R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

• A 22-yr-old unfinished project

• Rare honour for Punjabi NRI

BATALA
POOR QUALITY: The prospectus-cum-admission forms of Baring Union Christian College here are of poor quality and torn at places, according to parents of students seeking admission. Some teachers say the printers have used paper of poor quality.

BATHINDA
DIRECTORY: The local Rotary Club on Wednesday introduced the telephone directory (Yellow Pages) for 2003-2004 at a function organised here by members of the club.

HOSHIARPUR
RAPE CASE: Amarjit Singh alias Billa of Kurangna village and Gurdev Singh of Hussainpur village were booked on Monday on the charge of rape.

SUICIDE: Joginder Kaur (24) of Chhowni Kalan village committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance on Monday.

LIQUOR SEIZED: The police arrested Harbhajan Singh alias Bhajan and seized 45,000 ml whisky from his possession. The police also seized 6,750 ml whisky from Anil Kumar.

KAPURTHALA
THREE BOOKED: The police has booked Manjit Singh of Begowal, his wife Kamlesh Rani and son, working as travel agents, on the charge of defrauding Joginder Singh of Bholath village of Rs 5.5 lakh on the pretext of sending him to the USA. The couple has been arrested.

LUDHIANA
BA III TOPPER: Nidhi of Government College for Women has topped in the Panjab University in BA III examination conducted in April. She secured 1,897 marks out of 2400.

RESULTS: Prof Chaman Preet, spokesperson of Shanti Tara College, has said students of the college have done well in B. Com III. The college has obtained 95 per cent results. Gita Rani, Monica and Sukhdeep Jindal have stood first, second and third, respectively.

NEW PRINCIPAL: Mr Indermohan Kumar joined as Principal of Shanti Tara College, Ahmedgarh in Sangrur district, on July 1. He has been lecturer in English for 34 years. Prior to this posting, he was Principal of Government College, Karamsar.

SUMMER CAMP: The summer camp, organised by the Sutlej Club for its members, their spouses and dependents concluded here recently. There was a big enthusiasm among the participants in all categories of events. A good number of dependents and members attended the camp. A spokesperson of the club said that on the persistent demand by the members, it had been decided to continue the aerobic and yoga classes for another month. The coaching for various activities was given to participants. On the concluding day the participants gave their performance in the respective events, including aerobics, western dance, jazz and modern pop, etc.

CAMP: Employees of the State Bank of India, specialised commercial branch, Millerganj (Pahwa Hospital Complex) observed the bank's birthday on July 1 by voluntarily donating blood. The SBI was incorporated on July 1, 1955, and each year, this day is marked by worldwide celebrations in over 8000 branches and offices. The camp was conducted under the aegis of community service banking activities of the bank and with the collaboration of Guru Teg Bahadur Sahib Charitable Hospital, Model Town, on its premises. The entire staff were present. Mr Akhilesh Mohan, deputy general manager of the branch, thanked the donors/participants. The Medical Superintendent of the Guru Teg Bahadar Sahib Charitable Hospital, Dr Waheguru Pal Singh Sidhu, and the vice-president, Mr Joginder Singh Makkar, were also present.

CELEBRATED: The State Bank of India's Link Road branch celebrated “State Bank Day” on its 48th anniversary here on Tuesday. On this occasion a free dental check-up camp was organised and free medicines were given to the poor and needy. As many as 200 bank customers got their free dental check up. The camp was organised on the bank's premises. SBI chief manager R.K. Malik inaugurated the camp, while Dr Gagan Bajaj examined the patients. The bank gesture was appreciated by the people of the area. Mr K.K. Sabharwal and other members of the staff actively worked for the success of the camp.

TARN TARAN
TWO KILLED: Baldev Singh (58) of Mughal Chack Gillan village was killed when his scooter was hit by a truck on Tuesday. In another accident, Amrik Singh was hit by a truck and he succumbed to injuries on way to hospital.

HARYANA

YAMUNANAGAR
ONE KILLED: An Assistant Lineman of Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam, Puran Chand of Kansapur, near here, was hit by an unidentified vehicle on Monday night. He succumbed to injuries on way to hospital.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

SHIMLA
EXPEDITE WORK: Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, directed the Deepak project authorities on Tuesday to expedite work on the Rohtang tunnel. He was discussing work on various projects with senior officials of the project who called on him.

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

A 22-yr-old unfinished project

A skeleton building is all that has come up of the auditorium being built in Batala in memory of Shiv Batalvi, the John Keats of Punjabi poetry.

The foundation stone of the memorial was laid in 1981 by Mr AK Kundra, the then Deputy Commissioner of Gurdaspur. Upto July, 1992, Rs 28-lakh had been spent on this project. Out of this amount, Rs 10 lakh was contributed by local industrialists and the general public. The last grant of Rs 7 lakh was received from Panchayati Raj funds in July, 1992. But still there is no sign of the flooring, seating arrangement, stage and electrification etc.

In 1981 the total cost estimate for this project was put at Rs 12 lakh. But today another Rs 80 lakh is needed for completion of the project.

Mr Harbhajan Singh Bajwa, General Secretary, Punjabi Likhari Sabha, said: “As long as this project is in the hands of bureaucrats, its completion is doubtful.”

Mr Bajwa has suggested to the Punjab Government, to hand over the construction work to the Punjabi Likhari Sabha which would complete the monument from its own resources. He further remarked that two auditoriums of the same size could have been built with the amount spent so far.

However, Mr Ashwani Sekhri, Minister for Health and Employment, Punjab, told this correspondent that he had given Rs 22 lakh from the state government to Mr KAP Singh, Deputy Commissioner, Gurdaspur, for the Shiv Auditorium, Batala.

Interestingly in 1992 the then Education Minister, Punjab, Mr Lakhmir Singh Randhawa, at a press conference held at his residence in Batala had said that ‘Shiv Auditorium’ would be his first project to be completed within a year.

Rare honour for Punjabi NRI

Mr Manjit Singh Aujla, a Punjabi settled in Melbourne since 1979, is a recipient of Centenary Medal, awarded by Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen of Australia.

The Medal has been given to Mr Aujla for his services to the Australian Indian community through migrant welfare.

Mr Aujla is Justice of Peace, Marriage Celebrant, Migration Adviser and Registered Interpreter and Translator.

According to information reaching Chandigarh, Mr Aujla took up community work in Melbourne after taking retirement from the Public Transport Corporation. Since 1983 he has kept himself busy with many social welfare and religious organisations and devoted his time in the service of the Australian Indian community providing advice in immigration matters, all free of cost.

He has not confined himself to his local Taylors Lake area in community service but has spread his operational area to Melbourne. He was involved in building a Sikh temple and developing the Sikh community giving it a feeling of belonging.

He was congratulated for the Centenary Medal by Minister for Citizenship and Multi-cultural Affairs, Gary Hardgrave, MP. The services rendered by Mr Aujla have also been fully eulogised and recorded in the Victorian Parliament by MP, Mr Seitz.

Mr Aujla is authorised by the Punjab NRI Sabha to enroll members for them in Australia and collect membership fee.

Contributed by Balraj Mahajan and PPS Gill