R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

Panipat surgeon’s path-breaking feat

• Doctor with penchant for writing

• Physics don honoured

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
TB TREATMENT : A mass campaign for the free treatment of TB patients will be launched here on January 18. Dr C.P. Thakur, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister, will be the chief guest at the inauguration ceremony.

BARNALA
GANG BUSTED: The Barnala police has succeeded in busting a five-member gang of cheats operating in the states of Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab who have duped people of nearly Rs 50 lakh. Giving information about this gang here on Wednesday, Mr Ajaib Singh Kaleka, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Barnala police district, said the gang had recently duped Bawa Singh Bahadur, Inderjit, both residents of Raikot, Baba Samadhi Dass of Harigarh, Chamkaur Singh of Morn and Misturi Khan of Dhanaula of nearly Rs 3.5 lakh.

CINEMA OWNERS BOOKED: Following raids by the Barnala police, a case was registered against operators and owners of the local New Palace Theatre and Prabhat Cinema here on Tuesday for violating District Magistrate’s orders pertaining to ban on pasting obscene posters in cinema houses and walls of public places under Section 188 of IPC.

DORAHA
RALLY PUT OFF: The proposed rally of the Congress, to be presided over by the PPCC chief, on Tuesday at Doraha has been postponed, according to party sources. The decision has been taken in view of the Congress meeting scheduled to be held in Delhi.

FARIDKOT
INSPECTION: Mr Justice H.S. Brar, President, State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Punjab, will visit the district for three days from January 22 for the annual inspection of the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum here. This was stated by Mr Joga Singh, President of the forum.

KHAMANO
CRITICISED: The Congress MP from Ropar, Mr Shamsher Singh Dullo, on Wednesday visited some villages of this area and sanctioned grants for the repair of dharamshalas. He lashed out at the state government for its ‘anti-people’ policies. He said that shopkeepers, farmers, employees, dalits and other sections were suffering due the policies of the government. The MLA of the area, Mr Amrik Singh Dhillon, was also present on the occasion. The villages benefited by Mr Dullo’s grants include Panaichan, Pohlo Majra, Sanghol, Maheshpur, Amrala, Ranwan, Khamano etc.

SYAD MEETING: A meeting of the youth wing of Akali Dal, Khamano circle, will be held at Gurdwara Sahib Ranwan, near here on January 23. Member SGPC Jathedar Kirpal Singh Khirnia will preside over the meeting. This was stated by youth wing leader Gurdeep Singh Ghuman on Wednesday.

FLAYED: A meeting of the Technical Service Union (TSU), Khamano branch, was held here on Tuesday under the chairmanship of the circle president, Mr Jaipal Singh. At the meeting, lathi charge on employees of the PSEB, Bathinda circle, was condemned. The union secretary, Mr Bal Vir Singh also demanded the release of workers, and registration of cases against the officers responsible for registration of false cases against the employees.

DELEGATION: A delegation of sarpanches of this area under the chairmanship of senior Akali Dal leader, Mr Sarwan Singh Suhavi, met the Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, and Captain Kanwaljit Singh and apprised them of the bad condition of roads in the area. They stressed the need to start development work in this sub-division. Both the leaders assured the delegation that an action plan was being worked out for the development of the area. The delegation included sarpanches of Bilaspur, Mansurpur, Jatana Ucha, Jatana Neecha, Chari, Amrala, Hawara and Ranwan villages.

LUDHIANA
CONDOLED: Several Congress leaders have condoled the death of senior party leader Jitender Prasada. They said in his death the party had lost a great leader who would take bold stand and had fought for the party ideals like secularism and democracy. Expressing his grief over the death, the senior PCC leader, Mr Nahar Singh Gill, said it will be difficult to fill the vacuum created by his death. He pointed out, Mr Prasad fought for the cherished party ideals like secularism and democracy and stood by the Congress leadership in crucial and critical times. Another senior leader and the chairman of the Indian Youth Congress Urban Development Cell, Mr Pawan Dewan, in his tributes to the deceased leader said, Mr Prasad had inherited the political legacy of late Rajiv Gandhi and would always stand by the party. He pointed out, Mr Prasad never felt shy of speaking out his mind which helped in generating a healthy and constructive debate within the party. Mr Amarjeet Singh Tikka, a youth Congress leader, in his condolence message said, the party had lost a senior and experienced leader who had served with leaders like Rajiv Gandhi, Mr P.V. Narsimha Rao and Mrs Sonia Gandhi. He observed that it would be difficult to make up the loss that party had suffered with his death.

PYC RALLY: The Punjab Youth Congress (PYC) has decided to hold ‘save farmers’ rallies in the state, which will be addressed, among others, by Mr Randeep Singh Surjewala, President of the Indian Youth Congress. According to Mr. Amarjit Singh Tikka, senior-vice president of the PYC, the first rally will be held at Patti in Amritsar district. A similar rally will be organised jointly by the urban and rural units of the District Youth Congress here on January 24.

FOOTBALL TOURNEY: The 4th Sardar Nachhattar Singh Gill Memorial Ludhiana Cup Football Tournament will be held from January 19 to 21 at the police line grounds, Ludhiana

WELFARE CAMP: The Department of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Extension of the PAU, in collaboration with the Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, organised an animal welfare camp at Sadarpura village in Ludhiana district on Tuesday. A team of experts, including Dr M.L. Mehta, Dr M.P. Gupta, Dr Harish Verma, Dr S.K. Kansal and Dr P.S. Bansal, checked the animals. During the camp farmers were advised on timely vaccination and proper managemental practices in animals.

POTATO GROWERS: In a joint statement issued here on Tuesday, the BKU president, Mr Ajmer Singh Lakhowal, and the general secretary Mr Manjit Singh Kadian, supported the agitation launched by potato growers and announced that the BKU would participate in the proposed rally to be held at Jalandhar. Mr Lakhowal rued that on one hand farmers were forced to throw away the potato crop since there were no buyers but on the other hand, the government had added to their woes by imposing octroi. The BKU leaders urged the government to intervene and ask agencies like Markfed and Nafed to purchase the potato crop at reasonable rates and to immediately withdraw octroi from potatoes.

CHECK-UP CAMP: The Rotary Club of Ludhiana north organised a medical check-up camp at Nishkam Vidya Mandir on Wednesday. More than 1080 students were checked by doctors of the DMC under the guidance of Dr G.P.I. Singh. The team of doctors included, Dr Sona, Dr Tajinder, Mr Harneesh, Mr Rajneet, Ms Gagandeep, Ms Jasmine, Ms Jaswant, Ms Jatinder. Mr Ravinder Kumar Singhania, secretary of the club, Hira Lal Goel, director (community services), Mr Dev Raj Jain chairman, other guests, teachers and Rotarians were present on the occasion.

LINEMAN HELD: A lineman-cum-supervisor of the Bharatgarh telephone exchange, Ropar district was caught red-handed by the Vigilance Bureau for taking a bribe of Rs 500 in lieu of repairing a faulty telephone. According to Mr R.P.S. Bajwa, SP (Vigilance), the accused was caught in a trap laid by Mr Balwinder Singh Sidhu, DSP (Vigilance) Ropar. He had taken the money for repairing the non-functional telephone set of Mr Mohan Singh, sarpanch of Aaspur village in Ropar district.

MALERKOTLA
CONDOLENCE MEETING: A condolence meeting was organised by the Press Club here on Wednesday. Members of the club expressed grief at the demise of Mr Jagdish Singh Bansal, Chief Sub-Editor, Punjabi Tribune.

MANSA
OPPOSED: Mr Sher Singh Gagowal, a senior Congress leader and former Punjab Minister on Wednesday opposed the recommendations of the Agricultural Price Commission (APC) for the reduction of the support price of wheat from Rs 580 to Rs 520 per quintal and described it as an anti-farmer policy of the government.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the women wing of the local Aggarwal Sabha: president — Ms Kamla Devi; vice-president — Ms Shashi Bansal; secretary — Ms Ranju Garg; and treasurer — Ms Devi Rani Garg.

INSTALLED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Junior Chamber: president — Dr Sher Jung Singh Sidhu; senior vice-president — Mr G.D. Bhatia; vice-president — Mr Parminder Kumar; secretary — Er Manmohan Singh Sodhi; and treasurer — Mr Parmod Singh.

PATIALA
DISMISSED PATWARIS: Mr Ghuman Singh, President of the Revenue Patwar Union (RPU), Punjab, in a meeting held here decided to put forth their demands in front of its Punjab body. They said that the Patwaris dismissed during strike should be reinstated promptly and the wages should be given to them for non-working days. They further demanded that the pay scales of Patwaris should start with in the Rs 5480-8925 scale and that of Kanungos between the Rs 6400-10640 scale. The union also demanded that the promotion scale should be increased after every 4, 9 and 14 years, respectively. Apart from the daily allowances of at least Rs 500 per month, the union asked for an additional amount of Rs 300 per month for stationery and other books.

WELFARE MEETING: Ms Ravinder Kaur Bir, Chairperson of the Hospital Care Unit of the Red Cross Society, delivered a speech for the welfare of the women here on Tuesday at the S.S. Jain Senior Secondary School, Dera Bassi, on behalf of the Bharati Rural Women Association. Dr Manmohan Kaur, Vice-President of the Bharati Child Welfare Council, said that illiteracy among womenfolk need to be totally abolished and they must be made aware of their rights in this world of the male-dominating society. She added that the child homicide should be prohibited to enable welfare of women in society.

SAMRALA
DHARNA: A dharna and rally was organised by patwaris here today in front of the Tehsil Courts. They were protesting against the non-implementation of the their demands which had been already accepted by Mr Sewa Singh Sekhwan, Revenue Minister, Punjab. Mr Gurmel Singh and Mr Sukhdev Singh Chauhan, president and cashier of the Punjab Patwar Union, respectively, said as their demands were not implemented so far, so the patwaris were compelled to sit on dharna. They regretted that due to their absence in the patwar offices, the public suffered a lot. Both the leaders also said that a meeting of the Punjab body is called on January 27 in Ludhiana old tehsil to discuss the next course of action.

CHANDIGARH

PANCHKULA
ELECTED: The following were elected office-bearers of Blue Bird Skating Club, Sector 16: patron — Mr K.I.P Bhatnagar; senior vice-president — Mr Vijay Kumar Dwivedi; vice-presidents — Mr S.S. Narang, Mr M.S. Dhariwal, Mr Bhim Sen Garg and Mr Sunil Dhir; joint secretary — Ms Meenakshi Arora; finance secretary — Mr Rakesh Anand; technical adviser — Mr A.D. Sharma; legal adviser — Mr Rajan Nanda. The executive body consists of Mr Aveen Kumar, Ms Priya Bawa, Ms Archna Narang, Ms Meena Dwivedi, Mr B.S. Sandhu, Ms Indu Aggarwal, Ms Ramesh Dhir, Ms Geeti Gupta, Ms Suchika Sharma, Mr Ajay Arora and Ms Harmesh Rana.

HARYANA

KURUKSHETRA
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the District Bar Association: president — Mr Amar Singh; vice-president — Mr Trilok Singh; general secretary — Mr Krishan Kumar Kaushik; joint secretary — Mr Satish Kumar Sirohi; and treasurer — Mr Sushil Saini.

SONEPAT
ASSAULT: A youth sustained serious injuries when he was allegedly attacked by some armed youths at a cinema hall here on Tuesday. The police has registered a case in this regard.

PULSE POLIO: The fourth phase of the Pulse Polio Immunisation Programme will be organised in the district on Sunday. This was stated by Dr Rukmani Garg, Civil Surgeon, here on Wednesday.

POWER CUT: Most of the areas in the city and nearby suburbs remained powerless for three hours on Wednesday, disrupting the normal life and hitting essential services. The power supply was cut off around 4.30 a.m. and restored after 7.30 a.m.

DHARNA: Workers of a Kundli-based factory staged a dharna in front of the office of the District Labour Officer here on Tuesday to press for the acceptance of their demands. The workers alleged that the management of the factory had not paid their wages for the past 10 months.

MEMORANDUM: Labourers of the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) on Wednesday sent a memorandum to the Chief Administrator, demanding the immediate cancellation of the licence of a contractor who has allegedly failed to make payment of their wages totalling to nearly Rs 14,000.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

NURPUR
1 KILLED: A worker of the Public Works Department (PWD) died and another was injured when a hill side caved in while they were working on a road at Madanpur village in Suliali subdivision on Tuesday. The deceased was identified as Amar Singh (45) of Mehraka village. The injured, Jaishi Ram, was admitted to the local Civil Hospital.

Regional potpourri
Panipat surgeon’s path-breaking feat

DR Pawan Gupta, a renowned urologist, has once again created history. He has used an unusual endoscopic (ureterorenoscopy) procedure for removing a kidney fungal ball. Such a procedure has been adopted for the first time by urologists. Earlier, the fungal ball from the kidney was being treated by percutaneous surgery that is, by making a hole on the back of the patient or by open surgery.

It is a tribute to Dr Gupta’s feat that a paper on this procedure in his name has been accepted by the British Journal of Urology for publication. This has provided the muchneeded boost to this procedure. In addition, such a feat in a small town like Panipat is considered a rarity.

Earlier, Dr Gupta created a milestone in the treatment of urinary stones and other diseases of the urinary tract. Dr Gupta, who shifted to Panipat in 1987 after doing his post-graduation in surgery from Ludhiana’s Christian Medical College, started treating urinary tract diseases through telescopic surgery instead of open surgery. He mastered the technique of rigid and flexible ureterorenoscopy and has been treating a majority of urinary stones cases by this method.

According to Dr Gupta, this technique is the best for removal of urinary tract stones and he rates this as a much better technique than the commonly practised lithotripsy, which requires long treatment. He also started transurethral surgery of prostate and urinary bladder stones for the first time in the town and later popularised this technique in Haryana. Though he introduced lithotripsy in 1995, he later reduced its use.

Dr Gupta has also trained a number of surgeons in transurethral surgery. In 1998, he organised an international workshop on ureterorenoscopy for removal of urinary stones under the Urological Society of India. This prestigious workshop was attended by about 200 surgeons from all over the country and abroad.

Doctor with penchant for writing

Dr B.L. Kapoor has distinguished himself among the writers Mandi has produced. Though a noted eye surgeon, Dr Kapoor has an inborn aptitude for writing and has written a dozen books, both in Hindi and English.

His book “History and Heritage of Western Himalayas” has been written with special reference to the erstwhile Mandi state with articulate depiction of temples and their architecture.

Another book “Gods of High Hills”, now under print, unfolds the life of the hillfolk whose activities revolve around and are dominated by deities. It is priced at Rs 1500 and would be a good reference book for research scholars.

Mr Kapoor says writers can contribute a lot in espousing human values and goodness. His book “Grow More Good” is a successful attempt in this direction. The writer has made a strong plea to generate happiness and goodwill to make life worth living.

His first Hindi book was published in 1976 entitled “Himachal — Itihas aur Parampara”. It became so popular that it was sold like hot cakes and several reprints published.

The book has unfolded unknown aspects of hill life. Written in simple language it attracted the common reader also. An award was also given to Dr Kapoor on this book by the Language and Culture Department of the state.

He has recently brought out an interesting travelogue — Mahagiri se Mahadhaudhi”. (From Himalayas to the ocean), which contains a vivid description of places visited by the writer on land and sea, highlighting their historic, cultural and archaeological significance.

In one of his books “Akar aur Vichar” the writer has brought into focus the secret of greatness of the distinguished personalities from all spheres.

In his book “Ek Laghu Sansar” Dr Kapoor has described the lifestyle of the people of some parts of Himachal Pradesh where he served as a doctor. One gets a glimpse of the rich cultural heritage of the people of Himachal.

Writing is a passion for him. He has contributed hundreds of articles and photo-features in leading newspapers and magazines over 30 years.

Physics don honoured

Dr Atul Khanna, lecturer in applied physics at Guru Nanak Dev University, has been conferred the Young Scientists Award in Physics by the Indian Science Congress Association, Calcutta, for 2000-2001. During the 88th session of the Science Congress at New Delhi, held between January 3 to 7, he was honoured with the award, which carries a citation and a prize of Rs 5000.

The award has been given in recognition of his contribution to the investigation of borate glasses applying ultrasonic, X-ray defraction and spectroscopic techniques. Dr Atul Khanna has discovered some unusually slow structural relaxation phenomenon in glass melts which can be used to tailor different mechanical and optical properties of borate glasses.

Dr Khanna is now working on the development of highly sensitive and selective solid state gas sensors in a UGC-funded project. These solid state gas sensors are thin film devices which can be used for the detection of various poisonous and inflammable gases like hydrogen, hydrogen sulphide and carbon monoxide. These are part of strong applied research work that is being pursued in the Applied Physics Department of the university. The other research areas being actively pursued in the department are superionic materials, ferrites and semiconductors.

Dr Khanna had a brilliant academic career, graduating from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, in 1991 and then joined the 35th batch of the famous ‘training school programme’ of India’s nuclear establishment, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Trombay, near Bombay. After successfully graduating from the training school programme in 1992, he joined the Technical Physics and Prototype Engineering Division of BARC working as a scientific officer.

Contributed by K.G. Dutt, Kishori Lal and Rashmi Talwar.