The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Thursday, September 12, 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
PROBE SOUGHT: The All-India Trade Union Congress has demanded a probe into the non-issuance of notifications regarding the appointment and granting of authority to presiding officers of labour courts at Amritsar, Jalandhar and Gurdaspur. Mr Amarjit Singh Asal, secretary, Punjab state committee of AITUC in a letter to the Governor, the Chief Minister, the Minister for Local Bodies and the Department of Labour and Employment, Punjab, has stated despite all three presiding officers having joined duty since June they are without any judicial work and are being paid their salaries.

ARRESTED: The police has arrested Kultar Singh, a resident of Supari village (now residing in the Ranjit avenue) and recovered 16 grams of smack from him. The police alleged that Kultar Singh indulged in selling drugs in the court premises.

CAMP: Precautions should be taken during donating blood as it could be infected with deadly diseases like AIDS and hepatitis remarked Dr O.P. Mahajan, Principal, Medical College, while inaugurating a one-day blood group testing camp organised by the NSS unit of the Law Department of Guru Nanak Dev University on Tuesday.

DHARNA: Employees of the Punjab Subordinate Services Federation staged a dharna outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office here on Tuesday. Mr Dharma Singh Patti, president led the dharna protesting the anti-employees policy of the government.

FATEHGARH SAHIB
CHEQUES DISTRIBUTED: Mr Vikas Partap, Deputy Commissioner, at a function held here on Tuesday at Bachat Bhavan distributed cheques worth Rs 7.32 lakh to 35 disabled persons, who had been affected due to thresher accidents. He said an amount of Rs 27 lakh had been kept reserve for this purpose. so He said only 10 cases are pending due to lack of proper paper work. Moreover, copies of FIR are required, which is compulsory as per the directions of the Punjab Mandi Board. He directed the officials concerned to clear pending cases at the earliest.

PANEL MEETS SSP: A delegation of the Sirhind Truck and Bus Body Builders Association met the SSP on Tuesday and urged him to take action against the SHO, Sirhind, for not acting on their complaint, lodged with the Sirhind police 10 days ago. According to a press note of the association, a truck-owner brought his truck to the workshop of Mr Bachan Singh, a truck and bus body builder, on the GT road at Sirhind, for fabrication of a new body of the truck. It was alleged that despite repeated requests, the truck-owner did not make any payment to them. On September 2 late in the night, the owner along with some persons came to the workshop and took away the truck forcibly. The chowkidar informed the workshop owner and he along with other members of the association reported the matter to the police immediately, but the police had not taken any action. The SSP assured the delegation to look into the matter.

HOSHIARPUR
POLL DUTY: Three hundred government employees from here left for poll duty in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday. Mr Kirandeep Singh Bhullar, Deputy Commissioner, Hoshiarpur, told mediapersons that Rs 10,000 each had been given to all employees for meeting their expenses during their stay in Jammu and Kashmir. These employees left for Jammu in seven buses under tight security arrangements.

LUDHIANA
MEDICAL CAMP: A free eye and paediatric camp will be held at Chawki Mann village near Jagraon on September 15 from 9 am to 1 pm. Dr Ramesh, an eye-surgeon from Mansura, will conduct eye check-up and cataract operations while Dr Narinder Toor will check children. The needy patients will be given medicines free of cost. The camp will be organised by the Bhai Ghanayaji Sewa Sanstha.

COMPUTER LAB SET UP: An online computer laboratory has been set up at Sacred Heart Convent School in Sarabha Nagar. The technology combines higher speed, better accessibility and the concept of virtual class-room in a cost-effective manner.

MEDICAL CAMP HELD: A free medical camp was organised at Acharya Shri Atma Ram Jain Hospital on Tuesday. Mr T. R. Jain, president of the hospital, said 20 eye operations were performed, 100 patients were given medication, 20 dental patients were examined, while 20 gynae patients were also treated.

PATHANKOT
DENTAL CAMP: The local unit of the Indian Dental Association, in collaboration with the Bharat Vikas Parishad, organised a dental camp at Senior Citizen School here on Tuesday. More than 100 students were examined and toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes were distributed among children.

PATIALA
PLANTATION DRIVE: The Basant Ritu Youth Club, Tripuri, organised a tree plantation drive in the city and planted more than 2500 saplings at different places including gardens of different schools, offices and parks on Tuesday. The president of the club, Mr Rajesh Sharma, said the club would soon organise another afforestation drive.

PHAGWARA
KILLED: Charan Kaur, an NRI, was killed on the GT Road on Tuesday when her rickshaw was hit by a speeding vehicle.

SAMANA
SPURIOUS MILK: The police arrested Tony Garg from Anand Colony here on Tuesday for making spurious milk by mixing sun-malt powder and processing oil. The powder is generally used in manufacturing PVC pipes. The DSP, Mr Jaspreet Singh Sidhu, said Tony had been selling this milk to milk centres and hospitals since a long time.

CHANDIGARH

SIGNATURE CAMPAIGN: Local unit of the All-India Anti-terrorist Front will organise a signature campaign at Piazza, Sector 17, here on Wednesday evening to pay homage to those killed in the September 11 attack last year on WTC, New York. In a press release, Mr Praveen Behal of the front stated that Mr H.G.S. Dhaliwal, SP (Operations), will launch the signature campaign. The signatures and messages will be sent to US Embassy.

ELECTED: Sardar Charanjit Singh has been elected as the president of Gurdwara Sri Arjan Dev Ji in Sector 40 here on Tuesday. The other office-bearers include Sardara Singh — vice-president; Rattan Singh — cashier, and Baljit Singh — khalsa secretary.

PANCHKULA
INAUGURATED: A Self Employed Workers Association Kendra (SEWAK) Computer training centre was inaugurated by Deputy Commissioner, Ms Jyoti Arora, here on Tuesday. This centre has been started in association with the Knowledge Pub and is sponsored by the Central Government-aided District Rural Development Agency. Students coming from rural background and belonging to below poverty line category will be accorded 50 per cent subsidy in course fees. Training will be imparted in different computer (hardware and software) and other courses.

PROGRAMME: A three-day programme is being organised at Satluj Public School here by Father Thomas V. Kunnunkal, former Chaiman of CBSE and NOS, New Delhi. He wil conduct seminars on ‘personal and professional growth of teachers, informed Mr Krit Serai, Principal of the school.

STRIKE: The Haryana Employees Joint Action Committee has decided to go on a two- hour strike on September 18 and present memorandum to all MLA’s on October 10 stating their demands. The committee workers had held gate meetings in front of all government offices in the district on September 9 and 10.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
MELA CONCLUDES: A four-day kisan mela and cattle fair concluded at Vate-Krishana (Jukhala), about 28 km from here, on Tuesday. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Chamel Singh, distributed prizes among those farmers and cattle-breeders who had excelled in various activities. Kali Dass, Baburam Thakur, Vikrant, Piyar Singh, Santram were declared best breeders. As many as 110 breeders were also honoured.

CASES SETTLED: Out of 92 cases presented by people at the district-level “Prashashan Janta Ke Dwar Shivir” at Harlog on Monday, 81 were settled by district officers present at the shivir.

KULU
WING COMMANDER: Wing Commander Anil Arora took over the command of 1 HP Air Squadron here on Tuesday. He was earlier posted at the Air Force Station, Agra. This was stated here in a press note issued on Wednesday.

SHIMLA
CANCELLED: The interviews held for 150 seats of pharmacist trainees by the Ayurveda Department in 1999-2000 in various parts of the state, including state headquarters, have been cancelled due to administrative reasons, according to a press release issued by the Director, Ayurveda.

AWARDED: The Government Polytechnic for Women, Kandaghat, has been adjudged the “best polytechnic” in the region, comprising seven northern states, for 2001-02. The Principal of the polytechnic, Mr I.D. Sharma, attributed the achievement to the commitment and hard work of the staff and students.

PROTEST: Members of the Himachal Bar Council will boycott court work on September 18 in protest against the decision of the Centre to amend the Code of Civil Procedure and the Legal Services Authority Act. The lawyers are opposing the move on the ground that the Bar Associations were not taken into confidence while finalising the proposed amendments.

SANCTIONED: Lt. Col Dhani Ram Shandil, MP, on Tuesday sanctioned Rs 5 lakh from the Local Area Development Fund for the newly set up health centre in the girls hostel. The university also remembered its former Vice-Chancellor, Prof S.K. Gupta, on his first death anniversary and observed two minutes’ silence.

CONDEMNED: Mr I.D. Bali, President, Himachal Pradesh Congress Human Rights Cell, on Tuesday said the NDA government at the Centre had failed the country on the economic front. He said the secular fabric of the nation was in danger. The Congress leader condemned the unsavoury remarks made against Ms Sonia Gandhi by Ms Jayalalitha and Mr Narendra Modi.