The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Friday, December 6, 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
POLLUTION CONTROL DAY: A seminar on environment hazards was organised by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, Amritsar chapter, in collaboration with the Literary Society, Department of Foreign Languages, GND University, here on Wednesday.

MOTHER, SON BOOKED: The district police has booked a mother and her son for duping two persons of Rs 9 lakh on the pretext of sending them abroad. According to an FIR registered at Civil Lines police station here, Navtej Singh and Parminder Singh, residents of Meera Kot, have alleged in their complaint that Kavita Kapoor and her son Kittu of Ranjit Avenue had duped them of Rs 4.5 lakh each. The suspect had sent them to Germany where they were jailed for possessing fake visas and sent back.

VC’S ASSURANCE: Dr S.P. Singh, Vice-Chancellor, Guru Nanak Dev University, on Wednesday assured the non-teaching staff to consider their genuine demands. A university press note issued here claimed that the VC had accepted certain demands of the staff.

HOSHIARPUR
COMMUNITY POLICING: Community policing is proving very successful in the district, Mrs Gurpreet Deo, SSP, Hoshiarpur, said at a seminar on Wednesday.

RAPE BID: Hajipur police has registered a case against two youths for abducting student an attempt to rape her on Wednesday. According to police sources, two occupants of TATA Sumo forcibly stopped the girl of Badla village while she was going on cycle to her school. They forced the girl in the Tata Sumo and made an attempt to rape her in the vehicle. The youths were identified as Happy Fauji of Uchi Bassi and Prem of Chingra escaped in their vehicle.

LIQUOR SEIZED: The police has arrested Sunil Kumar, Varinder Sud and Paramjit Singh, alias Pamma, under the Excise Act and seized 29350 ml liquor from their possession.

JAGRAON
BODY FOUND: Sukhdev Singh, alias Bhola, of Rajoana Kalan, was found lying dead by Sadhu Singh, Sarpanch of Heran village near his village. The Sudhar police has registered a case under section 304A of the IPC. According to information the body bore multiple injures.

UTENSILS DISTRIBUTED: Rotary Club, Jagraon, distributed 50 sets of utensils to patients who have been operated upon at a family planning camp at Civil Hospital. This was disclosed by Mr Bikram Sharma, secretary of he club.

JALANDHAR
PHONE NOS CHANGED: The General Manager (Telecom), Mr K.C. Jindal, informed here on Thursday that the telephone numbers falling under Jalandhar, Phagwara and Sultanpur Lodhi telephone exchanges would be changed from December 13 by prefixing digit “2” with the existing numbers. He said the STD codes of these three zones would remain same.

KAPURTHALA
EX-GRATIA: The district administration has given an ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh to Kulwant Singh, father of Mandeep Singh who died during election duty in Jammu and Kashmir. Mandeep Singh worked as a teacher in Government Primary School, Rampur Khalian, in Phagwara subdivision of the district. He was a resident of Narur village in Phagwara.

DHARNA: The workers of the Kirti Kisan Union staged a dharna in front of the PSEB office here to protest against the introduction of electric motor bills. They also held a rally which was addressed by kisan leaders who urged them not to pay to pay the bills.

KHAMANO
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office bearers of the mahila mandal: president — Rajinder Kaur; vice-president — Surinder Kaur; secretary — Hardeep Kaur; co-secretary — Kulwant Kaur; treasurer — Harjeet Kaur; adviser — Harjit Kaur and Kamaljeet Kaur. Apart from this a 19-member working committee was also formed.

KILLED: Gurpreet Singh, alias Bantu of Khamano Mandi was killed in a road accident in Italy, near the city of Bracia. According to information received, Gurpreet was going in a car with his two friends of Chamkaur Sahib, to get some document when their car collided head on with a trailer, resulting in the death of the three youths on the spot.

KHARAR
POLICE REMAND: Two employees of the Punjab State Electricity Board, Chander Parkash and Gian Singh, who had been caught by the Vigilance Bureau red-handed while accepting bribe, were sent to police remand till Thursday here on Wednesday. The defence counsel opposed the police remand and claimed that they had been falsely implicated.

LUDHIANA
JAN CHETNA RALLY: The District Valmiki Sabha and the Bahujan Samaj Party, Ludhiana, are jointly celebrating the 46th pre-nirvan divas of Dr B.R. Ambedkar on Friday, according to Mr. Rakesh Ghai, press secretary of the sabha. A massive Jan Chetna cycle and scooter rally will be taken out at 10.30 am from Basti Jodhewal chowk to the statue of Dr Ambedkar near Jalandhar bypass where a function will be held to pay tributes to the departed leader.

SHRI KRISHNA MAHOTSAV: A meeting of the Shri Mahadev Seva Dal, Shivala Road, which was held here on Tuesday, decided to hold Shri Krishna Mahotsav on Sunday. Various duties were assigned to individuals and organisations for the smooth conduct of the mahotsav at the meeting. Those who attended the meeting included Mr Pardip Kumar, president of the Dal, Mr Devinder Jain, Mr Ramesh Taluja, Mr Kapil Sachdeva, Mr Pawan Middha and Ms Veena Malhotra.

RELIEF: Lala Jagat Narayan Nishkam Seva Sangh will hold the 64th monthly widow pension function at Shri Gyan Sthal Mandir on Sunday, according to Mr Jagdish Bajaj, president of the Mandir Sabha. Ration and other items like quilts and blankets will be distributed free among 621 widows. Poor girls will also be married off on the occasion.

MANSA
JUDICIAL REMAND: Ms Baljinder Kaur Bhatia, Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Mansa, has remanded Chiman Lal and Sat Narain, an iron merchant of Budhlada in the district, in judicial custody in a case registered against them under various sections, IPC, for misbehaving with Mr Balwant Singh Bhatia, an official of the Budhlada branch of Faridkot-Bathinda Kshetriya Gramin Bank. Later, on the intervention of the SC/ST Commission, New Delhi, the suspects were also charged under Sections 3 and 4 of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989. The suspects have been re-arrested.

SHOPKEEPERS FINED: Mr Jaspal Singh, Assistant Controller, Weights and Measures, Ferozepore, imposed a fine of Rs 18,600 on 25 shopkeepers, including a petrol pump owner, for their failure to get their weights sealed from the department and for not providing mandatory information regarding manufacturing date, weight and price on packed goods.

NAWANSHAHR
SCHOLARSHIPS: Mr K.C. Kapoor, District Education Officer, presided over the sixth annual Sardarni Kernail Kaur scholarships distribution function organised by the Sri Guru Har Rai Government Senior Secondary School. Sandhwan, about 25 km here on Thursday. He lauded contribution of Mr Avtar Singh Sandhu, an NRI, who organised the function in memory of his wife. As many as 22 meritorious students were given award on the occasion.

PATHANKOT
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of Kandi area sports club: president — Mr Amit Verma; vice-president — Mr Rachhpal Singh; general secretary — Vineet Juneja; and treasurer — Mr Gulshan Kumar.

PATIALA
LECTURE: The Brahmavarchas Research Institute Director, Dr Pranav Pandya, said depression would become the most debilitating disease by 2015 and could be controlled by practising yoga and meditation. Delivering a special lecture in Punjabi University campus here, Dr Pandya said stress was responsible for a majority of diseases, many of which could be controlled through stress management. He said depression would be the most debilitating disease in the world by 2005 after heart ailment adding that it would overtake incidences of heart ailments by 2015. The varsity Pro Vice- Chancellor, Dr R.N. Pal, said the Indian system had time tested remedies which one could be included in one's daily life. He said Gayatri Mantra was a great remedy from stress . The Dean, Academics, Prof U.C. Singh, delivered the vote of thanks on the occasion.

LOAN SCHEME: The State Bank of Patiala (SBP) launched a SBP — Rakshak, an easy loan scheme for police personnel to avail various personal loans on attractive terms, on Wednesday. Inspector General of Police Anil Kaushik presided over a function held to mark the occasion. Giving a brief of the scheme, the Chief General Manager of the bank, Mr B.M. Jain, and the General Manager, Planning and Development, Mr P. Dinakara Rao, said the bank had provided certain concessions in the rate of interest and margins to the serving police personnel of the state services as well as those of central organisations.

CHANDIGARH

ANNUAL DAY FUNCTION: A cultural programme was presented by students at SD High School , Chakwal, on Wednesday. The cultural programme was held to mark the annual prize distribution function of SD High School, Topekhana Bazar, SD Junior Model School and Bharatiya Public School Junior. The chief guest was the DEO, Ambala circle, Ms Shubha Kapoor. Ms Kapoor said the students were like clay and teachers could inculcate good culture among the students. Class X student Manish Kumar Dhankad and ClassVII student Prem Chand were honoured for securing highest marks. School chairman Pradyuman Kumar Goyal gave a grant of Rs 2,100 as scholarship for needy students.

QUIZ CONTEST: A quiz competition was organised by the Economics Association of SD College, Ambala Cantonment on Wednesday. Dr Gupta, vice Principal, was the chief guest. The quiz contest was conducted jointly by the president of the association, Ms Surabhi Thukra, and the secretary, Ms Parul Yakhmi. The organisers included Mr Mukul Kashyap, Mr Rajiv Vadhera, Mr Aditya, Mr Harvinder and Sintoo, a released said.

DISTRIBUTED: Sweaters were distributed to needy students of government Senior Secondary School, Ayodhya on Wednesday. School Principal Arun Ashri said 65 sweaters were distributed. The sweaters were donated by Ahlawadi family, a release said.

AWARENESS CAMP: With a view to spread awareness about AIDS among the inmates of Burail jail, the Indian Council of Social Welfare (ICSW), Chandigarh Chapter, in collaboration with the AIDS control Society organised AIDS awareness camp at Model Burail Jail here on Wednesday. More than 50 inmates of the jail attended the camp. Giving details, the Jail Superintendent of Model Burail, Mr D.S. Rana, said Dr Rajiv Wadhers, SMO, General Hospital, Sector 16, and Dr Sangeeta, general secretary of the ICSW, delivered the lecture on transmission and prevention of HIV/AIDS and STDs with emphasis on safe sexual behaviour. The inmates were also informed about the cause and prevention of this disease.

JEEVAN SHAKTI AWARD-2003: Instituted in the year 1997, the Sahayta Charitable Welfare Society, has invited entries for Jeevan Shakti Award-2003, for those cancer survivors, who have fought the disease bravely and can inspire others to do so. Providing holistic help to cancer patients, Sahayta, has been relentlessly working to bring cancer patients back into the mainstream of life with the motto that diagnosis of cancer is not the end of the road, there is life after cancer. Sahayta, is a support group which has been helping cancer patients at the PGI and Command Hospital, Chandi Mandir. Cancer survivors or their friends and relatives can send the bio data with photograph and relevant papers to the Branch Office, House No- 111, Sector -36-A, Chandigarh, by January 15.

DWARKAMAI: The Shirdi Sai Samaj celebrated the seven ''murti sthapana divas'' on the Shirdi Sai Mandir premises in Sector 29 here today. Samaj president Vijay Kumar inaugurated the Dwarkamai on this occasion.

PANCHKULA
AWARENESS DRIVE: The Haryana State Pollution Board has launched an awareness, drive to educate the masses on keeping the enrironment clean. It has been decided to place slogans invited from the public, on the back of Haryana Roadways buses. The board has invited slogans till December 12.

LOK ADALAT: A Lok Adalat will be held here on December 7 on the premises of district courts. This was announced by a spokesman of the District Legal Services Authority here on Thursday. He said that cases would be solved free of cost.

SHOPS INAUGURATION: Mr Ajay Singh Chautala, member of Parliament, will inaugurate 15 shops of the municipal committee, Pinjore, constructed at a cost of Rs 20 lakh on December 8. Mr Chautala will address a public meeting. Mr Chautala will also inaugurate two school rooms at Thandog in Morni block.

SAS NAGAR
AWARENESS PROGRAMME: A three-day environment awareness programme was launched by Saupins School, Sector 70, here on Wednesday. The programme which includes plays, poetry recitations, parodies and Hindi songs will be performed by the students at various places in the township. Some of these programmes were performed by the students today in Phase VII.