R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

• Savera lights up life of orphans
• Kasba-Kohassan cries for road
• Longest Punjabi ghazal

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
SPECIAL CHANCE: Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, has decided to give a special chance for improvement in eligibility percentage for giving the UGC NET for those holding’s degree. According to a press note of the university, Rs 10,000 could be deposited for the special chance to improve percentage in view of 55 per cent marks as eligibility criteria for UGC NET.

COACHING: Guru Nanak Dev University IAS Centre will impart coaching for preparation of college-cadre lecturers in Political Science, Economics, Punjabi, Hindi, English, Sociology and Psychology. The last date for admission is November 26.

WARNING: Mr Dalip Singh Sandhu, District Education Officer, has warned lecturers, teachers and ETT teachers belonging to 26 blocks of the district not to miss the training of block resource persons to be held on Thursday.

SEMINAR: Dr Sukhpal Singh Bandalia, senior vice-president, Amritsar Consumers Welfare Forum, has urged the state government to ban sale of Oxytocin injection which is being used by dairy farmers and youths for addiction. Dr Bandalia was speaking at a seminar on “consumer law and rights” organised by the Amritsar Consumer Welfare Forum Verka on Monday.

JALANDHAR
FUNCTION: Mr Megh Raj, Director, Small Savings Department, Punjab, while speaking at a state-level small savings function here on Tuesday, said small savings continued to contribute for the development of the state. He said the department would collect Rs 3,500 crore during the current financial year.

LUDHIANA
EXHIBITION: Swarn Sambandh , India’s largest jewellery exhibition, will start from November 21 to 24 at Hotel Majestic Park Plaza here. Jewellers from different parts of the city will participate in it. The World Gold Council supports Swaran Sambandh in its endeavour to provide a networking to jewellers to reach out to more people.

GHAZAL ACADEMY: The fourth annual function of the Punjabi Ghazal Academy (International) will be organised at Punjabi Bhavan on November 23. The function will be presided over by Dr Madan Lal Hasija, Director (Languages), Punjab. Poets Ajaib Chitarkar, and Gurdev Nirdhan will be conferred upon ‘Ghazal Shiromani Awards.’

TRIBUTES: Congress activists paid glowing tributes to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on her birth anniversary at a function organised by district Congress Committee (Urban) at Congress Bhavan here on Wednesday. Mr Pritpal Singh Ghayal, vice-president, DCC, presided over the function. He said through her far sight and vision, Ms Gandhi had made India a force to reckon with in the fields of science and technology and the country had played a pivotal role in bringing peace in the subcontinent.

SEVA DAL: On the directions of Mr Prahlad Yadav, chief organiser of the All-India Congress Sewa Dal, and Mr Rajinder Rasrania, chief organiser of the state unit, the district chief of Congress Sewa Dal, Mr Nirmal Singh Kaira has nominated the following office-bearers of the district unit: organisers — Mr Pawan Kumar Verma, Mr Tilak Raj, Mr Raj Kumar Sahota, Mr Anil Kumar Khosla, Ms Kamlesh Rani, Ms Saroj Bala, Mr Ram Rashpal Sethi, Mr Balraj Singh Chupki, Mr Piare Lal, Mr Prem Singla, Mr Rakesh Gupta and Mr Major Singh; organising secretaries — Mr Sham Sunder, Mr Manjit Singh, Ms Panjab Kaur, Ms Uma Saggi, Mr Prem, Mr Suresh Gupta, Mr Mandeep Singh Sapra, Mr Jiwan Singh, Ms Hardeep Kaur, Mr Krishan Dhawan, Mr Gurbaksh Singh, Mr Subhash Mehan and Mr Surinder Johar; block chief organisers — Mr Surinder Kumar Verma (Block No 1), Ms Madhu Bala (Block No 4), Ms Geeta Rani (Block No 5), Ms Jaswinder Kaur (Block No 11), Mr Harmeet Singh (Block No 12) and Mr Vijay Pandit (Block No 15).

ROPAR
PROCUREMENT: The Deputy Commissioner, Ms Seema Jain, on Tuesday reviewed the sugarcane procurement arrangements in the cooperative sugar mill at Morinda. She said the cane procurement for this mill would start from November 22.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Dharamsala
Red Cross lab: Himachal Pradesh Health and Family Welfare Minister Chandresh Kumari on Wednesday inaugurated the new Red-Cross laboratory near Dr R.P.G. Medical College Complex. Constructed at a cost of Rs 6 lakh, the laboratory will provide testing facilities to patients round the clock. The Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, Mr Shrikant Baldi, who is also the chairman of Kangra District Red Cross Society, said that soon facilities for dental X-ray and ECG would be added to the laboratory. Later Ms Chandresh Kumari paid floral tributes to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on her 86th birth anniversary at a function organised at Sangam Park here.

TWO KILLED: Two youths of Dehan, near Palampur, were killed when their scooter overturned at Tang, 8 km from here, on Tuesday. The victims have been identified as Vijay Kumar and Bitoo.

SUPPLEMENTARY RESULTS: Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education will declare supplementary results of those students who appeared for plus one examinations conducted in September on Thursday. This was stated by the Secretary of the board, Mr Vikas Labroo, here on Wednesday. The result will also be available on the Internet after 5 pm.

HAMIRPUR
ONE KILLED: One person was killed and two were injured when their scooter dashed against a tree on the Nadaun-Hamirpur highway near Bhatha village, 25 km from here, on Tuesday. The injured have been admitted to hospital. The trio were on the way to Khaggal village when this incident took place. The deceased has been identified as Amit Kumar.

APPOINTED: Mr Roshan Lal has been appointed president of Hamirpur district unit of the BSP. Mr Jhagan Singh will be the general secretary and Mr Satish Kumar Surana, cashier. The new committee was announced by its state president, Mr Tulsi Ram Bansal, at a meeting held here on Wednesday. Mr Man Singh Manhera, All-India Secretary of the party, was also present on the occasion.

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

Savera lights up life of orphans

Salim Iqbal (12), Wasim Iqbal (11) and Bunty (10) are among 7,600 children who have been orphaned during the past 14 years’ of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir.

Some of these orphans have been adopted by a Jammu-based NGO, Savera, headed by the Inspector-General Police, Dr S.P. Vaid. Leading businessmen of Jammu, including Mr Ram Sahai, president, Chamber of Commerce and Industries, and Mr H S Anand, besides prominent bureaucrats, have been taken on the governing body of the organisations.

Dr Vaid says that the aim of Savera is to provide food, clothing, education and vocational training to these children. After completion of various vocational courses, jobs will be arranged for these orphans, he adds.

He also plans to provide succour to widows if required funds are available.

Kasba-Kohassan cries for road

Kasba-Kohassan is a tiny hamlet in Dehra subdivision of Kangra district, plagued by a plethora of problems. But the major problem is the non-availability of a road. This is despite the state government’s rhetoric that even remotest of the villages would be connected by road.

Survey on the proposed road, from Dhaliara via Kasba-Kohassan, has been conducted umpteen times by the department concerned since 1993. A worn-out board, put up by the department on the main road for more than fifteen years, now proudly announces ‘Baba Tilla road under construction, length 1.8 km’. The local residents have submitted affidavits to ‘donate’ land for the purpose, if need be.

The road had been partially metaled for 1 km from the local Postgraduate Degree College towards this village, in 1948-49. But the remaining 2-3 km stretch, right up to Bara village, had remained unmetaled since, though it would have benefited some 5,000 residents of Kasba-Kohassan, Charuru and Bara villages if metaled.

This non-descript village nestles between dense woods on one side and the Pong dam on the other.

In the absence of a road, the residents have to trudge long distances with their headloads making it a nightmarish experience for them especially during the rainy or summer seasons. The worst affected are the patients, old and infirm.‘‘The devotees, including women and children, who throng the shrines of Baba Tilla and Shri Bharthari Hari, have to trek the unlit footpath that zigzags through woods. A constant fear psychosis about some wild predator trapping them unawares continues to haunt them,’’ said Mr Jagmel Spehia, a local sevadar of Bharthari Hari.

As there is no road, the residents continue to suffer. The 95-year-old widow of freedom fighter Basant Singh aka ‘Maalo’, Charuru village has to be ferried in a palanquin or horseback for drawing pension. Another freedom fighter, 96-year-old Hoshiar Singh of Bara village is spending the twilight years of his life in the village sans a road.

Longest Punjabi ghazal

An author has made an attempt to explode the ‘myth’ that Punjabi is not a suitable language for ghazal-writing. Mr Harbhajan Singh Komal has not only written a complete book of single ghazal but he wants to create a record out of this book. He plans to add more and more ‘ashaars’ to this ghazal and thus bring book after book of the same ghazal. The first volume of this book titled ‘Dharati di Ghazal’ has fiftyfour ‘matlas’, 672 ‘ashaars’ and one ‘makta’.

A building contractor turned writer, Mr Komal was born on November 10, 1935 at Gujaranwala (now in Pakistan) and is a BA (Punjabi) and Gyani degree holder. He has also undertaken special study of Darwinian Principles and Marxism. Though he writes in Punjabi, Mr Komal has a good command over Hindi, English and Urdu languages. Besides poetry, he writes short stories, criticism, travelogues and essays also. He already has over a dozen books to his credit. The latest book ‘Dharati di Ghazal’ was released recently at a Haryana Sahitya Akademi function in Panchkula.

The Haryana Sahitya Akademi has honoured him twice. In addition to it, Mr Komal received Bhai Vir Singh Award last year and was awarded Gold Medal from German Democratic Republic for a travelogue on that country.

Mr Komal is also committed to the welfare of writers and is associated with a number of literary organisations. These organisations include Federation of Progressive Writers, Afro-Asian Writers Association and Haryana Pragatisheel Lekhak Sangh.

Based at Karnal in Haryana, Mr Komal has moulded ghazal as per the nature of Punjabi and has tried to realise the full potential of this language. Punjabi literature has high hopes from him.

Contributed by M.L. Kak, Ramesh K. Dhiman, Jitendar Awasthi