The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Wednesday, April 16, 2003, 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

BATHINDA
DAV STUDENT: Saloni Sidana, a class VIII student of DAV Public School, Jalalabad (West), has secured the sixth rank in the All-India DAV School Education Board and the third rank in Punjab. In a press note issued here on Tuesday, the school said of the 84 students who appeared in the class VIII examinations, 34 scored marks between 62 and 92 per cent.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been appointed office-bearers of the Guru Gobind Singh Sports Club, Burj Mehma: president — Mr Iqbal Singh Buttar; general secretary — Mr Pritpal Singh Brar; senior vice-president — Mr Jasvir Singh Sidhu; vice-president — Mr Parviander Singh; and press secretary — Mr Gurdip Singh.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the district chapter of the Indian Medical Association: president — Dr H.S. Narang; vice-presidents — Dr Harvinder Bakshi and Dr Ashok Gupta; secretary — Dr Amrit Sethi; treasurer — Dr S.R. Utreja; and joint secretary — Dr K.S. Brar.

TOPPER: Kudrat Samra, a student of the third semester of the computer engineering branch at the local Government Polytechnic College, has topped the December — 2002 examination conducted by the Punjab State Board of Technical Education by securing 665 marks out of 800. Of the 20 merit positions announced by the board, students of the local college have bagged four.

BIRTH ANNIVERSARY: Mr Sham Lal Jaura, district president, Bahujan Samaj Party, in a press note issued here, said the 112th birth anniversary of Dr B.R. Ambedkar was celebrated on Monday at Ambedkar Park near the District Courts complex. Mr Jaura said the only way to uplift Dalits and the downtrodden was to educated them.

BLOOD DONATED: Eleven volunteers of the Aasra Welfare Society donated blood on Monday at a medical camp held at a government elementary school. About 135 patients were given medicines free of cost after a panel of doctors examined them. Mr Chiranji Lal Garg, former Punjab Cabinet Minister, also attended the function. Meanwhile, volunteers of the Sahara Jan Sewa, an NGO, celebrated Baisakhi by bathing destitute mentally challenged people and by giving them new clothes and footwear.

HOSHIARPUR
SEMINAR: The Public Awareness Council organised a seminar on “globalisation and its impact” here on Sunday evening Dr Kuldip Singh, convener of the council, outlined the activities of the council during the past one year. Dr Darshanpal of Patiala deliberated on the details of globalisation and its impact on the new economic policies of the Third World countries. He said that capitalism was the mother of globalisation. The USA was blamed for nursing an ambition of becoming the uncrowned king of the world. He cautioned the people against the hidden designs of capitalist countries. The talk was followed by an absorbing interaction session.

BIRTH ANNIVERSARY: The 100th birth anniversary of a freedom fighter, Mr Bhola Ram, was celebrated with great enthusiasm here on Monday. Dr Kewal Krishan, Speaker, Punjab Vidhan Sabha, while addressing a function to mark the celebrations, said the government should take steps to inculcate the spirit of patriotism, discipline and dedication in the new generation. He appreciated and highlighted the dedicated role of Mr Bhola Ram during the freedom struggle of the country. Mr Romesh Chander Dogra, Health and Family Welfare Minister, Punjab, also highlighted the role of freedom fighters in getting the country liberated from British rule. Mr Bhola Ram advised the youth to serve their parents and lead a disciplined life. He announced donation of his eyes after death.

POWER: Power supply to Mohalla Railway Mandi, Government College Road, Sutehri Road, Premgarh, Guru Nanak Nagar, Prahlad Nagar, Vakilan Bazar, Kutcha Toba, Mal Road, etc. will remain suspended from 9 am to 1 pm on April 16 due to repair in the 11-kv feeder of the Civil Lines, according to a press note issued by the local authorities of the PSEB here on Monday.

JALANDHAR
TRAVEL AGENT BOOKED: As many as 10 cases have been registered against a travel agent on the allegations of cheating and criminal conspiracy. Mr Varinder Kumar, SSP, in a press note issued here on Monday said that 10 cases had been registered against Gagan Bakshi, a travel agent, at police station No 6 for duping innocent people of lakhs of rupees on the pretext of sending them abroad.

KHARAR
POLICE PHONE DISCONNECTED: The only telephone (No. 245204) installed at the local police station has been disconnected by the BSNL due to non-payment of bills. The phone was disconnected about two weeks ago and even after so many days, the department has failed to make the payment. Earlier, due to non-payment of bills, the BSNL had withdrawn the facility of making calls from this telephone number. This continues for about one year, but now the BSHL has disconnected this facility also. The residents are demanding that these should be at least be one working telephone at police station.

LUDHIANA
BLOOD DONATION: A blood donation camp for thalassemic children and patients was organised by the local unit of the Sanghmeshwar Seva Dal at the Krishna mandir in Krishna Nagar here on Sunday. As many as 66 persons donated blood in the camp, which was supervised by doctors from Christian Medical College. The camp, held under the presidentship of Mahant Shri Ganga Puri, chief patron of the Akhil Bhartiya Shri Sangmeshwar Dal, Arunai Pehowa, was inaugurated by Mr S.K. Sharma, Municipal Commissioner. So far the dal has collected 2, 860 units of blood, organised marriages of 766 girls from poor families and distributed 640 tricycles to handicapped persons, said Dr Harish Verma, secretary of the Dal.

FOUNDATION DAY: The Punjab National Bank’s regional office commemorated the 109th foundation day of the bank on Sunday. Addressing the staff, Mr S.K. Kalra, Regional Manager, recounted the history of the bank, founded by great patriots like Lala Lajpat Rai, Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia and others who dreamt of an Indian bank which could fulfil the aspirations of the people for their banking needs during the British rule. Mr B B Goyal, Senior Manager of the Ahmedgarh Town branch, spoke of the technological advances made by the bank. He said the branch would soon start ATM and tele-banking services.

SEMINAR: The president of the Bhartiya Yuva Maitri Sangh, Mr Goldy Sabharwal, at a seminar ‘evils of drugs’, held in Field Ganj on Sunday, urged the youth to say no to drugs. The seminar was attended by Mr Parminder Mehta, Congress leader, Dr Inderjit Dogra, Ms Pinki Arora, Mr Darshan Kalra, Mr Inderjit Parmar and others.

DENTAL CAMP: A dental camp was organised by various local Lions Clubs , including Continental, Virat, Vishal and Supreme, at Rohit Dental Clinic, Kitchlew Nagar, on Monday. More than 150 patients were examined. Tooth extraction and filling were done free of cost. The camp was inaugurated by Mr R.K. Mehta, Vice-District Governor. Mr Amrit Lal Aggarwal, Mr Vinod Khanna and Mr M.S. Matharoo, presidents of the club units, attended the camp.

HAILED: The Guru Gobind Singh Seva Jatha hailed the implementation of Nanakshahi Calendar at a meeting held on Tuesday. Mr Kartar Singh Garib, president of the body, congratulated the members of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. He expressed disappointment over drug abuse prevalent among the Sikh youth in rural areas and urged the SGPC to look into the matter. He said ‘ragi jathas’, ‘dhadis’ and ‘gianis’ should be sent to villages for spreading the message of gurbani.

CHANDIGARH

LITERARY SYMPOSIUM: The Akhil Bhartiya Sahitya Parishad, Chandigarh, organised a symposium on creation and morality at Panjab University here on Tuesday. Dr Sadhu Ram Sharda presided over the symposium. In his presidential address, Dr Sharda said critics should be away from attachments and prejudices. Earlier, introducing the subject, Dr Balwendra Bhushan said literature and art were forms of creation involving the mankind. The speakers on this occasion expressed concern over the increasing influence of the monetary aspect on literary creation.

SECTOR TO GET FACELIFT: Sector 35 will get a facelift with the Municipal Corporation recarpeting the V-5 road of the sector. Mayor Subhash Chawla said recarpeting of parking lots would be taken up soon. He said additional lights would be provided in the market and the height of electricity poles would be reduced to improve lighting arrangements in the market.

TRAINING PROGRAMME: The Patiala-based Army Institute of Law (AIL) and the International Committee of The Red Cross (ICRC) will organise a three-day teachers training programme on “International Humanitarian Law” from Wednesday at the AIL campus, Dr G.I.S. Sandhu, Director of the AIL announced here on Tuesday. The programme will be inaugurated by Justice S.S. Sodhi, former Chief Justice, Allahabad High Court. Teachers in law and political science from Kashmir, Jammu, Guru Nanak Dev, Panjab, Kurukshetra and Punjabi Universities will attend the programme.

WAIT FOR GRATUITY: A former superintendent posted at the Government College, Sector 11, Mr Inderjit Singh Gill, has alleged that his gratuity has not been released even more than a year after he retired. Mr Gill, a resident of SAS Nagar, said despite a number of representations submitted to the authorities concerned no action had been taken to release the gratuity, that amounts of Rs 2.5 lakh. Alleging malafide intentions on the part of certain officials in the Education Department, he said the release of his pension was also delayed by six months as the authorities had failed to grant him a requisite increment.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
DECLAMATION CONTEST: Pritha, Vibhuti and Bhumika in the junior category and Akriti, Ankita and Ekta in the senior category were declared first, second and third, respectively, in a declamation contest organised by the Health and Family Welfare Department on World Health Day on the subject of “healthy environment for children” here on Sunday. In the painting contest, Abhaye Sagar, Abhinandan and Achint in the junior category and Lalita, Akashkraj and Nishan in the senior category got the first, second and third positions.

KUMARHATTI
SUPPORT: The Solan District Kisan Sabha has extended its support to a nationwide demonstration call given by the National Assembly of Trade Unions on May 21 against the WTO wrong policies. A meeting of the sabha held at Chambaghat, near Solan, on Monday decided to hold a mass demonstration of kisans at Solan that day. Meanwhile, the sabha has taken serious exception of the Central Government external policies.

SHIMLA
RAILWAY FUNCTION: Dr Suraj Bhan, Governor, has lauded the role of the Indian Railways for providing the best communication services and uniting India through its biggest rail network in the world. Inaugurating the function organised here on Sunday evening to celebrate the 150 years of the Indian Railways, he said the journey of the Railways had been gradual, but undoubtedly, thrilling and adventurous. Mr Keshav Chandra, Divisional Railway Manager, Ambala, said that the Railways had progressed by leaps and bound over the past 150 years. A quiz competition on the Railways and a cultural programme were also held on the occasion.