R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
RALLY: A convention-cum-rally of employees was held here on Tuesday on a call of the Mulazim Action Committee, Punjab, and the Punjab and Union Territories Employees Joint Action Committee, under the chairmanship of Mr Lal Singh and Mr Sajjan Singh in protest against the non-acceptance of their demands. Their demands included time-bound promotional scheme and implementation of the report of the anomalies committee.

BARNALA
THREE HELD: The local police has arrested three miscreants of Barnala on a charge of selling duplicate audio cassettes. Mr Ishwar Singh, SSP, in a press note issued here said that they had been identified as Naresh Kumar, Prem Kumar and Umesh Gupta. He added more than 1000 duplicate cassettes were recovered from them.

GARHSHANKAR
ELECTED: Mr Bhajan Singh Thekedar has been elected president of the local unit of the BJP. Mr Gurmail Singh and Mr Malvinder Singh have been elected presidents of the BJP’s backward cell and SC cell, respectively.

ARRESTED: Paramjit Singh, alias Pammi of Patti village, has been arrested at Handowal village on a charge of possessing 4 kg of poppy husk.

GURDASPUR
PROCUREMENT CENTRES: All arrangements to procure wheat in the district have been finalised. As many as 115 procurement centres have been opened in the district, according to Mr S.K. Sandhu, Deputy Commissioner. He said raiding parties, including the SDM, the Tehsildars and the Naib Tehsildars, had been constituted to monitor the working.

TWO HELD: The police on Monday arrested Balwinder Kumar of Pathankot and Gobind Kumar of Sarna village on a charge of theft of scooters. According to Mr Varinder Kumar, SSP, two scooters have been recovered from their possession and a case under Sections 379 and 34, IPC, has been registered.

FLOOD CONTROL: Mr S.K. Sandhu, Deputy Commissioner, while presiding over a meeting of the district flood control committee here on Tuesday directed the drainage officials to identify sensitive sites for undertaking flood protection measures in the district. The Punjab Government has released Rs 53 lakh in this regard for the district. The committee decided to desilt the nullahas and construction of bridges over drains to assure smooth flow of water.

LALRU
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the BJP Lalru unit: President — Mr Jai Prakash Shekhar; General Secretary — Mr Rajbir Singh Rana; Senior Vice-President — Mr Baldev Singh Rana; and Vice-President — Mr Satpal Valmiki.

LUDHIANA
MEDICAL EQUIPMENT: Mr Sujan Singh, President, Bush Walains Club, UK, provided medical equipment worth Rs 30 lakh to Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital. Dr Sudhir Kumar Bhatnagar, Chairman, Lions Club Multiple Council, (North India), handed over documents to the president and the Medical Superintendent of the hospital, on Monday.

MOGA
BODY FOUND: The police recovered a body from the Civil Lines area on Tuesday. According to the in charge of the police station, Mr Surjeet Singh, the body was sent for the post-mortem examination. In another incident, the Baghapurana police recovered the body of an employee of the Health Department, Babu Lal, from his room on Tuesday. The body has been sent to Faridkot for the post-mortem examination.

PATHANKOT
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Lions Club Service: president — Mr Suresh Oberoi; general secretary — Mr Ved Bhushan Mahajan; and treasurer — Mr Gurdiyal Singh.

PATIALA
STUDENTS’ STIR: All MBBS students, interns, house surgeons and postgraduate students will boycott classes and routine hospital duties on Thursday to protest against administrative lethargy towards the issue of non-recognition of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences by the Medical Council of India and to pressurise the State Government for reaffiliation of all medical colleges to their parent universities with immediate effect.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Harbans Theatre Lane Residents Welfare Association: President — Mr Pran Sabharwal; General Secretary — Mr K.K. Mehta; and Treasurer — Mr Surinder Kapoor.

ASSOCIATION: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Punjab Government Ayurvedic Teachers Association: Patron —Dr I.C. Singla; President — Dr Ashwani Kumar; Senior-Vice- President — Dr Adarsh Kumar; Vice-President — Dr Sadhna Sharma; General Secretary — Dr V.K. Rehni; Joint Secretary — Dr N.D. Vashisht; and Finance Secretary — Dr Rakesh Pathak.

PHAGWARA
FIRE: A transformer on the railway road caught fire on Tuesday which created panic among shopkeepers.The cause of fire is not known.

CHANDIGARH

NOMINATED: Dr S.S. Vithal, a homoeopathic physician from Khanna, has been nominated the National Vice-President of the Indian Institute of Homoeopathic Physicians. He has also been selected a member of the editorial board of The Rational Medicine, the official publication of the association.

WEBSITE: A website for chartered accountants “IndianCA.org” was launched on Wednesday. The website will give an opportunity to CAs to introduce themselves to their prospective clients the world over. Non-practising CAs can get employment information from all over the world.

ARDAS SAMAGAM: A special ardas samagam will be held at the Sector 34 Gurdwara Sri Guru Teg Bahadur on Thursday. According to Maj N.S. Rangi, President of the gurdwara committee bhog and kirtan will also be held.

TEACHERS UNION: Mr Sudish Sharma and Mr M.S. Sekhon have been elected President and Secretary of the DAV College Teachers Union, respectively. Other office-bearers are: Vice-President — Dr A.S. Mathur; Joint Secretary — Mr Anil Sarwal; and Finance Secretary — Mr H.C. Sharma.

MANCH: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Sector 37-C Mahila Jagriti Manch: Chairperons —Ms Kamlesh Rani; Vice-Chairperson —Ms Balbir Kaur; President — Ms Motia Rani; Vice-President — Ms Raj Rani; General Secretary — Ms Gulshan Sharma; Secretary — Ms Surender Sikka and Auditor — Ms Geeta Rani.

BONUS: Mr J.C. Bubber, General Manager (HRD) of Punjab Akalis and Chemicals, in a letter to Mr Rajan Puri, President, Employees Union of Naya Nangal unit, on Wednesday conveyed the decision of payment of balance bonus and ex-gratia for 1998-99, along with the salary for April.

PANCHKULA
SCHEMES: Over Rs 6 lakh has been spent by the Welfare Department of the district under various schemes for the uplift of backward classes and weaker sections of society. Giving details, Mr S.K. Monga, Deputy Commissioner, said 21 persons had benefited from the scheme of giving Rs 5,100 to families of Scheduled Castes living below the poverty line for marriage of their daughters and 22 persons had benefited from the housing scheme, whereby Scheduled Castes with katcha houses were given a grant of Rs 5,000 each.

HARYANA

FARIDABAD
INAUGURATED: Mr Anand Mohan Sharan, Deputy Commissioner, inaugurated a computer centre at Bal Bhawan on Tuesday. He said 50 per cent concession would be given in fees to widows and students belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Schedule Tribes.

PANIPAT
TWO KILLED: A father and his 40-year-old son, residents of Ramesh Nagar, were killed in a collision between a scooter and a truck at Gohana Chowk on Monday. While Mewa Ram (60) died on the spot, his son Anil, died in a hospital. In another incident, Amit, a resident of Indira Colony in Noorwala, ended his life by running in front of a train near Katcha Phatak. His body was recovered from the track on Monday. In third incident, Ram Bahadur, a watchman of BBMB, died after being hit by a scooter near Bakra market on Monday.

REWARI
CASE REGISTERED: Savitri Devi (70) was allegedly shot dead by her son-in-law Vishnu Kant Kaushik at Dharuhera village, 16 km from here, on Tuesday. The police has registered a case.

SIRSA
MEETING: A monthly meeting of the District Public Relations and Grievances Committee will be held at Panchayat Bhavan here on Friday. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Amit Jha, will preside over the meeting. The DC will also redress complaints on the spot.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

NAHAN
RECOVERED: Officials of the Forest Department, Paonta range, recovered eight logs of khair wood weighting about 5 quintal. According to Mr A.R.M. Reddy, DFO, the wood was buried on the banks of the Yamuna, near Bharawala belt.

PARWANOO
DEMANDED: Residents of this industrial town on Wednesday demanded a permanent subzi mandi here. They felt that the town needed a vegetable market similar to that in Kalka. They pointed out that the only option available to them was to purchase cheaper vegetables from the vegetable market which was put up every Wednesday at Kalka. They suggested that the ideal place for the market was near the Nagar Palika office ground.

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

Cop’s long haul to get ‘justice’

RAJPAL SINGH, Additional Superintendent of Police at Sonepat, had to overcome many difficulties and fight a long legal battle to get the Indian Police Service (IPS) rank from the government.

While working as an Inspector of police in 1987, Mr Rajpal Singh was entrusted with the investigation of the massacre of 36 innocent bus passengers by terrorists near Daryapur village in Fatehabad district of Haryana. This assignment involved a high risk to his life as he had to raid the hideouts of terrorists in the disturbed areas of Punjab. However, he succeeded in arresting the culprits who had carried big cash rewards on their head.

In recognition of his actions, the President of India awarded him a police medal for gallantry and the state government promoted him to the rank of the DSP on February 8, 1988. But when he was due for promotion as SP on March 31, 1998, he faced the wrath of the then Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, and the state government deliberately did not convene a meeting of the selection committee to consider his name for elevation to the IPS cadre. He took recourse to law and filed a case with the Central Administrative Tribunal, seeking a direction to the state government to convene the meeting of the selection committee. The tribunal then directed the state government to convene the said meeting which was not relished by Mr Bansi Lal. Mr Rajpal Singh got a review petition filed against the said order but that was dismissed. His problems did not stop there.

Mr Rajpal Singh then knocked at the door of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, where the state government suffered a defeat. In order to stop him from getting the IPS rank, efforts were not only made to change his seniority but his ACR was also made unfavourably and a criminal case registered against him.

However, Mr Rajpal Singh did not lose courage and he challenged the state government’s action in the High Court, which quashed the proceedings. Thereafter, the court order was challenged by the state government in the Supreme Court. The apex court directed the state government to convene a meeting of the selection committee as directed by CAT on an application of contempt of court filed by Mr Rajpal Singh against the Chief Minister. The state government then convened a meeting of the said committee on May 26 last year.

To complicate matters, the state government withheld Mr Rajpal Singh’s integrity certificate. Thereupon, Mr Rajpal Singh again approached the tribunal which directed the selection committee to consider the name of Mr Rajpal Singh for promotion without the said certificate. The selection committee recommended his promotion and ultimately the Union Ministry of Home Affairs issued necessary notification for his elevation to the IPS.

The maxim ‘‘God sees the truth, but waits’’ has come true in Mr Rajpal Singh’s case.

A school with a difference

A new state-of-art day boarding school is coming up in healthy and clean rural environs at Bondli, near Samrala. Sponsored by the Jagir Singh Charitable Trust, the foundation stone of the school building was laid by none other than Sant Tirath Singhji “Sewa Panthi,” the 12th head of the Bhai Kanahiya Sect, which runs 28 schools, seven colleges and several health care centres and hospitals.

Sant Tirath Singh, while lauding the efforts of the Jagir Singh Charitable Trust in starting this modern public school in a rural area, also donated Rs 1 lakh for the project.

Mr Jagir Singh of Madpur village, who started his career as a school teacher, has donated his property for charitable purposes. Up to now he has donated more than Rs one crore for various charities, including funding of brilliant students for their higher education in medicine, engineering, besides helping poor and needy patients.

The school on an eight-acre campus will have sports as a compulsory subject. Among the sports advisers of the managing committee of the school are national coach of the US hockey team, Mr Shiv Jagday, national coach of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic team, Mr Sukhvir Singh Grewal, and an experienced cricket coach, Mr Mohinder Singh Pannu.

The campus is being designed by a famous architect, Mr Charanjit Singh of Chandigarh, while Mr G.S. Gill, an engineer has volunteered to look after the engineering works.

The faculty of the school will be highly qualified NRIs who have worked in the field of education. The management has decided that all children admitted to the school will be medically examined. The school is being named after Max Arthur Macauliffe, who sacrificed his post in India and became the first British scholar to translate the Adi Granth Sahib.

Teaching in the school will be through playway and Montessori methods, says Mr Devinder Singh Benepal, an official spokesman of the trust. The school will have audio-visual aids, computer labs, lush green playfields, a swimming pool and gym. The total cost of the project will be Rs 2.5 crore.

The trust also proposes to have a library in the name of Bhai Kanahiya, a nursing home in memory of Bibi Ajaib Kaur and a computer centre to commemorate Mr Gurdev Singh, a former Mr Punjab and a human rights activist.

Acupuncture camp

Dr D.S. Thakur, a Ph.D in Acupuncture Science from Hong Kong, is holding a month-long acupuncture camp at Civil Lines in Hoshiarpur. He has been running a clinic at Dhalpur in Kulu for the past seven years.

He diagnoses ailments with the help of a computer. He touches computer-connected electric acupuncture rods to the palms. As he touches different points the patient experiences mild jerks. It indicates that the part is malfunctioning. He not only diagnoses the ailment but also predicts future complications. He pricks needles in the nerves of the affected part and connects the needles to a special power instruments which supplies vital power to the ailing part.

Dr Thakur also treats patients with herbs. He claims that he has cured patients of chronic diseases, including cervical spondylitis, polio, asthma, arthritis, diabetes, blood pressure and paralysis.

Contributed by R.D. Sapra, Prabhjot Singh and Ravinder Sood