Tribuneindia...Regional Briefs

	REGIONAL BRIEFS	Thursday, December 24, 1998
weather n spotlight today's calendar

FEROZEPORE
Procession: The local Christmas Celebration Committee took out a procession here on Tuesday. The procession passed through bazaars and the cantonment area.

Winter vacation: Teachers of the local RSD College have decided to forgo their winter vacations to make up for days they remained on a strike, President of the RSD College Teachers Union, Prof Devinder Arora, said here on Tuesday. He said the teachers were honouring their commitment towards the students, yet the government had not accepted their demands.

HOSHIARPUR
NRIs: Mr Iqbal Singh Sidhu, Deputy Commissioner, said at a meeting of non-resident Indians (NRIs) here on Tuesday that identity cards to all members of the district NRI Sabha would be provided soon. He said the district level conference of NRIs at Hoshiarpur would be held on January 3, 1999, at Zila Parishad, Hoshiarpur.

JALANDHAR
Pensioners: The All India Central Government Pensioners Association has welcomed the decision of the Vajpayee government on revising their pension. In a press statement issued here on Monday Mr V.S Jolly, General Secretary of the association welcomed the notification regarding the recommendation on pensions.

KHARAR
Dead: Lachman Dass was crushed by a Punjab Roadways bus here on Monday. A case has been registered against the driver Som Parkash.
Appointed: Mr Kuldeep Singh has been nominated as vice-president of the Backward Classes Cell of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, according to a press note issued here on Monday.

LUDHIANA
Camp: A mass family planning sterilization and free medical check-up camp was organised by the Ludhiana Citizens Health Council and the Sh Raghunath Hospital on Sunday. The camp was inaugurated by Mr Arun Goel, Deputy Commissioner. One hundred and sixty four sterilization operations and 45 medical termination of pregnancies were performed.

MOGA
Financial aid: The Punjab government proposes to give financial assistance to those persons involved in farming where the bread earner of the family dies in an accident. This was stated on Monday by the Education Minister, Mr Tota Singh, at the bhog ceremony of Sukhchain, a farmer who died in an accident at Chuharchak village, 20 km from here, a few days ago. This sort of financial assistance would be given to labourers and petty shopkeepers.
Sugar: Resentment prevails among consumers here over the delay in the supply of the monthly sugar quota by the authorities. The consumers told mediapersons here on Tuesday that they have not yet received their quota for the current month. They have urged the department concerned to redress their grievances.
Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Ministerial Staff Association (PWD), Public Health. (Chief Engineer's office) here: President — Mr Karamjit Singh; Vice-President — Mr Inderjit Singh; Secretary — Mr Jasbir Singh and Treasurer — Mr Gurbachan Singh.
Scooter thieves: The Ludhiana police on Monday raided the premises of old scooter dealers here following their alleged dealings in scooters which had been sold to them by scooter thieves. The police has reportedly recovered a large number of such scooters from them.

SANGRUR
Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Sangrur Bar Association: President — Mr Hakam Singh Jawanda; Vice-President — Mr Narinder Singla; and Secretary — Mr Lalit Kumar.
Annual function: The annual day function of the local Army School was celebrated here on Monday. Brig Omit Sarkar presided and gave away the prizes to outstanding students. Under the Swaran Jayanti scholarship scheme, deserving wards of ex-servicemen were given financial assistance. School children presented a cultural programme.

TARN TARAN
Chohla Sahib: The Punjab Government has released special grants for the developmental works of Chohla Sahib town. The grain market ground has been metalled with Rs 35 lakh grant, according to sources.

NSS camp: A 10-day NSS camp of cadets of Government College for Girls was inaugurated on the college premises by the Principal, Mrs Vijay Lakshmi, here on Wednesday. Projects on female literacy, sapling plantation, drug de-addiction and various welfare schemes available for children and women will be undertaken during the camp.

Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Parent Teacher Association of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 16: president — Mrs Ricky; vice-presidents — Dr B.B. Goel and Mr Sukhwinder Singh; general secretary — Mr Kanwaljit Singh; auditor — Mr R.K. Aggarwal; joint secretary — Mrs Ravi Raj and treasurer — Mrs Shashi Dutta.

Dead: Mr Dharam Singh Lamba, a freedom fighter, died here on Wednesday.

PANCHKULA
Awareness programme: An awareness programme is being organised by the local unit of the Family Planning Association of India for local women voluntary groups at Abheypur village on Thursday.

BHIWANI
Polio eradication: The district Rehabilitation Centre here, under its polio eradication programme operated upon 40 handicapped persons, according to Mr K.S. Yadav, Deputy Commissioner, Bhiwani here on Tuesday. He said 320 handicapped had been examined last month and out of these 100 were short-listed for operations.

HISAR
Award: Dr Pawan Kumar, Assistant Professor in the Department of Veterinary Anatomics, Haryana Agricultural University here, has received the Young Scientist award for his outstanding anatomical work from the Indian Association of Veterinary Anatomists at its annual convention in Guwahati recently.

BSP cycle rally: The Haryana state unit of the Bahujan Samaj Party will organise a cycle rally on December 26 at different places in the state, according to Mr Pradeep Chaudhary, state General Secretary of the party. The rally will be flagged off by the party President, Mr Kanshi Ram, from Palwal.

REWARI
Dies: Mr Milap Chand (33), a supervisor at the Anant Raj Clay Products near here, died on Monday of some fatal injury caused by a sudden fall from a machine on which he was working. His body has been taken to his native village, Laghwal, in Hamirpur district.

SIRSA
Injured: Baljeet Singh and his father, Banta Singh of Bharolianwali village in the district were seriously injured with sharpedged weapons by Gajjan Singh, his father and their five relatives at Bharolianwali village here on Monday. According to informed sources Baljeet Singh had a love affair with Balvinder Kaur, sister of Gajjan Singh, which was being objected to by her parents.

Open darbar: As many as 56 complaints from the people of this district were received at an open darbar held at Patwar Bhavan here on Monday. Most of them were solved on the spot and the remaining were handed over to officials of the departments concerned. Dr Avtar Singh, Deputy Commissioner presided.

Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Uttrakhand Pravasi Sabha: President — Mr Durga Singh Ravat; Senior Vice-President — Mr Mohanlal Sharma; Vice-President — Mr Bhawani Dutt Sharma; Secretary — Mr Puran Singh Ravat; Joint Secretary — Mr Satish Chand and Treasurer — Mr Jamadhan Bhatt.

Arrested: The police here arrested five persons for carrying poppy husk from various places of this district on Monday. A police party conducted a raid in Singhpura village area and found 50 kg of poppy husk and arrested Satpal. The other four suspects have been identified. Chander Singh of Thapdoda village in Rohtak district near Dera Sacha Sauda was arrested and 7 kg of poppy husk was found from his possession.

Dispensary: A function was organised here recently to celebrate the second anniversary of the free homeopathy dispensary run by the local Durga Mandir Trust. The district police chief, Mr B.S Sandhu, honoured Dr Bhushan Mehta and Dr Maggie Paruthi for their honorary services. Six sewing machines were also distributed among the needy women.

BILASPUR
Baby crushed: A new born baby was found crushed on the Rahaul Khud bridge between Dadhole and Nihari near Ghumarwin, 34 km from here on Tuesday. According to reports somebody had attempted to throw the baby into a khud, probably from a vehicle, but it fell on the bridge instead, and was crushed by some vehicle.

Office-bearers: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Parent-Teacher Association of Government Postgraduate College here: President — Mr J.K. Awasthi; Vice-Presidents — Mr Raghunath Sharma and Mr Bakshi Ram; General Secretary — Ms Kanchan Mala; Finance Secretary — Mr K.R. Rattan and Joint Secretary — Mr H.B. Kaushal.

SUNDERNAGAR
Foundation stone: Mr Rup Singh, Forest Minister, laid the foundation stone of the official building of the Chief Conservator of Forest here on Sunday. It will be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 36 lakh.

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

Leading lights honoured

Some of the leading personalities of the region were honoured by the Ludhiana Citizens Council at a special function held at Ludhiana on Saturday in recognition of their outstanding services in various fields.

The function was held on the grounds of GMT Public School, GT Road, Jalandhar bypass and attracted some of the leading lights of the city. It was conducted by Mr Darshan Arora, Chairman and Mr Agyapaul Singh, President of the Ludhiana Citizens Council, who gave a brief history of the council and the personalities who were honoured.

Those honoured included Dr Iqbal Singh Ahuja, a leading doctor who brought the test-tube baby technology to the region, Mr Vijay Chopra, Editor-in-Chief of Hind Samachar group of newspapers, Mr Avtar Singh, a leading floriculturist and Ms Rekha Arora, a well-known artist of Ludhiana. Those honoured were presented with a shawl, a trophy and a citation.

Mr Joginder Singh, former Director of the CBI, who was to be the chief guest, could not make it because of the cancellation of his train due to heavy fog.

Rally shot in arm for Badal

A mass rally held at Khanna to honour Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal for his contribution to the development of Punjab as the Union Minister of State for Industry last weekend turned into an occasion by the rank and file of the Akali Dal and the BJP to express their complete and unflinching solidarity with the Badal family in the ongoing tussle with the SGPC chief, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra.

A large number of speakers at the rally referred to the "present crisis" facing the Panth as a result of the Badal-Tohra feud but emphasised that there was nothing to worry about because the people of Punjab were solidly with Mr Parkash Singh and his family.

"Nobody can undermine the stability of the Badal Government which will complete its full five-year term in office," they declared amidst thunderous shouts of "Bole so nihal, sat Sri Akal."

Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal, however, sought to steer clear of the controversy. He made no reference to it in his half-an-hour long speech. But in a talk with mediapersons after the function he said the large turnout at the rally showed that there was an "overwhelming response" from the people of Punjab to Mr Parkash Singh in his hour of need.

"It is very clear that people are with Mr Parkash Singh," he said. The present situation, had been created by a handful of people who did not matter.

He stoutly denied the oft-repeated charge that he was being projected as a successor to his father as the future Chief Minister. It is just mischief created by certain elements, he said.

"I have no intention of involving myself in state politics," he asserted denying that the rally was a part of the effort to project him as the future Chief Minister. The rally was actually fixed for last month before the present controversy erupted but could not be held earlier for some reason.

The rally was organised by Mr Gurpreet Singh Shergill, a Khanna Youth Akali Dal leader, and a few others in Dana Mandi and attracted people in their thousands from Ludhiana and Fatehgarh districts.

The organisers said the attendance was beyond their expectations. It was held in the stronghold of SGPC chief Gurcharan Singh Tohra.

Official sources said attempts were made by Mr Tohra's camp followers to stop people form coming to the rally which did not succeed. There was also an attempt to "create mischief" at the rally but was thwarted by the administration. Some Akali leaders belonging to the Tohra faction did not attend the rally.

Several MLAs including Mr Bachan Singh Cheema, Mr Sandhu Singh Payal, Mr Jagdish Singh Garcha, Mr Ajaib Singh Makhmanipur and Mr Gurdeep Singh Nurmahal in their speeches, hailed the services rendered by the Badal family during the past 30 years in the service of Panth and Punjab.

Painless surgery

Laparoscopic (key-hole) surgery has brought about a revolution. It has made surgical treatment almost free of pain.

There is good news for patients with hernia. Dr Rupinder Singh at Waryam Singh Hospital, Yamunanagar, has successfully performed laparoscopic hernia repair without suture. He is the first surgeon in India to use his novel French technique. In medical jargon this is an extra-peritoneal technique of hernia repair using a mesh without fixation. This innovative operation was conducted by Dr Singh at the recent 19th annual conference of the northern chapter of Association of Surgeons of India held at the Dayanand Medical College Hospital in Ludhiana.

When asked about the benefits of this technique he stated : "This practically has the advantages of laparoscopic surgery — that is practically no pain, quick recovery and early return to work and now it is available at an affordable price. The conventional laparoscopic technique involved the use of disposable instruments worth almost Rs 15,000 that can now be saved. In fact, this repair costs the same as an open operation for hernia".

Dr Rupinder Singh, a laparoscopic surgeon, trained in France, is conducting advanced laparoscopic procedures at Yamunanagar.

Asked about his future plans, he said: "We are planning to set up a cancer hospital at Yamunanagar. The incidence of cancer is rising sharply and we need to fight it on a war footing. Hence, it is important to have such hospitals in the periphery", says the specialist cancer surgeon who worked at the Tata Cancer Hospital, Mumbai.

Shahabad lecturer honoured

Dr Neena Seth was honoured with DC Cooper Prize at the VII All-India Conference of Cytology and Genetics held recently at Gulbarga. Her paper, entitled "Effect of petrol pump fumes on the somatic chromosomes of petrochemical workers", was adjudged the best presentation by a young scientist.

Kurukshetra University had recently awarded the Ph.D degree to Ms Seth on her thesis entitled, "Cytogenetic monitoring of some occupational hazards". A gold medallist in M.Sc (Zoology), Ms Seth was awarded a research fellowship by the University Grants Commission, under the guidance of the noted environmentalist, Prof JS Yadav. She published her findings in reputed US and British research journals.

Dr Neena Seth is currently teaching biology at Arya Girls College, Shahabad.

— Contributed by A.S. Prashar, Ashwani Dutta and Prof J.S. Yadav