R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

Regional Potpurri

PUNJAB

Phagwara
NRI donates drugs: US-based NRI Manjeet Singh Basuta has donated medicines worth Rs 20,000 to the ESI dispensary at Guru Nanak Pura here. Former minister Joginder Singh Mann and SMO Dr Rajinder Singh Minhas said the philanthropic gesture would help the needy patients. Dispensary in charge Dr Joginder Singh and councillor Daljeet Singh Channa were also present on the occasion. — TNS

HARYANA

KARNAL
Lecturers hail decision: The Haryana Government College Teachers Association has hailed the announcement of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to grant class I status to college teachers and to institute best college award from next year. Association President R.S. Kundu said college teachers were grateful to the Chief Minister for expecting this long pending demand on the Teachers’ Day. — TNS

PANIPAT
Aid to flood-hit Bihar: People of the district have come forward to help flood victims of Bihar. The district administration arranged relief material (fodder) for animals in flood-hit areas of Bihar. Deputy commissioner V.S. Dahiya flagged off a train comprising 41 wagons of fodder from the Panipat railway station to the Purnia railway station in Bihar. Of the 41 wagons of fodder, 20 were arranged from Panipat and 21 from Karnal. — TNS

REWARI
Tanker seized: With the assistance of the Shahjehanpur police, the Dharuhera police seized a stolen tanker, along with chemical worth Rs 20 lakh, from the Delhi-Jaipur highway, near Shahjehanpur town of Alwar district of Rajasthan, in the wee hours on Sunday. The police said looters had apparently abandoned the tanker after it ran out of diesel. The police has registered a case under Section 379 of the IPC in this regard. — OC

Medical assistance scheme: Dr. Ambedkar Medical Assistance Scheme has been launched by the Union government to provide financial assistance to poor patients belonging to scheduled castes. An official spokesperson said here on Sunday such poor patients, suffering from deadly ailments of kidney, cancer etc. would be given a financial assistance upto Rs. 1 lakh under the scheme. — TNS

Jawan killed: An Army jawan Satbir Singh (24), resident of Kanwali village, was killed on the spot when the motor cycle he was riding on collided with a Tata 709 vehicle on the Mahendergarh-Rewari road, near Bharap village, on Saturday. The mishap occurred when the jawan was on his way to Kanwali village. —TNS

Woman dies of snakebite: Anju (35), wife of Mushtaq and resident of West Bengal, died after she was reportedly bitten by a snake at a brick kiln on the Rewari-Mahendergarh road near Chandawas village, 4 km from here, on Sunday. — TNS

SIRSA
Rs 1 lakh for flood-hit: Amarnath Sewa Samiti on Sunday contributed Rs 1 lakh towards the Prime Minister’s relief fund for providing help to the flood victims of Bihar. Members of the samiti, led by its president Veer Bhan Sethi, handed over a bank draft of Rs 1 lakh to the deputy commissioner V. Umashankar on Sunday. He said the samiti would also send medicines and other essential items to the flood victims soon. — TNS

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
Sapling plantation: Punjab National Bank organised a tree plantation camp at Jaddu Gulzar, 70 km from here, on Saturday. District coordinator Kiran Suri said 100 saplings of various useful varieties were planted on the occasion. The function was attended by large number of villagers. Bank officers gave details of the loan waiver scheme that was recently announced for the farmers by the Central Government. They urged the farmers to take advantage of a number of financial help schemes started by this bank. A Kisan Club was also formed on the occasion. — OC

Lightning damages houses: Lightning damaged the houses owned by five families at Chamlog village on Saturday. There was no loss of life, as all members of these families were away from houses at that time. Villagers immediately rushed to the spot and helped extricate one woman and her three-year-old child from the flames. The houses were totally destroyed. — OC

CM’s assurance: Government will soon decide a suitable policy for the part time workers in the Education Department and provide relief to them after considering all aspects involved in this issue. This assurance was given by Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal to a deputation of the Himachal Pradesh State Education Department’s Class-IV Employees Association that met him in Shimla on Saturday. The association presented a memorandum to the Chief Minister demanding monthly remuneration of Rs 1,640 instead of Rs 750 and preparation of their seniority list at the earliest. — OC

KANGRA
Paragliding event from Oct 14: The Paragliding Pre-World Cup tournament will be held at Bir, near Billing, from October 14 to 20. The Aero Club of India (ACI) has granted approval for the same and the event has been granted category II status by the Federation Aviation International (FAI). This information was given by commissioner (tourism) Ram Subhag Singh on Sunday. He said the event would be held in association with the Paragliding World Cup Association (PWCA). He said 120 pilots from 21 countries had registered for the event. Out of these, 85 would be shortlisted for the event. — OC

SHIMLA
Stokes hails NSG decision: Leader of the opposition Vidya Stokes has hailed the approval granted by the NSG to the Indo-US nuclear deal. She said this was an evidence of the growing clout of the country in the comity of nations under the UPA regime and a landmark development that would set the stage for accelerated economic growth in the years to come. She complimented Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi for the achievement. The achievement was possible only because of the strong commitment shown by the Congress leadership, she said. — TNS

SUNDERNAGAR
Protest march: Various social organisations under the banner of Sundernagar Sangarsh Samiti will hold a protest march on September 9 against the decision of the state government to set up the cement plant near Sundernagar. The delegates of many organisations will assemble at Jawar Park on September 9. They will march towards the Sundernagar SDM’s office — OC

JAMMU & KASHMIR

JAMMU
Chinore toll reaches 12: With the death of another jawan, the toll in the Chinore encounter has reached to 12. The jawan was identified as havaldar Netar Singh of the Ist JAKLI. Singh was referred from Jammu to the Research and Referral Hospital in New Delhi, where he succumbed to his injuries on Thursday, official sources said. Singh’s body will be taken to his native village at Dhani Bhakhta in Kathua and he will be consigned to the flames with full military honours. — UNI

Dogri food fest: Hotel Grand Rivera will organise a 10-day-long Dogri Food Festival here from Saturday onwards. “The fest will serve famous Dogri food items to visitors at dinner time at cheaper rates,” an official from Hotel Rivera said. “Each day special and new dishes - non-vegetarian and vegetarian items, besides sweet dish - will be served in ethnic Dogra style,” he added. Some of the dishes include Madra Dal, Ambal, Khatta Meat, Kheer, Qayoor, different varieties of Murabba, Pathura and types of paranthas. — UNI

Woman found dead: The wife of a jawan was found dead under mysterious circumstances at their residential complex in the Gandhi Nagar locality here on Friday. “The woman identified as S. Lageswari, wife of havaldar T.P. Sharwan Kumar of the 162/FS Workshop, was found hanging late last night under mysterious circumstances,’’ official sources said. The police has registered a case and started investigations. — UNI

2 held with poppy straw: The police today arrested two persons at a special naka in the Mansar area of Samba district and seized four quintals of poppy straw being smuggled in a truck to the neighbouring state of Punjab. The arrested duo has been identified as truck driver Jasvinder Singh and conductor Tilak Singh, both residents of Kapurthala. — TNS

SRINAGAR
Woman dies after fall: A woman died when she fell from the rooftop of her house in south Kashmir on Friday. Official sources said Afroza Begum was working on the rooftop of her house in Hassanpora Bagh Quimoh when she accidentally slipped and fell. She was rushed to the hospital where she was declared brought dead. A boy was killed after being hit by a vehicle in Kargil on Sunday. Official sources said the boy was identified as Mohammad Imran. — UNI

Regional Potpurri

Freeing society from drugs his mission

Romesh Mahajan (right), receives an award from Punjab Governor S.F. Rodrigues.

For Romesh Mahajan a resident of Gurdaspur life mean more than routine and family responsibilities. He has been effortful to make the district free from drugs.

After retirement from government service, Mahajan has made the de-addiction centre run by the Red Cross Society his home where and has been able to wean thousands off drugs making them joins the main stream of society.

For his selfless and untiring services to the cause of drug-free society, he has been awarded by the Governor of Punjab four times. He was given the fourth award for work towards drug de-addiction by Governor of Punjab S.F. Rodrigues, in the end of August at a special function at Chandigarh.

“ In 1985, I thought of doing something for poor people while I was working personal assistant (PA) to the deputy commissioner. In 2004, another turning point came when then deputy commissioner K.A.P. Sinha asked me to launch a drive against drug addiction”.

“After joining as project director of the de-addiction centre, making addicts lead normal life became religion for me. I have donated salary forever for that cause and am seeking donations to run the 30-bed centre in a better way,” he added.

“Not only this, my only daughter Simi Mahajan, a medical practitioner in the USA, also contributes. My wife too feels concerned about the well-being of the inmates of the centre and used to send eatables for them ,” he said.

Mahajan was honoured with President of India’s Silver medal for doing census work and given six awards by different Governors of Punjab for work in the field of child welfare when he was secretary, District Child Welfare Council, Gurdaspur. With his efforts, a gymnasium, a computer centre, air-conditioned wards for inmates, free food facility and transportation have been provided in the centre.

Making memorising of dates, formulae easier

Sababbi Mangal

For the students, who find it difficult to remember important dates of history or memorise arithmetic formulae and learn tables Sababbi Mangal, director of the i-Educations Brain Mensa, Bathinda, claims to have found a solution. The 20-year-old man from this city has made and memorised the world’s longest unlimited years calendar. He claims to tell the day of any date from year 0001 to infinity in seconds.

He has also invented a technique to memorise unlimited years’ calendar in less than an hour.

Mangal trains students in memorising techniques. He makes one look at photographs meant for the purpose. “ The theoretical part is all practice,” says he .

Earlier, Raj Saini of Rajasthan had created a calendar of 1 lakh years but he did not publicise it . But Mangal wants to do.

The book ‘Memorise Unlimited Years Calendar in one hour’ of 90 pages, including 50 photographs, offering techniques to memorise the unlimited years calendar would be out soon, added Mangal.

According to the India Book of Records, Ashish Sharma of Mathura holds national record for memorising 10,000 years calendar, i.e. 18th century to 99th century.

“ A fortnight ago, I broke that record by memorising 20,000 years calendar, i.e. from year 0001 to 20099,” he maintained.

Mangal has staked claim with the Guinness Book of World Records. He aims at obtaining patent for his unlimited years calendar.

“I have received an agreement letter from the international body and within six months, I would have two world records in my name, making and memorising the unlimited years calendar and secondly, fastest calculation that is more than 57 (current world record) per minute,” said he. Mangal added further records would not be possible on making, memorising or inventing the technique to memorise the unlimited years calendar.

About who inspired him, he says“I was flabbergasted by Biswaroop Roy Choudhary, who has two Guinness World Records in his name - memory and brain power,” said Mangal, a B.Sc (honours) in mathematics. “I attended his workshops in Panchkula, Faridabad and Noida besides Bathinda to learn the techniques,” he added.

Besides managing a brain development company, he has also authored books on memory and brain power. He was working on the techniques for four years now. “I have written three more books on the subject, viz, Secret of Intelligence Memory, Make your mind mental calculator and Toppers strategy, to be out by December,” said Mangal.

The books would be given to school students to help lessen stress and achieve good marks, said Mangal .

SGL Trust to rescue of flood victims, unborn girls

Chairman of the Jalandhar-based SGL Charitable Trust Baba Kashmira Singh, to check female foeticide in rural areas, has set up a health centre in Semi village near Jalandhar. Followers of the Baba worked day and night to fill more than 55,000 bags with sand for use to stop flood water from entering the Gidder Pindi area near Lohian.

Even when flood waters had surged towards Gidder Pindi on August 17, creating fear among residents, mobile dispensaries of the SGL Charitable Trust and hospital were moving in the flood -affected areas daily providing free medical services to the victims.

To check female foeticide, the Baba’s trust has opened a family health centre at Semi village and women have been surveying nearby villages like Salempur, Dhannowali, Semi and Paragpur. Survey of Deep Nagar and Birring village areas has been completed.

“Our women surveyors visit every house and take down details of immunisation of children up to five years of age, health of male and female children and grown- ups between 15 and 45 years. Most importantly, details of pregnant women of these villages are also recorded. Watch is kept to ensure conception reaches delivery stage. Women are guided on family planning and people in the 15-45 age bracket told to keep children healthy by adopting healthy habits,” said the Baba.

The trust spent Rs 7. 5 lakh on medicare , food and necessaries to flood victims in the Shahkot area, the Baba said. “Our volunteers worked day and night to save Gidder Pindi and surrounding areas from floods,” said the Baba.

Contributed by Chander Parkash, Harbinder Singh and Varinder Singh