The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Monday, January 8, 2001,
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
INAUGURATED: Mr Narinderjit Singh, Deputy Commissioner, on Saturday inaugurated three rooms and a verandah in Government High School at Goal Bagh. He lauded BJP MLA, Ms Lakshmi Kanta Chawla, who had helped in the construction by contributing from her discretionary funds.

BALACHAUR
COMPETITION: A function was organised at the indoor stadium, DAV Senior Secondary School, here on Friday under the chairmanship of Mr S.K. Sharma, SDM, in connection with the traffic control week. Students took part in a competition organised on the occasion. Sarabjit Singh, Silki Jain and Vishal Sharma stood first, second and third, respectively.

BATHINDA
DALIT SENA: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Dalit Sena, Joganand village unit of this district: president — Mr Gurcharan Singh; vice-presidents — Mr Ranjeet Singh and Ms Gurmail Kaur; senior secretary — Mr Nirmal Singh; and secretary — Mr Avtar Singh.

DORAHA
RALLY: Nearly 1000 students from different schools in the town and surrounding areas participated in a rally to mark the Republic Day celebrations in Doraha, on Sunday. Students of Guru Nanak Model School, Saraswati School, Shakti Public School, Dashmesh Model school, Arya School and Khalsa Girls School participated in the rally, which was flagged off by Mr Sudarshan Kumar ‘Pappu’, President, Nagar Council, Doraha. The rallyists began from the main post office and after covering all the main roads arrived at their respective schools.

MEETING: The meeting of government Homoeopathic Dispensaries Union, Punjab, was held here on Saturday under presidentship of Mr Jaswant Singh Dhillon at the local dharamshala. The meeting urged the Punjab Government to provide a basic salary of Rs 4,550, to regularise the services of temporary workers, to remove the ban imposed on fresh recruitments, to bring the budget of homoeopathy at par with allopathy and to provide time-scale promotions to all employees after four, nine and fourteen years. Mr Shamsher Singh Bawa was unanimously declared the acting general secretary at the meeting.

FATEHGARH SAHIB
LOK ADALATS: Six lok adalats were organised on Saturday at the district judicial complex of the 189 cases which were taken up, 98 cases were settled. This was stated by Mr M.L. Malhotra, District and Sessions Judge.

HOSHIARPUR
MINIMUM WAGES: Dr Subhash Sharma, president, INTUC, Punjab, and Mr Subhash Sharma, president, Punjab Subordinate Services Federation, have demanded the minimum monthly wage of Rs 3,500 for labourers in the state. In a press note issued here on Saturday, they criticised the Punjab Government for wrongly propagating the 40 per cent increase in the minimum monthly wages.

EXHIBITION: An exhibition of the paintings of Jaspal was inaugurated by Dr S.S. Parmar at DAV College here on Saturday. Mr Kamal Chaudhry, a former MP, was the chief guest.

KHANNA
BODY FOUND: In another bizarre incident, the body of a premature new born baby was found here on Sunday. According to SHO of city police station, Mr Rajesh Hastir, police got information that some suspicious object was lying near the FCI godowns on the GT road. The police reached the spot and found a body of a baby wrapped in a cloth, which was sent to the Civil Hospital for examination. Doctors said the baby was premature and its sex was yet to be determined. The police has registered a case under Section 318 of IPC. It is pertinent to mention here that this was the second case of its kind in one month.

Ludhiana
LOHRI CELEBRATIONS: The Geetanjali Ladies Club organised a colourful programme to celebrate Lohri on the club premises here on Saturday. The members experienced the warmth of the bonfire and sang Punjabi songs. The organisers gave surprise gifts to the members and guests. Ms Kusum Gupta got the prize for wearing the maximum number of bangles. Madhu Nanda got the prize for carrying traditional phulkari. The prize for the best jewellery was given to Sheetal Nayyar. Giddha was presented by club members which was appreciated by Dr J. Bindra, Chairperson, and Mrs Asha Miglani, President, of the club.

CAMP: More than 5,000 people were vaccinated on the first day of the second phase of hepatitis-B vaccination camp, which was organised at 53 centres in the city by the Lions Club of Ludhiana. According to Mr Chranjit Singh, past district governor of the club, the public response on the second day was expected to be more. The subsidised cost of the hepatitis-B vaccine for children was Rs 50 and for adults Rs 100.

INAUGURATED: Dr Kirpal Singh Chugh inaugurated the dialysis unit at Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital here on Sunday. The Dumra Vishram Ghar was also inaugurated by Justice Kuldeep Singh on the occasion. Later, speaking on the occasion Dr Waheguru Pal Singh, Medical Superintendent, GTB Hospital, appreciated the efforts of Mr Hari Das Dumra who had contributed Rs 40 lakh for the construction of the vishram ghar.

MANSA
MEETING: The former Cooperation Minister of State and veteran leader of the SHSAD, Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra, presided over a meeting of party workers of the district organised here on Saturday in connection with the “Panthic chetna jagao muhim”.

PATIALA
ELECTED: Harminder Singh Aulakh was elected as president of the Student Federation of India (SFI) of Punjabi University at a meeting held on the university campus on Sunday. The other office-bearers are: senior vice-president — Gurjant Singh Dhillon; vice-presidents — Tirath Singh Mann, Gurtej Singh Teji, Satvir Singh Waraich, Harkamal Singh, Devinder Singh Cheema and Harjit Singh; general-secretary — Navjot Kaur Kamal; joint secretaries — Karnal Singh Dhillon, Sumail Singh, Rakesh Kumar, Buta Singh Sandhu, Savinder Singh Mann and Ashok Kumar Singla; chief-adviser — Pawan Bhatia, Narinder Pal Kaur, Harpal Singh Cheema, Narinder Singh and Praveen Kumar.

STRIKE: The Punjab and Chandigarh Medical and Sales Representative Union (PCMSRU) in a press note issued said the Federation of Medical Representatives will go on five-day strike from January 8 here in protest against the non-acceptance of their demands which included increase of minimum wages and formation of review committee.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Punjab and Chandigarh Medical and Sales Representative Union (PCMSRU): president — Mr S. K. Dev; vice-president — Mr Avtar Singh; secretary — Mr H.S.Sandhu; joint-secretary — Mr A. Sharma; and Treasurer — Mr Munish Gupta.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the PSEB Officers (Accounts) Association: president — Mr J.P. Makol; general secretary — Mr V.K. Goel; patron — Mr J.S.Kalsi; senior vice-president — Mr Vijay Sawatantra Singh, Mr S.C. Arora and Mr T.C. Goyal; joint secretary — Mr Rakesh Puri and finance secretary — Mr S.P. Mehta.

CORRUPTION: Dr K.L. Seshagiri Rao, Editor-in-Chief, Encyclo-paedia of Hinduism, University of South Carolina; Columbia, USA, in his Sardarni Kailash Memorial Lecture on “Religious dialogue and future of humanity” dwelt on the need to recognise the modern world as a multi-cultural and multi-religious entity while addressing the faculty members in the Senate Hall, Punjabi University, here on Friday. Dr Rao emphasised that the present day world is born out of spiritual ignorance and excessive materialism has led to corruption, erosion of human values and juvenile crimes as ignorance promotes fear, distrust and hatred. In his presidential address, Dr Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia, Vice-Chancellor, Punjabi University, observed that class-contradictions based on modern day social realities give way to ethnic, ethno-religious and fundamentalist contradictions which have become the basic cause of social conflicts and tensions between different communities.

LECTURERS UNION: Mr Kamaljit Singh Dhaliwal was unanimously elected as president of the Samana Lecturers Union at a meeting held at Government Senior Secondary School, Samana, on Sunday. The other elected office-bearers are: vice-presidents — Mr Jagmohan Singh and Ms Balwinder Kaur; secretary — Ms Rachna; general secretary — Mr Harbans Singh; treasurer — Mr Parveen Kumar; and press secretary — Mr Surinder Singh Sethi.

CAMP: A blood donation camp inaugurated by Mr D.K. Sood, Deputy District Governor, was organised in collaboration with Komi Seva Yojna Unit of Government Senior Secondary School, Samana, and the Leo Club on Sunday. On this occasion, guests also planted saplings.

TARN TARAN
PISTOL RECOVERED: The district police has recovered a .12-bore pistol, four cartridges and a scooter from Sahib Singh alias Sahba of Nagoke village. It has also booked Skattar Singh and Bhupinder Singh, both residents of the town, for possessing smack, according to Mr SK Kalia, SP(D) in a press note issued here on Friday.

ARRESTED: Baldev Singh of Gandiwind village was arrested for allegedly firing at and injuring a wholesale dealer Romesh Kumar of Amritsar at Bhikhiwind on Friday. His accomplice, identified as Kala, escaped on a motor cycle. A revolver and four live cartridges had been recovered from Baldev Singh.

SHAGUN SCHEME: About 90 persons were given Rs 5,100 each under the Shagun Scheme at a “Sangat Dashan” programme on Friday at Tur village by Mr Tarlochan Singh Tur, MP. The grievances of people were also redressed.