The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Wednesday, June 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

BATALA
INAUGURATED: Mr H.S. Hanspal, president, PPCC, along with Mr R.L. Bhatia M.P., and certain Punjab Ministers inaugurated a newly laid road from Dharampura Colony to the New Civil Hospital. They also inaugurated the newly built Vishwa-Mitter Sekhri Memorial Gate, the Quadian octroi post and a road from Sekhri House to Bara-Talab-Tank.

MC DRIVE HAILED: The Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings (CICU) has hailed and appreciated the slum development programme of the government and also the campaign of the Municipal Corporation to remove encroachments from the city. Mr Inderjit Singh Pardhan, president and Mr Avtar Singh, general secretary of the chamber pointed out illegal encroachments which had eclipsed beauty of the Focal Point and Industrial Area. They urged the corporation to remove jhuggis, khokas and small shops from these points.

DHARNA CONTINUES: Families of members of the Lal Jhanda Mazdoor Union continued with their dharna against the hike in sand royalty in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office here on Monday. They claimed that thousands of labourers were being turned unemployed as some contractors had hiked the rates of royalty charged on each truck. The labourers have been on dharna for the past fortnight.

MEETING: Punjab Beekeepers Club held a meeting at Punjab Agricultural University in which more than 100 beekeepers participated. Dr J.S. Bhalla, president of club, warned the participants against the adulteration of honey. Senior entomologist G.S. Gatoria asked them to maintain the quality of the honey. Dr Pardeep Kumar Chuneja informed them about the diseases inflicting bees and the cure. Dr Gurmit Singh told the beekeepers about the processing, quality and marketing of honey. Dr Bhalla announced that the next meeting would be held on August 7.

POSTPONED: At a meeting held on Monday, the Nankana Sahib Education Trust postponed the confirmation of Col D.S. Grewal, Principal, Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College. The trustees said the confirmation had been deferred as the president, Mr Kirpal Singh Badungar, failed to turn up. The confirmation has been postponed for the second consecutive time and many have said that this was being done in light of a court case filed by a college lecturer challenging his appointment on the basis of qualification.

AWARDED: Dr A.F. Pinto, chairman, Ryan International School, has been conferred the prestigious award for outstanding contribution in the field of environment. He was felicitated with the award by the Vice President, Mr Bhairon Singh Shekhawat at Vigyan Bhavan owing to his multifarious activities related to environmental issues. He had been mobilising the student community in Mumbai and Delhi to plant trees, clean roads and thus educate the slum dwellers about the importance of clean neighbourhood, personal hygiene and role of trees. Ms Ravinder Kaur, principal of the local branch of the school, has congratulated him.

NAWANSHAHR
NOMINATED: Lt-Col Jarnail Singh, president of the district unit of the ex-servicemen’s cell of the PPCC, has been nominated member of the state managing committee of the Punjab Amalgamated Fund for the Welfare of Ex-Servicemen by the Governor, Punjab.

BLOOD BANK: Mr Surinderjit Singh Sandhu, Deputy Commissioner, inaugurated a blood bank at Guru Nanak Mission Hospital being run by an NRI-sponsored NGO Guru Nanak Mission Medical and Education Trust, Dhahan Kaleran, about 20 km from here, on Tuesday. A blood donation camp was also organised to mark the occasion. As many as 50 persons, including students of Guru Nanak College of Nursing, donated blood, according to a press note issued by the trust.

BUS SERVICE: The Guru Nanak Mission Medical and Education Trust, Dhahan Kaleran will provide free bus service from Banga bus stand to hospital for the convenience of needy patients. The trust’s bus would ply at 9, 10 and 11 a.m. from June 20 onwards, informed Ms Sushil Kaur.

SAMRALA
WELCOMED: Commandant Rashpal Singh, chairman of the Anti-Corruption Front here has welcomed the statement of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for accepting the demand of MPs for increasing their discretionary fund from Rs 2 crore to 3 crore. He said discretionary funds should be given for spending on drinking water and sewerage schemes and not on dharamshalas cremation grounds or community centers, etc. as these might be misused by village panchayats.

BAIL DENIED: The Additional District and Sessions Judge has rejected the bail of Dr Rakesh Kumar of R.K.Memorial Hospital, Machhiwara. Dr S.N. Tiwari, Civil Surgeon, in a press statement on Tuesday said an unregistered ultrasound machine had been impounded from the said doctor in March under the PNDT Act.

CHANDIGARH

PROGRAMME: With an objective to make people computer literate, a computer literacy programme has been launched at the State Bank of India (SBI), Staff Training College, Panchkula, on Tuesday. Launched under the community service banking project, the programme was inaugurated by Ms Hameda Z. Agha, DGM and Circle Development Officer of the bank. About 50 participants are attending this free training programme. It would continue till June 23. Addressing the participants, Ms Agha said in today’s technology-driven world, the knowledge of computers was as important as the knowledge of Hindi, English, Punjabi or any other language. She appreciated the overwhelming response of the participants and asked them of make use of all the packages taught during the programme.

RECRUITED: The Chandigarh division of the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has recruited about 3,000 new agents during the financial year 2002-03. It has now plans to increase the number of new agents by 6,000 in various market segments, said Ms Debashree Varma, Senior Divisional Manager, Chandigarh Division, here on Tuesday. She called upon the agents to popularise all the 45 products of the LIC to suit the specific needs of customers instead of a range of innovative products which would be cater to all the financial the financial needs and offer complete insurance solutions to the customers.

RELEASED: The Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, on Monday released a CD on the English-Punjabi administrative glossary to enable the employees of the state government to discharge their duties more efficaciously. The CM lauded the initiative taken by the Languages Department, Punjab, in devising a CD for the development and promotion of Punjabi as an official language in a more meaningful and result-oriented manner. The new CD, which comprises about 2000 entries of administrative terminology in Punjabi, would prove handy for the officers/officials of departments, board, corporations and universities in the state. This will also make them have a better command on the technical language used in the official work of the administration.

HARYANA

AMBALA
CRITICISED: Leader of the Congress in the Ambala Sadar municipal council, Mr Hira Lal Yadav, criticised Ambala Cantonment MLA Anil Vij on Monday for “taking credit of the sanitation drive”. Mr Yadav said contrary to Mr Anil Vij’s claim that the drains were being cleaned after nearly 30-40 years, the drains were regularly cleaned till 1977. Mr Yadav said Mr Vij has to take responsibility for the drains not getting cleaned. He said the sanitation drive was necessary but that does not mean that all other development work comes to a standstill.

DHARNA: Residents of five colonies close to Ambala Cantonment staged a dharna in front of the Additional Deputy Commissioner’s office on Monday to remove the liquor vends situated in their colonies. Besides president of the committee Vinod Kumar, a large number of residents of Dudhla Mandi, Shivala Mandi, Himmatpura, Gulab Mandi and Saain Ka Bagh participated in the dharna. The residents also submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner and Excise and Taxation Department to close down liquor vends.

ONE KILLED: One person was killed in a road accident near Naraingarh on Sunday. According to information, when Sher Singh was crossing the road he was hit by a truck. The police has registered a case against the truck driver. One person Mahender Pratap, was injured seriously near Patiala chowk at Ambala city when his scooter collided with a Tata Sumo.

KALKA
MEDICAL CAMP: A medical check-up camp, Reiki and acupressure method, began here at Bhandara Bhavan of Mahakali Mata Mandir Complex, which will continue till Friday. General public will be provided treatment free of cost at the camp. This camp has been organised with the help of Natural Cure and Yoga Training, Dev Yoga Kendra and Bhandara Committee Sewa Dal Mahakali Mata Complex. Reiki grand master Vaid Rajpal is the in charge of the camp.

DISTRIBUTED: Ms Radha Kulkarni, branch manager, State Bank of India, Kalka, distributed books, notebooks, pens, pencils, etc., to the students getting coaching at Dr B.R. Ambedkar Education Coaching Centre, being run in Maharishi Balmiki Dharamsala here on Sunday. About 100 students getting training in the centre and their parents were also present. A cultural programme was also presented by students on the occasion.

PINJORE
MEETING: A meeting of the BJP Mandal was held at Pinjore. The meeting was presided over by Raj Kumar Chandel, block president. BJP workers showed resentment against the working of the local municipal committee. The workers said that Rs 60 lakh have already been sanctioned under the MP local area development quota but no development work has been started by the municipal committee.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

CHAMBA
INSPECTION: Mr Baboo Ram Rahi, Chairman of the HPBSE, conducted an inspection of infrastructures and monitored the performance of various schools, including private schools located in Bharmaur in Chamba district this week. Mr Rahi appealed to teachers, parents and representatives of the panchayats to extend their wholehearted cooperation in rooting out copying.

NAHAN
SUSPENDED: Mr Het Ram, president of Lana Cheta panchayat under the Sangrah Development block, has been placed under suspension by the Deputy Commissioner, Sirmaur, Mr O.C. Sharma, for alleged misappropriation of funds regarding the foot bridge at Khala Lana Cheta.

PARWANOO
INAUGURATED: A Panchkarma unit of Saraswati Ayurvedic College at Baddi was inaugurated on Sunday. Chaudhary Lajja Ram, MLA of Doon Area, was the chief guest on the occasion. Lajja Ram, while speaking on the occasion, said the Panchkarma unit of the college would help the local area to cure the diseases. Lajja Ram also advised the management of the college to give preference to the local people for the admission in the college.

MEETING: A meeting of the Electrical Contractors Association of Himachal Pradesh was held here at Hotel Windsmoor on Sunday. About 30 contractors from all districts of HP attended the meeting. At the meeting, various problems being faced by the contractors of HP were discussed. The contractors said the government should give the preference to the Himachali contractors while allotting the works in HP areas. Contractors said the licences should not be given to the contractors belonging to other states.

ELECTED: The elections to the committee of Durga Mata Temple, Parwanoo, were held here on Monday. Ishwar Datt was elected president; Romesh — vice-president; Raghu Raj — secretary; Ram Swaroop — treasurer; Rajendar Prasad — organiser; Rajender Prasad Joshi — chief adviser; Sanjay Kranti — adviser; and Manoj, Bhuri Singh, Lal Singh and J.K. Diwan were elected the members of the executive committee.

ONE KILLED: A scooterist was killed when his scooter collided with a bus in Karan Pur village near Pinjore. As per the information, the scooterist hit the bus (HR-03 PA-0109) when it was dropping the passengers on the roadside. According to the police, the deceased belonged to Naggal village near Barwala.