Tribuneindia...Regional Briefs

	REGIONAL BRIEFS	Thursday, January 28, 1999
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JALANDHAR
Appointed: Mr Amarjeet Singh Samra, president of the Jalandhar district Rural Congress Committee has appointed Mr Sunder Singher from Alawapur, as vice-president of the district Congress (Rural).

Meeting: The Municipal Corporation will hold a meeting at Puspawati Gujral Yadgaar Hall on January 29, to deliberate and discuss the civic problems.

KAPURTHALA
Girl killed: Suman (6), was killed while her father and maternal grandfather were injured seriously in a road accident near Mudowal village on Tuesday evening. The accident occurred when their scooter collided with a tractor-trailer.

KHARAR
Rotary Club: Under the Group Study Exchange Programme, a team from Australia R I District 9500 under Rtn John Holds visited the local Rotary Club at Rainbowz Country Park here on Monday to promote international understanding, goodwill, peace and to know about the culture and history of the country. A cultural programme was presented by students of the local A P J Public School, on the occasion.

PATIALA
Protest: The All-India Federation of University Teachers Association (AIFUTA) has decided to observe half-an-hour 'maun vart' at 11 a.m. on January 30, the martyrdom day of Mahatma Gandhi, to press for the implementation of the revised UGC grades. Dr R.K. Sharma, all-India secretary (technical) of the AIFUTA, said the association had also decided to hold a protest rally on February 10, near Gandhi Bhavan at Panjab University campus in Chandigarh.

PHAGWARA
Protest march: Activists of the BSP will organise a protest march from Hadiabad to Phagwara and stage a dharna outside Satnampura police station on January 29 to protest against the alleged failure of the police to arrest the rapist of a Dalit girl.

ROPAR
Memorandum: The local Gau Seva Samiti and some other organisations jointly presented a memorandum to the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, on Tuesday and demanded the removal of encroachments from the grazing grounds and ponds. The samiti also demanded the setting up of new "gau sadans" and adequate steps for the improvement of old gaushalas in the state.

Electrocuted: A PSEB assistant lineman, Dharam Singh (37), was electrocuted at Bande Mahian village, near here on Sunday, while attending to a complaint. According to Mr G.R. Arora, SDO of the Sukhrampur Tapprian subdivision of the PSEB, the deceased was a resident of Markana village near Mianpur and is survived by a wife and three children.

GURGAON
INLD procession: The Indian National Lok Dal will organise a procession on February 1. The procession will start from the INLD office and will end at new courts after passing through main markets of the town. According to Mr Anil Kohli, party spokesman, Mr Chautala will submit a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner demanding dismissal of the Bansi Lal government.

KURUKSHETRA
Offenders arresting cell: The offenders arresting cell of the district police has claimed to have arrested five offenders, including Ghansyam, a resident of Saisan village of Bharatpur district in Rajasthan, who had been absconding for the past 11 years. The others who have been arrested are Harbans, a resident of Rantewala Guru Harsahaye village of Ferozepore district, Umardeen, alias Uma, Arjun Singh, alias Hari Singh, a resident of Chhutmalpur, district Saharanpur in UP and Joga Singh, a resident of Pharal village in Kaithal district.

SIRSA
Meeting: A meeting of the Sirs STD, PCO Association was held here on Tuesday under the Chairmanshiap of Mr Anand Biyani, president of the association. The association decided to prepare a list of "corrupt" officials of the Telecommunication Department here and handed it over to the Vigilance Department for investigations. A five-member committee was also constituted for the purpose.

Sentenced: Mr J.S. Dhaia, Judicial Magistrate, Sirsa, has sentenced six persons to three years imprisonment and fine of them Rs 1200 each, for making a murderous assault in which five persons, including one woman had received injuries.

SONEPAT
Suicide cases: Siri Prasad, an aged man, reportedly committed suicide by taking insecticide tablets at his house in Adarsh Nagar here on Tuesday. According to another report, Ved Pal (39), also committed suicide by swallowing some poisonous substance at his house in Murthal village, 8 km from here.

Resentment: Resentment prevails among residents of Ganaur against overcharging by photographers for two group-photographs of each family to be affixed on the new ration cards. Many residents pointed out that they were being charged Rs 20 for a group-photograph as against the rate of Rs 6 fixed by the district authorities.

Car recovered: The Rai police arrested three youths, on Wednesday in connection with the alleged snatching of a car from Jagdish, on the GT Road, near Kurali village, on Sunday. Those arrested have been identified as Dinesh of Ram Bazar, Sonepat, Manoj of Mashad mohalla and Bhushan of Rishi Nagar, Rani Bagh (Delhi). The car has also been recovered from their possession.

Two murdered: Two persons, Balraj (25) and Ram Chander (30) were murdered allegedly by some persons, who attacked them with sharp-edged weapons, while they were sleeping in a field at Kanwali village, 15 km from here, on Tuesday. A clash between two groups earlier in the day, was reported to be the cause of the murders. The police has registered a case against three persons, Hoshiara, Sham and Sunil.

Found dead: Balwan (45), member of a marriage party from Bhiwani was found dead in the Model Town area of the city on Monday. According to the police, excessive drinking was the cause of death.

BILASPUR
HVC: Seven BJP leaders, six Congress leaders and prominent village leaders have decided to quit their respective parties and join the Himachal Vikas Congress. Major Shiv Ram Sharma, president of the district HVC said here on Wednesday that Congress leaders who had joined the HVC, included Mr Kishori Lal, Mr Gangaram Sharma, Mr Ram Dass, Ms Daropadi Devi, Ms Kamla Sharma and Mr Deepak Verma.

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

Migratory birds killed en masse

Mass killing of migratory birds is a continuous process in the Magarmoodian Chhamb area spread over 1,000 acres covering the villages of Magarmoodian, Nangal Daala, Keshopur, and Miani, near Gurdaspur.

Efforts of the Deputy Commissioner and Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) have failed to make any headway.

According to official sources, the statutory provisions of the Forest Birds Protection Act, (1991 amendment) providing stringent punishment to those killing migratory birds, has fallen on deaf ears. A provision of Rs 20 crore for the birds' welfare scheme in the Ninth Plan to make effective various government schemes for the protection of animals have also failed to make any dent. The creation of a separate division for protection of birds under the Ministry of Forests and Environment has also met with limited success in this regard.

Official sources said many birds migrate to Magarmoodian Chhamb from Siberia and northern Asia during the winter. The migratory birds include water fowl, crane ducks like pintails, mallards, pochards and teals. In addition, there are local birds like partridges which frequent the area.

The sources said the hunters' methods of killing the birds are barbaric. The methods included killing the birds by dropping insecticide in the ponds which leads to the birds being poisoned. Another method used in this regard includes netting, which is inhuman. The meat of these birds being cheaper and qualitatively better is sold in Pathankot and Amritsar.

Mr S.K. Sandhu, Deputy Commissioner, who is also president of district unit of SPCA, toured the area last August and sought the help of panchayats in the area to constitute bird welfare clubs in villages falling in that area. These clubs need to be activated.

Honing a God-given knack

His fingers work swiftly and while onlookers watch with surprise, he moulds a handful of clay with his empty hands to give it a shape of an object of art.

The artist, Nupinder Munjal, who is an auto spare parts dealer, has excelled in the art of clay modelling and painting. Though he has not adopted this art as a full-time profession, he can be often seen working on clay or with a painting brush in his spare time. He decorates his residence with clay models and earthen pots made by him. He gifts these models to his friends.

Munjal is also called by different schools and colleges of the area to teach the art of clay modelling to students. He has also been given the task of preparing banners and designs of insignias by various social clubs.

He learnt the art by watching experts and feels this is a God-given skill which does not need any training.

Talking to this correspondent, Munjal says he got inspiration from an artiste who made clay models at Sirsa. After watching him work he tried his hand on wet clay. After practice, he started making models of different shapes. He also learnt the art of painting from practice. He has a habit of dabbling with a paint brush since his childhood. He was a good student of drawing during his school days, but started taking interest in painting for decorative purpose. Now he paints on earthen pots.

Tuition menace

Despite a ban on tuitions enforced by the state government, "teaching shops" have mushroomed in Dehra sub-division, particularly in Jwalamukhi city. Government's efforts to curb the tuition menace have dismally failed and teachers have been turning tuitions into an industry at the cost of classroom teaching.

The strongly worded statements by the Education Minister Ishwar Dass Dhiman have not been taken seriously by them. Notwithstanding the instructions, tuitions have been going on without any let-up due to poor enforcement of rules by the state government.

The government took this decision to check tuitions owing to several complaints made by parents, especially the poor. However, it requires to be implemented effectively and expeditiously.

The parents complained that the school teachers, instead of giving proper coaching to students in classrooms, "force" them to go for tuitions. Ignoring government instructions, it was regrettable that teachers by and large, were resorting to tuitions with the sole motive of making a pile and the results in schools were not up to the mark.

They feel that if the government failed to curb tuitions, the quality of education in schools and colleges would not improve as most teachers devote more time to coaching at home rather than at schools.

Contributed by Tilak Raj Gupta, Sushil Manav and Bijender Sharma