The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

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PUNJAB

Abohar
Cremated: Social activist Prithvi Singh Rinwa (67) was cremated at Shivpuri here on Saturday. Rinwa, president of the Sahitya Sadan, had died after a prolonged illness yesterday. His sons— Ravi Kant Rinwa, former chairman of Panchayat samiti, and Muradwala Bhomgarh sarpanch Surya Kant Rinwa lit the pyre. All institutions in the Sadan complex remained closed today as a mark of respect to the departed leader. PPCC vice-president Sajjan Kumar Jakhar, IFFCO chairman Surinder Kumar Jakhar, former MLA Mohinder Rinwa, former Zila Parishad chairman Rajinder Rinwa, city Congress president B.L. Nagpal and mandal BJP president Ravi Setia were among those who offered floral tributes.

Yoga classes: Yoga classes for the students from primary classes to matric began on Saturday at the LRS DAV Senior Secondary School here. The school celebrated the birth anniversary of Mahatma Hans Raj. Principal Kusum Khungar said the classes would be held till May 19. Yogi Sukh Nath would train the students. At the day long celebration various competitions, including painting and story-telling were also held.

Teaching aid given: The new team of the Well Wishers Club, led by president S.K. Oberoi, and project in-charge D.K. Chaitely on Saturday distributed teaching aids among the needy students of the R.S.D. High School here during a brief and simple function. Former president Naveen Bajaj, Ram Chand Chaudhary, Romesh Midha, Rajiv Soni, Sanjay Kukkar, Gurbir Kalra, Sunil Setia and Gautam Gaur spoke on the importance of value based education in the globally changing social scenario. Headmistress Raj Karni thanked the club members for such a noble service.

Amritsar
Daily trouble: Avtar Singh Makkar, president of Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) has criticised the vernacular daily Spokesman for making derogatory remarks against Guru Granth Sahib. In a release issued to the press here, Makkar claimed that the vernacular daily has not only been criticising the Sikh principals but also ‘mortgaging’ the paper to anti- panthic poltical forces. Makkar was commenting on the article “Matha tekan warge puja de brahmni dhang sikha which kadon te kithon aa gaye” authored by Hari Ram Gupta which appeared in the daily on April 12.

AIWC appointment: Punjab health minister Prof Laxmi Kanta Chawla has been appointed as member of the All-India Working Committee (AIWC) by BJP chief Rajnath Singh.

Batala
Delimitation panel: All India Congress Committee chairperson Sonia Gandhi has appointed Lal Singh (Malwa), Mohinder Singh Kaypee (Doaba) and Ashwani Sekhri (Majha) as members of the Punjab delimitation committee.

Bathinda
Trade Union Congress: A meeting of district unit of Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) was held on Saturday under the chairmanship of Pritam Singh Brar, district president, INTUC in which it was decided to hold dharnas at all district headquaters and Deputy Commissioner offices on April 23. At Bathinda, this dharna will be held from 10 am to 2 pm and will be addressed by Natha Ram Jakhar, state secretary, INTUC.

Rasam Pagri: Rasam Pagri of Laxman Das Jindal (63), secretary, Sanatam Dharam Punjab Mahavir Dal, who passed away on April 10, will be held from 12 to 1 in the afternoon on April 22 at Shiv Temple, Bhikhi in District Mansa.

Ambedkar’s anniversary: The All India SC/ST Punjab National Bank Employees Welfare Association, with the cooperation of other social organisations, will observe the birth anniversary of Bhimrao Ambedkar on Sunday at the Dr Ambedkar Park, near Rose Garden, in Bathinda. DC Rahul Tiwari will be the chief guest on the occasion. National president of the organisation, Mohan Lal, would preside over the function.

Students excel: Students, who were getting trained at the Harbhajan Institute, have excelled in academic examinations. Institute directors — Harbhajan Singh, Amolak Singh Sekhon and Jaideep Syal — have credited the teachers for the student’s performance. Prominent performers among the students are-Sahil, Arun Garg, Brijesh, Nipun, Gunbeer, Manoharjeet, Suhirad, Rajesh, Salil, Harsumit, Sumit, Ankita, Bhawneet, Rajwinder, Tejwinder, Taranjeet and Mandeep Sekhon. It is important to mention here that the Harbhajan Institute is a private establishment.

HOSHIARPUR
ABVP resents fee hike: The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has described the hike in the fees of IIMs and IITs as an injustice to students. District president of the ABVP Manu Sharma said on Saturday that there should be an independent committee to decide the fees of these institutions.

Toll protest: The members of Toll Plaza Sangarsh Committee blocked traffic for more than one hour at Mangarh barrier, 38 kms from here today. The protesters were demanding removal of toll plazas in Hoshiarpur district. The activists were led by comrade Gurmesh Singh, district secretary CPM, Hoshiarpur, comrade Darshan Singh Matoo, state committee member of CPM, comrade Nachattar Singh Kotli, tehsil secretary CPM, Dasuya and president of Hoshiarpur truck union, Tarlochan Singh.

Four booked for fraud : District police has booked four persons for cheating innocent persons of Rs 15.20 lakh in the name of sending their wards abroad. Police sources said Vinod Kumar and his father Sita Ram of Dadowal allegedly took Rs 14.80 lakh from Badri Singh, son of Ghasita Ram of Safdarpur, for sending his grandson to USA in August 2006. The duo neither fulfilled their promise nor returned the money. Dasuya police has registered a case. Similarly, Mehtiana police has booked Malkiat Singh and his son Sukhwant Singh of Bassi Kalan for allegedly cheating Iqbal Singh of Rs 40,000.

Ludhiana
Agent shot in office: Panic gripped Sant Ishar Singh Nagar when two youths shot dead insurance agent Lokesh in his office on Saturday and took away his Maruti Swift car. His employee Lakhbir Singh said he took an injured Lokesh to Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital where doctors declared him dead. The police said personal enmity seemed to be the reason behind the murder.

Mansa
Govt lauded: Megh Raj Goel, senior Congress leader of Mansa, has lauded the Punjab government’s efforts for increasing power generation in the state to provide relief to the residents from shortage of power. He lamented that Punjab, which was being considered as progressive and a rich state, was facing a shortage of power, which was adversely affecting the industry and agricultural sectors.

PATIALA
Cattle stealing ‘rampant’: SAD (A) chief Simranjit Singh Mann has revealed that problems of farmers of the Barnala area had multiplied with unscrupulous elements stealing their milch cattle. Mann said cattle thieves were active there on a large scale and caused an immense financial loss to farmers.

CHANDIGARH

CONTRACT: Eastern Software System (ESS) yesterday announced that it had successfully won a contract from Haier India, one of the leading home appliances and consumer electronics companies, to implement its flagship ERP product - ebizframe - for their services business. Ebizframe will be used over the internet by Haier India’s corporate office located in New Delhi as well as by the company’s various branch offices and service centers spread across the country.

Mohali
Road blocked: The road outside a gurdwara in Phase XI was blocked here on Saturday in protest against the alleged declaration of a candidate as the president of the gurdwara even when the election was scheduled to be held on Sunday. The protesters blocked the road for about an hour causing inconvenience to commuters. The blockade was lifted after an assurance was given that the matter would be sorted out at a meeting to be held in the evening.

Engineers stage protest: Diploma Engineers of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh today burnt the report of the pay commission and raised slogans. They observed the day as demand day as per the directions of the All-India Federation of Diploma Engineers. The office-bearers of the council demanded that the government should nullify the report of the pay commission and come out with a suitable policy so that the financial interests of JEs were protected.

Panchkula
Judicial officers’ conclave: Punjab and Haryana Chief Justice Vijender Jain would inaugurate the first ever conclave of judicial officers from Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh here on Sunday. Disclosing the schedule of conclave, chairman of organising committee of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice Mehtab Singh Gill said there would be two sessions during the conclave.

Lecturer awarded: Manu Sharma, senior lecturer of Rayat Institute of Pharmacy, Railmajra, was awarded the Third World Academy of Science travel grant for young scientist during the 4th International Conference on Biovision at Alexandria, Egypt. The award included a certificate, 540 euro, free registration (400 euro) and accommodation.

HARYANA

Ambala
Camp for handicapped: The Rotary Club of Ambala City organised a camp for handicapped here on Saturday. Deputy commissioner Mohammad Shayin inaugurated the camp. Dr J.K. Bhatia and Dr R.K. Bajaj examined around 35 patients during the camp. Former district governor of the club Ranjeet Bhatia briefed the audience about the achievements of the club. Senior rotarian Tajender Bajaj, Subhash Jain and Kiran Kharbana also spoke.

KURUKSHETRA
Interview date postponed: Following the receipt of a large number of applications for two posts of peon in the office of District and Sessions Judge, Kurukshetra, the interview, which was scheduled for April 26, 2008 has been postponed. Stating this here on Saturday, District and Sessions Judge R.C. Bansal said the interviews would now be held from May 1 to 3 and 5 to 7. The candidates were being informed through post while the schedule could also be seen on the notice board of the office or the applicant might contact on telephone nos. 01744-221130 and 222551.

REWARI
Community centre buildings: The irrigation and PWD minister, Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, inaugurated and dedicated to the people two newly constructed community centre buildings in Nai Abadi Colony and Indira Colony here on Friday. Reiterating the government’s commitment for the amelioration and welfare of poor and weaker sections of society, he said the number of community centre buildings, which were solely meant for social functions of poor people, had now risen to six in the city.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
Office-bearers: Jeet Ram Gautam took over as the president of the Bilaspur district Truck Operators Cooperative Society, which is the biggest truck union of this region working at ACC cement factory at Barmana near here. Earlier, Gautam was vice-president of this union. The post of president got vacant after the death of its elected and founder president Ram Das Thakur two weeks ago. Others unanimously elected are: vice-president Nand Lal Thakur, chief adviser Gyan Thakur, chairman Jaspal Mahajan, general-secretary Kuldeep Gautam and finance-secretary Anil Happy.

Hamirpur
15 bags of grains seized: The police seized 15 bags of grains from a jeep which were being transported illegally near Bhota on Saturday morning. Hamirpur SP Asif Jalal said the seized grain seemed for the food-for-work programme and was sold illegally in the market by the Bajuri panchayat president.

NAHAN
Woman falls from bus, dies: Debo Devi (30), a resident of Koti Utrou village in Shillai tehsil at Nahriwala village under Paonta subdivision, died on Saturday as she was trying to get down from a running bus (HP-17-5410). The bus was on its way to Paonta from Shillai. According to reports, she was on way to the Paonta industrial area where her husband works in a private factory. She fell out of the running bus when she was preparing to come out. She received serious head injuries and succumbed later. The Paonta police has registered a case in this regard and rounded up the driver and conductor of the bus.

Woman commits suicide: A Nepali woman, Dilli Kumari, ended her life by hanging herself from the ceiling of her room in Fagu village on Saturday. She had come here from Nepal three days back to pursue a case of compensation against the Indian Railways. She was staying in the house of Bhanat Panchayat president Bhawna Tomar where her husband worked before he met with an accident while on his way to Nepal. Tomar said when she went to her room to invite her and her relative, who was staying in the adjoining room, for breakfast, she noticed Dilli Kumari’s body hanging from the ceiling with a rope. After the post-mortem examination the body was handed over to her brother Tek Bahadur.

JAMMU & KASHMIR

JAMMU
Pak soldier deported: A Pakistani soldier who mistakenly infiltrated into Indian territory in the R.S. Pura sector of Jammu two days back, was handed over to the Pakistani Rangers on Friday, a BSF spokesman said. Zahir Mohammad, a sepoy of Alfa company of the 11 Punjab regiment, Sialkot, was arrested near the 129 border outpost in Dharana area of the R.S. Pura sector on April 17. The spokesman said as a goodwill gesture, Mohammad was handed over to the Pakistani Rangers at the commandant-level flag meeting at the Octroi post. Mohammad claimed that he crossed into India by mistake, the spokesman added.

SRINAGAR
Chemist shop raided: Concerned over reports that some drug dealers were selling additive drugs to youths, a team headed by the deputy controller, drug and food control organisation (DFCO), Kashmir, inspected various drug sale establishments in Rawalpora area. The team found that “Darul Shafa Drug Store” had stored various additive drugs, including Recodex, Corex, Ensdyl, Svizcodin and Bronosol without proper purchase records. The controller, DFCO, has warned chemists to maintain proper purchase and sale of drugs and any laxity in maintaining records would warrant severe action.

6 held for gambling: Six persons were arrested for their alleged involvement in gambling on Saturday, the police said. The arrests were made, following a raid carried out by the police in a house in Rawalpora area, SHO, Sadder, Shabir Ahmed Shah said. Packs of cards and Rs 40,000 kept as stake money were also recovered from the spot. The accused would be produced in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Budgam, Shah added.

Second patent: Ghulam Mohiuddin Bhat has bagged a second patent to his name for his invention, an electro-mechanical cassette player. Bhat who is the director, Science Instrumentation Centre University, had received an Indian patent last year, for designing a novel technique which aided in securing message communication on optical fibre links. “The cassette player reduces battery consumption by more than 85 per cent when compared to conventional cassette players in the market,” a university spokesman said.

Free health camp: A two-day free health camp would be organised from April 21-22 and would offer consultations for cardiology and oncology, a hospital spokesperson said. The spokesperson said a team of six highly experienced doctors would conduct the camp.