The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Thursday, September 18, 2003, Chandigarh, India

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50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

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

PUNJAB

DERA BASSI
MEDICAL CAMP: As many as 560 patients were examined at a free medical camp organised by Ruhani Anjuman, a Panchkula-based social organisation, in collaboration with the Dera Bassi health authorities in collaboration with the Dera Bassi health authorities in Pandwala village near here, on Tuesday. Test of blood, urine, ECG and eyes were done free of cost.

FATEHGARH SAHIB
SAPLING PLANTATION: The district has topped in the state with a record plantation of three lakh saplings with the active participation of NGOs. The district administration is making all efforts to make this a mass movement and has ordered all village panchayats, block samitis and zila parishads to spend 5 per cent of their income and all municipal councils and cooperative institutions one per cent of their budget on sapling plantation drive in the district, said Mr S.K. Ahluwalia, Deputy Commissioner, in Bhatmajra village on Wednesday.

MEETING: The district administration on Wednesday called an emergency meeting of district health officials to take preventive measures in view of prevailing dengue fever in some parts of the state. Mr S.K. Ahluwalia, Deputy Commissioner, directed the officials to make contingency plans in case of any eventuality and the SDMs to initiate and ensure the cleanliness of surroundings, particularly the slum areas.

KHAMANO
POWER SHUTDOWN: The town and 26 villages falling under the local 66 KV sub-station will not receive power supply for three days i.e. September 22, 23 and 24 since the old power transformer will be replaced with a new one. People of the area had been facing inconvenience since the old transformer used to trip during peak load hours. When contacted, the SDO Mr Kaka Singh Rangi, said they were making alternative arrangements to provide power supply for a limited period to the affected villagers from nearby grids.

KHARAR
OFFICE-BEARERS: The followings have been elected office-bearers of the Kharar Football Association: chairman — Mr Jagir Singh Saini; president — Mr Rajwant Singh Kapoor; senior vice-president — Mr Ramesh Lal Sarangal; vice-president — Mr Rajinder Singh, general secretary — Mr S. Gurbachan Singh Badwal and joint-secretary — Mr Jaswinder Singh Jassi.

LUDHIANA
LECTURE: An extension lecture was held on the topic "Need of a new Green Revolution” at GHG Khalsa College, Gurusar Sadhar here on Wednesday. The Economics Department had organised this lecture in which national award recipient Mr Mohinder Singh Grewal of Kanganwal was the main speaker. With the help of a slide projector, Mr Grewal explained the cost-benefit structure of modern cropping, need of a cautious planning and marketing of valuable produce. Prof Mrs Harbans Kaur Khattra, Prof Balwinder Pal Singh, Prof S S Grewal, Prof Jaswant Singh, Prof Surinder Pal Kaur, Prof Manpreet Kaur, Prof Rajdev Kaur, Dr Balbir Singh, Dr Sushil Kaur and others participated.

SINGING CONTEST: The music department of the Master Tara Singh Memorial College for Women organised an “open singing competition” on Wednesday. Fortyfive, participants took part in the contest. Ms Sunmeet Kaur, Ms Navnita Kaur and Ms Gurvinder Kaur were the judges of the event. The results are as follows: In the singing competition (Hindi), Monika (BA-II), Soniya class XII and Harpreet (B. Com II) got first, second and third positions respectively. In the singing competition (Punjabi), Sarbjit got the first position, Rajwinder got second and Surinder Kaur and Harpreet Kaur got the third position. Principal Dr (Ms) Madanjit Kaur Sahota gave away the prizes to the prize winners.

MANDI GOBINDGARH
MEDICAL CAMP: Desh Bhagat Ayurvedic College and Hospital organised a free medical camp at Mehmoodpur village with the help of gram panchayat, according to Mr S.N. Singh, Principal of the college, in a press note here on Wednesday. Medicines were given to the patients free of cost. The camp was inaugurated by Mr Gurpreet Singh Bhatti, member SAD working committee. A team of doctors, which comprised Dr Kulbhushan, Dr Mithilesh, Dr J.S. Tripathi, Dr Narinder Singh, Dr Paramjot and Dr Mamta, examined the 358 patients.

DEMAND: Various trade and industry associations have demanded the withdrawal of the imposition of exim form. In a press note here on Wednesday, it was alleged that the government had been following the dictates of bureaucrats, who were misleading the Chief Minister. They said there was no need for the implementation of exim forms since there were a number information collection centres. It would greatly disturb the import and export of goods.

CLOSING CEREMONY: The closing ceremony of the Cluster XII (Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir) CBSE Table Tennis Tournament-2003 will be held on September 23 at Gobindgarh Public School, according to Mr Bhadar Singh, Principal of the school, in a press note here on Wednesday. Mr P.I. Sabu, Regional Officer, CBSE, Chandigarh, would be the chief guest.

PATHANKOT
OPPOSED: The Punjab Beopar Mandal has opposed the move of the local civic body to privatise the collection of octroi in the city. At a meeting of the mandal activists, here Mr Surinder Maharaj, president of the mandal said if the move to reintroduce the contractor system for the collection of octroi was not dropped, the traders should be forced to launch an agitation to get their demand accepted.

PROJECT CLEARED: The government has cleared a project to promote sericulture in Gurdaspur district. Mr J. Singh, Divisional Officer, Sericulture, said here on Tuesday that the department had planned to take farmers and producers engaged in sericulture on a tour of southern states and Himachal Pradesh to acquaint them with latest techniques of sericulture.

PATIALA
LAUNCHED: Godrej and Boyce Manufacturing Company Limited has come up with a new range of products for office and home segment. The company claims to be the first furniture manufacturing company in the world to get ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certifications.

SEMINAR: A seminar on Overseas Punjab Journalism will be held in Language Department on Friday. Disclosing this, Director of the department Madan Lal Hasija said an NRI journalist Narpal Singh Gill will present a paper on ‘The development and scope of overseas Punjabi journalism’ on the occasion.

PHAGWARA
CDs SEIZED: The police on Tuesday seized 215 pirated CDs of Hindi films and 10 CDs of x-rated films from a shop on the Gaushala road and arrested its owner Surinder Pal.

ROPAR
VISHVAKARMA DAY: Workers of the Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Plant Ropar, on Wednesday celebrated the Vishvakarma day. The celebrations were marked by a puja and a rally by the workers and attended by the Minister for Animal Husbandry, Mr Jagmohan Singh Kang, and the Minister of State for Grievances and Transport, Mr Ramesh Dutt Sharma, among others.

SAMRALA
ELECTED: The following have been elected presidents of the various units of the BJP Block Samrala: Mr Amar Nath Tagra (Block Samrala); Mr Sant Parkash Kalra (City Block Samiti); and Kamaljeet Singh Chawa (Dehati). The other office-bearers will be appointed in due course.

HONOUR: Hardardvir Nausheharvi, a Punjabi writer, has been honoured by the Sahib Sabha Dhariwal, according to Dr Gulzar Mohammad Goria, president of the Lekhan Manch Samrala. A shawl, a citation and a memento were presented by Punjabi poets Harbhajan Singh Hundal, Surinder Gill and Makhan Kuhar.

ZIRAKPUR
MEETING: Members of the Residents Welfare Association, Saini Vihar, Phase II, Baltana, held an emergency meeting on Sunday under the presidentship of Mr H.K. Joshi. According Mr Praveen Sharma, press secretary, the president of the Zirakpur Municipal Cocil, Mr Narendra Sharma, and the members of the association urged the Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, to ensure safety of residents of the area.

CHANDIGARH

HPCC OFFICE: Mr Bhajan Lal, chief of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee, has assigned Mr Mangeram Gupta, MLA and former minister, with the job of looking after the PCC office of Chandigarh. Mr Gupta would be assisted by the HPCC secretary, Mr Harvindra Kalyan, a press note said here on Wednesday.

SEMINAR: The Forum on Integrated National Security is holding a two-day seminar on “Integrated management of national security” on September 27 and 28. Mr P.C. Dogra, convener of the forum, said the Defence Minister would inaugurate the seminar. He said during the seminar all aspects of national security would be discussed.

HAILED: The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes wing of the Chandigarh Territorial Congress Committee has hailed the decision of the party President, Ms Sonia Gandhi, to nominate Mr Arvinder Singh as convener of the All-India Scheduled Caste Cell.

DHARNA: The Chandigarh Territorial Janta Dal (U) has protested against the non-availability of officers of the municipal corporation at its Mani majra office. The party said the public was facing inconvenience as the officers were not available during the public dealing time. In a memorandum to the UT Administrator, the party demanded full time availability of an Assistant Commissioner at the Mani Majra office, repair of damaged roads and opening of a branch of the licensing branch. A dharna was also organised to highlight the demands.

PROTEST: The Chandigarh Territorial Congress Committee has condemned the move by the Chandigarh Administration to increase sales tax on sale of petrol. Mr B.B. Behl, President of the Chandigarh Territorial Congress, said the hike was an anti-people decision.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Draughtsmen (Cartographic) Association of Survey Of India: president — Mr S.S. Pannu; vice-president — Dr J. Raghuvanshi; honorary secretary — Mr A.K. Dogra; joint secretary — Mr R.C. Sharma; and treasurer — Mr Harbans Singh.

HINDI WEEK: The regional office of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) organised a function an the concluding day of the Hindi week celebrations. Mr Ashok Kumar Malik, Assistant Editor of Dainik Tribune, was the chief guest on the occasion. Mr K.K. Sharma, Deputy Director-General of the BIS, and Mr K.K. Narang, Director of the BIS, also spoke on the occasion.

VISIT: The All-India General Secretary of the BJP, Mr Parmod Mahajan, would be in the city on the occasion of the announcement of the new president of the Chandigarh unit of the party on September 21. The National Secretary of the party, Mr O.P. Dhankar, was in the city on Tuesday to speed up the efforts on getting a consensus candidate for the post of the President.

AWARENESS CAMPAIGN: The Chandigarh Kendriya Ramlila Mahasabha has joined hands with an international human rights organisation for spreading the message of world peace and universal brotherhood. According to a press note, the mahasabha has decided to invite the Lawyers for Human Rights International, an NGO, for creating awareness regarding human rights among the masses, gathered to view Ramlila. President of the NGO Amar Singh Chahal said four members would speak during Ramlila on human rights.

CHALLANED: The enforcement staff of the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC) on Tuesday launched a drive against roadside motor mechanics, vendors and unauthorised grocers in Apni Mandis. The enforcement team challaned more than 250 persons, including 70 roadside mechanics in Sectors 21, 27, 28 and 40 rehri and phariwhalas in Sector 40 Apni Mandi.

HARYANA

FATEHABAD
BLOOD DONATION CAMP: The District Red cross Society will organise a ‘blood donation camp’ at Arorwansh Dharamshala here on September 22. Mr Ajay Singh Chautala, MP, will inaugurate the camp. According to an official press release the Deputy Commissioner, Dr R.B. Langyan, the City Magistrate, Mr Munish Nagpal, the SDM, Mr Ashok Sheoran, and other employees of the mini secretariat will donate blood at the camp.

FUNCTION: The district administration will organise a function in the local Bal Bhavan on September 23 in memory of those who had laid down their lives for the country.

KAITHAL
BAN ORDERS: The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Anurag Agarwal, has banned the assembly of five or more persons with in a radius of 200 metres from the examination centres where the examinations for middle, matric and senior secondary classes are being conducted by the Haryana Board of School Education. Besides this, no photostat machine will allowed to operate from such educational institutions under the orders promulgated under Section 144 Cr.P.C.

BANK LOANS: The District Industries Centre here has forwarded cases of 286 unemployed youths to different banks for advancing loans under the Prime Minister Rojgar Yojna during the current financial year.

YAMUNANAGAR
FORMED: Certain ex-students of S.D. Public School, Jagadhri, presently studying in different engineering college and streams have joined hand and formed a society, Kalpana ek soch, to prepare students of the plus two class for professional colleges.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
ELECTED: Mr Daulatram Thakur (Jukhala) has been elected president of the Kotkehloor constituency unit of the BJP. Election officer Dr Ashwini Dogra said Kehar Singh, Gurdev, Lahauri Ram, Sita Ram, Ramesh Kumar, Ram Kumar, Teluram, Sukhram, Shravan Kumar, Dharampal, Sant Ram Kontal, Ramesh Mahajan, Roshan Thakur, Amarnath Thakur, Dila Ram Chaudhary, Surender Bharti and Nandlal Thakur had been elected mandal executive members.

CHAMBA
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Government College Campus unit of the National Students Union of India: president — Mr Kuldip Thakur; vice-president — Mr Pankaj Nanda; general secretary — Mr Narender Sharma and joint secretary — Mr Prem Pal Thakur.

ELECTIONS: Out of the nine BJP mandals of Chamba district, the results of five mandals were received on Monday. Announcing the results, a spokesman for the BJP disclosed that the elections to these five BJP mandals of Chamba district were held unanimously and the following were elected as presidents of each mandal: Bhattiyat BJP president — Mr Nanak Chand Verma; Banikhet BJP mandal president — Mr Surender Mahajan; Salooni BJP mandal president — Mr Kuldip Thakur; Rajnagar BJP mandal president — Mr Tek Chand Choudhary; Chamba (urban) BJP mandal president - Mr Naresh Mahajan.

KULU
DEMANDED: Major Ramesh Chand Sharma, president, Ex-Servicemen and War Widows League of Kulu and Lahaul and Spiti district, has demanded that the money collected towards the ‘Kargil Fund’ by the Himachal Government in 1999 and thereafter be used for the rehabilitation of those maimed in action and also for the rehabilitation of widows and dependents of the martyrs and ex-servicemen of the state.

KUMARHATTI
CASH STOLEN: A sum of Rs 22,840 was stolen from the Civil Supplied Corporation depot, Bhumpti under Arki police station on Monday. According to information, Mr Daulat Ram, in charge, had closed the depot on Monday at 7 p.m. and left for his office-cum-residence in the upper storey of the same building. When he opened the depot on Tuesday he found the cash missing from the chest. A case under Sections 457 and 380 of the IPC has been registered.

PARWANOO
OFFICE-BEARERS: The elections of the Parwanoo unit of the HP Non-gazetted Employees Federation were held under the chairmanship of Mr Dhani Ram Thakur and Mr Pitambar Dutt. The following were elected office-bearers of the federation: president — Mr Om Prakash Thakur; senior vice-president — Mr Tek Chand Thakur; vice-presidents— Mr Prem Dutt and Mr Shashi Bhushan; general secretary — Mr Ashok Sharma; treasurer — Mr Shenkia Ram; joint secretary — Mr Deepak Chaudhary; chief adviser — Mr Aman Lal; press secretary — Mr Pratap Singh; propaganda secretary — Mr Roshan Lal; and organising secretary — Mr Suresh Kumar.

SHIMLA
CHALLENGED: Mr Kaul Singh, Irrigation and Public Health Minister, on Wednesday dared Mr Mohinder Singh, MLA and a former PWD Minister, to file a defamation suit against him for allegations made in the Congress charge sheet. Talking to newsmen he said Mr Mohinder had served legal notices on Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister and Mr Sat Mahajan, Rural Development Minister, who released the charge sheet.

SOLAN
PATWARI HELD: Sadh Ram, patwari of the Barotiwala patwar circle, was apprehended on Tuesday while taking a bribe of Rs 200 from Jeet Ram, a farmer of Damuwala village near Barotiwala. According to police sources, Sadh Ram had demanded the bribe for making the relevant entry concerning mutation of a piece of land inherited by Jeet Ram recently, in the official register.

BLOOD DONATION CAMP: The district unit of the Sathya Sai Baba Samiti organised a blood donation camp at Shiv Mandir in Ghumarwin near here on Tuesday. Twentyfive devotees donated blood at the camp.