The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Wednesday, February 19, 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

AMRITSAR
ARRESTED: In its drive against proclaimed offenders, the Majitha police has arrested 10 proclaimed offenders, including two militants and a woman, in 2003. Ms Shashi Prabha Dwedi, district police chief, in a press release issued here on Sunday revealed that the police arrested Amrik Singh, alias Sukha, during a naka earlier this month. The others included Sarabjit Singh, Swarn Singh, Prithipal Singh, Harjinder Singh of Param Jit Kaur, Baldev Singh and Amrik Singh.

PROTEST RALLY: Workers of the CPI and the CPM on Monday held a protest rally against the proposed US attack on Iraq. The rally, which started from Pink Plaza passed through the main bazaars of the city and culminated at Hall Gate, where the demonstrators burnt the effigy of US President, George Bush.

URGED: The chairman and convener of the central, state and public sector employees co-ordination committee of trade unions, has urged the authorities concerned to arrange salary for doctors and paramedical staff working with the Family Planning Department. They have allegedly not been paid salary since July 2002. Mr Devraj Sharma, chairman of the union, in a press statement issued here on Monday said normally the budget was allocated for the purpose in the annual Budget itself but, he alleged till date not a single penny had been sanctioned.

DECRIED: Taking offence to the vilification campaign unleashed by the BJP against national figures, especially those belonging to the Congress, Prof Darbari Lal, Deputy Speaker, Punjab Legislative Assembly, said it was a deep-rooted conspiracy to denigrate and tarnish the image of the Indian National Congress.

BATHINDA
SMUGGLERS HELD: The police has arrested Raja Singh and Jagtar Singh, both residents of Gill Kalan village for allegedly smuggling poppy husk. Sources said here on Sunday that the two were trying to smuggle 8 kg of poppy husk into the city and were nabbed by a police party. A case under Sections 15, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act has been registered.

1 KILLED: A youth died when he was hit by a train near the Bhuchu Mandi railway station, about 15 km from here, on Tuesday. The body was handed over to an NGO after a post-mortem examination. In another incident a newspaper hawker was injured when a train hit him near the Patiala Gate on the Bathinda-Barnala rail track here on Tuesday. The injured, Naresh Kumar, is a resident of local Mehna Chowk area.

PATIALA
YOUTH FESTIVAL: Amandeep Kaur of Government Mohindra College won the second position in the recently held All India Inter-University Youth Festival at Warangal, Andhra Pradesh. Earlier, she was adjudged the best debater of Punjabi University. She was also adjudged the best debater at the North Zone Inter-University debate held at Allahabad.

EXHIBITION: The Jan Jagriti Sangthan, Kurukshetra, will organise a handicraft exhibition, sponsored by the Development Commissioner (Handicrafts), Ministry of Textiles, at Universal Complex, phatak No 22, on Thursday.

PHAGWARA
SEWING SCHOOL: The local Rotary Club (South East) will open its second sewing school imparting free training to the needy women on the premises of the Geeta Bhavan, Model Town, here on Wednesday, according to club president G.S. Batra. Mr Paul Taggar, Managing Director, M/s Paul & Sons Ltd, UK, will be the chief guest.

KAVI DARBAR: A kavi darbar was organised by the Preet Sahib Sabha at Varinder Nagar here on Monday. Young poet Ravinder Rai besides several upcoming poets of Punjabi, Urdu and Hindi, including Dr Jawahar Dhir, Arif Gobindpuri, Jagjit Chana, Charanjit Singh Pannu, Baldev Raj Komal, Biba Kulwant, Ravinder Singh Rai, Sital Das Banga and Harcharan Bharati, regaled the audience with their poems.

INAUGURATED: Residents of Domeli village, including some NRIs, motivated by Dr Bakhshish Singh Nijjar and Sant Manjit Singh, had contributed Rs 1 crore for setting up a hospital named after Guru Har Gobind Singh, which was inaugurated by MP Santosh Choudhary on Sunday, an official press-release issued on Monday said.

ROPAR
UNEARTHED: The Nangal police has unearthed an illegal distillery in the Bala Dhiani village near Nangal. The SHO, Mr Bhupinder Singh, said the police on a tip off, caught Amarjit Singh, alias Golu, a resident of Bela Dhiani village while he was distilling illicit liquor.

CHANDIGARH

DHAWAN BEREAVED: Harish Dhawan, younger brother of former Union Civil Aviation Minister, Mr Harmohan Dhawan, died in London on Monday night following a brain haemorrhage. Harish (46) was running a hotel in London while his wife and two sons were staying in Chandigarh. His wife and sons have flown to London to bring the body here.

APPOINTED: Mr Manoj Kohli has been appointed chairman of the Chandigarh branch of the NIRC of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India for 2003-04.

AWARDED: Professor and Head of Paediatric Emergency and Intensive Care Unit of PGI's Department of Paediatrics, Dr Sunit Singhi, has been awarded Clarics Oration Award, 2003, of the Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine at the annual conference of the society at Jaipur. The award has been given to Dr Singhi for contribution to the development and promotion of critical care in India.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Chandigarh Cheap Houses Welfare Federation of Sectors 15, 19 and 20: president — Mr Om Parkash Badgujjar, vice-presidents — Mr Jatinder Kumar Chopra, Mr Kirpal Singh and Ms Paalo; general-secretary — Mr Bhushan Lal, joint-secretary — Ms Pushpa Gupta; legal advisers — Mr Karam Singh, Mr Vijay Kumar and Mr Mohan Singh; and treasurer — Mr Narinder Singh.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Customs and Central Excise Pensioners Welfare Association: patrons — Mr H.S. Dhillon, Mr Darshan Singh Patiala and Mr Jagtar Singh Thukral; president — Mr S.S. Sandhu; senior vice-president — Mr Baldev Singh Dard; general-secretary — Mr Hardev Singh; finance secretary — Mr S.S. Chawla; joint secretary — Mr S.N. Kochhar; and auditor — Mr S.N. Kanwar.

CONTESTS: Two declamation contests, K.K. Grover Goodwill Declamation Contest and A.C. Bali Memorial Declamation Contest, were organised by the Department of Hindi, Panjab University, here on Tuesday. About 20 teams from various colleges in the region participated. The results of the contests, in the order of merit, are —K.K. Grover goodwill declamation contest: Vivek Kumar (Government College, Sector 11, Chandigarh); Paramjit Singh (A S College, Khanna); Pragya (GNK College for Women, Ludhiana); A.C. Bali memorial declamation contest: Pragya (GNK College for Women, Ludhiana); Ravinder Kaur (MC College of Education for Women, Ludhiana); Jasdeep Kaur (National College for Women, Machhiwara).

WORKSHOP: The Department of Zoology, Panjab University, will organise a two-day workshop on “Cytogenetics — Modern Trends” from Wednesday. The workshop, which will be addressed by leading scientists of the country, aims to make college teachers and research scholars aware of the recent advances in this field.

BLOOD DONATION CAMP: The second Kamlesh Bansal memorial donation camp was organised at G.K. International Hotel, Sector 35, on Monday. About 90 donors from all walks of life donated blood. The camp, jointly organised by Mr Anu K. Bansal, G.M. (G.K. International Hotel), Mr Y.P. Sharma, a local industrialist, and Mr Sohan Sherpuri, vice-chairman, block samiti, Machhiwara Ludhiana, was inaugurated by Mr S.K. Sharma, IG, Punjab, who distributed mementos to the donors.

PANCHKULA
APPOINTED: Mr Rakesh Sharma, vice-president of the Panchkula District Bar Association, has been appointed the district president of the Akhil Bharatiya Brahmin Mahasabha.

AUCTION: The Haryana Urban Development Authority will auction commercial properties in various parts of the township on February 28. As many as 90 sites will be auctioned, according to a spokesperson of HUDA. The orders for this auction were passed by the Administrator, (Headquarters), Mr M.P. Bansal, who also told the Estate Office to conduct at least two more auctions in March.

HARYANA

AMBALA
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION: The first meeting of the alumni association of MDSD Girls College, Ambala, was held in the college premises on Tuesday. The nominations for the office-bearers were filed. About 30 former students shared their opinions with the Principal and staff members.

MEETING HELD: A an inter-college meeting was held at Sohan Lal DAV College of Education, Ambala city, recently. The faculty of education, Dayal Bagh Educational Institute, Agra, bagged four running trophies. The team won running trophies in flower arrangement, alpana and rangoli, preparation of articles from waste material and blackboard writing and sketching. DAV College of Education for Women, Amritsar, won two running trophies for ‘skill in teaching’ and ‘salad making’. The Dev Samaj College of Education for Women, Chandigarh, bagged the running trophy for the preparation of teaching aids.

INAUGURATED: An extension counter of UTI Bank was inaugurated at Ambala Cantt on Tuesday. The counter has been opened at the LIC building on the Jagadhri road. A bank official said there were 180 branches of the bank in India. As many as 780 ATMs had been set up in the country, a statement issued by the branch manager Anu Joshi said.

POWER UTILITIES: Haryana power utilities has fixed a target of 4 per cent reduction in line losses next year. An official said the utilities was making an effort to reduce line losses. There had been a reduction of 9 per cent in line losses during the past three years and the line losses had come down to 39 per cent in the state, statement said.

FATEHABAD
SHEEP KILLED: As many as 45 head of sheep were maimed by a mysterious animal at Gilan Khera village in the district on Sunday. Teams of veterinarians have been rushed to the village to ascertain the identity of the killer animal.

WORKSHOP HELD: The women cell of Manohar Memorial College organised a workshop on ‘Women rights’ for college students. Ms Kiran Sachdeva, a local lawyer and a women activist delivered the keynote address. Addressing the girls, Ms Sachdeva said lack of awareness on the part of women about their rights was primarily responsible for the poor plight of women in the society. She said the law of the land treated men and women equally. Gender equality was the fault of the society.

PEER TEAM: A peer team of the National Assessment and Accreditation Committee (NAAC), an autonomous institution of the University Grants Commission for the evaluation of colleges, arrived here on Monday to interact with the faculty, staff and students to make its assessment about the grade of the college.

HISAR
DISTRIBUTED: The Haryana Governor, Babu Parmanand, and his wife Mrs Sudesh Kumari distributed 79 sewing machines, 42 tricycles, seven wheelchairs, 23 artificial limbs and 200 school uniforms among the needy at a relief distribution camp held at Red Cross Bhavan here on Sunday. The camp was organised by the Hisar District Red Cross Society.

LIQUOR SEIZED: The police seized 10,000 pouches of illicit liquor from a truck at Uklana, 50 km from here, on Monday. According to the police, the truck was carrying liquor from Pehwa to Uklana. The police, on a tip off, set up a barricade on the Hisar-Chandigarh road near Uklana and arrested the driver of the truck.

SENTENCED: A local court on Monday sentenced Sampat Singh to one-year imprisonment on the charge of planning to commit a dacoity. According to the prosecution, Sampat Singh, a resident of Rajli village, along with his friends was planning to rob Suresh Kumar a local trader when a police team, on a tip off, nabbed him.