The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Wednesday, August 9, 2000,
Chandigarh, India

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R E G I O N A L B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
DELEGATE SESSION: Several participants from all over Punjab attended the delegate session of the Punjab Youth Swarankar Sangh (PYSS) here on Monday. In its resolution, the sangh advocated its proposed entry into the political arena.

BATHINDA
FREE MEDICAL CAMP: Mr Chiranji Lal Garg, Science and Technology Minister, Punjab, inaugurated a free medical camp organised by the Bharat Janseva Kendra here on Monday. Speaking on the occasion, he said the masses were not getting proper medical facilities at government hospitals and had to go to private clinics.

FATEHGARH SAHIB
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Kendri Lekhak Manch, Sirhind: president — Mr Sudhir Kumar Sudhir; senior vice-presidents — Mr Santver and Mr Sant Singh Sohal; vice-presidents — Mr Gurnam Baba and Mr Kulbir Sandhu; general secretary — Mr Gurinder Kalsi; secretaries — Prof Harjit Singh Balari and Mr Harchand Singh Sarana; press secretary — Mr Ganesh Dutt Sharma; and treasurer — Mr Amit Sharma.

FEROZEPORE
MEDICAL CAMPS: The Vajra Corps organised two medical camps, one each at Harike and Makhu, on Monday with the assistance of medical staff of civil and Army hospitals as part of the Army’s ongoing effort to have better relations with the people and the civil administration.

MECHANIC ARRESTED: A telephone mechanic was arrested for accepting a bribe of Rs 300 from Gurmail Singh of Gurusar village in Muktsar. The SP (Vigilance), Mr Hardyal Singh Mann, said the suspect, had accepted the bribe for repairing a fault.

PROTEST: The Punjab State Ministerial Services Union will stage a protest outside the office of the Deputy Commissioner here on August 10 in order to get their demands implemented, Mr Krishna Lal and Mr Sukhdev Singh, president and general secretary of the union, respectively, said.

JALANDHAR
DIPLOMA COURSE: A three-year diploma course in ophthalmic techniques will be started by the local Rajan Memorial Hospital from October. Students above 17 and having passed class XII with physics, chemistry and biology will be eligible for the course for which stipend would be paid, a press note of the hospital said here on Monday.

MALERKOTLA
CONDEMNED: The local Genius Club has condemned the killings of 105 persons by militants at Pahalgam. Mr Kalim Ahmed, president of the club, urged the Union Home Minister to gear up the security arrangements in Jammu and Kashmir.

PATIALA
SIGNBOARDS: To facilitate visitors and newcomers to the city with direction guidelines, the Charan Bagh Welfare Society has erected two signboards each at the State College of Education and at Passi road. These boards indicate the localities and institutions to which the roads lead. Newcomers would be benefited by these signboards, said the president of the society, Mr Avtar Singh Brar in a press note released on Tuesday here. The entire expenditure of Rs 25,000 has been incurred by the society themselves. Mr Brar said the installation of these sign boards would hopefully enthuse other colonies to follow suit and make Patiala a very accessible city in every respect. The society had earlier got house numbers painted for each house in the locality and had got the sub roads installed with house number indicators.

TAX COLLECTION: Eighteen more computerised branches of the State Bank of Patiala (SBOP) will collect direct taxes like corporation tax, wealth tax, income tax, hotel receipt tax, estate duty, expenditure tax and gift tax , according to a press note released by the Bank. 170 branches of the bank, all over the country, are already collecting direct taxes.

ELECTRICITY BILL CONDEMNED: The PSEB employees federation has condemned the central government’s decision to implement the electricity Bill 2000. In a press note Mr Surinder Singh, president of the federation said if the act was implemented, lakhs of employees of various state electricity boards would lose their jobs as nearly all the Boards would be privatised. He said on a call given by the National Coordination Committee, the federation would hold a massive rally in front of the Parliament on August 9.

CHANDIGARH

CONDEMNED: The local unit of the Congress will organise a dharna in front of the Municipal Corporation on Wednesday at 10 a.m. to protest against the decision of the government to withdraw the subsidy on khadi. The grievances of the city residents would also be highlighted on the occasion, according to Mr Rajiv Sharma, a spokesperson of the unit.

PROBE SOUGHT: The local unit of the Congress has demanded a judicial enquiry into the killing of innocent Amarnath Yatra pilgrims in Kashmir. He said it was sad that the Vajpayee government was dithering over this issue and giving credence to rumours and adding to the confusion as to what had really happened. This was stated by Mr Rajeev Sharma, a spokesperson of the unit, on Tuesday.

ORDER ON HOMOEOPATHS: All new homoeopathic doctors of the city will need to be registered before they can start practicing. A resolution to this effect was passed in a meeting of the Council of Homoeopathic System of Medicines, UT. It was also decided that those homoeopathic doctors who are neither registered with the UT Council nor with the Central Council of Homoeopathy, New Delhi but are registered somewhere else, will have to take permission from the Registrar to practice in the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following were chosen office-bearers of a new-executive body of the Regional Council of Life Insurance Agents; president — Mr S.K. Bansal; vice-president — Mr Dharminder Abrol; secretary — Mr K.K. Marwah; public secretary — Mr Rajesh Gupta; treasurer — Mr J.D. Lakhanpal; joint secretary — Mr I.C. Dharmani; members — Mr Ravi Sharma, Mr Ravi Pratap Pandey, Mr K.C. Panda, Mr Ashwani Chaudhary, Mrs Nisha Puri, Mr Krishan Garg, Mr Anil Kumar and Mrs Neelam Bhatia.

CAMP: A dental camp was organised at Carmel Convent School, Sector 9, here on Tuesday. About 300 students of the age group 11 to 14 years were examined by Dr (Mrs) Nidhi Agish. Dr Agish said the stress was mainly on Gingivitis or gum problem as it is commonly known, cavities and irregular teeth. “As many as 70 per cent of the children in this particular age group suffer from these problems. These can manifest themselves in a serious way later in life. Therefore, it is essential that proper care of the teeth is taken right from a very early age”, she said.

FREE STATIONERY: In a function organised by the night school of Government High School, Sector 40, free stationery was distributed amongst the students, here on Tuesday. The aid was provided by Indian Bank, Sector 40. Mr Bhupinder Singh, member of the P.T.A, was the guest of honour at the function which was presided over by the headmaster of the school, Mr Bahadur Singh. The students of the school also presented a cultural programme on the occasion.

SAS NAGAR
DATE EXTENDED: The last date for submitting the admission forms for classes VIII, IX, X, XI and XII with a late fee of Rs 200 has been extended to August 21. Earlier the last date for admission to class VIII and IX was July 14 and for classes X, XI and XII the last date was July 31.

HARYANA

AMBALA
BOOK FAIR : A variety of books are on display at the book fair organised by Akshardham Samiti at Congress Bhavan in Ambala Cantonment. The book fair was inaugurated by the senior vice-president of the Haryana Union of Journalists, Mr D N Diwakar. Books on different subjects including history, political science, children’s books, religion, English novels and others are available at the book fair. The samiti had earlier held a book fair here and the response had been good. They were hopeful that they would get a good response this time too, the organiser, Dr Sudershan Gasso said.

SAPLINGS PLANTED: A large number of saplings were planted in the Divisional Railway Manager office complex by senior railway officials including the DRM, Mr Vijay Kumar and ADRM, Mr Ashwini Kapoor here on Tuesday as part of the Green Ambala campaign. Mr Kumar said in the Ambala Railway Division about one lakh saplings would be planted out of which 10,000 saplings would be planted in the railway complex of Ambala Cantonment. He said earlier the lack of expertise had led to a lesser degree of survival of saplings, but this year the Forest Department was actively associated with the Railways. The Conservator of Forests, Mr R.K. Sapra, pointed out that there was an urgent need for plantation of saplings so that the green cover increased.

ORDERS ON BANDH: The Deputy Commissioner of Ambala, Mr Ram Niwas, has warned against the use of force for the bandh call given for Wednesday. Mr Niwas said all government offices and schools would remain open on Wednesday and there would be routine railway as well as bus service. He said the district administration would take stern action against anyone found using force.

HISAR
CASE REGISTERED: The Sadar police, Hansi, has registered a case against three members of a family of Bhatla village in connection with the death of a married woman, Mukesh, who died of burn injuries in her in-laws’ house recently. Mr Balwan Singh, father of the deceased, in his complaint alleged that his daughter was burnt to death by Phoolan Devi, Rajesh and Pravesh. No arrest has been made so far.

KAITHAL
SAPLINGS PLANTED: The Magistrate, Major R.S Chahel, launched a plantation drive by planting a sapling on the campus of R.K.S.D. Public School here on Monday. The Principal, Mr N.C. Bindal, and about 200 students also planted saplings.

REWARI
LOK ADALAT: A lok adalat was held at the District Courts, Rewari, on Saturday. A total number of 307 cases were disposed of and Rs 22,57,000 was awarded as compensation.

SHAHABAD
TEAM INSTALLED: The new team of the Lions Club (Greater), headed by its newly elected president, Mr Mahinder Pal Marwaha, was installed at a colourful function by the district governor of the Lions International District, Mr Vinay Sagar Jain, here on Saturday.

SONEPAT
MEMORANDUM: The sarpanches of Rai block called on the Deputy Commissioner here on Monday and submitted a nine-point memorandum listing their demands to him. They demanded that all powers which were announced by the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, be delegated to them.

INJURED: Mohinder Narain, a factory worker, sustained injuries when he was hit by a vehicle on the GT Road near Rai village, about 15 km from here on Monday. According to the police, the worker was returning to Bad Khalsa village after duty.

PROCESSION: Residents of Tharu Ulderpur village took out a procession here on Monday in protest against the erratic power supply. The processionists later held a demonstration outside the office of the Superintending Engineer (Operation), Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN).

ELECTED: Mr Sunil Malik, a lecturer of the local CRA College, has been unanimously elected regional president of the Haryana College Teachers Union.