The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Wednesday, October 4, 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

HOSHIARPUR
EDUCATION SCHEMES: The Punjab Government will spend Rs 207.86 crore to implement schemes of the state Education Department by the end of the current financial year. This was stated by Mr Tikshan Sud, Minister of State for Excise and Taxation, on Sunday.

KHANNA
PRIEST MURDERED: Faqir Mohammad, priest at the tomb of a Muslim pir, was found murdered behind the local Atwal Palace on Monday. Stating this, Mr Mohinder Pal Singh, DSP, said the body had been sent for a post-mortem.

LUDHIANA
HEPATITIS CAMP: As many as 560 people were vaccinated on the concluding day of a series of medical camps against hepatitis-B here on Tuesday which was organised by Avon Cycles in collaboration with the Rotary Club Ludhiana (North). The camp was conducted in K. D. Pahwa Charitable Hospital, Hambran. The camp was inaugurated by Mr S. L. Pahwa of Avon Cycles. In his address, Mr Pahwa emphasised the need for quality medical care in the rural areas. He revealed that ophthalmology and orthopaedics departments would be soon started in the hospital.

SCHOOL FUNCTION: The celebrated play, Ashad Ka Ek Din, by Mohan Rakesh, renowned Hindi playwright, and presented by students of Alpine International School remained the main attraction on the occasion of annual day celebrations. The celebrations began with the hymn Hey Ram. Senior section girls presented Rajasthani dance which was followed by Vande Mataram. Mr S.K. Sandhu, Deputy Commissioner, was the chief guest on the occasion. Principal Rajeshwari Dhir read the annual report.

POETRY COMPETITION: Fancy dress, poetry recitation, declamation and mono-acting competitions marked the Gandhi Jayanti celebrations at Everest Public Senior Secondary School here on Monday. Over 75 students participated in the fancy dress competition. Saurav, who dressed himself like a doctor, stood first, followed by Madhav, who acted like a model. In the poetry recitation contest, Damanpreet stood first, Priya Bhanot second and Rupali third. In the mono-acting competition Amardeep stood first. Ruchika Mittal and Neeshu stood first and second, respectively, in the declamation contest.

STUDENTS' CAMP: To encourage creativity among children and to boost their confidence, a three-day camp for children adopted by Sewa Bharati was organised at the Arya College for Boys here. More than 1,002 children from Ludhiana, Sangrur and Patiala adopted by the organisation, along with their 84 teachers participated in the camp. Sports events like 100 metre, 200 metre and hurdle races were held. These events were followed by cultural items like plays, skits, patriotic songs, giddha and bhangra. An exhibition of the craft items made by the children was also put up, informed Mr Somnath Aggarwal, General Secretary, Sewa Bharti.

MALERKOTLA
ROBBERIES: Five houses were allegedly looted by a gang of more than six persons here on Monday. The gang members barged into the houses of Ramjan Mohammad, Gamma Khan, Mukhtiar Singh, Mohammad Bashir and Liaqut Ali near the Raikot road and Manna Gate, with sharp-edged weapons and lathis and decamped with cash, gold ornaments and other valuables. A case has been registered under Sections 458 and 380 of the IPC.

EXHIBITION: A two-day subdivision-level science exhibition concluded at the local S.S. Jain Girl’s High School on Monday. About 250 students from several schools of the area participated. Mr Maghar Singh, District Education Officer, Sangrur, was the chief guest.

PATIALA
INAUGURATION: Fashion guru Javed Habib on Tuesday inaugurated a beauty parlour here. Habib highlighted the scope of trichology as a career. “Keeping in view the momentum the fashion industry has gathered in the recent past, trichology offers ample career opportunities to the youngsters,” he said. Defying the traditional concept that long hair is synonym with faminity, Mr Habib said that length of hair was no longer important. The bottomline in hairstyle is the cut that enhances one’s personality keeping in mind his or her’s cultural background,” he added.

PHAGWARA
HIT-AND-RUN CASE: An unidentified person was killed when he was hit by a vehicle on the GT Road near Khajurla on Tuesday.

SAMRALA
INJURED: Three youths received serious injuries when their scooter skidded on the Chandigarh-Samrala road near Bijlipuri village, 5 km from here, on Tuesday. The in charge of the local ambulance, Hav Jaspal Singh, rushed to the spot and took the injured to the local civil hospital. The injured were referred to the CMC, Ludhiana, as their condition was serious. Among the injured, Tinku's condition is said to be critical.

ANAJ MANDI: The SDM, Mr Sandeep Hans, called a meeting of the leaders of the All-India Food and Allied Workers Union (Machhiwara), the Assistant Labour Commissioner (Ludhiana) and the contractors of the Anaj Mandi (Machhiwara), on Tuesday to bring about a compromise among the feuding parties. On Saturday last, more than 200 mandi labourers of Machhiwara had staged a dharna in front of the SDM's residence. The labourers' complaint was that they had been retrenched by the contractor without any prior notice. The SDM assured the leaders of the union that justice would be provided to them. Meanwhile, the leaders said that if justice was not done, they would sit in dharna shortly.

CHANDIGARH

AWARENESS CAMP: To create awareness among the women of slum and rural areas about the current issues concerning women, their status in society, their health problems and ways of dealing with social evils like dowry, drug addiction, female foeticide and child abuse the Indian Council of Social Welfare , Punjab, is organising a camp at Landran village near Kharar. The camp will be held at 10.30 a.m. at the Gurudwara Complex.

QUEST: Mr B.S. Garcha, region chairman, Region II, District 321-F of the International Association of Lions Club organised a seminar on ‘Quest and Literacy’ at the Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 35-D, here, on Tuesday. The key speakers on the occasion were Mr Surjit Patheja and Mr Kamla Arora. The seminar was co-ordinated by Mr R.K. Joshi, President, Lions Club, Chandigarh Vishal, and Mrs Kushinder Sharma, Principal of the school. Mr Gurcharan Singh, district PRO, district 321-F, was also present at the function.

CANARA BANK: Canara bank, on Tuesday, opened evening counters at five branches in the region. The branches are 17-C, Chandigarh; Tikona Park Faridabad; Shimla; Court Road, Ludhiana; and Millerganj, Ludhiana. The counters will transact business from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. In the beginning the transactions will be limited to current account, SB, term deposits and demand drafts. Cash payments will be restricted for Rs 10,000 per party, per day. The bank will also be starting ‘’Seven days banking’’ at more than 10 branches in this region shortly.

MEMO: A deputation of the Mazdoor Ekta Welfare Committee, Dadu Majra colony, submitted a memorandum of demands to the Mayor. The demands included reduction in the enhanced rates of water bills and electricity charges, shifting of dumping place of garbage, providing of clean water, arrangement for maintaining cleanliness and filling of deep pits near the colony. The deputation was led by Mr Ramesh Kumar Chandolia.

AIR FORCE DAY: Run for Fun was organised by 3 BRD, Air Force, as part of the Air Force Day celebrations. There were different categories for the competitions held. Air Commandant Arvinda Aggarwal, VSM, Air Officer Commanding of 3 BRD, flagged off the run. Mrs Madhu Aggarwal, president, Air Force Wives Welfare Association, distributed the prizes to the winners.

PANCHKULA
STRIVERS CLUB: Strivers Club of artists of Panchkula district, held a meeting on Tuesday with a motive to boost art and culture in the state. It was declared in the meeting to hold an art exhibition from October 5 to October 10 at the All India Fine Arts and Craft Society, Swastik Vihar, Panchkula. Mr Prem Singh will inaugurate the exhibition and the same will conclude on October 10 by Maj Gen S.K. Kaushal. Almost 25 prominent artists from different parts of northern India will participate in the exhibition.

BHUMI POOJAN: Bhumi pujan was performed by Mr S.K. Gupta, zonal president north India, Vishav Jagriti Mission at the cricket grounds of Sector 5 Panchkula. The pujan was performed to begin the erection of the main pandal for a five-day virat bhakti satsang to be held from October 11 to October 15. The founder of the mission, Sh Sudhanshu Ji Maharaj, will daily deliver spiritual and religious discourse from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The mandal also organised “Parent Honours Day” on Monday.

HARYANA

AMBALA
OFFICE-BEARERS: Mr Prem Chand Saini has been unanimously elected president of the Nagar Khera and Goga Madhi Samiti, Ambala City. At a meeting held here under the chairmanship of Mr Hukum Chand Sharma, Mr Saini was elected the president and Mr Rajiv Aggarwal was unanimously elected the treasurer. The rest of the office-bearers will be elected later. It was decided in the meeting that efforts needs to be undertaken to improve the conditions, a release said.

HEPATITIS-B CAMP: A free hepatitis B camp was organised by Giants Group of Ambala Central at government school, No. 1 in Ambala city on Tuesday. President of Giants Group of Ambala, Mr Rajeev Soni, said 70 children were administered the vaccine by Dr Raj Bahal.

ROTARY CLUB: The Rotary Club, Ambala Central will construct five rooms at Lepers Colony in Ambala city. It was stated by its president, Mr Adesh Kumar Jain, here today. He said the foundation stone for this construction had already been laid on October 2 in the Lepers Colony. The club celebrated Gandhi Jayanti in the Lepers Colony yesterday. The members distributed fruits and sweets among the lepers on this occasion.

HARYANA YC: The former vice-president of the Haryana Youth Congress, Mr Viresh Sandilya, in a letter written to Mrs Sonia Gandhi has demanded the removal of Bhupinder Singh Hooda from the post of HPCC chief. He said during his tenure as the state chief the party had lost its base in the state. He urged the party high command to offer this post to the former Chief Minister, Mr Bhajan Lal, who had support of masses in Haryana.

SONEPAT
TWO HELD: The Sadar police has arrested Jagbir, alias Biloo, and Mahavir Singh, sons of sarpanch Paranmeshwari Devi of Chitana village, in connection with the murder of Umed Singh, a former sarpanch of the same village, on September 29. The third suspect, Sukhbir Singh, also a former sarpanch of the village, was still at large, the police said on Tuesday. Meanwhile, villagers staged a demonstration at the district headquarters here on Monday in protest against the arrests.

SALE BANNED: The district administration has banned the sale of “singhara atta” in the district with immediate effect. According to an official press note, the step has been taken following recent reports about cases of food poisoning allegedly due to the consumption of the atta.

BAN IMPOSED: The District Labour Officer has issued an order imposing a ban on fresh recruitments in M/s Riba Textile Mills at Chidana village in the district. The step had been taken following complaints by the mill workers’ union, official sources said.