adviser to UNICEF, warned general public, particularly parents and midwives who play a major role in female foeticide especially in rural areas. Addressing the rally, Civil Surgeon of Patiala, Dr Inderjit Kaur, and President of the Indian Medical Council, Punjab, Dr O.P. Kande, stressed the need to educate parents about this menace. Laying emphasis on the positive use of the ultrasound technology, they warned medical fraternity on the use of this technology for sex determination.

APPOINTED: Mr Bhagwan Das has been appointed chairman of Block-1 of the SC/ST Cell of Patiala (urban).

SUSPENSION: The suspended secretary of the Punjabi University Teachers Association (PUTA), Mr N.S. Atri, in a press note on Monday, termed the decision of his suspension by the association president, Mr D.S. Dhillon, as unconstitutional and undemocratic. He said there was no provision in the PUTA constitution to suspend any member or offices bearer. He urged the president to work for collective interests of teachers.

COACHING CLASSES: Punjabi University’s IAS and Allied Service Training Centre will start training classes for candidates interested in taking probationary officers examination. Applications will be received till January 24 and interview will be held on February 2 at 10 am. SC trainees will be provided free coaching and scholarship as per rules. This was stated in a press note released by the director of the coaching centre, Dr G.S. Bajwa.

PAINTING CONTEST: Kirti Sharma of Sacred Heart School, Gurpreet of Gem Public School and Charandeep Singh of St Stephen’s School have bagged first prizes in the first, second and third categories of ‘Chotte kalakaar’, a painting contest organised by the Global Trust Bank at Carmel Convent School here. The bank is organising a national-level painting contest in which the paintings of these students who have won at the city-level in three categories will be evaluated. Winners of the national-level contest will be awarded with attractive prizes like personal computers, video cameras and VCD players etc.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Residents Welfare Association of Sector 24-B: president — Mr Krishan Chand Gupta, senior vice-president — Mr Ranjit Singh, vice-president — Mr Ashok Sharma, general secretary — Mr K.K Yadav, additional secretary — Mr V.D Sharma, joint secretary — Mr Mahi Pal Singh and cashier — Mr Ramesh Kumar.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Shantinagar Congress Working Committee: president — Mr Chuni Lal, vice-presidents — Mr Joginder Singh and Mr Pal Singh, general secretaries — Mr Rakesh Kumar and Harpreet Singh, secretary — Mr Niranjan Das Sethi, joint secretaries — Mr Brij Mohan and Ms Sunita Devi; and members: Mr S Vincent, Mr Surinder, Mr Sondhi, Mr Sohan Singh, Mr Madan Lal, Mr Jaswant Singh, Mr Madan Lal Sharma, Mr Sunil Gupta, Mr Harikesh, Mr Amar Nath, Mr Gain Chand, Mr S Pal, Mr Krishan Chand Arya and Mr Mahadev.

AWARENESS CAMP: A counselling camp for awareness and prevention of AIDS was held at Model Burail Jail here on Monday. The camp was organised by the Indian Council of Social Welfare (ICSW), Chandigarh Chapter, in collaboration with the UT States AIDS Control Society, informed Ms Shareshtha Mehta, general secretary of the ICSW in a press release. As many as 60 inmates were benefitted with the camp, she added.

SAS NAGAR
CONTESTS: The Punjab School Education Board is organising educational competitions for secondary classes at a state-level function being held at Bal Bhavan, Sector 23, from January 16 to January 18. A spokesman of the board said the competition would be held in shabad gayan, vargahyki, kavishri and poetry on January 16; one act play and art and painting competition on January 17, and debate, moral writing, folk singing and bhangra on January 18.

RESENTMENT: Ms Deep Kaur Shyan, a municipal councillor from Phase V, lamented that the Minister for Urban Housing and Development, Dr Upinderjit Kaur, had failed to keep her promise to providing a storm water line in the area so that rain water did not enter the low lying houses. She said the residents had been repeatedly seeking laying of the strom water line.

CELEBRATED: Students of Gian Jyoti Public School celebrated Lohri on the school premises on Monday. The Principal of the school, Mr Ranjeet Bedi, lit the bonfire.

PROMOTED: Mr Ran Chand Jagyasu and Mr Hardev Singh, posted at the Punjab Civil Secretariat, have been promoted as Superintendent, Grade-I.

HARYANA

AMBALA
CAMP: A day-long camp was organised by the NSS unit of SD College, Ambala Cantonment at Valmiki Basti and Dera Batti. The camp was inaugurated by the college Principal, Dr Desh Bandhu. It was coordinated by Dr S.P. Sharma and Ms H. Virk.

APPOINTED: Mr Ashok Chauhan has been appointed Ambala district vice-president of the All-India Anti-Terrorist Front. Dr Veeresh Shandilya, Haryana unit president of the front, stated this in a press note.

PROGRAMME: The State Bank of India, Ambala City, will organise a customer relation programme on Tuesday. The Chief General Manager, Chandigarh Circle, Mr Rajinder Kakkar, will be the chief guest. He will also meet customers on this occasion.

BHIWANI
FARMERS’ CLAIM: The Chief Minister has directed Forest Department officers to ensure half claims of farmers on trees planted on their land as per the policy of the state government. He made this announcement while presiding over a meeting at Panchayat Bhavan here on Sunday. Mr Ajay Singh Chautala MP, Mr Bahadur Singh, the Education Minister, Mr Ranbir Singh Mandolla, MLA, Mr Shashi Parmar, MLA, the IG (Hisar range), Mr John V George, the DC and the SP were also present.

LIFE IMPRISONMENT: The District and Sessions Judge, Mr N.S. Ahlawat, has sentenced Subhash Chander of Dhani Mithi village to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on him. In case of default, Chander, would have to undergo RI of six months under Section 302, IPC. The court, however, acquitted his father, Neki Ram and grandmother, Supari Devi, by giving them the benefit of the doubt. According to prosecution, Devki, got married to Chander 10 years ago. She was allegedly throttled to death by the accused for bringing insufficient dowry.

KAITHAL
SENTENCED: The Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr N.P. Dewet, here has sentenced Ram Kumar of Sirta village to two years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 for stealing power.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
ARRESTED: The Ghumarwin police has busted a gang of thieves who were involved in stealing auto parts in the area. This was stated by the Superintendent of Police, Mr Atul Verma, here on Friday.

BHAKRA OUSTEES: The Himachal Health and Family Welfare Minister, Mr Jagat Prakash Nadda, while addressing a meeting organised by the “Bhakra Oustees Rights Protection Committee” said here on Sunday that the government had allotted 56 residential plots at a function organised on January 9 under the guidance of the Deputy Commissioner.

CHAMBA
RUMOURS: The President of the local Municipal Council, Mr S.P.Dhall, has refuted rumours projecting his name as a prospective Congress candidate against Mr Harsh Mahajan from this Assembly constituency. This was stated by him while talking to mediapersons here on Monday.

KANGRA
VIVEKANANDA JAYANTI: The Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Mr Shanta Kumar, said the teachings of Swami Vivekananda were the guiding force for the Indians and they should implement these in their day-to-day life. This was stated by Mr Shanta Kumar on the occasion of Vivekananda Jayanti organised by the local unit of Vivekananda Kendra at the Polytechnic College auditorium here on Saturday. The state Agriculture Minister, Mr Vidya Sagar, in his presidential address said the state government was implementing different schemes with an annual budgetary provisions of Rs 80 lakh. Swami Subratanand of Rama Krishna Ashram and Mr Ravi of Vivekananda Kendra Kanniya Kumari also addressed the gathering.

NAHAN
BABY FOUND: A 10-day-old baby girl was found in a bucket on the road in front of the Hindu Ashram here on Friday. She was noticed by a nearby shopkeeper, who reported the matter to the local police. The baby has been hospitalised and her condition is stated to be healthy.

PAONTA SAHIB
DISCOVER INDIA QUIZ: The Bharat Vikas Parishad organised a “Discover India Quiz” at Government Girls Senior Secondary School, here on Friday. Nine schools of the Paonta Sahib valley participated. The results are as follows: GNMP Paonta Sahib, GSSS, Majra (2), and Sarswati Shishu Mandir (3).