R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

• The ZOPP remedy
• Himalayan panther

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
FOREIGN DELEGATES: More than 45 delegates from various countries on Wednesday visited the local DAV College under the aegis of the Institute of Applied Manpower Research. The Principal, Mr M.L. Aeri, said the delegates discussed various aspects of education. The delegates also explored the possibility of frequent interaction with the college faculty.

BATHINDA
BLOOD DONATED: Volunteers of the Aasra Welfare Society donated 11 units of blood on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to a press note. The volunteers had donated 21 units of blood in April.

SCHOLARSHIPS GIVEN: Mr Suresh Kumar, Principal of Goodwill Public School, said on Thursday that 10 students had been given scholarships in collaboration with the Mata Vidya Devi Charitable Trust. The function was well attended, according to a press note.

HOSHIARPUR
AGENT BOOKED: A case of duping of innocent persons by a travel agent of Jalandhar was reported in the Hariana police station on Tuesday. Malkiat Singh of Solta village, in his complaint, alleged that Vikas Kumar of Urban Estate, Jalandhar, had taken Rs 2 lakh from him for sending him abroad. But he had neither sent him abroad nor returned the money. The police registered a case under Section 420, IPC, against Vikas Kumar.

JALANDHAR
BAN ORDERS: To prevent incidents of fire and control air pollution, the District Magistrate, Mr Ashok Gupta, on Wednesday imposed a ban on burning of wheat chaff in the district. The orders issued under Section 144, CrPC, shall remain in force till May 15.

KHARAR
TRAFFIC SEMINAR: The traffic police on Wednesday organised a seminar to acquaint schoolchildren with traffic rules at the local Christian High School. About 1,000 children belonging to various local schools took part. The DSP, Mr Rupinder Singh, was the chief guest.

EYE CAMP: Mrs Kaushalaya Devi, an NRI from England, has donated Rs 1.25 lakh for a free eye operation camp in the memory of her husband. The camp will be held on Sunday. Medicines and lenses will be given free of cost.

MP FUND: Shamsher Singh Dullo, MP, has sanctioned Rs 30.5 lakh out of the Local Area Development Scheme for development work in Kharar and Mohali areas.

LUDHIANA
LABOUR DAY: Students of Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, BRS Nagar, organised a cultural programme on Thursday with the guests of honour being the Class IV employees of the school. The programme consisted of an inter-house skit competition relevant to the day’s theme. The students of primary section also put up a colourful parade portraying various aspects that go into making up the labour class of the nation. It was their way of expressing appreciation and gratitude to the work force that remained largely unseen, operating in the background. By doing so, the students absorbed a valuable message on ‘dignity of labour’. Father Davis, Director of the school, recognised and emphasised the underlying strength which the workers provide to the institution.

DHARNA: Eight different unions representing as many as 50,000 government primary teachers of the state have decided to hold a dharna in front of the office of the DPI (Elementary) in Chandigarh on May 13 demanding withdrawal of a notification on forming an elementary directorate. Mr Piara Singh Dhillon, President, Government Primary Teachers’ Association, Punjab, said a joint meeting of the presidents and secretaries of the unions would be organised on May 3 at Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall, Jalandhar, to chalk out the programme for staging the dharna. He said a decision to file a writ petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the notification issued by the department would also be discussed.

RETIRED: Staff members of Kundan Vidya Mandir gave a befitting farewell to Mr Padam Raj, a TGT in Punjabi, on his superannuation after having completed 26 years of distinguished service in the school. He was welcomed by Ms Neena Khanna, Principal of the school , who highlighted his achievements and contributions. Ms Khanna on behalf of the school staff presented a gold chain to him. The management also presented a pair of silver glasses and a gratuity amount of Rs 2 lakh to him.

HAILED: The Teachers' Cell of the Punjab Pradesh Mahila Congress is happy over the Punjab Government's decision to appoint Dr Ajaib Singh as a member of the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC). Teachers are grateful to the Punjab Chief Minister for choosing a man of integrity, vision and clean track in public life. It is hoped that Dr Ajaib Singh will live up to the trust reposed on him. Dr Ajaib Singh did his MSc, PhD from Panjab University and is, presently, working as Director, Adult Education, Panjab University. Being an enlightened Panjab University syndic, he is a member of several important decision - making panels of the university.

ZIRAKPUR
KV FUNCTION: A cultural function was presented by students of Kendriya Vidyalaya on the occasion of the annual day celebrations here on Thursday. Brig Salil Prabhakar, Chairman (VMC), lauded the students for their performance in academic and co-curricular activities. Prizes were given to winners. Ms S.K. Bhatia, Principal, read out the annual report.

HARYANA

AMBALA
CAMPAIGN: The municipal council and the Health Department have launched a campaign to implement the order of the District Magistrate regarding the ban on the sale of uncovered cut fruits and sugarcane juice here. Raids were conducted on various markets. The Civil Surgeon, Mrs Avinash Sharma, said the Health Department had formed three teams to check unhygienic eatable items.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

MANDI
FOREST FIRES: Forest Department has drawn up an elaborate strategy to deal with incidents of forest fires in the ensuing summer season in the district. Mr H.V. Kathuria, DFO, said fire-prone areas had been identified. He said an awareness drive had been launched to educate people on the huge loss caused to the forest wealth by fires year after year.

NAHAN
TRAINING CAMP: Addressing participants at a three-day training camp for pradhans and secretaries of watershed projects, DC Onkar Chand Sharma called upon them to utilise traditional knowledge available with village folks in rural areas for harnessing water resources, soil conservation and preservation of environment.

PARWANOO
MUSICAL NITE: Subhash Chander Ghosh, a classical guitar player and disciple of sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, enthralled students, teachers and parents at the local Eicher School on Wednesday, with his compositions. He was accompanied by Mahmood Khan on tabla and Munish Sharma on tanpura.

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

The ZOPP remedy

The three-day all India Zeal-Oriented Project Planning (ZOPP) workshop of Punjab Technical University-Distance Education Programme Associates held last week (April 23 to 25) at Zirakpur was important in more ways than one. ZOPP is a German technique which helps an organisation find an answer to the problems.

A large number of service providers from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, J & K, MP, UP, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Kerala attended the workshop. Organised by the PTU Service Provider Association, the workshop was inaugurated by Dr Y.S. Rajan, Vice-Chancellor, PTU, Jalandhar (see photo). The inaugural function was presided over by Dr A. Kalanidhi. Dr Narsimha Rao, international expert on ZOPP conducted the workshop.

From the standpoint of service providers, the most important development of the three-day event was the declaration by the Punjab Government of its “moral, financial and political support” to Punjab Technical University and its Distance Education Programme. Mr K.B.S. Sidhu, Secretary, Technical Education and Industrial Training, Punjab, recalled that at one stage, the PTU was seriously thinking of burying the DEP programme in the wake of the controversy over the opening of distance education centres. But today there is no question of discontinuing this programme. Dr Rajan emphasised that “in this world of competition everybody should be competent enough to sustain in the market and so should be the university. Merely awarding education to candidates is not enough. Education must be on the line of future trends and the requirements of the industry.”

Mr D.S. Shekhon, President, PTU Service Provider Association, observed that before the PTU distance education programme, many universities were also offering the same programmes in regular or distance mode.

Himalayan panther

The world bank and other international funding agencies are all praise for the landmark achievements of the Himachal Pradesh Forest Department. And the man responsible for this master leap of forest projects is a professional who is interestingly an M.Sc electronics, AIFC, Post Graduate in Business Management (AIMA). Yes this “panther” is Mr A.K. Gulati, Chief Conservator of Forests (Projects), Himachal Pradesh.

His profile background is also green because he has a vast experience in multi-spheres of forestry. He is internationally acknowledged for breaking and establishing green records where ever he has served. He was awarded the Maha Vriksha award for 1998 from the Union Ministry of environment and Forests for finding the biggest tree. And he is one of the most widely travelled officers with mega forestry exposures and can easily get an official entry into the world record books. He also been acknowledged by the centre and the state government as the best divisional forest officer for outstanding performance in raising forestry plantations during 1983-84. He has also written more than 30 papers on forest published in Indian forester and other international journals.

Today he is probably the only forester with commercial management background. This is the reason that as Director, marketing, in the HP State Forest Corporation, in the year 1997, he did a record sale of timber worth Rs 134.74 crores. Thus there was a actual profit by HPSFC of more than Rs 45 crore. The net result of this day was that the HP government paid an extra royalty of Rs 33 crore and still the profit was Rs 13.59 crore.

During his tenure in the corporation in two years the yield of resin increased from 17 quintals to 36 quintals. Moreover the loss of Rs 54 crore by the HPSFC in the last three years is alarming and needs care and attention.

Contributed by A. S. Prashar and Ravi Bali.