The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Friday, January 19, 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

AMLOH
DHARNA: The Revenue Patwar Union of subdivision Amloh, staged a dharna at subdivision headquarters, Amloh on Wednesday. Mr Dalkar Singh, the union president, criticised the victimisation of the patwaris by the government. He demanded withdrawal of the cases which had been registered against the leaders of the union during the agitation period. He also demanded withdrawal of dismissal orders of the union leaders immediately. District president, Darshan Singh Dhillon, Treasurer; Major Singh, tehsil vice-president, Charanjit Kumar and tehsil general secretary, Surinderpal Singh also addressed the dharna and criticised the Punjab government.

PROTEST: A public demonstration was held in the main bazar here on Thursday as shops remained closed in protest against the behaviour of octroi contractors of the town. A rally was held and a memorandum was submitted to the SDM, Amloh, Mr R.S. Jangu. Addressing the rally, Mr Rajpal Garg, president BJP unit, said the matter would be brought to the notice of the government and the trader community would not be allowed to be harassed. The dispute arose when Major Singh, Prop. Preet Electronic, Amloh, carrying 5 TV sets in Tata-407 (No PB-11B-5915) having valid ‘Transit Pass’ from Nabha octroi barrier, was stopped on the bye-pass road by the octroi contractor and taken to the municipal office. On the intervention of the SDM Amloh, the TV sets were released on Thursday, after which the shopkeepers opened their shops in the afternoon.

AMRITSAR
MOURNED: The eminent advocate and Founder Chairman of the managing committee of the DAV institutions here, Mr Hans Raj Mittal, passed away on Tuesday after a brief illness. The Bar Association here in a condolence resolution mourned the death of Mr Mittal. The DAV institutions in their condolence messages lauded his contribution to the DAV Movement here.

BARNALA
CONFERENCE: The local Lions Club was adjudged the best club of Region V, District 321F for the session 2000-2001 at the regional conference held here on Sunday by the club. Lion Pardeep Goyal was declared the best Lion President and Mukesh Sharma of Lions Club, Sangrur Greater, was adjudged the best secretary of the region.

PROGRAMME: The local Lions Club Harmony, will host a programme `Do Sham Vishav Shanti ke Naam’ for discussing global peace at local Aggarwal Dharamshala on January 20 and 21.

HOSHIARPUR
CONVICTED: Mr R.L. Roozam, District and Sessions Judge, has convicted Lal Chand of Binjon village under Section 376 of the IPC on Wednesday. He was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment and fined Rs 5000 for raping a minor.

ORDERS: Keeping in view the prevailing cold conditions and dense fog, Mr Vivek Partap Singh, District Magistrate, has fixed the opening and closing time of the government and private schools at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. in the district from Tuesday. These orders will remain in force till January 31.

JALANDHAR
NRI KIDS’ TOUR: A group of 20 NRIs’ children from the United Kingdom will arrive at Amritsar on January 31. This was stated by Ms Gitika Kalha, Chairperson of the NRI Sabha, Punjab, on Wednesday. They would be briefed about the history, religions and the Sikh culture during the tour, she added.

KHANNA
BLOOD DONATION CAMP: Eightyfive units of blood were collected at a blood donation camp organised at the local Golden Crain Club by the PSEB circle Khanna on Wednesday. Mr S.R. Sandhu, Deputy Commissioner, Ludhiana, who inaugurated the camp, stressed the need of blood donation movement. He said the district Ludhiana Red Cross was helping more than 83 patients of thalasemia who need blood transfusion every month. About 85 employees of the PSEB, Khanna, enlisted their names for blood donation on the occasion.

LUDHIANA
SUGGESTED: Due to the ongoing cold weather, experts of the PAU have suggested that the beehives should not be kept under shade and the surroundings should be kept clean. The bees should be given supplementary feed of thick syrup in the ratio of 2 parts sugar and 1 part water. The experts have suggested the continued us of winter packing of colonies.

EXTENSION: Mr Gurbaksh Singh and Mr Jasbir Singh, general secretary and president, respectively, of the Guru Granth Singh Sabha, Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar, here have welcomed the extension given to Mr Bhagwan Singh, Head Granthi, Akal Takth. They thanked the SGPC chief.

MACHHIWARA
ELECTED: Mr Nirmal Singh Nagra was elected unanimously as the new president of the Sacha Sauda Arhtiyas Association, grain market Machhiwara on Thursday. Mr Tehal Singh, the former president, presided over the election meeting. Other office-bearers are, Rakesh Kumar Nehra — vice-president; Narinder Singh Batra — cashier; Sukhdev Singh Kahlon — general sercretary and Gurjit Singh — joint secretary. Gurcharan Singh Mithewal, chairman, Market Committee; Ujagar Singh and Sushil Bithra (both councillors); Sarpanch Sohan Lal Sherpuri; vice-president; district Congress lauded the election for being unanimous. After the election, Mr Nagra said that he would do his best for the welfare of farmers and improvement of the grain market.

MANSA
DHARNA HELD: The PSEB employees federation, political parties and trade unions staged a dharna here on Wednesday in front of the local PSEB office. They demanded withdrawal of the police cases against some PSEB employees registered on January 11 following the clash between employees and the police at Bathinda. They alleged the cases were false.

PATHANKOT
GOVT DIRECTED: The Punjab State Human Rights Commission has directed the government to pay Rs 10,000 to Ms Raj Rani Sharma, a local. The government has also been directed to take action against the police officials who did not respond to the written complaint filed by her against some persons who had allegedly blackened her face and taken her around the city with tied hands.

CHANDIGARH

CAMP: As many as 221 students were vaccinated at hepatitis-B vaccination camp organised by the Rotary Club, Chandigarh, at Government Middle School, Sector 42 .The camp was organised under the medical supervision of Dr Narinder Mohan. The vaccines were provided at very subsidised rates so that the low income group could also afford to have the vaccination done.

MEETING: A meeting of the Zila Parishad, Chandigarh, would be held in the conference room of the Deputy Commissioner’s office, Sector 17, here on Friday. The agenda of the meeting include approval of expenditure incurred from July 1, 2000 to December 31, 2000, to consider the request of sarpanch, Behlana, for the grant of Rs 80,000 for organising a sports meet. Other items expected to come up for discussion include delegation of financial power to the Chief Executive Officer and chairman, Zila Parishad and request of Khuda Alisher’s sarpanch for Rs 90,000 for construction of a path leading to the village’s cremation ground.

WELFARE SOCIETY: The Residents Welfare Society, Sector 46, has hailed the announcement of opening of six community centers including one in Sector 46. The society further requests that the construction of green belt in the sector which is lying pending since 1998, may also be taken up at the earliest.

NO ARREST: The president of the Sikh Lawyers Association, Mr N.S. Minhas, welcomed the decision taken by the Chandigarh IGP, Mr B.S. Bassi, that no criminal will be arrested before the holiday in Chandigarh, unless he was not involved or wanted in a henious crime. This was stated in a press note on Thursday. Mr Minhas said in the absence of the rule in various cases, the police personnel intentionally arrested the accused before the holiday, in a lure of bribe from the other parties.

YUVA MORCHA: The local unit of the Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha, District No 4, has shown great concern over the secrecy of the police department leaking through the wireless messages which were frequently tapped by a TV channel. Mr Shashi Shankar Tiwari, former district president of the unit claims that this was brought to the notice of Senior Superintendent of Police through a letter dated January 6, 2001. He claims that even today the messages were heard over the TV channel. .

IMMUNISATION: The Director of Family Welfare, Chandigarh Administration has requested the Lions Club Chandigarh (host) to take out a rally of school children in the area of Badheri village with the help of principals of local schools to spread the message of Pulse Polio Immunisation among masses. The club would organsise a Pulse Polio rally on Saturday which would start at Government Model High School, Sector 41 at 10 a.m.. This was announced by Mr M.P. Agnihotri, president of the club. .

PANCHKULA
COMPETITION HELD: An on the spot painting competition was held by the State Bank of India, Staff Training Centre, at Little Flower Convent School, Sector 14. As many as 164 children participated in the competition. Results: Group A— 1st - Shravan, 2nd - Abhimanyu Katyal and 3rd - Prerna Kamboj; Group B — 1st - Aanchal Rohila, 2nd - Raman Preet Kaur and 3rd - Shakha; Group C — 1st - Parul Jain, 2nd - Varun Chauhan and 3rd - Isha.

SOHANA
EYE DONATION: This information is for the general public that Sri Guru Harkrishan Sahib Eye Hospital, Sohana, has an eye bank registered with the Eye Bank Association of India, Hyderabad, and is regularly getting human eyes as donation. We therefore appeal to the general public who are in need of it, may contact us either at following numbers 918-258409, 258262, 98140-11851, or visit the hospital so that needful be done at the earliest possible. We also request to all of you to come forward and donate eyes for such a noble cause.

SAS NAGAR
CONCLUDED: Two advanced diploma courses on E-commerce and CADD engineering concluded at the Centre for Electronics Design and Technology of India (CEDTI) here on Thursday. Mr R.S. Khandpur, Director General of the institute, distributed certificates to students. While addressing the students, Mr Khandpur said that CEDTI was an interface institute between academic organisations and industries. In technical institutes education imparted at the degree and diploma levels was broad-based and generic whereas CEDTI imparted specialised knowledged basedskills to meet the specific requirements of the industry.

HARYANA

AMBALA
BOARDING CENTRE: Senior citizens of Ambala Cantonment will soon have a day boarding centre where they can interact with each other. The Rotary Club of Ambala, president, Capt Baldev Singh (retd), said that the Union Minister, Ms Sushma Swaraj, will be inaugurating the old age home, located on Rambagh road near Rotary School for the Deaf, on Jan 29. Capt Baldev Singh said that the Vridh Ashram has been constructed at a cost of Rs 15 lakh from MP’s local area development fund. “The old age home will have a kitchen, doctor’s facility, library and club where chess, carrom board and other such things will be kept,” he said.

CONVENTION: The bi-annual state level convention of the Haryana State Teachers Association will be held in Farukkha Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Ambala Cantonment. The convention is expected to discuss various matters including the education policy and the anti-employee policy of the government, a release issued by the newly elected district president Mr K. K. Joshi said. The association has condemned certain appointments which has jeopardised the career of several teachers. The demands of the association include new pay scales for the JBT teachers, increase in pay scales for masters and principals and rural and medical allowance similar to Punjab.

JUDICIAL REMAND: The Assistant Excise and Taxation Officer of Ambala city, Mr Mukesh Gupta, was remanded in judicial custody till February 1. The police had nabbed him on Wednesday for taking a bribe of Rs 5,000 from a trader of Baldev Nagar and registered a case against him under the corruption Act. He was produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr J.S. Dhanjal, on Thursday who remanded him in judicial custody for 14 days. According to information, Mr Gupta will file a bail appeal in the court of the District and Sessions Judge on Friday. Meanwhile, Mr Gupta stated that he was falsely implicated in the case.

FARIDABAD
THIEF HELD: The local police has arrested a youth who admitted to having stolen more than 25 new bicycles from Sectors 22, 23 and 23-A. Mr Ranbir Sharma, SSP, said the accused belonged to an inter-state gang of thieves and efforts were on to arrest the remaining members.

ARREARS: The Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) has launched a campaign to collect arrears worth Rs 25 crore from the allottees of industrial plots and residential plots in the city. According to the Estate Officer, HUDA, notices are being issued to the defaulters.

HISAR
HELD: The police nabbed a criminal Jai Prakash from Kagsar village on Tuesday and recovered a country made pistol of 0.315 bore and seven live cartridges from his possession.

THEFTS : The Narnaund police has registered a case against Suresh Kumar and Jasmer Singh for illegal felling of shisham trees from nearby a canal. Sohan Lal of Mangali village has been arrested for stealing irrigation water.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
MOURNED: The Himachal Pradesh State Journalists Federation has expressed grief over the untimely death of Deputy Director of the state Department of Information and Public Relations , Mr K.P. Kaushik.

HAMIRPUR
HEART CARE CAMP: The local Heart Patient Welfare Society will hold a three-day heart care camp here from February 2. Mr Ajay Dogra, president of the society stated this here on Thursday. Mr Dogra said the registration of patients for the camp would be held in the society office from January 22 to 26.

KULU
CHARAS SEIZED: About 8.5 kg of charas worth Rs 85 lakh in the international market has been seized at Gudasi village on Tuesday evening. The SP, Mr N.Venu Gopal, said in a press note issued on Wednesday that Mangal Chand of Sajahd village had been arrested from whose possession the charas was found.

CONDOLENCES: Mr Satya Prakash Thakur, former Minister of State and Chairman of the Himachal Sewa Dal, expressed condolences at the untimely demise of Mr K.P. Kaushik, Deputy Director, Information and Public Relations, at Shimla on Tuesday. Mr Thakur said the Public Relations Department had lost an efficient officer.

WELFARE MOVE: An amount of Rs 1.45 crore has been disbursed among the old, handicapped, widows and lepers upto December 31, 2000 by the District Welfare Committee. As many as 10,320 beneficiaries will be benefited under this scheme. This was stated by Mr Chander Sen, MLA, while presiding over the District Welfare Committee meeting here on Tuesday.

SOLAN
ARMS SEIZED: Two country-made pistols and two live cartridges were seized from two spinning mill workers, Ranjit Kumar Shukla and Raj Kumar Giri, on Tuesday evening. Another mill worker Prabhunath was held at the instance of Ranjit Kumar Shukla and a country-made pistol with some countrymade cartridges were recovered.