The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Saturday, March 2, 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

AMRITSAR
NRI SABHA: At a meeting of the NRI Sabha with the Deputy Commissioner, Mr S.S. Puri, Mr Gurcharan Singh Walia, Akali leader, was nominated district president of the sabha here on Thursday. Mr Gurinderjit Singh Dhillon, outgoing president of the sabha, suggested his name while Dr Paviter Singh seconded the nomination, according to Mr Puri.

KAPURTHALA
PROMOTED: As many as 163 constables, who had completed 16 years of service, were promoted as head constables on Thursday, according to Mrs Gurpreet Deo, Senior Superintendent of Police. Mr J.P. Virdi, Inspector-General (zonal) took salute from the police contingents. He also inaugurated the conference hall at the Police Lines on the occasion.

KHANNA
PROPOSAL WELCOMED: The former president of the Distt Youth Congress, Ludhiana (Rural), Mr Vijay Sharma, has welcomed the proposal of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to set up a commission to deal with corruption charges against politicians and bureaucrats of the state. He said it would boost the reputation of the government, but had reservations on whether the present Congress MPs and MLAs facing charges of corruption would also be dealt with by the commission to be set up by the Chief Minister. He said some Congress MPs and MLAs were found guilty of corruption by Lokpal. Some cases were still lying pending before the Lokpal.

KHARAR
SCHOOL FUNCTION: English Valley Public School, Jandpur road, Dashmesh Nagar, Kharar, will organise its 2nd annual function here on Saturday. Mr Jagdish Malhotra, regional manager of the Chandigarh zone of UCO Bank, will be the chief guest on the occasion.

MC BUDGET: The local municipal committee has passed its Rs 4.12 crore budget for the financial year 2002-2003. According to Mr Gian Chand Gupta, Executive Officer, the committee, expects to receive Rs 1.40 crore as grant in lieu of octroi Rs 1.13 crore from excise, Rs 20 lakh from house tax and Rs 45 lakh development charges. He said the committee would spend Rs 1.38 crore on salaries and Rs 2.42 crore on various development projects.

BDO’s LETTER: The Block Development Officer, Kharar, has written to the SHO, Kharar, that police assistance should be provided to the Gram Panchayat of Bhagomajra village for removing encroachments in the village. According to him, police assistance was not given for the construction of a wall around a pond in the village. He has written that the Deputy Commissioner, Ropar, has already written about it to the SSP, Ropar, and asked for extending police assistance. He has written that the orders of the Deputy Commissioner, Ropar, and the SSP, Ropar, should be implemented immediately.

LUDHIANA
SLAUGHTER HOUSE: A modern slaughter house has been constructed by the Municipal Corporation at Haibowal to provide good quality meat to citizens. Dr Harbans Singh Dhalla, president, Punjab State Veterinary Officers Association in a press statement on Friday appreciated Mr R.L. Kalsia, Commissioner MC, for ordering the resumption of the working of new slaughter house. Dr Jaswant Singh, Veterinary Officer In charge, CVH Mettewara has been deputed by Dr Harprem Singh Gill, Deputy Director, Animal Husbandry, for monitoring the slaughtering of animals and inspection of meat at the unit in the city. Dr G.S. Grewal and Dr P.S. Brar, Medical Officers (Health) of the MC, along with Dr Jaswant Singh, a Veterinary Specialist, will check the legal slaughtering of animals and will also ensure hygienic and good quality meat at shops and restaurants.

CONDEMNED: Public Cause, a forum for voicing common problems of the people, has condemned the “careless” attitude of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) for not providing satisfactory services to the subscribers. Mr A.K. Bhandari, general secretary of the forum, in a statement on Friday said the forum had observed that the BSNL had to lose a number of over-billing cases in the Consumer Court whereas several such cases were lying pending. Due to the over-billing, people had to move courts, said Mr Bhandari. He urged upon the BSNL authorities to either provide telephone sets with inbuilt meters to their subscribers or arrange parallel meters elsewhere on the premises.

BUDGET CRITICISED: Dr Sakinder Singh, District President Congress, and Mr Ravish Gupta, chairman Intellectual Cell District Congress Committee, Fatehgarh Sahib, have condemned the new budget which, according to them, would place burden on the poor.

FREE EYE CAMP: A free eye operation camp was held at Guru Angad Dev Charitable Hospital, Chandigarh Road, last week. Over 350 patients were examined and 31 operations were performed. Another free eye operation camp was held at Mangat Nursing Home Katani Kalan on Thursday. Twentytwo operations were performed in the camp. Both camps were organised in association with HelpAge India.

ALLEGED: Indian Ex-services League, Punjab and Chandigarh, has alleged that there were credible reports that the Defence Pension Payment Centers were holding back payments particularly the arrears to ex-servicemen and NRI pensioners to tire them and make them succumb to illegal consideration. The league has formed its own internal vigil in each district that will operate at all payment centres, including banks.

MACHHIWARA
MLA’S VISIT: The newly-elected MLA from Koom Kalan constituency, Mr Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal, would visit here on March 2 to express his gratitude to the voters. This was stated by a BJP councillor, Mr Ashok Sood.

EYE CAMP: As many as 250 patients were examined at a one-day eye camp organised at local Gurlabh Nursing Home. According to Dr Balbir Singh, the patients were examined by eye specialist Dr Ashok Gupta. All patients were provided with free medicines. The patients would be operated on Saturday and Thursday in Gurlabh Nursing Home at nominal charges.

APPOINTMENT HAILED: Mr Kasturilal Mintoo, vice-president of the Punjab Youth Congress, has welcomed the appointment of Mr M.S. Bhullar as the new DGP of Punjab.

NAWANSHAHR
NRI SABHA: Mr Kewal Singh Dhillon has been elected president of the district unit of the NRI Sabha, Punjab. Mr Pritam Singh, SDM, was the returning officer and Mr Satnam Singh Chana was the observer. This was stated by Ms Jatinder Kaur Moonga, press secretary of the sabha, in a press note here on Friday.

COPYING MENACE: Mr Ujagar Singh Mahi, District Education Officer, in a press note issued here on Friday said with the active cooperation of teachers and steps taken by the department the menace of copying was checked during the recently concluded middle and class V examinations in the district.

GOLDEN JUBILEE: The local R.K. Arya College will organise a function to honour all its registered old students here on Sunday to mark the golden jubilee celebrations of the college, according to Mr S.K. Sharma, Principal, in a press note here on Friday.

CAMP: A free eye operation camp will be organised from March 8 to 10 here at Sri Ram Sharanam Bhavan. Operations will be performed at the local Civil Hospital on March 10, according to Dr J.D. Verma, organiser, Sri Ram Sharnam.

RELEASE SALARIES: Teachers working in government middle schools under plan 1.12 have urged the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, to immediately issue instructions to the Education Department and treasury with regard to the release of salaries. They have not received their salaries for the past two months.

PATIALA
PROBE DEMANDED: The Forum for Educational Action and Reform (FEAR) in its meeting held here on Friday demanded a probe into the release of an advertisement which appeared in a leading English daily of Chandigarh on Friday costing approximately Rs 84,000. Demanding an enquiry into the sources of finance for the advertisement, the president of forum criticised the Punjabi University Teachers Association (PUTA) president, Dr D.S. Dhillon for issuing the advertisement. He said being the president of the teachers union, Dr Dhillon should not act as a ‘mouthpiece’ of the Vice-Chancellor.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Ekta Welfare Residents Society, Urban Estate: president — Mr Balvir Singh; vice-president — Mr Ramesh Kumar, and general secretary — Mr Jasvir Singh.

SUNAM
XEN GHERAOED: Employees of the Punjab State Electricity Board organised a gate rally in front of their office (66 kva grid substation) here on Thursday and detained Mr V.K. Mehta, Senior Xen, Operation (city division), in his office to press him for the acceptance of their demands. They were demanding the release of salaries, which had been withheld by Mr Mehta. The gherao was lifted at midnight when the XEN released the salaries.

AD HOC COMMITTEE: Mr J.P. Garg, Principal of the local SUS Government College, in a press note issued here on Friday said the management of the college had constituted an ad hoc committee of old students of the college for its development. Mr K.L. Batra was elected convener while Mr Hardev Singh Hanjra, Mr Prem Gugnani, Mr Sham Lal Singla, Mr Ravinder Bhardwaj, Mr Narinder Thekedar and Mr Jagdish Arora were elected members.

ASSOCIATION: The following have been elected office-bearers and executive members of the Punjab Pharmacy Graduates Association: president — Mr Anil Sood; vice-president — Mr Ashok Goyal; general secretary — Mr Arvind Sharma; joint secretary — Mr Jatinder Sharda; and treasurer — Mr Harjinder Singh.