Tribuneindia...Regional Briefs

	REGIONAL BRIEFS	Thursday, September 10, 1998
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AMRITSAR

Transfer policy
The Amritsar Vikas Manch (AVM) in a communication to the Education Minister has sought a permanent policy with regard to the transfers of teachers so as to improve the quality of education. The vice-president of the AVM also urged the minister to appoint teachers on an ad hoc basis as hundreds of vacancies in various schools were lying vacant.

FARIDKOT

Society
The following have been elected office-bearers of the Punjab State Ophthalmological Society: president — Dr D.C. Aggarwal (Amritsar); vice-president — Dr S.K.Chopra (Ludhiana); joint secretary — Dr N.K. Singla (Faridkot); and treasurer — Dr Ramesh Bajaj (Faridkot).

FEROZEPORE

Strike
Students of the local Shaheed Bhagat Singh College of Engineering and Technology on Tuesday observed a strike in protest against Punjab Technical University for not allowing those students to join the third semester who had not cleared the first semester.
Expedition
An 11-member motor cycle expedition to Rohtang Pass, led by Maj Gaurav Kakri was flagged off from here on Wednesday by Maj Gen K.C. Padha, General Officer Commanding of the Golden Arrow Division. Besides developing a spirit of adventure among the men in uniform, the expedition also aims at establishing contact with ex-servicemen of the Punjab Regiment.

GURDASPUR

Bandh
A complete bandh was observed at Dhariwal on Tuesday in protest against keeping in police custody of four persons for the alleged murder of a vegetable vendor on Saturday.
Two arrested
The police on Tuesday arrested Joban Masih and Kawal Masih for slaughtering cows, according to Mr Gaurav Yadav, SSP. However, two of their accomplices managed to escape. The police recovered one pistol, two cartridges and several sharp-edged weapons from them.

HOSHIARPUR

Procession
Activists of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Panthic) held a procession in the city on Tuesday in support of their demands which include implementation of the Anandpur Sahib Resolution.
Vanamahotsava
Mr Mohan Lal, Forest Minister, Punjab, inaugurated the 49th vanamahotsava at Dholbaha on Tuesday. He announced cash prizes of Rs one lakh, Rs 75,000 and Rs 50,000 for schools and panchayats which helped in promoting the plantation drive.

LUDHIANA

Blood donation
A blood donation camp was organised by the district Red Cross Society, in collaboration with the Luxmi Ladies Club, on the premises of the club, here on Monday. During the camp 50 units of blood were collected. Mrs Anita Goel, chairperson of the district Red Cross Society, inaugurated the camp.

PATIALA

Elected
The following have been elected office-bearers of the Income Tax Employees Federation, Group D (North-West Circle Chandigarh): president — Mr Amar Singh Rajput; vice-presidents — Mr Tarsem Lal Sharma, Mr Ram Singh Rathor, Mr Baljit Singh; general secretary — Mr Sat Pal Singh; and treasurer — Mr Mohan Chand.
Association
The following have been elected office-bearers of the Senior Citizens Association (Bharatiya Rail): president — Mr Pran Singh Sethi, vice-presidents — Mr S. Aroop Singh, and Mr A.L. Sharma; general secretary — Mr S.S. Preetam.

TARN TARAN

Power theft
The PSEB local circle authorities have detected nearly 800 cases of power theft during the past three months. An amount of Rs 23.50 lakh has been imposed as a fine on persons who were allegedly committing the thefts. The PSEB has launched a special campaign against power thefts to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the consumers.

PANCHKULA

Dharna
The HUDA Field Workers Union staged a dharna in support of its demands in front of the HUDA complex in Sector 6 here. The workers sought implementation of the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission besides other demands.

AMBALA

Installed
The following have been installed as office-bearers of the local International Lioness Club (North): president — Ms Gargi Bhatia; secretary — Ms Neelam Sharma; and treasurer — Ms Sushil Goyal.
Lions club
The following have been installed as office-bearers of the local Lions Club (Samaritan zone): chairman — Mr D.S. Mathur; president — Mr Rajesh Gupta; secretary — Mr H.S. Duggal; and treasurer — Mr Manu Anand.
Booked
The police booked Satpal, Sukhdev, Gurdev, Ujagar Singh, Waryam Singh, Pritam Kaur Dimpy and Kali on a charge of murdering Joginder Singh on Monday. Lakhbir Singh, a resident of Seewan Majra village and the son of the deceased, in a complaint said his father was allegedly hit on the head by the suspects after a heated argument.

BHIWANI

Encroachments
The local administration removed the encroachments outside the Civil Hospital on Tuesday. There were nearly 32 unauthorised "khokhas" whose owners had been served with notices to vacate them a few days back.

GURGAON

Maintenance of roads
A sum of Rs 88 lakh will be spent on the maintenance of roads of the town, the Deputy Commissioner said while addressing a meeting of the local Beopar Mandal at John Hall. He also appealed to the traders to remove encroachments from the market.
Robbery
Kanwar Singh of Wazirabad village was robbed by four youths on the Jharsa-Kanhai road on Tuesday. The robbers were in an unnumbered Maruti Zen which had no number. They stopped Kanwar Singh and his sister-in-law, who were going on a scooter, at gun point and looted them.
Telephone exchange
Nearly 20,000 telephones in the city remained out of order for about half an hour due to a fault in the exchange on Tuesday. The exchange developed a snag at 5.30 p.m.

KAITHAL

Gang busted
The district police claimed to have busted an inter-state gang of thieves with the arrest of six members of the gang, Mr Sudhir Chowdhary, SP, said here on Tuesday. The police also recovered some stolen property from them.

BADDI

Mishap
Fourteen persons were injured, four of them seriously, when an HRTC bus on its way to Nalagarh overturned near Kandoli village on Monday. The incident occurred when the driver tried to pull out the bus stuck in a drain.

HAMIRPUR

Police post
A new police post was set up at Awah Devi in this district on Tuesday, according to Mr Jagjit Kumar Gupta, district police chief. He said the post would have one head constable and four constables on duty.

Rego

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

Jersey cow most favoured by HP farmers

IN Himachal Pradesh the Jersey cow has played a significant role in the economic uplift of farmers over the past 20 years and this breed has proved a boon to residents living on the foothills of the Himalayas. The Jersey cow, originally from the UK, was introduced in 1958 under an ICAR project with the objective of establishing a nucleus Jersey breeding facility for the northern region at the Central Cattle Breeding Farm, Kamand (Mandi).

Subsequently four more cattle-breeding farms were established through the good offices of the USA, New Zealand and Australia. These farms produced quality bull calves for the genetic upgradation programme conducted through various schemes and livestock development projects.

On the recommendations of the National Commission of Agriculture, the state government decided to take up the cross-breeding of non-descript hill cattle with an exotic milch breed (Jersey) on a large scale, which directly benefited farmers here.

To popularise this breed, a number of artificial insemination centres were set up. The Indo-German Agriculture Project set up in this region also helped farmers here and ultimately the Jersey cow became the only choice for the hilly terrain.

Dr M P Narang, Additional Director, Research (Animal Husbandry) of H.P. Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, says that breeding facility through a network of artificial insemination centres has resulted in the wide acceptance of the cross-breeding programme and consistent increase in the productivity of cattle. He says cross-breeding of Jersey cows with hill cattle has been reasonably successful in two agro-climatic zones of the state.

Dr Narang points out that in the valley and low hills, the introduction of the Red Sindhi breed has shown good results if one restricts it to 50 per cent. The Red Sindhi has proved an equally productive milch cattle in these areas.

In Himachal Pradesh, cows comprise 90 p.c of the total milch cattle. The state government in order to pay special attention to the health of cattle has established over 330 veterinary hospitals, and 650 dispensaries. Besides, 350 other institutions are also engaged in such activities.

A chip of the old block

There is nothing striking about him. He is a young boy, tall, lanky and handsome, doing B.Tech in Aeronautical Engineering at the Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh. But given the right kind of environment and patronage, he can go a long way on the ladder of success.

He is Siddharth Bhushan Khurana, son of Madhu Khurana, Managing Director of Studd Helments, based at Faridabad. He has got the rare distinction of being invited by the UN Secretary-General to participate in the 51st annual non-governmental organisation conference being held at its headquarters in New York from September 14 to 16. The conference is being organised by the UN Department of Public Information in cooperation with the Executive Committee of non-government organisations associated with the UN.

It is a case of "like father like son". Mr Madhu Khurana, himself a B.Tech in Aeronautical Engineering from the Punjab Engineering College, is an avid sportsman, who played cricket at the state level in his heyday. Siddharth plays football at the national level (he has taken part in the B C Roy Trophy), and played cricket at the state level.

With a strong will to become someone in life, he would now interact with world personalities at the UN conference. During the conference, the participants would examine the impact of globalisation on human rights, the relationship between human rights and peace, the building and strengthening of human rights institutions, the promotion of human rights education, and a university of human rights.

Siddharth has been sponsored by the Haryana chapter of the UN Association, affiliated with the Indian Federation of UN Associations.

Painter to settle in Ludhiana

Ludhiana is about to have an addition to its list of eminent citizens. Surinder Bhardwaj (60), a national award-winning painter of the region, is thinking of settling down in this megacity after retiring as an arts teacher from a college at Bhiwani.

Described as a painter with a mission, Bhardwaj was born in Lahore. He lost his father at the age of two and was brought up by his maternal grandfather at Mandi Dabwali in Haryana. Pursuing his natural talent for painting, he obtained a diploma in drawing and painting from the Punjab School of Arts, Shimla, in 1960.

After a short stint at Jammu University at the invitation of Dr Karan Singh, a scion of the royal family in Jammu & Kashmir, he finally settled down to teaching art at a Bhiwani college. During this period, he took part in numerous exhibitions and staged several one-man shows at Delhi, Chandigarh, Bombay, Amritsar, Srinagar, Patna, Bangalore, Manali, Gwalior, Naggar (Kulu), Allahabad and Jalandhar.

During this period, he won a number of awards including first prize from Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi (1989), Haryana State Arts (1971), National Award from the Lalit Kala Akademi (1988), and All-India Drawing Exhibition Award, Chandigarh (1995).

Surinder Bhardwaj specialises in cityscapes. The houses and the cities in which he has lived since childhood find vivid expression in his paintings (see photo). He chooses his subjects from nature and life so that his work is comprehensible.

— Contributed by Ravinder Sood, D N Chaturvedi and A S Prashar.