The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Monday, September 30, 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

KHANNA
FUNCTION: “A good relationship between the Centre and the state governments is the key of prosperity. No state can carry out developmental activities without the help of the Union Government”, said Mr Rajesh Sharma, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Board , Haryana , while talking to mediapersons at a function organised by a local company here on Saturday. Mr Sharma said the board was making plans for the uplift of the weaker sections of the society under the guidance of the state Chief Minister.

DEMANDED: The minority wing of the Punjab Pardesh Congress Committee (PPCC) has demanded to set up a separate court to settle the legal disputes of wakf properties and also demanded a CBI inquiry against the officials of wakf board who had accumulated huge assets after joining the board. This was stated in a memorandum given to Ms Mohsina Kidwai, General Secretary, AICC, and in charge of party affairs of Punjab. In the memorandum, signed by Mr Dilbar Mohammad Khan, president of the wing, it is demanded that at least three seats of Malerkotla, Ludhiana and Jalandhar in the Assembly and a seat each in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha should be reserved for Muslims. They also demanded reservation in the seats of sarpanches, panches, block samities, zila parishads and lambardars. He further demanded that the pieces of land should be allotted to the community in Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala and Amritsar for the construction of Idgahs as the community is forced to offer namaz in the open.

TRAINING CAMP: The three-day training camp of the BJP which started on Friday was concluded on Sunday. Training was given to more than 300 workers in the camp which was inaugurated by Mr Rajnath Singh, national general secretary of the BJP. Mr Satpal Gosain, Mr Baldev Raj Chawla, Prof Brij Lal Rinwa, Mr Harish Bedi, Mr Baljinder Singla and Mr Jaspal Singh Lotey were among the prominent who were present on the occasion. A meeting of state executive of the BJP was also held at the venue under the presidentship of Mr Brij Lal Rinwa.

LUDHIANA
SANT SAMMELAN: Shree Chhinmastika Durga Bhajan Mandli has organised the eight Virat Sant Sammelan at Geeta Bhavan, Subhash Gate, which started on Sunday and would continue till October 1. Mr Pawan Bihari of Teekamgarh. Swami Bua Dittaji of Jammu and Mr Jeevan Kumar Sharma of Nakodar are participating in the sammelan.

LIQUOR SEIZED: Mr Labh Singh, ASI, on receiving a tip-off, raided the house of Hardial Singh, alias Biloo, at Dango village and seized 30 bottles of country-made liquor kept for sale without any permit. The police has arrested the accused and registered a case under Section 61/1/14 of the Excise Act.

DANDIYA PARTY: A dandiya masti party was organised by the Strawberry Club for children between 2 and 8 years at Basant Resorts on Saturday. The hall echoed with the sounds of “Ganpati bappa morya’ while the children enjoyed ‘garba ras’ at the beat of dhol. Shivani Arora and Shikha, organiser of the event, said it was a platform for small children to show their talents. Judges included Ms Amrita Gakhar, Vice-Principal, KVM School, and Ms Pooja, marketing executive Ojasvi Jain and Palak, Navya and Ahan and Sahir and Sara were adjudged best dandiya couples. The prize for best dandiya attire went to Maulik, Arman Bansal, Adab, Abhijeet and Madhav. The prize for Indo-west fusion went to Pragati, Kritika and Gursirjan. Shreya Dada, Laika Jain, Yukta, Nileesha and Bavneet were chosen the best dandiya dancers. Govind, Devang and Vanshika were the best beat dhol dancers and Rahat and Devang got the prize for best solo performance.

REMEMBERED: On the birthday of renowned freedom fighter, Dr Dwarka Nath Kotnis, a free medical camp is being oganised by the Lions Club Ludhiana Royal on Tuesday at Dr Kotnis Acupuncture Hospital, Salem Tabri, from 10 am to 3 pm. This camp will be inaugurated by Mr Madan Lal Bagga, councillor, MC, Ward no. 4. Dr Rajinder Singh, eye surgeon, and Dr Jaswinder Singh Malhi, dental surgeon will examine patients. Dr Debasis Bakshi and Dr Chandna Bakshi from Kolkata will examine patients suffering from arthritis, migraine, paralysis, asthma, epilepsy and gynaecological disorders and treat them with acupuncture therapy.

NAWANSHAHR
SEMINAR: Mr Amarjit Singh Samra, state Minister for Agriculture, Revenue and Rehabilitation, presided over a district-level seminar on rabi crops and oilseeds organised by the district Agriculture Department here on Friday. About 2,000 farmers participated. Experts from the Agriculture Department and PAU, Ludhiana, delivered lectures to educate the farmers about the latest techniques of sowing different crops. An exhibition was organised.

URGED: Mr Balbir Singh Bains, Mr Nirmal Singh and Mr Surinder Saini, senior vice president, general secretary and organising secretary, respectively, of the Punjab State General Category Welfare Federation in a joint press statement issued here on Friday urged the state government not to implement the 85th constitutional amendment in the state and give promotions as per the Ajit Singh Janjua case.

CONTEST: The local Blood Donors’ Council on Friday organised a declamation contest on “blood donation movement” at B.L.M. Girls College here. As many as 23 students belonging to different educational institutions participated.

PATIALA
BADAL BLAMED: The Punjab Finance Minister, Mr Lal Singh, on Sunday alleged that former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was responsible for the growing discontent and frustration among the farmers of the state. In a press note, Mr Lal Singh alleged that Mr Badal was sabotaging the state government’s initiative for the early announcement of MSP, bonus and procurement operations by the state government agencies.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected as office-bearers of the North Zone Forensic Science Association: president — Mr Vikram Raj Singh Chauhan; vice-president — Mr Inderjit Singh; general secretary — Mr Harbax Singh Mander; joint secretary — Mr Navjot Kaur; assistant secretary — Mr Rajinder Singh and treasurer — Mr Balbir Singh Batth.

PHAGWARA
OPERATION THEATRE: A well-equipped operation theatre complex has been inaugurated in the local Civil Hospital by MLA Joginder Singh Mann, Dr Subhash Sharma, SMO, disclosed on Sunday.

HEALTH CAMP: The Maternity and Child Health Care Centre at Hadiabad, which had not been functioning due to unavoidable circumstances has started working. Now an additional doctor has been posted there besides the LHV and an ANM, claimed Dr Subhash Sharma, SMO, here on Friday.

ROPAR
AIFB MEET: Mr Debabrata Biswas, general secretary of the All-India Forward Bloc (AIFB), addressed a three-day meet of the Central Committee of the AIFB which concluded here on Sunday. The meet was attended by about 40 members of the committee.

CHANDIGARH

PROGRAMME: The Chandigarh Management Association (CMA) will organise an executive development programme on ‘Labour reforms in India’ on October 5 at Fortis Heart Institute, SAS Nagar. It is being organised to update the executives about a Labour Commission report and the Labour Bill, 2002. It will feature Mr S.K. Bijlani, Chairman, Magnus Consultants, as the keynote speaker. Mr P.K. Verma, Executive Director, Swaraj Mazda, and Mr G.D. Maheshwari, Labour Law Adviser, New Delhi, will address other sessions, according to Dr (Col) P.K. Vasudeva, president, CMA.

MEETING: The Northern India Saini Cultural Society, Chandigarh, will start a professional college at SAS Nagar and training classes for entrance test to various professional courses at Saini Bhavan. The society has also decided to provide scholarships to students of various classes. These decisions were taken at a meeting of the society held here on Sunday. On the occasion Mr Sunil Saini, Mr Gurbachan Singh Bachan, a former Secretary of the SGPC, Brig M.P Singh, Director, Mukat Education Trust, Mr Gurdarshan Singh, Archana Saini, a student, and Mr Gurmit Singh Jatana, a social worker, were honoured.

SAS NAGAR
CAMP: A cultural and educational programme was presented on the second day of the North Zone Advance Leadership Orientation Camp, being organised by the Nehru Bal Sangh here on Sunday. In the training session, Mr Anoop Srivastava, convener of the sangh, Uttar Pradesh chapter, stressed upon fundamental duties and motivated delegates to live for their motherland. An interactive talk on HIV/AIDS was also delivered.

CAMP EXTENDED: Ten-day sujok, reiki and acupressure camp being organised by the management of the Phase IX Shiv Mandir on the temple premises here has been extended for five more days. Mr Rakesh Kumar, president of the temple management committee, said in a press note that the camp that started on September 21 was to conclude on Monday, but now it would continue till Saturday. A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the temple management committee on Saturday, he said. A team of 12 doctors was giving free treatment to persons suffering from various ailments. Hundreds of patients had already got treatment at the camp so far, he said.

HARYANA

AMBALA
ANGIOGRAPHY PERFORMED: Dr Suman Bhandari, senior consultant cardiologist from Escorts Heart Institute, New Delhi, and Dr R.K. Sharma of RKM Hospital, Ambala, performed angiography procedures on a mobile cath lab. Around 10 angiography procedures were performed. Basic tests like ECG, ECHO and blood sugar were done free of cost. Dr Bhandari observed that there was an alarming increase in the incident of heart-related ailments in the country and was more prevalent among the people of North India, especially in Punjab and Haryana.

FATEHABAD
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Haryana PWD Public Health Clerical Association: president — Mr Ramesh Grover; vice-president — Mr Shamsher Singh; secretary — Mr Ramdhari Sheoran; and treasurer — Mr Suresh Kumar Rao.

MEETING HELD: The Additional Deputy Commissioner here, Mr C.R. Rana, convened a meeting of district officials on Sunday in connection with the proposed ‘sanitation campaign’ to be launched from October 2. The Sub-Divisional Magistrates of the three sub-divisions of the district, besides other officials and representatives of non-govenrment organsiations participated in the meeting.

MEETING CONVENED: The Commissioner and Secretary, Transport Department, Haryana, who is administrative secretary of this district, convened meeting of senior officers of the district on Sunday to review the progress of various development activities. The Deputy Commissioner, Dr R.B. Langyaan, ADC, Mr C. R. Rana, DTO, Mr I.S. Dahiya, and other senior officers of the district were present at the meeting. The Commissioner also visited the grain market.

KURUKSHETRA
SADBHAWANA RALLY: More than 10 leaders of the opposition party are likely to join the Congress at a Sadbhawana rally being organised by the Congress here on October 2. This was stated by the district president of the HPCC, Mr Pawan Garg, at a press conference held on the premises of Congress Bhavan here on Sunday.

BJP ENROLMENTS: The state Mahila Morcha of the BJP at its state-level meeting of the party held under the chairmanship of its president, Mrs Neeta Khera, decided to achieve a target of enrolling 2,000 members from each district in the state during the membership campaign which would be launched from October 2.

YAMUNANAGAR
WORKSHOP: A district-level workshop was organised under the Girl Child and Prevention of Foeticide Project by the local unit of the Family Planning Association of India (FPAI) in association with Saraswati Industrial Syndicate at the ISGEC here on Saturday. The workshop was addressed by Deputy Commissioner Vijayender Kumar and Dr Nina Puri, president of the FPAI.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
CLEANLINESS DRIVE: Students and staff of the local Government Boys Senior Secondary School led by its Principal, Mr K.D. Gautam, participated in a cleanliness drive and uprooted hemp and parthenium bushes from various parts of the town on Saturday. They cleared the bushes from Judicial Complex, Vishva Karma temple, meat market, Laxminarayan (Diara) Sector, Baba Bangali (Raura) Sector and Luhanu Maidan.

DRAUGHTSMEN PROMOTED: The Himachal Government has ordered promotions of 48 draughtsmen of the HPPWD in the state by accepting the demand of the HP State Draughtsmen ( PWD & IPH) Association which had been agitating for the same since long. Addressing mediapersons here on Saturday, association president Ram Singh, chief adviser O.P. Sharma, general secretary Ajay Sharma and some other leaders hailed the decision of the government.

DHARAMSALA
COMMUNITY CENTRE: To promote awareness among the youth of the Baijnath area of Kangra district about environment, socio-economic advancement and providing training for better job avenues, Rajiv Gandhi Youth and Community Centre is being set up at Baijnath. The information was given by Brig Bikram Singh Rana (retd) who said the centre would also assist and guide ex-servicemen and socially-backward sections of the society.

HAMIRPUR
TEACHERS’ UNION: The Himachal Pradesh School Teachers Union has blasted the Education Minister, Mr Ishwar Dass Dhiman, for adopting anti-teacher policies. Mr Roshan Lal Sharma, president, and Mr Shiv Dyal Chaudhry, general secretary, of the union told mediapersons on Sunday that the union had submitted a 15-point charter of demands to the state government and if no action was taken, it would be compelled to launch an agitation.

KULU
TEACHERS’ UNION: The Himachal Pradesh Primary Contract Teachers Association criticised the state government for its indifferent attitude towards its demands. Mr Rakesh Gupta, district general secretary of the association, said in a press note here on Saturday that the association would organise a rally here on Monday in protest against the discriminating attitude of the government.