The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Friday, November 23, 2001, Chandigarh, India

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

R E G I O N A L B R I E F S

PUNJAB

BATHINDA
RS 50,000 LOOTED: An arhtiya of the city on Thursday morning was robbed Rs 50,000. Four persons came in a blue car to the shop of Jaggu Ram Chanan Ram at 9.30 a.m. Mr Bhushan Kumar owner of the shop was present when the incident took place.

DORAHA
ANNUAL FUNCTION: Mr Jagdish Singh Garcha, Minister for Technical Education, Punjab, in his presidential address at the annual function of Guru Nanak Model Senior Secondary School, here on Wednesday, stressed the need of promoting technical education. He donated Rs 5,100 to the school. Speaking on the occasion Jathedar Sadhu Singh Ghudani, MLA, Payal, asked children to take a lesson from the lives of the gurus. Ms Urmil Sood, Principal of the school, welcomed the guests. Dr Ishwar Singh, president of the school managing committee, thanked the dignitaries and the other guests for attending the function. Students presented a cultural programme on the occasion.

FARIDKOT
CONFERENCE: The local Guru Gobind Singh Government Medical College and Hospital will organise a two day North Zone Conference on different skin diseases here from November 24. More than 250 delegates from various places will participate in the conference.

KHARAR
WATER LEAKAGE: The Sarpanch and some residents of Abhepur village have alleged that cracks have developed in some residential house and also in Dharamshala village because of the leakage of water from a pipeline in the village. In a press note issued here on Thursday they stated that the pipeline was laid by the Public Health Department without proper survey. They stated that in spite of informing the officials of the department regarding the leakage no action had been taken.

LUDHIANA
PDFA FUNCTION: The annual function of the Punjab Dairy Farmers Association (PDFA) will be held at Pal Auditorium PAU, on Thursday at 10 a.m. Giving this information Mr Harminder Singh Sandhu, general secretary of the association, said the chief guest of the function would be Dr Rattan Singh, Cabinet Minister. The function would be attended by a large number of dairy farmers and scientists, he said.

RALLY: A scooter rally to enlighten the Bahujan Samaj Party will be organised on November 24 from the grain market at 8 a.m. which would pass through the villages falling in Khamano subdivision. This rally was inaugurated by Mr Harchand Singh Nasreli, leader of the BSP Fatehgarh Sahib.

PATHANKOT
TWO KILLED: Two persons died on the spot and two others sustained serious injuries when a Maruti car in which they were travelling collided with a tipper near Pangoli Chowk on the Defence Road, on Wednesday evening. According to sources the deceased have been identified as Manohar Singh (43) and Ganesh Singh (35).

SUMMONED: Four officials of the LIC office, Nurpur, were summoned by the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Nurpur, for “wrongfully confining’ and “assaulting” Mr Vijay Singh Guleria, Development Officer at Nurpur branch of the LIC. According to a certified copy made available on Wednesday Mr Suresh Pathania, Cashier, Mr Vijay Singh, Higher Grade Assistant, Mr Sunil Yadav, Accountant, and Mr Kuldip Kumar, Assistant, were summoned under Sections 323, 342 and 353 read with Section 34 of the IPC.

PATIALA
FREE CHECK-UP CAMP: The president of the Patiala Society for the Rehabilitation of Physically Handicapped, Mr Mohan Lal Gupta, on Thursday stated that a free check-up camp for patients affected by polio and other bone-related diseases would be held on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. at Dr Vijay Aggarwal Clinic, Bhunerheri village, Patiala tehsil. Free calipers and medicines would be distributed among those affected by polio.

DEPUTATION MEETS MINISTER: A deputation of the World Sikh Intellectual Council, under the leadership of its president, Mr Baldev Singh Balluana, met the Cabinet Minister for Research and Medical Education, Mr Manmohan Kalia, and Special Secretary, Resarch and Medical Education, Mr Harjit Singh, in connection with the on-going agitation of Medical and Dental College Doctors in the state. It requested the minister to diffuse the situation by acceding to the genuine demands of the teachers. The special secretary informed the council members about the steps taken by the minister in connection with the purchase of medical equipment for hospitals and medical colleges. The minister assured members of filling up of vacant posts in medical and dental colleges by December, 2001.

SAMRALA
ROZGAR MELA: A ‘rozgar mela’ was organised by the local Employment Office at Government High School, Panjgraian village, 15 km from here on Thursday. About 135 persons attended the mela including panches and sarpanches of nearby villages. Officers of various departments of the Punjab Government spoke about various loan schemes of their respective departments. Many persons submitted their loan applications on the spot. The fair was organised by Mr Jawahar Lal, Employment Officer, Samrala. Speakers who spoke on the occasion included Mr Rakesh Pathak, Block-Level Extension Officer, Machhiwara, Mr Navdeep Sharma, Veterinary Officer, Machhiwara, Mr V.K. Jethi, manager, Punjab National Bank, Panjgraian, Mr Gulzar Singh, village Development Officer, Mr Dalip Raj, Dairy Field Inspector, Machhiwara, and Mr Yash Pal Minuta, Naib Tehsildar, Machhiwara.

MEETING: A meeting of the Shiromani Akali Dal, Samrala unit, was held under the presidentship of Jathedar Kirpal Singh Khirnian, member, SGPC, in the local Gurdwara Gobind Singh on Thursday. The constituency has been divided into 14 zones and five workers of SAD have been made in charge of each block. On this occasion, participants prayed for the early recovery of Mr Parkash Singh Badal. They also thanked public for participating in the bicentenary celebrations of the coronation of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The meeting was attended by Jathedar Kartar Singh Mehdoodan, Jathedar Mukhtiar Singh, Jathedar Darshan Singh and Bibi Baljit Kaur.

CHANDIGARH

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Haryana Government Industries Department (Hqrs) Employees Association, Chandigarh: president — Mr Jai Shankar Parsad Joshi; vice-president — Ms Veena Kiran; general secretary — Mr Som Parkash Sharma and cashier — Mr Rajbir Singh.

REQUESTED: The Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana in a letter to the Bar Council of India has requested for the adjournment of a case filed against it by eight of its members. The council had requested on the ground that the chairman of the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana had taken ill and was unable to attend the hearing on the date fixed by the counsel.

RALLY: The SAS Nagar unit of the Family Planning Association of India organised a rally on AIDS awareness at Ram Darbar here on Thursday. The rally was organised in association with the state AIDS Control Society, Chandigarh. Over 300 students from Government Senior Secondary School, Karsan, and Government Middle School, Phase-2, took part in the rally, which was flagged by Dr N.M. Sharma. Dr S.K. Sandhu, president of the association, also spoke on the occasion.

APPRISED: Mr S.S. Kohli, Chairman and Managing Director of Punjab National Bank, on Thursday of advised the staff to prepare themselves according to the changing scenario in the banking industry in the days to come. Earlier on his arrival here, he was accorded a warm welcome. Mr K.C. Gupta, Assistant General Manager, Branch Office, Sector 28-C, apprised him of the targets and achievements of the branch. Mr A.K. Bhargava, General Manager (PSLB), Head Office, New Delhi, Mr U.S. Bhargava, General Manager, Northern Zone; and Mr V.K. Sood, Deputy General Manager, Northern zone, Chandigarh; also accompanied the chairman.

DELEGATION VISITS MILK PLANT: A delegation from several countries, including Mongolia, Zimbabwe, Indonesia, Nepal, Oman and Ghana that had come to Delhi to attend an international training programme in standardisation and quality systems organised by the Bureau of Indian Standards, visited the Milk Plant, Industrial Area, Chandigarh on Thursday. The delegation was received by Mr M.M. Munjial, general manager, alongwith various sectional head of the plant. They were shown the operation of the plant, including quality control procedure testing and research and development. The visitors were impressed after seeing the plant and observing the working of the plant. Later, they also had an interaction with different officers of the plant.

HARYANA

AMBALA
APPEAL: A blood cancer patient has appealed through the District Red Cross Society for monetary assistance. Mr Satpal, a resident of Badshahi Bagh, said he was suffering from blood cancer and had to spent around Rs 20,000 each month on medicines. A sum of Rs 1.5 lakh would have to be spent on treatment, according to a press note. Since he belonged to a poor family, his monthly income was not enough to bear the cost of his treatment.

INTERIM BAIL GRANTED: The Special Judge for CBI cases, Dr B.B. Prasoon, granted an interim bail to the BJP MLA, Mr Chander Bhatia, till December 15 on Thursday. Mr Bhatia had been lodged in Ambala Central Jail in Judicial custody. After hearing the argument on bail application of both sides on Wednesday the Judge had reserved the order for Thursday. Earlier, Mr Davender Bansal, the counsel of Mr Bhatia, had informed the court that besides kidneys, the liver of Mr Bhatia had also been affected and needed immediate medical treatment. He had requested the court to grant the bail to his client on health grounds.

GATE MEETING: The Haryana State Electricity Board Workers Union, Ambala Cantt, on Thursday held a gate meeting to press their various demands. The meeting, which was presided over by union’s state vice-president, Mr Shamsher Singh, was held at Board’s operation division office. Among others, unit president Ravi Kumar, secretary Ram Pal, joint secretary Vijay Sharma, organiser Sukhraj, Hori Lal, and sub-unit president, Gurnam Singh, addressed the workers. The union demanded medical allowance, grant of ACP, house rent allowance, uniform allowance, increase in local travel allowance and bonus. It decided to hold its circle-level meeting on Friday in which the Ambala Cantt, Ambala City and Dhulkot units would take part. A rally would also be held on December 9 at Jind.

HISAR
SENTENCED: The Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mr Dharam Pal, on Tuesday sentenced Vijay Kumar to life imprisonment for the rape and murder of a minor. According to the prosecution, Kumar of the local Mahaveer Colony had killed a 13-year-old girl of the same colony after raping her three years ago.

SONEPAT
ARRESTED: The Murthal police has arrested nine persons of Islampur village under the Barot police station area of UP in connection with the alleged killing of a woman and injuring of seven others in a case of assault over a land dispute at Machhraula village of the district on October 31. According to a report, the arrested persons have been identified as Suraj Bhan, Vinod, Sunil, Sukhpal, Krishan Pal, Iqbal, Roshan and Virender. All of them have been charged with murder, assault, rioting and intimidation.

SHIFTING OF DAIRIES: The Deputy Commissioner, Mr S.N. Roy, has ordered shifting of all dairies of the city to the outskirts within a month. According to official sources, the Sonepat Municipal Council will allot land on the Kakroi, Gohana and Murthal roads on the outskirts of the city for the purpose.

WITHDRAWN: The Directorate of Health Department is reported to have withdrawn the disbursement and drawing (DD) powers from the Medical Superintendent of the local Civil Hospital with immediate effect. According to official sources, the action followed the non-depositing of the amount of arrears which were given to a number of medical officers by committing some irregularities.