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| Wednesday, July 19, 2000, Chandigarh, India    |
SAD rebels’ case hearing on Aug 16 Shortage of teachers hits medical
studies Clash at civic elections Nine villages inundated Autonomy: Tohra to hold convention
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Show-cause notice to Principal
Secy Action on Tribune reports 6 officers transferred in Punjab
Pak-trained militant held 9-year-old raped by relative
GND University interviews on July
25 Barnala KV is model school Astrology courses in Amritsar
Focal point to be set up at
Faridkot
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SAD rebels’ case hearing on
Aug 16 CHANDIGARH, July 18 — The next date for hearing in the case of disqualification of the dissident SAD MLAs from the Punjab Vidhan Sabha has been fixed for August 16. The two sides today submitted their respective list of witnesses. The dissident MLAs have named Mr Parkash Singh Badal as one of their witnesses, while the petitioners have even included some newsmen. The petitioners include Mr Jagdish Singh Garcha, Mr Sikandar Singh Maluka, Mr Raghbir Singh, Mr Ajaib Singh Mukhmailpur. When the case came up for hearing, the Speaker, Mr Charanjit Singh Atwal, reserved his orders following hearing of arguments for framing of additional issues by the dissident MLAs. On the next date, two applications by the dissidents will come up, one questioning the competence of the Speaker to hear the case in lieu of the allegations levelled against him of being "partisan"; and the other maintaining that there was no cause of action against the petitioners. The MLAs facing the
disqualification include Mr Ravi Inder Singh, a former
Speaker. |
Shortage of teachers hits medical
studies CHANDIGARH, July 18 — Shortage of teachers in Punjab’s prestigious medical and dental colleges is hampering the studies of students. Patient care, too has got a beating in the hospitals attached to these colleges. In fact, the situation is so bad that if the Indian Medical Council and the Indian Dental Council, the two national-level bodies, take note of it, the recognition granted to these institutions could be under threat. What is worse, more medical teachers are likely to leave than join these institutions, official sources here said. Punjab has two dental colleges and three medical colleges. Officials here admit that there is a shortage of teachers in all faculties. For the three medical colleges alone, the government needs at least 75 teachers at different levels. Look at the Amritsar medical college. Against 54 posts of professor sanctioned as per the norms laid down by the Medical Council of India, there are 44 professors. In the case of associate professors, only one is working against three posts. There is a shortage of eight in the case of assistant professors — 54 against 62. But the situation is really bad when it comes to senior lecturers and lecturers. The college which needs 60 senior lecturers, has only 43. In the case of lecturers, against the sanctioned strength of 29, only 14 are working. This, indeed, is alarming. If there are not enough lecturers now, from where will the associate professors and professors come? There is no senior resident at Amritsar. The medical college at Patiala, a major referral health institution for several districts of the Malwa area, is short of professors and other faculty members all along the line. Here the situation is worse. The list of vacant posts includes one each in Medicine, Paediatrics, Microbiology, Anatomy and Surgery. It requires six assistant professors in the Anatomy, Microbiology, Radiology, Radiotherapy and two other departments. It is short of 17 senior lecturers in the Medicine, Chest and TB, Skin, Psychiatry, ENT, Radiotherapy, Anaesthesia, Plastic Surgery, Neurology, Forensic Medicine and two other departments. Surgery needs three senior lecturers and Radiology two. There is a shortage of 10 lecturers in Anatomy (three), Physiology (two), Biochemistry (one), Pharmacology (two), Blood Bank (one), and the Forensic Medicine (one). The worst hit are the Departments of Paediatrics, Radiotherapy and Forensic Medicine and the Blood Bank. During vacations mostly PCMS doctors work and virtually run the hospital. Teaching work at the postgraduate level and the hospital services are badly hit during the summer vacation as half of the teaching faculty is on vacation. The Principal of the college, Dr Ravinder Singh said “a departmental promotion committee meeting was held recently. However, the result is yet to be out”. He also said the problem of teachers as well as postgraduate students was mainly in the basic departments as these were not seen as attractive from the point of view of career opportunities. But the situation in the dental college at Patiala is really pathetic. According to official sources, only four professors are working against the requirement of six. In the case of assistant professors, it is five against the need for nine. In the case of senior lecturers, there are just two. This dental college has only four demonstrators. In the Amritsar dental college there are just three professors against the requirement of six. In the case of assistant professors, there are three vacancies. Six teachers have to carry the entire burden in this category. There is just one lecturer against 10 posts and there is no demonstrator. How the teachers bear the load is anyone’s guess. Does it not call for some urgent steps? The Secretary for Medical Education and Research, Mr Surjit Singh, readily agrees. But he feels helpless. “It is true that we are not getting enough teachers at all levels. Seniors also tend to leave as they go in either for private practice or join private hospitals and teaching institutions. The situation has to be looked at from a long-term perspective. Loyalties are no longer there, though some people stay. There was earlier a ban on fresh recruitments also. But what is worrisome is that government medical colleges are not attracting top-class talent. We are devising means to tackle the situation”, he told TNS. Mr Surjit Singh would neither describe the situation as alarming nor share any other information. His Director of Medical Education, Dr S.S. Sidhu, was not forthcoming despite requests to give information. What the Secretary said has a lot of truth. But there is also truth in what some teachers maintained. How come the principals of the dental colleges resigned in October last year, with one rejoining later? The post of principal of the dental college at Amritsar has been lying vacant since October 1999. One professor is officiating. The departmental promotion committee did not meet for many months. Ad hoc arrangements are there with number four in the cadre as officiating principal. And how come the promotion committee could meet only (after a gap of nine months) when Dr Jagmohan Lal, Professor and Head of the Prosthodontics Department resigned? He was apparently not happy when he was transferred to the dental college at Amritsar where his student was officiating as principal. He was working as vice-principal at Patiala. This is just one case. Political meddling and bureaucratic apathy at all levels do not allow the departmental committee to meet regularly and look after the interests of the teaching faculty. “Government service is still attractive. There is a lot of prestige, though less money. There is good scope for research and teaching. But we come across stones not just stonewalls. They hit us all over”, said an unhappy professor. This one had to quit as leave could not be granted when the professor was to go to Canada for urgent family work. There could be many more similar cases. And to top of it all,
the Minister for Medical Education, Mr Monoranjan Kalia,
has taken much less interest in matters after the main
Department of Health was taken away from him. |
Clash at civic elections FATEHGARH SAHIB, July 18 — Elections for the post of president and vice-president of the Municipal Council, Amloh, were conducted today amid sloganeering by supporters of Capt Kanwaljit Singh, Finance Minister, and Mr Balwant Singh Sahpur, Akali MLA, Amloh. Timely intervention by the police saved the situation from being ugly. The post of president had become a bone of contention between the local SAD MLA and the Finance Minister. Mr Baldev Sedha and Mr Jiwan Puri belonging to the Finance Minister’s group were elected president and vice-president, respectively as the MLA and his supporters walked out of the meeting. Carrying placards against the SDM and Capt Kanwaljit Singh, the MLA’s other supporters waiting outside tried to enter the meeting hall by breaking the police cordon, but were overpowered. There was clash among supporters of both groups but the police intervened. Nine councillors out of 11 led by Capt Kanwaljit Singh reached the town today after a weeklong tour. Capt Kanwaljit Singh himself remained at the residence of the Tejwant Singh advocate, while his political secretary Zora Singh led them to the meeting hall. The MLA also came to the venue of the meeting with his supporters. The SDM of Amloh conducted the meeting at which allegations and counter-allegations were made. So the police was called into the meeting hall. Talking to TNS, Mr Balwant Singh Shahpur, MLA, alleged that the SDM had misused his official powers. He said the post of president was reserved for a BC candidate but Mr Baldev Sedha whom the Finance Minister was supporting was not a BC. He had obtained a “bogus” certificate which had been challenged in the High Court. The court had directed the Tehsildar Amloh, to conduct an inquiry into the allegations. He said the SDM had conducted the election ignoring the directions of the court. He said only one counsellor, Mr Baldev Singh Aulakh, had been elected in the BC category. So he also was entitled to the post of president. He said Capt Kanwaljit Singh was unnecessarily interfering in his constituency and putting pressure on the district administration to make Mr Baldev Sedha the president. He said he would bring the matter to the notice of the Chief Minister. He demanded action against the SDM. He also criticised the role of the police and alleged he was roughed up at the meeting. When contacted, Capt Kanwaljit Singh refuted all allegations. He said “I have not interfered in the elections. The municipal councillors were apprehending that the MLA would not allow the elections to be held. So I was here to see that these were conducted peacefully.” Mrs Raghbir Kaur Khera, SDM said the elections had been conducted peacefully. When the name for president was proposed, the MLA had objected saying he was not a BC candidate, but Mr Baldev Sedha had presented a certificate issued by the Punjab Government to justify his candidature. She said she had
mentioned in the proceedings that if the certificate was
found bogus, action would be taken as per the law. |
Nine villages inundated ROPAR, July 18 — The breach in the Siswan river near Ropar has inundated nine villages, rendering 10,000 villagers homeless. According to sources, the fields and residential areas of Chaunta, Bara-Surtapur, Chota Surtapur, Bhani, Bhauwal, Chalian Khurd, Taprian Malah and Ispur villages were under four feet of water. Despite warning by the district administration, most villagers could only salvage their cattle and some of their valuables. A breach of 200 feet in the Siswan was caused at Chota Chauntapur about 11.45 a.m. today. The water level in the river rose from 8000 cusecs, which is normal during the monsoon, to about 40000 cusecs. Sources in the drainage department said the breach might have been caused due to rat holes in the earthen bandh and the swift water current. By evening, 10000 cusecs of water had entered the villages. Officials were of the view that the breach would widen further due to the high water inflow. When this correspondent visited the site, the officials of the drainage department were cutting the ring side of the ‘U’ shaped bandh to facilitate the flow of water from the villages to the adjoining Sutlej. Reliable sources expressed the apprehension that the sudden rise in the water level of the Siswan river might have been caused due a breach in the Siswan dam in the kandi areas of the Shivaliks. This, however, could not be confirmed. Villagers blame the officials of the drainage department for the breach. Complaining to the SDM, Ropar, who visited the site, they alleged that the drainage department officials did not pay attention to their repeated complaints about the weakening of the bandh. The Deputy Commissioner, Ropar, Mr G. S. Grewal, at a press conference held later today said that rescue operations for the trapped villagers and the removal of water from the residential areas was on. He said medical and the animal husbandry teams had been rushed to the affected villages. Three boats had been pressed into service to rescue the marooned villagers. The Deputy Commissioner ordered the closure of all educational institutions in the flood-hit areas of the district. He said after the water subsided in the affected villages a survey would be conducted to assess the loss to crops and compensation given to the villagers as per the Punjab Government norms. Sources said the breach
in the river could only be filled when the water in the
Siswan river subsided. |
Autonomy: Tohra to hold convention CHANDIGARH, July 18 (UNI) — In an effort to outwit his bette noire Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on the autonomy issue, the veteran Akali leader Gurcharan Singh Tohra has initiated to rope in leaders of various regional parties, including the National Conference, the Asom Gana Parishad, the Telugu Desam and the Dravid Munetra Kazhagam (DMK) at a convention to be organised here by his party on the issue in August-end. National Conference supremo and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah has already “confirmed to attend the convention” and Mr Tohra is awaiting response from other national and regional stalwarts Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal (SHSAD) General Secretary Prem Singh Chandumajra told UNI here today. Mr Abdullah confirmed his participation in the convention during Mr Tohra’s visit to Srinagar on the fourth day of mourning (faateha) of the death of Mr Abdullah’s mother Begum Akbar Jehan, he added. Invitations for the
convention have also been extended to Mr Prafulla Kumar
Mahanta, Mr K. Karunanidhi and Mr Chandrababu Naidu, the
Chief Ministers of Assam, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh
respectively at New Delhi, the party sources said. |
Show-cause notice to Principal
Secy CHANDIGARH, July 18 — Issuing notice to the Punjab Principal Secretary (Local Government), Mr N.K. Arora, a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today asked him to show cause why proceedings under the Contempt of Court Act should not be initiated against him for violating orders regarding the petitioner’s election to Samrala Municipal Committee. Pronouncing the orders, the Bench, comprising Mr. Justice H.S. Bedi and Mr. Justice A.S. Garg, observed: “On May 1, we had issued a direction that the name of the petitioner be notified for the office of the President (of Samrala MC) within a period of one week from that date. The present application has, however, been filed for 30 days’ extension on the ground that the filing of a Special Leave Petition was proposed”. The Bench also observed: “We find absolutely no justification on why the name has not been notified or any order obtained from the Supreme Court despite the passage of almost two months from the date the order was made available”. Warrants against Ferozepore SP The High Court today issued bailable warrants against Ferozepore’s Superintendent of Police Jaspal Singh Dhanda for August 29 after he failed to turn up in the court on a petition alleging wilful disobedience of orders regarding investigation of a case. In his petition, taken up by Ms Justice Bakhshish Kaur, Mr Lal Chand of Dharangwala village (Ferozepore) had alleged that despite the High Court’s orders directing the Senior Superintendent of Police to investigate a case registered against him and others at Ferozepore city police station, the SP continued to conduct the investigation. Claiming the disobedience to be intentional and aimed at causing hindrance in the administration of justice, Mr Lal Chand had added that the SP had even issued notices to the petitioners and others to join the investigations in the case. Notice to Punjab on Anandgarh On a public interest litigation seeking the quashing of 29 notifications for building Anandgarh, a new township, adjacent to Chandigarh, Mr Justice R.S. Mongia and Mr Justice K.C. Gupta today issued notice of motion for August 18. In its petition, Anandgarh Hatao Sanjhi Sangharsh Committee had earlier 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”. The petitioners had also enclosed a list of “influential persons” having land in the villages covered under the Anandgarh scheme. The committee had stated that the same influential persons had earlier “hatched a scheme to construct a new city in the adjoining villages of Chandigarh”. The purpose behind the
scheme, the petitioner had added, “was that the very
land purchased at throwaway prices owned by the
influential nexus, should be acquired at very high price
and they should be able to make “tons of money as
profit out of the calculated scheme”. |
Action on Tribune reports CHANDIGARH, July 18 —The Punjab State Human Rights Commission has sought a report from the Punjab Home Department with regard to certain cases of alleged human rights violations reported in The Tribune. According to information available at the official level from the commission, the Home Department authorities have been asked to submit a report with regard to these cases within a stipulated period. The news items appearing in The Tribune with regard to alleged human rights violations have been sent to the Home Department through a special messenger. After perusing certain news items, the commission has found cases fit to be taken cognisance of under the provisions of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, and to register suo motu cases. With regard to a news item appearing in The Tribune on June 17 under the headline “Dalit woman stripped: report”, the commission authorities have sent a copy of the item not only to the Home Department but have also told the IG (Litigation) to submit a report in this connection by August 8. The commission has listed this case for appropriate action on that day (August 8). It was stated in the news item that a Dalit woman was stripped by some influential persons of her own Gillwali village in full public view. According to the report, a son of the victim allegedly had illicit relations with a minor daughter of the accused. The accused forcibly entered the Dalit woman’s house, where she was beaten up along-with her husband, son and other members of the family. The Dalit woman was then stripped and paraded in public. The commission has perused another news item appearing in The Tribune under the headline “Engineer’s kin selling canal water” on June 18. According to the item, while farmers in most tailend villages continue to face an acute shortage of irrigation water, the brother of a senior Punjab Irrigation Department officer is pumping out water from the Bhagsar minor canal and selling it in the market under the brand name “Snow” for drinking in the Fazilka, Abohar and Jalalabad areas. It is alleged that 15000 litres of water are pumped out every day for sale. The Deputy Commissioner has been told to submit his report in this connection by the commission. Copies of the order have also been sent by the commission to the State Home Department and the IG (Litigation) for comments. The commission has sought replies from all officers concerned by August 9. Yet another news item of
which the commission has taken note is “Go to eye
camp, get blinded”. A copy of this news report has
been sent to the Principal Secretary, Health, Punjab, and
the Director, Health Services , Punjab, for submitting a
report by August 9, the day the case is listed before the
commission. |
6 officers transferred in
Punjab CHANDIGARH, July 18 — The Punjab Government today ordered the transfer of four PCS and two IPS officers. Mr Gopal Krishan, Land Acquisition Officer, PWD (B and R), Jalandhar, will be the new Principal Staff Officer to the Commissioner, Jalandhar Division, while Mr Harcharan Singh Sandhu, Administrative Officer with the Director of Health and Family Welfare, has been posted as SDM, Faridkot. Mr Sandeep Hans, Assistant Commissioner (General), Jalandhar, will be the new SDM Samrala, while Mr Sukhwinder Singh Brar, Assistant Commissioner, Jalandhar, has been asked to take over as Extra Assistant Commissioner, Jalandhar. Mr Praveen Kumar Sinha, Deputy Director (Indoor) at Phillaur, and Mrs Anita Punj, Deputy Director (Outdoor), PAP Phillaur, have been asked to swap places. Mrs Jaspreet Talwar, IAS, Additional Registrar (Administration) with the Cooperative Societies, has been asked to look after the work of the Additional Chief Administrator (Rehabilitation and Resettlement), New Town Planning and Development Authority for Anandgarh, in addition to her present assignment till further orders. The transfer orders of
Deepak Arora, Extra Assignment Commissioner, Hoshiarpur,
have been cancelled. He will continue to work as Extra
Assistant Commissioner, Amritsar. He will also look after
the work of the Executive Magistrate, Tarn Taran, till
further orders. |
Kang to oversee Cong poll in
Mizoram CHANDIGARH, July 18
— Mr Jagmohan Singh Kang, General Secretary of the
Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee and former Revenue
Minister of Punjab, has been appointed Chairman of the
Pradesh Election Authority for Mizoram by the party high
command for the forthcoming elections of the Indian
National Congress. Mr John Lalsangzuala, former Finance
Minister of Mizoram, has been named member of the
authority. |
Lieut-Gen Oberoi visits Golden
Temple AMRITSAR, July 18 —
Lieut Gen Vijay Oberoi, General Officer
Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command, visited the Golden
Temple today. Accompanied by his wife, Daulat, the
general paid obeisance at the sanctum sanctorum. The
couple prayed for the well-being of the soldiers, their
families and the people of Punjab. |
Delhi-Jodhpur train to halt at
Bawal CHANDIGARH, July 18 — The Delhi-Jodhpur (Inter-City Express) will henceforth halt at Bawal railway station. A communication in this regard has been received from the Union Railway Minister, ms Mamata Banerjee, to the Haryana Government. Dr M.L. Ranga, Minister of State for Health, who also represents Bawal Assembly constituency, said all of a sudden the halt of Inter-City Express was cancelled on July 1 last. Dr Ranga said he had
also written a letter to the Railway Minister for setting
up a railway crossing at Gobindpur village on the
Rewari-Narnaul-Jaipur railway line so that accidents
could be minimised. He also demanded that two chowkidars
be posted at Bithwana village gate No 62 on the
Rewari-Alwar-Jaipur railway line as this gate often
remained closed from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., causing
inconvenience to the people besides adversely affecting
industrial growth. |
Warning against power delegation FATEHGARH SAHIB, July 18 — Mr Sujan Singh, Minister for Rural Development and Panchayats, has warned that cases will be registered against those husbands who work on behalf of their wives, who are either sarpanches or panches. He was talking to mediapersons here yesterday. He said the government had decided to give more powers to sarpanches to check the attendance of teachers and doctors in the villages. He said the government
had also decided to launch “sohna pind” scheme
in the state. Under the scheme Rs 184 crore would be
spent for providing villages with facilities like in
cities. He said the government had also planned to open
five English medium government schools in every
constituency of the state. |
Pak-trained militant held JALANDHAR, July 18 — The district police claims to have achieved a major success by arresting a Pakistan-trained militant and seizing from his possession 5 kg RDX and 20 detonators. Mr Gaurav Yadav, SSP, said the accused Kuldeep Singh, a resident of Tatla village in Gurdaspur district, was arrested while he was moving about on a scooter near the local bus stand last night. Kuldeep Singh, who was working as a “paathi” in Gurdwara Khadoor Sahib near Jagraon, had been motivated to join the ranks of terrorists by Kuljeet Singh, a Kamagatamaru Dal of Khalistan activist, who was arrested by the local police last year. Kuljeet Singh had come into contact with Sewa Singh and Harnek Singh in Birmingham, where he had been detained on charges of illegal immigration, and joined the newly floated dal headed by Harmit Singh Bhakna through them. During his stay in India, before being nabbed Kuljeet Singh had stayed with Kuldeep Singh for a few months at Gurdwara Khadoor Sahib and had motivated the latter to join the Khalistan stream with the promise that he would be settled abroad after doing some “work” in India. Eventually, Kuldeep Singh was sent to Singapore in 1999 along with another person. From there they landed in Pakistan where they were housed with Lakhbir Singh Rode and were given arms training. Kuldeep Singh told the
police he was interested in joining militants’ rank
and file but had to do so since they had promised him a
bright future abroad. |
9-year-old raped by
relative MUKTSAR, July 18 — Even as residents of this region are yet to forget the shocking incident of the rape of a Dalit minor girl and subsequently selling off her baby boy by her father at Faridkot town, another case of repeated rape of nine-year-old girl by the brother of her stepfather has come to light here. Police sources said this fact came to light when the victim was raped by the tenant of her house, identified as Baljit Singh, a couple of days ago. Sources added that Baljit Singh came to know the minor girl was being repeatedly raped by the brother of her stepfather. Suspecting no danger, he himself raped the victim one day. However, the mother of the victim, Mrs Kamla Rani, came to know that her daughter had been raped by the accused Baljit Singh and reported the matter to the police. After the medical examination of the victim a case under Sections 376 and 506 of the IPC was registered against Baljit Singh. When the accused Baljit Singh was arrested and interrogated, he confessed that he had committed the rape after he came to know that the brother of her stepfather had also been raping her repeatedly. Mr Kultar Singh, SSP, when contacted said in her statement the victim had alleged that she had been raped continuously by her uncle (the brother of her stepfather) for the past one year. He added that police parties had been despatched to nab the culprit and a criminal case would be registered against the uncle of the victim. He pointed out that Mrs Kamla Rani, mother of the victim, who was married in Uttar Pradesh and had two sons and one daughter, got a divorce from her husband. After the divorce, she again married Gian Singh, who also belonged to UP. About a year ago the
younger brother of Gian Singh started sexually exploiting
the victim and he continued to do so till the victim was
raped by Baljit Singh. |
GND University interviews on July
25 AMRITSAR, July 18 — The interviews for admission to B.Pharmacy, B.Sc (honours school) in physics, chemistry, botany and human genetics and B.Sc in industrial microbiology at Guru Nanak Dev University will be held on July 25 at Guru Nanak Bhavan Auditorium on the university campus here, according to Dr A.K. Thukral, coordinator of the Joint Entrance Test (undergraduates). The interview will begin at 9.30 a.m. All SC/ST candidates having secured at least 30 marks out of 150 (up to merit position 889), all candidates of Backward Classes having secured at least 45 marks (up to merit position 737) will appear for the interview at 11 a.m. The candidates from
rural areas securing at least 60 marks (up to merit
position 404) will appear for the interview at 12.15 p.m.
while the general category candidates having secured at
least 65 marks (up to merit position 310) will appear at
2 p.m. |
Barnala KV is model school BARNALA, July 18 — Kendriya Vidyalaya, Air Force station here, has been adopted as a Model Kendriya Vidyalaya by the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, New Delhi. According to Group Captain R. Bhattacharaya, Commanding Officer-cum-chairman, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Management Committee, Vidyalaya is one of the 128 Kendriya Vidyalayas in the country which has been brought under the model Kendriya Vidyalaya fourth phase, scheme during the 2000-2001, academic session. Mr H.P. Trar, Principal of the Kendriya Vidyalaya, informed this reporter here today that the Sangathan had sent an amount of Rs 9.38 lakh by draft. “The school would
utilise this amount for setting up a science laboratory,
purchase of computer hardware and software, furniture for
primary classes and for starting a guidance and
counselling services centre”, Mr Trar said. |
Astrology courses in Amritsar AMRITSAR, July 18 — The Indian Council of Astrological Sciences (ICAS), a registered body with headquarters in Madras, has started astrology teaching classes for the first time in Amritsar at the local DAV College. The courses offered in Hindi and English, Jyotish Parveen and Jyotish Visharda, are of one-year duration each and based on Vedic astrology. After the completion of the course, a diploma is awarded directly by the ICAS. According to Mrs Kiranjit Kaur, convener of the Amritsar centre, one semester of Jyotish Parveen has been completed. She said the exams would
be held in June and December. The classes were being held
at 10 a.m. every Sunday and the minimum qualification was
10 plus two, which could be relaxed in case of
experienced astrologers. She further said that along with
the local centre, the ICAS ran 22 other centres of
astrological education in India. |
Focal point to be set up at
Faridkot FARIDKOT, July 18 — The Punjab Government in collaboration with the State Industrial Corporation, has decided to set up an industrial focal point at the Faridkot-Kotkapura Road. To mobilise the scheme, a piece of land measuring 100 acre will be acquired in the next two months, said Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal, former Union Minister of State for Industries and son of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, at a press conference here today. The project will cost about Rs 60 crore. All facilities, including pucca roads, drinking water and power supply, besides a residential colony, will be provided in the area. Refuting charges from some Opposition sources regarding the shifting of Baba Farid University of Health Science from here to some other place in state, he said that Rs 12 crore had already been allocated to start the construction of first phase of the university. Half of this sum would be released shortly. Moreover, an amount of Rs 5 crore out of this Rs 6 crore had already been paid for the 157 acres of land acquired for the project and the remaining would be make after getting clearance from the Income Tax Department. He said another scheme
to construct a four-lane national highway at a cost of Rs
300 crore from Chandigarh to Moga had been finalised and
work would be taken up shortly. |
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