R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

Regional Potpourri

• Heart-warming mission

• Feathery frames

PUNJAB

5 of marriage party killed: In a head- on collision between a truck and a car at Benra village (3 km from Dhuri) on the Sangrur-Dhuri road on Sunday evening all five occupants of the car were killed. The truck was going towards Sangrur from Dhuri while the car was going towards Dhuri from Sangrur side. Dhuri DSP Swaran Singh said on phone all five killed persons were from Daulatpur village (near Dhuri). The deceased had been identified as Gurpreet Singh, Jagtar Singh, Kaka Singh, Sukhwinder Singh and Ranjit Singh, alias Gagan. The driver of the truck fled from the scene. 

CHANDIGARH

MOHALI
Seminar: A seminar on 'post-death donation of dead body' was held by Taksheel Society Punjab at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Phase-3B1 on Sunday. A few volunteers of TSP including Ranjit Kaur, Ajay Mittal, Jaswant Mohali, Ajit Pardesi, Satnam Daun, Iqbal Singh, Dr Majeed Azaad filled their ‘will-form’ and handed over to GMCH-32, Chandigarh. 

HARYANA

PNDT Act: Haryana has so far recorded five convictions for sex determination under the Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) Act. The number is the highest in the country. This was stated in an official press note issued after a meeting of the supervisory board set up under the act here on Friday. The latest conviction in this regard took place on January 21 in a case in Charkhi Dadri, Bhiwani, where the court ordered a doctor couple to undergo imprisonment for one year and pay a fine of Rs 2,000. 

Rohtak
Seminar on health and behaviour: The Department of Psychology at Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) will organise a two-day national seminar on “Positive Perspectives of Health and Behaviour” from February 1. The headof the department, Prof Sunita Malhotra, said the seminar would focus on the understanding of health as a concept, biological, psychological, sociological and organisational domains of health, and assessment of health and behaviour etc. 

SIRSA
Conference on engineering: More than 100 engineers from different parts of the country will participate in a national conference on “Futuristic Trends in Engineering and Technology” to be held on January 28 and 29 at the Engineering College of JNCDL Vidyapeeth here. Director-general of the vidyapeeth Kuldip Dhindsa said the objective of the conference was to bring together experts from academic institutions, industries and research organisations and professional engineers for the sharing of knowledge, expertise and experience. 

HIMACHAL PRADESH

CHAMBA
Office-bearers: The following have been elected office-bearers of the district unit of Gurukul Bahumukhi Shiksha Sanstha: chairman - Navneet Chawla; vice-chairman - O.P. Bhardwaj; secretary - Naresh Mahajan; assistant secretary - Ajay Bhardwaj; organiser - Man Singh Sharma; and district coordinator - Daya Ram Sharma. 

Kumarhatti
Woodwool unit gutted: A loss worth Rs 25lakh was caused in a fire at National Woodwool Industries at Dharampur, near here, around 7.45 p.m. on Saturday. The fire was noticed by an employee of the unit. Fire tenders from Solan, Parwanoo and Kasauli controlled the fire after three hours. The factory also housed a sawmill which was also gutted. According to the unit owner a short circuit led to the fire. 

Kullu
Stress on transparency: Deputy Speaker Khimi Ram Sharma and Govind Ram Thakur, MLA, emphasised the need for accountability and transparency during a meeting of the district heads of the government departments at Bachat Bhawan here. Khimi Ram said the government had initiated many welfare schemes and the government employees should make sure that benefit of the schemes reached the needy. He called upon officials to implement government schemes with efficiency. Govind Ram Thakur took stock of the developmental works in his constituency and urged the department heads to fix the timeframe for their completion. 

NAHAN
Suffocation claims life: Jhouki Ram (110), a resident of Satiwala village here, reportedly died due to suffocation during his sleep. Paonta SHO B.D. Bhatia said Jhouki Ram was in the habit of smoking and his bed probably caught fire due to ‘bidi’. There were some burn injuries on the body. The deceased probably died due to suffocation. The body had been sent for a post-mortem examination. Around 10 pm, his family members noticed that his room was full of smoke. After opening the door, Jhouki Ram was found dead in his bed.

NURPUR
Demand: The Himachal Pradesh State Government Senior Secondary School Principals and Education Officers’ Association has urged the government to revise remuneration of principals who have been assigned the duty of coordinators in annual board’s examinations. P.C. Vishavakarma and Vijay Thakur, state president and senior vice-president of the association, respectively, said the remunerations should be increased from Rs 650 to at least Rs 100 per paper or Rs 3,000 for full examination in lump sum. 

SUNDERNAGAR
‘Shift cement plant site’: A meeting of the Sundernagar Sangharsh Samiti was held at Mahadev village to formulate strategy to oppose the government decision of setting up a cement plant near here. It was resolved to send representations to Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and forest minister J.P. Nadda with a request to shift the proposed cement plant to a faraway place. Representations will also be sent to the Ministry of Environment and Forests to cancel the clearance for the project. 

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

Heart-warming mission

A health mela organised for the people of Hoshiarpur under the National Rural Health Mission recently was a big draw. Apart from providing healthcare to 16,826 patients, it also succeeded in creating awareness against social evils such as drug abuse, female foeitcide, HIV/ AIDS and adulteration of food items.

A health mela organised at Hoshiarpur recently was a big draw

Interestingly, 26 persons got themselves tested for AIDS on their own and one of them was actually found to be HIV positive.

To attend to matters of the heart, local MP Avinash Rai Khanna had invited experts like the director of the PGI, Chandigarh, Prof K.K. Talwar. A cardiologist of repute, Talwar gave his advice to the local patients who were saved the hassle of travelling to the PGI and seeking an appointment there. Doctors from the fields of allopathy, ayurveda and homeopathy examined the patients. Special teams from the PGI, the Batra Hospital, Delhi, Amar Hospital, Mohali, Kundan Hospital, Jalandhar, Oswal Cancer Institute, Ludhiana, Shri Ram Cardiac Centre, Jalandhar, Vaid Mandal, Hoshiarpur, and the Neuro Therapy Centre run by the Sewa Bharti, Mohali, participated.

Eight children having congenital cardiac problems were also detected. And since the cost of surgery is more than Rs 1 lakhin each case, Khanna urged philanthropists and NGOs to arrange the surgery of these children as they all belonged to low socio-economic groups.

More than 150 persons pledged their eyes and one person pledged to donate his body after death to the PGI for scientific research. Another 173 persons, including deputy commissioner D.K. Tiwari, donated blood at the mela. 

Feathery frames

Wildlife photographer Prabhat Bhatti explains about birds to visitors at an exhibition of his works held at Ropar recently. —Photo by the writer

To develop senstivity towards the environment among people, especially the youth, Prabhat Bhatti, a Nangal-based wildlife photographer, organised a photo exhibition of birds at Ropar recently.

The exhibition was part of the Youth Mela organised by the Roopnagar Cultural Society.

Nearly 100 frames of various species of winged beauties, both local and migratory, were exhibited. For capturing these feathered friends on the lens, he walked miles in the wooded areas of Nangal, Ropar, Bilaspur and Una.

Be it is the crimson-breasted barbet, the magpie, the crimson large green barbet or the kingfisher, their plumage and shrill bird calls never fail to fascinate him.

His collection comprises birds feeding their young ones, basking in the sun, taking a dip in a pond and flying in a “V” formation.

The exhibition drew hundred of viewers, especially youngsters.

Since Nangal and its surrounding areas are fast emerging as popular destinations for bird watchers, he feels that the state government should lay emphasis on the development and protection of the habitat of birds and mammals.

“If we don’t show urgency about the need to protect wildlife, there might not be enough wildlife to worry about or protect later,” believes Bhatti.

Contributed by Ajay Banerjee and Vishal Gulati