The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Tuesday, July 2, 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
FELLOWSHIP : Dr S.L. Khanna of Government Chest and TB Hospital here has been selected for the American fellowship. According to a communication received from the American College of Chest Physicians, Dr Khanna will be awarded the fellowship in the USA in November.

DOCTOR INVITED: Dr Ravi Saini of the Department of Skin and STD at Government Medical College has been offered scholarship and invited to address the international AIDS conference to be held from July 7 to 12 at Barcelona in Spain.

KHARAR
ROTARY CLUB: The following have been installed office-bearers of the Rotary Club, Kharar: president — Mr Harpreet Singh Rekhi; secretary — Mr Sanjeev Bhardwaj and treasurer — Dr C.D. Verma.

LUDHIANA
WORKSHOP: Nearly 330 patients in the district are suffering from leprosy. Out of this, 20 are Punjab is and rest is the migrant population, said Dr G.K. Bansal, District Leprosy Officer, at a workshop on Prevention of disability and deformity care on leprosy’ at the Civil Hospital, here on Monday. The leprosy officer in a press statement on Monday said under the national programme, 15 camps would be organised in all primary and community health centres of the district. He said it was basically an interaction and participation session in which the specialised care was given to health care staff and affected patients.

FUNCTION: Members of the Love Dale Club, Sarabha Nagar, celebrated its annual function at the Geetanjali Ladies’ Club, here on Sunday. As many as 150 members of the kid’s club, who had participated in a summer camp, presented various dance, music and drama items. The programme began with ‘saraswati vandana’, followed by a choreography titled ‘I love my India’. Kids also presented their skills in ‘gatka’ and karate. A dance item on the song ‘Aap mujhe acche lagne lage’ enthralled all those present. The best part of the show was that the kids of age group four to 14 had themselves anchored their show. Mr Anurag Aggarwal, Deputy Commissioner, was the chief guest, and Ms Pritima Behl, in charge, gave prizes to participants.

EYES DONATED: The eyes of Charan Kaur, a resident of Kadon village, in Ludhiana district were donated. Dr Ramesh, MD, Eye Bank Mansuran, said it was the second time when a resident of the village donated the eyes. The eyes were transplanted to two persons free of cost. Meanwhile, a seminar to motivate eye donation drive was organised by the Bharatiya Vikas Parishad, Khanna, on Saturday. Dr Ramesh was the chief guest. Swami Sachidanand, a social activist, pledged to donate his eyes. Over 25 eye donation pledge cards were filled on the occasion.

SEMINAR: A week-long workshop on ‘Radiation safety’, organised under the guidance of the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot, and the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, Government of India, started at Christian Medical College and Hospital, here on Monday. According to a press note, the workshop is aimed at the target population of health care professionals, including doctors, nurses, paramedical and ancillary staff, to educate about the source, nature and interaction of ionising radiation with matter, human development and tissue renewal systems, adverse effects of radiation, working practices and safety guidelines, radiological protection of the patients and the personnel and awareness about the radiation accidents — prevention and management.

MANSA
WARNING: Mr Simranjit Singh Mann, MP and President, Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), on Saturday warned people against the communal designs of the BJP and said the elevation of Mr L.K. Advani to the rank of Deputy Prime Minister was part of the design. He alleged that Mr Parkash Singh Badal was playing the ‘Sikh’ minority card to get the post of Vice President.

MOGA
TWO ARRESTED: The Baghapurana police arrested Rup Singh of Langaana village in the district on Sunday following the recovery of 15 kg of poppy heads from him at a naka. The Dharamkot police arrested Bhopal Singh of Maujgarh village, near here, and recovered about 5000 litres of illicit liquor from him.

AMBULANCE: President of the local Lions Club S.K. Bansal on Saturday donated an ambulance for the victims of road accidents. It was presented to SSP Virender Kumar at a special function held on the premises of the City police station.

NABHA
CHECK-UP CAMP: A free heart check-up camp was organised at Government Model School on Sunday by L.D. Gupta Foundation, New Delhi, and the Senior Citizens Welfare Association, Nabha. Dr Amar Single, senior consultant, Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre, New Delhi, and his team examined over 250 patients.

NAWANSHAHR
YOUTH CLUB: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Youth Arora Club : president- Mr Rajan Arora; senior vice-president-Mr Vipin Taneja; general secretary- Mr Parvinder Batra; treasurer-Mr Harvinder Singh.

PHAGWARA
TELEPHONE: A telephone No. 40899 has been installed at the first aid police post on GT Road near Chiheru, DSP Harmanbir Singh Gill said on Monday.

MEETING: A meeting of the Laboratory Technicians Association, Punjab, will be held at Ludhiana on July 7 to chalk out the programme of struggle against the Government for its anti-employee steps, Mr Jhirmal Singh Bhinder, a spokesman for the association, said here on Monday.

CHANDIGARH

WORKSHOP ENDS: The week-long Empress Fun Week-2002 organised by Pragati India Group to give farewell to participants concluded with a dance party at a local discotheque in Sector 9 here on Monday. As many as 18 girls from the city participated in the workshop on fashion designing, modelling, applied arts, communication and personality development, airlines management and other related courses. Experts from different fields were invited to conduct the courses. Rimpy Prince Productions, who taught the participants about the basics of screen test and camera presentation also shortlisted six girls for their future productions through Young Talent Club.

INSTALLED: Lieut-Gen J.F.R. Jacob (retd) installed Mr Atma Ram Singh as president of the Rotary Club of Chandigarh for 2002-2003 in a function organised here on Monday. Mr Jacob lauded the projects being carried out by the Rotary Club, including blood resource centre, programme for young heart patients and training centre for poor boys and girls. The outgoing president of the club, Mr Anil Khanna, presented the report of the club activities and handed over the charge of the club to Mr Atma Ram Singh.

HARYANA

AMBALA
STATE BANK DAY: The State Bank of India, Ambala City branch, observed the State Bank Day on Monday. The bank was incorporated on this day in 1955. The staff wore badges carrying slogan “My mission: Excellence in customer service”. Chief Manager A.K. Bhandari said the branch was shortly installing ATM and customers would be in a position to operate their accounts 24 hours a day.

COMMUNITY CENTRE: A meeting of the Golden Friends Club, Lal Kurti Bazar, Ambala Cantonment, was held under the presidentship of Mr Rajendra Arora. Members of the club welcomed the decision of the Cantonment Board to build a community centre at Lal Kurti Bazar. The community centre is going to be built at a cost of Rs 24.96 lakh. Of this, Rs 9.99 lakh has been made available by the MPLAD fund of Mr Swaraj Kaushal while the remaining amount of Rs 13.95 lakh will be contributed by the Cantonment Board.

DRAIN INSPECTED: The Ambala Cantonment MLA, Mr Anil Vij and XEN, Mr Subhash Chabra, inspected the Babyal diversion drain on Monday. The drain is likely to be completed within the next few days. The 4.75 km long drain is being built at a cost of Rs 50 lakh. It will drain excess water from Mahesh Nagar area where colonies get inundated during the rainy season. Mr Vij said the water would be stored near Babyal from where it would be pumped into Tangri river.

HSMITC MEETING: A meeting of the All-Employees Association, HSMITC, was held under the presidentship of Mr Krishan Kumar. The association members said they would continue their dharna. They objected to the manner in which their office was locked up. They said the MITC had been locked up despite several projects underway.

SIRSA
CM’s EFFIGY BURNT: Employees of the Minor Irrigation and Tubewell Corporation (MITC) on Sunday burnt the effigy of the Chief Minister, Mr Om Parkash Chautala, against their sacking and submitted a memorandum to the SDM. Earlier, they held a procession through the main bazaars raising slogans against the government. They were joined by the employees of the Public Health as well as Irrigation Department in their demonstration.

AWARD GIVEN: A member of the local Indian Medical Association, Dr Vinod Gupta, has been given the “Communities Service Award” for his distinguished service to the society by the Haryana unit of the IMA. Disclosing this here on Sunday a spokesman for the local unit of the IMA said this award was given at a state-level function at Rohtak.

YAMUNANAGAR
FUND FOR ROADS: A sum of Rs 12.72 crore has been sanctioned for the construction of 68-km-long roads in 90 villages by the Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board in Yamunanagar district. Mr Vajinder Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, in a press release on Sunday said that out of this target, 41 roads measuring 51 km-long had already been constructed and work on the remaining 49 roads was under progress.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

CHAMBA
SAMITI’S WARNING: The members of Salooni Panchayat Samiti in the district have warned to resign en bloc if the vacant posts of officers in various departments in the tehsil are not filled forthwith. A spokesman for the samiti said it was decided at a meeting of the samiti held under the chairmanship of Mr Surinder Kalia two days ago at Salooni.

SHIMLA
RIDICULED: Mr Jai Krishan Sharma, President of the state unit of the BJP has ridiculed the statement of Mr Virbhadra Singh, Leader of the Opposition blaming the Dhumal government for the financial crisis plaguing the state. In a statement here on Sunday, he said the state was forced to raise huge loans because of the follies of the Virbhadra Singh regime, which concealed the actual deficit before the Ninth Finance Commission. While there was a deficit of Rs 178 crore in the Budget of 1988-89, the government showed it to be only Rs 8 crore. Consequently, the state received almost about Rs 200 crore less annually during the 1990-95 period from the Centre.

SUNDERNAGAR
ROAD REPAIR: Residents of Kanger, Barswari, Kamrahu, Sutehna and Draman villages have demanded that the Old Jaidevi-Chambi (Sundernagar) road be taken under the Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana Scheme and work on it started soon. The residents in a representation to the Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, stated that the old road of Jai Devi-Chambi ( Sundernagar) which was constructed in the pre Independence era had been damaged at many places. They demanded that the road be repaired at the earliest.