The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Sunday, October 1, 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
office-bearers: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Government Teachers Union, Punjab: president — Mr Paramjit Singh Gandhri; senior vice-president — Mrs Surinder Kaur; vice- presidents — Mr Gurcharan Singh Arora and Mr Narinder Singh Dhillon; and general secretary — Mr Sucha Singh.

URGED: Mr Narinderjit Singh, chairman of the Galiara Grievances Committee, has urged the district administration to ensure that a fire engine is stationed at the Idh Market as a precautionary measure in view of the devastating fire in the market last year. He has also demanded that the authorities should ban the sale of crackers and fireworks on footpaths.

BATHINDA
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local unit of the Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes Employees Federation, Punjab: president — Mr Nahar Singh; general secretary — Mr Ranjeet Singh Rana; senior vice-president — Mr Roshan Singh; vice-president — Mr Mohinder Singh; joint secretary — Mr Sohan Singh; and treasurer — Mr Ram Singh.

GURDASPUR
CHARAS SEIZED: The police has arrested two inter-state smugglers of charas - Ravinder Singh of Raipur Satwari in Jammu district and Mohinder Pal of Tikkar in Chamba district. According to Mr Varinder Kumar, SSP, 3.20 kg of charas was seized from them.

TB HOSPITAL: A sum of Rs 3.75 lakh has been released for the district TB Association from the MP quota. According to Mr B. Vikram, Deputy Commissioner, who is also ex-officio chairman of the association, tenders for the renovation of TB Hospital at Jiwanwal Babri have been floated.

EYE CAMP: A free medical camp was organised by the local Rotary Club at Pandori Dham, near here, on Thursday. Over 200 patients were examined and medicines worth more than Rs 10,000 distributed free of cost. Fortyfive persons were identified for cataract operations.

KISAN MELA: Farmers from all over the district participated in the regional Kisan Mela held here on Friday by the research centre of Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana, to educate the farmers regarding sowing of Rabi crops. Dr K.S. Aulakh, Vice-Chancellor, presided.

HOSHIARPUR
SECTION 144: Mr Iqbal Singh Sidhu, District Magistrate, has invoked Section 144 in the district. He has banned the assembly of five or more than five persons, raising of slogans and carrying of weapons at public places. He has also imposed a ban on the use of loudspeakers. The orders would remain in force upto November 28.

LUDHIANA
CONTEST: The Venus Ladies Club has organised a music and dance programme for kids between the age group of 4-15 at Malhotra Mahal. The show was divided in two age groups. In the first age group of 4-7, Shiva got the first prize for her performance on Munda Tu Hai Punjabi Sona. Tanvi Matta and Supriya Chaddha got the second and third prize, respectively. There were five participants in the second group of 8-15 years. Simarjit got the first prize for her performance on Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani.

APPOINTED: Mr K.S. Bhudhiraja, a local Janata Dal (U) leader, has been appointed chairman, Industrial and Commerce Cell of the Janata Dal (U), Punjab.

MOORTI STHAPANA: The president of Sri Sai Baba Trust, Mr Ravi Gupta in a press note stated that moorti sthapana of Sri Sai Baba will be held on October Sunday and Monday at Sri Sai Baba Mandir, Satjot Nagar, Dhandra-Dugri Road, here. Mr C.B. Sathpathy, IPS, Inspector-General of Police will be the chief guest. The moorti of Sri Sai Baba has been donated by Seth family of Bakaro. Shobha yatra will start at 1.00 p.m. on Sunday.

TOURNAMENT: College of Home Science (COHS) and College of Agriculture (COA) won the PAU Inter-College Table Tennis Tournament held here in the women’s and men’s section respectively. In the women’s section, COHS defeated College of Basic Sciences and Humanities. Ravneet Kaur defeated Ritu by 18-21, 21-13 and 21-9. Mandeep Kaur defeated Jaspreet Kaur by 21-18 and 21-16 and Jyotsana defeated Smily by 21-15 and 21-12 points. In the men’s section, Satyajeet defeated Gaurav Sharma by 9-21, 21-15 and 21-6 and Saurabh defeated Abhinandan by 21-12 and 21-10. Sumeet defeated Puneet by 22-20 and 21-15, while Satyajeet defeated Abhinandan by 21-14 and 21-12.

MOGA
SUICIDE: Roopa Singh of Chandanawan village in the district allegedly committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance on Friday.

PRIZE DISTRIBUTION: A prize distribution function of the local Khalsa Girls Senior Secondary School was held on Saturday. The Punjab Education Minister, Mr Tota Singh, was the chief guest.

TUBEWELL CONNECTIONS: As many as 47 tubewell connections were released to farmers of the district by the PSEB in September, the Executive Engineer, PSEB, said at a meeting of officers of the Agriculture Department held here on Friday.

SUICIDE: Baggar Singh of Bhekha village in the district allegedly committed suicide by consuming a poisonous substance in his house on Thursday. His body has been sent for a post-mortem.

RABI CROP: The Agriculture Officer of the district, Mr Kartar Singh Brar, said here on Friday that there was no shortage of fertilisers and insecticides for the oncoming sowing season of Rabi crops. He said all arrangements had been made by the department for their distribution.

NAWANSHAHR
COLLEGE FUNCTION: The local Dayanand Amarnath College of Education for Women organised a talent search programme here on Friday. Dr D.S. Gupta, former Principal of the college, presided over the function and gave away the prizes.

PATHANKOT
GANG BUSTED: With the arrest of Kewal Krishan, the police claims to have busted a gang involved in extortion, donning police uniforms. A case has been registered under Section 382 of the IPC.

PATIALA
STRIKE: The students of Government Mahendra College launched an indefinite strike in protest against the alleged misbehaviour met out to one of the students by a teacher on Saturday. Making a statement the Government Mahindra College Students Welfare Association President, Mr Bhupinder Singh Naurangwal, said that Mr Gurpreet Singh, a BA I student, was allegedly manhandled by Mr R.K. Mohal, a lecturer of Hindi in the college. Denying the issue, the Principal of the college, Mr S.S. Chauhan, said that the whole episode was the outcome of internal politics among various groups of the college. Mr R.K. Mohal, lecturer who is allegedly involved in the incident, was, however, absent from the scene.

CHANDIGARH

AMENDMENTS: The Government of India is considering the feasibility of making necessary amendments to the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act as applicable to Chandigarh so as to provide that the employees of the Chandigarh Administration, who have been transferred to the MC are treated on deputation with the corporation. This assurance has been held out by the Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, in a communication to the local MP, Mr Pawan Bansal.

WEBSITE: A website for Punjabi folk singers and artistes was launched by Dolly Guleria, prominent Punjabi folk singer, at a function organised by Gulmohar Arts at the Punjab Kala Bhavan on Saturday. The site www.punjabifolksinger.com will introduce Punjabi folk singers, to all those who visit this site. The site has been designed by Prof Ravinder Pal Kalra. Artistes like Gurkirpal Surapuri, Rajinder Raina, Manmeet and Gupreet were also present at the launch of this site. It was emphasised by those present that the world of entertainment should keep pace with the growing world of information technology.

BEREAVED: Ms Chand Kaur Dhillon, mother of Mr Kewal Singh Dhillon, chairman of the Dhillon Group of Industries, who died a day before was cremated on Saturday. Among those who offered condolences were the Adviser to the UT Administrator, Ms Vineeta Rai, the Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh, MPs Ms Parneet Kaur and Mr Pawan Bansal, the former Punjab Chief Secretary, Mr A.S. Chatha, the General Secretary of the Punjab Congress, Mr Gurmit Singh Sodhi, the former ministers, Mr Pratap Singh Bajwa and Mr Lal Singh, President of the Chandigarh Club, Mr Chaman Sharma, General Secretary of the Chandigarh Nagrik Sabha, Mr Amarjit Sethi and advocate Mr Ravinder Krishan.

PANCHKULA
DHARNA: The members of the Panchkula Press Club held a dharna outside the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) complex on Friday to protest against the non-allotment of land for construction of a building. The said land for construction of the club had been sanctioned by the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, at the Sarkar Aapke Dwar programme held in the city early this year after the members had demanded the same. Later, a delegation of journalists led by the club president, Mr P.P. Verma, met the Administrator, HUDA, Mr Sandeep Garg, who assured them that land would be allotted to them as soon as orders were received from the government. He added that the officials concerned were not sure whether the Chief Minister had sanctioned allotment or not, which had led to the delay. — TNS

HARYANA

AMBALA
EYE CAMP: A free eye check-up camp is going to be organised at Gurdwara Shri Guru Singh Sabha at Saha on Sunday. Mr Samarjit Singh, president of the committee, said that a team of three doctors from Patiala led by Dr Sukhdeep Singh Boparai would conduct operations and free medicines would be distributed at the free eye check up camp.

FATEHABAD
CONVENTION: A state-level convention of the Haryana Rajkiya Adhyapak Sangh will be held here from November 10 to 12. This was stated here on Friday by Mr Naveen Sharma, president of the district unit of the sangh.

FARIDABAD
ARRESTED: The police has arrested Tahir of Guthavali village, allegedly responsible for a double murder and several cases of dacoity in the region. The accused has reportedly confessed his crimes.

SONEPAT
RAIL TRAFFIC: Rail traffic on the Sonepat-Delhi route remained disrupted for about two hours following the snapping of an overhead cable at Badli, about 35 km from here, on Friday. Several trains were held up as a result of it.

FIRE: Fire broke out in the record room of Excise and Taxation Department’s office here on Friday night, burning the official files. A fire engine rushed to the scene and controlled the fire.

SHOT DEAD: A 15-year-old boy was shot dead by some persons in the Manjit Colony area at Ganaur town, 16 km from here, on Friday. The police has registered a case.

THEFT: Thieves struck at a shop on the Sonepat-Gohana road here on Friday night and decamped with wrist-watches worth about Rs 1.5 lakh. The owner of the shop has lodged an FIR with the police.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

CHAMBA
HELD: The police has arrested Subhash Kumar, a drawing teacher at Government High School, Kihar, in the district for allegedly trying to rape a class X student of the school. Mr Sanjay Kundu, SP, said a case had been registered under Sections 354/376 and 511 of the IPC.

KUMARHATTI
MEDICAL CAMP: A medical camp was organised by the Rotary Club, Kasauli, here on Friday. The CMO, Solan, inaugurated the camp.

SHIMLA
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the HP Local Audit Department (SAS) Officers Association: president — Mr Vinod Gupta; general secretary — Mr Anil Sharma; senior vice-president — Mr Ravi Sood; vice- president — Mr Des Raj Chauhan; treasurer — Mr Hem Raj Bhardwaj; and press secretary — Mr Sunil Angra.

BAR ASSOCIATION: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Himachal Pradesh High Court Bar Association: president — Mr I.D.Bali; vice- president — Mr C.B.Barowalia; secretary — Mr J.H.Bhardwaj; and treasurer — Mr Jagdish Thakur.

SUNDERNAGAR
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Himalayan Animal Welfare and Environment Protection Organisation: president — Mr Rajesh Sharma; vice-president — Mr Suresh Kumar; general secretary — Mr Niraj Kapoor; joint secretary — Mr Harish Hans; and assistant secretary — Mr Babka Singh.