The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Sunday, August 31, 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

AMRITSAR
TRAINING CAMP: The Sainik Welfare Office has offered free recruitment training camp for wards of former servicemen, low-income groups and backward classes. Screening for the 42-day camp will be from September 8 to 13. The Deputy Director, Sainik Welfare, informed that students should have obtained at least 45 per cent marks in matric. He further informed that outstation candidates would be provided free accommodation.

BATHINDA
NAAC TEAM: A team of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), Bangalore, visited Bhai Asa Singh Girls College, Goniana Mandi for its assessment on Tuesday and Wednesday. The members of the team included Prof K. L. Sharma, Vice-Chancellor, Rajasthan University, Jaipur, Dr Geeta Iyangar, Coordinator, NAAC, Mrs Raj Dembla, Principal, Government College, Murthal (Sonepat), and Dr S.K. Dhawan, retired Joint Director, Education, Shimla. Dr Dhawan presented a report to the Principal of the college, Dr Gurdeep Kaur Brar.

FAZILKA
CRUSHED TO DEATH: Bhajan Singh (32), a labourer of Teja Rohela village was hit by an Army vehicle on Friday while he was returning to his village on a bicycle. He died on the spot. A case has been registered in this regard.

CONSUMES POISON: Gurmeet Singh (28), a tea stall owner of Dhippanwali village, 20 km from here, died of suspected poisoning. According to statement of Jaspreet Kaur, wife and Surjeet Singh, brother of the deceased, Gurmeet Singh was suffering from fever and had taken some medicine from a practitioner. He reportedly took poisonous tablets by mistake instead of the medicine on Friday. He was rushed to a nearby Primary Health Centre of Dabwala Kalan where he died.

FATEHGARH SAHIB
CLUB FORMED: The Royal Automobile Club of Engineers (RACE) was set up at the local Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Engineering College on Saturday. According to Prof Narinder Pal Singh, president of the club, the mission of the club was to make new innovations in the field of automobile engineering by arranging seminars, design competitions and auto-expos. Dr D.S. Hira, Principal of the college, appreciated the effort of students and teachers in setting up the club. Prof I.P.S. Gill, training and placement officer of the college, and Prof K.S. Panesar, Head of the Mechanical Department, also spoke on the occasion.

GURDASPUR
STONE LAID: Mr Khushal Bhal, Education Minister, on Saturday laid the foundation stone of a community hall at Chawa village, 6 km from here as a part of the Punjab Government’s commitment to celebrate the current year as development year in the state. Addressing a public gathering on the occasion, Mr Bahl released Rs 60.75 lakh as grant for the development to be undertaken in 13 villages of Gurdaspur Assembly constituency.

HOSHIARPUR
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of PCCTU Union of DAV College, Hoshiarpur: president — Prof Harbans Singh; vice president — Prof Nita Puri; secretary — Prof Sanjiv Ghai; and joint secretary — Mr Rajiv Sharma. A 10-member executive committee has also been elected.

SEIZED: The Garhshanker police has arrested Shakuntla Devi, wife of Surjit Singh of Denowal Khurd, under Sections 15/61/85 of the NDPS Act and seized 9 Kg of poppy husk from her on Thursday evening.

KHARAR
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Ropar District Rice Millers Association: president — Mr Sudarshan Verma (Kharar); senior vice president — Mr Dev Raj (Kurali); secretary — Mr Prem Chand Mittal (Kharar); and treasurer — Mr Vijay Pal (Kurali).

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Shri Ram Lila Dramatic Club, Kharar: chairman — Mr Tata Chand Gupta; patron — Mr Charanjit Singh; vice-chairman — Mr Naresh Mittal; president — Mr Shiv Charan Pinki; and vice-president —Mr Rajesh Sood.

URGED: Mr Hardip Singh, president of the All Department Pensioners Association, Kharar, in a memorandum to the SDM on Friday alleged that pensioners were facing difficulty in getting their pensions from banks. He urged the SDM to call a meeting of bank managers on the issue. He also demanded separate queues for senior citizens in OPD’s of various hospitals.

LUDHIANA
CASSETTE RELEASED: The latest cassette of Balwinder Safi “Gal Sun Kudiye” was released by Honey Audios on Friday at a function held in the city. The album was prepared in England and was shot at exotic locations in Mumbai and England. The music director is Bill Kooner. Des Raj Jassal, Dr Bal Siddhu, Baldev Mastana, Sukhvir Sodhi have sung a song each in the album.

SAPLINGS PLANTED: The Balmiki Gyan Yog Prachar Samiti and the Dharmik Ekta Club organised sapling plantation drive at Bhattian village here on Saturday.

LECTURE: Prof Gulshan Kataria, Head of the Department of English, and Dean, Faculty of Language, Punjabi University, delivered a special talk to postgraduate students of English at Gujarnwala Guru Nanak Khalsa College here on Saturday. He dwelt at length on the origin of English drama, its journey through various stages and its culmination during the Elizabethan age.

NAWANSHAHR
PRIVATISATION OF ITIs: The employees of the local ITI, in a letter to the Chief Minister, have urged him to revoke the Cabinet decision of July 16 regarding handing over the polytechnics and ITIs to private entrepreneurs. The decision has evoked great resentment among students and staff of the polytechnics and ITIs. They would be forced to launch a stir in case the decision was not revoked immediately, warned the employees.

SECOND SPOT: Natasha Gautam, a student of the local Shivalik Public School has bagged second position in the state-level students science seminar jointly organised by State Institute of Science Education (SISE), Chandigarh, and the NSM, New Delhi, at R.S. Model Senior Secondary School, Ludhiana, on Friday, according to Mr Balihar Singh Bains, District Science Supervisor, in a press note on Saturday.

APPOINTED: Mr Harbans Lal Taneja, a retired Principal of the local Doaba Arya Senior Secondary School, has been appointed Registrar, Arya Vidhya Parishad, Punjab, by Dr K.K. Pasricha, President, Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, Punjab (Pasricha faction).

PATHANKOT
RETIRES: Master Mohan Lal, former Higher Education Minister and senior BJP leader, retired as a teacher of the local Arya Senior Secondary School on Saturday. He joined the teaching profession in 1966 and served it for nearly 38 years. He got elected to the Punjab Assembly twice and served as a Forest Minister and Higher Education Minister in the SAD-BJP government led by Mr Parkash Singh Badal from 1977 to 2002.

FARMERS FIELD DAY: About 200 farmers participated in the Farmers Field Day organised at Sadhu Chuk and Babbowal villages by the National Fertilizers Limited (NFL) and Punjab Agricultural University on Friday. The NFL introduced a new product, neem-coated urea, on the occasion. Mr Yoginder Singh, Area Manager, NFL, deliberated on the means to minimise farm input cost and increase productivity.

PATIALA
SAPLINGS PLANTED: The State Bank of Patiala in association with the Society for Health and Environment organised a sapling plantation function at Gurdwara Dukhniwaran Sahib here on Saturday. Around 100 saplings of medicinal and ornamental plants were planted. The DGM, State Bank of Patiala, Mr N.S Deshpande and Head Granthi Sukhdev Singh were the chief guests at the function.

DRUG AWARENESS CAMP: Students of local Mohindra College on Saturday organised a drug awareness camp here. Aroung 150 students participated in the camp. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Tejveer Singh, was the chief guest.

TRIBUTES PAID: The local unit of the District Congress Committee (Urban) organised a function at Chotti Baradari to pay tributes to Beant Singh on his eighth death anniversary here on Friday. The PRTC Chairman, Mr Ved Parkash Gupta, demanded that the government should award Bharat Ratna to Beant Singh for his supreme sacrifice. The Transport Minister, Punjab, and son of Beant Singh, Mr Tej Parkash Singh, MP, Ms Parneet Kaur, Mayor Municipal Corporation, Mr Vishnu Sharma, Chairman Improvement Trust, Mr K.K. Sharma and Chairman Punjab Agro Industry, Mr Sanjeev Garg, were present.

TARN TARAN
CULTURAL PROGRAMME: A cultural programme for persons, who were treated at the six de-addiction centres being run by the district police was presented here on Friday. Mr S.K. Sharma, IG, was the chief guest and Mr Narinder Bhargav, SSP, presided over the function.

CHANDIGARH

DECISION HAILED: The Pind Bachao Committee, a body of villagers who were ousted to make way for establishing the city, praised the decision of the Chandigarh Administration to withdraw the scheme of rehabilitating slum-dwellers here on Friday. The president of the committee, Mr Angrez Singh Badheri, said the policy was altering the demographic profile of the city. Meanwhile, the Commercial Tenants Association, a body of traders protesting against the Rent Act notification, has welcomed the move saying that the Administrator should listen to their plea as well.

IT QUIZ: To mark the second anniversary of the Society for the Promotion of IT in Chandigarh (SPIC) an “IT quiz” was organised at DAV College, Sector 10, in which 10 teams participated from Panjab University and colleges of the UT. Ajit Bansal and Vikash Kapoor, were adjudged first and Vijay Goel and Vikrant second. All are students of MCA Department, Panjab University. They were given mementoes, certificates and cash prize of Rs 1000. In the evening, Mr R.S. Gujral, Home Secretary, Chandigarh Administration, awarded certificates to 22 students who completed their training courses in AutoCad, C++, MS Office and Internet, at SPIC-Microsoft Centre of Excellence, Punjab Engineering College Campus, Sector 12.

SEMINAR: To make industry and consumers aware about chemicals and technologies for water treatment, a seminar was organised here on Saturday by Hydro Chem chemicals (Private) Ltd (HCPL) — a company based at Kashipur, Uttaranchal. Nearly 150 representatives from surrounding industry and Punjab Cooperative sugar mills attended the seminar. Mr T.R. Sarangal, MD, Sugarfed, Punjab, presided over the seminar.

SAS NAGAR
LIONS CLUB: Mr D.S. Chandhok, president, and his team were installed at a ceremony of the local Lions Club held in Chandigarh. The oath was administered by district cabinet secretary Ashok Singla in the presence of club governor for 321-F district R.K. Mehta and other district leaders. The first issue of the Lions souvenir, “Crusader”, was also released at the function.

TAX ON CSD ITEMS: The local unit of the All-India Defence Brotherhood, while thanking the Punjab Government for rolling back the taxes on CSD items, has demanded that the Chief Minister should apologise for defaming defence officers by alleging that they were buying cars through canteens and selling those to civilians. Brig Harwant Singh, president of the unit, said only 5,000 cars had been purchased by defence officers in Punjab though the taxes had been exempted on almost 20,000 cars. He alleged that the dealers had fraudulently sold cars to reap financial benefits and government should take action against them. He said the organisation would hold a convention on September 6 to discuss issues like job reservation for ex-servicemen and benefits to war widows.

HARYANA

AMBALA
DRIVE ON TRAFFIC RULES: The Superintendent of Police, Highway Patrol, Mr Saurabh Singh, on Saturday said students and staff of 74 schools along the highways in Haryana were made aware of the traffic rules during a fortnight-long campaign. The traffic police gave information to around 18,400 students and 350 teachers of the schools. The teachers were asked to inform the students about traffic rules during morning assembly.

MEDICAL CAMP: A free medical camp for the physically challenged was organised by the local Innerwheel Club and Rotary Club on Friday. The camp was held at Kumari Rukmani Devi Hall. Dr Lalit Kaushal and Dr B. Singh examined 75 physically challenged persons. Four of them would be given boots, 12 physiotherapy, three artificial limbs, 18 callipers, five crutches, one wheelchair and eight tricycles, according to a press note. Among others, Ms Manju Nandra, Ms Sharda Joshi, Ms Krishna Sagar, Ms Devangana, Ms Sangeeta Sood and Ms Vijay Gupta were present.

PASSPORT FORMS: Passport forms are available at all national speed post centres in Haryana. The Chief Post Master General, Haryana Circle, Ms K. Noorjehan, said the forms were available for Rs 20. The sale of passport forms had been extended to all head post offices, including Mukhya Dak Ghars at district headquarters. Completed forms will be accepted at Ambala GPO, Kurukshetra HO, Karnal HO, Panipat HO, Faridabad HO and Gurgaon HO for further dispatch to regional passport offices.

COMPETITION: A talent search competition was held at Arya Girls College, Ambala Cantonment, on Saturday. The college Principal, Dr Neena Bedi, said competitions like poetry recitation, speech, mono-acting, mimicry and painting were held. Mr Randhir Choudhary, working president of the non-government College Management Association was the Chief guest. In poetry recitation, Sukhjinder and Jyotsana came first, while in declamation contest, Priyanka and Amit were first. In mono-acting, Pranjila came first, while in mimicry, Kalpana came first. In painting, Neetu Sharma and Manpreet Kaur stood first. In quiz contest, the team comprising Manju, Veena and Kavita came first. In singing competition, Suman and Ritu finished first, while in dance competition, Monika, Gupreet and Vanita came first.

FATEHABAD
MURDERED: A teenaged boy was found murdered at Alipur Bareta village in the district on Friday morning. The boy, Madan Lal (18), according to reports, had slept at his residence at about 11 p.m. on Thursday night. His body was found near a water channel in the village at about 7 a.m. on Friday. The body had sharp-edged weapon injuries on the neck. A case has been registered on the complaint of the village Sarpanch.

YAMUNANAGAR
BLOOD DONATION: At least 135 students of DAV Girls College, Yamunanagar, donated blood at a function organised in collaboration with the District Red Cross Society on Saturday. Mr Vijayendra Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, inaugurated the function. Ms Sushma Arya, Principal of the college, also donated the blood.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

NURPUR
TWO KILLED: A vehicle on Friday hit a motorcyclist (PB06D-5397) at Bhadroya in this subdivision killing two persons on the spot. The deceased have been identified as Kewal Kumar (40) and Kamaljit (38) of Nangal Bahmana village near Gurdaspur. A case has been registered in this regard.

CHALLANED: The Nurpur and Indora policy on Friday challaned 61 vehicles under the Motor Vehicle Act. An amount of Rs 26,500 was collected from the defaulters.

RESENTMENT: Resentment prevails over the shifting of the Primary Health Centre, Jassur, in Kamnala Gram Panchayat. According to Mr Jaram Singh, Panchayat Pradhan, the authorities of the Block Medical Office, Gangath, without any prior notice has shifted the health centre from the Jassur-Dhameta road to near old bus stand. Dr Deepak Sharma, Block Medical Officer, clarified that the health centre was shifted following the written orders of the Chief Medical Officer, Kangra.

PARWANOO
WORKERS’ PROTEST: The dharna being staged by workers of a locl factory, M/s Kamala Dial in Sector-3, entered its third day on Saturday. The workers are protesting against a notice by the company management imposing a ban on smoking in the factory. The authorities took the decision following a fire that broke out in the factory last month.

BLOOD DONATION:Bitna unit of Sant Nirankari Mandal will organise a blood donation camp at Nirankari Bhavan on Sunday. Ms Neelam Pradeep Kashi, ADC, Panchkula, will be the chief guest.

SAPLINGS PLANTED: The State Bank of India (Surajpur) organised a Vanamahotsava at Government Senior Secondary School, Rajpur on Saturday. Saplings were planted by officials and staff of the school. A painting and declamation contest was organised and schoolchildren took out a rally.