R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

• A fair dedicated to a goddess

• ‘Gitanjali’ in Sanskrit

• Bypass surgery at Amritsar

ABOHAR
DHARNA STAGED: Members of the Block Congress Committees of Abohar and Khulan Sarwar staged a dharna at the local Gandhi Ground on Wednesday to voice their concern over the corruption in government circles exposed by tehelka.com. About 400 workers participated in the dharna. A memorandum was also presented to the SDM, Abohar, to be forwarded to the President.

INQUIRY DEMANDED: Residents of Khera village have demanded a high-level inquiry into a fraud case involving the Dalmir Khera Cooperative Society. They alleged that the fraud was committed over 12 years ago but the case was still pending.

AMRITSAR
CHEQUE PRESENTED: Mr Balramji Das Tandon, Minister for Local Bodies, presented a cheque for Rs 10 lakh to Mr J.P. Singh and Mr R.C. Yadav, president and chairman, respectively, of the Uttar Pradesh Welfare Society, for building residential quarters for migrant labour in the city.

DORAHA
SHOPS TO BE AUCTIONED: Gram Panchayat shops of Katani Kalan village are to be put on auction on April 17,2001. According to Mr Manjit Singh Mangat, Sarpanch, Katani Kalan, six shops of Gram Panchayat, henceforth on rent, would be put on auction and thus rented for the coming two years. The auction would take place on April 17 at 10 a.m. at the bus stand of Katani Kalan. 

NATIONAL CONVENTION: The national convention of All-India Federation of Democratic youth would be held on April 6 and 7 at Sangrur. Mr Jandeep Kaushal, district vice-president of the organisation, said in a press note that nearly 50 delegates from all over the country would participate in the convention. The convention would aim at discussing the problems being faced by the youth, economic policies of the government, privatisation and casteism.

HOSHIARPUR
BAG SNATCHED: Two scooter-borne youths snatched a bag containing Rs 70,000 from Diwan Singh of Mauli village on Tuesday. According to police sources, Diwan Singh was coming from the State Bank of India branch at Mukerian on a cycle when the incident occurred. The Mukerian police has registered a case under Section 356/34 of the IPC.

STUDENT KILLED: Inderjit, a BA (III) student at the local DAV College and resident of Dalanwal village, died on the spot when a Matador hit his scooter on Tuesday. The driver of the Matador drove off after the incident. The Sadar police has registered a case.

PUMPS INSTALLED: As many as 172 hand-pumps have been installed in Kandi area for providing drinking water and their maintenance work has been handed over to the respective village panchayats. This was stated by Raja Narinder Singh, Minister for Public Health, Punjab, while addressing a religious gathering at Gurdwara Jassowal on Monday. He also announced Rs 1 lakh for the development of Salemur village.

RESENTMENT: Resentment prevails among residents of Ward No. 10 and 11 of the local Naloian Mohalla over the absence of civic amenities in the locality. Mr Jagdish Lal Saini, member, state executive of the BSP, said in a press note here on Tuesday that inhabitants of more than 300 houses in the two wards were deprived of water supply, streetlights and sewerage. He urged the Executive Officer and the Deputy Commissioner to look into the matter.

PENSIONERS’ THREAT: The Punjab State Pensioners Confederation, at its meeting held in Ludhiana on Tuesday, decided to launch an agitation in protest against the non-acceptance of its demands recommended by the Fourth Pay Commission in its report submitted to the state government in February, 1998. This was stated here on Tuesday in a press note by Mr Mohinder Singh Parwana, general secretary of the confederation.

JALANDHAR
WRESTLER HONOURED: The NRI Sabha, Punjab, honoured renowned wrestler Tigerjeet Singh here on Tuesday. Mr Paul Singh Nauli, spokesman for the sabha, said in a press note that the Deputy Commissioner lauded Tigerjeet Singh for bringing fame to Punjab.

KHAMANO
BOUNDRY WALL DEMOLISHED: Karam Singh, son of Mr Bir Singh, of a nearby village, Raipur, has alleged in an affidavit that his 40 year old boundary wall was demolished by some persons of the village in his presence on the order of BDPO, Khamano, despite the court order in this connection. When BDPO, Khamano, was contacted in this connection he said that this land belongs to the village panchayat and a nullah was made there to flow the water of the village in the village pond. 

KHARAR
DHARNA: To protest against the corruption as exposed by the tehlka.com, a rally and dharna was organised by the Block Congress Committee (I), Kharar, outside the office of the SDM, Kharar, on Wednesday. Among others, Ms Lakhwinder Kaur Garcha, (general secretary PPCC (I)), Mr Harneik Singh Gharuan (a former Punjab Minister), Mr Balbir Singh Sindhu (organising secretary PPCC (I)), Mr Charanjit Singh and Mr Om Prakash Sharma (former presidents of the Municipal Committee, Kharar), Mr Natrajan Kaushal (Municipal Commissioner, Kharar), Mr Jaswinder Singh Jassi and Mr Mehar Singh (president BCC (I)) were present on this occasion. Various speakers criticised the ruling alliance at the Centre and said that they had lowered the prestige of the country.

LUDHIANA
OFFICE-BEARERS: The annual election of the Income Tax Department’s retired officials was held here. The office-bearers elected are: Chairman — Mr P.S. Bains; Patrons — Mr Joginder Singh and Mr S.R. Chhabra; President — Mr A.S. Bedi; Vice-President — Mr D.V. Arora; General Secretary — Mr B.D. Narang; Secretary — Mr Iqbal Singh; Finance Secretary — Mr C.P. Sachdeva and Auditor — Mr K.K. Sharma. Mr B.D. Narang, founder member and General Secretary of this forum, informed that an amount of Rs 4,000 has been sent to Prime Minister’s office by members of this forum as donation towards the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund to aid the earthquake victims of Gujarat.

PRIZE DISTRIBUTION: The Directorate of Students Welfare, PAU, will honour the students who have significant achievements in sports, co-curricular activities and youth affairs at a special function on April 9, 2001 at 4.30 pm in Prithpal Singh sport Centre, PAU. According to Dr Kashmira Singh Sekhon, Director Students Welfare, the function will be presided over by Dr Kirpal Singh Aulakh, Vice-Chancellor, who will also give away the prizes.

DEMAND: The Ghumar Mandi Shopkeepers Association demanded immediate arrest of all the persons involved in an attack on a family near the market on April 1 on Tuesday. A delegation of the shopkeepers met SSP Kuldip Singh and presented a memorandum to him demanding immediate arrest of the accused. They also urged the SSP to provide round-the-clock security to the victim’s family. According to a release issued here by the association, the SSP have assured the delegation of early action and provision of security to the victim’ family. 

DONATED: Mr Roshan Lal, a humanitarian, decided to gift his eyes after death so that even after his death, he could help atleast two sightless people to see the colourful world. He donated his eyes to Eye Bank, Mansuran. Mr Rajesh Marwaha of Ghumarmandi was motivated to donate the eyes of his father Mr Roshan Lal after his death. The credit for motivation goes to Dr Jasbir Singh, Consultant, Lapro Surgeon of the Raghunath Hospital. Dr Ramesh, MD, transplanted his cornea free of cost to two sightless people. The cornea was grafted on one patient from Kapurthala district and another cornea gave sight to a patient from Amritsar district. This was the first eye donation from Ghumar Mandi Area to Eye Bank, Mansuran.

ACUPUNCTURE CLINIC: Various acute and chronic diseases like asthma, backache, cervical spondolitis, paralysis, joint pains, polio and mental disorders could be treated through traditional chinese method without using medicines. This was told by Dr Ajay Nanchahal during the inauguration of new acupuncture clinic at BRS Nagar. The clinic was inaugurated by Mr K.L. Malhotra, and Dr Inderjit Singh Dhingra was the chief guest on the occasion.

EXHIBITION: An exclusive exhibition of rare chinese hand-made antiques made up of procelain consisting of design items is being organised for the first time in Northern India at Lakshmi Ladies club from April 6 to 9. Giving details, Mr Paramjit Singh, Managing Director of the company organising the exhibition, disclosed that the items at the exhibition had been collected from different parts of China. These include exquisite designs of vases, gold plated dinner sets, tea sets, dining tables, lawn tables, screens and portraits. He said that exhibition will also include items like god set which contains three god named prosperity, happiness and wisdom if kept at home are believed to bring luck. There will be fruit trays in different shapes and colours. The exhibition was earlier held at Kolkata, Benares, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi and Lucknow. 

PRAGATI INDIA GROUP: Pragati India Group, a leading event management company of north India, has opened up their office in Ludhiana with Pronetra Infotainment. Pragati Group organises events related to career and education, seminar, workshop, contests/competitions, celebrity visits, product launches, branch promotion, pre-market launching survey and post-launching survey. In near future group will promise to organise many unique events in Ludhiana especially for the youth. 

WELFARE ASSOCIATION: A delegation of the Shopkeepers’ Welfare Association, Jaur Sarak, Ghumar Mandi, called on the Senior Superintendent of Police here on Wednesday in connection with the dispute between New Raja Electronics and Galaxy Studio a couple of days ago. The deputation told the SSP that according to eyewitnesses, the owners of Raja Electronics had fired from their licenced weapons whereas no shot had been fired by owners of the Galaxy studio. They urged the SSP to register a fresh FIR against the real culprits. The SSP reportedly assured the delegation that an inquiry would be held into the incident. He deputed Mr S.S. Sandhu, SP, Operations, to inquire into the incident and assured the delegation that justice would be done. 

OPD STARTS: The general as well as the special out patient services (OPDs) of Hero DMC Heart Institute started functioning here on Wednesday. Mr Prem Nath Gupta, Director, Hero DMC Heart Institute, in a press statement said that the general OPD timings will be between 9a.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays and rest of the days will be for special OPDs. Mr Gupta said that the medical equipment used in the institute had a 24-hour UPS back up facility for uninterrupted patient care. Spread over an area of around one lakh square feet, the institute will perform procedures like coronary angiography, permanent pacemaker implantation, percutaneous transluminal coronary angiography, stent implantation and balloon dilatation for valve diseases. The unit has five state of the art operation theatres managed by cardiac surgeons and anasthesiologists who perform all types of cardiac surgeries like coronary artery bypass surgery, valve replacement surgery and surgery for congenital diseases.

MALERKOTLA
SENIOR CITIZENS: Resentment prevails among senior citizens of the area over the Telecom Department’s move to send them telephone bills consisting of extra charges of Rs 2,000 as security. They claim that they are availing the telephone facility under the senior citizens category and are not required to pay the security amount.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the BSP unit of Narike village: president — Mr Sukhdev Singh; vice-president — Mr Jagdev Bhanot; general secretary — Mr Bhaskar Ram Sharma; and treasurer — Mr Dalwara Singh.

MANSA
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of Apex Club, Mansa: president — Mr Satish Garg; vice-president — Mr Navdeep Ahluwalia; secretary — Mr Rakesh Jindal; treasurer — Mr Bhushan Goyal; adviser — Dr Amrit Paul Bansal; and public relations officer — Mr Shinder Pal Rai.

SIMRANJIT MANN: Mr Simranjit Singh Mann, MP and President, Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), will address a meeting of the district unit of the party on Saturday at Gurdwara Sulisar, Kotdharmu village. This was stated by Mr Gursewak Singh Jawaharke, a member of the working committee of the party.

LIONS CLUB: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Lions Club: president — Mr Surinder Bansal; secretary — Mr Moti Ram; and treasurer — Mr Janak Raj Garg.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Parents Teachers Association (PTA): president — Mr Sham Lal; vice-president — Mr Gurcharan Singh; and manager — Mr Ashok Kumar Garg.

DIRECTIONS ISSUED: Ms Raji P. Shrivastava, Deputy Commissioner, issued directions on Tuesday to the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) to ensure that no damage is caused to the wheat crop due to loose electric wires. During previous years, wheat crops has caught fire due to live electric wires lying in the fields.

SFI’S THREAT: The Students Federation of India (SFI), decided at its meeting held here on Tuesday, to gherao the office of the Director, Technical Education and Industrial Training, Chandigarh, on April 25 in protest against the decision of the state government to close six industrial training institutes. It also decided to launch a campaign for the setting up a degree college at Sardulgarh and an industrial training institute at Jhunir in the district.

MEMORANDUM: In a memorandum sent to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, seven members of the Bhikhi Nagar Panchayat — Mr Hari Singh, Mr Darshan Singh, Ms Rani Kaur, Ms Kanta Devi, Ms usha Rani, Mr Jagtar Singh and Mr Malkit Singh — have accused ms Jasbir Kaur, president of the nagar panchayat, and Mr Suraj Parkash Chabbra, Executive Officer, of causing a loss of lakhs of rupees to the panchayat. In a press note issued on Tuesday, they alleged that a huge amount of money for development works had been embezzled.

SAMMELAN: The Dalit Sena and the Dalit Students Federation will organise a “Dalit jagran sammelan” at Mansa on Saturday. Mr Kiranjit Singh Gehri, state unit president of the sena, will be the chief guest while district unit president Dulla Singh Sidhu will preside over the function.

MOGA
THEFT: Some unidentified persons broke into the shop of Mr Devki Nandan, proprietor of Goel Cloth House, on Ramganj road on Tuesday night and decamped with the cash lying in the cash box and some cloth. The matter has been reported to the police.

ORDERS: Mr Kanwalbir Singh Sidhu, District Magistrate, has issued orders to with immediate effect all cinema houses in the district against pasting obscene posters at public places. The District Magistrate has also directed the public not to wear military uniform and travel by khaki jeeps used by the Army. Action would be taken against those who violated the rules, he said.

NAWANSHAHR
HELD FOR MURDER: Mr Ishwar Singh, SSP, in a press note issued here on Wednesday, said the local police had arrested Harvinder Singh, resident of Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar locality, who had murdered his mother Satya Devi on March 31 and threw her body into a canal near Mahalon Bridge. A case under Sections 302 and 201 was registered on April 3. The body has been recovered.

PHILLAUR
ATTACKED: Some armed miscreants attacked and wounded Sandeep Singh of Kandola Kalan village in Sidhu Market, Noormahal, on Tuesday. Sandeep was admitted to Nakodar Civil Hospital in a critical condition. The Noormahal police has registered a case in this connection.

POWER CUT: The Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) has imposed a six-hour power cut on those industrial feeders which have not taken peak-load operation sanctions from the Chief Engineer ( Operations), PSEB. This was stated by the Executive Engineer, PSEB, Mr Ajit Singh, on Wednesday. He said power cuts in the case of other industrial units and urban areas would not be imposed from Wednesday as announced earlier.

PATHANKOT
NEW GM: Mr Gail Chand took over as General Manager, Telecom, Pathankot, here on Tuesday.

ARREST DEMANDED: Senior Congress leader Raman Bhalla has demanded arrest of Municipal Councillor, Vikram Mahajan following the registration of an FIR against him. The MC got involved in an altercation with his uncle Vinay Mahajan on March 11 over some property dispute. The councillor and his accomplices had allegedly attacked Vinay Mahajan causing multiple injuries.

PATIALA
BUS OPERATOR: Mr Karnail Singh has been elected president of the Patiala Private Bus Operators Union. The other unanimously elected members are: senior vice-president — Mr Manjit Singh; secretary — Mr Darshan Singh; and cashier — Mr Karamjit Singh.

RALLY: The Western Command Headquarters will hold an ex-servicemen rally at the polo ground here on Tuesday. The rally would aim at encouraging the youths to join the Indian Army. This information was given in a press conference by Brig D.S Sandhu. The Army, through the rally plans to streamline the lives of ex-servicemen who find it difficult to cope with the daily needs of life after retirement, by providing them financial help. On the occasion, the rally would honour 30 war-widows and also welcome various awardees. A medical camp would also be arranged.

OFFICE-BEARERS: Mr Surinderjit Singh Walia has been elected president of the PSEB Head Quarters Office Employees. The other elected members are: senior vice-presidents — Mr Tejinder Singh and Mr Jaeb Singh; vice-presidents — Mr Jagiri Ram, Mr Labh Chand, Mr Jaspal Singh, Mr Gurbaz Singh, Mr Mohan Lal Vad and Mr Kimti Lal Jain; general secretary — Mr Jaswant Singh Dhaliwal; and secretary — Mr Nirmal Singh.

PROTEST RALLY: The District Congress Committee (DCC), Urban, District Youth Congress (Urban), Mahila Congress Sewa Dal, INTUC and various other political organisations held a protest rally against the NDA government. The rally began from the office of DYC, Gur Mandi, and passed through Sadar Bazar, Adalat Bazar, Dharampura Bazar and Shera Wala gate. Maharani Praneet Kaur, Member of Parliament from Patiala led the rally. A dharna was also organised on Tuesday evening at Sirhindi Gate by the former PPCC organising secretary, Mr Sanjeev Garg. He said such protests would force the Vajpayee government to resign. 

CONDEMNED: The Anti-Slaughter House Struggle Committee condemned the Punjab Government’s move to open slaughter houses in Amritsar. Mr Lalit Kumar Goyal, a political leader, approving the sayings of Sarbhind Shiromani Akali Dal leader, Mr Harbans Singh Manjpur, said that this action of the government had hurt the sentiments and emotions of the general people. He asked the government to withdraw its decision immediately.

SANGRUR
SEMINAR: A seminar on “Management of cardiac diseases” will be organised here on Friday by the local unit of the Indian Medical Association ( IMA). More than 100 doctors from the district are expected to participate in the seminar. This was stated here on Tuesday by a spokesman of the local IMA unit.

SAMRALA
AGITATION: The agitation will continue untill and unless the corrupt Central Government does not resign, said Mr Shamsher Singh Dullo, Member of Parliament, in the tehsil-level party workers of Congress in the local Bharti palace, on Tuesday. The rally was also addressed by Mr Harminder Singh, MLA, Raikot, district president, Mr Lal Singh, former Minister, Punjab, and Mr Bhupinder Singh Benipal, Chairman of the Panchayat Samity. Similarly the Congress workers meeting of Koom Kalan constituency was held in Machhiwara under the chairmanship of Mr Surinder Kundra, block president. The leaders appealed the workers to participate in the big rally to be held at Ludhiana on April 11. 

SHAGAN CHEQUES DISTRIBUTED: A cheque of Rs1,00,000 and three shagan cheques of Rs 5,100 each were distributed by Jathedar Kirpal Singh Khirnian, member SGPC, at Salaudi Singhan village to sarpanch, Mr Sukhdev Singh, at function on Wednesday. On this occassion Jathedar Khirnian, highlighted the development schemes started by Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister of Punjab. Mr Khirnian said that 1.09 lakh were given for the development schemes and a sum of Rs 35 lakh for shagans, have been distributed in the Samrala constituency, this year. Mr Khirnian also said that all the link roads will be repaired before June 2001.

HARYANA

SADHU MURDERED: Baba Mansha Giri, an 80-year-old sadhu, was found murdered on the premises of the Sayyad Baba Peer Dera at Banwasa village, about 50 km from here, on Wednesday. According to preliminary reports, the police has registered a case and launched a hunt to apprehend a youth of Bhatgaon village who was last seen with the sadhu.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

SHIMLA
ALBUMS LAUNCHED: The first-ever Pahari video album, “Sajjana Neru Chaali”, was launched by the Innocent Group, Shimla, here on Tuesday. The group also launched a Pahari audio album, “ Cham Chamande Dandru”.

A fair dedicated to a goddess

SIRMOUR hills are considered land of the goddesses. There are a number of Shakti temples (Shakti sthals) and pilgrimage spots (Shakti pith) in this district. Of these two, Renukaji and Tripur Balasundri temple at Trilokpur are the most famous.

Renuka is considered the birthplace and mother of Lord Parshuram while Trilokpur is considered the home of Bhagwati Balasundri (Durga as a child). At Renuka, a state-level fair takes place in November, while Trilokpur is besieged by lakhs of devotees during Chaitra and Sharad Navratras.

A two-week-long famous Trilokpur Navratra fair began on March 26 and ends on April 8 after ‘‘purnima pooja’’ of goddess Tripur Balasundri at Lokpur village, 22 km from Nahan.

Trilokpur is a famous pilgrimage centre of the north. The 400-year-old famous Bhagwati Balasundri temple is the main attraction for worshippers during Navratra. More than 10 lakh devotees visit the village during the fair.

According to the history of Sirmour, the ‘‘pindi’’ of goddess Balasundri appeared in a bag of salt brought by a trader of the village, Ram Dass, from Deoband in Uttaranchal. To the trader’s surprise, the quantity of salt in the bag remained undiminished in spite of its continuous sale. Thereafter the goddess appeared in his dreams and exhorted him to set up a temple dedicated to her at the place.

Short of resources, Ram Dass approached the then ruler, Maharaja Pradeep Prakash, and explained the situation to him. The king summoned artisans from Jaipur and a beautiful marble temple dedicated to goddess Tripur Balasundri came up by 1573.

After the temple was completed, the worship of goddess Balasundri became a tradition in the royal family. The temple was renovated by Maharaja Fateh Prakash in 1823 and by Maharaja Raghuveer Prakash in 1851. The temple is an example of exquisite workmanship and is an amalgam of Indian and Persian styles of architecture.

Even today the ‘‘pindi’’ which has been placed in the temple, is worshipped as Bhagwati Balasundri. Right from the temple’s inception, the descendants of Ram Dass have been performing puja there.

As the name Trilokpur implies, there is a triangle of three Shakti temples in the area, each depicting a different face of the goddess Durga. Another Shakti temple, dedicated to Lalita Devi, depicting another image of goddess Durga, is situated on a hillock located at a distance of 3 km in front of the main temple of Bhagwati Balasundri. The third temple — that of Tripur Bhairavi — is situated 13 km northwest of Balasundri temple.

‘Gitanjali’ in Sanskrit

While there may be a number of translations of the world famous “Gitanjali” written by the Nobel laureate Rabindra Nath Tagore, there is none so far in Sanskrit. Mahaveer Prasad Sharma, a well-known Hindi and Sanskrit poet from Haryana, filled this gap by translating “Gitanjali” into Sanskrit and that too in verse.

The translation has been appreciated by critics. The translation appropriately called “Sanskrit Gitanjali” has won several awards in its very first year of publication. Recently it got an award from Delhi Sanskrit Akademi and has also been short-listed for a other prestigious awards.

Born in Jind district, Mahaveer Prasad Sharma did his master’s in Hindi and Sanskrit. Muse seemed to have attracted him early in life and he started composing Sanskrit verse. He is aware of the limited audience for his writing, yet he insisted on writing in Sanskrit. He believes, “there is natural rhythm in Sanskrit language and it does not take much efforts to create music out of words”.

It is his intense love for Sanskrit that prompted him to translate “Gitanjali” into this language, while fully knowing that there may not be many readers. “But whoever reads it, will read it seriously while feeling involved with it”, he remarks, while maintaining that Sanskrit is a language of intellectual elite.

Mahaveer Prasad is currently busy with “Vijaypatram”, the Sanskrit translation of the “Zafarnama”, Guru Gobind Singh’s letter to Aurangzeb in Persian. Translation particularly of a highly acclaimed literary work is not a simple job. It requires deep and thorough knowledge and insight into different languages and literatures. “It is not just a translation, it is transliteration”, he pointed out.

Mahaveer Prasad has mastered seven languages including Sanskrit, Hindi, Bangla, Persian, Urdu, English and Punjabi. Besides he knows several dialects like Dogri, Bhojpuri, Chhatisgarhi and others. He has also the working knowledge of several other Indian languages like Marathi, Gujrati and Oriya.

The Himachal Pradesh Governor Mr Vishnu Kant Shastri, himself a Sanskrit and Bangla scholar, in his preface to his book, while lauding the efforts of Mahaveer Prasad has termed it as a great service to both Sanskrit and Bangla languages because there was not a single translation of Tagore’s masterpiece in Sanskrit and that too in verse.

Bypass surgery at Amritsar

Cardiac surgeons of the Sigma Heart Institute here performed the first heart bypass surgery in Amritsar.

The surgery was done successfully on a Punjab Roadways conductor, Dharam Singh, thus making it possible for local doctors to join the elite group of hospitals in the country performing bypass surgery. Leading the team of cardiac specialists, Dr K.C. Mukherjee, stated that it was the first time that heart surgery was conducted in this border belt of the state.

Later talking to newsmen, the patient, Dharam Singh, said he was having frequent bouts of chest pain and referred to this heart institute in the end of March. After the operation, he felt relieved from the pain he had for some time.

Dr Mukherjee pointed out that earlier the facility of cardiac surgery was available only at in Jalandhar and Ludhiana, now this state-of-the-art hospital has brought this facility to the holy city.

Contributed by S.R. Pundir, Vimal Sumbly and Ashok Sethi.