The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Monday, November 20, 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
INVITATION: Dr N.S. Neki, Assistant Professor (medicine), Government Medical College, has been invited to chair a session on infectious diseases at the 56th Joint Annual Conference of Physicians of India to be held from January 20 to 24, 2001, in New Delhi.

CORRIDOR PLAN HAILED: Mr Ramesh Yadav and Mr Bhupinder Singh Sandhu of the Folklore Research Academy in a press note issued here on Saturday welcomed the Pakistani proposal to provide a corridor to the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara located on the Indo-Pak border.

STAMP EXHIBITION: Mr Narinderjit Singh, Deputy Commissioner, inaugurated a two-day stamp exhibition “Amphil-2000” at Thakur Singh Art Gallery here on Saturday. It was organised by the Department of Posts to encourage the hobby of stamp collection among the youth. A special cover on the Golden Temple was released by Mr Gurbachan Singh Bachan, Secretary, SGPC, on the occasion.

BARNALA
PREPARING FOR POLL: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) Badal has started gearing up its workers for an early Punjab Assembly poll ahead of the schedule. This was evident from the tone and tenor of Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister. Mr Dhindsa was addressing the SAD activists at the residence of Mr Charanjit Singh Khattra, a transporter and SAD leader, here on Sunday.

GURDASPUR
ARRESTED: The police has arrested Noor Mohammed, a drug trafficker of Manparihar village in Chamba district, and seized 2 kg of charas from his possession. This was stated by Mr Varinder Kumar, SSP, in a press note issued here on Sunday.

HOSHIARPUR
CASE REGISTERED: On a complaint of a 33-year-old widow of Phagwara, the Mahilpur police has registered a case under Sections 376, 506 and 34 of the IPC against Babbi of Mehna village and Lucky of Mahilpur for allegedly raping her on November 17.

LOK ADALAT: A lok adalat was held in the Sessions Court Complex on Sunday. As many as 59 cases were taken up, of which 59 cases were disposed.

KAPURTHALA
BEATEN TO DEATH: Balkar Singh (55) of Mushakbed village was beaten to death while his nephew Gurmail Singh was injured when six persons of the same village attacked them on Saturday night. Sukha, Binder, Pritam Singh, Darshan Singh, Gholi and an another person of the same village armed with weapons and rods forced their entry into the house of Balkar Singh after breaking the door of the house. They allegedly dragged Balkar Singh out of the house and beat him to death. Gurmail Singh has been admitted to the Civil Hospital. His condition is stated to be serious. A case has been registered.

GIRL RAPED: The police has arrested Kulwant Singh, alias Kanta, of Fathudingha village on the charge of raping a minor Dalit girl of the same village. According to a report lodged with the police, the father of the victim had alleged that his neighbour Kulwant Singh entered his house by scaling the wall five days.

LUDHIANA
School wins prizes: The students of USPC Jain Public School, Jamalpur, participated in Sadbhavna Saptaha organised by Manav Public School, Amritsar, from November 13 to November 16 and bagged several prizes in declamation, quiz, western dance, painting and mehndi contests. Nidhi Sharma of Class VIII bagged the second prize in declamation contest. The school team also clinched the second prize in western dance competition. In mehndi contest, Yogita of class VIII won the first prize. The principal, Ms G.K. Itten, appreciated the efforts of students.

contest held: More than 40 girls participated in a embroidery contest organised by the Vardhaman Group of Companies at Malwa Central College of Polytechnic for Women. Ramandeep Kaur stood first, Davinder Kaur Mann was declared second and third prize went to Jaswinder Kaur. Mr C.B. Sharma, senior sales manager, gave away prizes to the students. Also present on the occasion were Ms Krishna Thapar, head of the polytechnic, and Mr K.K. Bhatia, director.

judo: Rajnish Kumar, a student from Arya Senior Secondary School, has won the gold medal at Punjab School Games, in Judo, held at Patiala recently. He also won the silver medal in wrestling in Punjab Rural Sports held at Sangrur, informed Mr B.K. Verma, principal of the school.

celebrated: Children’s Day was celebrated at the Government Model High School, Cemetery Road, here on Saturday. Students of the school presented various song and dance items and also delivered speeches on the topic ‘The future of India’. The President of the Parent Teachers’ Association, Mr Amrik Singh Kang, addressed the students. In his address, the chief guest on the occasion, Lala Lajpat Rai, member parliament, said that he would do his best for the betterment of the school. The headmistress, Ms Joginder Kaur, gave away the prizes. She explained that Children’s Day could not be celebrated on November 14 as the school was closed on that day.

distributed: Members of Leader Training Service of Sacred Heart Convent School distributed free stationery items, text books and sweets among the students of Government High School, Jwaddi, on Saturday. Students of the school, accompanied by Sister Gracy and Ms Satwinder, their teachers, went to the school and played games, presented cultural programmes and gave away prizes to the students of the school.

elected: Following are the new office-bearers of the local branch of All India Telecom Employees, Class III: Mr Ved Raj, president; Mr Balbir Chand, vice president; Mr Jogesh Kumar, secretary; Mr Ram Gopal, assistant secretary; and Mr Naresh Kumar, cashier.

Man kidnapped: A man is alleged to have been kidnapped by the foes of his brother, allegedly for supporting the latter in a case of land dispute. According to an FIR registered under Section 364 of the IPC at the Focal Point Police Station, the complainant, Rakesh Kumar, alleged that his uncle, Raja Ram, was engaged in a land dispute with Babu Ram and Sham Bihari. The father of the complainant, Ram Pratap, had reportedly helped his brother in the case, which had angered the above-mentioned persons. Rakesh Kumar has accused the two persons of kidnapping his father with the intention of killing him.

seized: The police has recovered 12 bottles of illicit liquor and arrested Binder Singh. The accused has been booked under various Sections of the Excise Act at the Sarabha Nagar Police Station.

programme: In a 16-day programme on ‘Mother and Child Care’, volunteers of Ludhiana Sahkarta Samiti endeavoured to spread awareness among the people of 12 villages here. These villages included Latojaga, Chak Sarvan Nath, Mangarh Colony, Bokad Dogra, Ladowal, Kutbewal, Ladian Kalan and Ladian Khurd. The villagers were told about the importance of administering vaccinations to the expecting mother and the baby at a proper time. Doctors in the group alerted villagers about dengue and polio. The volunteers also informed students of government schools through skits on health and social issues who were later trained to perform the same in public, informed Mr Darshan Singh, block project coordinator of the organisation.

NAWANSHAHR
MURDER CASE SOLVED: Mr Ishwar Singh, SSP, in a press note issued here on Saturday claimed that the police had solved the murder case of Surinder Pal. Surinder Pal was murdered on July 24 by his own son Kapil in connivance with his two accomplices Sudhir, alias Tinku, and Sarabjit, alias Babbu, of Khatkar Khurd village. Kapil reportedly had confessed to having committed the crime.

PATHANKOT
PROGRAMME: A police-public interaction programme was held here on Sunday in the local police station complex. Ms Vibhu Raj, SP, presided over the function. She urged people to follow properly the traffic rules and help the police in this regard.

DHARNA: A dharna organised by the “Pathankot Zila Banao Sangharsh Samiti” entered its 34th day on Saturday. Mr Ashok Sharma, Mr Manjit Singh, Mr Matinder Mahajan and Mr Om Shanker Jaidka have been sitting on dharna at the Court complex in support of their 20-year old demand of upgradation of the Pathankot subdivision to a district status.

HARYANA

HISAR
CRITICISED: The Haryana Agricultural University Pensioners Welfare Association has criticised the university authorities for arbitrarily adopting the rules of the Central as well as the state government to the disadvantage of the pensioners. In a press note issued here on Sunday, Dr K.C. Gupta, president, and Dr V.P. Sharma, secretary, alleged that the university was not applying the rules uniformly. They said this had created several anomalies.

KALKA
celebratED: The Kalka branch of Canara Bank celebrated founder’s day of the bank here on Saturday. Mr Sushil Goyal, president of the Kalka Municipal Committee was the chief guest of the function. The programme started with lighting of a lamp and garlanding of the founder’s photograph by the chief guest. Ms Geeta Goyal, Manager of the bank, while addressing the audience, said the day is being celebrated on the birth anniversary of Mr A. Subba Rao, who founded the bank on July 1, 1906 at Mangalore in Karnataka. She added that in tune with the principles of social banking, the bank released loans to poor people living below poverty line. The loans were given under differential interest scheme of the bank for starting and expanding their work. The rate of interest is charged at 4 per cent under the scheme.

SONEPAT
ANNUAL CONVENTION: The annual convention of the district unit of the Haryana Harijan Welfare Association was held here on Sunday. Mr Jawahar Lal Ishtkan, general secretary of the association, presided over the convention, Ms Sona Devi Azad, organising secretary of the Mahila Congress, was the chief guest. More than 500 delegates from all over the district participated.

LOANS DISBURSED: Punjab National Bank disbursed loans of Rs 32 lakh to 28 farmers of the area under the Credit Card Scheme at a function here on Saturday. According to official sources, the bank has decided to hold a camp on December 6 for redressing the grievances of customers.

MEDICAL CAMP: The Om Parkash Charitable Trust will hold a medical check-up camp at Garhi Kundal village in the district on November 26. A team of specialists will examine the patients.

CYCLIST INJURED: A cyclist was seriously injured when he was hit by a tractor on the GT Road, near here, on Sunday. The tractor driver fled the scene. A case has been registered. The injured has been admitted to hospital.