The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Tuesday, April 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

AMRITSAR
VISITED: Major-General Ashok Kapoor, General Officer Commanding, 15 Infantry, visited the families of martyrs Manjeet Singh and Jagjeet Singh in the district. He presented cheques to the kin of the martyrs. Mr J.S. Maan, Deputy Director, Sainik Welfare, informed that a sum of Rs 1.80 crore had been earmarked for providing housing facilities to families of martyrs.

BATALA
MOTORCYCLE STOLEN: Thieves allegedly took away an Enfield motorcycle from the local Lal Chand Aggarwal market on Thursday. Mr Rajnish Kumar has lodged a complaint with the local police in this connection.

MEETING: A meeting of the local unit of the Punjab Government Pensioners Association held here demanded the enhancement of old-age pension and provision of medical allowance for the pensioners. The meeting was chaired by Mr Surinder Mohan Gupta.

FAZILKA
THREE KILLED: Three persons were killed on the spot on Sunday on the Fazilka-Malout road when a scooter on which they were travelling rammed into a truck parked on roadside near Tahliwala, 15 km from here. The deceased have been identified as Amar Kumar Sidana (21) of Jalalabad, Parlahad Kumar (25) of Tahliwala Bodla village and Surinder Kumar (20) of Dhani Khanpur. Post-mortem examination of the bodies was conducted at the local Civil Hospital.

GARHSHANKAR
CHEATED: On a complaint by Gurjit Singh of Jassowal village alleging that he was cheated of Rs 4.50 lakh by travel agents Parkash Chander and Davinder Singh of Mangolepuri, Delhi, who had promised to send him to Italy but was sent to Kazakhstan instead, a case was registered and Davinder Singh arrested.

CASE REGISTERED: A case has been registered under Sections 379\427\34 of the IPC against Makhdin of Dhulewal, Sher Khan of Borah and Dalip Singh of Dhulewal for cutting 26 eucalyptus trees from the property of the Waqf Board. Complaint against the alleged culprits was lodged by Abdus Sakur, Rent Collector of the Waqf Board.

GURDASPUR
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local branch of the Bharat Vikas Parishad: president — Mr D.P. Gosain; vice-presidents — Mr S.S. Jaspal and Mr Kedar Sharma; secretary — Mr Sandip Kapila; joint secretary — Mr V.K. Bhandari; and treasurer — Mr Rajesh Mahajan.

HELD: The police has arrested Wasant Raj of Chahiya village, near here, for cheating people by luring them to get them jobs in government departments. This was stated by Mr Varinder Kumar, SSP, here on Saturday.

HOSHIARPUR
KILLED: Gokal of the local Sunder Nagar mohalla died on the spot when a PRTC bus of Patiala depot reportedly hit him while he was going on his bicycle near Chohal village on Friday. The Sadar police has registered a case against the bus driver.

SUCCUMBED: Baljit Kaur (16) of Bulhowal succumbed to her burn injuries at DMC Ludhiana on Friday. Her clothes caught fire while she was trying to lit a kerosene lamp at her house.

SUICIDE: Balwant Singh (26) allegedly committed suicide by consuming poison at his house in Naushera Simbli village on Friday.

MEETING: To review the wheat procurement arrangements, Mr Sohan Singh Thandal, state Minister for Civil Supplies, Punjab, convened a meeting of the district authorities and officers of procurement agencies here on Friday. Mr Thandal said procurement of 125 lakh tonnes of wheat was expected during the season.

JALANDHAR
FERTILITY CENTRE: Dr Sadhna Desai, a Mumbai-based renowned in-vitro Fertilisation (IVF) specialist, on Sunday inaugurated an ultra-modern state -of-art IVF and fertility centre, the first of its kind in North India, at the local Satyam Hospital and Trauma Centre.

CONFERENCE HELD: More than 100 doctors and gynaecologists attended a day-long conference on “reproductive child healthcare” organised by the district chapter of the Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecologists Society of India here on Sunday.

LUDHIANA
MEDITATION CAMP: Maa Amrit Sadhana from Pune conducted a three-day Osho camp in Ludhiana. She said ‘‘In the modern days of stress and strain, meditation techniques devised by Osho have proved very successful and hence a lot of Osho centres have come up.’’She further said, ‘‘Earlier, our rigid society was not able to understand Osho’s viewpoint, but now people are understanding his philosophy and the proof is that, at present, 250 Osho centres are functioning in India.’’ The camp was attended by ‘sanyasis’ from seven districts. The function was organised by the Osho Friends Club, Ludhiana.

SEMINAR: Nearly 100 students of Class XII attended a seminar on ‘Education in Australia’ organised by the Austech Institute of Management and Technology at Punjabi Bhavan here on Monday. Addressing the students, Mr H.I.S. Virk, CEO, Austech, said that a student, who completed one year of Bachelor of Information Technology, e-commerce or e-business course from the institute, could carry his credit marks to Australian universities for the second and third year of the course in Australia, US, UK or Canada. Dr Y.S. Walia, director, local centre of Austech, said all the students for degree courses would be provided computer for practice at home, along with books and uniform.

GENERAL SECRETARY: Mr Karnail Singh Panjoli, president of the Youth Akali Dal, owing allegiance to former SGPC president, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, has nominated Mr Sukhwinderpal Singh Garcha as the general secretary of the central unit of the party. The party circles have hailed the appointment, with the All India Youth Sewa Dal senior vice-president, Mr Mohinder Singh Sandhu, general secretary, Mr Gurmit Singh Jassal, AISSF activists, Mr Sukhbir Singh, Dr Amarjit Singh and Mr Harpreet Singh Happy, the Ludhiana Youth Welfare Social Society president, Mr Kishore Kumar, and several others felicitating Mr Garcha.

NOMINATIONS: Mr Baljit Singh Malra, block president, Urban Development Cell of the District Youth Congress, has nominated the following as the office-bearers for ward No 29: president — Mr Shero Verma; senior vice-president — Mr Gurmit Singh; vice-president — Mr Malkiat Singh; general secretary — Mr Avtar Singh; secretary — Mr Jiwan Singh; members of the executive committee — Mr Kashmir Singh, Mr Harminder Singh, Mr Paramjit Singh, Mr Madan Mohan, Mr Rajinder Singh and Mr Gurdip Singh; and adviser — Mr Harpal Singh.

DEMAND: The Welfare Society, Model Town Extension - D, Part II, has called upon the municipal corporation (MC) to take an immediate decision for earmarking of the common passage at the end of Punjabi Street in Model Town Extension, Block D locality and to construct a metalled road without any further delay. Mr G.S. Midha, general secretary of the society, said in a statement that in the absence of proper enforcement by the MC, the passage had been encroached upon a number of times. The MC officials, he added, were making enquiries about the site from the residents in a superficial manner and nobody had bothered to check the official records till date.

CONFERENCE: Nearly 100 delegates from Punjab are likely to attend a conference on ‘Pre-term labour’ at the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital here on Tuesday. Dr G.M. Simmons, Director, Maternal and Foetal Medicine, and Chief, Obstetrician Department, West Virginia University, USA, will participate in the conference and deliver a lecture on ‘Role of infection and inflammation in pre-term birth’. Dr Sarla Gopalan from the PGI, Chandigarh, will talk about the ‘Management of pre-term labour’. Dr Kumkum Avasthi, head, Department of Gynaecology, DMC, said Dr Simmons is on a week-long visit to the DMC as a part of an education exchange programme.

MANSA
FOUNDATION STONE: Mr Balwinder Singh Bhundar, General Secretary of the SAD (B) and Rajya Sabha member, on Sunday laid the foundation stone of a road at Khillan village in the district. The road is to be constructed between Khillan village and Narinderpura village. He also inaugurated the building of the government primary school in the village.

MAN KILLED: Dinesh Kumar (23), of Sangrur district died on the spot in an accident near railway crossing in Budhlada town in the district on Sunday. According to information, Dinesh Kumar was hit by a Maruti car. The driver of the car fled the spot. The Budhlada police has registered a case.

MEDICAL CAMP: The Bhai Behlo Youth Sports and Welfare Club organised a free medical camp at Phaphre Bhike village in the district. Mr Sukhwinder Singh Aulakh, MLA, inaugurated the camp and announced a grant of Rs 15,000 to the club while Dr S.P. Gupta, Senior Medical Officer, presided. As many as 614 persons were examined by a team of doctors, according to Mr Ramesh Kumar Sharma, president of the club.

EYE CAMP: As many as 307 persons were examined and 31 operated upon on Sunday at a free eye operation camp organised by the Lok Seva Club in collaboration with the gram panchayat at Daleywali village in the district. Medicines, spectacles and board and lodging were provided free of cost, according to Mr Jagjit Singh Jagi, president of the club.

NAWANSHAHR
BLOOD DONATION CAMP: The local World Vision Club, in collaboration with the Blood Donors Council, organised a blood donation camp at the BDC complex here to mark the World Health Day on Saturday. Mr M.S. Batth, chairman, Doaba Polytechnic, Raipur, inaugurated the camp in which 35 units of blood were collected.

PRIZE DISTRIBUTION: Prize distribution function of the sports meet organised by the Dashmesh Youth Service and Sports Club was held at Mojewal village, about 25 km from here, on Saturday. Mr Sarwan Singh, state Welfare Minister, presided over the function.

SEMINAR WEEK: Amardeep Singh Shergill Memorial College, Mukandpur, under its “intellectual exercise drive,” observed a “seminar week”, during which 35 seminars on various topics were organised in different departments of the college. This was stated by Dr Surjit Singh Bhatti, Principal, here on Saturday.

SANCTIONED: The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Jagjit Singh, on Saturday said a sum of Rs 9 crore had been sanctioned by the state government for repair and construction work of rural link roads in the district. The work would be completed by June 30, he added.

PATIALA
FELLOWSHIP CONFERRED: Prof Surinder Singh Khaira has been given the senior fellowship award by the Punjabi University Syndicate for his contribution towards the development of Punjabi literature.

OFFICE-BEARERS: Mr Dharam Vir Sharma has been elected as the president-in-chief of the Punjab Brahmin Sabha for a term of three years during a meeting held here on Monday. The other members elected are: president — Mr Shanti Saroop Sharma; general secretaries — Mr T.N. Sharma and Mr Satinder Kumar; president (Mahila wing) — Ms Amita Bhattal and secretary (Mahila Wing) — Ms Asha Sharma.

IAS COACHING: The IAS and Allied Services Training Centre at the Punjabi University will start 15-day coaching for personality development-cum-interview preparation course for IAS candidates who have qualified for the interview. The course will commence from April 16.

SOLIDARITY DAY: The coordination committee of the All Central Government Employees Association has decided to observe Solidarity Day on April 16 against the economic policies of the Central Government in the wake of the WTO issue. In a press release, the committee members said that such policies were against the comman man, particularly employees of the government.

PHAGWARA
CAR STOLEN: A car, bearing registration number PB-36-A-7921, belonging to Mr Daljit Singh, was stolen from outside a hotel in Jalandhar on Saturday. A case has been registered in this regard.

PHILLAUR
SEMINAR HELD: A seminar on Sufi studies was organised by the Punjab Police Academy at its auditorium here on Saturday. Mr N.K. Arora, Chief Secretary, Punjab, addressed the gathering on this occasion.

EYE CAMP: Nearly 600 patients were examined and about 40 operated upon during a four-day free eye check up-cum-operation camp which concluded here on Monday. The camp was organised by the Madan Mohan Lal sondhi Charitable Trust in collaboration with the Singapore Airlines. Medicines were also provided to patients free of cost.

ROPAR
APPOINTED: Er V.K. Mohindru has taken over as Chief Engineer (O&M), Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Plant, Ropar. Previously, he was Deputy Chief Engineer at Ranjit Sagar Dam project, Sahahpur Kandi.

HARYANA

AMBALA
KILLED: A student of MA was killed when a bus ran over him in Ambala Cantt on Monday morning. Naresh, a resident of Durana, was coming from Karnal and as he alighted from the rear door of the bus, he was run over by the bus. Naresh was taken to the civil hospital from where he was referred to the PGI, Chandigarh. He died on the way.

INJURED: A man shot himself in his hand at the Ambala Central Jail on Monday morning. The incident took place as a police official handed over a loaded revolver to Hav Rajinder Singh for safe-keeping before entering the jail premises. Hav Rajinder Singh did not realise that the revolver was loaded and when he was reportedly toying with the revolver barrel pointed towards his fingers, the gun went off. Hav Rajinder Singh was injured and the gun shot hit the floor. He has been admitted to the local hospital.

NARNAUL
INAUGURATED: Late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had dreamt of entering the 21st century by introducing supercomputers in India. This was stated by Mr Mahender Singh Yadav , a minister, while inaugurating the 351st branch of the Rashtriya Computer Saksharta Mission here on Saturday.

CRUSHED: Patasi (60), wife of Madu Ram, died while getting down from a bus on the Nizampur road here on Saturday. She was crushed under the Haryana Roadways bus in which she had been travelling. The body was handed over to her family after a post-mortem examination.

PANIPAT
FLOOD PROTECTION: The Water Services Division here has proposed to spend Rs 1.58 crore on flood protection measures in the district. Out of this, Rs 1.50 crore will be spend on flood protection measures on the Yamuna river and the remaining Rs 8 lakh for silt and internal clearance of drains in the district. The information was given by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr M.R. Anand.

SHAHABAD
ELECTED: Mr Swaranjit Singh Kalra has been elected the president of the local Food Grain Dealers Association.

CELEBRATED: The 22nd foundation day of the BJP was celebrated here on Friday. The local BJP MLA, Vaid Kapoor Chand Sharma, unfurled the party flag on this occasion.

SONEPAT
WOMAN ROBBED: Mrs Prem Wati was robbed of gold earrings and a necklace by two women in Sector 14, a residential colony of HUDA, here on Sunday. According to a report, she met two women in the colony who talked to her for sometime. While talking, she fell unconscious. On gaining consciousness, she found her gold earrings and the necklace missing.

FREE TEXTBOOKS: The Sarv Jatiya Vikas Manch, Haryana, has decided to organise a function on Sunday to distribute free textbooks and stationery among the poor and destitute students in various educational institutions in the city. Mr Surinder Kumar Sharma, president of the manch, told mediapersons here on Monday that the manch would also provide tuition fee to a number of students.

CHOWKIDAR KILLED: Six armed robbers allegedly struck a closed factory on the G.T. Road, near Kundli village, about 25 km from here, on Sunday killing a chowkidar and injuring one person. According to a report, the robbers entered the factory by scaling its walls and started firing on the inmates sleeping there. When the inmates raised the alarm, all of them escaped. The deceased has been identified as Swami Sharan of Ferozepore. The police has registered a case under Sections 302 and 307 of the IPC.

MURDERED: Satbir, a youth of Kheri Damkan village, was allegedly gunned down by another youth Satey of the same village in the Devipura area of Gohana town, 35 km from here, on Sunday. According to a report, the assailant managed to escape immediately after the incident. A case has been registered. A dispute over money is stated to be the cause of the murder.

DEATHS MOURNED: Mr Bhajan Lal, a former Chief Minister, visited the residences of veteran freedom fighter Ram Dhan Sharma and veteran Congress leader, Shivnath Rai Chopra and expressed sympathy with members of the bereaved families over their deaths.