The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Tuesday, February 11, 2003, 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

ABOHAR
CASE REGISTERED: The Khuyiansarwer police station has registered a case against seven persons, including two brothers, for allegedly duping a farmer of Rs 40,000 on the pretext of selling gold coins at the rate Rs 2,000 per tola only. Official sources said Ameer Chand had lodged a complaint with the police post at Khuikhera (Bodiwala Peetha)in this connection.

BALTANA
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Residents Welfare Society, Guru Teg Bahadur Enclave, Baltana: president —Mr R.N. Aggarwal, vice-president — Mr H.K. Joshi, general secretary — Mr Ashok Papneja, joint secretary — Ms Deepti Sharma, treasurer — Mr Prem Dass Sharma and propaganda secretary — Mr R.K. Rishi.

MOGA
SUPPORT PRICE: Members of the Bharatiya Kisan Unions of four districts of Ferozepore, Moga, Faridkot and Muktsar at its meeting held here on Sunday evening and chaired by the General Secretary-cum-Press Secretary, Mr Bhupinder Singh Mahesari, urged the Union Government to announce the support price of wheat for the current season before the arrival of the crop. The crop is likely to arrive in the market next month.

SUGARCANE AS FODDER: Sugarcane in a large number of villages in the district is being used as green fodder for cattlehead. Stating this here on Monday, farmers of several villages said they were forced to sell sugarcane crop as green fodder as they did not want to sell it to sugar mills owners who, they said, did not pay them.

PATHANKOT
SMUGGLER HELD: The local police has booked three persons and arrested one inter-state charas smuggler. It has allegedly seized 1.5 kg charas from the charas smuggler. According to Mr Varinder Kumar, SSP, Gurdaspur, these smugglers were active for the past one year and used to purchase charas from Lakhanpur from a charas smuggler Pawan Kumar and sell it in the Pathankot and Amritsar areas to drug addicts. The arrested smuggler has been identified as Vikas Singh of Indora Road, Gagret.

PATIALA
PLAYS STAGED: The National Theatre Arts Society (NTAS) in collaboration with the Shri Guru Ram Das Nishkaam Yatra Society organised a theatre festival at Central Library on Sunday. Musical plays like ‘Takht Punjab’ and ‘Daaire’, directed by Pran and Sunita Sabharwal, were also staged on the occasion.

YOGA CAMP: A medical camp was organised by the Anand Marg Pracharak Sangh here. More than 200 patients were examined on the occasion.

ROAD SHOW: Vijaya Bank employees organised a road show defaulters to repay the loans taken from the bank hereon Monday. They went around the city and demonstrated in front of the establishments of some defaulters. A spokesman of the bank said here on Monday that the campaign began on the instructions of Mr Manmohan Singh Kapur, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of the bank.

ROPAR
LABOURER KILLED: Ashok Kumar, a resident of Gorukhpur, who was working as labourer with the sub-contractor of BHEL, was killed when he fell from a 36-metre height while repairing the boiler of the second unit of the Ropar thermal plant on Saturday evening. The police has registered a case under Section 174, IPC, in this connection.

CHANDIGARH

CAMP EXTENDED: Mukat Hospital and Heart Institute, Sector 34,has decided to extend the duration of the free and multispeciality camp till February 15. According to Dr Ravi Inder Singh, Medical Director of the hospital, the duration has been extended with a view to cater to the needs patients suffering from various heart diseases. “The management of the hospital has also chalked out an extensive plan to organise such charity camps at different parts of the region, he added.

DISTRIBUTED: Sewing machines were distributed among poor women and widows at a function organised by St. Mary’s Orthodox Syrian Church, Sector-46, as a part of its silver jubilee celebrations. A wheel chair was also given to a physically challenged girl on the occasion. The Mayor of Chandigarh, Mr Subash Chawla, was the chief guest.

HARYANA

AMBALA
MUSIC CONFERENCE: A Music conference was organised at MDSD Girls College, Ambala City on Monday. Dr Asha Pande was the resource person. She spoke about the importance of music in life. The Principal, Dr Kiran Angra asked the students to take inspiration from her suggestions. Students from other colleges also attended the seminar.

STUDENTS HONOURED: The local unit of the All-India Anti-Terrorist Front on Monday honoured students of SA Jain College. The president of the local unit of the AIATF, Mr Virendra Kapoor, said the youth should learn from the contributions made by these students. He read out a message sent by the AIATF chairman, Mr MS Bitta. Those who were honoured include Shweta, Suman, Pooja, Preeti, Vijay, Harminder Singh, Rakesh Kumar, Pankaj Goel and Ravi Kant.

SHAHABAD
RESENTMENT: The Aggarwal community has expressed resentment over the removal of Mr Ved Parkash Goyal from the Union Ministry and lowering Mr Vijay Goyal’s status in the Cabinet. In a statement issued here on Monday, the in charge of the Northern Zone of the All-India Aggarwal Sammelan and general secretary of the Haryana unit of the sammelan, Mr Gopal Sharan Garg, urged the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, to give proper representation to the community which, he said, was the main support of the BJP.

NIMA OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the National Integrated Medical Association (NIMA): president — Dr Sucha Singh Handa; advisors — Dr Ravinder Wadhwa, Dr Kewal Krishan Rehlan and Dr Ashok Mehta; vice-president — Dr Sudarshan Arya; secretary — Dr Shashi Kant; joint secretary — Dr Gurdip Singh; and treasurer — Dr Naresh Garg.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

CHAMBA
1 KILLED: One person was killed and 11 others were injured seriously when a canter overturned and fell into a 600-metre-deep gorge on Sunday near Jumhar village in Chamba district, according to a delayed report. Mr B.R. Kamal, Subdivisional Magistrate here, on Monday said the deceased Des Raj succumbed to his injuries on way to the zonal hospital while the injured were admitted to the district hospital. Three of them were stated to be in serious condition. Mr Kamal said the group was coming back from a wedding ceremony. He said the body of the deceased had been handed over to his relatives after a post-mortem. A case has been registered.

ELECTED: The following have been unanimously elected office-bearers of the local retired Employees Welfare Association: president — Mr D.N. Pardesi; senior vice president — Mr H.R. Puri; vice-presidents Mr Hari Chand and Mr Tek Singh Pathanian; general secretary — Mr Mohinder Puri and treasurer — Mr Laxmi Dhar Mehta.

NAHAN
WORKSHOP: A workshop on water and sanitation in rural water supply programme of seven remote panchayats of Sangrah Development Block concluded on Saturday evening at Lana Pallar village, 80 km from here. Over 250 persons from remote panchayats of Lana Pillar, Shamra, Bharadi, Bhujond, Andheri, Sangrah and Ludhiana of the district participated. The one-day workshop was organised by the Vishva Jagrit Manch, an NGO, with the help of the Himachal Pradesh Irrigation and Public Health Department (IPH), Nahan Circle.