The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Sunday, March 10, 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

AMRITSAR
REQUESTED: The Janata Dal United has requested Capt Amarinder Singh, Chief Minister, to order officials concerned to cover the “ganda nullah” which runs close to at least six gurdwaras namely Gurdwara Singh Sabha, Guru Ramdas Nagar, Gurdwara Shahid Baba Partap Singh, Rajput Baradari, Gurdwara Taank, Kastri Baradari, Gurdwara Baba Jiwan Singh and Gurdwara Karam Singh, Ramgarhia Baradari. This was stated by Mr Jaspal Singh Kapoor, state president of the party and municipal councillor, in a statement.

FOUND DEAD: Jatinder Singh (33), rickshaw-puller of Bandala village, was allegedly found strangulated near Gurdwara Shaheeda here on Thursday. Kulwant Singh, contractor, found the body. A case has been registered. In another incident, Kashmir Singh of Gadiwind village was killed when a jeep collided with his cycle. The driver of the jeep fled the scene. A case has been registered.

FEROZEPORE
BODY FOUND: An unidentified body was found in a gurdwara of Jandwala Bhimeshah village in the Roriwala police post area, according to the police.

HOSHIARPUR
HELD: The police has arrested Atma Singh, alias Atta, of Manjhi village and seized a .12-bore gun along with 4 cartridges from him on Thursday. A case under the Arms Act has been registered.

BOOKED: On a complaint of Nirmal Singh of the Dagana road, the police has registered a case under Section 306, IPC, against Jodh Singh, Toni Adia and Lubhaya etc. for compelling his son, Jaspal Singh, to commit suicide. According to an FIR, Jaspal Singh consumed poison which led to his death. The complainant alleged that the aforesaid persons had been demanding money from his son forcing him to commit suicide.

CASE REGISTERED: On a complaint of Banta Singh of Sukhchain village the police has registered a case under Sections 382, 342, 365, 465, IPC, against Joginder Singh, Surjeet Singh, Dharampal Jindu, all residents of Palahar, and Hazuri of Behchuhar for forcibly taking away 399 tins of resin from him at gunpoint and confining him in a room for two days.

KHANNA
AWARENESS MARCH: A march was organised to make public aware about air pollution, drugs and female foeticide on the G.T. Road by the Human Rights Mission, Punjab, here on Friday. The march was flagged off by SSP, Khanna, Mr Devinder Singh Garcha, from his office which went to A. S. Senior Secondary School, Malerkotla Chowk. The students of the NSS wing of the A. S. College for Women and other schools participated in the march. Prof Harpal Bhatti, president, Human Rights Mission, Principal T. R. Bahia of the A. S. College for Boys, Khushpal Bhardwaj and members of the Mahila Mandal Kauri village also participated in the march.

LUDHIANA
PETA APPEAL: PETA, a non-governmental organisation, which normally limits its mission to stopping violence towards animals, has called upon all Indians to heed the Prime Minister’s message and shun violence because violence begets violence, according to the press note. It further said that it was calling upon believers of all faiths to examine their own hatred and sit down to a vegetarian meal with one another in order to forge stronger bonds among the diverse religious communities living in the country.

BLOOD DONATION CAMP: The Ludhiana Food and Supplies Employees Welfare Association would hold a general medical check-up and blood donation camp on Sunday at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar on the Dhandra Road. Mr G. Vajralingam, Director, Food and Supplies, would inaugurate the camp. A team of dental, gynaecologists and eye specialists would check the patients. Free medicines and spectacles would be distributed among the needy patients. Langar would also be served on the occasion.

HAILED: The Ludhiana chapter of the Hindu Sikh Arora-Khatri Association ( International) has hailed the PCR motor cycle scheme launched by the district police in Ludhiana city with the purpose of curbing petty crime. The association, in a press note here on Thursday, said that because of these mobile police teams, activities of eve-teasers outside schools and colleges had been severely curbed which was a good sign. The association also hailed the setting up of a proclaimed offenders wing by the district police which had been entrusted with the job of apprehending absconding proclaimed offenders.

PAPER READING: Smita Aggarwal, BCA II student from Punjab College of Technical Education, won the first prize in the state level inter-college paper reading contest held at the Institute of Engineering and Technology on Friday. There were 22 participants in the contest from different colleges. Smita spoke on the topic ‘Mannequin Wo/mania’. Other topics for the contest were ‘Empowering women through professional education’ and ‘Understanding teenagers’.

MACHHIWARA
VOTERS THANKED: In the recently held Assembly elections in Punjab, Mr Inderiqbal Singh Atwal of SAD-BJP alliance, who was elected from the Koomkalan constituency, has thanked all the voters and supporters for reposing faith in him. He visited the town today and was exhorted by a large number of supporters including a few local councillors.

MALERKOTLA
BURIED ALIVE: Kulwant Singh (20) of Didargarh village was buried alive while he was boring a tubewell at Baruhi village on Friday. The body was sent for a post-mortem examination. Labourers of the subdivision have urged the government to give compensation to the family of the deceased.

LOOTED: Certain miscreants looted Rs 20,000 from Jasbir Singh of Rangian village while he was returning to his village on his truck on Friday. A case has been registered.

PATIALA
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Punjab State Electricity Board officers (general services) Association: president — Mr S.P. Sharma; vice-president — Mr Narang Singh general secretary; Mr S.P. Sharma.

PHAGWARA
TOURISTS HURT: Nine tourists were injured when a bus carrying them from Delhi to Jammu skidded and overturned on the local JCT railway overbridge on GT Road on Saturday. While Abdul Aziz Bhatt was admitted to the Civil Hospital, others were discharged after first aid.

SAMRALA
SHO SHIFTED: Inspector Gurdeep Singh joined as SHO, Samrala, in place of Inspector Malkiat Singh who has been transferred to the Police Lines. Also SI Dilbag Singh has joined as SHO, Machhiwara, in place of SI Kuldeep Singh, as per sources.

NAMBARDAR APPOINTED: Mr Darbara Singh Benipal has been appointed nambardar of Madpur village, by the Deputy Commissioner, Ludhiana.

CHANDIGARH

KERALA FOOD FEST: Third Kerala Food Festival would be organised at Swami Ram Tirtha Public School, Phase IV, SAS Nagar, on Sunday at 6 pm. The festival is being organised by the Malayalee Samajam, SAS Nagar.

ANTI-INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM DAY: The local unit of the BJP observed ‘‘anti international terrorism day’’ at the party office (Kamalam), Sector 33, on Saturday. While addressing the gathering, former local MP, Mr Satya Pal Jain, said the Godhra carnage was an inhuman act. Former Mayor, Mrs Kamla Sharma, said the BJP Government in Gujarat had rounded up several persons in this connection.

CONVENTION: The Punjab Bank Employees Federation held a convention of women working in various banks here to mark the International Women’s day on Friday. Over 150 women employees took part in the convention that was held at the Zonal office of the State Bank of Patiala here. Addressing the participants, Ms Sheela Didi, a social worker and vice-president of the Punjab Istri Sabha, opposed the negative impact of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement on women. Among those who spoke on the occasion were Mrs Mohinder Kaur Virk, Mr Devinder Singh and Mr Sunil Koushal. Mr Devinder Singh announced that a state-level convention of women working in banks would be held on May 2.

SEMINAR: A seminar on ‘Vedic-Harappan relationships: new perspectives’ was organised by the Department of Ancient History, Culture and Archaeology at Panjab University here on Friday. Prof B.B.Lal, a former Director General of the Archeological Survey of India, addressed the gathering. He said there were grounds to believe that both the Harappan and the Vedic people were the same. He refuted the popular claims that Harappans did not use spiked wheels. Dr Suchi Dayal introduced the theme of the seminar. Prof Ashvini Agrawal, chairman, also spoke on the occasion.

SEMINAR ON PHYSICS: New computational techniques in Physics were discussed at a two-day seminar organised by Physics Department at Panjab University here on Thursday. Dr Rajeev K. Puri said, “simulated annealing technique was of great importance in various fields of science and also in public life.” Dr Manjit Kaur discussed common sense reasoning in artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligent systems were being developed to model with probabilities and probable interference computations. Dr Arvind from Guru Nanak Dev University, Dr Sanjiv Puri from SLIET, Longowal, Prof Sunada Banerjee from TIFR, Mumbai, Dr G.P.S. Randhawa from IMTECH and Prof V.K. Jindal also spoke on the occasion. Dr Tankeshwar proposed the vote of thanks.

ADULTERATED SAMPLES: The Director Health Services-cum-Food Health Authority, UT, has stated that five samples collected in the last one month from various dealers selling products with Agmark label were found to be highly adulterated having prohibitory colours and that the Agmark labels were forged. The sampling agency has been directed to take samples of such articles from the colonies and villages of the Union Territory. The retail dealers have also been warned not to purchase such material without proper bills and warranty.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Sanatan Dharam Sabha: patron—Brinender Singh Rana; pardhan—Ram Prakash Sharma; senior vice-president—Gian Singh Thind; general secretary—Ashok Sharma; and cashier—Tilak Raj Mahajan.

PANCHKULA
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Executive Body of the District Panchkula Beopar Sangh: senior vice-president—Mr Narinder Bansal; vice-presidents—Mr Tek Chand Bharti, Mr Jagan Nath, Mr Manoj Aggarwal and Mr B.D. Garg; general secretary—Mr Jagjit Soi; organising secretary—Mr Ashwani Pathak; and finance secretary—Mr Anil Gupta.