The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Sunday, August 11, 2002, Chandigarh, India

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R E G I O N A L B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
COUNSELLING: Guru Nanak Dev University has fixed the fourth counselling for admission to M.Tech (integrated), B.Tech and B.Arch courses on August 17 at Maharaja Ranjit Singh Bhavan on the university campus. The coordinator, GET-2002, said preference will be given to those who are on the waiting list of these courses.

COURSE FOR JAWANS: A free course in Punjabi stenography and shorthand for dependants of jawans in service, former Army personnel, widows and their children has been started here. Deputy Director, Sainik Welfare, Lieut Col Manmohan Singh (retd) said the one-year course will be free of cost. Those desirous of joining the course can apply from August 26 to September 1.

DHARNA STAGED: Hundreds of autorickshaw drivers on Friday staged a dharna outside the District Transport Office in protest against the alleged connivance of mini-bus operators with transport officials against them. Mr Ram Sharanpal, president, Autorickshaw Dal, alleged that the authorities concerned had not taken any action against office-bearers of the Mini-Bus Operators Union, Tarn Taran, who had allegedly beaten up some autorickshaw drivers and also damaged their vehicles.

BATHINDA
PSEB RALLY: Junior Engineers of the local thermal plant and the PSEB on Friday held a rally in protest against the anti-employees policies of the authorities concerned. PSEB employees had been holding rallies due to the reductions made in their salaries. They alleged that wrong policies of the PSEB management were responsible for the loss suffered by the board.

FEROZEPORE
DIRECTED: The Civil Surgeon, Dr J.S. Kahlon, has directed doctors and other para-medical staff to be punctual in performing their duties. It had been brought to his notice by various sections of the society that doctors and para-medical staff often came late to the dispensaries and the hospitals.

SMACK RECOVERED: The police has arrested Swarn Singh, a resident of Pirowala village, and recovered 5 grams of smack from him. A case has been registered under the NDPS Act.

HOSHIARPUR
DHARNA: SAD workers led by Mr Balbir Singh Miani, Mr Des Raj Dhugga, Mr Sohan Singh Thandal, all MLAs, Mr Varinder Singh Bajwa, president of the district unit of the SAD (B), Ms Mohinder Kaur Josh, former state minister, and Mr Jajinder Singh Sodhi, former chairman, Hoshiarpur Improvement Trust, staged a dharna in front of district courts here on Friday. They were protesting against the anti-people policies of the Punjab Government. They condemned the Capt Amarinder Singh’s government for implicating SAD leaders in false cases. Mr Arunesh Shaker, former BJP MLA from Mukerian, also participated in the dharna.

JALANDHAR
SNATCHED: Two scooter-borne youths allegedly snatched a bag containing Rs 40,000 from Ms Kuldip Kaur, near Wadala Chowk, here on Friday. She was returning to her residence in the Shiv Vihar Colony in a rickshaw when the youths snatched the bag, according to an FIR.

LUDHIANA
MBA PROGRAMME: The inauguration of master of business administration (MBA) programme was at the Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology in Model Town here on Saturday. Dr M.A. Zahir, Professor of Business Administration and Dean, College of Basic Sciences and Humanities, PAU, was the chief guest on the occasion. Dr A.S. Bansal, director, GNIMT, claimed that GNIMT students had carved a niche for themselves through their achievements. The inauguration ceremony was followed by a seminar on ''management education : challenges and opportunities'' by Dr Zahir. In his address, Dr Zahir advocated that the field of management education offered many opportunities to the students. He emphasised that multiple career avenues were available for the management students and to avail the best opportunities, the students should assimilate the best management practices and keep abreast the latest developments in the field of management.

DCC MEETING: An emergency meeting of the District Congress Committee (Urban) is being convened here on Sunday to chalk out a programme for Independence Day celebrations by the party. According to DCC (U) president Krishan Kumar Bawa, all party legislators, councillors, office-bearers of district, block and ward units and other important party functionaries will attend the meeting. A programme for felicitation function for the newly appointed chief of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee Mr H.S. Hanspal in Chandigarh on August 18 will also be given final shape in the meeting.

VIKAS MANDAL: The following were elected office-bearers of the Tehri Garhwal Vikas Mandal: convener-Mr Satte Singh Rana; president-Mr Rajinder Singh Rana; treasurer-Mr Veer Singh Sajwan; general secretary-Mr Banke Lal Aswal; and executive committee members-Mr Atma Ram Tiwari, Mr Uttam Singh Negi, Mr Bhor Singh Gosain, Mr Anand Singh Sajwan, Mr Bhagwan Singh Bisht, Mr Devendra Singh Rawat, Mr Uttam Singh Dungrial, Mr Gobind Singh Chauhan, Mr Matwar Singh Chauhan, Mr Ram Singh Rana, Mr Mohan Pundeer, Mr Shoorvir Singh Bisht, Mr Dhiraj Singh Chauhan.

PENSIONERS: The Northern Railway Pensioners Welfare Association general secretary, Mr K.L. Chitkara, while addressing the monthly meeting of the association observed that bifurcation of the Railway zones would put extra burden on the Exchequer without bringing any more efficiency in the working. He said the Central Railway with its headquarters at Mumbai and covering a vast geographical area right from Mumbai to Tughlakabad was considered to be the best administered railway. Further, bifurcation of Railway zones might lead to regionalism and prove detrimental to the interests of public at large. Mr Sher Singh, president of the association, was critical of the NDA government at the Centre as also other political parties, which were attempting to bring a Constitutional amendment against the ruling of the Apex Court for debarring those having criminal links, even though not convicted from contesting elections to parliament and state assemblies.

DISCOURSE: In a discourse at Tera Panth Bhavan Muni Vinay Kumar said that pride and ego acted as a deterrent to a man’s growth. Pride came in the way of relationships both within the family and the society. He further said getting angry or becoming slaves to drugs affects the body adversely. The problems of depression, violence, increasing number of drug users, AIDS, and host of other maladies were prevalent in the society for which modern scientific knowledge could not offer any solutions. All these could be cured by exercising restraint, he advised. Since man was gifted with intelligence, he could improve himself by ‘yog’, ‘tap’ and ‘sadhna’.

MANSA
BEATEN UP TO DEATH: Three residents of Lohgarh village of the district allegedly beat Tarsem Singh (20) to death and threw the body in a village street. Tarsem Singh reportedly had illicit relations with a girl of the same village. A case has been registered under Sections 302, 148, 149 and 120-B of the IPC against Gurmeet Singh, Gurjant Singh, Nirbhai Singh, Nasib Singh, Jeet Singh, Bhupinder Singh, Gurdev Singh, Joginder Singh and Satnam Singh.

CALLED OFF: The local District Bar Association called off its 19-day-old strike on Friday following the registration of a case against Mr Baldev Singh Khiala, former Punjab minister, Mr Maghar Singh, retired Principal, and Mr Bahadur Singh, retired teacher, under Sections 153, 147, 149 and 500 of the IPC for addressing unlawful assembly in the court complex.

PSEB DRIVE: The PSEB has launched a drive for the recovery of dues from government departments. Giving this information here on Friday. Mr Sukhdev Singh Yadav, Additional Superintending Engineer, PSEB, Mansa, said Rs 5.97 lakh was outstanding against the various government departments. INAUGURATED: “Trees play important role in fighting drought-like conditions and to educate people about the importance of trees, a state-level 41 member consultative committee has been constituted”, this was stated by Dr Harbans Lal, Forest and Food Supplies Minister, Punjab, while inaugurating 53rd Vanmahotsava at Bhikhi on Friday. He planted a sapling of a Banyan tree.

NAWANSHAHR
ELECTION RESULTS: The Returning-cum-Deputy Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Mr Anup Chand, as per the decision of the Punjab and Haryana High Court declared the election’s result of the election of the Board of Directors of the local Central Cooperative Bank. Mr Balbir Singh, Mr Gurmail Singh, Mr Mohan Singh, Mr Jaspal Singh, Mr Yash Pal Singh, Mr Jaskanwal Singh, Mr Gian Singh and Mr Sucha Singh (all SAD MLAs) and Ms Sheela Devi (BJP) have been declared elected. This was stated by Mr Jatinder Singh Kariha, former SAD MLA, at a meeting on Thursday.

CAMP: A Jalandhar-based NGO, People’s Art of Living Society, organised a free bone density measurement test and treatment camp at Jot Nursing Home here on Thursday. The camp was inaugurated by the Civil Surgeon, Dr K.S. Purewal.

PATHANKOT
POWER CUTS: The city has been facing frequent power cuts for the past more than two months. The worst-hit areas include Model Town, Prem Nagar, Patel Chowk, Mission Road, Gandhi Chowk. Power supply to the Mission Road areas remained suspended for more than 12 hours on Friday. Unscheduled power cuts have become a regular feature. Residents alleged that PSEB officials harass them on one pretext or another.

PATIALA
DUES RECOVERED: The PSEB, on Friday announced that it had recovered dues worth Rs 40 lakh from Patiala, Sangrur and Ropar districts in the past three days during a special drive against defaulting government departments.

OFFICE-BEARERS: Mr Gurnam Singh has been elected president of the Revenue Patwar Union, Patiala Tehsil. The other members of the union are Mr Paramjit Singh — general secretary; Mr Satnam Singh — senior Vice-president; Mr Amar Singh — vice-president and Ms Suresh Kumar — cashier.

YOGA CAMP: Yoga expert Muni Lal Kumra along with Yogesh Sharma would impart yoga training to police staff at division no. 4 from 6 a.m. to 6.30 a.m. everyday, according to district police chief Paramraj Singh Umranangal.

HINDI WORKSHOP: A three-day Hindi workshop was organised by the Language Department of the State Bank of Patiala through its Gurgaon Staff College for employees of the bank. It was inaugurated by the department’s Deputy Director.

DHARAMSHALA INAUGURATED: The Punjab Kashyap Rajput Sabha president, Mr Suresh Mehra, inaugurated a dharamshala at Kamikalan recently. Speaking on the occasion, he said the dharamshala would be used for community purposes by people of the neighbouring villages.

WORKSHOP: The Garden and Environment Society president, Col Bishan Das (retd), spoke on traffic control and need to reducing pollution in the city at a workshop organised for government employees by the District Red Cross Society.

BLOOD DONATION CAMP: The Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) secretary, Ms Jaspreet Kaur, on Saturday inaugurated a blood donation camp organised by the Patiala Social Welfare Society, State Bank of Patiala and Lions Club (Vishal) at the PSEB headquarters. The camp was also attended by the Deputy General Manager of the bank, Mr Desh Pandey.

PHILLAUR
ATTACKED: Armed miscreants with their faces covered attacked Jalandhar BJP (rural) secretary Kamaljit Kanda and his father Roop Lal at their residence at Atta village in this subdivision on Friday. They were injured and admitted to the Government Hospital, Barra Pind. Mr Kanda alleged that the assailants came to abduct his young girl.

SAMRALA
SEMINAR: A seminar on ‘Remote sensing’ was held here in Government Senior Secondary School for Girls on Saturday. Six schools of the area participated. Mr Varinder Kumar Sharma, District Science Supervisor, presided over the function. Miss Manpreet Kaur of Samrala Senior Secondary School for Girls stood first, Mr Sukhjot Singh of Government High School, Sihara stood second and Ms Kamaljeet Kaur of Government High School, Otalan stood third.

DECISION: Ex-servicemen have decided to donate to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund, said Mr Gurbhajan Singh, secretary general of All India Ex-servicemen Action Committee, Punjab, here on Saturday.

TARN TARAN
BOOKED: The husband and the mother-in-law of Bholi who committed suicide on Thursday have been booked under Section 304B of the IPC. Bholi was married to Manjinder Singh 10 years ago. According to another report Sukhchain Singh, a resident of Boparai village was murdered by his elder brother on Thursday. The police has registered a case under Section 302 of the IPC.

SMACK RECOVERED: Four grams of smack was recovered from Jaspreet Kaur, a resident of Marri Nau Abad village under Valtoha police station. Jassa Singh husband of the accused too is a smack seller.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
CONDEMNED: The Himachal Pradesh State Journalists Federation has condemned the arrest of Tehelka journalist Anirudh Behal and demanded a high-level inquiry into the case. Addressing mediapersons here on Saturday, Jaikumar, president of the state unit of the federation said the federation considered this as an attack on the freedom of the press.

MEETING HELD: A meeting of the district CPI council was held here on Saturday. It criticised the state government for its failure to announce any employment policy in the state. This was stated by Mr Diwanaram Chaudhary, district CPI secretary. CPI state secretariat member Bhagat Singh Verma presided over the meeting.

DHARAMSALA
ARRESTED: Two youths have been arrested for an attempt to extort money from Dr Vijay Gautam of Jwalamukhi. The youths have been identified as Amit Sood of Jawalamukhi and Surinder Kumar of Thural in Jaisinghpur subdivision. A case has been registered.

KANGRA
TOURISM: The Himachal Pradesh Government has spent Rs 13.83 crore on the development of Kangra district in the past over four years. H P Agriculture Minister said this while inaugurating Rs 12.50 lakh in first phase of Bajjreshwari Ghat on Banner Khud near Purana Kangra on Friday. He said Rs 40 lakh were to be spent on Bajjreshwari Ghat to make it a place of tourists attraction.

NAHAN
CAMP HELD: A blood donation camp was organised by the local branch of the State Bank of India here on Friday. Mr D.T. Negi, Chief Manager of the bank, said 20 units of blood were donated at the camp by bank employees, homeguards and members of the local Lions Club.

SHIMLA
REGISTRATION SOUGHT: The state Youth Congress has demanded the resignation of Mr Ram Naik, Union Petroleum Minister, for large-scale irregularities in the allotment of petrol stations and cooking gas agencies. The state executive of the Youth Congress which met here on Friday expressed shock over the fact that the son and nephew of Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, were the allottees, besides kin of ministers, chairpersons of various boards and corporations and other BJP leaders. it decided to submit a memorandum to the President of India on August 13 urging him to sack Mr Naik.

CHARGE DENIED: The BJP has refuted the Congress charge that the Dhumal government is ignoring drought situation and preoccupied with the creation of new districts. Mr Ganesh Dutt, the party spokesperson, said here on Friday that Congress leaders were indulging in false propaganda to malign the ruling party. He said the allegations were baseless as Himachal Pradesh was one of the few states in the country which had taken effective steps to deal with the situation.

INTERVENTION SOUGHT: Mr Rakesh Pant, President of the state unit of the Samajwadi Party, has sought the intervention of the state high court to ensure that 85 per cent of the seats were reserved for Himachalis in the Jay Pee Institute of Information and Technology ( JPIIT). In a letter to the Chief Justice he pointed out that another private institute, the Institute of Engineering and Emerging Technologies at Baddi had recently reserved 85 per cent seats for Himachali students but the JPIIT had set apart only five out of the 120 seats from them.

PATWARI CAUGHT: The state Vigilance Department on Friday caught Madan Lal, patwari of Darbhog circle in Shimla district while taking a bribe of Rs 1000 from Shobha Ram, a resident of Shilonbagh village for supplying copies of the revenue record for regularising certain encroachments.

UNA
ASHTAMI FAIR: A nine-day Shravan Ashtami Fair, which attracts more than five lakh pilgrims every year, began at the Maa Chintpurni shrine on Friday. The district administration has banned carrying of firearms, blowing brass drums and organising “langar”, except at places specified by the mela officer-cum-ADM, Mr Ashok Sharma.