The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Saturday, April 13, 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

BATHINDA
BAN IMPOSED: Mr Anurag Verma, District Magistrate, on Thursday imposed a ban on the singing of vulgar and double-meaning songs and making of audio and video cassettes of the same by Punjabi signers within the boundaries of the district. The ban would remain in force up to May 10, 2002. In an official order issued by the District Magistrate, the playing of audio and video cassettes in trucks and buses had also been banned.

YOUTH KILLED: Pappu Ram of the local Dhobiana basti died here on Thursday near Dhelwan village, 14 km from here, when he fell from the tractor he was driving. According to the police, Pappufell from the tractor as he could not see a trench in the road. The body had been sent for a post-mortem examination.

LUDHIANA
DAWER HONOURED: The Congress MLA from Ludhiana East, Mr Surinder Dawer, was honoured by the block No. 5 Congress committee for his phenomenal success in the elections. The function was presided over by the president of the committee, Mr Jasbir Singh Chadha. Expressing his gratitude to the workers, Mr Dawer assured that he would come up to the expectations of all people and would also take due care of the aspirations of the party workers. Among others present on the occasion were Mr Kanwaljit Singh, Mr Gursharan Singh Pappu, Mr Amarjit Singh Khurana, Mr Inderpal, Mr Deepak Sud and Mr Inderjit Singh Talwar.

SHOBHA YATRA: The Bhartiya Valmiki Dharam Samaj will take out a shobha yatra in connection with the birthday celebrations of Dr B.R. Ambedkar here on Sunday, according to Mr Dev Raj Asur, president of the Ludhiana branch of the BVDS. In a press note here on Friday, Mr Asur said the yatra would start at 4 pm from the Daresi grounds and pass through Mali Ganj chowk, Partap Bazaar, Girja Ghar chowk, Division No. 3 chowk, Islamia School road and Valmiki Nagar before culminating at Ravidass temple, Basti Jodhewal chowk.

RAM KATHA: The Shri Gyan Sthal Mandir Sabha is organising a Ram katha from April 14 to April 21 at the temple in connection with the Ramnavmi celebrations, according to a spokesman of the temple management. Pandit Aanjney Sharma will narrate the katha of Lord Rama from 8 pm to 10.30 pm every day. A shobha yatra will be taken out on April 14.

BAISAKHI CELEBRATIONS: Tiny tots of Small Wonders Nursery School, Sangat Road, participated in a function held to celebrate Baisakhi here on Friday. The boys came dressed in colourful kurtas and dhotis and girls wore salwar kameez with Punjabi jutti and other accessories. Punjabi songs like “Kudi kudi”, “Jatta aayi Baisakhi” and “Gabru” were played and the kids danced on these tunes. The performance of the students on the latest Hindi number “You are my Soniya” was appreciated by all. The programme concluded with giddha and bhangra performed by the students of pre-nursery class. Ms Neeti Dewan, Principal, distributed sweets among the students. She told them about the significance of the festival.

MANSA
HARVESTER COMBINES: Mr Alok Shekhar, District Magistrate, Mansa has imposed a ban on the working of harvester combines at night from 7 pm to 7 am for a period of one month. The order has been passed to ensure protection of life and property of the people.

MEETING: Mr Sudhanshu Shekhar Srivastva, Senior Superintendent of Police, Mansa while addressing a meeting of bank managers of the district here on Thursday reviewed the security cover of the banks. He asked the bank managers to direct the security staff working in the banks to be more vigilant and alert as transactions during harvesting of the wheat crop would increase.

DEMANDED: The residents of the city in a meeting held here on Thursday, presided over by Mr Bhan Singh Bhaura, Member Parliament, put forth their demand regarding the construction of an overbridge at underbridge at Mansa. They pointed out that the people of the city and those visiting the city had to remain stranded at the railway crossing, situated in the heart of the city due to the increasing flow of rail traffic.

WHEAT PURCHASE: Mr Prem Chand Goyal, District Food and Supplies Controller, Mansa, while talking to mediapersons here on Friday disclosed that so far 2,743 metric tonnes of wheat had been purchased by various government agencies — Food Corporation of India, Markfed, Punsup, Punjab State Warehousing Corporation, Punjab Agro Industries Corporation and the Punjab State Civil Supplies. He said the government purchases had started in 20 of the 103 purchase centres of the district.

POPPY HUSK SEIZED: A police party of the Jorkian police station led by Mr Lal Singh, Station House Officer, intercepted a jeep carrying six bags of poppy husk. The smugglers made good their escape leaving behind the vehicle and the bags containing 180 kg poppy husk. In another case, Assistant sub-inspector, Mr Pritpal Singh of the Jorkian police station recovered 228 kg of poppy husk from Baljit Singh and Jagir Singh, residents of Ghuduwala village in the district. The police had registered cases under the NDPS Act against the accused.

PATIALA
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Wholesale Chemists Association: chairman — Mr Satish Khanna; president — Mr Surjit Mehta; senior vice-president — Mr Kuljit Singh; vice-presidents — Mr Jasbir Singh and Mr Rajesh Mittal; general secretary — Mr Gurinder Singh; secretary — Mr Lovelesh Singla; joint secretary — Mr Ravinder Arora; organising secretary — Mr Jatinderpal Singh; treasurer — Mr Inderjit Dua; chief patron — P.L. Uppal; and patron — Mr Jagdish Mangoo.

HONOURED: The Director of the State Languages Department, Dr Madan Lal Hasija, was on Friday honoured with the Shiromani Bhasha Seva Award by the Delhi-based Central Punjabi Sahitya Samiti for his service of the Punjabi language.

SCHOOL FUNCTION: The management and students of Kendriya Vidyalaya School (No-3) celebrated annual day function of the school on Thursday. The function began with students singing a shabad. It was followed by a Bengali ballet signifying the victory of good over evil. An English skit was also presented. Primary wing students presented skit on conservation of environment. An exhibition of various handicrafts and artifacts was an added attraction for the guests. Brigadier C.S. Harika, was the chief guest. He gave away prizes to students. The Principal, Ms Samerjit Kaur, read out the annual report of the school.

SAMRALA
WHEAT PROCUREMENT: At least 442 tonne of wheat has been procured by state agencies — 42 tonne by Agro, 109 tonne by Markfed, 155 tonne by PUNSUP and 136 tonne by Punjab Warehouse — at the local grain market, according to Mr Sukhmohan Singh Chawla, DFSO, here on Friday. He added that 340 tonne of wheat had been purchased by five agencies in Machhiwara — Food Supplies: 69 tonne, FCI: 72 tonne, Markfed: 78 tonne, Warehouse: 64 tonne and PUNSUP: 57 tonne.

Rs 4.30 LAKH DISBURSED: A sum of Rs 4.30 lakh was distributed among 24 beneficiaries of the Block Office here at a function held on Thursday. The cheques were distributed by the local MLA, Mr Amrik Singh Dhillon. Mr Dhillon said there would be no discrimination with any gram panchayat regarding the distribution of development funds.

CHANDIGARH

LOK ADALAT: Seventy seven cases, 19 pertaining to industrial disputes and 55 to labour court applications, have been settled by the first lok adalat of the Central Government Industrial Tribunal-cum-Labour Court, Chandigarh. Compensation cheques amounting to Rs 4,27,346 were presented to about 40 persons by the chief guest, Ms Padma Bala Subramanium, Joint Secretary and In charge of the Industrial Relation Cell, Union Ministry of Labour, at the inaugural function of the lok adalat.

PRESIDENT ELECTED: Dr Jagwant Singh has been elected as President of the GGDSD College Teachers’ Union, a unit of PCCTU, for the session 2002-2003. Prof Yogesh Kumar has been elected as the secretary while Dr Ravi Behl will be the vice-president. Prof Madhu Sharma has been elected as the joint secretary, while Prof Ashutosh will be the finance secretary. Among the delegate members are, Dr Jagwant Singh, Prof Yogesh Kumar, Prof B.S. Moondi and Prof Anil Parti.

LIONS CLUB: Mr Kulbhushan Bindal has been elected President of Lions Club Chandigarh Lotus for the year 2002-2003. Mr Kirpal Singh Walia has been elected secretary and Mr K.B. Bhalla, treasurer.

BAR ELECTIONS: In an emergency meeting of the General House of the Punjab and Haryana High Court held on Friday under the chairmanship of Mr G.K. Chatrath, it was decided to hold the annual general elections to the Bar on April 26. According to sources, the nomination papers could be filed on April 23. Talking to Chandigarh Tribune, Mr Chatrath stated that fair and free elections would be held for which large scale arrangements were being made. A presidential tea party would be held at 5 p.m. at his residence on April 24, he added.

ALUMNI MEET: The law graduates of the 1986 batch of Panjab University are organising a get-together on Sunday at Hotel Maya Palace in Sector 35 at 12 noon. According to a press note, the members will share professional as well as personal experiences. The association would also discuss policies and programmes regarding the welfare of the legal community.

PANCHKULA
NOVEL BAISAKHI: The Blue Bird High School celebrated Baisakhi with great fervour. Students sang patriotic songs, while skits and mono acting were performed. The grandparents of the school children had been invited and they were enthralled to see bhangra performances by the children. Even in Wonder Years Kindergarten, the first Friday activity of the school saw the tiny tots celebrating Baisakhi in a novel way. The children were given a hands-on experience of crops in the field and harvesting by taking them to a farm near Sukhna Lake. The teachers explained to the students the significance of celebrating Baisakhi, as the labour in the farm demonstrated how the crop was harvested. The little ones were thrilled to see a ‘dholak player’ and they danced to his tunes.

DTBA PRESIDENT: Mr Munish Khullar has been unanimously elected as President of the District Taxation Bar Association for the second consecutive term. Mr Mahesh Goyal has been elected vice-president; Mr Arvind Mehta as general secretary and Mr Amit Sharma as treasurer.

WORKSHOP ON SOYA: The District Child Council here in collaboration with Super Food, Chandigarh and American Soyabean Association, will organise a workshop on Soya and health on Monday at Bal Bhavan.

SCHOOLS UPGRADED: Fourteen government primary schools have been upgraded to middle schools, one middle school and one high school has also been upgraded to higher and senior secondary respectively. The Deputy Commissioner, Ms Jyoti Arora, informed that the 14 schools that have been upgraded from primary to middle includes ‘schools’ at Bhogpur, Hangoli, Tharva, Haripur, Taber, Kami, Naggal, Kutabwala, Jabrot, Dhandardu, Chaunki, Naya Gaon, Majri Jatan and Janauli. Government Middle School Tagra has been upgraded as High School, While Government High School, Hangola as Senior Secondary School.

ELECTED: Mr Ram Chander, Mr Ashok Kumar, Mr Ashok Kumar Bains and Mr Bal Ram were unanimously elected the chairperson, the president, the senior vice-president and general secretary respectively of the Public Health Maintenance Technical and Sweeper Union here on Friday. Mr Subhash, Mr Dharam Pal, Mr Satish Kumar, Mr Mahi Ram, Mr Harbans Singh, Mr Prem Singh and Mr O.P. Sharma have also been elected vice- president, secretary, office secretary, joint secretary, propaganda secretary, cashier and legal advisor respectively. The Union is affiliated to INTUC.

GATE RALLIES: The Co-ordination Committee of the Central Government Employees and Workers Union has decided to organise gate rallies at all Central Government offices to protest against the Central Government’s Health Scheme at a meeting. The first rally will be organised on Tuesday at the Accountant General of Punjab’s office in Sector 17.