The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Tuesday, July 31, 2001,
Chandigarh, India

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50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

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R E G I O N A L B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
COUNSELLING: The counselling for MBBS and BDS aspirants in the Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Medical and Dental Sciences will be held on August 6 at 10 a.m. at the Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of medical Sciences and Research, Mehta Road, Vallah.

TUBEWELL INAUGURATED: The Mayor, Mr Brij Mohan Kapoor, on Saturday inaugurated a tubewell at the Haripura locality here. Residents of the area had complained of getting the contamination water and water shortage.

LOK ADALAT: A Lok Adalat held on Saturday settled claims worth Rs 31.66 lakh pertaining to pre-litigation bank loan disputes the local branch of State Bank of Patiala. The Assistant District Attorney, Legal Services, said in a press note here on Saturday that the Lok Adalat took up 173 bank loan cases of which 99 were settled through compromise.

BATHINDA
DISTRIBUTED: The Shaheed Bhagat Singh Sports Club of Kutiwal Khurd village of the district distributed stationery material among poor and needy students of Government Middle School of the same village on Monday. In a press note issued here, Mr Paramjeet Singh, president of the club, said the club also provided sports goods to 66 players of the village taking part in different games.

MEDICAL CHECK-UP CAMP: Desh Bhagat Dental College and Hospital, Muktsar, will hold a medical check-up camp at Udekaran village in collaboration with the Youth Club and Village Panchayat on Wednesday. In a press note issued here on Monday, Mr Anshu Kataria, administrator of the college, said Mr Rakesh Agarwaal, ASP, Muktsar would be the Chief Guest and Mr Zora Singh, chairman, Desh Bhagat Group of Institutes, would preside over the camp.

EYE CHECK-UP CAMP: The Divine Eye Research Foundation (DERF) will organise a free eye check-up camp at Dhobiana Basti on Tuesday. In a press note issued here on Monday, Mr Rakesh Narula, president DERF, said the camp was being organised in cooperation with the city branch of the State Bank of Patiala. Mr Narula said the camp was dedicated to the memory of Shaheed Udham Singh. The patients would be given medicines free of cost, he added.

STITCHING CENTRE: A stitching centre for girls of Hajoora Kapura colony was opened on Monday by Sarv Dharam Manav Seva, an NGO of the city. Dr P.K. Bansal, general secretary of the organisation, said in a press note issued here that Mr Makhan Singh, MLA, inaugurated the centre.

FARIDKOT
EX-MINISTER OPERATED UPON: Former Deputy Law and Jail Minister and senior Congress leader Upinder Sharma was operated upon for obstructed hernia at local Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital on Saturday. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and awarded seven years imprisonment on July 27 for allegedly killing Raj Kumar Garg, a senior BJP leader, and injuring six other BJP workers on July 7, 1992, at Kotkapura.

GARHSHANKAR
CHEQUES DISTRIBUTED: Dr Jang Bahadur Singh, executive member, SGPC, and Mr Surinder Singh Thekedar, general secretary, SAD, have distributed cheques worth Rs 25 lakh to sarpanches of 48 villages of the Garhshankar block for development projects at a function here.

DEVELOPMENTAL WORKS: Mr Surinder Singh Thekedar, general secretary, SAD, and Dr Jang Bahadur Singh, member, executive committee of the SGPC, distributed cheques worth Rs 25 lakh to panches and sarpanches of 42 villages for various developmental works at a function at Kalewal Bhagtan village of the Mahilpur block.

ROTARY CLUB: Installation ceremony of the Rotary Club, Garhshankar, has been performed at the local Yokohama Restaurant. Mr Raj Kumar Rana has been installed as the president and Mr Ved Parkash Kirpal as the secretary of the club. On this occasion, tricycles have been distributed to the handicapped and notebooks to the needy students.

MEDICAL CAMP: A medical camp has been organised by the Rotary Club, Garhshankar, at the Municipal Council complex. As many as 1,000 patients have been examined by a team of expert doctors. Free medicines have been distributed to patients.

HOSHIARPUR
RAPED: Jura Singh of Boare Jattan along with his two accomplices allegedly abducted and raped a 14-year-old girl while she was going to her school at Sikri village on Friday. A case has been registered under Sections 360, 366, 376, 506 and 34, IPC.

KAPURTHALA
DIABETES CAMP: More than 300 patients were examined at the diabetes detection camp jointly organised by the local Rotary Club and the Indian Medical Association, Kapurthala branch, at the Shiv Mandir, according to Dr Sarabjit Singh, president of the club. Dr Parminder Singh of the DMC, Ludhiana, presided over the camp.

KHARAR
ELECTED: Mr Bhupinder Singh of Bhagomajra village and Mr Harvinder Singh of Mauli Baidwan village were elected panches, respectively, in an election held on Sunday. Mr Bhupinder Singh polled 347 votes while Mr Harvinder Singh polled 530 voters.

DEMANDED: Jathedar Ajit Singh, sr vice-president of the local unit of SAD, has urged the Punjab government to get the Badala Road repaired. He said here on Monday that there were too many potholes on the road and was in a very bad shape.

LUDHIANA
APPOINTED: The following have been appointed office-bearers of the city unit of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad: president — Sandeep Kapoor; vice-presidents — Sanjeev Chouhan, Ashwani Bhalla and Sumedha; secretary — Mohit Goyal; joint secretaries — Gurpreet Singh and Rajat Sood; cashier — Lakhbir Singh; office secretary — Rohit Sharma; and members — Revti Raman Sharma and Richa Goyal. The presidents and Secretaries of school and college campuses will be the members of the unit.

ROTARY FUNCTION: The ‘Interact Club’ of New Senior Secondary School, Sarabha Nagar, has received the first prize in the state for performing various social activities in the year 2000-01. The prize was presented at a function organised by the Rotary Club here on Sunday. Giving this information, Mr H.C. Gupta, principal of the school said members of the club had worked on various projects, including sapling tree plantation, traffic safety, blood donation, hepatitis-B camps and career counselling. Mr Sanjeev Sethi, president, Rotary Club, encouraged the students to continue with their projects and promised all kind of co-operation to them.

DHARNA: Agitated over the hike in fee introduced by the state government, students of second year diploma course at Guru Nanak Dev Polytechnic, Gill Road, staged a dharna outside the institute on Monday. The students blocked the traffic and threatened that a rally would be organised at the state-level in association with students of other polytechnics if their demand was not met with.

PENSIONERS' ASSOCIATION: The Punjab Government pensioners have sought an early release of the notification for old age allowance at the age of 65 and 75 years. The meeting of the Government Pensioners’ Association was held here on Sunday and was chaired by Mr R.N. Sehgal. The association urged the Finance Minister to direct the department concerned to issue the notification in this regard at the earliest.

MEAT SHOPS: Ludhiana chapter of Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) has urged the district administration to order the closure of all meat shops selling meat in the open. In a press release issued on Monday. Mr Suresh Gupta, president, SPCA, Ludhiana, said most of these shops situated under the Dholewal bridge, behind the cremation grounds at Gaughat, near Chand cinema, on the banks of the Budha Nullah were selling meat under unhygienic conditions. This was a serious health hazard and should be checked at the earliest, he said.

MANDI GOBINDGARH
ANNUAL FUNCTION: Mr Lajpat Rai, MP, who was the chief guest at the annual function of Prabhat Puri Charitable Hospital, here on Sunday, announced a grant of Rs 3 lakh for the purchase of 63 KV generator set for the hospital as the existing generator set of 15 KV was not sufficient for the hospital requirement. He lauded the charity being extended by the hospital to poor patients. The chief patron of the trust, Mahant Parbhat Puri, said the aim of the hospital was to provide medical services to the middle and poor class people as they were not able to afford costly treatment being provided in this area.

MANSA
LOK ADALAT: On the directions of the District and Sessions Judge, Mansa and Bathinda, Mr B.C. Rajpoot, the Additional Civil Judge (Senior Division), Ms Baljinder Kaur Bhatia, held a special Lok Adalat on Saturday for pre-litigative cases of the State Bank of Patiala in which 112 cases were presented. Out of these, 43 cases for the recovery of Rs 19,20,150 were settled. The next Lok Adalat will be held on August 11.

NAWANSHAHR
CRITICISED: Mr Bhupinder Pal Singh, general secretary of the district unit of the unemployed teachers’ Union, Punjab, said in a press note here on Saturday that leaders belonging to all political parties were politicising the recruitment policy of ETT teachers just for taking political mileage.

SALARY NOT PAID: Teachers working in government middle schools are sore as they have not been paid salary for the past two months. The government has reportedly not released funds in this connection.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the District Ex-Services League: president — Comdt G.S. Sahota; vice-president — Capt Ram Dass; general secretary — Sub Major Sansar Singh Dhak; and secretary — Sub Major Pritam Singh Jhikka.

ELECTED: Dr J.D. Verma and Mr Satish Kumar Jain have been elected president and secretary, respectively, of the local Gulshan Bazar Shopkeepers Association.

PATHANKOT
IN-LAWS BOOKED: On a complaint lodged by Manju Bala, a local resident, her husband, Anil Kumar, father-in-law, Om Parkash, mother-in-law, Vidya Devi, and sisters-in-law Mamta and Amita, all residents of Panchkula, Haryana, were booked on Sunday in a case under Sections 406 and 498 of the IPC for allegedly demanding dowry and harassing her. According to the complainant, the accused had been compelling her to bring Rs 1,50,000 as her husband wanted to go abroad.

PHAGWARA
DIED: A young Bihari labourer died of snake bite at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar here on Saturday. he has bitten by a snake while he was sleeping on the floor of his home.

SAHNEWAL
POPPY HUSK SEIZED: The Sahnewal police seized seven quintals of poppy husk at a barrier on Majara-Umaidpur road, on Friday. According to the ASP, Mr Shiv Kumar, Darshan Singh, a resident of Salem Tabri; Anwar, a resident of Jahanabad in Pilibheet district; and Ranjit Singh, a resident of Vijaypur in UP; hired a tempo (No HR-51-GA-0699) from the Rudarpur Uttranchal Transport on July 23. After loading 20 sacks of poppy husk mixed with animal feed, they brought it to Doraha on July 24 and parked it near Gurdwara Manji Sahib. On July 27, when they were moving on the Majara-Umaidpur road, a police party stopped the vehicle for inspection and recovered the poppy husk. The accused were arrested and a case under Sections 15, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act was registered.

SAS NAGAR
FOUR-DAY FUNCTION: The local circle of the International Institution of Brahma Kumaris is organising a four-day function to celebrate Rakshabandhan. A spokesman of the Brahma Kumaris said the celebrations would begin on Tuesday. Brahma Kumaris sisters would tie rakhis to jawans of the Punjab Police at the Sukh Shanti Bhavan in Phase 7 here. At the concluding function on Saturday here, the Punjab Printing and Stationery Minister, Ms Satwant Kaur Sandhu would be the chief guest.

HOSPITAL IN CHARGE: Dr Sat Pal Singla has taken over as SMO in charge of the local Civil Hospital. He was earlier Deputy Director, Punjab Health Systems Corporation. Meanwhile, his predecessor, Dr Rana Harinder Brar, has been appointed Deputy Director, ESI, in Chandigarh.

CHANDIGARH

CHANDIGARH
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Malayalee Association: president — Ms Devi Menon; vice-president — Mr Varghese T TS; secretary — Mr Binoy Thomas; joint secretary — Mr Suresh K N; and treasurer — Mr Vijaya Kumar.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Rail Vihar Welfare Association: president — Mr V.P. Khurana; vice-president — Mr J.K. Saini; secretary — Mr Paramjit Saini; joint secretary — Mr Ashwani Kumar; treasurer — Mr Jasvinder Sharma and joint treasurer — Mr A.K. Kaushal.

FAST: An indefinite fast, launched by auto mechanics in the city, entered its 34th day on Monday. A press note issued by the Auto Mechanics Federation stated that those who had been on the fast were Mr Harbans Singh Chawla and Mr Tikka Ram. It was alleged that the police had forcibly lifted both the strikers. However, they refused to eat or drink even after they were admitted to a hospital. It stated that the Chandigarh administration was to hold talks with leaders of the mechanics. However, none of them was invited for discussions. The president of the federation, Mr Mohinder Singh Chaudhary, announced that they would hold a general body meeting on Thursday. They would also take out a procession in support of their demands.

HOMAGE: The Bharatiya Valmiki Sabha held a function to pay its homage to Kargil martyrs on Monday. A press note issued by the sabha stated that Mr Karnail Singh Sahota was the chief guest at the function. He regretted that the Union Government had not honoured soldiers belonging to the Sikh LI Regiment. He said the soldiers of the regiment were known for courage and valour. He assured the audience that all the demands would be taken up with the administration for consideration. It stated that Mr S.P. cheema and Mr Jagdish Miter Gill, president and general secretary of the sabha, respectively, spoke at the function.

DELEGATION: A delegation of the Class IV Government Employees Union met the Principal of Punjab Engineering College in support of their demands. The demands included confirmation after completing three years of service, promotions comprising to 10 per cent reservation, room facility for employees, eight hours duty for gardners, employment for the wards of deceased employees and payment of all pensionary benefits to the retired employees. A press note issued by the union claimed that the Principal of the college assured them that all the demands would be sympathetically considered.

ORIENTATION PROGRAMME: The Sohan Lal DAV College of Ambala organised a two-day orientation programme for the newly admitted students to the B.Ed course. A press note issued by the college stated that the Principal, Dr D.P. Asija, dwelt on the DAV movement launched by Mahatma Hans Raj in 1886 at Lahore. He also highlighted the sacrifices and efforts made by the R.B. Sohan Lal in establishing the college at Lahore.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the co-ordination committee of the Central Government Pensioners Associations: — Chairman—Mr C.L. Punj; vice chairmen — Mr B.K. Bhandari. Mr M.S. Toor and Mr M.L. Panghotra — secretary general — Mr B.S. Dard; secretary finance — Mr N.S. Sahni; secretary Mr P.K. Bansal; organising secretary — Mr Pyara Singh; joint secretary; Mr R.S. Sood.

HARYANA

AMBALA
POLICE-PUBLIC MEETING: A police-public meeting would be organised at the police lines here on Tuesday to maintain cordial relationship between the two. The SP, Mr Sandeep Khirwar, said the police had an important role in maintaining law and order, communal harmony and peace. He said cooperation of the public was essential to execute it. He said majority of the people were not aware of legal aspects hence they avoided to cooperating the police. Mr Khirwar said apart from the district officers, representatives of social organisations, educationists, members of municipal councils, sarpanches, officer-bearers of the Bar Association and the Indian Medical Association, had been invited to the meeting.

SHIFTING OF DAIRIES: Around Rs 7.55 crore would be spent on shifting of dairies outside the city premises both in Ambala City and Ambala Cantonment. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr D.D. Gautam, said here on Monday that for the dairy owners of the city the land had been acquired in Khatoli and Kabla villages, while for the Ambala Cantonment, the site had been finalised at Khudda Kalan village for the purpose. He said basic facilities, including veterinary hospital, would be provided to the dairy owners at the new sites. The shifting process would be completed within a year, he added.

FARIDABAD
3 DIE IN ACCIDENT: Three persons, including two women, were killed and two seriously injured when two scooters on which they were travelling were hit by a tempo near Pakhel village on the Faridabad-Sohana road on Sunday.

TAX HIKE RESENTED: The Faridabad Beopar Mandal at its meeting held here on Sunday demanded immediate withdrawal of increase in water tax and fire tax. Describing these taxes as anti-people, the president of the Beopar Mandal, Mr O.P. Pandey, said they had also given a memorandum to the Commissioner, MC, in this regard.

JHAJJAR
MOLESTATION BID: A 60-year-old ex-serviceman allegedly tried to molest a 10-year-old girl in Gochchi village of the district on Sunday. Sources said the girl, a student of Class VI, had gone to answer the nature’s call around 11 am at a secluded place when the accused Man Singh attempted to rape her. The police has registered a case on the complaint of the parents of the girl and arrested the accused.

KAITHAL
SAPLINGS PLANTED: Plant neem and peepal trees to save environment. This was stated by Mr Phateh Singh Dagar, Deputy Commissioner, while addressing district officials, farmers and sugar mill employees after planting a neem sapling on a road near the Cooperative Sugar Mill on Friday. Mr J.P.S. Dahiya, Managing Director of the mill, Mr Ashok Bishnoi, SDM, and Mr Amir Singh Sabharwal, DSP, also planted saplings.

STONE LAID: Mr Ajay Chautala, MP, laid the foundation stone of a lawyers’ chambers on the premises of the under-construction judicial complex here on Saturday. Mr Ram Pal Mazra, Chief Parliamentary Secretary, spoke on the occasion.

KARNAL
ELECTED: Er Satish Bhalla (retd Chief Engineer HSEB) and Dr Surjit Angra (Assistant Prof in Mech Engineering, REC, Kurukshetra), were elected chairman and honorary secretary, respectively, of the Institute of Engineers (I), Haryana State Centre for the session 2001 to 2003.

SHAHABAD
NEW SUBSTATION: The Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN) has decided to set up a 132 kv power substation at Ajrana Kalan village. The Executive Engineer, HVPN, Shahabad, Mr S.S. Panwar, said here on Saturday that a sum of Rs 10 crore would be spent on raising the capacity of this substation from 33 kv to 132kv. It is likely to be completed during the current financial year, he said, adding that 11 cases of power theft were detected in Babain subdivision and a fine of Rs 1,42,000 was realised.

RESTORE SECURITY: The president of the District Congress Committee, Kurukshetra and member of the All-India Congress Committee, Mr Pawan Garg, has demanded that Z-level security for the former Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bhajan Lal, as there was a threat to his life.

NATURE CURE CENTRE: A nature cure centre was set up to mark the Ved Saptah celebrations in the Arya Samaj Mandir (Gurukul section) here on Sunday. A yajna was performed. Prof Rajindra Vidyalankar and others spoke on the Vedas. Sewing machines were distributed among the trainee girls of the centre.