R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

Regional potpourri

• Postman who doubles as healer

• Free ambulance service

• A multi-faceted litterateur
  

PUNJAB

BARNALA
MEDICAL CAMP: The Lions Club (Harmony) organised a medical camp at Government High School at Dhaula village here on Sunday. Dr Sandeep Kumar, president of the club, said 850 persons were examined and given medicines free of cost.

BATHINDA
UNFAIR ELECTIONS: Ms Surinder Kaur, who contested the panchayat elections, alleged that the elections held at Gill Kalan village here on Sunday were not held in a fair and free manner. In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner, Dr M.S. Gill, she alleged that there were gross irregularities during the elections and the staff on duty did nothing to prevent bogus voting despite repeated complaints by her.

DORAHA
function held: The Annual function of the Green Grove Public School, Mohanpur, was held on Sunday. The function was presided over by Mr Jagdish Singh Garcha, Technical Education Minister, Punjab. 

seized: Sixteen bottles of iilicit liquor were seized at two different places by the Payal police at a naka. In another incident, Tarwinder Singh was caught with seven bottles of liquor at Bair Kalan village. A case has been registered. — FOC

Ludhiana
FLAYED: A former vice-president of the Punjab Youth Congress, Mr Sukhwant Singh Dugri, has termed the SAD (B)-BJP government in Punjab as ‘anti-farmers’ and ‘anti-people’. He said the Punjab farmers, who were considered to be among the most prosperous a few years ago, were in the midst of such a worst crisis that they were forced to sell their cattle and tractors to repay the loans. In a statement, he said had the government taken effective and timely measures to pay remunerative prices of farm produce and purchase the produce, the economic condition of the farmers would have been much better. He said both the state and the Union Government had failed to take remedial steps to improve the lot of the farming community, which was destined to suffer more after the implementation of the WTO regime next year. 

national karate title: Parth Dewan, a student of Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar, in the city has won a gold medal (30-32 Kg category) in the 6th National Paer Paitra Karate Championship, which recently concluded in Punjab Agricultural University here. 

Dog show: The Ludhiana Kennel Club, affiliated to the Kennel Club of India, will organise its 14th and 15th All Breed Championship Dog Shows on Dec 10, 2000, at Sukhmani Enclave, along Sidhwan Canal, Near Ferozepore Road Bridge. According to Mr Inder Pal Singh Dhaliwal quite a few imported and rare breeds of dogs will be brought from all over the country for participation in the show. Ms Leela Ratnam and Dr Mathew C. John, nominated by the KCI, will be the judges. 

medical camp: Dr D.N.Kotnis Acupuncture Hospital organised a free medical check-up camp in the hospital premises to mark the 15th death anniversary of its founder, Dr Gian Singh Dhingra, on Tuesday. Teams of doctors conducted check up of the eye, teeth, general ailments, nervous diseases and surgical cases on about 275 persons and the patients were provided free medicines. Mr Harish Rai Dhanda, President of District Bar Association, inaugurated the camp, which was attended among others by Mr Bhupinder Singh, President, and Mr KL Malhotra, Secretary of the hospital managing committee. 

ROPAR
PROTEST: Various leaders of the Punjab Roadways Employees Union protested against the government policy to privatise the corporation at a conference here on Tuesday. The leaders alleged that the government was planning to discontinue 150 buses of the Punjab Roadways and give these routes to private bus owners under the newly launched Kilometre (KM) scheme. They said the government was deliberately not releasing funds for repairs.

SAMRALA
FAREWELL: Residents of Ghulal village gave a farewell party to Bhai Himmat Singh “Ghulalwale” at Gurdwara Sahib here on Tuesday.

SDO TAKES OVER: Mr H.L. Sofat took over as SDO, PSEB, here on Tuesday. The post had been lying vacant for the past two months.

CHANDIGARH

BLOOD DONATION: As many as 241 persons donated blood at a camp organised by the NSS unit of SGGS College, Sector 26, in collaboration with the State Bank of India, Sector 7, to mark the martyrdom day of Guru Teg Bahadur here on Wednesday. Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra, a former MP inaugurated the camp while Mr CL Sethi, AGM SBI, zonal office, Punjab and Chandigarh was the chief guest, informed principal of the college. 

Workshop: As a part of the World AIDS campaign 2000, the Citizens Awareness Group and Surya Foundation, in collaboration with the State AIDS Control Society UT, organised a workshop on AIDS in Muni ji Ka Mandir at Sector 23, here on Wednesday. The camp was specially organised to educate barbers and hair dressers of the city and to create awareness about the disease. Dr N.M. Sharma, project director, State AIDS Control Society, UT, was the chief guest informed Ramneek Sharma, founder-director of Surya Foundation.

memo: Members of the local unit of the Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM) have given a representation to the Mayor of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation regarding lack of basic facilities at the cremation ground at Daria village in Chandigarh. 

competition: State Bank of India, Sector-41 branch and Lions Club, Chandigarh, Manimajra and Midtown, will organise a painting and drawing competition on eye donation at Government College for Girls, Sector 42. Dr Joginder Singh, Director Health Services, Chandigarh, will be the chief guest. 

Stress on diet: The department of Adult Education, UT, organised three programmes in collaboration with the Food and Nutrition Department, Government of India, in Daria, Behlana village and Colony No 5. Mr S.K. Mehta, Field Officer of the department laid stress on the diet of pregnant and lactating mothers. 

SAS NAGAR
employees meet: The second All India Inter-education Board Employees Meet will be organised by the Punjab School education Board on Thursday and Friday at Shivalik Public School, Phase 6, Mohali. A spokesman said here on Tuesday that the Punjab Education Minister schools, Mr Tota Singh, would inaugurate the meet at 9.30 a.m. Competitions will be held in hockey, volleyball, badminton, carrom, chess and kabbadi. Teams of state school boards of Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Manipur, Madhya Pradesh, besides Punjab have confirmed their participation. About 200 sportpersons and officials are expected to participate in this meet. Mr Nusrat Ali Khan, Punjab minister of state for sports, will give away prizes to the winners at 3 p.m. on Friday. 

HARYANA

BHIWANI
ELECTIONS: Elections for the board of directors of the Bhiwani Central Cooperative Bank were held here on Tuesday. Mr Ashok, Mr O.P. Mann, Mr Ram Singh, Mr Phool Kumar, Mr Karamveer Singh, Dr Yash Pal, Mr Rajender Singh, Dr Om Parkash Mungipa, Mr Joginder Singh and Mr Ved Pal Singh were elected from Ward Nos. 1 to 10, respectively.

HISAR
SENTENCED: A local court has sentenced Pappi of Mahaveer Colony here to life imprisonment on the charge of murdering her husband. According to the prosecution, she had killed her husband Govind Dass with a sharp-edged weapon with the help on her paramour Chagan Lal.

RAPED: A minor girl was raped at Indira Colony in Hansi, near here, on Monday. According to the police, Prem Kumar of the same colony lured a 13-year-old girl to an abandoned house and allegedly raped her.

SUICIDE: A youth committed suicide by jumping in front of a train near Vidyut Nagar here on Monday. The deceased has been identified as Dev Saran of Surya Nagar.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Haryana State Railway Police Association: president — Suresh Kumar Bamel; vice-president — Mr Sube Singh; secretary — Mr Tejender Singh; office secretary — Mr Satbeer Singh; and treasurer -—Mr Udham Singh.

BODIES RECOVERED: The police recovered two unidentified bodies in Hansi, near here, on Monday. One body was recovered from the Petwad minor near Ram Singh Colony and the other near a power house on the Delhi-Hisar national highway.

KAITHAL
TARGET: The Deputy Commissioner, Dr Mahavir Singh, said a target to crush 35 lakh quintals of sugarcane had been fixed. He was speaking after inaugurating the crushing season at the Cooperative Sugar Mill here on Monday.

SENIOR CITIZENS: As many as 11 homes for senior citizens will be built in the district, Dr Mahavir Singh, Deputy Commissioner, said while addressing a press conference here on Monday. These homes would be set up in Keorak, Patti Afgan, Kalram, Mataur, Kotra, Kasan, Sakra, Barsana, Colormajra, Balbera and Ferozepur villages. He said 1400 enumerators would be deployed for census in the district.

KALKA
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the ‘Balmiki Maha Sabha’ of the Kalka block: president — Mr Krishan Gopal; vice president — Mr Surinder Kumar; general secretary — Mr Sanil Kumar; organising secretary — Mr Jai Chand; cashier — Mr Ram Pal and executive members — Mr Madan Lal and Mr Kala Ram. 

KURUKSHETRA
CAMP: Ms Jyoti Arora, Deputy Commissioner, inaugurated an industrial motivation camp at Panchayat Bhavan here on Tuesday. Emphasising on the need for setting up a small scale industry, Ms Arora called upon the youth to drive maximum knowledge from such camps. She said the new industrial policy had laid special emphasis on the industrial development of backward areas. The camp was attended by final-year students of Regional Engineering College, Sri Krishna Engineering College, ITI and Government Vocational Training Institute.

HONOURED: Mr Raj Kumar, Additional Commissioner of Income Tax, inaugurated a ‘‘Sammaan Samaroh’’ organised by Mr A.S Sandhu and Mr Harcharan Singh, Income Tax Officers, to honour the highest tax payers of the district at Senate Hall of Kurukshetra University on Tuesday. Mr Sameer Goyal of Ladwa, Ms Savitri Devi and Dr Kedaar Goyal of Kurukshetra were honoured.

WORKSHOP: The Agriculture Department, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, and the Krishi Vigyan Kendra organised a one-day zonal-level training workshop on weed management and spraying techniques here on Tuesday. More then 200 field functionaries from Kurukshetra, Panchkula, Ambala, Yamunanagar, Hisar and Sirsa districts participated.

SIRSA
DEMONSTRATION: A demonstration by railway workers under the banner of Uttara Railway Majdoor Union, Sirsa, was organised at the local railway station here on Tuesday in response to a call by the National Federation of Railwaymen. Mr Yash Pal Bhardwaj, secretary of the union, said the workers were protesting against the railway ministries’ decision to downsize the work force and its failure to fill vacant posts. He said discrepancies in the Fifth Pay Commission had not yet been sorted out.

ARRESTED: The police has arrested four persons for possessing poppy husk. It searched a jeep near Kagdana village in the district and found six bags of poppy husk weighing 240 kg from it. Mahender Singh and Sant Lal of Barnala, who were travelling in the jeep, were arrested while their two accomplices managed to escape. In another case Nirmal Singh of Rori village and Hakam Singh of Chatur village were arrested for possessing 14 kg of poppy husk.

SONEPAT
TWO INJURED: One person was injured when a Maruti car in which he was travelling was hit by a truck on the Sonepat-Murthal road, about 5 km from here, on Wednesday. He has been admitted to hospital. In another incident a boy was injured when he was hit by a motor cycle here on Wednesday. He has been admitted to the local Civil Hospital.

DEMOLISHED: Officials of a squad headed by Dr Sultan Singh, SDO (Civil), demolished the boundary wall of a cold storage at the vegetable market here on Wednesday. The boundary wall had been constructed by the owner of the cold storage on 240 yards of land belonging to the Sonepat Improvement Trust.

THEFT: Thieves reportedly broke into a shop near Kalupur village, on Tuesday night and decamped with fruits and other goods worth thousands of rupees. Mr Dharamvir, owner of the shop, alleged that the police had declined to register his report.

YAMUNANAGAR
BETTER HEALTHCARE: The Family Planning Association of India (FPAI) is working for better family healthcare and quality of life in the country, this was stated by Dr Nina Puri, all-India president of the association at the concluding ceremony of a three-day Total Health Mela-2000 for men here on Tuesday. It was organised by the local branch of FPAI. A male sterilisation and infertility treatment camp was held at the mela.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

KANGRA
CONTEST: DAV College, Chandigarh, won the Inter-College Declamation Contest organised here on Tuesday in connection with the silver jubilee year celebrations of MCM DAV College. Naginder Saroha and Sunil Bissa of DAV College, Chandigarh, received the trophy. Dr C.L. Gupta, Chairman, Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education, was the chief guest.

PARWANOO
Fund: A draft for Rs 11,000 has been handed over to the Himachal Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal. The money has been contributed by the Ladies Club, Parwanoo for the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. 

Regional potpourri

Postman who doubles as healer

Raju Ram needs no introduction: he is the postman at the subpost-office in Jwalamukhi. An energetic personality, he moves around town with a charming smile. He wields respect among the young, elders and children as well.

Raju Ram lives in a small cottage situated on the Jwalamukhi-Dehra road, 2 km farway from town. He provides a healing touch to those persons bitten by snakes sans medicine. Hundreds of people are seen at his house for treatment. Long queues are witnessed every day especially in the rainy season, when the incidence of snake bite is more frequent.

Though not educated in any school or educational institution, his knowledge of diseases and their cure is much better in comparison to educated persons. He imbibed the therapy of healing from his “guru” at a young age. And his master taught him to serve the people without charging anything.

Well known for his simplicity, he believes that he is doing everything with the blessings of Lord Shiva. And divine power helps him. During treatment for snake bite, he neither takes water nor food. So also his patients. They do not sleep day or night till the patient has recovered. As per his treatment, he treats patients with a “mani”, which he mostly wears. The mani never dies and “takes” food every day and “drinks milk”. According to Hindu mythology the snake is worshipped in the country and called “Nag devta”.

Raju Ram says snakes are not dangerous and these attack people only in self-defence. The mani is placed on the spot where the snake bit. The mani extracts the poison and then it is removed from the body.

Even scorpion bites are also treated by him. After that he gives the patients boiled water, rice and desi ghee as food.

In his 44 years of treatment of snake bites nobody has ever died nor gone back home without satisfaction. Over 500 have been treated by him in this season. He treats people free without assistance from the government.

With an income of Rs 500 to Rs 700, most of the money is spent by him on worshipping Lord Shiva. Sometimes he faces financial crisis also. Board and lodging provided by him to his patients is his biggest achievement and an example of selfless dedication and brotherhood.

No doubt he is a pride of the city and state. He needs government attention. He has asked the civic body for a water and power connection but still both have not been provided to him. At night he spends the time in the candlelight. But at times even candles are not available!

Free ambulance service

In times of emergency or during accidents, unavailability of an ambulance is a common problem always faced by the citizens. Timely medical help can save many lives. Its unavailability could be due to difficulty in contacting the source or unavailability of a driver or at times the ambulance being in a workshop for repair.

To overcome such difficulties and to provide an ambulance service in Amritsar, a private nursing home, Adlakha Hospital, has come up with a service in collaboration with Spice Telecom Services and Siti Cable.

This ambulance service is unique. It is free and a patient can be taken to any hospital at any time of the day or night in Amritsar city. Moreover the ambulance is equipped with a mobile phone provided by Spice Telecom (9814102020).

Siti Cable, is sponsoring free telecast of the information about the service. This service is being widely appreciated by the citizens of the holy city.

A multi-faceted litterateur

Dr Kewal Dheer, the Urdu fiction writer from Punjab, has added another feather to his cap.The Karnataka Cultural Academy has chosen him for the prestigious Millennium Urdu Award for his collection of Urdu short stories — “Kahaniyan”. The award, which carries a gold medal, a citation and Rs 11,000 in cash will be presented to him at a special function in January at Bangalore.

In fact, “Kahaniyan” bagged three awards this year. The first two were the Bhasha Vibhag, Punjab, for the best publication and the UP Urdu Akademi’s national literary award. A multi-lingual writer, Dr Dheer has over 60 books to his credit in Urdu, Punjabi, Hindi and English which include short story collections, novels, travelogues, biographies and books on medicine, population and human behaviour. Besides he has written films, TV serials, plays and features and his works had been translated into 13 Indian and foreign languages.

A widely-travelled man, Dr Dheer is the recipient of over two dozen state, national and international awards. Prominent among those are Shiromani Urdu Sahitkar Award (the highest Punjab Government award carrying Rs 1 lakh in cash), Asian Award for Human Welfare, the UP Academy Award (thrice), the Punjab Bhasha Vibhag Award (twice), Peace Award by the International Arts Council. Prem Chand International Award by European Urdu Writers Society (UK), and the Indo-Canadian International Award of Excellence by the ICTT (Canada).

He has also been honoured by well-known institutions such as Vishwa Hindi Sammelan, Mauritius, the Cultural Council of Bangladesh, World Punjabi Conference, the World Hindi and Indian Languages Conference (London), the World Peace Foundation (Washington), the Columbia University and the BBC and the Voice of America has come to him at regular intervals.

Dr Dheer is currently Secretary-General of Adeeb International (Sahir Cultural Academy) under which an international mushaira is held every March in Ludhiana on the birth anniversary of the Urdu poet, Sahir Ludhianvi.

Contributed by Bijendra Sharma, TNS and Pradeep Sharma