R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

PUNJAB

BATHINDA
REMOVE GODOWN: Residents of Dhillon Basti have urged the district authorities to remove the LPG godown of a private gas agency from their colony. In a letter addressed to the Deputy Commissioner they said an electricity line passing over the godown had made the place vulnerable. Residents suggested that licences to the agencies and godown should be given only after proper enquiries.

DC ORDERS: Mr Jaspal Singh, Deputy Commissioner, in a press note issued here on Tuesday said the shops would remain closed on Sunday. They would remain open to the public from 8.30 am to 8.30 pm on other days. The hotels and dhabas would remain open till 11 pm in the cities and till 10 pm in the villages. He said the wine shops could remain open till 11 pm. He also banned the weekly and monthly sale of unauthorised lucky draws and schemes. These orders would remain effective from May 29 to July 28.

HOSHIARPUR
INAUGURATED: Mr Balvir Singh Miani, Minister for Higher and Medical Education Punjab, inaugurated a 2 km long link road from Kotla Naudh Singh to Dadina, named after freedom fighter Baba Harnam Singh Tundilat marg at Kotla Naudh Singh village, 30 km from here, on Tuesday. He said Baba Harnam Singh Tundilat belonged to Kotla Naudh Singh village. Later, he inaugurated medical camp organised by the State Bank of India branch of the local Grain Market.

FEDERATION: The following have been elected office-bearers of the All India Sikh Students Federation: senior vice-presidents — Mr Davinder Pal Singh Lachowal, Mr Pradeep Singh Ambewal and Mr Harmeet Singh Jalowal, vice-presidents — Mr Surjit Singh Jeeta, Mr Sukhjinder Singh Sukha and Mr Harnek Singh Neki, general secretaries — Mr Davinder Singh Laddi, Mr Raghuvir Singh, Mr Satnam Singh Saini and Mr Buta Singh, organising secretaries — Mr Parminderjit Singh and Mr Vikash Kaushal, joint secretaries — Mr Sukhvir Singh and Mr Bhupinder Singh.

JALANDHAR
RECOGNITION: The local unit of the People for Animals has been granted recognition by the Animal Welfare Board of India. This was stated by Dr G.S. Bedi, president, People for Animals.

LALRU
FOUR HELD: The police here has arrested four women for allegedly smuggling 1 quintal of poppy husk. Mr HS Bhullar, DSP, said the accused — Kamlesh, Shankuntla, residents of Phillaur, and Balbiro and Ramesh Kaur from Bhugarni in Hoshiarpur — were arrested on Tuesday while travelling in a Chandigarh-bound CTU bus (CH-)1G-8174). A case under Section 15/61/85 of the NDPS Act has been registered.

NAWANSHAHR
NEW ADC: Mr Gurpal Singh Bhatti took over as the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Nawanshahr on Tuesday.

KHARIF SEASON: The district administration has fixed target of producing 143,000 metric ton of rice and 56,000 metric ton of maize in the ensuing kharif season. The administration has also planned to sow paddy In 45,000 hectares and maize in 19,000 hectares of the cultivated area. This was stated by the Deputy Commissioner, Dr Roshan Sunkaria, in a press note issued here, on Tuesday. He said as many as 50 village level, five block and a district-level farmers training camps were organised in May.

PATIALA
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Merchant Association, Sir Hindi Bazar: chairman - Sub Major (retd) Gurmukh Singh; president — Mr Surjeet Singh Bawa; senior vice-president — Mr Om Parkash; vice-president — Dr Sanjay Bhatnagar; secretary — Mr Rajneesh Verma; and treasurers — Mr Parminder Singh and Mr Harjeet Singh.

PHAGWARA
PROTEST: Activists of the Punjab Hindu Shiv Sena led by its general secretary Pawan Parbhakar on Tuesday staged a protest march and raised slogans against the ISI and Pakistan’s military ruler Gen Parvez Musharaf for aiding and abetting trans-border terrorism.

PHILLAUR
WORKSHOP: A two-day workshop on “personal effectiveness” organised for 55 SP and SSPs and the Punjab Police Academy, Phillaur, concluded on Tuesday. The workshop was conducted by Col. D.K. Chibber.

ZIRAKPUR
MAN CRUSHED: An unidentified youth was crushed to death under Mumbai Express in Gajipur village, 3 km from here on Wednesday. The man was wearing black shoes, a chain and a wrist watch and reportedly met with the accident at about 1.10 pm. Mr Avtar Singh, ASI of the Railway Police, reached the spot and sent the body to Civil Hospital Rajpura for post-mortem. A case has been registered by the Railway Police.

CHANDIGARH

APPOINTED: Brig K.S. Khatri, Director of the North Western Circle of Survey of India, has been appointed chairman of the Chandigarh Chapter of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing. A statement issued here said that Mr R.P.S. Chopra has been appointed Secretary, while Mr Sewa Singh and Mr P.K. Sarmal, both from the Survey of India, have been appointed Joint Secretary and Treasurer, respectively.

QUASHING OF NOTIFICATION SOUGHT: In a petition filed before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, two Ropar district residents on Wednesday sought the quashing of a notification issued on March 13 “for building Anandgarh, a new township, adjacent to Chandigarh”. Mr Jasvir Singh and Mr Gurdial Singh stated that certain “powerful bureaucrats and politicians who had purchased land in villages had succeeded in persuading the Punjab Chief Minister to build Anandgarh, instead of Anandpur Sahib, at the same place where New Chandigarh was to be built”. They also enclosed a list of influential persons having land in villages covered by the Anandgarh scheme.

PROTEST: Members of the Indian Telecom Officers Association (Punjab telecom circle) remained on casual leave on Tuesday and wore black badges on Wednesday in protest against the appointment of a retired IAS officer as Secretary, Department of Telecom Services (DTS). A press release of the association said telecom services needed a technocrat to head the department.

PANCHKULA 
MUSICAL NIGHT: A Punjabi musical night will be organised on June 3 at the parade ground in Sector 5 here. This was stated by the President of the Panchkula Social Organisation, Mr Umesh Sood. Artistes who will perform include Baba Khan, Surjit Khan, Gurtej Tej, B.S. Rishi, Uminder Oma, Baljit Sandhu, Jitender Panchi, Harjinder Rubi, Amarjit Muttoo, Rachpal Sabhrwal, Shakti Walia, Pawan Bitoo, Nimmi Sharma, Neha, Baby Akshita.

HARYANA

AMBALA
LOK ADALAT: A Lok adalat will be held under the chairmanship of Mr V.K. Bali in the premises of the District and Sessions Judge court at 7.30 a.m. on June 3. Mr A.K. Tyagi, Secretary, Haryana State Legal Service Authority Ambala, and Chief Judicial, Magistrate said that civil and criminal cases, motor accident and claim cases of tribunal will be decided. The Chairman, District Legal Services, Ambala, Mrs Kiran Anand Lall said that the adalat will be 36th big Lok Adalat of Ambala district. Besides, mini Lok adalats will be held every month.

AWARENESS PROGRAMME: The Instruments Design Development and Facilities Centre (IDDC), Ambala, in association with Small Industrial Development Bank of India (SIDBI) will conduct an awareness programme on ISO-9000 at IDDC, GT Road, near Indian Oil Depot, Ambala Cantonment from June 6 to 8. According to General Manager of IDDC, Mr N.K. Jain: “Among other things, the participants would be given awareness on ISO-9000 benefits and how to achieve ISO-9000 registration. The awareness programme will help the industry here to go for ISO certification”.

SONEPAT
MURDERED: Rajinder was allegedly murdered by a fellow worker, Ranbir, at a saw mill in Gohana town, 35 km from here, on Tuesday. The alleged assailant, however, managed to escape and a case has been registered against him.

ENCROACHMENTS REMOVED: Officials of the Sonepat Municipal Council, along with the police, removed the encroachments around the cremation ground at Garhi Brahmanan village on Tuesday.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
LEGAL AID: A workshop on “free legal aid” under the chairmanship of the District and Sessions Judge, Mr B.S. Chauhan, was held at Bachai Bhavan here, on Monday. The workshop was attended by the SP, Mr Atul Verma, the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr D.K. Sharma, the SDM, Mr R.L Rana and the District Bar Association President.

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

‘Umeed’ brings hope to children

THE “Umeed” Khanna Foundation, which is already playing a stellar role in the fields of healthcare and social welfare in Sangrur and parts of adjoining districts, has added another feather to its cap. It provides environment for children within which they will be able to achieve a healthy and positive growth.

“The future of our nation lies in the hands of our children. To enable them to enjoy good health and a better future,”We need to give them love and care, proper facilities for education and a healthy environment within which they can blossom into useful members of our society”, says Mr Arvind Khanna, Chairman of the Foundation.

As a first step in this direction the Foundation has started a simple but result-oriented programme of health screening of primary school children. In April,”Umeed” celebrated World Health Day by launching this project. The aim, said the Chairman, would be to cover primary schools in Sangrur district and parts of the adjoining districts. The ultimate aim is to cover the entire State.

The Umeed Khanna Foundation is giving full support to a ‘child rights’ project under the umbrella of the Punjab Human Rights Commission, which the Commission is starting, in 12 districts of Punjab. This is an Indo-British venture funded by the British Council and being implemented under the aegis of the Punjab Police. Yes! the Punjab Police, whom few people know, is doing tremendous work in this vital field.

Under the project trainees from each district will be trained to organise a People Education Programme (PEP) in primary schools. This programme will have the participation of children, their parents and professionals for education on issues like child rights and child abuse. There will also be games, questionnaires, competitions and in some cases film shows also wherever facilities exist.

“Umeed” conducted two programmes under the People Education Programme on May 9 and 10 at SOS Village School, Rajpura, and Navjivan School for mentally retarded children at Sular village in Patiala district. In attendance were the ADGP Human Rights Commission, the Secretary, Punjab Human Rights Commission, SSPs of Rajpura and Patiala, the Deputy Director, Punjab Police Academy, Phillaur, and prominent citizens of the area. The managements of the schools were appreciative of “Umeed” Khanna Foundation’s commendable work in the field of child rights. Mr Arvind Khanna has assured “Umeed’s” support for programmes benefiting children.

One man mission

Success cannot be achieved overnight. It has a tough terrain which one has to patiently traverse. Years of toil and consistence do lead one to savour the taste of success. The story of the terracotta museum (see photo) in the sleepy village of Andretta in Palampur in Kangra (HP) vindicates the time-tested truth.

Mr Mansimran Singh, the man behind the testimony of the success story, has put in more than 40 years to see his dream come true. Himself a potter by profession and occupation, Mansimran has gathered clay objects from various countries like Japan, Scotland, Italy and, of course most parts of India under one roof. As the museum is situated in Kangra, there is one exclusive section in it in which Kangra-style pots like “gharas”, “matkas”, “chattis” have been displayed. Fine blue-coloured objects of clay from Scotland and shining brown-yellow Japanese pots are worth seeing rarities.

Rori Kori cries for water

Come summer and the residents of Rori Kori (Ram Nagar), a small village in Dehra tehsil of Kangra district, brace themselves up to meet a major water crisis, year after year. The acute scarcity of water in this segment invariably keeps haunting the residents even during the winter. However, with the advent of summer season, the problem aggravates. Left with no option to fight the water scarcity, they are forced to trudge long distances in sweltering heat to fetch water.

Rori Kori has a population of nearly 800 heads comprising harijans, thakurs, chaudharys, brahmins and blacksmiths. The Rori Kori water supply scheme was launched for 37 domestic water connections, which today stands at a whopping 250. The scheme has been since extended up to the lower Bulbhal area. Being a gravity scheme there is sufficient water in the gallery to meet the burgeoning demand of the area, but the construction is going on at a snail’s pace.

A contractor, when asked to spell out reasons for the inordinate delay, confided that paucity of funds had virtually hampered the process. The digging operation for a hand pump were stopped half way. Ninety pipes sanctioned by the department for the purpose are alleged to have been shifted to some other point.

Another problem of Rori Kori is the absence of a ‘pucca’ road. The 3-km ‘kutcha’ road from Chaplah (Jhota Amb) to Nangal Chowk was thrown open to the residents of this area in 1992. Ever since then, no repair work has been undertaken. As a result the road has become a bumpy track.

A single HRTC bus is available in the morning only. This causes inconvenience to students, farmers, patients and those who have to attend courts at Dehra and Dharamsala. Contributed by TNS, Suman Sachar and Ramesh K. Dhiman