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CHANDIGARH |
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Appointed: Alam Singh has been appointed the general secretary of the Chandigarh Territorial Youth Congress (CTYC), according to a press
note.
Mohali
Thefts: Thieves struck at three houses in the same locality in phase VII here on Saturday night. According to the police, thieves struck in houses which were locked and did not have any one living for some time. The owners of two of the houses are yet to be identified. The crime was seemingly committed by the same set of thieves who had pre-planned the thefts.The police has registered a case and is investigating the matter. Panchkula
Medical check-up: More than 100 patients were attended at a multi-speciality medical check-up camp organised by Rotary Club, Panchkula, at Rotary House, Sector 12-A, here today. Free medicines were distributed to the needy ones during the camp. The specialties included orthopedics, eye, ENT, medicine, neurology, dental, neuro-surgery and physiotherapy. Zirakpur
Books released: Chetna ke rang, a short story book authored by Vimal Bhargava (Snehil), was released by the Sahitya Sangam, Zirakpur. Dr Ramesh Kunta Megh released the book. Talking about the stories, Dr Megh said they depicted a positive and balanced outlook on every aspect of life. Another work of poetry ‘Chan chan barasti chandni’ authored by her husband Chander Bhargav was also released on the occasion. This is Chander Bhargav’s second collection of poems. — TNS
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HARYANA |
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AMBALA
New policy: Union minister and Lok Jan Shakti supremo Ram Vilas Paswan said the government would announce new pharmaceutical policy soon in which the manufacturers would be provided relaxation in excise duty. Paswan had come to Ambala to attend the marriage of one of his relatives.
CHANDIGARH
Lok adalats settle 25 cases: Rural lok adalats were held in Haluwas village in Bhiwani district and Mandora village in Sonepat district on Sunday where 25 civil, petty criminal, revenue and mutation cases were settled. Stating this here, member-secretary of the Haryana State Legal Services Authority A.K. Tyagi said these rural lok adalats took up 69 cases of various nature.
KURUKSHETRA
Seminar at KU today: To promote better relations and understanding among the Press, the police and the public, the Haryana Patrakar Sangh, in collaboration with the state police, will organise a one-day seminar at the senate hall of Kurukshetra University here on Monday. R.S. Dalal, DGP, will be the chief guest while R.P. Bajpai, vice-chancellor, Kurukshetra University, will preside over the function. Artificial limbs: To provide them with artificial limbs, measurements of 110 physically challenged persons were taken at a free artificial limbs camp organised by the Rotary Club, Kurukshetra, in collaboration with the Bhagwan Mahavir Viklang Samiti, Jaipur, on the premises of Shri Krishan Dham here on Sunday. According to Dheeraj Gulati, president of the Rotary Club, doctors of the Jaipur-based samiti took the measurements, while Thanesar Municipal Council chairperson Uma Sudha presided over the camp. The artificial limbs will be distributed free of cost to these persons on May 20. YAMUNANAGAR
Teachers decry govt decision: The decision of the Haryana government regarding self-financing courses in colleges and the issue of grant of autonomy to some colleges will be detrimental to the interests of teachers and students.
P.R. Tyagi, zonal president of Haryana College Teachers Association, said this while speaking at a seminar on “Restructuring of education in Haryana colleges” at MLN College here on Sunday. Praveen
Khurana, secretary of the association, said it would be a retrograde step on the part of the government as the present system was working smoothly.
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JAMMU
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JAMMU
Kashmiri migrants: The National Conference has alleged the state government of adopting a callous and discriminatory attitude towards the problems of Kashmiri migrants presently putting up in various migrant camps in Jammu. This was stated by Shamima Firdous, senior NC leader and former MLC said during a one-day convention of Kashmiri migrants at Bantalab in Jammu on Sunday. Power revenue: The power department has collected a revenue of Rs 750 crore as electricity tariff from consumers in the state, which is the 52 per cent of the total target of the state, power minister Babu Singh said at a public meeting in Kathua district on Sunday. Out of the Rs 24,000 crore package under the Prime Minister Reconstruction Programme, an amount of Rs 18,000 crore has been earmarked for the completion of six major power projects in the state.
Villager beheaded: A villager was beheaded over a land dispute in Kathua district on Sunday, official sources said. Raj Paul's head was allegedly chopped off by Vikran Singh and Bahadur Singh. When the incident took place, Raj along with his wife was going to his field at Chann Khatrian village. The victim's wife reported the matter to the police. A case has been registered and a manhunt launched to nab the accused. 2 held for smuggling: Two persons were arrested after 25 kg poppy was recovered from their possession on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway at Mansar on Sunday. During routine checking of vehicles, the police recovered the poppy from a Punjab-bound truck on the highway. Driver Harbajan Singh and his accomplice Gurmeet Singh had been arrested. They were smuggling narcotics from the Kashmir valley to Punjab. SRINAGAR
‘Gift of Life’ project: The Rotary Club of Kashmir Midwest
(RCKM), under the “Gift of Life” project, is proposing to arrange free heart surgery for 20 economically weak Kashmiri children. Suffering from congenital heart diseases, the children up to the age of 20 years, who can not afford surgery and had no access to quality medical care, would be provided free treatment, a RCKM spokesman said. Udhampur
Dual currency: The BJP has decided to take dual currency issue among masses to “expose” the Congress for blindly supporting, what it called, “anti-national” polices of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). BJP state secretary Pawan Gupta regretted that Congress had maintained silence over secessionist demand of PDP patron Mufti Sayeed.
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Regional potpourri
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Burying the unclaimed...
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Dr Deepak Nagpal
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Thanks to a Hisar-based dentist, Dr Deepak Nagpal, unclaimed bodies have been getting a decent cremation. Not only that, he makes sure that the ashes are immersed in the Ganges at Haridwar and all last rites are performed, as per Hindu scriptures. For this social work, he was recently honoured by the government It all started when Nagpal was perturbed by reports of the way unclaimed bodies were disposed of, with municipal officials throwing these over used, burning tyres. He and his friends then founded a social service organisation — Aasra. Interestingly, Nagpal bears all the expenses himself and does not seek or accept donations. The cremation and performance of last rites costs him an average Rs 10,000 -15,000 a month. Initially, his wife objected to such a huge expenditure, but he soon convinced her that the destitute too deserved last rites. He has made his phone numbers available to the hospitals and police. As soon as an unclaimed body is found, Aasra office-bearers are informed. After the legal formalities, the members organise the cremation and later, the immersion of ashes in the Ganges. Aasra members, inspired by Nagpal, also arrange for hospitalisation of the sick living on the footpaths and under the city's overbridges. Nagpal also holds free dental camps in and around Hisar for the poor. “Dental care is otherwise costly. The camps bring this treatment within the reach of the poor,” he feels. ... and unearthing claims
An excavation exercise undertaken in Madina and Farmana villages of Rohtak district recently.
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Students, research scholars and archaeology experts descended on Madina and Farmana villages of Rohtak district for a joint excavation exercise recently. The camping site presented the picture of a global village — "vishva bharati" — with excavators and visitors from places as apart as Pune, Japan, Mysore, Assam, and Delhi working, dining and staying together. Many a visitor and archaeology enthusiast was pleasantly surprised at Akinori Uesugi, a research fellow from the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto, Japan, greeting them with a ‘namaskar’. The excavation exercise, sponsored by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), was a joint venture of Deccan College (deemed university), Pune; the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto, Japan; and Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU), Rohtak. Apart from unearthing various artifacts characteristic of the Harappan era, the excavators also found a well-planned urban complex of the period, which is a significant archaeological development. A cemetery supposed to be belonging to the Harappan period was also unearthed. Prof Vasant Shinde from the world’s biggest Department of Archaeology, Deccan College, and Prof Manmohan Kumar from the Department of History, MDU, observed that the discovery of definite links between the pre-Harappan, early Harappan and mature Harappan cultures was one of the most important findings. “Seeing how the Harappan civilisation grew from a tribe of pit-dwellers to urban residents living in systematically planned housing complexes
in the Ghaggar basin of present Haryana is of significance,” they maintained. Contributed by Raman Mohan and Sunit Dhawan
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