The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Wednesday, September 19, 2001, Chandigarh, India

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PUNJAB

AMLOH
AWARENESS CAMP: An awareness camp was held here on Tuesday by the Income Tax Department. Mr Gurbachan Singh Income Tax Officer (ITO), spoke about the provisions of the Income Tax Act. He said, ‘‘A joint family living in a house having covered area of 2,000 sq feet will have to file the returns. A person who is owner or having taken on lease any four-wheeler vehicle will also be covered under this scheme. A telephone or cellphone subscriber, a credit-card holder, a club member with Rs 2,5000 fee and a person himself gone or sent abroad any person will have to file the returns up to October 31, failing which the penalty of Rs 5000 with imprisonment of one year could be imposed.’’ Fifty persons filed the forms on Tuesday.

AMRITSAR
INAUGURATED: Mr Balramji Das Tandon, Development and Employment Minister, inaugurated pre-mix work on the 100-foot New Amritsar road here on Monday. The Mayor, Mr Brij Mohan Kapur, was also present on the occasion.

SUKHMANI SAHIB “PATH”: A “path” of Sukhmani Sahib was held in D.R. Modern Senior Secondary School here on Monday for the sake of peace in the world in the wake of growing global terrorism.

PRIZE DISTRIBUTION: The Punjab Government will spend Rs 207.86 crore for the improvement of the educational system and Rs 40 crore for empowering educational institutions. This was stated by Mr Balramji Das Tandon here on Monday while presiding over the annual prize distribution function in Guru Teg Bahadur College. He presented awards to 74 toppers in various examinations.

INVITED: Dr Ravi Saini of the Department of Skin, Government Medical College, has been invited to attend the sixth international congress on AIDS in Asia and Pacific to be held in Melbourne from October 5 to 10. Dr Saini will speak on the “Why don’t people donate blood?”

FATEHGARH SAHIB
2-MINUTE SILENCE: To mourn the deaths of a large number of people in worst-ever terrorist attack on America, a two-minute silence was observed in District Administrative Complex, and in all Government Offices here on Wednesday. The officers and staff in all offices, including Mr Vikas Partap, Deputy Commissioner and Mr Harnek Singh Saran, SSP, observed a two-minute silence at 10.30 a.m.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the district unit of Punjab Government Drivers Technical Union: president — Mr Kulwant Singh; Sr vice-president — Mr Shamsher Singh; vice-president — Mr Dharamjit Singh; chairman — Mr Dilbag Singh; advisor — Mr Raghubir Singh; general secretary — Mr Gurnam Singh; secretary — Mr Balbir Singh; and cashier — Mr Gopal Singh.

NOMINATED: Mr Kirpal Singh Sethi has been nominated as general secretary of the District Akali Jatha of SAD (B). Earlier, he was the press secretary of the district unit.

HOSHIARPUR
DEATH ANNIVERSARY: The 15th death anniversary of Darshan Singh Canadian, who was a CPI MLA from Garhshankar, will be observed at his native village Langeri, near Mahilpur, next Tuesday. This was stated on Monday by Dr Joginder Dayal, state secretary, CPI.

CONSTABLE BOOKED: Gurmail Singh, a PAP constable, has been booked by the Tanda police on the charge of cheating unemployed youths. According to the FIR lodged by Kulwinder Singh of Khun Khun Kalan village Gurmail Singh of 7th PAP Battalion promised unemployed youths of villages of Dasuya subdivision that he would get them appointed as PAP constables. He demanded Rs 60,000 each as advance from the youths. However, when they did not get the appointment letters, the youths reported the matter to the police. A case under Sections 420, 465, 467 and 506 of the IPC has been registered against Gurmail Singh, who is absconding.

LUDHIANA
INTER-SCHOOL CONTESTS: The Asian Club, would organise inter-school declamation, debate, poetry and painting contests on various aspects of the terrorist attack in the USA on Tuesday. Stating this in a press note, Mr Ravinandan Sharma, president, said a meeting of the members was held on Wednesday at Rajindra Model Senior Secondary School, Haibowal, where it was decided to hold the contests at Rajdeep Mahila Mahavidyalya on October 13. The topics for the contests are: ‘Apprehensions of the third world war’, ‘Need of global peace’ and ‘Increasing terrorism’.

TRAINING PROGRAMME: The Reliance General Insurance Company Limited has set its network in motion in Ludhiana by starting the training of its first insurance training batch here today. With the entry of the company in this sector, the dream of entering private companies into the insurance field has become a reality. This training is mandatory as per the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA). Win Top Institute has been entrusted to train the insurance executives. Wing Commander J. S. Bhalla, director, Win Top, in-charge of the training programme, said, ‘‘The short-term capsule course for executives shall benefit the industry in general and insurance company in particular.’’

SEMINAR: The Directorate of Animal Husbandry and Punjab Vetrinary Officers Association in collaboration with the Pestwill India will organise a seminar on diseases of equines and canines. The seminar will be organised at Majestic Park Plaza on Wednesday. According to Dr Harbans Singh Dhalla, organising secretary, the seminar is being organised to make the experts working in the polyclinics of the state acquainted with advance studies being conducted at Punjab Agriculture University and other research institutes the world over with special reference to diseases of equines and canines. Dr Dhalla said the focus of the seminar would be on the rinderpest disease, foot and mouth disease, haemorrhagic septicemia, rabies, brucellosis, tuberculosis and johne’s disease. For the menace of stray dogs, the state government had devised a three pronged strategy and this would be discussed in the seminar, he said.

MANDI GOBINDGARH
MEETING: The Punjab Adhyapak Dal held a meeting here on Sunday which was chaired by Mr Darshan Singh Gill, president, PAD, Fatehgarh Sahib district. The teachers expressed their happiness over conferment of the national award on Ms Baswinder Kaur, Principal, Government Senior Secondary School, Khamano Kalan, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi, on September 5.

MANSA
HELD FOR GRAFT: Mr Gurmail Singh Neor, DSP, Vigilance Bureau, Mansa, caught Dr Pushpinder Singla, Medical Officer, Government Rural Hospital, Bhikhi, while he was accepting Rs 3,000 as bribe from Parvinder Kumar Sharma, on Monday. Parvinder, an unregistered medical practitioner working at Bhikhi, approached Dr Singla to get a “first aid certificate”. When the latter demanded Rs 3,000, Parvinder informed the DSP, who laid a trap and nabbed the doctor. The police has registered a case under Sections 7 and 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

FARMER CHEATED: Two persons allegedly defrauded a farmer of Rs 35,000 after promising to provide him cement and iron at a cheaper rate. According to information available here on Tuesday, they made the promise to Mithu Singh, a farmer of Sherkhan Wala village of the district. He took his tractor-trailer to the premises of M/s Punjab Cement Store, Tohana road, Boha, where the two persons were present. When iron was being loaded onto the vehicle, they collected Rs 35,000 from the farmer and fled. When the shopkeeper demanded money, the farmer realised that he had been cheated.

MAN NABBED: Shiv Parshad (48), a resident of Patna in Bihar, was apprehended while he was taking a two-year-old girl abducted by him from Ludhiana in a train going from Bathinda to Jakhal. Mr Major Singh, an additional station clerk of the Bareta police station in Mansa district, handed over Shiv Parshad and the child to the government railway police at Bareta railway station. Shiv confessed that he and his accomplice had abducted the child, daughter of Vinay Kumar Srivasatava, resident of Textile Colony, Ludhiana. The child is now in the custody of Mr Sharat Chand Sinha, Station Master, Bareta railway station.

MEETING CONVENED: A police-public meeting was convened on Monday by Mr Dilbag Singh Gill, SSP, in the Mansa city police station. The meeting was attended, among others, by Dr Lakhwinder Singh, district president, Youth Akali Dal, Mr Vijay Singla, a former president of the District Bar Association, and Mr S.D. Gupta, a former president of the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Sangrur.

NABHA
DEMONSTRATION: The DIET Students Union held a demonstration here to oppose the move of the Punjab Government to recruit teachers on a contract basis. The students presented a memorandum to the SDM, who promised to send it to the authorities concerned. The students threatened to launch a statewide agitation if their demands were not accepted.

WOMAN DIES: Kamlesh Rani of Thuhi village, near here, has succumbed to the burn injuries she received at her in-laws’ house at Neelon village in Ludhiana on September 8. Her elder brother complained to the SSP, Khanna, that she was married to Brahm Dev of Neelon Khurd, under Samrala tehsil, in 1999. He alleged that her in-laws killed her as they were seeking more dowry. Her in-laws are absconding. Villagers alleged that the police had registered an accident case and not a dowry death case.

PATHANKOT
COOLIES’ RALLY: Activists of the Akhil Bhartiya Railway Coolies Organisation, under the leadership of its national president Mangat Ram Saini, organised a rally and held a demonstration here on Tuesday in support of their demands, which include medical facilities and retiring rooms for coolies. Later, the activists submitted a memorandum of their demands to the station superintendent, Mr R.P. Bhagat, and the SDM Ms Bhawna Garg.

TWO WOMEN HELD: The Sadar police has arrested Babi and Veena, residents of Awankha, Dinanagar, and seized 4.5 litres and 7.5 litres of illicit liquor, respectively, from their possession. Cases under Section 61 of the Excise Act have been registered against the two women.

PATIALA
ANATOMICAL SOCIETY: The North zone chapter of the Anatomical Society of India will meet here during a workshop on electronic medium and anatomy being organised by the Department of Anatomy, Government Medical College, on September 30 and October1. The workshop will impart hands on training to teachers and students of anatomy on the utility and usage of the latest technologies in the field. A continuing medical education programme will also be conducted in which medical teachers and postgraduate students from medical and dental colleges of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Jammu and Kashmir and Chandigarh are expected. The event will be sponsored by the Medical Council of India.

WATER SCHEMES: About 1,750 water supply schemes, worth Rs 192.37 crore, have been started to provide potable water to rural population. This was stated by Public Health Minister Raja Narinder Singh while laying the foundation stone of a water supply scheme at Nohra village in Nabha sub-division, here on Tuesday. He also inaugurated a free medical check-up and eye operation camp organised by the Dashmesh Sports Club. Speaking on the occasion, he said new and better quality tubewells would now be installed at different villages to provide pure water.

PHAGWARA
FAIR ORGANISED: A “mela” was organised here on Monday on the occasion of Somavati Amavasya at the local Gurdwara Sukhchain Sahib. Thousands of devotees attended the fair.

SAMRALA
PENSIONERS TO PROTEST: The Punjab State Pensioners’ Maha Sangh has decided to hold rallies and dharnas in front of the state Treasury Department on September 27 to put pressure on the government to fulfil the promises made by Mr Kamaljit Singh, Finance Minister. In a pensioners’ rally at Fatehgarh Sahib about four months ago, he had promised that on attaining the age of 65 years and 75 years, the pensioners would get an increase in the basic pension at the rate of five per cent and 10 per cent, respectively. The sangh executive also passed a resolution for joint action along with the Punjab Government Pensioners’ Association (Gabha group) in future to pressurise the government for fulfillment of their common demands. A proposal to this effect had come from the Association.

CHANDIGARH

CRITICISED: The executive committee of the Sant Anant Mission on Tuesday criticised the reported desecration of a holy book at Ratnagarh village, near Morinda. At a meeting held here on Tuesday Mr R.P.S. Sarna, president of the mission, called upon the administration to punish the culprits. He appealed to the people to maintain communal harmony. In a press note, Mr R.S. Chandel, press secretary of the mission, said the incident had hurt the sentiments of the Sikh community.

WORKSHOP ENDS: The 15-day-long workshop organised by the IAAN creations at Government College for Girls, Sector 42, ended on Monday with students who had participated in the workshop receiving certificates from the chief guest. The workshop aimed at exposing students to the practical nuances of the English language and the skill of mass communications. The participants were explained different aspects of the print and electronic media. The students were also taken to the AIR station where audio-video demo tapes of all students were recorded.

RALLY: The Chandigarh Municipal Corporation Public Health Workers Union organised a rally at Sector 12 in front of the sub-divisional engineer’s office on Monday to mobilise the workers to participate in the proposed day-long dharna on October 4, near Sector 16, Matka chowk. Addressing the rally, co-convener of the coordination committee, Mr Rakesh Kumar and general secretary of the union, Mr Rajinder Katoch, condemned the Chandigarh Administration, as well as the MC, for not accepting the long pending demands of the workers.

SPECIAL DRIVE: The city traffic police in association with police personnel drawn from various police stations in the city on Tuesday launched a special two-hour drive in the city. As many as 241 persons were challaned in different parts of the city during the drive. The police reportedly impounded several vehicles for violating traffic rules and regulations. The police had laid barriers at 24 points across the city. All Sub-Divisional Police Officers and Station House Officers were involved in the drive.

YUVA KENDRA: The District Advisory Committee on Youth Programme, Nehru Yuva Kendra, on Tuesday held a meeting chaired by Mr Gyanesh Bharti, SDM of Chandigarh. A press note issued by the Chandigarh Administration said Mr Gurmel Singh Bajwa, District Youth Coordinator and Secretary of the District Youth Welfare Society, presented a report which said 23 youth clubs were working in the city under the auspices of the Kendra. The meeting also discussed the programmes and activities of the Kendra for the year 2001-2002.

WATER SOFTNER: Mr Karam Chand, Headmaster of the Sector 38-B Government High School, on Tuesday said the science model on water softner presented during the State Science Exhibition held in December last year by the Chandigarh Education Department had been selected by the NCERT for display at the 28th Jawaharlal Nehru National Science Exhibition for Children 2001, to be held at Allahabad in UP.

PANCHKULA
TALENT SEARCH: A large number of students participated in a talent search contest held at Government College, Sector 1, here on Tuesday. The competition included poetry recitation, dance, mono-acting, mimicry and singing. Speaking at the function, the college Principal, Mr Bhim Singh Dahiya, said such contests provided an opportunity to the students to exhibit their talent and develop their personality.

HARYANA

BHIWANI
EX-SERVICEMEN SANGH: The Ex-Servicemen Sangh, Haryana, has announced to continue its public contact programme until the demands of ex-servicemen and their families are not fulfilled. Addressing a plenary meeting of ex-servicemen at Sidhan village in Tosham, the state vice-president, of the sangh Col Brahmanand said their genuine demands were still pending due to the lackadaisical attitude of the government. They faced difficulties while settling cases in zila sainik boards and pension offices, he added.

SAPLING PLANTATION: The Yuva Agarwal Manch, Bhiwani, organised a sapling plantation programme at the local Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram. The chief guest of the function was the SDM, Bhiwani. Social activist Shiv Rattan Gupta presided over the function.

POSTPONEMENT SOUGHT: The Congress has sought the postponement of recovery of loans, besides granting compensation of Rs 10,000 per acre, in the wake of ruining of cotton crop in the state. Adopting a resolution, the party demanded that the state government procure bajra through official agencies at government rates. The demands were made at a meeting held here at Tilak Bhavan. The meeting was presided over by senior leader Balbir Sharma and attended by the district unit president, Dr Vasu Dev Sharma, and Mr Dharmbir Singh, MLA.

SONEPAT
INAUGURATED: Mr S.K. Sardana, District and Sessions Judge, inaugurated the court of the Additional Civil Judge (Senior division) on the court premises at Ganaur, 16 km from here, on Monday. Mr Sudhir Jiwan took over as the Additional Civil Judge (Senior division).

BURN INJURIES: Saroj Devi, a housewife, sustained serious burn injuries when three members of her in-laws’ family, including her mother-in-law, allegedly sprinkled kerosene oil on her in their house at Kheri Dahiya village, about 25 km from here, on Monday. She was rushed to the local Civil Hospital. The police has registered a case against the suspect. Another married woman, Jagwanti, sustained serious burn injuries when her clothes caught fire from a stove while she was cooking in her house at Deepalpur village, about 13 km from here, on Monday. She was admitted to Civil Hospital and later referred to the PGI, Rohtak.

ELECTROCUTED: Jasbir, a farmer, was electrocuted while working in a field at Mahmoodpur village, about 20 km from here, on Monday. According to another report, Siri Niwas sustained burn injuries when he touched a live wire at Sirsadha village, about 40 km from here, on Monday. The injured person was referred to the PGI, Rohtak.

5 HURT IN CLASH: Five brothers, namely Virender, Joginder, Devinder, Deepak and Vikash sustained injuries when they clashed with each other at Akbarpur Barota village, about 8 km from here, on Monday. A dispute over the installation of a tubewell was stated to be the cause of the clash. According to another report, two persons were injured in an assault at Rewli village, about 10 km from here, on Monday. The injured were hospitalised.