The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Wednesday, May 21, 2003, Chandigarh, India

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R E G I O N A L B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
VIKAS MANCH: Amritsar Vikas Manch, while presenting a memorandum of demands to Prof Darbari Lal, Minister of State for Education, at a seminar on “Water as source of life,” here on Monday sought water treatment plants for the city and a special package of at least Rs 50 crore for the overall improvement of the city roads and streetlights.

FARIDKOT
PARISHAD MEETING: A meeting of the members of the local zila parishad may be held on May 28 here to pass the annual budget of the current financial year. An agenda in this connection has been sent to all members making it mandatory for them to attend.

PATIALA
PROTEST: The Council of Junior Engineers PSEB has decided that all Junior Engineers/AAEs will wear black badges on Wednesday to express their solidarity with the employees who are going on strike against the disinvestment and privatisation of public sector units and the power sector. President of the Council Pal Singh Mundi and general secretary Davinder Singh said the council had successfully completed its chain fast agitation in front of the PSEB Headquarters.

DRINKING WATER: The Sangharsh Sewa Society, Punjab, has taken a step to ensure free drinking water facility to the people at the railway station and the Rajindera Hospital throughout the summer season. This initiative of the organisation was started at the railway station on Sunday by Mr Joginder Singh.

AWARDED: The Capital Tool Industry has been awarded the ISO 9002 quality mark. This was stated by company’s chief executive officer R.K. Gupta.

UNIFORMS DISTRIBUTED: School dresses were distributed among needy students of Patiala and nearby areas on the second death anniversary of the founder of the District Social Welfare Samaj, Bhagwan Sarup Goel.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Bar Association of the Tehsil Complex: chair person — Mr T.K. Puri; president — Ms Sunita Kathuria; vice-president — Mr Shavinder Jindal; secretary — Mr G.S. Sodhi; and joint secretary — Mr Harpal Singh.

AWARDED: The United Writers’ Association, Chennai, has awarded Mr Ramesh Bansal life time achievement award at a recently held function. The award was presented to Mr Basnal by the Pondicherry Governor, Mr R.K. Malkeni.

STRIKE: On a call given by the Headquarters of the All-India General Insurance Employees Association, Mumbai, all employees of the four General Insurance companies namely National Insurance Co Ltd, New India Assurance Co Ltd, United Insurance Co Ltd and Oriental Insurance Co Ltd, have decided to go on a strike on Wednesday. President of GIEA (North Zone) Vinod Dhundia has assured full participation of employees throughout Punjab.

MEDICAL CAMP: Fortis Heart Institute and multi-Speciality Hospital on Tuesday organised a one day free cardiac check-up camp for PSEB employees. About 540 patients and employees were examined by the cardiac team of the institute. The hospital has so far organised 33 camps in the northern part of India. According to the PSEB Chairman, Mr Y.S. Ratra, the purpose of organising such camp is to provide better medicare to the board’s employees.

PHAGWARA
MINISTER’S WARNING: Punjab Social Welfare Minister Joginder Singh Mann on Monday warned middlemen against cheating innocent citizens with the false promise of pension. Addressing a function at Manak village, he said stringent action would be taken against such agents if caught.

SANGRUR
VIGILANCE PANEL: Ms Jaspal Kaur Ghanauri, Mr Amarjit Singh and Mr Surinder Goyal “Babbi” have been nominated members of the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee by Mr Simranjit Singh Mann, MP from Sangrur.

TARN TARAN
WORKERS UNION: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local unit of the Punjab village chowkidar Workers Union: president — Mr Tarsem Singh Sheron; general secretary — Mr Gurvail Singh Kaler; vice-president — Mr Balbir Singh and press secretary — Mr Gurdev Singh.

CHANDIGARH

WELCOMED: The Chandigarh Nagrik Sabha has welcomed the keen interest shown by Justice OP Verma UT Administrator, in the affairs of the administration. In a press note issued here on Tuesday, Mr Amarjit Singh Sethi, vice-president of the sabha, urged the administrator to make the working of administration more transparent.

PERSONALITY: ‘‘Those who embrace challenge without grumbling, stick to the right track without fearing obstacles and are welcomed by success,’’ This was what Mr M.L. Sharma, Director, Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, Chandigarh, said in his presidential speech during the inaugural function of the Sukriti-2003, a character-building-cum-personality-development camp’’ in DAV Senior Public School, Surajpur, near here today. The school Principal, Mr Vijay Kumar, said experts in various fields and eminent resources persons from outside were invited to impart training to the students.

ROAD REPAIR: Adviser to the Administrator Virendra Singh on Tuesday promised a delegation of the Federation of Small-Scale Industries led by Yashpal Mahajan to get the roads in the industrial area repaired from the administration’s fund. A press note from the federation said the Chandigarh Administration would announce a voluntary disclosure scheme for legalising the electricity load. This was stated by the Chief Engineer, Mr Puranjeet Singh, when the delegation urged the Chief Engineer to introduce the scheme.

PANCHKULA
OPEN DARBAR: An open darbar was organised at Barwala village under the chairmanship of the Deputy Commissioner, Ms Satwanti Ahlawat, on Tuesday. As many as 172 complaints were heard on the occasion. Most of the complaints were related to electricity and drinking water supply. The Deputy Commissioner immediately passed orders to officers concerned for taking necessary action. Complaints regarding poor drinking water facility, release of power connections for Tubewells, unavailability of ceiling fans in Government Senior Secondary School, Barwala, and the non-availability of a proper bus service in the area were also heard. On the occasion 71 learner driving licences, 10 domicile certificates, nine Scheduled Caste and Backward Class certificates were issued; 46 mutations were sanctioned and widow pension forms were also filled.

CAMP: A two day disaster management awareness camp was organised at DC Model Senior Secondary School on May 17 and 18 by the Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisation. As many as 64 selected seva dal workers of the state were trained in the camp.

BIRTHDAY OF BARBIE DOLL: About 500 students from Junior section of Blue Bird High School on Tuesday celebrated the birthday of Barbie doll. A big doll house was erected on the premises of the school and students as well as teachers came in pink and white party dresses with their dolls and stuffed toys to celebrate the birthday. A special Barbie cake was cut by the children and they danced to the tunes of “I am a Barbie Girl”.

WORKSHOP: A one-day environment education workshop will be organised at DAV Senior Secondary Model School, Sector 8, on Thursday. Mr D.S. Dhesi, Commississioner and Secretary, Haryana, will be the chief guest.

HARYANA

HISAR
CLASH: Two inmates of Central Jail here were injured in a group clash on Monday. They were admitted to the local Civil Hospital. According to the police, Prem Kumar, a resident of Mirchpur village, had gone to a neighbouring barrack in the jail where six inmates attacked him with sharp-edged weapons. Another inmate, Roshan Lal, a resident of Dhandhur village, also received injuries in the clash. The Civil Lines police has registered a case.

SUICIDE: A youth committed suicide at Barwala near here on Monday. According to the police, Ramphal (24), a resident of nearby Pabra village, ended his life by throwing himself before a train.

KILLED: A person was killed in an accident at Dabra village, near here, on Monday. According to the police, Sukhbir Singh (25), a resident of Daulatpur village, and his brother were returning to their village from Khanak on a tractor when it overturned. Sukhbir Singh died on the spot.

KAITHAL
PATWARI ROBBED: Two unarmed motor cycle-borne miscreants snatched Rs 70,000 from a patwari on Monday. The money was meant for old-age pensioners. The incident occurred in Kharkan village of Guhla subdivision.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
JAILED FOR BEATING WIFE: Chief Judicial Magistrate S.L. Sharma on Monday sentenced a barber of Samoh village, near here to one-year rigorous imprisonment and fined him Rs 1000 for wife-beating.

CHAMBA
ENCROACHMENTS: The local Municipal Council has decided to remove all encroachments on footpaths by vegetable vendors around the legendary Chowgan and to ban all unauthorised constructions in the town. At a meeting held here yesterday under the chairmanship of Mr S.P. Dhall, President of the council, it was also decided to impose house tax ranging from Rs 25 to Rs 100 depending on the income of each family.

DALHOUSIE
MAN DIES IN MISHAP: One person was killed and two were seriously wounded when a tractor overturned at Sahla on the Dalhousie-Shimla highway, 45 km from here, on Monday night. According to official sources, the deceased had been identified as Kahan Singh, driver of the tractor, a resident of Duggu area of Bhattiyat subdivision. The injured are Kuldeep Singh and Pawan Kumar, who have been admitted to the Civil Hospital, Chowari, Chamba.

HAMIRPUR
AWARENESS RALLY: Hundreds of schoolchildren and residents of Sujanpurtira took part in an environment awareness rally organised by the Eco Club of Sainik School here on Monday. Carrying placards and banners in hands, they went around the town and raised slogans.

CATTLE FAIR: A weeklong cattle fair started at Gasota Mahadev, 10 km from here, on Monday. Mr Devesh Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, declared the fair open by performing a religious ceremony. He offered puja at the local Shiva Temple. He highlighted the role of such functions. A colourful cultural programme was presented by a local school.

MANDI
SAHITYA PARISHAD: Himachal Pradesh Parliamentary Affairs and IPH Minister, Thakur Kaul Singh, on Monday said the Him Sahitya Parishad had provided a spring-board for budding writers and poets. He was the chief guest at a state-level function held to honour writers and poets for the year 2001 and 2002. President of the Parishad, Dr P.C. Kaundal, said so far as many as 22 writers and poets had been honoured.

SHIMLA
SEMINAR: Prof S.D. Sharma, Vice-Chancellor inaugurated a seminar on “Comparative approaches to the study of socio-cultural change in hill areas” organised by the Centre for Inter-Disciplinary Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences here on Monday. In his keynote address, he said social sciences, humanities and natural sciences were interconnected and could help locate, examine and explore new researches.