The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Friday, August 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
DEATH MOURNED: Former Minister of External Affairs and MP, Mr R.L. Bhatia, mourned the sudden demise of Vice-President of India, Mr Krishan Kant. He said in his death the country and Punjab have lost a great freedom fighter.

DEATH ANNIVERSARY: The All-India Pingalwara Charitable Society will observe the 10th death anniversary of the founder of pingalwara Bhagat Puran Singh on August 5, 2002. The president of the society, Dr Inderjit Kaur, said a blood donation camp will be organised at the pingalwara complex besides a competition in rural handicrafts.

BATALA
‘BOLD’ BUDGET: The vice-president of the District Congress Committee, Gurdaspur, Mr Parminder Singh Gill, has described the Budget of the Punjab Government as a bold step. Addressing a press conference, he said benefits to the employees would be restored as soon as beneficial planning started yielding results. The government had started a campaign to curb corruption. The priority of the government was to pull the state out of financial crisis, he added .

DHURI
NOMINATED: Mr Vijay Singla, senior vice-president of the local Beopar Mandal has been nominated by the Ministry of Communications and IT as a member of the Telecom Advisory Committee for Sangrur district till July 31, 2004. Representatives of various local organisations/unions have thanked Mr Shamsher Singh Dullo, Member Parliament for getting Mr Singla nominated to this committee.

JALANDHAR
ELECTED: Barjinder Singh was elected president of the Rail Coach Factory Men’s Union during the general council meeting of the union at Kapurthala on Wednesday. The election to the post of the president was held after a gap of about 14 years following the judgement of a Kapurthala court which upheld the decision of the general council pertaining to the removal of previous president, Mr J.S. Gandhi, from the membership of the union.

LUDHIANA
INVITED: Dr N.K. Narda, Professor and Head, Department of Soil and Water Engineering, has been invited by the Institute of Engineering Tribhuvan University, Nepal, as a resource person to participate in the Agricultural Engineering Curriculum Development Workshop to be held at Dharam Campus, Nepal, from August 1 to 7. The objective of the curriculum development workshop is to develop and propose suitable curricula in agricultural engineering offered at Dharam Campus, located 500m east of Kathmandu and have interaction with planners, policy personnel, academicians, researchers etc.

DHARNA ENDS: The 15-day-long dharna by employees of the Vocational Rehabilitation Training Centre came to an end on Thursday when the Director of the centre conceded to their demands. Mr Madan Gopal, president, said that the strike was called off after Dr E.M. Johnson, Director agreed to their demands. He said the employees were assured that all kinds of facilities would be restored to them by the centre. He also stated that the Director had promised them setting up of a complaint office where grievances of all employees would be redressed.

SPECIAL KATHA: A special katha of Shiv Mahapuran was held at the Sanatan Dharam Mandir in New Model Town on Wednesday. Pandit Kamlesh Shastri, reciting the katha, narrated in detail the war between demons and angels. Among the prominent persons in the audience were Mr Kundan Lal Khurana, Mr Inderjit Toni, Mr Sham Lal, Mr Baldev Mahajan, Mr Mohinder Pal, Mr Kamal Kumar and Mr. Devinder Kumar. Shri Mahavir Jain Yuvak Sangh will organise a special “tap” programme on August 8 in connection with the birthday celebrations of Acharya Samrat Shri Anand Rishi Ji Maharaj.

MEDICAL CAMP: A free medical check-up camp was organised by the Lions Club Ludhiana North at Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Model Town extension. More than 120 patients were examined at the camp. Medicines were provided to the needy free of cost.

HAILED: Youth Congress leaders have hailed the appointment of Mr H.S. Hanspal as the president of the Pradesh Congress Committee in Punjab. They observed that his appointment will help in strengthening the party and consolidating its hold in the state. In separate statements senior vice-presidents of the PYC, Mr Pawan Dewan and Mr Amarjit Singh Tikka, while welcoming the appointment, said Mr Hanspal was acceptable to the entire rank and file of the party in the state. They said Mr Hanspal had a clean and unblemished political career.

MOGA
CENTRAL ASSISTANCE: Former president of the BKU Kuldip Singh Sandhu and general secretary of state unit of the union Bhupinder Singh Mahasari, in a statement here on Thursday, demanded adequate Central assistance for the farmers of Punjab whose paddy crop had been damaged due to the dry spell. They further demanded that Punjab be declared drought-hit and agricultural loans advanced to the farmers be waived.

YOUTH KILLED: A youth was crushed to death on Wednesday when he was runover by a tanker on the Dharamkot-Kishanpura link road in this district while he was crossing the road. The deceased has been identified as Ravinder Singh, a resident of nearby village. A case has been registered and the body sent for a post-mortem examination.

PATIALA
GANG BUSTED: The police has busted a gang of drug dealers by nabbing one of its members and seized five bags of poppy husk from him. Disclosing this here today, the District Police Chief, Mr Paramraj Singh Umranangal, said Darshan Singh had been arrested at Banerakhurd village near Nabha but his two accomplice Gurmail Singh alias Galota and Gurdeep Singh, managed to escape. Mr Umranangal said all the three were members of a “Sansi” tribal gang which was active in Patiala and Sangrur districts. He said there were involved in selling poppy husk on a retail basis in villages in both the districts. A case under the NDPS Act had been registered.

SAMRALA
HAILED: Mr Parminder Singh Gill, general secretary, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (legal cell), and Mr Sarbjit Singh, Sarpanch, Sri Bhaini Sahib, have hailed the appointment of Mr H S Hanspal as president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. The leaders also appreciated Capt Amarinder Singh, Chief Minister, for strictly complying with the principles of one-man-one-post.

DEMAND: The unit of the Samrala Bharti Kisan Union has made a demand that the Samrala sub-division be declared drought-hit area due to very poor rains in the area. Mr Mewa Singh Sihala, propaganda secretary, made this demand to the SDM, Mr Jaspal Singh Jassi, here on Thursday.

CHANDIGARH

SAPLINGS PLANTED: The NSS volunteers of Sri Guru Gobind Singh College, Sector 26, organised a sapling plantation camp on the college campus here on Thursday in collaboration with the State Bank of India. Inaugurating the camp, the DPI (Colleges), Ms Varsha Joshi, planted a sapling. Later, 150 volunteers took part in the tree plantation drive in which 80 saplings of different varieties were planted. At the function, Principal P.S. Sangha exhorted the students to carry on with the drive to keep Chandigarh green and free from pollution.

PANCHKULA
CAR CATCHES FIRE: The official car (HR-17-D-0038) of a senior officer of the Forest Development Corporation caught fire near the Government Press, Sector 6, on Thursday afternoon. The fire was caused by a short circuit in the car. The fire staff were summoned and the fire was controlled within few minutes.

ORAL HYGIENE DAY: Oral hygiene day was observed by Dr Kamalpreet Chhinna, Head, Department of Periodontics and Community and Preventive Dentistry, and her team at BRS Dental College, Kot Billa, here on Thursday. Posters, banners and various oral hygiene aids were displayed and patients were educated and given demonstrations on importance and maintenance of good oral hygiene.

SEWAK CENTRES: The district rural and urban development agencies, have decided to start a number of Self Employed Workers Association Kendras (SEWAK) where city-based services would be made available to the citizens under one roof. A spokesman for the agencies today said the registration of unemployed skilled and unskilled workers for various jobs was in progress. The trades include — carpenter, welder, plumber, electrician, mason, scooter and motor cycle mechanic, radio and TV mechanic, computer operator, beautician, book binder, dry cleaner, painter and other specialised services.

VISIT: The Deputy Commissioner, Ms Jyoti Arora, on Thursday visited various sectors in the township to inspect cleanliness and directed the Municipal Council authorities to take action against the contractor engaged for rounding up stray animals, those who throw garbage in the street and those defacing public property by putting up posters. Mr O.P. Sihag, Executive Officer, Municipal Council, said a fine of Rs 24,000 had been imposed on the contractor for not catching the stray animals. He said notices had been sent to 25 persons for dumping garbage on the road side and another 15 for defacing public property.

HARYANA

AMBALA
DEMAND: The president of Sangharsh Vahini, Mr Hira Lal Yadav, today demanded that there should not be any need for no objection certificate in Ambala Sadar area. Talking to mediapersons here on Thursday Mr Hira Lal Yadav said even for water, sewerage and power connection, there is a need for NOC. “We strongly oppose no objection certificate. Incidentally, the Municipal Council wants completion certificate of the house and there are only a few people who have a completion certificate. It is causing a lot of problems to the house owners of Ambala Sadar,” he said.

GIRDAWARI ON AUGUST 5: Special girdwari is going to be held from August 5 due to delay in monsoon. An official said a meeting of district revenue officers was presided over by Deputy Commissioner, Ambala, Mr D.D Gautam, on Thursday. The official stated that the special assessment of the damage caused to paddy crops due to delayed monsoon will be carried out from August 5 to 20. “During 15-day period, the official will visit the villages and take stock of the situation. The officials will assess the area in which paddy was sowed and how much of it is damaged. It will also consider those areas where the farmers did not sow due to drought like situation,” the official said. After the ‘girdawari’ is complete, conpensation will be awarded to the affected farmers.

RETIRES: Mr K.K. Gupta, Principal of DAV Senior Secondary School, Ambala Cantt retired on Wednesday after putting in 38 years of service. He joined the school as a science master in 1964 and was promoted to the post of Principal in 1985. The school managing committee and staff members gave him a farewell and appreciated his work and achievements, a release said.

WELCOMED: A number of Congress activists on Thursday welcomed the appointment of former Chief Minister, Mr Bhajan Lal, as the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee president. Among others, Mr Om Prakash Malik, Mr Darshan Lal Dua, Mr Puran Chand Jaiswal, Mr S C Jaiswal, have hailed his appointment through press notes issued on Thursday. They said it was a decision which would go a long way in strengthening the party in the state.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

DHARAMSALA
DISTRIBUTED: Essential commodities worth Rs 24 crore were distributed in Kangra district during the first quarter of the current year. Mr Prabodh Saxena, Deputy Commissioner, said in addition to 2,51,201 LPG cylinders, 3,508 kilolitre of kerosene and 28,910 quintals of levy sugar was distributed. Mr Saxena said 9,713 quintals of wheat had been distributed to consumers below poverty line.

PHOTO-IDENTITY CARDS: No voter will be allowed to cast his vote in the next election unless he or she is in possession of photo-identity card issued by the Election office in the district. According to the Chief Electoral Officer, Himachal Pradesh, 3,400 centres had been set up in the state for issuing photo-identity cards which would be made till September.

KANGRA
SUICIDE: Balwasra Devi (22), mother of a six-month-old girl and married eight months ago, committed suicide by consuming pesticides in Manjetli village on Wednesday, police sources said. Mr N.D. Sareen, additional police chief Kangra district, said Balwasra Devi was rushed to Nagrota Bagwan Hospital where she died. A case was registered under Section 174 of the CrPC.

YOUTHS NABBED: Two motor cycle-borne youths were nabbed by the residents of Dard village, near the shrine of Chamunda, on Tuesday after they looted cash amounting to Rs 19,549 from a woman employee of a senior secondary school at Chiachian who was going to deposit the same in the post office at Chiachian village, police sources said here on Wednesday. The residents of Dard village blocked the road and nabbed one of the youths who was identified as Aman Jeet of Jalandhar, Punjab. His accomplice, identified as Vinod Kumar, a resident of Pathankot, however, managed to escape.