The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Friday, April 25, 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

HOSHIARPUR
KILN WORKERS' RALLY: Workers of about 30 kilns, under the banner of Lal Jhanda Bhatta Mazdoor Union, on Wednesday staged a rally at the local Shahid Udham Singh Park to press kiln owners to increase their wages. They took out a procession in the main bazars. Later, after negotiations with kiln owners at the Assistant Labour Commissioner office, it was decided to fix the rate of standard brick at Rs 195 per 1000 and tile brick Rs 202 per 1000.

LUDHIANA
SCHOOL ELECTIONS: Elections were held at Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, BRS Nagar, here on Wednesday. There was 100 per cent turnout for the elections to the school cabinet. After an initial screening, points were awarded for excellence in academics, sports, co-curricular activities, leadership qualities, communication skills and teachers’ opinion. It was followed by voting. Varun Khanna of Class XII was elected head boy and Harneet Sehgal of the same class was elected head girl. Sister Sobel, Principal, congratulated the winners.

MOCK TEST: The Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology, Model Town, will hold a free mock entrance test for the students preparing for admission to MBA and MCA on May 18. Giving this information, Dr A.S. Bansal, Director, said the test would be held on the pattern followed by the universities of Punjab, especially Punjab Technical University. He said the qualifying students would be offered a free refresher course for 10 days.

SEMINAR: To create awareness among the rural regarding the general health of women and children, a seminar was organised by the Association for Social Health in India (ASHI) at Ghugrana village, 30 km from here, on Thursday. The seminar was inaugurated by Ms Sunil Agarwal, president of the association. Among those who attended the seminar included Mr Jagjit Singh Ghungrana, a former Chairman of Punjab Agro, Dr Lovey Lekhi, Mrs Parveen Narang, Mrs Papau Avinash Singh, Mrs Rubi Fernandis, Mrs Ranvir Kaler, Mr S.P. Malik, Secretary, Red Cross Society, Mrs Dhanwant Kaur Ghungrana, president, Mahila Mandal, and Mr Najjar Singh Shankar.

YOGA CAMP: The Vishva Yog Sansthan will organise a yoga camp in Bhartiya Vidya Mandir School, Chandigarh road, on Sunday from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m.. The camp will discuss the problem of obesity and ways to get rid of it. The information was given by Mr Ashok Sharma and Mr Deepak Arora of Vishva Yog Dhyan Centre.

PATIALA
ANNUAL DAY: Students of Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 1 presented a variety entertainment show on Thursday to celebrate the school's annual day. The show, in which nearly 200 students participated, included traditional dances, devotional songs, a group song, a yoga display and skits in English and Hindi. The Principal Mr H.S. Puri, presented the Annual report of the school during the function, presided over by the Chairman of the Vidyalaya Management Committee, Brig G S Dhillon. Bhupinder Singh, who had topped among the CBSE schools in the district in the Class XII board examinations, last year, was also given a prize.

PHAGWARA
TWO INJURED: A truck hit two persons standing along the GT Road at the traffic lights of Chahal Nagar on Thursday. While Dinesh Kumar was taken to a Ludhiana hospital in a critical condition, Vijay Kumar was hospitalised here. The police impounded the truck, but the driver absconded.

CHILD TRACED: A grade V student, Rakesh Kumar, who was missing from Jalandhar, was traced and sent to his parents on Tuesday night. It is learnt that the schoolboy had had a tiff with his father following which he left on his cycle towards Phagwara.

DRUG PEDLAR NABBED: The local police had nabbed a drug pedlar, Arjinder Singh, and found 50 gm of smack from his person. A press note on Wednesday said the pedlar was nabbed at Tibbi tea point. He had admitted to smuggling narcotics. He belonged to Amritsar but had settled here two decades ago.

ROPAR
THIEVES HELD: The Ropar police has claimed to have busted a gang of thieves operating in the district with the arrest of Bhupinder Kumar, a resident of Mianpur near Ropar, Rampal and Amrik Singh, residents of Ropar, and Davinder Singh, a resident of Simbal village near Ropar. The accused were arrested on a tip off while on their way to committing another robbery. A case has been registered.

SAMANA
FOREST WOOD: The police stopped a tractor-trailer full of wood near Dhanetha village 4 km from here, on Wednesday and found that the wood had been pilfered from the Gurdialpura Beer forest under Samana subdivision with the help of a forest guard. The persons in the truck said they had already dropped tractor-trailer full of wood at a saw mill in Samana.

CHANDIGARH

SUSPENDED: The Municipal Corporation on Wednesday suspended Tejpal Bhojia, safai karamchari, for allegedly burning leaves and garbage in Sector 17. A corporation press note said he was allegedly found burning leaves and garbage in front of the Reserve Bank of India’s regional office. The corporation had recently warned sweepers and residents against burning leaves to avoid attracting penal action under Environment Ministry’s guidelines.

ELECTED: The following have been elected for the various posts of Lioness District 321-A2(2003-2004); Lioness district president, — Ms Savindra Chopra; district cabinet secretary — Ms Hemant Chadha; cabinet treasurer, — Ms Hansa Danjal; and public relation officer — Ms Mohini Sood.

PANCHKULA
AWARDED: Mr V.P. Paul, Principal of Chaman Lal DAV Public School, was awarded the Peace Award by the Avantika Award Committee at Hindi Bhavan Auditorium, Rousse Avenue, Deen Dyal Upadhyay Marg, Delhi on Thursday.

SAS NAGAR
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Mohali Property Consultants Association: chairman — Mr B.S. Jhajj; president — Mr Harjinder Singh; and general secretary — Mr Karnail Singh Mann.

POSTPONED: A function, scheduled to be held in connection with the stone-laying ceremony of the municipal library here Thursday was postponed due to the demise of senior Punjab Congress leader Gurmej Singh. The President of the Municipal Council, Mr Kulwant Singh, said the function would now be held on Friday at Silvi Park in Phase X at 10 am.

PANACHE 2K3: A two-day event, Panache 2K3, started at the Shaheed Udham Singh College of Engineering and Technology, Tangori on Thursday. Students from various engineering colleges of the state participated in the function. Dr J.S. Sidhu, Chairman of the college, inaugurated the festival in the presence of Dr J.S. Dhaliwal, Vice-Chairman, and Mr Gurlabh Singh, general secretary. The college Principal, Prof S.K. Girdhar, also addressed the students on the occasion.

HARYANA

AMBALA
INSPECTED: The SDM Ambala, Mr Nar Singh Dhull, and a few other officers of the district administration inspected the sanitation of a drainage of Ambala City. Officials of the Drainage Department and the Municipal Council were also accompanying the SDM. Mr Dhull directed the officers of the Drainage Department to desilt the drainages before the arrival of the rainy season. Later talking to mediapersons, he said a fogging campaign had been continuing in various colonies to check mosquito breeding.

INJURED: A former Army officer was seriously injured when he was hit by a vehicle on the Ambala-Panjokhra road on Thursday. According to the information, Mr Baldev Singh was going towards Lalru on his scooter when a maxi-cab hit him. He was rushed to the local Civil Hospital where doctors referred him to the PGI, Chandigarh. A case has been registered.

FATEHABAD
QUOTA BACKLOG: A meeting of the district unit of the All-India Confederation of Schedule Castes and Scheduled Tribes Organisations was held here on Wednesday. Mr Sooraj Bhan Rathi presided. The confederation welcomed the announcement by Mr Jagjit Singh, a minister in the Punjab Cabinet, that a law would be framed in the next session of the Assembly to implement the 85 Amendment. The backlog in the reservation would be cleared.

KALKA
GATE MEETING: A gate meeting was held by Haryana Roadways employees at the roadways workshop here on Wednesday in protest against ‘anti-employee’ policies of the Haryana government. According to Mr Jagdish Singh, president of the Kalka Depot Employees Union, resentment prevails among the employees against the plan of the government to provide permits to private buses in the state.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

CHAMBA
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the district unit of the Himachal Pradesh Information and Public Relations Department Technical Field Staff Association: president — Mr Ajay Gupta; vice-president — Mr Kanti Lal; general secretary — Mr Sanjay Chauhan; press secretary — Mr Rakesh Kumar; cashier — Mr Surender Soni and Chief Adviser — Mr Rajendra Sharma.

KANGRA
TECHNICAL STAFF POLL: The following have been elected office-bearers of Himachal Pradesh Technical Teacher Association (Gazetted), state unit: president — Mr S.C. Verma; senior vice-president — Mr D.K. Bindra; vice-president — Mr Puneet Sood; general secretary — Mr Z.R. Sharma; joint secretary — Mr R.S. Barwal; finance secretary — Mr Gulab Singh ; organising secretary — Mr K.S. Ranoute; and press secretary — Mr Pardeep Katoch.

PARWANOO
‘APPAREL PARK’: The Himachal Pradesh Government has decided to set up an integrated ‘apparel park’ (readymade garments) at Katha Bhatoli village, near the Baddi-Barotiwala industrial area. Sources said the decision was taken at a high-level meeting held at Shimla on Wednesday. It was presided over by Mr Ram Lal Thakur, Industry Minister.

CHALLANED: Local police challaned 38 vehicles for various offences under the Motor Vehicle Act on Wednesday. Stating this, DSP, Mr Surender Verma added that out of 38 vehicles, 21 two-wheeler drivers were challaned for not wearing helmets.