Tribuneindia...Regional Briefs

	REGIONAL BRIEFS	Thursday, October 1, 1998
weather n spotlight today's calendar

FEROZEPORE
Condemned: Mr Alvin Bhatti, member of the National Coordination Committee for Dalit Christians, on Wednesday condemned the incident of gangrape of four nuns at Navapara village in Madhya Pradesh and incident of looting and beating up of nuns at Baghpat. He urged the government to ensure protection of lives and properties of minority.
Tubewell corporation: A joint action committee of the Tubewell Corporation Employees will hold a rally at Zira on October 9 for their demands.
Allotted: The meeting of the STD PCO Allotment Committee of the Ferozepore Telecom Department was held here on Tuesday. As many as 198 connection were released.

HOSHIARPUR
Chetna yatra: The Swadeshi Chetna Yatra, organised by the Punjab Swadeshi Manch, was received here on Tuesday by members of the BJP, the RSS and the Bharatiya Janta Yuva Manch. Speakers on the occasion appealed to the people to boycott the products of multinational companies.

KAPURTHALA
Gang busted: The police claims to have busted a gang of car thieves with the arrest of five members of the gang, according to Mr Iqbal Singh, SSP.
Eye camp: The district Health Department will organise an eye camp from October 6 to 9 at the local Shiv Mandir, according to Chief Medical Officer.

LUDHIANA
Rally: The Punjab Agricultural University Employees Union held a rally in front of Thapar Hall on Tuesday in support of the 14-day-old agitation of the Punjab Government employees.
Convention: A state-level convention of the Agriculture Sub-Inspectors Union was held here on Tuesday in support of their demands which include changing the names of various posts and removal of anomalies in pay scales.

MOGA
Accidents: One person was killed when his scooter collided with another vehicle near the Moga bypass on Monday. In another accident two scooterists were killed when their vehicles collided with another vehicle near Chandnawan village on the Moga-Kotkapura road. The police has sent the bodies for a post-mortem examination.

PATIALA
Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Ex-Servicemen Welfare Committee: president — Mr Jagmohan Singh; vice-presidents — Mr Kashmir Singh and Mr Amrik Singh; general secretary — Mr Baldhiraj Singh; and treasurer — Mr Narinder Singh.
Demanded: The Upkar Nagar Sudhar Committee, factory area, has demanded an allopathic dispensary in the area. The general secretary of the committee also urged the administration to shift the Government Welfare Office from the area, as it caused traffic jams and accidents.
Nurses' association: The Punjab Nurses Association has urged the Punjab Government to accept its long-pending demands, which include time-bound promotion after four, nine and 14 years and nursing allowance on the Central pattern.
Demonstration: On the call of the All-India State Bank of Patiala Officers Association, a demonstration was held here on Tuesday in front of the head office of the State Bank of Patiala against the bank management in regard to placements and postings.

PHILLAUR
Rally: Punjab Youth Congress Activists led by its president, organised a rally near the local railway station in protest against the policies of the SAD-BJP government on Monday. Later they submitted a memorandum to the SDM.

PANIPAT
Shot: Unidentified car-borne persons allegedly looted Rs 1.10 lakh from Ram Chand and shot him dead at Samalkha on Tuesday. The police has registered a case.
Meeting: The district unit of the Haryana Government PWD Mechanical Workers Union held a meeting here on Tuesday in protest against the anti-employees policies of the HVP-BJP government.

SONEPAT
Demonstration call: Members of the district unit of the Sarv Karmachari Mahasangh, will stage a demonstration in front of the house of the Haryana Labour and Employment Minister, Mr Ramesh Kaushik, on October 2 in support of their demands.

AMBALA
Child found: A new-born female child was found from near the Model Town bridge on Tuesday. The infant was admitted to the Civil Hospital the city by the police.
Flayed: The general secretary of the Nagarpalika Karamchari Sangh, said here on Tuesday that the suspension of the Executive Officer of the Rohtak Municipal Council by the Deputy Commissioner was regrettable. He said in case the action was not withdrawn the sangh would take some drastic step.

KURUKSHETRA
Workshop: The NCC unit of University College of Education, Kurukshetra University, organised a two-day workshop on effective public speaking, which concluded on Monday. The objective of the workshop was to develop self-confidence among the students. As many as 30 students participated in the workshop.

CHAMBA
Urged: The Himachal Vikas Congress has urged the Himachal unit of the BJP to allow the HVC candidate to contest the Baijnath assembly by-election scheduled for November.

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

Pioneering work in blood donation

MUKAND LAL National College is a pioneer in the field of blood donation in Haryana. The college organised a blood donation function on September 5, 1998. It was the 27th blood donation function in a row since 1972.

The movement was started in 1972 by Mr Tilak Raj Chadha, a great educationist and a freedom fighter, and later principal of the college.

That day was sacred for the college because it was the birthday of the founder of the college—Seth Jai Parkash—who has founded a chain of institutions in the field of education and social services. The trust under the guidance of the present chairman, Seth Ashok Kumar, runs a chain of 31 institutions which includes colleges, schools, polytechnics, engineering colleges and hospitals etc.

The college has donated by now about 6000 units of blood to the Blood Bank Society, PGI, Chandigarh. Dr Ramesh Kumar, Principal of the college, said besides the mela, the students and teachers of the college donated blood round the year in response to emergency calls. The college had maintained a register for emergency services.

Dr Kumar further said seven old students had been honoured by the Governor of Haryana being star 'blood donors'. There were about 50 members of the staff and students who were 'star donors' and had been honoured. The college was awarded Governor's Shield for blood donation this year also.

Teachers honoured

Mr Darshan Singh, a Punjabi teacher working in Arya Senior Secondary School, Pathankot, was honoured on Independence Day this year by the Subdivisional Magistrate, Pathankot, for combating the menace of copying.

Mr Darshan Singh while narrating his success story told 'The Tribune' that he was inspired to check copying after he read about the claims made by Baba Aaya Singh Riyarki College, Tugalwala, for giving an award of Rs 35,000 to anyone detecting a single case of copying. The appeal made by the Education Minister, Punjab, Mr Tota Singh, to eradicate copying further coaxed Mr Darshan Singh and he kept himself involved in the task during the matriculation and plus two examinations conducted by the Punjab School Education Board in March and April this year. He launched a massive campaign against copying while sitting outside the examination hall.

He along with his two counterparts not only checked copying but also inspired students to leave the habit as it was not in their interests.

The campaign launched against the menace of copying though has affected the results of both the matriculation and plus two badly, but the contribution of Mr Darshan Singh and his two counterparts was duly recognised by the Education Department. All the three teachers were honoured by the Public Relations Minister, Mr Sewa Singh Sekhwan, and the District Education Officer, Gurdaspur. Many other organisations followed suit.

The Education Department has also honoured all the three teachers with commendation certificates. The department has also instructed the management of the school to enter their achievements in the service records.

Silk painting

The Guinness Book of World Records has recognised the world's largest silk painting by Prof Sanat Kumar Chatterjee, a Shimla-based painter. This water colour painting on silk is largest in the world and weighs around 3 kg.

The theme of painting is based on nuclear physics and synchronises with Indian mythology. How the energy is evolved and how it is consumed is shown in the painting.

Prof Chatterjee retired sometime back as arts teacher from Government College, Shimla.

(Contributed by Ashwani Dutta, Bharat Bhushan Dogra and Kanwar Yogendra.)