Tribuneindia...Regional Briefs

	REGIONAL BRIEFS	Thursday, November 12, 1998
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AMRITSAR

Cleanliness drive: Mr Subhash Chander Sharma, Mayor, on Tuesday reviewed the progress of the fortnight-long cleanliness drive launched by the corporation on November 1. He appealed to the voluntary organisations to actively participate in the drive.

ABOHAR

Poppy husk: The Sadar police here during a search operation on Monday intercepted a truck near Rajpura village on the Punjab-Rajasthan border and seized 50 bags of poppy husk, each weighing 35 kg, and 4 kg of opium. The driver and cleaner have been booked under Sections 15, 18, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act.

BATHINDA

Lok Adalat: As many as 168 of the 292 cases were settled in the district-level Lok Adalat which was presided over by the District and Sessions Judge, Mr H.S. Bhalla, on Tuesday. A sum of Rs 3 lakh was awarded as compensation to victims of road accidents.

FAZILKA

Died: Jawahra Ram (75) of Chalanwali village in this subdivision was hit by a vehicle when he was crossing a road near Tahliwala village on the Fazilka-Malout road on Monday. He was seriously injured and died at the local Civil Hospital.

HOSHIARPUR

Case registered: The Sadar police here has registered a case under Sections 363 and 66, IPC, against Harjeet Singh, alias Bobby, for allegedly kidnapping Sandip Kaur (17) of Handowl village.

JALANDHAR

Union: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Technical Services Union, Kartar division, Kartarpur: President — Mr Amrik Singh; Vice-President — Mr Amolak Ram; Secretary — Mr Jasvinder Singh; Joint Secretary — Mr Balbir Singh Balli; and Cashier — Mr Surinder Singh.

LUDHIANA

Satluj club: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Satluj Club: General Secretary — Mr Sanjiv Arora; Vice-President — Mr Ranbir Singh; Joint Secretary — Mr Sunil Dhir; and Treasurer — Mr Jiwan Dhawan.
Elected: Dr V.K. Nayyar, Senior Soil Chemist, Punjab Agricultural University, has been elected fellow of the Indian Society Science. He has been working in the field of micro-nutrients for the past 25 years.

MALERKOTLA

Free coaching: A free coaching course for the entrance test of Panchayat Secretary and for English improvement was started on Tuesday by the UGC Coaching Centre for the minorities in the local Government College, according to Dr Bhagat Singh Vedi, Principal of the college. He said the interested students should contact the centre.
Demand: The Sangrur District Industrial Chamber has demanded that the government should withdraw 'Vikas Tax' imposed on traders and industrialists, according to Mr A.R. Sharma, Vice-President of the chamber.

PATIALA

Interaction activities: A memorandum of understanding to give a fillip to the activities of the industrial institute here has been signed by Mr H.S. Ahluwalia, Director (Technical) of Mukat Pipes Ltd, Rajpura, and Dr M.P. Kapoor, Director of Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology. The ceremony was attended by senior staff members of the Thapar Polytechnic.
Federation: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Patiala Colonies Welfare Federation: President — Mr Avtar Singh Brar; General Secretary — Mr Tarlok Singh; and Secretary — Mr Harpal Singh.
Bal divas: The Cultural Centre for Children will celebrate "Bal Divas" on November 15 at Bal Bhavan here. A painting and collage competition will be held for school children of different age groups. Separate contests will be organised for mentally retarded and deaf and dumb children.

PHAGWARA

Safai fortnight: About 100 local mohallas, localities and streets have been covered under the ongoing sanitation programme during the "safai fortnight", according to Mr Paramjit Singh Ghuman, Executive Officer, Municipal Committee, here.

SAMANA

Gutted: The office of Jain Tractor Corporation here was gutted in a fire on Tuesday. Three fire engines were called which extinguished the fire after four hours.

Dharna a 'sham': Members of the Pind Sudhar Committee have termed the dharna against the demolitions in Raipur Kalan village by the local unit of the BJP as a "sham to hoodwink the villagers". Mr Bhupinder Singh Badheri, president of the committee, said the dharna was an attempt by the party to cover up its failure to solve various problems. He said if the party was sincere in taking up the issue of demolitions it should persuade the local MP to take up the issue with the higher authorities or bring the issue to the notice of the Union Home Minister.
Protest march: Members of the Gaon Sangarsh Samiti marched to the UT Administrator's residence to protest against the demolitions carried out by the Administration in Raipur Kalan village. Mr Mahaveer Prasad, coordinator of the committee, said hundreds of youths from various villages sporting black headgear and carrying shrouds marched from Daria. They were stopped by the police near the Sectors 8, 7, 18, 19 roundabout.
Strike continues: The strike by members of the Customs and Central Excise Executive Officers Association entered the second day on Wednesday. The staff are agitating against the government's reluctance to eliminate the anomalies in the recommendations made by the Fifth Pay Commission, a press note said here.
Resigned: Mr Madan Mohan Arora, president of the traders cell of the local unit of the Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya), resigned from the party and joined the Congress, Mr Sunil Part, spokesman of the Chandigarh Territorial Congress Committee, announced on Wednesday. Mr Rameshwar Giri of Manimajra and Mr Krishan Lal have also been admitted into the CTCC.
Expulsion issue: The BJP high command has asked the local unit to sort out the Goyal expulsion issue at the local level. According to sources, the chairman of the central disciplinary committee, Mr J.P. Mathur, in a letter to the local leaders of the party, including the expelled councillor, Mr O.P. Goyal, has asked them to sort out the matter at the local level.

PANCHKULA

FPAI programme: The local branch of the Family Planning Association of India (FPAI) organised an orientation training programme on sexual and reproductive health for 45 volunteers here on Wednesday. The branch manager, Mr Amod Gupta, said the participants expressed their views on the theme of the programme.

AMBALA

Tricycles given: Thirteen handicapped children were given tricycles free of cost at a function organised in the cantonment here on Tuesday. The Director of Public Relations, Mr RK Khullar, was the chief guest.

AMBALA CITY

Blood donation: A blood donation camp was organised here on Wednesday in M.D.S.D. College, by NNS and NCC unit in collaboration with Lions Club Heart. Fifteen girls donated blood. The camp was inaugurated by Mr Surinder Kumar Bajaj. He also donated Rs 11,000 towards the welfare fund for poor students.

GURGAON

Wasteland: The Mewat development Agency has spent Rs 24.33 lakh on 244 hectares of wasteland in the backward area of Mewat and made it viable for farming. This was stated by Mr MK Midha, Chief Executive Officer of the Agency, Gurgaon.
Boycotted: Members of the local Press Club on Tuesday boycotted the press conference of Mr Jagdish Yadav, Minister of State for Forests, Haryana. They demanded action against the Chief Conservator of the Aravalli project and the local Assistant Public Relations Officer.

HISAR

Workshop: A workshop on "patent awareness" began at CCS Haryana Agricultural University here on Tuesday. Prof J.B. Chowdhury, Vice-Chancellor, at its inaugural ceremony regretted that the Patents Act did not cover agriculture, horticulture and forestry. Dr C.R. Hazra, Agricultural Production Commissioner, Government of India, also participated in the programme.
Demolished: Officials of the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) on Tuesday demolished a temple which was under construction in Sector 13 here. The residents had reportedly constructed the temple three days ago.

PANIPAT

Association: The following have been elected office-bearers of the District Police Association: President — Mr Jagdish Singh More; Vice-President — Mr Nand Lal; Press Secretary — Mr Ram Ratan Bhardwaj; and Secretary — Mr Randhir Lal.

ROHTAK

Chain snatched: Two youths allegedly snatched a gold chain from Ms Neeraj, a doctor at the BD Sharma Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), here on Monday. According to the complaint the doctor was going towards her residence when two youths on a two-wheeler snatched her chain. In another case, the police seized seven kg of poppy husk from a house in Ghukani village. A case under Section 15 of the NDPS Act has been registered.

SIRSA

Celebrated: Legal Service Day was observed here on Monday. Mr S D Anand, Additional District and Sessions Judge, addressed panches and sarpanches. He urged the audience to create awareness about the benefits of legal service. Mr B Diwakar, Chief Judicial Magistrate, was also present on the occasion.

SONEPAT

Dewatering operation: The Haryana Government has allocated Rs 17 lakh for pumping out rain water from agricultural fields in this district, Mr P.K. Mahapatra, Deputy Commissioner, said here on Tuesday. He said the district administration had geared up its machinery to drain out the water by November 15.

JWALAMUKHI

Dharna: Various villages here staged a 56-hour dharna on Tuesday to protest against the alleged failure of the police to take any action in the Sunita murder case. They blocked traffic at Kunha, 20 km from here demanding an inquiry and arrest of the culprits.

NURPUR

Sentenced: Mr TR Kaisth, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Jawali, on Tuesday convicted and sentenced Banwari Lal of Moch village to six months' imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1000 for selling illicit liquor.

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

Quality education is the aim

IT is with the aim of providing quality education at subsidised rates to the wards of defence personnel that the Army Welfare Education Society has established army schools and army public schools throughout India.

Army Public School, Beas, is one of these institutions. Spread over a 40-acre plot the school is located on national highway No 1 (G.T. Road), 8 km from Beas, towards Jalandhar.

Affiliated to the CBSE, New Delhi, the school is a co-educational, English-medium residential senior secondary school for children of serving and retired defence personnel. It has a fair number of civilian children also. It imparts modern and progressive educational facilities in conducive and open surroundings for all-round development of the children.

Army Public School, Beas, remembers with gratitude late Gen B.C. Joshi, the then Chief of the Army Staff, who laid the foundation stone on November 6, 1993. The school has grown from strength to strength from day one onwards and has acquired the infrastructure which other institutions take years to develop. The school has the latest state-of-the-art hostel facilities, a well-stocked library and a beautifully laid out sports stadium named after the legendary disciple, Eklavya. The school has already made its presence felt by winning three gold and one silver and one bronze medals in the inter-school (cluster XII) athletic meet held in October, 1998.

In the Western Command inter-formation competitions, the school won the volleyball and group song championships. On the academic side, the school has shown 100 per cent results in the Class X examination this year.

The Principal, Brig TSAulakh (retd), aims at producing disciplined students who are punctual, gentle, truthful and sincere to themselves, colleagues and the country.

Teacher's distinction

Dr Sudesh Syal, lecturer of music in Victoria Girls Senior Secondary School, in Patiala, has achieved the distinction of being the only lecturer in Punjab to be bestowed a national award in recognition to her services to the teaching community for 1997. The award was presented by President K.R. Narayanan to Dr Syal at Delhi last month.

Dr Syal has authored a series of 20 books titled "Sangeet Parichay" and "Sangeet Subodh" in association with Dr KDevinder. She has also been honoured by the SCERT for helping to prepare an audio cassette of performances of her students. Dr Syal, who has also taken active part in drama and cultural programmes at the state level, is also actively involved in helping orphans, besides handicapped children and those from economically weaker sections, to receive education.

Unique camp

The newly set up Government College for Girls, Fatehabad, organised a unique type of blood donation camp in which more than half of the students present donated their blood.

The college was set up during the current academic session. The BA (I) and B.Com (I) classes were started this year. The college has only 246 students on its rolls. But when the college organised a blood donation camp here on September 30, almot all the girls present in the college were seen standing in a queue to get their names registered. Many girls were disappointed as the Red Cross authorities refused to take their blood. Even then more than half of girls donated blood. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr KS Yadav, inaugurated the camp.

Award winner

Mr Tarsem Raj Vinod, who recently retired as head of the Punjabi University Regional Centre, Bathinda, has been given the Baba Farid award for 1998 for his contribution in the field of Punjab literature by the Baba Sheikh Farid Aagman Purb Society.

A doctorate in Punjabi, Dr Vinod is known for his critic faculties in literary circles and he has done a lot of work in this field. His original critical works include "Kahanikar Sujan Singh", Kahanikar Kulwant Singh Virk, "Kahanikar Kartar Singh Duggal", "Punjabi Naval Da Sanskritik Adhyan" and seven other books.

Dr Vinod having 37 years of experience of teaching has also translated 10 books from Punjabi into Hindi and from Hindi into English. He has edited six books and published 200 research papers in Punjabi, Hindi and English.

Under his guidance, two scholars have got the Ph.D degree.

He has been honoured by the Punjab Government, the Punjab Languages Department, the Kendriya Punjabi Lekhak Sabha, the Ravi Memorial Trust and many other societies.

— Contributed by Jasmine Sandhu Sandhwalia, Jangveer Singh, Sushil Manav and Chander Parkash.