The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Monday, September 18, 2000,
Chandigarh, India

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

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

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
CORRUPTION: The All-India Anti-Corruption Morcha has written a letter to Punjab Health Minister Baldev Raj Chawla to bring to his attention problems like corruption and lack of infrastructure allegedly afflicting the Government Health Department. This was stated by Mr Vinit Mahajan, vice-president of the morcha, here on Saturday.

ELECTED: Mr Kirti Arora and Mr Subhash Goel have been elected president and general secretary, respectively, of the Federation of Karyana and Dry Fruits Commercial Association.

DEMANDED: The Guru Nanak Dev University Non-Teaching Employees Association has demanded that employees should have the option to go for pension scheme a year before their actual retirement. The union has also demanded representation in the university senate and syndicate.

DERA BASSI
INTERACTED: Col Jasbir Bhullar, a prominent Punjabi writer interacted with the students and the teachers of Government Degree College, Dera Bassi. He threw light on various aspects of his literary skill and short stories, said Ms Gurpreet Khaira, Principal of the college.

KAPURTHALA
CAMPAIGN: A campaign will be launched in the district to identify illiterate persons in the age group of 15 to 35 years. This was announced by Mr S.S. Bains, Additional Deputy Commissioner, while presiding over a meeting at the local Yojna Bhavan on Saturday.

LUDHIANA
EXHIBITION: The seventh international exhibition, Knit World 2001, on knitting-allied machines and accessories will be held here from January 5 to 8, 2001. The purpose of this exhibition will be to introduce the industrialists with advanced technological developments in the knitting industry. It will also expose them to what is best available in the world market. Consequently it will help the Indian industry to prepare in a better manner to compete the WTO challenge, said Mr Narinder Mohan, organiser of the exhibition, in a press note. The live demonstration of the world’s latest technology would be displayed, he added.

TALK SHOW: Vandana Luthra’s Curls and Curves organised a talk show on obesity and its management in two hospitals of the city, Mohan Dai Oswal Memorial Hospital and Deep Hospital at Model Town. It was informed that the most common cause of obesity was indisciplined life style and irregular eating habits. Ms Anita Aggarwal, VLCC’s spokesperson, gave an insight towards the endocrinological, post-natal, and behavioural causes of obesity. She informed that an integrated approach of diet management, behavioural modification and an active lifestyle was required to solve this problem. The doctors present on the occasion included Dr Veena Jain, Dr Gurinder Jit Singh (chief dermatologist), Dr Aruna Dhar, Dr Baldeep and Dr Anil Mittal. The doctors appreciated the VLCC’s efforts in providing the scientific solutions to obese people for weight reduction.

FREE CAMP: More than 1,000 men and women turned up at Mata Gujri Charitable Hospital in Akalgarh Market here on Sunday morning to avail of the free services at the fourth annual free eye operation camp organised by Gurdwara Akalgarh Sahib. Nearly 200 operatable cases identified after the check up would be taken to Jalandhar for operations at Ruby Nelson Memorial Hospital, according to Mr Surjan Singh Thekedar. Mr Thekedar told Ludhiana Tribune that all the patients would be provided with free medicines and spectacles by the organisers.

PHAGWARA
VIKAS SAPTAH: The local branch of the Bharat Vikas Parishad began its “vikas saptah” on Saturday, Mr B.D. Sharma, a parishad leader, said here. A seminar on electricity, a vaccination camp for hepatitis-B and several other events would be organised during the week, he added.

TARN TARAN
BOOKED: The police has registered a case under Sections 51, 52A, 63 and 68A of the Copy Right Act, 1957, and Section 292 of the IPC against Krishan Kumar, owner of Gabbar Video Lab, and Jatinder Kumar of Tinku Video Lab; and confiscated two colour TV sets, two VCRs, one CD player, 40 duplicate video cassettes, 45 duplicate CDs and two blue movies from their possession. This was disclosed by Mr Matinder Singh, DSP, white talking to newsmen on Saturday.

CHANDIGARH

SAS NAGAR
400 IMMUNISED: As many as 400 persons were immunised against hepatitis-B at a subsidized camp organised by the local Rotary Club in coordination with HDFC Bank in Phase 7 here on Sunday. The camp was inaugurated by Mr Ranjit Bhatia, Rotary district president. Dr B.S. Chandhok, project director of the camp, said the financial institution had offered the venue, syringes and stationery, along with volunteers. He said the second and the third phase of the immunisation would be held at the same place on October 22 and March 25, 2001. He said, prior to the camp pamphlets regarding the immunization camp were distributed in all the schools. Dr Chandhok said hepatitis-B posed a serious threat as nearly 45 million carriers of this disease existed in India.

DEMANDED: Residents of Sohana village, whose houses had developed cracks after leakage in the water supply line last month, in a representation to the Deputy Commissioner, Ropar, have demanded compensation for the loss suffered by them.

PENSION ADALAT: A large number of ex-servicemen and family pensioners attended a defence pension adalat held at Ropar. The adalat was presided over by Mr Paras Ram, JCDA, Meerut. Lt Col Didar Singh (Retd) and Lt Col Angad Singh (retd), president and general secretary, respectively, of the Indian Ex-Services League of Punjab and Chandigarh, assisted the participants on the occasion.

LOAN: To meet the day-to-day expenses of the Anandgarh Development Authority (ADA), the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA) will advance an additional loan of Rs 50 lakh to the former. This would be in addition to Rs 40 lakh already released by PUDA to the ADA. The decision to forwards the loan to the ADA was taken at a recent held meeting of the Finance and Accounts Committee of PUDA.

HARYANA

AMBALA
KILLED: A youth of Banondi village, 25 km from here, was stabbed to death by some other youth on Saturday evening. The police has registered a case against five persons under Section 302. The deceased has been identified as Sanjeev Kumar. According to the police, the assailants and Sanjeev were watching some school games when the clash took place. Sanjeev was injured seriously in the incident. He was rushed to the PGI, Chandigarh, where he succumbed to his injuries.

JHAJJAR
HUNGER STRIKE: Members of the Bar Association, Bahadurgarh, began a chain hunger strike on Friday in support of their demand for the creation of a new district of Bahadurgarh.

ROHTAK
NEW EXCHANGE: A new telephone exchange, with a capacity of 1,00,000 lines, will be launched here on Monday. Mr Ajit Singh Bhola, General Manager, Telecom Circle Office, Ambala , will inaugurate the exchange.

LAUNCHED: The State Bank of India launched a Deposit Mobilisation Programme at all its branches in the district on Friday. The programme will continue till September 25.

KILLED: A teenaged boy was run over by a tractor at the nearby Bahu Akbarpur village on Saturday. This was stated by Mr Ishwar Singh, the boy’s grandfather, in the FIR. In a separate incident, a murder convict, Krishan , who was on parole, died of cancer at his house in Kaboolpur village on Saturday.

SIRSA
FOUR KILLED: Four persons were killed in separate road accidents in the district, according to the information received on Saturday. Jagsir Singh died when the jeep in which he was travelling, was hit by a Haryana Roadways bus. The bus driver, while trying to abscond, hit a motor cyclist , Gurmeet Singh, who was killed. A case under Sections 304/337/279 of the IPC has been registered against the driver. Munshi Ram of Madhosinghana village and Lovely also died in separate road accidents.

SELECTED: Five litterateurs of the district have been selected by the International Peace Mahasangh for promoting the Hindi language. Sukhchain Singh Bhandari was given the honour at the Millennium World Hindi Conference on September 14. The others are Puran Mudgil, Dr Raj Kumar Nizat, Ramesh Chander Shelihas and Surinder Verma.

SONEPAT
ROBBERY: At least six armed dacoits struck the house of Mr Dev Raj Chauhan at Jakhauli village, about 15 km from here, on Saturday night, and decamped with gold ornaments and other valuables worth about Rs 2 lakh. The Rai police has registered a case and further investigations are in progress.

ELECTION SOUGHT: Mr Virender Kaushik, president of the Haryana unit of the NSUI, on Sunday, urged the state government to order the holding of elections to the students unions in the state. He decried the ban imposed by the government on the elections.

CASE SOLVED: The Murthal police claims to have solved the murder case of an employee of a biscuit factory on September 9 at Larsauli village with the arrest of three persons. Mr A.S.Chawla, SP, said here on Sunday that the police had also recovered a scooter and a knife, allegedly used in the murder, from the possession of the arrested persons.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
ELECTED: Mr Kuldeep Singh Bhabhouria and Mr Onkar Singh Thakur were elected president and general secretary, respectively, of the district unit of the Himachal Pradesh Government Teachers’ Union on Saturday.

KULU
CABLES BURNT: More than 2,500 telephones under the telecom subdivision of Bhuntar went out of order on Friday when underground cables near the telephone exchange caught fire while garbage was being burnt above them. The exchanges at Gadsa, Hurla, Dyar and Chharor Nullah also became non-functional due to the accident. The Telecom District Manager (TDM) was not available for comments.

KUMARHATTI
LIQUOR SEIZED: The CIA staff seized liquor worth Rs 56,000 on the Kalka-Shimla national highway, near here, on Thursday. As many as 24 bottles of English liquor and 2400 pouches of country-made liquor were seized from a truck (HIS-2765) and a car (HP-07-4340 ). All occupants of the two vehicles were arrested. A case under the Excise Act has been registered.