The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Wednesday, September 11, 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
COMPENSATION AWAITED: The PSEB authorities are reluctant to pay compensation to the family of Sanjay, a seven-year-old boy who died of electrocution due to the negligence of the PSEB. Mr Satya Pal Dang, a CPI leader, has written to the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, regarding this.

ARRESTED: Rocky, alias Khapa, an accused in the theft at the girls hostel at Government Medical College, here was arrested on Monday. Mr Surinder Kumar Kalia, SP City II, said the accused was traced by the calls he made from a stolen mobile phone. On terrogation he named his other accomplice as Pawan Kumar, a resident of Basant Nagar.

HINDI DIVAS: ‘Hindi divas’ will be celebrated by Guru Nanak Dev University on September 21 according to a university press release here on Monday. Mr Khushal Behl, Higher Education Minister, Punjab, will preside over the function and Prof Ramesh Kuntal Megh, a noted Hindi critic will be the main speaker. Five publications of the university and a special issue of ‘pradhikrit’, a research journal of the department will also be released.

BATHINDA
BODIES FOUND: Volunteers of the Sahara Jan Seva found a body at the railway shed that was covered with a quilt cover. The deceased was identified as Laxmi Narain Sharma, a resident of the Amarpura Basti area. In another case a 57-year-old rickshaw-puller died at the fish market here.

OPENED: The lasik laser facility for the treatment of refractive error of vision, has been installed at a local hospital. Dr G.S. Khurana said this was the first centre to install a laser machine for the purpose in the Malwa region.

FEROZEPORE
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Taxation Bar Association at the general body meeting of the association held at the sales tax office here on Tuesday: president — Mr S.L. Gakhar; secretary — Mr H.P. Garg; and the treasurer — Mr V.K. Kakkar.

CELEBRATED: The 7 Infantry Division celebrated Asal Utar Day in honour of the late CQMH Abdul Hamid, PVC, of 4 Grenadiers who had made the supreme sacrifice while fighting against Pakistan in 1965 to defend Asal Utar village from an onslaught of tanks. A medical camp was organised for ex-servicemen where facilities for X-ray, ultrasound and ECG were provided. Medicines were distributed free of cost. An exhibition was also held by the local Station Health Organisation to educate the local populace on health matters.

HOSHIARPUR
ART OF LIVING: Art of Living is a practical course with a unique combination of the ancient Vedic knowledge and the healing power of the breath adapted to suit the modern man. This was stated by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of the “Art of Living” foundation, while addressing a big congregation at the local DAV Senior Secondary School ground here on Monday. He said ‘pranayam’, meditation, yoga postures and breathing were used as the most effective mediums to eliminate stress, anxiety, tension, depression and negative emotions like anger, jealousy, frustration etc.

DOWRY DEATH: The Hajipur police has arrested Seema Devi and Rita Devi in connection with the alleged killing of their sister-in-law Rajniwala, wife of Kamal Parkash of Ettia village. Rajniwala was missing from her house since September 7. Her body was recovered from Power House No. 3 of the Mukerian hydel project. On a complaint of Mr Pritam Singh of Jamshed Chatial village, father of the deceased, the Hajipur police has registered a case against Sanjogta Devi, mother-in-law, Rita Devi, Renu Devi, Seema Devi, sisters-in-law, and Kamal Kishore, husband of the deceased. In his complaint, Pritam Singh alleged that Rajniwala’s in-laws used to torture her daughter for more dowry and were responsible for the killing of his daughter.

MANSA
CONVICTED: Mr Harsh Mehta, Chief Judicial Magistrate here, convicted Gurtej Singh, a local resident, and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for one year and pay a fine of Rs 1 lakh under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. Gurtej Singh purchased goods on credit from Mr Jiwan Dass, proprietor of Suraj Machinery Store here, and issued two cheques for Rs 50,000 each. Both cheques bounced for want of funds. The accused failed to make the payment to Mr Jiwan Dass within 15 days of the receipt of legal notice.

ELECTIONS: Mr Balbir Singh Dhaliwal, president of the Punjab Police Pensioners Association, Mansa district, while talking to mediapersons here on Tuesday said members of the association had offered their services for elections in Jammu & Kashmir. He said some of the members of the association had been posted there while serving the Police Department and they were well aware of the topography of the area.

SUMMONED: The Chief Judicial Magistrate here summoned Mr Mukand Singh Malhi, DSP, Mr Pawan Kumar Sharma, ASI and Mr Tej Ram, Head Constable, in connection with a complaint filed by Mr Harpal Singh Palli, local municipal councillor, in the court under Sections 323, 342, 406, 506 and 34 of the IPC and released them on bail.

ELECTION DUTY: The Deputy Commissioner here has sought the consent of officials who wish to perform election duty in Jammu and Kashmir. In a press note issued here on Tuesday, the Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Election Officer said officials of the Punjab Government who performed duty as presiding and polling officers would get Rs 15,000 instead of Rs 10,000 in the third phase and Rs 12,000 instead of Rs 7,000 in the second phase of elections. The amount would be exempted from income tax, he added. The employees have been asked to give their consent before September 12.

PATHANKOT
TEACHERS’ DAY: “Teachers are nation builders and the future of a nation always depends upon the sincere and dutiful” teachers as the taughts of the present day are the pillars of the future of a nation, said Mr Khushal Behl, Education Minister, Punjab on Monday while addressing a gathering at a function on Teachers’ Day organised by the Old Students’ Association at Government Senior Secondary School.

VANAMAHOTSAVA: Local Bar Association with the help of Mr Bhajan Ram Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Mrs Kiran Bala and Mr Ranjit Singh, Judicial Magistrates First Class, on Monday celebrated ‘vanamahotsava’ by planting large number of saplings in the court complex here.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Pathankot Electrical Traders Association (P.E.T.A.): president — Mr Ramesh Kumar; vice-president — Mr S.K. Khosla; general secretary — Mr Nirmal Sharma; joint secretary — Mr Rakesh Sehgal; and treasurer — Mr Rakesh Garg.

SUNAM
BIRTH ANNIVERSARY: The BBB Sports Academy, Banga, organised a function on Monday at Banga village, 35 km from here, to pay tributes to Babu Brish Bhan, a freedom fighter and former Chief Minister of Pepsu, on his 96th birth anniversary. Mr Sham Lal Garg, former General Manager of Ranjit Sagar Thein Dam, presided over the function. A blood donation camp was also organised by a social club. Mr Vipan Garg, spokesman for the club, said 35 units of blood were donated at the camp. Besides, various sports events were also organised by the BBB sports academy.

TARN TARAN
AIDS CAMP: The International Forum for Education and Development (INFED) organised an AIDS awareness camp here on Monday in which a large number of truck drivers and helpers participated.

CHANDIGARH

SPECIAL CAMPAIGN: The personal banking branch of the State Bank of Patiala, Sector 8-C, here launched a special housing campaign on Monday. Mr V.K. Gupta, Chief Manager of the branch, claimed that campaign had been launched to boost housing activity, as the bank had recently slashed the rate of interest. He said the bank had also set up a special housing loan cell to expedite the housing loan cases.

CONVENTION: The 9th circle level quality convention of the State Bank of India (SBI) was organised at Panchkula on Monday at staff training centre. Mr R.K. Sinha, Chief General Manager, was the chief guest on the occasion. Welcoming the chief guest, Mr R.K. Mishra, DGM & circle credit officer, apprised that 55 quality circles were functional invarious branches of the Chandigarh circle. About 12 quality circle teams in various branches of Chandigarh circle teams participated in the convention. Addressing the participants, Mr R.K. Sinha said, “The quality circles can help in fostering the involvement of people in achieving bank’s goals.” Later, he awarded trophies to the winning teams: first prize to Yamunanagar branch, second to Amritsar and third prize to Harbans Nagar, Jalandhar and SCB Civil Lines, Jalandhar branch jointly for project presentation. The first prize for best stall exhibition given to Gill Road. Ludhiana branch, second to Hoshiarpur branch and third to Mandi (HP) branch.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The annual general body meeting of Sector 28-A Welfare Association was held on September 8, 2002, at St. Soldier School, Sector 28, Chandigarh. The following office-bearers were elected unanimously: president — Brig. B. S. Oberoi (retd); senior vice-president — Major H. P. S. Gill (retd); vice-president — Mr S. P. Malik; general secretary — Mr R. C. Manchanda; joint secretary — Major Ravinder Singh (retd); finance member — Ms Ritu Hundal and law member — Mr G. D. Hans.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Residents Welfare Association, Sector 33, for the year 2002-2004: president — Mr T.S. Nag, senior vice-president — Col G.P.S Patheja (retd), vice-presidents — Ms N. Mahindroo, Col J.S. Multani (retd) and Mr. Jagdish Singh Sarpal; general secretary — Mr Daya Singh; and treasurer — Mr Manmohan Singh.

HARYANA

AMBALA
BEAUTY CARNIVAL: A beauty carnival was organised at the VLCC centre here on Tuesday. During the carnival, Ms Rita Juneja, a noted cosmetologist and hair specialist, launched the international face treatment range of bio marine and oxygen facials. She also conducted a workshop regarding all skin and hair problems besides giving step by step lessons. Individual counselling was done regarding hair styles and cosmetics, a release said.

AWARENESS PROGRAMME: The Ambala Central Junior Chamber organised a traffic awareness programme on Tuesday as part of the Jaycee week. Students from different schools were informed about traffic rules and regulations.

VISIT: A public commission of inquiry set up by Haryana Pradesh Youth Congress will visit on Tuesday. The state spokesman, Dr Pradeep Chauhan, said the public commission of inquiry would look into the alleged irregularities in appointments to government jobs through the Haryana Public Service Commission. Dr Chauhan said this was going to be the third sitting of the commission. The public commission inquiry has already met at Kurukshetra and Chandigarh. He said this commission has received a large number of complaints from affected candidates as well as their parents. He said that this public commission of inquiry was set up on August 13 at a meeting presided over by President of Indian Youth Congress, Mr Randeep Singh Surjewala. After the inquiry is completed, reports will be forwarded to the President and Governor of Haryana.

FATEHABAD
AWARENESS DRIVE: The Social Health and Education Society, which has been providing text books and uniforms to the poor and needy students has now decided to launch an awareness drive among farmers regarding conservation of water resources and environment. The Society general secretary, Dr M.S. Saddar, told mediapersons here on Monday that the society would start its campaign on September 11 from Majra village by uprooting congress grass.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
TEACHERS’ DHARNA: Members of the District School Lecturers Association here on Monday held a demonstration and staged a “dharna” outside the office of the Deputy Director, Education, in support of their demands.

HAMIRPUR
RESENTED: The HP Power Board Junior Engineers and Assistant Engineers Association has flayed the board management for its delaying tactics regarding their long-pending demands. The association said the way the board management was behaving was anti engineers and against the set principles of the justice. Mr D.S. Dhatwalia, general secretary of the state association, in a statement here on Monday said the failure of the board management to invite them for talks regarding their various demands was not understood.

NAHAN
CAMP CONCLUDED: A five-day yuva mandal development camp for volunteers of the Nehru Yuva Kendra, concluded here on Monday. As many as 40 youth from all over the district participated in the camp. Addressing the concluding function, Zila Parishad Chairman Chander Mohan Thakur, called upon the youth to utilise their potential by engaging themselves in development works thereby, strengthening the nation.

NURPUR
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Himachal Pradesh IPH Junior Engineers Association, Nurpur zone, in the association’s biennial elections: president — Mr Bharti Punni; finance secretary — Mr Vipan Gupta; press secretary — Mr Gansham Chouhan; and chief adviser — Mr Subhash Jasrotia.

SHIMLA
DEFENDED: Mr Kamal Nain, state secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarathi Parishad on Monday defended the saffronisation of education and said it would give a boost to patriotism and strengthen the cultural ethos of India. Mr Nain said the ABVP would hold a rally on November 26 and protest outside Parliament in order to make education employment oriented.