The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Saturday, February 10, 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

ABOHAR
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Bar Association: president — Mr Satish Narang; secretary — Mr Ranjit Singh Phore; and treasurer — Mr Daljeet Singh Kanwer.

AMLOH
CONFERENCE: A big conference of farm labourers will be organised at Birdhano village near here on Sunday, to press the demands which included increase of old-age pension from Rs 200 to Rs 500, free supply of electricity, enactment of central law for the labourers, and revolutionary dramas will be played, said Mr Nachhatar Singh, convenor of the conference. He further said that the delegate session consisting of two tehsils, Amloh and Nabha, will elect its body for the next year.

AMRITSAR
ARRIVED: Mr Y.P. Singh, Director, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, who has been appointed observer for the Majitha Assembly byelection scheduled for February 19, arrived here on Thursday. An official press note said he could be contacted at the local Circuit House.

BALACHAUR
INAUGURATED: Mr Surinder Mohan Sharma, SDO, inaugurated the office of the local Press Club at Sihra Market, Bhaddi road, here on Wednesday. Mr Satya Paul Joshi, DSP, was also present on the occasion.

BARNALA
REPRESENT: Dr Gurdeep Singh and Dr Suresh Singhal, president and secretary, respectively, of the local unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), will represent IMA Barnala in the 38th National Conference of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics, being organised at Patna from February 9 to 11.

HOSHIARPUR
DHARNA: Members of the Malta Boat Tragedy Probe Mission will stage a protest dharna in front of the residence of the Punjab Chief Minister on February 19. This was stated by Mr Jagdish Singh, spokesman of the mission, here on Thursday.

KAPURTHALA
3 HELD: The district police has arrested three absconding proclaimed offenders wanted in various cases during a special campaign launched in the district. This was stated by Mr Iqbal Singh, SSP, here on Thursday. He identified the arrested persons as Bhal Singh of Kapurthala, Ravinder Singh of Hoshiarpur and Baljinder Singh of Sultanpur Lodhi.

LUDHIANA
SEMINAR ON AYURVEDA: The DAV Ayurvedic Research Foundation is holding a national seminar on ayurveda, ‘Ancient wisdom, modern science’ here on February 25. Ayurveda scholars from across the country including the places from Banaras Hindu University, National Institute of Ayurveda, Jaipur, and the Central Research Institute Ayurveda, New Delhi, will address the seminar. According to Dr R.Vatsayan, a leading ayurvedacharaya, over 300 delegates are expected to attend the seminar. The foundation has decided to make the seminar a regular feature to be organised after every year.

CAMP: A hepatitis-B vaccination camp by eight clubs will be organised on February 11 at 41 different venues in the city in association with Shanta Biotechnics. The participating clubs are Greater, Sartaj, Supreme, Goodwill, Pioneer, North, Samrat and South. According to Mr Charanjit Singh, project chairman, the second dose of vaccination will be give to the persons who got themselves vaccinated earlier in the month of January 2001. The children would be charged Rs 50 and the adults will be charged Rs 100 for the vaccination.

KAVI SAMMELAN: A kavi sammelan will be organised on February 10 in the Sahir Auditorium of SCD Government College. The prominent poets including Surjit Patar, Gurbhajan Gill, Ravinder Bhadal, Inderjit Hasanpuri, Sukhwinder Amrit, Jaswant Jaffar, Sawranjit Savi, Paramjit Channi and Gurbhajan Kochar will be taking part in the sammelan. According to Mr S.S. Sooch, Principal, SCD Government College, Mr Kanwarjit Singh Sohal, president, International Sahir Foundation, will be the guest of honour on the occasion.

APPOINTED: Mr Harpreet Singh has been appointed as the vice-president, District Youth Congress (Urban Development Cell), according to a press release by Mr Akshay Bhanot, Chairman of the cell, here on Friday. Mr Harpreet Singh will work for the uplift of the party and also for the unity and integrity of the country, hoped Mr Bhanot.

MACHHIWARA
CASE REGISTERED: A case has been registered in the local police station under Sections 313, 315, 323, 406, 498A, 120B and 34 of the IPC against in-laws of Kiranjit Kaur of Machhiwara on the basis of an FIR lodged by her. In her complaint, she stated that she was married to Sukhwinder Singh of Ludhiana on February 2 last year. After sometime, her in-laws started demanding more dowry and was often beaten up. Even, she was forced to undergo abortion after three months. After becoming intolerant to this rude behaviour, she come back to her parental home here. The main accused are her husband Sukhwinder Singh, father-in-law Surjit Singh, mother-in-law Amarjit Kaur and sister-in-law Rajwinder Kaur. The case has been handed over to the Child and Women Helpline, Khanna, for investigation. The in charge of the above said wing, Mr Gulzar Singh, said that though he had raided the house of the alleged accused but no body could be arrested so far.

SCHOOL BUILDING: Parents of the students studying in Government Primary School, Machhiwara-3, have expressed deep concern on the bad condition of the school building and demanded its immediate renovation. Beside this, there is no proper sitting arrangement, they argued.

MANSA
GRANT RELEASED: Ms Raji P. Sirivastava, Deputy Commissioner, addressed the panches and sarpanches of 243 villages of the district here on Wednesday. She advised the village chiefs to utilise the grants being given by the government properly and within the stipulated time. She said grants to the tune of Rs 133.49 lakh were given for the repair of water canals, construction of walls around ponds, sheds, cremation grounds and pavements of phirnies.

NO TEACHER: Resentment prevails among medical students of Class X and XII of the local Government Senior Secondary Girls School and their parents as there is no lecturer of physics in the school during the current session. The parents expressed resentment during an NSS camp organisation by the school in the presence of the Deputy Commissioner.

LAND RECLAIMED: Thirtyseven thousand hectares of waterlogged land has been reclaimed and made fit for cultivation by laying 445 km length of drains in Punjab. This was stated by Mr Balwinder Singh Bhundar, Member of the Rajya Sabha, here on Thursday.

MOGA
NEW MACHINE: Punjab Education Minister Tota Singh on Thursday inaugurated a new machine, purchased by the local Municipal Council, used for cleaning roads. The President of the Municipal Council, Dr Kuldip Singh Gill, and the Executive Officer, Mr Paramjit Singh Gumman, were present on the occasion.

URGED: A large number of telephone subscribers from the district on Thursday urged the Telecommunication Department to release a new telephone directory.

PATIALA
TRANSPORT OFFICE: The Computrised Driving Licence scheme was inaugurated by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr J. S. Bir, at the District Transport Office here on Friday. Mr Bir revealed that with computerisation, the problem of bogus licenses would be weeded out and the applicant will have to come to the premises to be photographed. The DTO has issued 15,000 licenses during 13 camps the department has held so far. As many as 867 drivers were medically checked during the past one month and 514 free pollution checks were performed.

INAUGURATED: Senior Akali leader Surjit Singh Rakhra inaugurated the second branch of the Informatics Computer Centre at the Tagore Public School here on Friday. The new branch will provide degree courses to undergraduates in association with Utkal University. Speaking on the occasion, General Manager (North and East), Col Patnaik said with the launch of the centre students of the city would have access to the international expertise of the Edutech Informatics group in the field of Information Technology training and education.

FAREWELL: The National Theatre Arts Society (NTAS), Patiala, bid farewell to a group of 20 NRI students from Derby (UK) before their departure for Chandigarh on the conclusion of their two-day visit to Patiala to know about Punjab’s cultural heritage.

SAHNEWAL
BOOKED: A case has been registered against the driver of a jeep who in inebriated a condition bumped into a tractor, thus damaging the tractor and injuring a small child, on Wednesday evening. According to the FIR registered on Thursday at Sahnewal police station on the statement of Kuldip Chand of Mand Sherian of Machhiwara, Surjit Singh was on his way to Budhewal Mill on his tractor-trolley (Pb 43-2375) loaded with sugarcane when a jeep (HR-24E-5023) coming from the opposite side, collided with the tractor. The tractor was badly damaged and a child sitting in the jeep was injured and thus hospitalised. A case under Sections 279, 337 and 427 of the IPC has been registered against the jeep driver Gurcharan Singh of Koom Kalan village, who was drunk when the accident took place.

SANT SAMMELAN: A Sant Sammelan dedicated to the sacred memory of Sant Baba Sawan Das, would be held on February 10 and 11, under the command of Sant Baba Saroop Singh of Chandigarh. Sant Sammelan would start at 9a.m. till 4p.m. and many sants from all over including Sant Mukhtiar Singh Lalton, Sant Gurmail Singh Madpur, Sant Onkar Singh Bair Khurd, Swami Shankaranand Bhuri Wale, Baba Atar Singh Jaspalon, Sant Randhir Singh Bhangla and Baba Amrik Singh would regale the sangat.

SANGRUR
DEMANDED: The District Bar Association has urged the Northern Railway authorities to nominate two members from the lawyers’ community on its Advisory Board. This was stated by Mr Sat Pal Sharma, secretary of the association.

TARN TARAN
SMACK SEIZED: The police has arrested Amardeep Singh, alias Goldy, of Chohla Sahib village and seized 5 gm of smack from his possession. This was stated by Mr Jagdish Kumar Mittal, SSP, here on Thursday. A case under the NDPS Act has been registered.

CHANDIGARH

YOUTH PARLIAMENT: The Opposition always has more to say. This was the end result of the youth parliament organised by DAV College, Sector 10, for the Panjab University sponsored by the Department of Parliamentary Affairs, Government of India here on Friday. College students acted out their role as the political heads of the Indian Government and in a very interesting interaction, the parties in the “Parliament” discussed issues of national and international concern. Gaurav, who was the Information Technology Minister, won the first prize, Sumit, the “Agriculture Minister” stood second, Ashish, who called the attention motion was third while Tejinder, the “Speaker” was fourth. Sushil and Madhur, were fifth and sixth, respectively.

SILVER JUBILEE: A 14-member delegation from Europe and the USA including founder president of the London-based Nek Chand Foundation, John Maizels will attend the silver jubilee celebrations of the internationally-known Rock Garden here in the first week of March. Creator of the garden, Mr Nek Chand, said here on Friday that the delegation will comprise art specialists, renowned curators and Rock Garden lovers from all over the world. The experts will discuss strategy for the upkeep of the garden. Mr Nek Chand said “a cultural fair is also likely to be held as part of the silver jubilee celebrations of the garden.

WORKSHOP: A workshop session was organised by Scholastic India on “Doing away with the fear of maths”, at Vivek High School, Sector 38, here on Thursday. Speaking on the occasion Ms Neera Chopra, Principal, Naval Public School, New Delhi, said “the dull method of teaching is the root cause of phobia in students for maths from the very beginning. Maths teachers should relate the subject to real life”. As many as 90 maths teachers from different schools and the host school participated in the session held to exchange ideas how to teach maths in an interesting manner to the primary level students . It was a interactive session in which the teachers exchanged their ideas, informed Head of the Department Maths in the school, Ritu Bagga.

FUNCTION: The annual prize distribution function of Florence Convent School, Panchkula, was held at Tagore Theatre, here on Friday. Saffron attired students performed a havan by reciting shlokas. Besides this, a folk dance; Hum Sub Ek Hain; and a salute to the Kargil martyrs, Nanha Muna Rahi Hoon; and some skits were presented by students. Nearly 100 students were given prizes, by Mr Chander Mohan, MLA, Kalka, according to Mrs Nishi Moudgil, principal of the school.

BLOOD DONATED: Nearly 200 students, teaching and non-teaching staff of Government College for Men, Sector 11, donated blood at a camp organised by the Blood Bank Society, PGI, at the college. Dr S.N. Singla, Principal of the college, inaugurated the camp and exhorted the students to donate blood for the noble cause.

PAPER-READING CONTEST: The Administrative Science Society of the Department of Public Administration of Government College, Sector 46, organised a paper reading contest on “Role of bureaucracy in the present set up,” at the college here on Friday. Khushboo, Mrigank and Poonam won the first, second and third prize, respectively. The principal, Mr D.P. Singh, presided over the contest, while Prof Sahib Singh presented a vote of thanks.

LITERARY QUIZ: The postgraduate Punjabi Department, SGGS College, Sector 26 organised a Punjabi literary quiz contest here on Friday. The team of the Punjabi Department, Panjab University, stood first, while the team from the Department of Correspondence Studies, Panjab University, stood third. The college team came second. The quiz was anchored by Prof Rajbir Kaur and Dr L S Kheeva. The Principal of the college, Mr P.S. Sangha, announced that a seminar-cum-kavi darbar will be held at the college on February 20.

SEMINAR: The Department of Public Administration, Panjab University, in collaboration with the regional branch of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh of the Indian Institute of Public Administration organised a lecture on “Making tax administration more effective and people friendly”, here on Friday. Mr Ashwani Luthra, Commissioner of Income Tax, Chandigarh, who was the chief guest, opened his lecture saying that the international funding and aid agencies should treat tax as a criteria for judging the strength of economy. Among others who spoke on the occasion were Dr B S Ghuman, Mr P S Sahai and Mr S L Kaushik.

PANCHKULA
CENSUS WORK BEGINS: Work for the 2001 census was kicked off at the Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force’s Basic Training Centre at Bhanu near Panchkula on Thursday. Inaugurating the census work, Additional DIG, Mr S.C. Nayyar, said the country’s future policies and programmes are chalked out on the basis of census. He added that the data so collected during the census will be useful for welfare projects being undertaken by the government.

SAS NAGAR
DEMANDED: Residents of Kambala village, near here, whose land was acquired for setting up a railway station and laying of the line under the Chandigarh-Ludhiana rail project, have demanded payment of the remaining 20 per cent of government compensation. They said in a letter to the Land Acquisition Collector (Railways) that possession of their lands was taken on September 15, 2000, after the payment of 80 per cent of the compensation till date. They said, till date, the award had not been announced by the authorities.

HARYANA

BHIWANI
ARRESTED: The police has arrested Praveen of Kirawad village and recovered a stolen motor cycle from his possession. A complaint regarding the theft had been registered by the owner of the vehicle, Mr Satish Kumar of the same village.

HISAR
SEMINAR: A seminar on “Medical Rescue and Resuscitation and Prevention of Heart Attack” was held at Maharaja Agrasen Medical College, Agroha, near here, on Wednesday. Prof N.P. Singh, Convener, National Association of Critical Care Medicine and Prof S.C. Manchanda, Head of Cardiology Department, All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, gave lectures and demonstrations on the subject.

KAITHAL
FOUNDATION STONE: Chief Parliamentary Secretary Ram Pal Mazra laid the foundation stone of the local Bar Association building at the Guhla Courts Complex here on Wednesday. Mr C.R. Goel, District and Sessions Judge, Kurukshetra, was also present on the occasion.

KURUKSHETRA
PRESENTED: Haryana Transport Minister Ashok Kumar Arora, on behalf of Aastha, a local charitable and educational society, presented to the public an ambulance costing Rs 6.25 lakh at a function held at the Sector 17 ground here on Thursday. Mr Arora also announced a grant of Rs 11,000 to the society from his discretionary fund.

REWARI
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the District Committee for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals: president — Swami Sharananda; vice-president — Swami Jiwananda; and treasurer — Mr Vijaypal Yadav.

SONEPAT
CASE REGISTERED: The police on Friday registered a case of cheating against the owner of a general store at Subhash Chowk here for allegedly duping a large number of persons on account of a lucky draw scheme launched by him about five years ago.

PATROLLING ORDER: District Magistrate Sudhir Rajpal has promulgated an order, making it obligatory for all male adults to perform the duty of patrolling the railway lines, power transmission lines and other vital installations in the district.

DEMONSTRATION: The local Tax Payers Association on Friday formed an action committee to oppose the new policy of levying house tax in the city. According to a press note, the committee has decided to hold a demonstration in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office on February 21.

SURVEY: The district administration on Friday started a survey for the identification of the people living below the poverty line in the district. According to official sources, those identified will be given wheat at the rate of Rs 2 per kg and rice at Rs 3 per kg under a scheme sponsored by the Centre.