The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Sunday, July 14, 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

DERA BASSI
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Dera Bassi Bar Association: president — Mr Tilak Raj Bhandari; vice-president — Mr Hari Singh Saini; general secretary — Mr Hardeep Singh Saini; joint secretary — Ms Anita Kaushik; and cashier — Mr Abdul Bukhar Khan.

JALANDHAR
SEMINAR: The district police organised a seminar on “Police-Public relations” at the Police Lines complex on Friday. Mr Paramjit Singh Gill, SSP, said the seminar was the first step towards improving the image of the police by ending the communication gap with the police. He said the police had decided to organise police-public meetings at all police stations in the district.

LUDHIANA
SHOBHA YATRA: The management of Shri Sapt Siddh Mata Chintpurni Temple in Vijay Nagar, Haibowal, took out a shobha yatra of the holy flame brought from Jwalaji here on Friday in connection with the holding of a Bhagwati Jagran at the temple on Saturday. The shobha yatra was led among others by Bhagat Naresh Sharma

PENSION: The Ludhiana Young Welfare Society would organise 12th monthly Shri Harmilap Widow Pension Samaroh on Sunday (July 14) at the Tagore Dharamshala in New Cycle Market here at 9.30 am, according to Mr Rajneesh Parbhakar, president of the society.

MARRIAGE OF POOR GIRLS: The Lala Jagat Narayan Nishkam Sewa Sangh and the Shri Gyan Sthal Mandir Sabha would jointly marry off five poor girls at a function on August 4 to mark the five years of the monthly free ration distribution scheme started by the sabha for the benefit of poor widows. Mr Jagdish Bajaj, president of the sabha, said in a press release that the number of widows benefitting from the scheme were gradually increasing.

WELCOMED: The Jain Mahila Mandal accorded a warm welcome to Jain Acharya Shrimad Ratnakar Suri ji Maharaj on his arrival in the city on Friday in connection with his 'chaturmas' sojourn here.

ANNIVERSARY: The 29th death anniversary of Garib Shah Aghori Baba was celebrated with religious fervour at the Kali Mata Mandir on the Humbran road here on Friday. At a function, which was held on the temple premises, the holy flame was lighted by Pandit Munshi Ram and the flag was hoisted by Mr Surinder Dabar, MLA. The temple management later honoured Mr. Surinder Dabar, Mr. Hem Raj, Mr Balkar Singh and Mr Jasbir Singh Chadha.

SAMMELAN: During his ‘chaturmas’ sojourn in the city, the current Jainacharya, Dr Shiv Muni ji Maharaj, proposes to convene an all-religion meet or a sarv-dharam sammelan, to discuss the prevailing social evils and to forge a common front to combat the same. The muni is of the view that a single community cannot combat social evils as effectively as a joint front of all communities. The social evils which were tearing apart the very fabric of our society these days were the dowry system, increasing addiction to drugs and alcohol, meat eating and so on. He said the sammelan would be convened sometime in the middle of his ‘chaturmas’ stay. The muni said the Union Government should use Doordarshan to discourage the use of intoxicants and eating of meat. He said a ban on meat-eating would go a long way in preserving the cultural heritage of the country. During his sojourn, the muni would also hold sammelans on yog sadhna, health and children’s samskara and also camps on mahila shakti and yuva shakti.

PRAGYA DAY: Shri Jain Shwetambar Terapanthi Sabha, Bagh Wali Gali, would hold a function at Shri Baba Gajja Jain Community Centre in Sunder Nagar on Sunday at 9.30 am, to celebrate the 83rd birth anniversary of Acharya Shri Mahapragya ji, the 10th ‘anushasta’ of the Terapanth Dharamsangh, according to Mr Bansi Lal Surana, president of the sabha. Mr Surana said in a press release here on Saturday that the function would be presided over by Mr Kashmiri Lal Jain, president, Shri Baba Gajja Jain Sabha, and Mr Nahar Singh Gill, Mayor, would be the chief guest on the occasion.

PNB COMPUTERISED: In order to provide better, efficient and customer-friendly banking services to the residents of the area, Punjab National Bank, started computers at its Benjamin Road branch here on Saturday. The computerisation of the branch was inaugurated by Mr A.K. Loomba, senior regional manager, Ludhiana. Customers from different parts of the city participated in the programme. In his address, Mr Loomba said with this branch, all the branches in Ludhiana district were now computerised. All the business relating to saving fund, current account, overdraft cash credit etc. are being conducted on the computers. Mr S.C. Malhotra, chief manager, Mr V.K. Sharma, manager, and staff members of other branches were also present on this occasion.

BLACK BELT CEREMONY: The Defence and Attack Karate Association is organising a ‘black belt’ ceremony of the karatakas on here on Sunday at the Institute of Nursing Education (INE), Guru Teg Bahadur Charitable Hospital, Model Town. According to a press release issued here on Saturday, the chief guest of the function would be Mr Bakshi Mohinder Singh, president, Guru Teg Bhadur Hospital Trust, and Ms G.K. Walia, Principal, INE. On this occasion, the girls would demonstrate their martial art skills.

DISCRIMINATION ALLEGED: The Handicapped Institution Employees Federation has alleged discrimination with the employees of the VRTC, Ludhiana, at the hands of its director, Dr E M Jonshon. They have accused the director of exploiting the employees and subjecting them to acute “mental torture”. According to a handout issued by the federation, a meeting held here on Saturday took strong exception to the attitude of the director towards the handicapped employees. The federation alleged that there was no uniformity in payment of wages, inequality among the employees, no dearness allowance and no accommodation provided to the employees. The federation has warned that in case the director did not change his attitude towards the employees, they would be forced to take some extreme measures.

PHAGWARA
STUDY CENTRE: St Soldier Divine Public School, Hadiabad, Phagwara, has been accredited as the study centre of National Open School for Secondary Education in Hindi and English mediums from the current academic session, According to Mr Anil Chopra, Chairman, St Soldier Group of Schools.

PENSION: Mr T.D. Bhardwaj, vice-president of the local Aided Schools Pensioners Cell, has demanded that 2000 pension cases pending in the DPI office be expedited.

SAMRALA
SHORTAGE: There is acute shortage of revenue stamps in the local post offices since July 2 causing inconvenience to the public. According to Mr Lal Singh, Post Master in charge of the post office, shortage stamps is all over Punjab and the authorities have been informed.

TARN TARAN
SIX NABBED: The police has nabbed six persons for gambling and booked one person under the NDPS Act.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Employees Welfare Society: president — Mr Satish Kumar Jhamb; vice-president —Mr Balraj Krishan Kumar; treasurer —Mr Harwinder Singh; organising secretary —Mr Mohinder Singh; joint secretary (general) — Mr Kuldeep Singh, joint secretary (treasurer) — Mr Nirmaljit Singh.

CHANDIGARH

INTRODUCED: The State Bank of Patiala on Friday introduced business process re-engineering (single-window service) at its Sector 10-D branch, which was inaugurated by one of the oldest customers of the branch, Dr Parmod Gill. Mr P.K. Goyal, Assistant General Manager, said the bank would soon introduce one-stop service for its clients at all its branches.

P.S. MULTANI DEAD: Mr P.S. Multani, 90, the first Estate Officer of Chandigarh, passed away at his Sector 18 residence on July 8. Mr Multani, an Indian Civil Services (ICS) officer, had served in the British Army during the World War II. He was the Additional District Magistrate, Ambala, when Nethu Ram Godse, the assassin of Mahatama Gandhi, was hanged. He was also posted as Deputy Commissioner of Shimla.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Parent-Teacher Association of Ishwar Singh Dev Samaj Girls Senior Secondary School, Sector 21: president — Mr R.C. Gujral; vice-president — Mr Sumati Kanwar; general secretary — Ms Rajni Vali; joint secretary — Mr Randhawa; and Ms Neeru; auditor — Mr J.R. Kaul; and executive members: Mr Vinay Kumar, Mr Balwinder Singh, Mr S.C. Jain, Ms Prabhjot, Mr Madan Pal Dhingania, Ms Harjoginder, Ms Loveleen Bedi, Ms Kusum Puri and Ms Rajinder Pal.

SPCA MEETING: The meeting of the executive committee of the SPCA, Chandigarh, was held under the chairmanship of secretary, Animal Husbandry, Mr M.P. Singh at the SPCA Hospital-cum-Rehabilitation Centre in Sector 38. The president of the SPCA, Mr Jasbir Ralhan, explained the on going activities and other activities of the society in the filed of animal welfare with special emphasis on minimising perpetual cruelties and developing passion towards animals. He also highlighted the need for additional four kanal plot, substantial increase in government grant and more co-operation from departments concern to meet the objectives.

PANCHKULA
MC CRITICISED: The Residents Welfare Association, Sector 4, has lambasted the Municipal Council for failing to control the menace of stray cattle. In a statement issued on Saturday, Mr S.D. Daid, president of the association, said the MC had authorised a private contractor to round up stray cattle but he had failed to keep the stray cattle off the roads.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

KANGRA
SUICIDE: A 35-year-old housewife Pawana Devi, of Kholi village committed suicide by consuming poison on Friday. The body of Pawana Devi was taken to Dr R.P. Govt. Medical College Hospital, Dharamsala, for post-mortem. PHAGWARA

EXPLANATION: The Executive Officer of the local Nagar Council, Mrs Gurinder G. Randhawa has demanded explanation from Section Officer Swaran Inderpal Singh in connection with a complaint of BJP leaders and party’s former Councillors who had accused him of using objectionable language against the Prime Minister.

MANDI
SEIZED: Thirtyfour scants of precious deodar timber were recovered by a joint party of the police and the Forest Department from a van at Kohlu village on Friday. Mr S.K. Musafir, Divisional Forest Officer, Nachan, told this reporter that the rear seats of the van had been removed and it had been packed with timber. The occupants of the vehicle escaped under cover of darkness.

SHIMLA
BUS TICKETS: The state committee of CITU has condemned the decision of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) to allow the sale of bus tickets through private counters. It also criticised the move to allow the workshops of the corporation to carry out the maintenance of private buses. The workshops were already understaffed, according to CITU. The decision to replace conductors by coolies was also not in the interest of the corporation it added. It has demanded immediate payment of overtime allowance, pending for the past seven months, of conductors and drivers.

TWO KILLED: Two persons were killed when the van in which they were travelling rolled down into a khud on the Shimla-Kalka road near Shoghi on Friday. The police identified the victims as Rajneesh, driver, and Lucky Sharma. The van was on its way from Chandigarh to Shimla.

UNA
FUNDS: The Urban Development Department of Himachal Pradesh has provided 35 to 40 shops at a cost of Rs 1 crore each at Nahan, Solan, Chamba, Una, Palampur, Dharamsala, Nalagarh and Paonta Sahib. These shops constructed by the Nagar Parishad and the Nagar Panchayat were provided to the unemployed handicapped and the IRDP family members. Mr Roop Das Kashyap, State Minister for Urban Development, said this here on Friday.

POPPY HUSK SEIZED: Excise and taxation officials apprehended two persons carrying 42.6 kg of poppy husk on Thursday. Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner Devinder Katoch said during a routine check of passengers’ luggage in the Delhi-Awahdevi HRTC bus, a bag was found containing poppy husk. Sumit Singh and Udham Singh of Rajasthan have been booked under the NDPS Act in this regard.