The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Wednesday, January 30, 2002, 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
TEACHERS’ FRONT: The Democratic Teachers Front has condemned the deduction of one-day salary from the salaries of teachers of the government schools for the construction of Vidya Bhavan in Chandigarh. The district president, of the front, Mr Gurmail Singh, and block presidents, Mr Sushil Dhawan, Mr Niranjan Singh and Mr Sadhu Ram Sharma, here on Monday called upon the teachers to resist such forcible deductions.

AHMEDGARH
STUDY CIRCLE: Giani Darshan Singh of the Guru Gobind Singh Study Circle on Tuesday impressed upon students of the local Sacred Soul Public High School to request their parents not to vote for those who distributed narcotics and drugs during the election campaign. He said the study circle would involve about 10,000 students of local schools and surrounding villages in the drive.

BATHINDA
YOUTH DAY: The Swami Vivekanand Study Circle celebrated National Youth Day on Sunday to commemorate the birthday of Swami Vivekanand at the local DAV School. Mr Amrit Sethi , joint secretary of the study circle , said here on Monday that the day was celebrated to make the youth aware of the philosophy of the great thinker.

GURDASPUR
INNER WHEEL CLUB: Representatives of the Local Inner Wheel Club and Rotary Club (Midtown) on Monday distributed 150 shoes and 80 sweaters among the needy students of Khalsa High School.

LUDHIANA
PROGRAMME: The Bhartiya Yog Sansthan organised a cultural programme here on Monday. According to a press note, the programme began with the recitation of ‘Gayatri Mantra’. An audio cassette of bhajans by Suresh Mehndiretta and Jyoti Mehra was also released.

DEATH ANNIVERSARY: The fourth death anniversary of T.R. Mohindra, a freedom fighter and journalist, will be held at Shree Mahavir Bhavan, Cemetry Road, here on Wednesday. ‘Amrit vani’ will also be recited.

QUIZ: Students of the SCD Government College participated in a quiz organised by Tata Infotech on Tuesday. The first prize went to Raghav, Anuj and Varun and the second prize to Sarvpreet, Simple and Sandeep. The third prize went to Munish, Usmaan and Manish and the fourth prize to Ved Prakash, Honey Handa and Jagdeep.

EMBROIDERY CONTEST: An embroidery contest was organised by Vardhaman Threads here on Tuesday. Over 70 students participated and the winners were given away trophies. The first prize was won by Palwinder Kaur, while Paramjit Kaur was placed second and Rupinder Kaur stood third. Consolation prizes were given to Gurpreet Kaur, Arwinder Kaur, Manjit Kaur, Lakshmi and Avneet Jassal. A cultural programme was also held.

PLEA TO CM: Representatives of the Guru Gobind Singh Study Circle held a meeting with Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister of Punjab, and urged him to check distribution of intoxicants during elections. Stating this in a press note on Tuesday, Mr Harmeet Singh, secretary of the study circle, said the Chief Minister had assured them that efforts would be made in this direction. Prof Sarabjeet Singh, director of the Social and Health Services wing, said over 1200 organisations had offered support to the cause. Members of the study circle had earlier met the Chief Election Commissioner in this regard.

MALERKOTLA
WOMAN KILLED: A married woman, Pushpa Devi, was crushed to death by a bus near Sherpur village, near here, on Monday. A case has been registered.

HOMEOPATHY CAMP: A homeopathy camp was organised by the State Bank of Patiala, Bhanbhora branch, at Bhulran village on Monday. According to Mr Naresh Singla, Manager of the bank, Dr Anu and Dr Chanderkant examined about 350 patients free of cost.

MANSA
APPOINTED: The following have been appointed office-bearers of the District Bar Association, Mansa: vice-presidents — Mr Surjit Singh Grewal and Mr Kesar Singh Dhaliwal; secretaries — Mr K.K. Bansal and Mr Nawal Kumar Goyal; and joint secretaries — Mr Rahul Vijay Singh Chugh and Mr Rajnish Kumar Jindal.

PATIALA
DHARNA THREATENED: The suspended secretary of The Punjabi University Teachers Association (PUTA) , Dr N.S Atri, said on Tuesday that he along with his supporters will sit on ‘dharna’ outside the Vice-Chancellor’s office on January 30 in protest of what he alleged the ‘autocratic’ functioning of the association’s president Dr Dhillon . He said the president was misusing his authority and misinterpreting the PUTA constitution. Calling the emergency meetings called by the president as unconstitutional, the secretary and his supporters have also criticised the university management for failing to intervene in spite of repeated requests by them. Members of the PUTA executive, Mr R.S. Sidhu, Mr Jaswinder Singh and Mr R.S. Ghuman informed that the meeting in which suspension orders of Dr Atri were passed was called on the pretext of an emergency one although executive members should be given at least 24-hour notice before calling a meeting, a constitutional guideline which the president ignored. Despite repeated efforts , Dr Dhillon, president of the union, could not be contacted.

SAMRALA
TAKES CHARGE: Ms Harbans Kaur Gill took over as Principal of the Guru Gobind Singh College for Women at Jhar Sahib, 13 km from here, on Monday. She had been acting principal of the college since long.

TARN TARAN
BODY FOUND: The Chabal police has found the decomposed body of a policeman in the uniform of a Head Constable bearing name Rachhpal Singh. The body bore signs of multiple injuries in the face and other parts of the body. A case under Sections 302, and 201, IPC, has been registered.

CHANDIGARH

SAFETY CAMP: A safety clinic for the women of ITBP colony was organised by Punia Gas under the aeiges of the Indian Oil Corporation, area office, Chandigarh. Ms Neelam Aggarwal, Assistant Manager (LPG) of the Indian Oil Corporation, Chandigarh, educated the housewives about various precautions and the safety measures in the use of LPG in the kitchen. A quiz competition was also held on the occasion and winners of the competition were awarded prizes by Ms Aggarwal.

LAUNCHED: The World Peace Mission Trust has launched a programme to educate children of the labourers working at construction sites. The Local MP, Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal, visited the construction site in housing complex, Sector 49, where children of the labourers were taught. Children also presented cultural items. The members of the Inner Wheel Club of Chandigarh Midtown also distributed toys to the school children.

SAS NAGAR
BOYCOTT: The members of the Dr Ambedkar memorial Trust, of Punjab, announced to boycott the assembly elections in the state. At a meeting of the executive members of the trust held under the Chairmanship of Mr Darshan Singh Sodhi here on Tuesday, it was felt that the regimes of the Congress and the SAD-BJP did little for the uplift of the dalits. Members of the Dalit community from Kharar, SAS Nagar, Morinda, Banur, Rajpura and Ghanour constituencies took part at the meeting. Mr Sodhi said the dalit community was being fooled by the politicians for their selfish motives. Mr Yadvinder Singh, Mr Surinder Singh, Mr Rashpal Singh, Mr Jasveer Singh, Mr Kaka Singh, Mr Satnam Singh and Mr Avtar Singh Sandhu also spoke on the occasion.

HARYANA

AMBALA
DEBATE COMPETITION: Principal Jaswant Rai Memorial Inter-college Debate Competition was held at GMN College, Ambala Cantonment on Tuesday. The college Principal, Mr I.D. Shukla, said the debate competition was being held as part of the cultural week being celebrated in the college. He said the debate competition has been revived after a gap of several years. The students spoke on “Globalisation is inevitable for the development of mankind”. Arya Girls College won the running trophy. Archana of Arya Girls College was first, Vasudha of GMN College was second and Pradeep Malik of Government College, Chandigarh was third.

SD COLLEGE WIN: SD College, Ambala Cantonment has won the Prof S.K. Chattopadhyaya Memorial Running Trophy for the third time in a row. SD College won the running trophy for the best performance in electronic project section in third state-level electronic science convention held at DN College, Hisar. In electronic projects, Sandeep and Abhishek of BSc third year of the college, won individual prizes also. They presented “Robotic crane” and “Automatic train signalling and level-crossing-cum-accident proof”. Mamta Gangwar of BSc IInd year won the first prize in declamation contest. Her topic was IT revolution. In Electronics-Computer Science-Physics quiz, Gautam Sharma of BSc IIIrd year and Mamta Gangwar won the second prize. Gautam Sharma also won consolation prize in essay competition on “Bio-molecular electronics”.

MEDICAL CAMP: Satyug Darshan Trust held a free medical camp at Sudarshan auditorium in Ambala city on Tuesday. The Managing Trustee, Ms Reshma Gandhi, inaugurated the medical camp. Among others, Dr Sunil Sadiq, Dr Nalini, Dr Tejinder Talwar, Dr Rakesh Sahil, Dr Virendra Arora, Dr Rajni Giri, Dr Vinod Sharma and Dr K.G. Gupta examined the patients. About 454 patients were examined. A similar free medical camp was recently held at Ambala Cantonment.

INSTALLATION: Installation ceremony of Junior Chamber of Ambala industry was held on Monday. President elect Vinay Mehta and his team took over from president K.B. Bhasin. A cultural programme was presented by children. Mr Satpal Grover was the chief guest while Mr Vinod Kumar Singla presided over the function.

YAMUNANAGAR
LIONS CLUB: Mr Om Parkash Chautala, Chief Minister, Haryana, installed Mr Deepak Bakshi President of the Lions Club Yamunanagar — Jagadhri, at the Jamna Auto Industries Club here on Sunday.

BLOOD DONATION CAMP: Seventy five students of DAV College , Sadhura, donated blood on Monday. The camp held at Sadhura was organised in collaboration with the District Red Cross Society.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
DALIT SAMMELAN: The Himachal Pradesh State Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and other Backward Classes Yuva Sangathan organised a Dalit Sammelan at Galian, 40 km from here on Monday. The sammelan was presided over by Dr Onkar Singh Bhatia. Dr Bhatia called upon the Dalits to fight for social and political justice.

MANDI
ANNUAL SESSION: The Multi-purpose Health Workers Federation at its district-level annual session here on Tuesday resolved to continue its crusade against corruption. Addressing over 200 delegates drawn from all parts of the district, Mr N.R. Thakur and Mr Satish Shukla, president and general secretary, respectively, of the federation, said besides pressing its 42-point charter of demands the federation would also strive hard to generate work culture. The federation opposed the government decision of countersigning the tour diary of health workers by Panchayat Pradhans. The federation demanded the restoration of administrative powers to Chief Medical Officers.

NAHAN
ANIMAL FAIR: In an animal fair organised at Barma Papdi and Paliano the Assistant Project Director, Dr Sushil Kapte, urged the farmers to rear better animals.

NURPUR
MAJOR CREMATED: The mortal remains of Major Ashok Sharma of 15 JAK Rifles who hailed from Dari near Dharamsala were consigned to flames at Mamoon Cantonment on January 25 with full military honours. He was injured in an encounter with militants in the Poonch sector on December 10 and he succumbed to his injuries on January 23. He was not accorded any honours by the Himachal Pradesh government. Major Sharma is survived by his wife, Anupama, and two kids.

CAMP ON ANIMALS: The Society for Prevention of Cruelty towards Animals organised an awareness camp at Town Hall on Tuesday. The Deputy Commissioner, Sirmaur, Mr Rakesh Kaushal, said a shelter for animals would be made by the society for stray animals.

PAONTA SAHIB
ANNUAL FUNCTION: The Governor of Uttaranchal, Mr Surjeet Singh Barnala, distributed prizes to outstanding students of Bibi Jeet Kaur School here on Sunday.

SHIMLA
URGED: The ex-servicemen cell of the state BJP has urged Mr P.K. Dhumal, Chief Minister, to provide adequate funds for the maintenance of various sainik rest houses in the state. A deputation of ex-servicemen headed by Major P.C. Thakur, Convener of the cell, met Mr Dhumal here on Tuesday and urged him to make arrangements for providing computer education to the wards of martyrs on nominal charges, besides training war widows in tailoring. Major Thakur said the Chief Minister had ordered the repair and renovation of sainik rest houses at Chamba, Kangra, Mandi, Una and Bilaspur in the first phase.

UNA
AIDS PROGRAMME: Fifteen HIV positive cases have been detected in the district, disclosed Dr M.K. Pathak, District AIDS Programme Officer, here on Tuesday. He said the district AIDS control programme would organise 536 camps during the family health awareness campaign from February 1 to 20 to make the masses aware of sexually transmitted diseases.