Tribuneindia...Regional Briefs

	REGIONAL BRIEFS	Thursday, August 13, 1998
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POTPOURRI

AMRITSAR

Rotary Club: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Rotary Club (south): president — Mr Upkar Singh Sethi; vice-president — Mr S.S.Khurana; secretary — Mr Ashwani Mahajan; joint secretary — Mr Darshan Singh.

BATHINDA

Medical camp: The Civil Lines and cantonment branches of the State Bank of Patiala organised two medical camps here on Tuesday to mark the 50th anniversary of India's Independence. More than 70 patients were examined and given medicines free of cost.

HOSHIARPUR

Smugglers arrested: The police here arrested nine persons for allegedly smuggling poppy husk and indulging in "satta" business in the district, according to a press note issued by the SSP on Tuesday.

2 join CPM: Comrade Sohan Singh Dariya, a former district secretary of the CPI and comrade Jaswant Singh along with members of the four units of the district joined the CPM at a function in Dariya village, 28 km from here, on Monday.

JALALABAD

Photographers strike: The local Photographers Association strike entered the second day on Wednesday. The strike was called in protest against the police inaction on a complaint of a photographer against Punjab Police personnel. They also held a rally in front of the local police station.

PHILLAUR

Plantation ceremony: Van mahotsava was observed at the Punjab Police Academy here on Monday. Mr A.A. Siddiqui, Director of the academy, planted a sapling on the campus of Maharaja Ranjit Singh Police Public School.

ABOHAR

Run over: Shaupat Ram, who was returning from Hardwar after performing the last rites of his son, was run over by a train when he slipped and fell on the railway track. He was taken to the local civil hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

NAWANSHAHR

Elected: Mr Jarnail Singh, Mr Darshan Singh Mander, Mr Avtar Singh and Mr Jagjit Singh were elected to the board of the local Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, for which elections were held on Sunday.

Record: Surinder Vishwas (25) of Gohana town has created a new record by donating blood for the 60th time, according to official sources. Vishwas donated blood ten times between August 1997 and August 1998.

Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Staff Welfare Coordination Committee of the Ex-servicemen Welfare Association and the TTTI Workers Union chairman — Mr S.C. Shukla, vice-chairman — Mr Balram, general secretary — Mr Dev Raj and chief advisor — Mr Avtaar Singh.

Passport applications: The local Regional Passport Office has informed that the applications, which were complete and were received by the office up to May 24, have been processed.

Vaccination camp: A Hepatitis-B vaccination camp was organised at Manav Mangal High School, Sector 21-C here on Wednesday by the Department of Social Service and Survey. Nearly 525 students got vaccinated at subsidised rates.

GURGAON

Scheme: A sum of Rs 10.62 crore will be spent during this financial year on development schemes by the Mewat Development Agency here. This was stated by Mr M.K. Midhu, chief executive officer of the agency.

Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Sanyukt Kalyan Parishad: president — Mr Shamlal Arya; vice-president — Mr B. D. Pahuja and Mr S. Harjinder, general secretary — Mr S P Nagrath; and treasurer — Mr S.S. Yadav.

FATEHABAD

Jobs: The Department of Employment provided jobs to 10 youths in July. Eight others were provided jobs under the "One family, one job" scheme, according to the Deputy Commissioner.

REWARI

Camp: As many as 220 persons donated blood at a camp organised by the Sant Nirankari Mandal on Sunday on the occasion of "Kranti Divas".

ROHTAK

Died: An old man who was pasting posters of the programme for Independence Day died when the ladder on which he was standing was hit by a vehicle at Chhottu Ram Chowk here on Tuesday.

NAHAN

Losses: The sarpanch of Lana Baka panchayat has urged the DC on Wednesday to compensate the farmers of Dhartidhar and Saindhar areas of Sirmour district for the losses they have suffered because of poor rainfall last month.

SONEPAT

Action urged: Members of the local Vegetables and Fruit Commission Agents Association on Tuesday demanded action against officials of the local market committee found responsible for the insanitary conditions in the market.

Protest: Representatives of various political parties and social organisations held a meeting here on Tuesday in protest against the use of substandard material in the construction of big sewers under the Yamuna Action Plan in the city. They urged the state government to order a high-level probe into the matter.

PARWANOO

CITU call: The district CITU committee will go on a token strike on September 1 in protest against the "anti-worker" policies of industrialists, said district president of the union here on Wednesday. The association also decided to sit on dharna in front of the Labour Department on August 18.

KASAULI

Rotary club: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Rotary Club: president — Mr Dinesh Sood; secretary — Mr Vijay Gupta; vice-president — Mrs Jagpal; and treasurer — Mr Naresh Garg.

JAWALAMUKHI

Beaten to death: Tension prevailed in Dehra subdivision on Tuesday following the alleged beating of Joginder Singh (34), an electricity board employee, by his neighbour, resulting in his death. A property dispute is said to be the cause. A case has been registered.

HAMIRPUR

Agitation: The dharna by the Himachal Pradesh Trained Volunteers Teachers Sangh entered its sixth day on Wednesday. The teachers are demanding regularisation of services and grant of pay for the annual two-month vacation period.

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

Gateway to HP a picture of neglect
THE multi-purpose barrier set up by the Departments of Forests, Excise and Taxation and Police on the Himachal Pradesh-Haryana border lacks basic amenities and infrastructure. This gateway to Himachal Pradesh gives a dismal image of the state due to official apathy.

Disorder is the rule of the day at this barrier which begins with the wrong parking of vehicles. Though boasting of adequate police staff, the drivers stop for inspection and park vehicles at odd places. Shortage of space results in traffic congestion and jams. Smoke emission by vehicles pollutes the air. The bridge close to the barrier linking Himachal with Haryana is without parapets and slants on one side.

The barrier also lacks basic amenities such as toilets, drinking water, tap and rain shelter. The offices, housed in small rooms, are inadequate to accommodate all those working there. Petition writers and stamp vendors are compelled to work from makeshift tents (See photo by Surinder Bhatti). The tented accommodation is also inadequate and creates inconvenience, particularly during the rainy season. Sanitation is also in a poor state with no sweepers to clean the road. Streetlight are also inadequate.

The barrier has no strong turnpike and other security equipment to stop errant drivers. The barrier staff fails to stop many a vehicle. Neither does it have a tourist information centre which can guide tourist visiting HP. The state government, besides developing this area, must open a tourist information centre here to provide information to visitors, says Mr R.K. Garg, a local hotelier.

When cops take to writing
Baton wielders can be penpushers too. This is true when one comes to the police officers of Haryana. In fact there is no dearth of Ved Marwahas, Shankar Sens, Joginder Singhs, Gautam Kauls and Maxwell Pereiras in Haryana.

Mr V K Kapoor, an IG rank officer of the Haryana cadre, is at present on deputation with the central government. He writes middles basically on philosophy and has mastered the art on exploring the nasty desires of the human hearts, particularly of these people who have passed their middle age. His style is loaded with quotes. He is widely travelled, well read and tries to maintain interest right from the beginning to the end of his pieces. His pieces are a feast to the readers of his age.

Mr Ranjiv Dalal, another IPS officer of the IG level, mainly writes on issues relating to the police such as the family atmosphere of cops, gender bias and work done by them. He digs out a very interesting finale to middles. His vast experience in the department brings out the desired effect.

Mr Rajbir Deswal another IPS officer of SP rank, has mastered the art of writing. Basically he writes on humour and satire. He has written two books on the culture and humour of Haryana. His two books "Culture: Bright and Dark" and "Wit and Humour of Haryana" have been reviewed by Mr Khushwant Singh.

Besides these three officers — Mr S A Khan, a retired DIG, has written a book named "Power — Police and Public". Mr M S Malik, an officer of the IG rank writes about sports and legendary figures of the region, while Mr Rakesh Malik, an officer of the DIG rank, has written a few middles. Mr K P Singh, SP, has written a book "Kale Kachhewale" in Hindi.

While there are about half a dozen police officers in Haryana who write while they police, there are only two IAS officers also who contribute to newspapers.

Height is his problem
For people of the Kashmir valley, Iqbal Ahmed of Khudwani village in Anantnag district has become a source of entertainment for they have never seen such a tall person. They laugh at him, tease him and pass comments. And this poor fellow does not know how to react. Nature, it seems, has not been kind to him.

A year ago, Iqbal was just like any other child of his age: a 4-ft-tall boy at 14. In just one year he has grown into a seven-foot giant.

Iqbal was admitted to the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Srinagar, to find the reason for his abnormal growth. Doctors at the institute kept him under observation for some time as his abnormal growth had become unmanageable. They diagnosed a tumor in the height.

They were of the view that the concentration of the hormones in his body was 44 times more than in a normal person. This had raised his frame to 7 ft 6 inches.

After studying his case minutely, the doctors operated upon Iqbal and extracted the tumour, which they said was the reason for his height. They hope that he would not grow taller now.

Iqbal lost his parents in his childhood and is now looked after by his brother-in-law, a farmer.

(Contributed by Manjeet Sehgal, Sushil Manav and Kavita Suri)