R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

Regional potpourri
Community effort improves medical centre’s health
Cure on your fingertips
Rights of passage

PUNJAB

Amritsar
Gang busted: With the arrest of four persons, the Majitha police on Saturday busted a gang of looters and seized arms and sharp-edged weapons from them. The accused include Gurbhej Singh, Kanwaljit Singh, Balraj Singh and Balkar Singh. A case under Sections 399 and 402, IPC, and Section 25 of the Arms Act has been registered.

Smack seized: The police has arrested Suba Singh, a resident of Barar village, and seized about 250 gm of smack from him during a naka. 

Hoshiarpur
PF default: On the complaint of the Enforcement Officer, District Provident Fund Office, a case against Mr Neelam Oswal, owner of M/s Oswal Paper and Allied Industries, Mukerian, was registered on Friday. It had been found that the employer of the establishment had deducted Rs 28.59 lakh as employees share of contribution to the PF but he had not deposited it with the Statutory Fund.

Two killed: A woman and her daughter were killed while her husband and son were wounded when a truck hit their scooter on the Shergarh bypass on Friday. The injured have been admitted to the Civil Hospital. 

Jalandhar
Four injured: Four labourers were injured after a building in the New Ratan Nagar area collapsed on Sunday. The labourers were constructing the first floor of the shop of one Sunil Kumar when the building collapsed, the police said.

Kapurthala
Half-day leave: The Deputy Commissioner of Kapurthala has announced a half-day leave in all the government and non-government offices in the Kapurthala sub-division on the afternoon of May 23 so that the employees could participate in the famous Mata Bhadarkali fair at Sheikhupur village near the town.

Scribes demand probe: The Kapurthala Working Journalists’ Association has demanded a high-level probe into the allegations of corruption levelled against two local reporters. A deputation of the members met the SSP, Mr Rajiv Ahir, on Saturday night and demanded a probe into the controversy where the reporters had been accused of accepting a bribe of Rs 3,500 from a local RMP.

Samiti formed: The local residents have set up a Shri Guru Ji Janam Shatabdi Samaroh Samiti in the district to celebrate the birth centenary of former RSS chief Madhavrao Sadashivrao Golwalkar. The renowned physician, Dr Ranvir Kaushal, was appointed its president. 

Pathankot
Shop sealed: The police has arrested Vishal Mahajan for possessing 5 gm of smack. In another incident, the police sealed a chemist shop in the Gurjit market and registered a case against the owner of the shop under the NDPS Act.

CHANDIGARH

YAJNA CONCLUDES: The week-long Atharaveda parayan yajna and religious discourse being held by the Arya Samaj, Sector 7-B, concluded on Sunday. Raju Bighianik, who was the special guest on the occasion, said the main aim of the human life was to search God. The president of the samaj, Mr Ravinder Talwar, and other office-bearers were present on the occasion.

HARYANA

Karnal
Man kills grandfather: A youth of Dera Rangi Ram in Salwan village under Assandh police station killed his grandfather with sharp-edged weapons. According to a police spokesman, Sunil (24) killed his grandfather Padam Singh (68) following a dispute over property. Padam Singh died on the spot. The Assandh police has registered an FIR under Section 302 of the IPC.

Congress rally: A public meeting organised by the Congress here on Friday was a rally with a difference. No government machinery was used and businessmen were happy that they were not forced to contribute any money for the meeting that was addressed by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. He laid the foundation stone for construction projects worth Rs 100 crore.

Sonepat
Computer education: Though the government has spent lakhs on computer education in government schools, a number of schools have yet to implement it for want of computer teachers and electricity supply. One such school is Government Senior Secondary School at Jasrana village where computer sets have been kept in a room and have not been taken out from the boxes.

Yamunanagar
Chowkidar killed: Seven to eight robbers struck at a jewellery shop on the Gobindpuri road in the wee hours of Friday and decamped with silver jewellery worth about Rs 12 lakh after killing the chowkidar. The police claims to have arrested one of the robbers and recovered the jewellery. A case has been registered.

HIMACHAL

Dharamsala
Police website: The Kangra police has taken a lead in the state by launching its own website. Addressing a press conference on Saturday, the district police chief, Mr S.P. Singh, said the website included details of missing persons and stolen vehicles. The address of the website is: http//www.hpkangra.gov.in/police/welcome.htm.

Solan
VC leaves for US: With a view to exploring the possibility of collaborative functioning with the University of Florida, the Vice-Chancellor of Dr Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Dr Jagmohan Singh, has left for a 10-day visit to the USA. Accompanied by Dr U.K. Kohli, Dean, College of Horticulture, they will visit the University of Gainesville, University of California and Davis Campus to technically collaborate on horticulture research and education.

Kumarhatti
Molested: An employer allegedly molested an employee on the pretext of dropping her home on Saturday. The girl (19) from Pandoh in Mandi district was employed as a clerk with Sharma Job Placement at Nalagarh for the past six months. Kasmiri Lal, owner of the placement unit, has been booked for molesting her in his vehicle while dropping her home.

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

Community effort improves medical centre’s health

The panchayat and residents of Kaimri village, near Hisar, have set a good example by getting the local primary health centre renovated and upgraded with the help of the government.

The Government Primary Health Centre in the village, which lacked even basic facilities till a few years ago, has been completely transformed into a well-eqipped healthcare centre.

Thanks to government aid and the villagers’ efforts, a new delivery hut has been constructed. A water tank and a water cooler have also been provided. Besides, a waiting hall has been built and work on an operation theatre is under way.

The patients can get all necessary medicines and vaccines at the centre free of cost. As per a recent policy of the state government to promote institutional deliveries, no money is charged for delivery cases, from admission to discharge, and even the medicines are given free of cost.

All this became possible when the village panchayat decided to revive the centre and initiated efforts in this direction. While some villagers donated money for the construction of an OPD block, others pooled in funds and carried out the renovation.

Seeing their initiative, the authorities concerned also extended full support and provided a special grant of Rs 2 lakh for the repair and renovation work. Dr Ratna Bharti, who is serving at the centre as a Medical Officer and is the source of inspiration behind its transformation, gives all credit to her superiors, staff and the villagers.

Cure on your fingertips

From a practising allopath, he has turned into an ardent preacher of ‘mudra vigyan’ (hand postures), an ancient therapeutic science, mentioned in the Vedas, for the effective cure of various diseases.

Dr H.S. Gupta, who has attended camps at the Vivekanand Yogashram, is engaged in making people aware about this science of treating various mental and physical ailments through the practice of proper hand postures. He has been delivering lectures in schools and colleges, with a view to familiarising students with this ancient science.

He gives demonstrations of various hand postures, like the ‘gyan mudra’, ‘pran mudra’, ‘apan mudra’, ‘vayu mudra’, ‘shunya mudra,’ etc so that students can practice these on their own. These ‘mudras’ can cure various ailments like depression, insomnia, arthritis, diabetes, myopia, deafness, gastro-intestinal and nervous disorders etc, without the help of medicine.

Says Dr Gupta, “Physical or psychological ailments are the result of a disturbance in the equilibrium of the five elemental forces in the body. Appropriate ‘mudras’ can help to restore proper balance, thus curing the ailments.” He adds that the five fingers of the hand represent the five elements that make up the human body — the thumb denotes ‘agni’(fire), the forefinger ‘vayu’(air), the middle finger ‘akash (ether), the ring finger ‘prithvi’(earth) and the little finger ‘jal’(water). Each of these elements can be controlled through our fingers, by activating certain vibrations that restore the balance between them.

Rights of passage

Though the Army is known for assisting civilians in times of need, the Hisar-based Mechanised Division is unwittingly adding to the problems of the civilian traffic on National Highway 10.

The Corps of Military Police (CMP) recently put up large steel barriers on the highway, bang in front of the cantonment’s three gates opening on to the busy road. There are three menacing steel barriers in front of each of these gates. These effectively block a 100-metre stretch in front of every gate. While the first barrier blocks the left side, the next one blocks the right side about 50 metres ahead. The third one again blocks the left side roughly the same distance away. Thus vehicles are left with a narrow lane to negotiate. Since traffic comes from both directions, at times long queues can be seen on either side, awaiting their turn.

Several mishaps have taken place in the past few months when vehicles coming from opposite directions collided in the middle of the blocked stretch. Interestingly, this is the first time that such barriers have been erected in front of Hisar cantonment ever since it came into being three decades ago.

There are several police checkposts on the Hisar-Rohtak stretch of the highway but barriers similar to those of the CMP are positioned only when there is tip-off regarding a particular vehicle which has to be stopped. The Highway Patrol officials are reluctant to involve themselves in a row with the Army authorities but they admit that there is neither a need for the Army to put up these barriers nor can a busy highway be blocked in this manner indefinitely, even if the barriers are movable.

They feel that the Army authorities should erect these barriers only if there is a convoy moving on this stretch. However, they say, a better option is to let CMP personnel regulate traffic on the stretch when a convoy is moving. — Contributed by Sunit Dhawan, Parmod Bharti and Raman Mohan