R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

• A ghazal singer with a difference
• Lecturer honoured
• Sorry state of crematorium

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
GOODS STOLEN: Six persons stole textile bales worth Rs 1 lakh from the godown of the Narang Transport Company here on Monday. In another incident, the police has arrested Nirmal Singh of Sultanwind for allegedly possessing 23 litre of illicit liquor. Cases have been registered.

LUDHIANA
INSTALLATION CEREMONY: The following members were installed by the Lion Club at a ceremony held on Tuesday: president — Dr Arun Gupta; secretary — Dr Anil Kapoor; and treasurer — Mr Ashok Jindal. Mr D.K. Sood, District Governor of the club, was the chief guest. He said that the club had adopted two daughters of a hosiery worker, one doing MBBS and the second studying in an engineering college by giving him a grant of Rs 25,000. He said that the club had taken the responsibility to provide all books to the two students. 

VALENTINE’S DAY: The Lodhi Club will celebrate Valentine’s Day on February 10 evening. Mr B.M. Mahajan, general secretary, said that Mr S.K. Sandhu, Deputy Commissioner, would be the chief guest. He said that a dance party would be held and a professional DJ would play the music. 

ANIMAL WELFARE CAMP: The Department of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Punjab Agricultural University, organised an animal welfare camp at Kahnjerwal village on Tuesday. A team of veterinary doctors including Dr M.P. Gupta, Dr H.K. Verma and Dr P.S. Bansal, treated 91 cases of buffalo, cow, dog, horse, and bullock. A majority of the cases were for gynaecological problems, while a few were medicinal cases like mastitis, diarrhoea, skin disorders as well as surgical cases like lameness, hip dislocation and castration, said the doctors. The farmers were advised to get their animals vaccinated against diseases like foot and mouth disease so that losses occurring due to them could be avoided and dairying be made more profitable. 

PUDA EMPLOYEE'S UNION: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA) Employees Union (Ludhiana Zone): President — Mr Balihar Singh; general secretary — Mr Bhag Singh; assistant secretary — Mr Parladh Singh Narangwal; chairman — Mr Pritam Singh Cheema; chief adviser — Mr Amajeet Singh; treasurer — Mr Madan Sharma; assistant treasurer — Mr Harbhajan Singh; propaganda secretary — Mr Jagjeet Singh; press secretary — Mr Kalyan Mohan; joint secretary — Mr Bikramjeet Singh; and vice-presidents — Mr Kuldeep Singh and Mr Singar Singh.

HARYANA

AMBALA
AWARENESS PROCESSION: An awareness procession organised by the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangthan after crossing through Himachal Pradesh and Punjab reached Haryana on Wednesday. The coordinator of the kendra, Mr K.P.S. Gill, and MLA Jasbir Malour received the procession at the Haryana-Punjab border near Ambala. The Director of North zone circle of the kendra, Mr M.R. Sharma said the procession would reach Delhi on February 11 where a youth conference would be organised. 

DISTRIBUTORS’ ASSOCIATION: The Ambala Distributors Association on Wednesday decided that any member who took up new distributorship would first have to take a no objection certificate from the predecessor at a meeting held under the presidentship of Mr Brij Gupta. A copy of the certificate would have to be submitted with the association along with Rs 500 fee. If a company appointed a new distributor then the company would have to first settle the accounts with the old distributor, according to a press note. The following were elected office-bearers of the association. President — Mr Brij Gupta, vice-president — Mr Ashok Gupta, general secretary — Mr Sushil Goyal, treasurer — Mr Shyam Lal and secretary — Mr Jog Raj. 

APPOINTED: Mr Umesh Sahni, member Cantonment Board, has been appointed adviser to the All India Cantonment Board Employees Federation. The zonal secretary, Mr Bhoop Singh, said Mr Sahni would work in all cantonments in the country. 

Rs 1.96-CRORE PROJECT: The Municipal Council, Ambala Sadar, will set up a Rs 1.96-crore multi-purpose hall and business centre dedicated to Guru Gobind Singh. The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, has given approval to the project. 

CLEANLINESS DRIVE: The Deputy Commissioner, Mr D.D. Gautam, on Wednesday visited different part of the city to take stock of the ongoing cleanliness drive. He also gave directions regarding traffic problems. Among others, SDM M.K. Ahuja, Executive Officer A.K. Jain, XEN V.M. Handa and District Health Officer Umesh Lamba were present. Mr Gautam asked the EO to ensure that indentification of places for keeping dustbins be done within 10 days. 

FOURTH POSITION: MDSD Girls College, which represented Kurukshetra University in Haryanvi Group Dance at All-India University National Youth Festival, has secured fourth position. Principal Ms Kiran Angra said the festival was held at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, in which 60 universities from all zones participated. 

CONSTRUCTION: The local MLA, Mr Anil Vij, on Wednesday said the defense authorities should take a humanitarian view of the construction being carried out on the military ground along the Jagadhari road so that civic amenities of Mahesh Nagar were not affected. He said although the land belonged to the Army authorities, people had been living in its vicinity for the past several years. He added that the Deputy Commissioner and senior Army officials visited the spot and assured the people that they would look into their grievances.

FATEHABAD
DANCE COMPETITION: The local Saint Soldier's Convent School organised a dance competition on the school grounds on Monday. Ms Santosh Indora, wife of the Deputy Commissioner, Mr O.P. Indora, was the chief guest.

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

A ghazal singer with a difference

Sushil Chawla of Jalandhar has the distinction of being the only “ghazal” singer of the northern region who exhibits his talent in hotels — not due to some compulsion, but for his passion for small gatherings and his view that only a few people appreciate ghazals nowadays at a time pop is dominating the world of music.

Chawla, a product of DAV College here, is a disciple of Ghulam Ali, the “king of ghazals” and it was the famed ghazal “Chupke chupke raat din, aansoo bahana yaad hai”, of the latter which inspired him to be a ghazal singer. “The day I had listened to this ghazal, I decided that I’ll not pursue any other profession except music, particularly, ghazals. Hence I approached Ghulam Ali, who after a trial of four years, took him under hit tutelage in 1994. Since then I have been going to him during weekends to take lessons in ghazal singing”, said Sushil, who has a number of awards and prizes to his credit and is currently working with the Ranbir Prime Hotel in Jalandhar. Earlier, he was a ghazal singer with a local hotel, Lilly Resorts.

Asked why he was not performing on the stage, he maintained that people hardly tend to be attentive and serious listeners during stage shows. “If you want to project your inner self by using ghazal as a medium, you need serious listeners and I think there is no better place than good hotels,” said Chawla. The youthful singer has given a number of presentations in a Tokyo hotel and yearns to teach the art of ghazal singing to those with a yen for soulful music.

Lecturer honoured

A senior lecturer at Sangrur’s Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology, Dr Kiranjit Singh Kahlon, was awarded the Best Engineering College Teacher Award 2001 for Punjab state at a function held in Orissa recently.

He was chosen by a selection committee constituted by the Indian Society for Technical Education and was awarded a cash prize, medallion and citation at the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Bhubaneshwar. Applications for the award were invited last October.

Specialising in radiation physics, Dr Kahlon has already received the award of Senior Research Fellow by the CSIR, New Delhi, and is among the 2000 outstanding scientists of the 21st century, according to the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge.

Sorry state of crematorium

The condition of the cremation ground in Paonta Sahib deplorable. There is no proper shed in which people can take shelter, rubbish is strewn all over and whenever it rains heavily the people and their relatives who come for funerals face many problems. There is only one tap where there is running water at certain hours of the day, there is no hand-pump. With the population rising in Paonta Sahib, the local administration, social organisations as well as the municipal committee are ignoring its upkeep. Even though people come from far-off places, there is hardly any facility.

Mr Karmveer Singh, Vice-President of the Rotary Club Chapter, said the club planned to make this crematorium like the one in Bangalore which would cremate bodies by electricity. This project will cost Rs 28 lakh.

Mr Naresh Khapra, Chairman of Municipal Committee, said it had set up a panel to improve the condition of the graveyard. He would collect donations from local people and seek a grant from the state government.

Contributed by Varinder Singh, Geetanjali Gayatri, Sarbjit Sakhowalia