The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Wednesday, March 6, 2002, 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
EFFIGY BURNT: An effigy of the Union Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, was burnt at the Hall Gate by Punjab Pradesh Youth Congress workers here on Tuesday. Mr Narinder Kumar Tennu, secretary, PPYC led the agitation against the budgetary hike in the prices of cooking gas and kerosene oil. Earlier, a protest march by hundreds of party workers was held in the Hall Bazaar area.

PROTEST RALLY: Members of the Punjab State Electricity Board Employees Struggle Committee held a protest march in front of the urban district offices of the PSEB her on Tuesday. Employees headed by committee leaders Jagdish Bhardwaj and Gurmeet Singh protested against the “anti-employee” policies of the government, privatisation, contract-based jobs and hike in tax for daily wagers.

CONVOCATION: The annual convocation and prize distribution function was held at the Shahzada Nand College for girls here on Tuesday. As many as 200 graduates received their degrees while prizes were awarded to outstanding students and players. Dr S.P. Singh, Vice-Chancellor, Guru Nanak Dev University, laid stress on the importance and promotion of the mother tongue.

FAZILKA
HOUSE BURGLED: Thieves burgled the house of Sandeep Kumar in the densely populated Basit Hazoor Singh locality in the town on Monday night and made off with jewellery and cash. The occupants of the house had gone to attend the marriage of a relative at the time of the incident. A case has been registered.

KAPURTHALA
DC ASSUMES CHARGE: Mr Rakesh Kumar Verma, Deputy Commissioner, assumed charge here on Monday in place of Dr Roshan Sunkaria who has been transferred.

KHANNA
NEW SSP TAKES CHARGE: Mr Devinder Singh Garcha, newly appointed SSP of Khanna has joined on Monday evening relieving Mr Ishwar Singh who has been transferred to Bathinda. To control traffic and check accidents will be his first priority, Mr Garcha said. A known sportsman who was earlier posted at PAP Jalandhar said the town being situated on GT road , there is heavy flow of traffic which causes many accidents. He said no vehicle would be allowed to run more than a speed of 40 km per hour. To aware public about speed limit, two hoardings would be installed on both entry points to the city on the GT road. He also sought help of people to maintain law and order.

SEMINAR: A seminar on “Female foeticide a crime” was organised by the Social Welfare Department of Kauri village, 2 km from here, on Tuesday. A cassette “Dhian di pukar” was released on the occasion. The seminar was addressed by Principal of the A.S. College for Women, Rekha Bhardwaj.

KHARAR
COMPLAINT: Sarpanch of nearby Badala and Nia Shehr villages and Mr Harchand Singh Azad of Nia Shehr village in a letter written to the Chief Minister of Punjab have alleged that a portion of the Badala-Khanpur road which was constructed in January this year had developed cracks. They said this had happened as the contractor had not used the proper material. They also demanded that the contractor’s payment should be stopped and proper inquiry about this should be conducted.

MC BUDGET: The Municipal Committee of Kurali has passed its Rs 3.23 crore budget for the next financial year. According to a copy of the budget proposals the committee hopes to earn Rs 1.48 lakh as grant in lieu of octroi, Rs 22 lakh from House Tax, Rs 70 lakh from Excise Duty, Rs 20 lakh as development charges. The committee plans to spend Rs 1.05 crore on establishment and Rs 1.94 crore on various development works.

ARRESTED: The local police has arrested Raghbir Singh of Kharar following the recovery of II bottles of liquor which was meant for sale in Chandigarh only. A case under the Excise Act has been registered against him. He was produced in the court here on Tuesday.

REMANDED: Ms Preeti Sahni, Judicial Magistrate, Kharar, remanded three accused Darshan Singh, Rulda Ram and Kulwanto, husband, father-in-law and mother-in-law respectively of Baljeet Kaur who was murdered allegedly by them in police remand for two days. The police has registered a case under Section 302, IPC, against the accused.

LUDHIANA
SILVER IDOL: A 60-kg idol of Devi Mata Padmavati, made of pure silver and which is the first of its kind in North India, would be formally installed at the Shri Shakti Nath Jain Shwetambar Mandir at Sundar Nagar, soon, according to Mr Vishwas Jain, president, Vijayender Sewa Mandal. Devi Mata Padmavati is considered as the ‘shashan devi’ or the ruling deity of the Jain religion, added Mr Jain.

ELECTED: Mr Kuldeep Singh Dadhwal has been unanimously elected as president of the PUDA Supervisors Union, Panjab, according to a press release here on Tuesday. Other office-bearers of the body are Mr Subhash Kumar (Mohali) — advisor; Mr Shashi Bhushan (Bathinda) —senior vice-president; Mr Surinder Pal (Jalandhar) — vice-president; Mr Kewal Krishan Sharma (Mohali) — general secretary; Mr Bhag Singh Bhangu (Mohali) — joint secretary; Mr Jagdev Singh (Mohali) — cashier; Mr Major Singh Bhatti (Patiala) — press secretary; and Mr Madan Mahsha (Ludhiana) and Mr Pardip Kumar (Bathinda) — members of the executive committee.

'MAUNVRAT ANUSHTHAN': Bramhchari Ram Parkash ji went into silence here on Monday at the Ram Sharnam Ashram in Naulakha Bagh Colony for 30 days to observe a ‘Maunvrat Anushthan’. Though the holy man would not speak, the gathering of the devotees on the occasion, were not deprived of his discourse which had been penned down by the silent Swami and read out to them by sister Nirmala Devi.

MALERKOTLA
EYE CAMP: The local Vishwakarma Welfare Society organised an eye camp at Ramgarhia Public School, Raikot road, here on Monday. Mr Inderjeet Singh Munde, MD, K.S. Agricultural Works, inaugurated the camp. As many as 1,050 patients were examined. Medicines were distributed free of cost to the needy patients.

STRIKE: The bicycle industry here observed a strike on Monday against the importation of 4 per cent excise duty on cycle parts. According to Mr Vinod Jain, spokesman for the Cycle Parts Manufacturers Association, the bicycle industry is already under threat from China and eversince the announcement of the excise levy, cycle units at Malerkotla are lying closed.

MANSA
PUNJABI PLAY: To commemorate the year of women empowerment, the local Young Patriots Club, established under the Indo-British project on partnership policing, in collaboration with the National Theatre Arts Society, Patiala, staged a Punjabi musical play, “Daayre”, on Monday at the local Government Girls Senior Secondary School to create awareness among people regarding uplift of women and against female foeticide.

NAWANSHAHR
GOLDEN JUBILEE: The local R.K. Arya College organised “Alumni’s golden meet” to mark the golden jubilee celebrations of the college here on Sunday. Mr Sohan Singh, philanthropist, who donated a sum of Rs 3.50 lakh for the construction of a seminar room in the college, was the chief guest while Mr Prem Bhardwaj, president, managing committee, presided over the function. All registered old students and local and NRI donors were honoured. A cultural function was also organised.

ANNUAL FUNCTION: MBG Government College, Pojewal, about 25 km from here, organised its annual prize distribution function on Monday. Mr Gurpal Singh Bhatti, ADC(D), was the chief guest and gave away prizes to students who excelled in different fields during the current academic session.

PATIALA
CONSTITUTED: A body of Sikh writers of International Council of Sikh Writers was formed here on Monday. Established with an aim to undertake and organise cultural, social, educational tour of Sikh writers under the umbrella of International Federation of Sikh, Associates. The International Council of Sikh Writers is one of the 22 organisations to be set up for all round development of Sikhs residing in different parts of the world.

PAINTING CONTEST: The Punjab National Bank, Mall Road branch, will organise a sapling plantation camp and painting competition at the Government Polytechnic for Women, here on Wednesday. Senior Regional Manager of the bank, Mr N.C. Jain, will preside over the function.

STUDENT’S PAINTINGS: Paintings by a Class IV student of Yadavindra Public School, Inderpreet Singh Balgar, are on display at the main building corridors of the school.

HARYANA

AMBALA
APPEAL: The senior vice-president of the Haryana Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr N.C. Jain, today said the unprecedented communal disturbance in Gujarat had caused economic loss to the scientific goods industry of the city. Mr Jain said Gujarat was a good market of scientific instruments and certain electronic spares, regularly used by scientific instruments industry were procured from here. He said all political parties, both in power and in opposition, should join hands to defuse the present crisis and ensure restoration of communal harmony.

GRAMEEN ROZGAR YOJANA: The officiating Deputy Commissioner, Ambala, Mr Mahinder Kumar, said on Tuesday that 198 ponds had been desilted under the Sampooran Grameen Rozgar Yojana. Mr Mahinder Kumar said under the yojana, filling of depressed sites in 129 chaupals and earth work on phirnis and path of cremation ground on 84 sites had been carried out. He said under the scheme, foodgrain was supplied to labourers and the scheme was labour intensive.

ELECTED: Mr Om Parkash Singhal has been elected the president of Ambala City Sarafa Association. Mr Naresh Aggarwal and Mr Subhash Jain were elected secretary and cashier, respectively. Mr Gyan Chand Aggarwal, Sat Prakash Jain, Ramesh Verma and Rakesh Malhotra, Moti Lal Jain, Kuldeep Jain, Rajender Goyal have been included in the executive body.

CONTEST WINNER: Mr Anil Chandok, a lecturer of AIMT, Ambala City, has won the National Conference and Research Paper Contest on the topic “Privatisation of insurance sector — its impact and future” held at Sangrur. According to a press note 14 research papers were presented in the contest.

BAIL GRANTED: The special judge of CBI cases in Haryana, Dr B.B. Prasoon, granted bail to Gobind and Jagdish in a case registered against them and Chander Bhatia, MLA from Faridabad, a few years back on the complaint of a local editor. The Punjab and Haryana High Court had granted anticipatory bail to Jagdish and Gobind. While granting regular bail, Mr Prasoon ordered both of them to furnish the security bond of Rs 50,000 each.

HEARING ADJOURNED: The special judge, Ambala, Ms Anita Chaudhary, adjourned hearing in the land allotment case of former minister Anand Singh Dangi till March on Tuesday. Mr Dangi had appeared in the court in two cases registered against him by the State Vigilance Bureau. Earlier Dangi was arrested in land allotment cases and had remained in judicial custody for one year. Later, he was granted bail in all the cases by the court.

BHIWANI
BODY FOUND: The police has recovered the decomposed body of a person from the Indira canal at Charkhi Dadri. The deceased, identified as Krishan Lal (54), had been missing form Panipat since February 22. The police handed over the body to the relatives after a post-mortem on Tuesday.

FATEHABAD
SUICIDES: A woman and her daughter committed suicide by consuming poison at Mahwalla village in the district on Monday night reportedly due to poverty. The mother, Hardeyi, was a widow and had been living in the village with her in-laws along with her daughter Sunita.

KAITHAL
VEHICLE THIEVES: The district police has busted a gang of vehicle thieves with the arrest of five members allegedly involved in stealing vehicles worth about Rs 18 lakh. This was stated here on Monday by Mr A.S Chawla, SP. While two youths were arrested near Mundri, three others were arrested on the Peoda road.

SIRSA
MANAGER SHOT: Unidentified dacoits shot dead the Manager of the Bhawdin branch of the Punjab National Bank, 20 km from here, on Monday and looted cash. Three of the four dacoits, who came by car, entered the bank premises and shot the Manager, Mr Shyam Lal Kandoi. They asked the bank employees to raise their hands and made off with the cash.