R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

• REGIONAL POTPOURRI

PUNJAB

BATHINDA
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Punjab and Sind Bank Officers Federation, Bathinda zone: president — Mr Darshan Singh Dhaliwal; and general secretary — Mr Harmit Paus Singh.

URJA CLUB: The 11th branch of the Urja Ladies Club (Trinjan) of the wives of employees of the Punjab State Electricity Board was formed here on Tuesday to create awareness among women who live in remote areas and are deprived of education, health and other facilities. Addressing a press conference here, Mrs Balbir Kaur Sohal, wife of Mr G.S. Sohal, Chairman, PSEB, said the other branches of the club in the state had evoked a positive response from employees and their wives.

FATEHGARH SAHIB
CONDEMNED: The SAD (A) has condemned the killing of a six-year-old schoolboy of Khanna by unidentified kidnappers and has demanded that the culprits be brought to book. The party, at its meeting held here on Tuesday, also criticised the police for its failure to rescue the child. Mr Iqbal Singh Tiwana, spokesman for the party, in a press note issued here, said the kidnapping and the subsequent killing of the boy had exposed the “inadequate” security arrangements.

GURDASPUR
COMPUTER EDUCATION: Mr Natha Singh Dalam, Public Relations Minister, while addressing a public meeting at Tarkhanawali village on Tuesday said that computer education would be extended to primary schools in the near future in Punjab. As many as 2,500 educational institutions would be covered under computer education in the next academic session. He said Rs 40 crore had been earmarked for the purpose.

GIRL KILLED: Sukhjit, alias Gudia, a student of class IV at the local Little Flower School, died on Tuesday after an iron gate of the house fell on her while she was leaving for the school.

KHARAR
SCOOTERIST KILLED: Mr Piara Singh was killed while another, Mr another, Mr Rakesh Kumar, was seriously injured when their scooter was knocked down by a unidentified vehicle near Sahoran village on the Kharar-Kurali road on Tuesday. The Kharar police has registered a case under Section 279/304 A against the driver. 

KIDNAPPER IN POLICE CUSTODY: Mr Sanjay Agnihotri, Judicial Magistrate, Kharar, on Wednesday remanded Varinder Kumar in police custody till August 11. He was arrested by the SAS Nagar police on the charge of abducting a minor girl on August 2. Mr H.S. Rakkar, Assistant Public Prosecutor, informed the court that a case under Section 363/366 has already been registered against the accused and information was yet to be collected from him about the co-accused. 

PATIALA
REFRESHER COURSE: A refresher course on the theme ‘Recent Advances in Botany’ is being organised by the Botany Department of Punjabi University from August 17 to September 6 , according to a press note issued by the University here Wednesday. Sponsored by the University Grants Commission , New Delhi, the course is going to accommodate as many as 35 college and university teachers from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Goa. Eminent scientists from several universities will be lecturing on the course material which comprises both theory and practical demonstrations on recent techniques being used in plant sciences. Dr Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia, Vice-Chancellor of the University will inaugurate the course on August 17.

MA RESULTS: Punjabi University will declare the results of MA Fine Arts, (I) and (II), MA Folk Arts (I) and (II), MJMC (I) and (II), MA Linguistics (I), MFC (II) and (IV) semester, LLB, (II) and (IV) semester, Hons School in Punjabi (III), Hons School in Economics (I), Hons School in English (II) and, B. Library Science on August 10.Giving this information the Controller of the Examinations Mr Paramjit Singh Khaira, said the result gazettes of these examinations would be available at the enquiry counter on the evening of August 10. 

ERRATIC POWER SUPPLY: The deteriorating position of electricity supply in the Urban Estate phase II has irked the residents of the area. Since last month the area has been suffering a continuous power breakdown for 4 to 6 hours daily. Voltage fluctuation which often leads to the damage of costly household gadgets is another problem being faced by the residents. Appealing to the Bahadurgarh sub division of the PSEB to ensure regular power supply, the residents said they had already deposited thousands of rupees as per actual loads existing in their premises, but were still getting erratic supply of power. 

LIBRARIANS' DEMANDS: The Punjab College Librarians’ Association has demanded immediate implementation of the Fourth Punjab Pay Commission recommendations awarding Class-I status to college cadre librarians. This was stated in a press note issued by the association’s general secretary Mr Barjinder Pal Dhiman here on Wednesday. In a statement Mr Satnam Singh Ahluwalia, president of the association, regretted that even after three years of submission of the Pay Commission report the Implementation Committee has failed to implement the aforementioned recommendation of the Pay Commission. He also added that the Pay Commission recommendation regarding “classification of services” had also not been implemented so far by the Punjab Government which had recommended the classification on the sole criteria of pay-scales only. 

WARNING ISSUED: The Deputy Commissioner, Mr J.S. Bir, in accordance with the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act 1976, has issued a strict warning to the Chandigarh Computer Centre and Zed Career Academy for defacing public property. Cinema houses and various unions have also been warned against such practices. The practice of defacing public buildings had assumed alarming proportions in recent weeks. The Deputy Commissioner has warned that criminal cases will be filed against parties found defacing public properties in the future. 

FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT: The 25th All-India Gurdarshan Memorial Football Tournament will be held at Nabha, near here, from October 1 to 8, according to Mr Sukhchain Singh, president of the organising committee. The tournament has been categorised in grade ‘A’ by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and more than 30 outfits from all over the country are expected to take part. Prominent among the top teams will be JCT Phagwara, PSEB Hoshiarpur, BSF Jalandhar, Punjab Police, ONGC Lucknow and CRPF Neemuch. The final match of the tournament will be televised live by Jalandhar Doordarshan and AIR will also broadcast the proceedings. 

KARATE CHAMPIONSHIPS: The first National Karate Championships have been allotted to Punjab. The dates of the championships, which will be conducted shortly, will be soon announced by the School Games Federation of India (SGFI). This was decided at the general body meeting of the Punjab Karate Association (PKA) held here on Monday. It was also decided to hold the 12th Punjab State Karate Championships at Patiala from October 13 to 15. A state level course for referees and judges will be conducted by the PKA here on August 20. 

COP DIES IN MISHAP: Mangal Ram (54), a driver of Mr Kaka Singh, DSP, Punjab Police, succumbed to his injuries at Government Rajindera Hospital here on Wednesday. The DSP and three others were injured when the vehicle in which they were travelling dashed against a truck on the Bathinda-Goniana road on Tuesday. According to the Associate Professor, Dr O.P. Aggarwal, Mangal Ram was brought to the hospital yesterday. An emergency operation in the abdomen area was performed, but he could not survive and died on Wednesday.

HARYANA

SONEPAT
LICENCE CANCELLED: Mr Ashok Yadav, Additional Deputy Commissioner, has cancelled the licence of a brick kiln following complaints about the use of sub-standard materials in the construction works launched by the block development and panchayat officer at Murthal and Mehndipur villages in this district.

ARRESTED: The Ganaur police arrested a youth Balraj of Aata Jaurasi village on Tuesday and recovered stolen goods, including an electric motor worth Rs 5,400 from his possession. According to the police, the goods were stolen from the house of Mr Surinder, a resident of Ganaur on the night of July 27.

RECOVERED: The Baroda police arrested a youth Somvir of Majra village (Jhajhhar) on Tuesday and recovered a stolen Tata 407 worth Rs 2.25 lakh from his possession. According to the police, the vehicle was stolen from a tempo stand at Charkhi Dadri (Bhiwani district) on the night of August 5. The vehicle belonged to Mr Sanjay of Bhagwi village in Bhiwani district.

ARRESTED: The police has arrested three persons namely Sanjay Sharma of Kutche Quarters, Sonepat, Jagminder and Sunil of Bindrauli village on the charge of gambling and recovered Rs 1, 295 in cash and other articles of gambling from their possession. A case under the Gambling Act has been registered against them.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

KANGRA
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the NGOs Federation, Dr Rajender Prasad Government Medical College, Tanda unit: president — Mr S.K. Patial; senior vice-president — Mr Sahib Singh Rana; vice-presidents — Mr Mehar Chand, Mr Vinod Kumar and Manjoo Sharma; general secretary — Mr O.P. Sharma; deputy general secretary — Sardar Pardeep Singh; organising secretary — Mr Prem Chand; joint secretary — Mr Bhoop Singh; and treasurer — Mr Pardeep Bhel.

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

Adding LPG to run diesel engines

JUST as economy minded urbanites are converting their cars from petrol to LPG, farmers of this area have also devised a unique technique by which diesel engines can be run on LPG.

By this technique, diesel engine is being run by using LPG with diesel that reduces diesel consumption to 30 pc. Thus the total cost incurred on both these fuels is almost half the diesel cost required for running the engine. It is said that an LPG domestic cylinder can run a 5 HP engine for up to 70 hours.

The technique is very easy to adopt. In case of converting cars from petrol to LPG, it requires a specific converter but in diesel engines LPG is injected into the diesel engine through its air filter (see photo).

There has been a sudden increase in the demand of LPG connections due to bulk purchases by farmers. Before the paddy season the total connections issued by the local LPG distributor in the past seven years amounted to 7000 only, whereas the number of connections in June and July months rose to 2000 in just two months. It has also came to notice that the distributor is also getting a premium on these connections.

Nobody knows whose brain-child the technique is. But when contacted Mr Rakesh Kukker, a mechanical engineer revealed that the technique was not technically viable. He said there was a huge difference in burning temperatures of LPG and diesel. LPG injection into the diesel engine would certainly increase chances of “knocking” off the engine, by which the likelihood of breakdown of the engine becomes much more.

Mr Rakesh Grover, president of the local Consumer Forum, pointed out that it was illegal to operate a diesel engine on a domestic LPG cylinder. He urged the Food and Supply Department to check this practice which ultimately might hit supply to consumers.

Environment award to University Dean

Dr J.S. Yadav, a senior professor and Dean, Faculty of Science, Kurukshetra University, has been honoured by a prestigious national environmental organisation ‘Nature Conservators’ with a honorary fellowship for his contribution to environment.

The president of the Society of Cytologists and Geneticists, India, Dr Yadav is Vice-President of Dayanand National Academy of Environmental Sciences, and Society of Environmental Scientists. He is founder-president of Parivesh, Society for Environmental Awareness, Haryana. Dr Yadav is also editor of Jeevanti, the only research journal on natural sciences and conservation in Hindi.

As a Senator, he contributed in getting the subject of environmental education introduced at the degree level at Panjab University. He helped frame the courses and syllabi and co-authored a book ‘‘Elements of Environmental Education”.

As Director of Distance Education, Dr Yadav introduced a PG diploma in environmental education at Kurukshetra University, framed its course and syllabus and is looking after it as course coordinator since its inception.

Dr Yadav reviews books on environment for The Tribune and is a regular speaker in this field for AIR, Rohtak and Kurukshetra.

Dr Yadav has published 160 research papers in journals of national and international repute. He has supervised 18 Ph.D theses and 11 M.Phil dissertations and successfully completed six R&D projects.

Dr Yadav has been elected Fellow of the Society of Cytologists & Geneticists in 1993 and Fellow of the Zoological Society of India in 1994. Besides, he was honoured by the National Forum for Educational Research & Development, Chandigarh, in 1988 for his contributions to science.

Village sans link road, bus service

Even as the state government continues its endeavour to bring each and every village of this hill state closer to the rest of the country by consolidating road network, Beh Dodra village under Dehra tehsil cries for a regular road. The village faces a host of other problems — poor water and power supply and faulty telephone service, to name a few. On the health and education front, too, nothing worthwhile has been envisaged nor achieved so far.

In the absence of a regular road, residents have to trudge long distances to reach their destinations. Inordinate delay in completion of the Kanol-Chintpurni and Badhal Thore-Chintpurni roads have added to their woes. The village panchayat, too, cannot absolve itself for the delay in the matter. There is an urgent need for a pucca road and a regular bus service.

Another problem that dogs Dodra and certain adjoining villages is the acute scarcity of drinking water. From Dodra to Kanol the half-inch diameter pipe is far too narrow to bear the load of some 20-odd domestic water connections.

Power supply to this village is erratic. Unannounced power cuts, frequent fluctuations due to low voltage are the order of the day.

Come rains and the hapless residents of this village start bracing themselves up to fight a losing battle with the fury of floods, year after year. From Dodra to Kanol thousands of hectares of fertile land had already been washed away in the devastating floods that hit the area in 1987. To check any further erosion of the prime land, there is an urgent need for erecting `karates’ at vantage points.

Sources confirm that the grant of one lakh sanctioned for the Dodra-Kanol irrigation scheme, lies unutilised , as more money is needed.

(Contributed by Ashok Grover, TNS and Ramesh Dhiman)