Tribuneindia...Regional Briefs

	REGIONAL BRIEFS	Thursday, March 18, 1999
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BATALA
Farewell: A farewell was given to Principal, Junesh Kakcria by staff members of R.R. Bawa DAV College for Girls here on Tuesday. Mrs Ranjit Aansoo, lecturer at Batala Girls College, has taken over as the principal of this college.

Medical camp: Nirmala Aggarwal Charitable Hospital, on Monday organised a free medical camp for people suffering from heart ailments with the help of the Rotary Club, Seva Bharati and the Association of Batala Small-Scale Industries. As many as 95 persons were examined. Mr Naval Aggarwal, Secretary, Seva Bharati, said such camps would be conducted every three months.

FEROZEPORE
Grant for school: Mrs Shashi Padha, wife of Maj-Gen K.C. Padha, GOC, Golden Arrow Division, inaugurated recreational equipment at Government Primary School in Fattuwala village, near here, on Tuesday. The equipment was presented to the school by an Artillery regiment of the division. She announced a grant of Rs 10,000 for sports equipment for the school. A free medical camp was also organised on the occasion.

MOGA
Collision: A youth was crushed to death when his scooter collided head-on with a truck near Chanden village on the Moga-Kotkapura road on Monday night. The victim has been identified as Jeet Singh. The driver of the truck has been arrested.

Brahman sabha: The following have been appointed office-bearers of the Moga District Brahman Sabha: President — Mr Satinder Sharma; and Vice-President — Mr Pawan Sharma.

One killed: Maghhar Singh, a resident of Langeana Khurd village under the Baghapurana police station, was killed when a jeep carrying a marriage party dashed against his house on Monday. He was sitting in front of his house when the incident occurred. The driver of the jeep has been arrested.

NANGAL
Loan: The Municipal Committee, Nangal will give loan subsidy of 15 per cent, up to a maximum limit of Rs 7,500, to 70 non-matrics under the Swaran Jayanti Share Rozgari Yojna.

PATIALA
Drivers' union: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Driver Operation Union, (PSEB); Chairman — Mr Satpal Singh; President — Mr Kanya Singh; General Secretary — Mr Jaspal Singh; Senior Vice-President — Mr Gurdev Singh; Vice-President — Mr Rajinder Kumar and Treasurer — Mr Baldev Singh.

Lecture: Prof S.P. Guatam of the Department of Philosophy, Panjab University, Chandigarh, delivered a lecture on "Crisis of higher education — Retrospect and prospects organised by the Progressive Thinkers Forum of Punjabi University here. Several others participated.

Elected: Mr Jaspal Singh has been elected President of the Managing Committee of the Sector 19-D Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha after the committee accepted the resignation of its President, Mr Balwant Singh.

Residents body: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Modern Housing Complex Residents Welfare Association (Category III — 5001 to 5114): President — Mrs Archana Chatterji; Vice-President — Mr Pritam Singh; General Secretary — Mr S.K. Kaushal; and Treasurer — Mr Gunjan Mehta.

Thanked: A delegation of the Sikh Nari Manch, led by its president, Ms Harjinder Kaur, and a Cabinet Minister of Punjab, Dr Upinderjit Kaur, met the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, on Wednesday and thanked him for his role in getting Bibi Jagir Kaur elected the SGPC president. Bibi Jagir Kaur also accompanied the delegation.

Navratri Havan: The Lord Murugan Baktha Samaj on Wednesday began its Navrathri Hawan at the Karthik Mandir in Sector 31-D. The hawan will be held at 1 p.m. daily till March 24, according to a press release of the samaj.

PANCHKULA
Welfare association: The following have been elected office-bearers of the residents Welfare Association, Sector 12. President — Col Sham Singh (retd); Vice-Presidents — Col Inderjeet (retd) and MrR.N. Sharma; General Secretary — Mr O.P. Chopra; Joint Secretary — Mr Varinder Mahajan, and Finance Secretary — Mr M.R. Sharma.

KURUKSHETRA
Zoology workshop: An eight day workshop on "Modern techniques in zoology", organised by the Department of Zoology, Kurukshetra University, concluded here on Monday. As many as 28 exercises involving 15 techniques covering molecular biology, physiology, reproductive biology, immunology, biotechnology and aquaculture were conducted. The workshop was attended by colleges' lecturers and researchers.

ROHTAK
Cases solved: The district police has recovered over Rs 2 lakh by solving two cases of robbery and seven cases of theft committed in February, according to a press note issued on Tuesday.

SIRSA
Eye camp: A free eye camp was organised by Sri Hanumant Foundation at Nehru Park here on Monday. As many as 49 operations were performed and 350 persons examined.

SONEPAT
Student booked: The police has registered a case under Section 406, IPC, against a matric student Joginder on the charge of taking away an answer sheet from the examination centre set up by the Board of School Education Haryana at Sanskrit High School at Bahalgarh village in this district on March 13.

BILASPUR
Arrested: Karanjeet, a truck driver from Bada-Pind, Ropar, Sashikant of Kothipura and Pawan Kumar of Maleth have been arrested for allegedly stealing 32 logs of khair worth Rs 14,000 from a depot of Mr Shayamlal of Samletar, on Monday. The SP on Tuesday said that the logs had been recovered.

Auction: Liquor shops were auctioned here on Monday for over Rs 8 crore. District Magistrate-cum-Deputy Commissioner, Ramesh Kapil, who presided over the auction said the auction had brought in the revenue of over Rs 1 crore more as against last year.

Strike: Members of the district unit of Himachal Pradesh State Patwari and Kanungo sangh struck work and went on mass leave here on Tuesday. They have asked for implementation of their demands which were accepted by the government in 1988-89, and the reorganisation of patwari and Kanungo circles and filling post of naib tehsildar. They said if their demands were not accepted they would hold a rally on March 23 and hold district-level rallies on April 6.

CHAMBA
Demanded: The Himachal Pradesh Police Employees Association has demanded pay scales to police constables on a par with the junior basic training (JBT) teachers. In a press note issued here on Wednesday, Mr Gian Chand Thakur, president of the state unit of the Himachal Pradesh Police Employees Association also demanded that the state government should provide ration allowance to police employees on the Punjab pattern at the rate of Rs 300 per month.

Police association: The following have been elected office-bearers of the District unit of the Himachal Pradesh Police Employees Association, President - Mr Divender Kumar Sharma; Senior Vice-President - Mr Karam Chand; Vice-President - Mr Ramesh Kumar; General Secretary - Mr Dharam Singh; and Organising Secretary - Mr Des Raj.

HAMIRPUR
Health workers : Mr Milap Sharma, President of the Hamirpur District Multipurpose Health Workers Mahasangh, has asked the state government to remove anomalies in their pay scales. The following have been elected office-bearers of the Mahasangh: President - Mr Milap Sharma; Senior vice president - Mr Yashwant Sharma; Vice Presidents - Mr Kishori Lal and Mr Om Parkash; General Secretary - Mr Parma Nand Kapoor; Treasurer - Mr Joginder Singh.

Workers restrained: Mr Ranjeet Singh Verma spokesman for the Himachal Vikas Congress, has asked party leaders and workers to refrain from making policy statements about the party and the combine government. In a statement here on Tuesday, he said only the state unit president of the party and those authorised by the President could issue statements.

Lathi charge: The district unit of the CPM has condemned the lathi charge on workers of the Nathpa Jhakri power project by the police recently and demanded immediate release of those arrested. It has submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner in this regard.

Removed: The district President of the BJP, Mr Anand Swaroop, on Tuesday removed Mrs Chand Kapil, from the post of General Secretary of the Mahila Morcha, here for alleged anti-party activities.

KANGRA
Patwaris' protest: Hundreds of patwaris of this subdivision on Tuesday went on protest leave and held a rally in front of the SDM's office in support of their demands which include extension of their training from six months to two years.

NURPUR
Shifting of ITI: The local Town Welfare Committee has taken exception to the proposal of the state government to shift the Industrial Training Institute (ITI) from Jachh Nurpur to Rehan. In a memorandum submitted to the Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, it demanded that the ITI be retained at Nurpur as it was opened during the tenure of the previous government following a demand by the committee and the municipal council. The committee also urged the government to take over the local Arya College.

Mahajan's charge: Mr Sat Mahajan, the PCC chief, has charged the Dhumal Government with ignoring panchayati raj institution. Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday he said that the gram panchayats were allocated development funds directly by the Centre during the Congress regime but now the government had formed vigilant committees for development works in the villages.

SOLAN
Metalling of roads: The PWD minister, Mr Mohinder Singh at a public meeting at Dol Ka Jubbar, 13 km from here said on Monday that Himachal Pradesh had drawn a plan for metalling link roads stretching up to 4,000 km and state highways upto 300 km. The state government would approach the World Bank for a loan of Rs 1,300 crore for this purpose.

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Regional potpourri

War trophy in state of neglect

THE indifferent attitude of the authorities has put to shame the valour shown by the country's soldiers who fought a war with Pakistan in 1965. Army officials gifted a Patton tank captured during the war as a war trophy to the district authorities. With much fanfare, it was placed near the entrance gate of the bus stand in Ambala city.

Presumably, the aim must have been to show to the countrymen the act of the brave Armymen who fought valiantly for the honour of the motherland and which could be an inspiration for the coming generations. However, the appalling conditions in which the tank is kept at present (see picture) might be an insult to those who sacrificed their lives in the battleground and had been given bravery medals for capturing the tank.

The tank, which should have been placed on a raised platform, is placed on the ground without any fencing around it. Some of the steel sheets have been stolen by thieves and could have been passed on to kabariwala. The place around it is used by people as a urinal. Since it is an era of crass commercialisation, it is not surprising that some big hoardings have come up around it blocking the view of visitors.

Irked by the callousness shown by the officials, the Vice-President of the District Sainik Board, Lt Col Baij Nath Bali (retd), has urged the Deputy Commissioner, Mrs Navraj Sandhu, to place the tank in a befitting manner. He has pleaded with the authorities that in case they are unable to do anything in this regard, Army Officials could be told to take it away and keep it in the Ambala cantonment like the ones near the 2 Corps Headquarters.

Reflectors free of cost

All trolley-tractors which run Punjab and have no back backlight units will be provided with reflectors to avoid night accidents.

Giving this information Mr Harmail Singh Sra, Secretary, Regional Transport Authority, Jalandhar, told The Tribune that the reflectors would be installed on the trolley-tractors free of cost by sugar mill owners. No trolley-tractor would be allowed to go back from the mills without having reflectors fixed on them.

Mr Sra said the Managing Director, Sugarfed, Punjab, was pursuing the matter with sugar mill owners. The market committees were also being approached to provide reflectors to the trolley-tractors coming to the grain markets with crops.

The Transport Department was also planning to introduce "auto-dip", a device invented by Prof, Lalit-Mohan Sharma of Regional Engineering College, Bathinda. This device would make the lights of the vehicles coming from the opposite side, did automatically to avoid head-on collisions, Mr Sra added.

Mr Sra further disclosed that for the year 1998-99, 24 route permits were given to main buses, out of which 17 permits were issued to operators in Jalandhar district and seven to those in Amritsar district. Seventy permits were issued to mini-bus operators, of which 41 were given to operators in Jalandhar and 29 to those in Amritsar district. For maxicabs, 35 permits were issued, out of which 10 were issued to Jalandhar operators and 25 to Amritsar operators.

He said Rs 97.37 lakh was realised from bus and truck operators for plying their vehicles without valid documents and defying traffic rules.

Poetry-theatre blend

A local artist has carried out an experiment of blending poetry with theatre without letting one eclipse the other.

Dr KN Kapoor, Head of Hindi Department, Mukand Lal National College, Yamunanagar, brought local the "manch" theatre group and Sant Nischal Singh Public School together to present "Kavita ke ru-bu-ru," a dramatic rendition of three long poems in Hindi on February 27.

Dr Kapoor's philosophical poem, "Shishu Ho Kar", portraying man's introspection of his true self and his endeavour to tame the brute in him, was Ramesh Sapra.

Woman's cry in wilderness against the patriarchal set-up, "Jala Wattan", edited and translated from a cluster of Punjabi poems penned by Dr Paul Kaur, touchingly rendered by Seema Kapoor.

"Ek Adad Sapney ke Liye", the third poem, written by Dr Narinder Mohan, nourishing a dream of love, peace and prosperity while going down the memory lanes into the nightmarish experiences of communal riots, was superbly presented by Ujjwal Chopra.

The show was conceived, designed and directed by Dr K.N. Kapoor.

Contributed by Jai Prakash Mann, Bharat Bhushan Dogra and Ashwani Dutta.