The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Sunday, June 23, 2002, Chandigarh, India

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R E G I O N A L B R I E F S

PUNJAB

ABOHAR
SUICIDE: Durga Shanker Bhatt (52), Assistant Manager of the Food Corporation of India (FCI), reportedly committed suicide at Rawatsar Guest House in Sriganganagar, 40 km from here, on Friday. Police sources said on Saturday the body of Durga Shanker was found hanging from the ceiling of a private guest house where he had been staying for the past one-and-a-half month.

SUICIDE BID: An attempt by a person to commit suicide in police custody was foiled at a police station in Sriganganagar on Friday. Bachan Singh, who had been nabbed for snatching a gold chain in Kalian village near Padampur, tried to commit suicide in the Police lockup when the constable on duty refused to give him a beeri to smoke. Bachan tried to cut stitches on his abdomen which had been operated upon a few days ago. When the constable saw him bleeding, he raised the alarm and rushed him to the Civil Hospital. A case was registered against him on Saturday, the police sources said.

BATHINDA
ORDER ON WELLS: The District Magistrate, Mr Anurag Verma, has ordered that prior written permission would be necessary for digging wells in the district. The order which will be in force till August 19 states that besides prior permission residents who wish to dig a well should do so in the presence of an Executive Engineer either of the Public Health Department or of the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board.

MEDICAL CAMP: A medical camp was organised at Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant here on Friday where a team of doctors from the thermal plant as well as the Civil Hospital medically examined employees of the plant. According to a statement issued here, the camp was inaugurated by the Chief Engineer, Mr SC Mahajan.

FAZILKA
YOUTH KILLED: Harjit Singh (18), a resident Dona Nanka village of this subdivision, was allegedly killed by four persons of the same village. According to an FIR lodged with the Sadar police here by the brother of the deceased, Jeet Singh, he along with his brother Harjeet Singh, were returning from their fields in the wee hours on Friday when they were attacked by Wazeer Singh, his sons Chhinder Singh and Jeet Singh, and son-in-law Bhangu Singh following a minor dispute. A case has been registered.

JAGRAON
OPEN DARBAR: Mr K.S. Ghuman, Commandant Punjab Home Guards, Ludhiana, on the direction of DGP-cum-Commandant General Home Guards and DG Civil Def., Mr S.B. Singh, held an open darbar to hear the grievances of home guards at the Police Lines here on Saturday. Their grievances were redressed on the spot. Home guards demanded that they should be deputed at different police stations along with police personnel and the facilities available to the police personnel be extended to them. They also demanded their enrollment in the Punjab Police.

LUDHIANA
INVITED: Dr Gurdip Sidhu, Chief Consultant in surgery at Sidhu Hospital, Doraha, has been invited as a guest faculty member at the international conference of ‘Endoscopic and Laproscopic surgeons of Asia’ at Tokyo, Japan from September 18 to 21. Dr Jagmohan Singh, Honorary Secretary, Indian Medical Association, Doraha, said in a press statement that Dr Sidhu would present a paper on his work in Endo-urology and Laproscopic Surgery at this conference. Dr Sidhu is the vice-president of Association of Surgeons of India (Northern Chapter). He is also a Fellow of American College of Surgeons, Fellow of International College of Surgeons and Fellow of Association of Surgeons of India.

CONDEMNED: The Dayanand Medical College and Hospital Employees Union has strongly condemned the managements attitude towards it. Mr Chander Mohan Kalia, president, Ms Navraj Kaur, general secretary, Ms Rajwant Kaur, joint secretary, Mr Ashok Kumar, secretary and Mr Irfan Ahmed, special advisor to the union, in a joint statement issued on Saturday said their agitation was peaceful and claimed that patients were not being neglected due to their dharna. Mr Kalia said employees had never turned violent and every protest was peaceful. The management was levelling baseless allegations against the employees, said the union leader.

DR J. BINDRA: Dr J. Bindra, Head of Dentistry Department, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, has recently returned after attending ‘Summit-2002 Magnificent Destinations in Implant Dentistry’ at Bauff, Canada. According to a press note, Dr Bindra was the only dentist invited from India in the group for 500 dentists that had gathered from all over the world. Dr Bindra said workshop was focussed on the new development of the implant dentistry in which the size of implant being small, various steps of the implant procedures could be done in one sitting but caused little discomfort.

PATIALA
AGREEMENT: An agreement pertaining to promotions and absorption of clerical staff was signed between the administration and the employees union of Allahabad Bank here on Friday. The district secretary of the Allahabad Bank Employees Union, Mr G.S. Bhatia, said after a demonstration by the union, the administration agreed to its demands, including appointments on compassionate grounds, permanent absorption of temporary staff and recovery of NPA. The union threatened to launch an agitation if the demands were not implemented by June 26.

TALWANDI SABO
DEMANDED: The Gazetted and Non-Gazetted SC/BC Employees’ Federation on Friday urged the Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh to implement 82 and 83 Amendments of the Constitution in the state. They made the demand through a memorandum. The office-bearers of the union said these amendments were for the welfare of the members of the SC/BC categories.

CHANDIGARH

DRY DAYS: Elections to the gram panchayat of Kajheri village are slated for June 23. In view of this, the Chandigarh Administration has declared liquor vends in Kajheri will observe dry days for three days — June 22, 23 and 24. Counting of votes will take place on June 24.

CONDOLENCE MEETING: The Principal and teachers of the Government College of Art, Sector 10 and members of the Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi held a meeting on Friday to condole the death of Prof Kanwal Nain Kotra, a well-known educationist, philosopher and eminent artist. Over 100 artists from the city prayed for the peace of the departed soul. An alumnus of Santiniketan, Prof Kotra had been associated with the college since its transfer from Lahroe to Shimla in 1951. A shanti path for the departed will be held at Sanatan Dharam Mandir, Sector 43, on June 23.

MARTYRDOM DAY: The local unit of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, Chandigarh, held a meeting under the chairmanship of its president, Mr Satinder Singh. It was decided to celebrate the martyrdom day of Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee as “Netradaan Sankalp Divas” on Sunday at the party headquarters Kamalam, Sector 33.

PROTEST RALLY: The Punjab State Ministerial Service Union held a protest rally in Sector 17 against the “anti-employee” government Budget here on Friday. Employees raised slogans against the government and demanded immediate withdrawal of the “anti employee”.

DHARNA: All members of Telecom Engineering Officers Association, Chandigarh district, held a dharna in front of the office of the Chief General Manager, Punjab Telecom, in Sector 34 here on Friday. The dharna was held in connection with the suicide committed by Ashok Kumar, Junior Telecom Officer working under SDOT at Amritsar. They demanded registration of a case against the official under Section 306 of the IPC.

SAS NAGAR
NO PROMOTION: A Junior Engineer of PUDA has been waiting for promotion as SDO for 26 years. Incidentally, the official, Mr Ranjit Singh, has been officiating as an SDO since November last year.

CAMPAIGN ENDS: A campaign Scratch and Win, to create awareness about Verka milk and milk products concluded here on Saturday. The campaign, which began on June 11, was organised by the Milkfed plant here and covered Chandigarh, Panchkula and SAS Nagar. Leaflets were distributed at traffic lights and other important crossroads with prizes in the form of milk, ghee, sweet lassi. etc.

IMA OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected as office-bearers of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), SAS Nagar branch president — Dr G.S. Chahal; vice-president — Dr J.S. Cheema; and secretary — Dr A. Kansal.