R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

REGIONAL  POTPOURRI

• Heritage Village cries for care

• Blood donors

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
SEALED: An 11-member team headed by Dr K.K. Sharma, Civil Surgeon, on Tuesday sealed an ultra-sound machine in a nursing home here. According to the Civil Surgeon the nursing home was violating the PNDT Act and conducting sex determination tests. A case has been registered.

CHAIN-SNATCHERS HELD: The police on Tuesday arrested three persons for snatching chains in a Civil Lines area here. The accused have been identified as Simranjit Singh Bhatti a resident of the Guru Amardas avenue, Rajesh Sidhu and Gurmukh Singh of Nikka Singh colony. The police has recovered two gold chains from them. A case has been registered.

MEETING: The general meeting of the Himachal Sudhar Sabha will be held to discuss various issues and for opening a computer school in the Pawan Nagar area on September 29 here. This was stated in a press release issued by the general secretary of the sabha here on Tuesday.

BATHINDA
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Shri Narayan Bal Vidya Mandir: president — Mr Dharamvir Walia; vice-president — Mr Sat Dev Dharni aned Mr Rajinder Kumar Raju; general-secretary — Mr Sandhu Ram Kushal; joint-secretary — Mr Brij Mohan Sharma and treasurer — Mr Sat Pal Gupta.

PROMOTED: Mr C.M. Nagpaul, General Manager, Bathinda unit of the National Fertilisers Limited has been promoted Chief General Manager of the plant. An engineering graduate Mr Nagpaul joined the local unit of the NFL as General Manager in June 2001.

SCHOOL OPENED: Ek Noor Walfare Society, an NGO has a school in a slum area of the city to educate the poor. This was claimed on Wednesday by office-bearers of the society. Mr Chaman Lal, patron of the society, said more such schools would be opened in other slum areas of the city.

PENSION FUND: Mr Kirandeep Singh Bhullar, Deputy Commissioner, said in a press release here on Tuesday that Rs 2.35 crore had been released to various bank branches for disbursement as pension among to 60,912 beneficiaries in the district. He said old-age pension for 44,365 beneficiaries for April and May, 2002 had been released. Whereas pension for 16,547 beneficiaries — widows, dependant children and handicapped for April, May and June, 2002 — had been issued.

LUDHIANA
KILLINGS FLAYED: Jain Shwetamber Terapanthi Sabha and Jain Muni Shri Vinay Kumar have condemned the killing of devotees at Akshardham Temple in Gujarat. A goodwill function was held at 9 a.m. on Terapanthi street on Wednesday. 

LECTURE HELD: The English Department of Devki Devi Jain Memorial College for Women organised an extension lecture on the significance of English language and literature on Wednesday. The lecture was delivered by Prof S.C. Jain, an eminent scholar of English. The lecture was followed by a question and answer session.

MANDI GOBINDGARH
FLAYED: Bajrang Dal and Vishv Hindu Parishad in a joint meeting chaired by Mr Suneel Mittal president Vishv Hindu Parishad held here on Wednesday, flayed the terrorist attack on innocent devotees in Akshardham Temple in Gujarat in which about 40 persons were killed and more than 100 were wounded. The meeting urged the central government to take strict action against the ultras that work at the behest of Pakistan. Mr Gobind Kansal, secretary, Hindu Parishad, Bhushan Singla, president, Bajrang Dal, Suresh Jain, Yash Pal, Yashpal Aggarwal, Darshan Chawla, Vinod Goyal and others were present at the meeting.

PATHANKOT
FELLOWSHIP: Mr Banka Bahadur Arora has been conferred with the fellowship award by the International Biographical Research Foundation, Maharashtra, for his excellence in the field of art and culture, for the year of 2002-2003.

MEDICAL CAMP: A one-day free medical check-up camp was organised here on Tuesday by the local unit of the Shiv Sena. Mr Ashok Sudan , district president and project chairman of the camp said more than 275 patients were examined and given medicines free of cost.

HARYANA

AMBALA
DECLAMATION CONTEST: The Commerce Association of S. A. Jain College, Ambala City, will organise a state-level inter-college declamation contest on Friday on disinvestment, economic liberalisation, and WTO in India.

OFFICE-BEARERS: Mr Bharat Bhushan Aggarwal has been elected the president of the Mahadev Mandir Satsang Bhavan, Ambala City. Office-bearers are: vice-president — Mr Gulshan Dhamija; general secretary — Mr Narender Aggarwal; joint secretary — Mr Pawan Jalota; and treasurer — Mr Pawan Kumar.

PROTEST BY TEACHERS: The Haryana Government College Teachers Association has expressed concern over the proposed amendment in the Haryana Education (college cadre) Group ‘A’ Service rules. Members of the association said the proposed amendment in the service rules regarding the posts of principals to be filled up by direct recruitment would affect the morale of teachers.

FATEHABAD
DROWNED: A woman and her son were drowned in a canal near Sirdhan village on Monday.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

PROMISES UNFULFILLED: The family of a Kargil martyr, Roshan Lal, and other residents of his village, Paplol, falling under Chhausa gram panchayat of the district, are sore over the non-fulfilment of two promises made to them by the Chief Minister. This was stated by former BJP minister Mohinder Nath Sofat during a press conference here on Monday. He said the Chief Minister had promised to name the Paplol-Paughat link road as the Shaheed Roshan Lal road after getting it metalled, besides upgrading the local Government Middle School to the level of a high school. However, these promises had not been fulfilled, he said.

REGIONAL  POTPOURRI

Heritage Village cries for care

Silhouetted against the snow-spangled Dhauladhar ranges, Pragpur is a tiny village under Dehra subdivision of Kangra district which abounds in natural beauty.

Situated at a height of 1800 ft, Pragpur, the first Heritage Village of the country, has been named after princess Prag Rani. The perceptible winds of change sweeping this hill state, have failed to touch even the farthest of the fringes of this land of pollen. Pragpur has preserved the pristine glory of its gorgeous buildings meticulously designed by master architects, the cobbled lanes (see picture) and bylanes, the mud-plastered, slate-roofed houses that lie huddled cheek by jowl.

Ever since Pragpur has been conferred the coveted heritage status, it has become the centre of tourist attraction from home and abroad. Tourists, especially those drawn from alien lands, are enchanted by its sylvan surroundings the vast open spaces, punctuated by fascinating florae and flanked by cluster of mud-plastered houses and homesteads. A few miles away meanders the majestic Beas which adds beauty to its pastoral ambience. For the intrepid walkers, sightseers, bird-watchers, joggers, Pragpur is a virtual haven.

Pragpur is twice blessed in the sense that besides being a Mecca for tourists, it offers a unique example of unity in diversity, with all major communities living in wonderful harmony. Together they share their agonies and esctacies which renew the bonds of their brotherhood and bonhomie.

Pragpur is well-connected by air (Gagal airport 45 km), rail from Hoshiarpur (60 km), Pathankot (110 km), Una (60 km) and by road from Chandigarh (175 km) — a good 4-hour drive unfolding a spectrum of endless sights and scenes.

For accommodation, the local government rest house and the Judge’s Court here are the only options. Though a bit pricy, the Judge’s Court offers homely environment and a sumptuous treat of local delicacies.

But, it is a matter of concern that no bus stand worth the name exists here. The existing bus stand, read bus stop, besides being congested, is a picture of wanton neglect. It has no public toilets. Heaps of garbage emitting nauseating stench can be seen littered around — indeed a black spot on its heritage status. Streetlight too is required to be revamped and the main road recarpetted and widened up to avoid frequent traffic snarls.

They saved kids from jaws of death

Two persons belonging to Kangra district are the proud recipients of Jeevan Raksha Padak. The medal was awarded to them on the eve of Independence Day.

Mr Gautam Prashad Sharma, a resident of Maniara village in Palampur subdivision, is an Assistant Sub Inspector with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police at Ramgarh in Haryana. On April 17 this year, the ASI, who was on leave, saw a 10-year-old child struggling for survival in Awah Khad at Majherna. The river was in spate due to heavy rain and its waters had fast current. Without a minute’s hesitation he jumped into the turbulent waters and rescued the child. But for his timely action, without thought for his safety, the child would have perished.

Mr Ashwani Kumar, a driver belonging to Samnoli village of Kangra district, saw people panicking in the village and on enquiry found that a three-year-old child had fallen into a well. The well was about 80 feet deep and its water level was about 20 feet. Mindless of his safety, he jumped into the well and caught hold of him. Both of them were given the medal along with a cash award of Rs 10,000 each.

Blood donors

Students and teachers of MLN College, Yamunanagar, have become trail-blazers in carrying forward the blood donation movement. They have been donating blood since 1972, when the first voluntary blood donation camp was started by Mr Tilak Raj Chadha, the then Principal of the college. The college has not looked back since then and always comes foward to meet the need for blood in the district. Besides, the college has at least 85 star blood donors, all of whom have donated blood more than 50 times.

According to Dr Romesh Kumar, Principal of the college, himself a star donor, the movement has been converted into a mela which was organised every year on September 5 to commemorate the birthday of its founder, Seth Jaiparkash.

The 31st mela was organised this year when 449 units of blood were collected by a team of doctors from the PGI, Chandigarh. The college has so far donated 7,030 units of blood — a record for any college. In addition, the students have taken a pledge not to allow anybody in the district to die for want to blood. The college has also kept a list of such donors whose services could be utilised during an emergency. In addition, the services of the students and teachers are used for propagating the message of donating blood.

Amongst the prominent blood donors of the college are : Arun Aggarwal (112 donations), Lakshender Kumar (103), Parveen Moudgil (93), Dr Anil Aggarwal (77) and Dr Romesh Kumar (71).

Contributed by Ramesh K. Dhiman, Shishu Patial and K.G. Dutt