R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

• Punjab’s first indoor pool at Sangrur
• Top educationist

PUNJAB

AHMEDGARH
THREE BOOKED: The local police has booked three persons for carrying poppy husk and illicit liquor. According to Mr Sukhdev Singh Virk, SHO, Sadar, Gian Singh, a resident of UP, was arrested with 8 kg of poppy husk. A case under the NDPS Act has been registered. Sham Kumar Rawat of New Delhi and Mahesh Kumar of UP have been booked under the Excise Act for possessing 18 and 15 bottles of illicit liquor, respectively.

WOMAN DIES: A married woman died under mysterious circumstances on Wednesday morning, while her neighbour is hospitalised in serious condition. According to a statement of Kamaljit, a resident of ward No. 7, her wife, Rajni, had been upset for the past few months. On Tuesday evening he found her serious. She was taken to a local hospital where she died. The police has completed formalities under Section 174.

AMRITSAR
REIKI CAMP: A five-day free camp, using reiki accupressure and sujok healing started at Hayashi Reiki Centre on Tuesday. Mr Harish Chabbra and Asha Chabbra supervised the techniques to relieve migraine, depression, pains of the joints, heart problems and cervical pain.

BATHINDA
TOPPER: Shivani Bahia of Rampura Phul has topped the district in Class X examination by securing 590 marks. She has got 12th position in the state. This was stated in a press note issued here on Tuesday by the SDKMV School authorities, Rampura Phul.

PSEB STAFF MEETING: The Employees Federation of the PSEB has urged the authorities to form a joint management which should include representatives of employees, consumers and the government to improve the functioning of the board. At a meeting held here on Tuesday the employees said there was an urgent need to take steps for improving the functioning of the PSEB to make it a profit-earning organisation.

FAZILKA
POPPY POWDER SEIZED: In a drive launched by the Ferozepore police to check use of intoxicants, CIA staff, Abohar, seized a big haul of poppy powder from a jeep. A police patrol party led by Chhinder Paul Singh and Rachhapal Singh nabbed four persons and seized 4.45 quintals of poppy powder from them near Bahamaniwala village. The arrested include Ranjit Singh, Ajit Singh and Balwant Singh and Inder Singh.

HOSHIARPUR
INTOXICANTS SEIZED: To check the menace of drug abuse, the district police has started a special campaign. Mrs Gurpreet Deo, SSP, Hoshiarpur, told mediapersons here that police on Tuesday raided business premises of Ajit Medical Hall at Bagpur Sataur and Bhardwaj Medical Store at local Bullanwari Chowk and seized huge quantities of intoxicants.

ROAD BLOCK: Residents of Bagpur, Sataur and Bassi Muda villages blocked traffic at Bagpur on the Hoshiarpur-Pathankot road on Tuesday in protest against the PSEB authorities for imposing power cuts in the area. Vehicular traffic on the highway remained suspended for more than two hours. Later, Mr Mitter Singh and Mr Jagmohan Singh, both Additional Superintending Engineers of the PSEB along with Mr Sukhdev Lal Banger, Naib Tehsildar, reached the spot and assured the villagers that only scheduled power cuts would be imposed in the area.

CASES REGISTERED: Swarn Kaur wife of Maluka Singh of Ajram village complained to the police her daughter Kulwinder Kaur was being tortured by her husband Ranjit Singh, an SPO of Patran village for more dowry. In another complaint Amar Chand stated that he married his daughter Saroj Devi with Amarjit Singh over a year ago. Soon after the marriage Amarjit Singh, his father Swarn Singh and mother Bimla Devi of Marnaian started torturing and beating his daughter to bring Rs 50,000 from him. The police has registered cases.

DOWRY CASE: On a complaint by Mrs Sukhbir Kaur of Shongla village, the Tanda police has registered a case under Section 498A, IPC, against her husband Mohinder Singh, brother-in-law Punjab Singh and sister-in-law Rajinder Kaur for allegedly torturing her to bring more dowry.

TRAVEL AGENT BOOKED: On a complaint by Mr Joginder Singh, Sarpanch of Chak Khelan, the police on Wednesday registered a case against Gagan Bakshi, a travel agent, and his sub agent Prem Kumar of Bhagwanpur in Jalandhar for duping the former of Rs 65,000 on the pretext of sending him abroad.

LUDHIANA
FUNCTION: The Shri Jain Shwetambar Terapanthi Sabha will organise a function to mark the beginning of Chaturmas of Muni Vinay Kumarji Maharaj at the community centre in B-block of Aggar Nagar on Sunday, according to Mr Bansi Lal, its president. Babu Parmanand, Governor, Haryana, will be the chief guest. Other guests of honour who are likely to grace the occasion are: Mr Rakesh Pandey, Printing and Stationery Minister, and Mr Narinder Sharma, DIG, Border range. The function will begin at 9.30 am. A procession will start from the Ghanta Ghar chowk on Monday at 9 am which will culminate at Jain Sthanak in Bagh Wali street. Meanwhile, preparations are under way to extend a welcome to Jainacharya Shiv Muni on his arrival at Jain Sthanak in Sunder Nagar, here on July 17, according to Mr Ram Kumar Jain, chairman, Chaturmas Committee. He will deliver discourses from July 17 to 19.

PATIALA
ACCIDENT MANAGEMENT: In wake of the recent increase in road accidents, the District Red Cross Society has set up an accident management committee. At a function organised at the District Red Cross Centre on Wednesday, it was disclosed that the prime function of this committee will be to provide accident victims with first-aid and transportation to nearby hospitals. A spokesperson of the Red Cross revealed that several instances have come to light where the accident victims were left lying on the road.

RAMPURA PHUL
TEACHER NABBED: Two miscreants snatched Rs 34,000 from Mr Krishan Singh, a teacher at Government School, Gehri Bara Singh, who was coming to Rampura town after getting payment from the State Bank of Patiala. Police sources said that the incident took place at the railway crossing of Phul town.

ROPAR
PATROL DUTY: In view of the possibility of floods during the monsoon in the Sutlej, Swan Nadi, Budhki Nadi and Siswan, the Ropar Deputy Commissioner, Mrs Seema Jain, has ordered all able-bodied adult male villagers in the district to perform patrol and watch and ward duties round the clock till September 30. They have also been asked to keep a watch on railway lines, bridges, communication lines and important installations in their respective areas.

SAMRALA
CHARGE ASSUMED: Mr Sadhu Singh took over as Naib Tehsildar on Wednesday in place of Mr Nirmal Singh, who has been transferred to Sangrur. Earlier, Mr Sadhu Singh was posted at Ropar, according to Mr Hari Singh, Tehsildar, Samrala.

RESULT: Government Senior Secondary School, Manki, has achieved cent percent result in Class XII, according to Hari Om Kaur, Principal of the school. The result of Class X was 88.14 per cent and Reena Rani got 499 out of the 650 and stood first in the school.

HARYANA

CHUNMUN CLUB: A cultural programme was organised by the Chunmun Club under the presidentship of the Senior Divisional Safety Officer, Mr A.R. Jassi. The club members presented different dance numbers. The effort by the club members was appreciated by the audience. The club members who presented the items include Muskan, Kanupriya, Meenakshi, Preety, Sunakshi, Raman Preet and Sunil. The programme was directed by Ms Monika Sharma and stage was conducted by Mr Ashok Sharma.

KAITHAL
CASH STOLEN: Some miscreants stole Rs 90,000 from the tool box of a motor cycle outside the main branch of State Bank of India here on Tuesday. Subhash, a school teacher, of Budha Khera village had withdrawn the amount from the bank for disbursement among the staff. He left the cash in the motor cycle for a while and when returned the cash was missing.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

DHARAMSALA
CAMP: A two-day seminar on heartcare and a heart check-up camp will be organised by the B.B.C. Heart Care, Jalandhar, at Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University, Palampur, from Friday. According to Mr Chaman Singh, Registrar of the university, Dr C.S. Pruthi, a cardiologist, and his team of doctors will provide free advice to patients.

APPEAL: The ABVP unit of Capt Vikram Batra Government Degree College, Palampur, has appealed to the government to clarify its position regarding the location of the college to end uncertainty in this regard. While demanding that the college be allowed to function from Palampur it said as it was functioning from a dilapidated building it needed a new premises.

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

Punjab’s first indoor pool at Sangrur

A LONG standing demand of Punjab swimmers has been fulfilled with the opening of the first indoor swimming pool in the local General Gurnam Singh Public School. There is no indoor swimming pool in entire north India, barring the Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi. This 25-metre pool has been built in a record time of three months at a cost of Rs 30 lakh. A pool of the size of 30 feet by 15 feet has been built alongside the main pool for beginners where they can learn the rudiments of swimming. A filteration plant is also there to keep the pool clean.

General Gurnam Singh Public School is a leading public school in this region and its students have always done well in sports as well as academics. This school is run by a trust and at present Mr Sarvjit Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Sangrur, is its chairman. It was on his suggestion that the school decided to have an indoor swimming pool. Principal Sajjan Singh says the swimming pool can be used for 11 months in a year and will be available for use round the year when the heating arrangements are complete. The school has a qualified swimming coach in Balbir Singh who himself has won laurels in this sport and has helped many swimmers win medals in various swimming meets and he has produced national level players. He appears to be determined to do still better with the opening of the new swimming pool.

Swimmers of the state will be allowed use of this pool for preparing for various meets.

Top educationist

Fatehgarh Sahib is now not only known for the heroic martyrdom of two younger sons of Guru Gobind Singh, but also for its educational facilities. The district has the privilege of having a unique educationist in Dr Gurmohan Singh Walia, Principal, Mata Gujri College, and Director, Mata Gujri Institution of Management and Higher Education. Not only he has brought laurels to this rural college by opening many prestigious courses but has also revolutionised the concept of education in the whole area. Mata Gujri College, a one-time small rural college now attracts students from as far as Delhi, UP, Haryana and J&K for management and computer courses.

Dr Walia joined the college as Principal in 1994. Due to his tireless efforts many courses like BCA, PGDCA, music vocal, and physical education have been introduced in the college. Besides this, the Mata Gujri Institute of Management and Higher Education having professional courses like three-year MCA programme and two-year MCA programme has also been set up. The UGC has sanctioned two more vocational courses to the college like functional English and information technology. These courses would be fully funded by the UGC and the college has received the first instalment of Rs 12 lakh.

Dr Walia, currently president of the Punjab Private College Principals’ Association, has also served the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers’ Union as President and in various other capacities. He is also an elected member of the Senate, Syndicate, Academic Council, Academic Board, Post Graduate Board of Studies and College Development Council of Punjabi University. He has the ambition of turning the institution into a “deemed university”.

IPS officer’s feat

Mr Dalbir Bharti has become the first IPS officer hailing from Haryana to have earned the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. His thesis — The Constitution of India and Criminal Justice Administration — has been approved for award of the Ph.D Degree by the University of Mumbai. Currently posted as SP, Jalna, in Maharashtra, he did research under the guidance of Dr P.M. Bandivadekar. Mr Bharti is an alumnus of Kurukshetra University from where he did his M.A. in political science. After his selection in the IPS he was allotted the Maharashtra cadre. It was during his posting as Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mumbai, that he realised unpunished crime and prevalence of injustice were the root causes of all evil in society. He decided to probe the cause of unpunished crime and injustice. Mr Bharti went on an year’s study leave and completed his thesis. Earlier, while working with the Maharashtra police, he did his LL.B from Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathawada University, Aurangabad, and stood first. His study, inter alia, underlines the need for swift and certain punishment for criminals and defines the role of the common people in administration of criminal justice.

Contributed by Gursharan Singh, Surinder Bhardwaj and Raman Mohan.