The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Tuesday, December 10, 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
STUDENT FELICITATED: Government Senior Secondary School, Nathumajra, organised a function to felicitate two sisters and students of the school who brought laurels to the area by bagging medals in state athletics held at Ludhiana recently. Mr Jagmeet Singh, Principal of the school, told Ludhiana Tribune that Rajdeep Kaur, a student of class XII of the school had bagged first prize in 5,000 meter race and second prize in 3,000 meter race. She had won a third prize in national sports the previous year. Her sister Rajbir of class IX won second prize in 400 meter race and fifth position in 800 meter race. The school Principal said the school had earlier bagged six first prizes, three second prizes and three third prizes in zonal competitions.

BATHINDA
YOUTH KILLED: A youth was killed in a head-on collision between a jeep and a bus early on Monday near Jeonsinghwala village about 25 km from here. The deceased, identified as Lakhbir Singh, a resident of Chathewala village, was driving the jeep when the mishap took place. His body was handed over to his family members after a post-mortem examination. The police had registered a case under Section 304 A of the IPC against the driver of the bus.

FARIDKOT
LECTURE ON DRUG ABUSE: The district Education Department has decided to introduce a special lecture on drug abuse twice a week during morning assembly in all senior secondary and high schools of the district. Seminars in this regard will also be organised on a monthly basis, said Mrs Sukhmander Kaur Brar, District Education Officer (Secondary), here on Monday. Directions have been issued to all heads of institutions to implement the scheme with immediate effect.

LUDHIANA
X-MAS FUNCTION: A colourful function was organised on Sunday at Nursing Hostel of Christian Medical College. A Christmas tree was decorated on the occasion and Santa Claus distributed gifts among participants and the audience. Dr Charles Ronald and his wife from the USA were the chief guests. Among others who attended the function were Dr Kamaljit Gill, Dr Victor Stephen, Dr S.K.Singh, Dr J.L.Joshi and Dr Basant Pawar. A prayer meeting was held at the end of the function.

MAHAYAJNA BEGINS: The 48th Ram Naam Akhand Jap Mahayajna, being held by the Amritwani Satsang Dharmarth Trust, began at Shri Ram Sharnam Ashram in Civil Lines on Sunday with Narkewal Bedi giving the opening discourse. During the mahayajna, non-stop recitation of Ram naam would take place for 21 days.

OSHO’S BIRTHDAY: The birthday of Osho was celebrated in Moti Nagar under the supervision of Swami Anil Dubey on Sunday. Meditation and satsang sessions were held.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Young Lawyers’ Association: president — Mr Shamsher Singh Gill; vice-president — Mr Ravinder Singh; and secretary — Mr Ishu Bansal.

CONTEST: A declamation contest was held in Gurdwara Dukh Niwaran Sahib on the occasion of Guru Teg Bahadur’s martyrdom day, on Saturday. About 50 contestants participated in the contest. A sahabad recitation competition was held in Gurdwara Shri Guru Arjun Dev Sat Sangh Sabha on December 8. Students from 10 schools participated in the competition.

APPOINTED: The Department of Public Administration, Panjab University, Chandigarh, has appointed Prof B.S. Ghuman, as the Chemicals and Fertilizer Director (Part time). The Principal, Dr (Ms) Madanjit Kaur Sahota, has thanked Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Chemical and Fertilizers Minister, for the appointment. Prof Ghuman has written over 40 research papers and books.

CENTURION BANK: Sabre Capital Worldwide Inc. has commenced an exclusive due-diligence programme on the Centurion Bank premises here recently, according to Mr V. Janakiraman, chairman and managing director of the bank. Due diligence is being undertaken to allow infusion of additional capital in the bank. Sabre Capital Worldwide, which has been established by a team of bankers to invest in and help manage financial services in emerging markets, is expected to complete its work by the end of this month.

SHOW: It was a unique experience for the viewers to watch Polish girls, dressed in coats and trousers, dance to the tunes of hit numbers of Daler Mehandi in Ebony, a store on the Mall Road. The show was arranged by Hotel Le Meridian, Delhi, and Ebony Stores. Members of a Polish band, Flames, and the Planet Dance Troupe regaled the audience. Kate and Zina, dancer of Flames, sang Punjabi pop songs much to the delight of the crowd.

MANSA
ARRESTED: The Sadar police on Sunday arrested Devi Dayal, a proclaimed offender, belonging to Burj Dhilwan village, near here. He was wanted by the police in a number of theft cases. He was produced in a court, which remanded him in judicial custody.

NAWANSHAHR
GRANTS DISTRIBUTED: Ms Santosh Chaudhary, MP, on Sunday addressed a number of public meetings and distributed grants out of the Local Area Development Fund to the Municipal Council, Banga, and a number of villages falling under the Banga and Nawanshahr Assembly segments. She presented a cheque of Rs 7.35 lakh to Mr Paramjit Singh Rai, President, Municipal Council, Banga, for purchasing three power generator sets to run tubewells during power cuts.

NOBLE GESTURE: Baba Naubat Rai, a local social workers, in collaboration with the local Blood Donors Council, the Sarv Dharam Seva Samiti and industrialist Hardev Singh Kahma on Sunday organised functions at Jai Janata School, Pandora Mohalla, and Tara Singh Kahma Memorial School, Mahalon, being run by him for providing education to children of jhuggi dwellers. Mr Gurinder Singh Toor, founder-president of the BDC, gave a lecture on health and hygiene. Mr Prem Singh Badwal and Mr Hardev Singh Kahma opened sewing training centres at the schools. They donated five sewing machines each.

PHAGWARA
CUT IN AID FLAYED: Mr Jagat Singh Palahi, Chairman of Guru Nanak College, on Sunday flayed the Punjab Government for reducing grant-in-aid to private colleges and freezing aided posts. The government had backtracked from its commitment to higher education, he alleged. Reducing 95 per cent aid to 65 per cent had pushed the private colleges in the red. So the grant should be restored to the previous level, added Mr Palahi.

DR BAINS HONOURED: Dr Raghbir Singh Bains, author of the world’s first encyclopaedia on Sikhism in multi-media, was honoured at the local Guru Nanak College, according to a press note by college Principal Inderjit Singh here on Sunday. Canada-based NRI Bains was presented a trophy and a scroll. Dr Bains had also launched an awareness drive against AIDS, alcohol and drugs.

CHANDIGARH

WORKSHOP: A workshop on memory retention was organised by Kailash Behal DAV School, Sector 7 here today. During the workshop topics like how to increase memory during exams were discussed at length. About 500 students attended the workshop.

COMMITTEE SET UP: Senior residents of Modern Housing Complex, Rajiv Vihar Manimajra, on Sunday formed an ad-hoc committee of D.P. Wadhwa, S.L. Kapoor, K.K. Kapoor, C.L. Wadhwa and P.N. Kampahi to look after the interests of the senior residents of the area and offer help to the society. This was decided at a meeting of the senior residents of the area. The participants of the meeting included professionals, judges and engineers who wanted to improve the living conditions of the area, Justice B.S. Nehra (retd) presided over the meeting.

SURVEY AT JANTA COLONY: On the second day of the ongoing NSS camp, organised by Punjab Engineering College, the participants conducted a survey at Janata Colony. The survey was aimed at gauging the economic standard of the resident. A talk was also delivered on the alarming decline in the male-female ratio in Punjab and Haryana and the social implications of the problems.

NEW BRANCHES: The Universal Immigration and Allied Consultants, a company approved by the Ministry of Labour, specialising in immigration to Canada, Australia and New Zealand and also International Education, expanded its services in India by opening its branch offices at Chandigarh, Ambala and Garhshankar. According to Mr Amit Mann, vice-president (business development) in a short span of time the company has opened its branch offices in Chandigarh, Ambala, Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Pathankot, and Garhshankar thus catering to the immigration and educational requirements of its clients. The company has its associate offices in Canada, New Zealand and Australia who were focussed on providing settlement and placement assistance to its clients, he added.

HARYANA

AMBALA
AIDS AWARENESS CAMPAIGN: Inter-school competitions were held from November 29 concluded on Monday to mark AIDS awareness campaign organised by the Station Health Organisation, Ambala cantonment. Lt Col Rajat Srivastava, Officer Commanding, Station Health Organisation said the Army school, Ambala Cantonment had been declared the winner for events organised during the awareness campaign while Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 4 was declared the runners up. The Station Health Organisation organised a health exhibition, health education lectures seminars, debates health quiz, drawing and painting competition among students of four Kendriya Vidyalayas, Army School and convent school.

STOLEN: Thieves decamped with cash and other valuable from a shop at Motor Market, Ambala city. The owner of the shop lodged a complaint with the Baldev Nagar police station in which he alleged that the thieves stole the cash and a colour television from his shop. The police has registered a case.

SNATCHED: An unidentified youth snatched away a gold chain of an official of Army Hospital at Ambala Cantonment. The official lodged a complaint with the cantonment police in this regard. Earlier too several chain-snatching incidents have occurred at Ambala Cantonment.

CELEBRATED: The birthday of the Congress president, Ms Sonia Gandhi, was celebrated by various Congress cells at Ambala city here on Monday. The District Mahila Congress organised function in Swamiya Mohalla at Ambala city under the chairmanship of its president Ms Amarjit Kaur Sodhi. Congress workers on this occasion expressed their confidence under the leadership of HPCC chief Mr Bhajan Lal. Mahila Congress leaders Kamlesh Kharbanda, Manjit Kaur, Radha Devi, Santosh Kashyap and Neelam Shaili were present on this occasion.

COMPETITION: Mr Anuj Sharma, a student of B.Sc II Medical has stood first in a collages making competition held in SD College (Lahore). The collage making competition was organised by Zoology Association and Environment Society. Shaddha Rana was second while Rajesh Rani was third in the competition.

KURUKSHETRA
BEAUTIFICATION: The Haryana Government is committed to beautification of all cities besides providing basic amenities to the people under the leadership of Mr Om Prakash Chautala, Chief Minister. This was stated by the Haryana Transport Minister, Mr Ashok Kumar Arora, after the inaugural ceremony of the beautification of Pipli Chowk. He said beautification of the chowk had been done under the Integrated Development Small and Medium Town scheme (IDSMT) at a cost of Rs 5 lakh.

CRAFTS MELA: A national-level crafts mela on the pattern of Suraj Kund will be organised at the banks of the holy Brahmasarovar by the Haryana Tourism Department on the occasion of Mahabharat Utsav-Gita Jayanti Samaroh from December 11 to 15. Giving this information, the Managing-Director of Haryana Tourism, Mrs Navraj Sandhu, said the Haryana Governor, would inaugurate the mela on December 12. She said as many as 70 famed craftsmen and winners of state and national awards would participate in the mela from seven zones, including the North Zone Cultural Centre, Patiala.