The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Saturday, April 26, 2003, Chandigarh, India

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50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

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

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
NRI GESTURE: Shrimati Pushpawati Loomba Memorial Trust founded by an NRI in the UK has adopted 100 students who do not have fathers. As many as 28 students from Dhilwan village, the birthplace of Mrs Pushpawati Loomba have been selected for a quarterly stipend of Rs 1500 each for five years at least 50 students from Ludhiana and 20 from Phagwara have been adopted under programme.

DEMONSTRATION: Members of the General Insurance Employees Union (GIEU) today staged a demonstration in front of the office of United India Insurance Company at Dharam Singh Market to protest against the “unilateral implementation” of transfer policy for class III and IV employees. Mr Anil Chopra, vice-president of the GIEU, criticised the Central Government for “betraying” the assurances given on the floor of Parliament by the Union Finance Minister.

BATHINDA
ORDER ON WELLS: Mr Anurag Verma, District Magistrate, has ordered that residents of the district should take written permission for sinking wells in urban and rural areas. The order states that the permission should be taken from the Executive Engineer of the Public Health Department or the Water Supply and Sewerage Board of the district.

SEMINAR: The 11th annual convention of the Northern Regional Council of the All-India Management Association will be held here on Saturday. House for Scs: Mr Hans Raj Gangar, Director, Punjab Social Welfare, has said that Rs 90 lakh would be spent on the construction of houses for members of Scheduled Caste families in the district, according to a press note issued by department on Friday.

DHARNA: Employees of the PSEB sat in dharna on Friday in protest against the transfer of many employees to far-off places. The employees also gave a memorandum to the Chief Engineer and Superintending Engineer of the Bathinda zone.

YOUTH KILLED: A youth was killed when he accidentally fell before a moving train on Friday. The deceased has been identified as Ravinder Kumar (26) of the local Guru Nanak Nagar.

FARIDKOT
WATER SUPPLY: Mr Venu Prasad, Deputy Commissioner, has directed the Health Department to ensure regular supply of drinking water in the town. In a press note here, the Deputy Commissioner, who had convened a special meeting of senior officers of the Public Health Department, was irked at the absence of senior officials in the department.

FATEHGARH SAHIB
CONVOCATION: Prof Kirpal Singh Badungar, president SGPC, awarded degrees to 500 graduates and postgraduates at the annual convocation and prize distribution held at Mata Gujri College, Fatehgarh Sahib on Friday. Dr Jodh Singh, an eminent Sikh scholar and Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, Punjabi University, Patiala, delivered the convocation address. Dr Gurmohan Singh, Principal of the college welcomed the chief guest and other guests and read the annual report. Prof Kirpal Singh Badungar and Dr Jodh Singh gave away the degrees to the students of B.A., B.Com., B.Sc., B.C.A., P.G.D.C.A. and M.A. Nine students were given the roll of honour and 80 students were awarded the college colours for their outstanding achievements.

LUDHIANA
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Khalsa Embroidery Centre, Dugri: patron — Mr Balwant Singh; chairperson — Ms Surinder Kaur; — vice-chairperson — Ms Harbhajan Kaur; president — Ms Rawinder Kaur; vice-president — Ms Raman Deep Kaur; general secretaries — Narinder Kaur and Ms Karamjit Kaur; secretary — Ms Kuljeet Kaur; treasurer — Ms Santosh Rani; assistant treasurer — Ms Ajwinder Kaur; media secretary — Ms Kamaljit Kaur.

SEMINAR: The National Integrated Medical Association (NIMA) will organise a seminar on infant nutrition and weaning here on Sunday. Dr M.S. Sekhon, a paediatrician from Chandigarh, will deliver a lecture on ‘Nutrition and weaning. Dr Surender Gupta, secretary, NIMA said in a press statement that the programme would be for the benefit of NIMA doctors.

MOGA
BAIL: Dr Pankaj Bansal, officer in charge of Janer Ayurvedic Dispensary who was arrested by the Vigilance Bureau under the Prevention of Corruption Act on February 20, was granted bail by Additional Sessions Judge Jagmohan Singh Chawla here on Friday.

PHAGWARA
AGENT BOOKED: The local police has booked travel agent Shiv Kumar of Palahigate for duping Jasbir Kumar of Rs 3 lakh on the promise of sending him to Italy. The complainant, Mrs Joginder Kaur of Chagran village, had alleged that her son was taken to Delhi, kept there for some days and sent back by the travel agent on the pretext that relevant papers for sending him to Italy were not ready yet. The agent had demanded rupees 4.5 lac.

HELD FOR FRAUD: On a complaint by Kirpal Singh of Tanda Bhagana village, the police has nabbed Didar Singh, alias Dara, of Harbanspura Jagjitpura village under Sections 420 and 120-B, IPC, for fraud and criminal conspiracy. He has been sent to judicial custody till May 8. A patwari, Mr Daljit Singh of Rehana Jattan village, also named in the case, is at large.

IMA MEETING: A special general body meeting of the local unit of the Indian Medical Association with Dr G.B. Singh in the chair, has once again condemned the practice of female foeticide and pre-natal sex determination tests and reiterated support for implementing the PNDT Act in letter and spirit.

TARN TARAN
2 DEAD IN MISHAP: Two persons died on the spot and one injured near Dubli village in Patti when a jeep hit a scooter. The Patti police has registered a case under Sections 279, 332, and 304-A against the jeep driver identified as Karaj Singh, a resident of Seeto-Nau-Abad village.

CHANDIGARH

APPOINTED: Vikramjit has been appointed convener of the Swadeshi Sangharsh Samiti of the city, according to Dr Rajinder Singh, in charge of publicity of the samiti in Chandigarh. A co-ordination committee comprising Arun Sood, Paramjit, Narendra Pandey, Surendra Chauhan, Satinder Singh, Suresh Rana, Rajendra Dalal, Sunil Kumar Sharma and Saurabh Joshi has also been constituted.

LOK ADALAT: A Lok Adalat to settle cases of building violations and misuse of premises scheduled to be held on Saturday has been postponed to May 12. The Lok Adalat will be held at 9 am in the office of the Secretary, State Legal Service Authority, Additional Deluxe Building, Sector 9.

BHUMI PUJAN: The UT Finance Secretary, Mr Karan Avtar Singh on Friday inaugurated the “bhumi pujan” ceremony of the flats to be built by the Blood Donors and Tribune Friends Cooperative House Building Societies in Sector 50. Around 100 persons took part in the ceremony. The architect displayed the designs and maps of the site for the members.

SAS NAGAR
IDOL INSTALLED: An idol of Goddess Durga was installed amid chanting of Vedic ‘mantras’ at Shiv Temple in Phase 9 here on Friday. According to Mr Rakesh Kumar and Mr Sukh Ram, president and general secretary of the managing body of the temple, respectively, a large number of devotees attended the idol installation ceremony. A ‘langar’ was also arranged on the occasion.

HARYANA

AMBALA
DHARNA: The Ambala Cantonment unit of the BJP will stage a dharna from April 28 to May 9 before the office of Ambala Sadar Municipal Council to protest against the suspension of the chairman of the council, Mr Shankar Dass. Mr Dass, a senior leader of the Ambala BJP, was suspended by the Director, Urban Development Department, following the registration of a corruption case against him.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the HUDA Public Health Employees Union: chairman — Mr Balbir Singh; president: Mr Baljit Singh; senior vice-president — Mr Ram Lal; vice-presidents — Mr Mahender Singh, Mr Suraj Bhan and Mr Pandian; district secretary — Mr Ram Kumar and treasurer — Mr Sunil Kumar.

HISAR
KILLED IN MISHAP: A woman was run over and killed by a vehicle at Mirjapur Chowk here on Thursday. According to the police, Bala Devi (30), a resident of the local Geeta Colony, was crossing the Hisar-Delhi national highway when the mishap occurred. The city police has registered a case of negligent driving in this connection.

SENTENCED: A local court has sentenced a man to three-year imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 1000 on him on the charge of offering bribe to a police officer. According to the police, Chandan Lal, a resident of Laxmi Mandi, had offered bribe of Rs 1 lakh to an inspector on the phone, seeking his help in a case. The police officer asked him to reach the Civil Lines police station. When he reached there, a police team arrested him and seized Rs 1 lakh from his car.

CHARAS SEIZED: The Hansi police on Thursday arrested a man and seized 180 gm of charas from his possession at Hansi, near here. According to the police, Hawa Singh, a resident of the nearby Umra village, was on his way to Hansi from his village on a scooter when a police party, on a tip-off, nabbed him and seized the contraband.

KARNAL
BAN ORDERS: To check the spread of malaria and cholera in the district, District Magistrate R.S. Doon through an order has prohibited the sale of over-ripe fruit, vegetables and ice candy. The order shall remain in force up to December 31.

PINJORE
THREE HELD: Three persons allegedly involved in flesh trade were nabbed by the Panchkula police. According to sources, a Pinjore resident, parveen, was nabbed for running a brothel from her house. The police also arrested Rajinder and Seema.

SIRSA
SEMINAR: Various programmes have been launched for the physical well-being of children but psychological problems have remained largely neglected, said Dr Satish Junthra, organising secretary of a seminar organised by the Indian Psychiatric Society, Haryana branch, here on Thursday. There were 15 child psychologists in the country with children comprising 40 per cent of its population.

SONEPAT
PROTEST: Hundreds of local residents, mostly women of Shiv Colony, held a demonstration in front of the office of the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) here on Friday in protest against the failure of the nigam to erect electricity poles in the colony.

12 HURT IN MISHAP: At least 12 persons, including 10 women, were injured when a Tata Sumo in which they were travelling was hit by a truck on the G.T. road near Bahalgarh village, 10 km from here, on Thursday. According to a report, the injured persons were identified as Ran Singh, Vikas, Sushma, Murti Devi, Jagriti, Sarjo, Manti Devi, Ishwanti, Krishna, Ram Rati and Chandra. All were admitted to the local Civil Hospital.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

PARWANOO
POLICE HELP CELL: Keeping in view the problems being faced by accident victims, a police help cell has been set up at the Parwanoo police station by the state police headquarters to keep in touch with all accident victims from the state who are referred to the PGI and provide help to them and their relatives. The cell will be connected to the SPs of all districts of the state. The cell will keep all information regarding the victims and pass it on to their respective district headquarters, according to a source.

MEETING: A meeting was held at the office of the SDM, Kalka, on Thursday to streamline the traffic flow on National Highway No 22. According to the information, the president, Municipal Committee, along with its members, president, Local Beopar Mandal, delegates from the local Taxi Union, DM Haryana Roadways, DSP Kalka, auto-rickshaw drivers and members of various social organisations attended the meeting. The SDM directed the police to depute policemen at main points of the town. He also urged local shopkeepers and members of the Beopar Mandal not to encroach on the road.

SHIMLA
WORLD BOOK DAY: Dr Suraj Bhan, Governor, said that books were a rare source of knowledge as opened vistas of myriad experiences from all over the world. Presiding over a function on the occasion of World Book and Copyright Day in Himachal Pradesh University, here on Wednesday, he said the books were the best way of educating “ourselves”.

MEETING PUT OFF: Mrs Manisha Nanda, Chief Electoral Officer, said here on Wednesday that the meeting of the Delimitation Commission scheduled for April 29 had been cancelled. She said the decision to cancel the meeting was taken in view of the move to amend the Constitution to provide for readjustment of electoral constituencies based on the population census for the year 2001.