The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Saturday, December 1, 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

AMRITSAR
CELEBRATIONS: The week-long celebrations of coronation of Maharaja Ranjit Singh at Guru Teg Bahadur Public School here concluded on Thursday. Dr Kirpal Singh, renowned Sikh historian, was the chief guest on the occasion. Mr Sukhchain Singh Dhillon, Principal, welcomed the chief guest. The school managing committee gave phulkari, Rs 11,000 and a gold medal to the chief guest.

PHONE CONNECTIONS: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited has decided to give second and subsequent non-STD/ISD telephone connection to the existing subscribers of the BSNL without any registration as well as security deposit. All subscribers who wanted to avail this facility have been requested to apply immediately. The telephones will be provided subject to the capacity of the exchange. Applications must be accompanied by a photocopy of the last bill paid in the name of the subscriber, who is applying for the second and subsequent connection.

BSP RALLY: The BSP supremo, Mr Kanshi Ram, has declared that this party would field candidates in all 117 Assembly seats. He said talks for alliance with the Panthic Morcha were in progress. He was addressing a rally of the party at Chabal township on Thursday. He condemned the government for ignoring the interests of the downtrodden, especially the Scheduled Castes. Ms Romesh Rani, Mr Surinder Singh and other party leaders also addressed the rally.

BATHINDA
WORKSHOP ON AIDS: The District AIDS Control Organisation (DACO) organised a workshop on AIDS at a local school on Friday. Students of various schools were provided information about the disease. Ms Vinod Devgan and Ms Vimla Sachdeva, Principals of the two schools here, presided over the function. Ms Raj Gupta, chairperson, DACO, delivered a lecture on AIDS. She said 8,200 persons were dying daily due to the disease worldwide.

STOVE BURST: In a bizarre incident a 22-year-old man remained unattended for more than half-an-hour in a busy locality of the city on Friday. The man identified as Raj Kumar, a rikshaw puller, was preparing tea on a stove which reportedly got burst. He caught fire in the process. The hospital authorities when contacted said that he was suffering from 90 per cent burns.

FEROZEPORE
BIRTH CENTENARY: The birth centenary of the legendary painter, Sobha Singh, was celebrated here at the local Dev Samaj College of Education for Women. A cultural programme was held in collaboration with the State Bank of India. Inter-school slogan writing and poster making competitions were also held. Dr Jagdish Kaur, Principal of the college, along with faculty members paid rich tributes to the great artist. Paramjit Kaur and Rama of Sikh Kanya Mahavidhalya and Beant Kaur of Khalsa High School won the first, second and third prizes, respectively, in the slogan writing contest. Surbhi, Sonia and Parminder of Dev Samaj Senior Secondary School and Paramjit Kaur of Government Girls Senior School, won the first, second and third prizes, respectively, in the poster making contest.

JAGRAON
SEMINAR: The International Council of Ayurveda, Punjab, organised a seminar on Ayurveda and a workshop on a therapeutic use of Ayurvedic medicinal plants at LRDAV college here on Thursday. Mr M.V. Acharya, Director Central Research Institute of Ayurvedic, Patiala, inaugurated a seminar after Lord Dhanwantri Poojan. The delegates lit the wisdom light, while students of DAV Cantary School presented a welcome song. Dr Parmod Tiwari explained the uses of Ayurvedic medicine. Dr Ashok Sharma Secretary General of the International Council of Ayurveda, stressed on the need of launching ISM program in India and abroad. Various pharmacies organised an exhibition on the occasion.

JALANDHAR
PPCC AND OCTROI: Mr Jaikishan Saini, president, Urban Development Cell of the PPCC, and former minister, dubbed the decision of the SAD-BJP government to abolish octroi as “hijacking” of the programme of the Congress. Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, Mr Saini alleged that the abolition of octroi was originally announced by the Congress during the chief ministership of Ms Rajinder Kaur Bhattal. He also announced the appointment of Mr Avnish Arora as vice-president and Mr Varinder Sharma as general secretary of the cell.

KHARAR
APPOINTED: Ms Sarbari Begum of Kharar has been appointed chairperson of the Minority Cell of the Punjab Pradesh Mahila Congress Committee, according to an appointment letter issued here on Thursday by Ms Gurkanwal Kaur, president PPMCC.

REMAND: Ms Harinder Sidhu, Judicial Magistrate, Kharar, on Thursday remanded one Jai Pal in the police custody till Saturday. He was arrested by the Sohana police and 10 kg of poppy husk was seized from his possession. The Assistant Public Prosecuter had pleaded for the police remand.

WORK STOPPED: Mr Devinder Singh, SDM, Kharar, and Mr Gian Chand Gupta, executive officer of the Kharar Municipal Committee, ordered on Thursday that the construction work of a proposed colony be stopped near Desu Majra village on the Kharar SAS Nagar road be immediately stopped till the work of laying pipelines for disposal of rainy water was completed. According to Mr Gian Chand Gupta, they had received a complaint in this regard from villagers.

MEETING: A meeting of the Shiromani Akali Dal held under the chairmanship of Mr Prem Singh Kharar (president of SAD, Kharar) has welcomed the election of Mr Kirpal Singh Badungar as President of the SGPC.

LUDHIANA
PLEA TO MAKE PAYMENT: Mr Sunder Lal Mehta of the PWD Public Health Punjab Employees Union (INTUC) has urged the department to ensure spot payment of all retirement benefits, gratuity, leave encashment and provident fund, in addition to all other dues to the retiring employee. He was speaking on the occasion of retirement of an employee, Mr Mehnga Singh.

PAINTING CONTEST: Kamaldeep Singh of Class VII won the on-the-spot painting competition in the junior section that was organised as part of the Guru Nanak Dev Jayanti function at Baba Isher Singh Public School here on Thursday. Jaspreet Sodhi of Class VIII and Simranpreet Kaur of Class VI were adjudged second and third, respectively, in the contest. The top award in the senior section was bagged by Jaslin Kaur of Class X, while second and third places went to Sapreet Kaur of Class IX and Jaspreet Kaur of Class X. Ms Ajit Pal Kaur, Ms Parvinder Kaur and Ms Rupinder Kaur were the judges. Children of primary wing also painted cards on the teachings of Guru Nanak Dev. Over 500 students participated in the contest. Harnavneet Singh, Jobanjeet Kaur and Arishamjeet Kaur took the first, second and third positions, respectively, in the lecture contest organised on the occasion. Mr Jarnail Singh and Ms Ranjit Kaur were the judges for the lecture contest. Ms Veena Sehgal, the school Principal, presided over the function.

CPM CONFERENCE: The 17th conference of CPM, district Ludhiana, concluded at Sahnewal near here on Wednesday in which a large number of party activists participated. According to a press note here on Thursday by Mr Amarnath Koom Kalan, propaganda secretary of the party, Mr Mangat Ram Pasla, member of the party’s central committee, inaugurated the conference. In his address, Mr Pasla said being the largest leftist party, it was its responsibility to forge a third front to replace the Congress as well as the BJP. Mr Chander Shekhar, state general secretary, criticised Harkishan Singh Surjeet for creating dissension in the party and dumping the party’s line of thinking. The conference was attended by 227 delegates. Prominent among them were Mr Sarwan Singh Oodhowal, who hoisted the flag, and Mr Harbagh Singh Gill, Mr Om Parkash, Mr Jagtar Singh Chakohi, Mr Jagjit Singh Ber Kalan, Mr Paramjit Singh Pamma and Mr Baldev Singh Latala.

MEETING: An executive body meeting of the Dhan-Pothohar Brotherhood Punjab was held at Punjabi Bhavan here on Wednesday. Mr N.S. Nanda, president, presided over the meeting. In its first resolution, the Brotherhood thanked the Union Government for deciding to delete a certain portion regarding derogatory remarks on Guru Teg Bahadur from the NCERT history textbooks. The body also thanked the govt for banning of smoking in public places. In another resolution, it congratulated Dr Kiranjot Kaur, grand daughter of Master Tara Singh, on her re-election as secretary general of the SGPC, Amritsar for the next term. It was also decided to hold a sabhyacharak programme on December 16 at Punjabi Bhavan. Mr Kulwant Singh Jagraon, a noted Punjabi poet, Dr Ajit Singh Sikka, a famous scholar, Dr Sharanjit Kaur, a national awardee story writer, would be honoured for their meritorious services and contribution towards art, literature and culture.

AISSF’s PLEA: The All India Sikh Students Federation (United) has made a plea for panthic unity to safeguard the interests of the state and its people and to ward off anti-Punjab forces. In a statement here on Thursday, Mr Gurdip Singh Leel, a member of the planning committee of the AISSF, urged both Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister, Punjab, and Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, President, Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal, to sink their differences in the interest of the state and contest the coming Assembly elections on a common symbol to stop ‘anti-panth’ and ‘anti-Punjab’ parties like the Congress from coming back to power.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Punjab National Bank Staff Union: president — Mr M.M. Sharma (Hoshiarpur); vice-presidents — Mr J.P. Singh (Samrala), Mr Ashok Awasthy (Ludhiana), Mr Vinod Sharma (Jalandhar), Mr B.P. Garg (Bathinda) and Mr Sudesh Sahrma (Pathankot); general secretary — Mr P.R. Mehta; secretary — Mr S.K. Mahajan; treasurer — N.K. Aggarwal and assistant treasurer — Mr Surinder Mohan.

TALENT CONTEST: The local branch of the Asian Club International would organise Koshish-2001, an art and talent contest for blind and handicapped students, at Vocational Rehabilitation Training Centre, Humbran road. According to the project co-ordinator, Mr Daleep Khaira, and project director, Ms Vandana, over 100 students would participate in the contest. The aim of the contest is to improve talent among blind and handicapped students and to encourage them to face the difficulties in life and to conquer them.

URGED: The Democratic Sikh Morcha, a non-political organisation, has called upon the Akal Takht to form Sikh Panchayats in different area of the state to ensure that the Akalis do not indulge in the politics of chair only by ignoring the principles of Sikhism. Mr G.S. Middha, general secretary of the mrocha, said in a press note here on Friday that the panchayats, while working with in the ambit of the Indian Constitution, should only be accountable to the Akal Takht. He said since the SGPC had fallen prey to murky politics and was not able to guard Sikh principles. He urged the Akal Takht that drinking, abusing and other vices in an ‘amritdhari’ Sikh should be subject to punishment

MOGA
BKU MEETING: A meeting of the Punjab unit of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) was held here on Friday. The members of the Farmers Union also participated in the meeting. The general secretary of the BKU, Mr Bhupinder Singh Mahesari, urged the government to pay compensation to the farmers who had suffered losses due to natural calamities and American bollworm attack. They demanded that loans advanced to the farmers also be waived.

NAWANSHAHR
SCIENCE FAIR: Mr Balihar Singh Bains, District Science Supervisor, in a press note issued here on Thursday stated that as many as 13 students belonging to different schools in the district participated in the state-level ‘Science Fair’ organised at Fatehgarh Sahib. Arvinder Guru of Doaba Arya Senior Secondary School here, Jyoti Saini of Saraswati Public School, Balachaur, and Gurvinderjit Singh of Government Co-education Senior Secondary School here, have won the first, second and third prizes, respectively. Shivani Arora of the local Shivalik Public School won the first prize in the chart making competition, he added.

‘NAGAR KIRTAN’: Various religious organisations and students belonging to different educational institutions took out a “nagar kirtan” on the eve of gurpurb here on Thursday. It started from the local Gurudwara Singh Sabha and passed through main roads and bazars of the city.

PATHANKOT
NEW CIRCULAR ROAD: The state government has sanctioned Rs 3.15 crore for the construction of a new circular road here. Addressing a press conference here at the Forest Rest House, Mr Mohan Lal, Higher Education Minister, said the existing road from Kath Ka Pool to Khanpur Chowk would be constructed and developed as a circular road. The local municipal council and Drainage Department, Punjab, will jointly endeavour to complete the project within six months. The project will be a part of the city beautification and traffic regulation scheme in the city, he added.

ROUNDABOUTS: The local administration has decided to handover the maintenance and development work of nearly a dozen roundabouts here to the private companies. This was stated on Thursday by Ms Bhawna Garg, SDM, here.

PATIALA
PLEA: The Punjab Government Ayurvedic Teachers Association has urged the Punjab Public Service Commission to hold interviews at the earliest to fill vacant posts in ayurvedic colleges.

FUNCTION: The annual function of Narain Public School, Sanour road, was held here on Thursday. Schoolchildren presented an impressive show comprising 20 items. Mr Harkesh Singh Sidhu, Managing Director, PRTC, was the chief guest. Dr R.U. Tiwari, Principal of the school, presented the annual progress report.

MELA: A sports mela, organised by Government Primary Schools of Patiala district, was held at Kharabgarh village recently. More than 600 children belonging to 21 schools took part in kabbadi, kho-kho, gymnastics, long jump and athletics competitions.

MOVE WELCOMED : The Patiala Beopar Mandal has lauded the state government’s decision to abolish octroi in the state from December 1 and also welcomed the proposal to set up a sales tax tribunal for speedy disposal of pending cases.

TARN TARAN
AWARENESS RALLY: An awareness rally was organised by the Health Department on Thursday at Pakhoke village to make an appeal to the parents to get their children up to the age of five years immunized against polio on December 2 and on January 20. Dr Kashmir Singh Sohal, in-charge, Health Centre, Pakhoke, said a large number of school children and other people participated in the rally.

RMP PROTEST: The Registered Medical Practitioners’ Association has condemned the Punjab Government for harassment of registered medical practitioners in the area. Dr Satnam Singh Dao, district general secretary of the association, in a press note issued here on Thursday said the association would organise flag march in the Assembly constituencies of the district. He said the association would hold a march on December 2 in Tarn Taran and Attari. On December 14, a flag march will be organised in the constituency of Dr Baldev Raj Chawla.

CHANDIGARH

GATE RALLY: The Chandigarh Transport Workers Union on Thursday held a gate rally outside the office of the Director, Transport in protest against the notification issued by the Chandigarh Administration allowing operation of private mini buses and air-conditioned buses in the city. A press note issued by Mr Jagdish Singh, general secretary of the union, said the notification was contrary to the Reorganisation Act under which no private bus service could be allowed in the Union Territory. The union also demanded the payment of ex-gratia which had not been paid for the past four years. Mr Jagdish Singh said they would support the call given by the Coordination Committee of UT employees and workers for strike on January 11 next year.

PROTEST: In a rather strongly worded press note given out by the Office Secretary of the Government Medical College and Hospital Employees Union, the union stated that the Hospital MS, although had allegedly succumbed to the union’s mounting pressure and decided to reinstate the two nurses who were under suspension, but at the same time called them to his office and allegedly used unparliamentary language against them. The press note also states that the union has decided to lodge a complaint against the MS.

WORKSHOP: A two-day workshop on ‘Population, gender, health and reproductive health’, organised by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in collaboration with United Nations Population Fund, was opened here on Thursday. Mr Dhar Chakravarrty, Joint Secretary, Child and Women Development, GoI, spoke about the X five-Year Plan and its aims. As many as 50 persons from various parts of the region are participating in the workshop.

ONE-DAY PROGRAMME: A one-day programme on population and development education for opinion leaders of Daria village was organised by the Jan Shikshan Sansthan at the village here on Thursday. About 60 opinion leaders of the village participated in the programme. Mr Arjun Kamboj, in charge director of the sansthan, urged the participants to educate people about the importance of education, inter-spouse communication, gender justice. He also urged them to motivate unemployed youths towards vocational programmes initiated by the sansthan so that they could become economically independent. Among others who spoke on the occasion included Dr Dazy Zarabi from the Regional Resource Center, Panjab University, Dr Ramneek Sharma from the Surya Foundation, and Mr J.P. Phogat from the Central Board of Workers Education. Participants also expressed their views on various social issues.

HOMAGE PAID: Fortnight-long Lala Lajpat Rai martyrdom programmes concluded here on Friday. Homage was paid to Lala Achint Ram, a close associate of Lala Lajpat Rai, and a prayer meeting was held in which the speakers, Mr Mela Ram Savar, a former MLA, and Mr Onkar Chand, secretary of the Servants of the People Society, recalled the leader’s contribution as a freedom fighter, parliamentarian, sarvodaya leader and founder life member of the society. The prayer meeting was preceded by a havan. Prof Sham Sunder and friends presented devotional music that kept the audience spellbound. A group of children from the Institute for the Blind also presented devotional music.

HARYANA

AMBALA
HOUSE TAX: Mr Anil Vij, MLA, on Thursday welcomed relaxations in the new house tax policy as announced by the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala. Mr Vij said, “In democracy, public opinion carries weight”. “Through these relaxations, Mr Chautala has honoured the opinion of people”, he said. He pointed out that Mr Chautala had made efforts to seek opinion of the people’s elected representatives and two meetings of MLAs were called besides a meeting of the Municipal Council president and the Zila Parishad chairperson.

CARNIVAL: The Northern Railway cultural carnival for the year 2001-2002 will be celebrated at the Railway auditorium, Ambala Cantt. Teams from Delhi, Ferozepore, Allahabad, Lucknow, Moradabad, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Ambala, Jagadhari workshop, Alambagh workshop and Headquarters are expected to participate in the carnival. Mr Ashok Sharma, assistant cultural officer, said that about 400 participants would be participating in different events like light and classical, vocal and instrumental music, dramas, dances, both classical and folk.

AWARD: Odissi danseuse Sikata Das was conferred with the Gyan Bharati award here on Friday. Sikata Das is a leading exponent of Odissi dance. She hails from a notable cultural family of Orissa. Learning Odissi dance at the age of five, Sikata had the privilege of being trained by gurus like Kelucharan Mohapatra, Raghunath Dutta and Ramani Ranjan Jena, a note said.

KAITHAL
SEMINAR: As many as 80,000 villages are without power inspite of the fact that 1 lakh MW power was being generated at present as compared to 1362 MW at the time of the country’s independence. This was stated by Mr Madan Lal, G.M., Power Finance Corporation (PFC), New Delhi, while speaking at a seminar “Power for all by 2012” organised at the local Koel Tourism Complex on Thursday. Mr Lal said the PFC was striving hard to ensure the availability of power to each village in the coming years. The Additional Deputy Commissioner, Mr Pardeep Kasni, was the chief guest at the seminar.

KALKA
NAGAR KIRTAN: On the eve of the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, a ‘nagar kirtan’ was taken out here on Thursday with great fervour and devotion. A large number of devotees including women and schoolchildren participated in the ‘nagar kirtan’ which started from Singh Sabha Gurdwara. It passed through Gandhi Chowk, main bazar, Railway Circle and Railway road areas. Langar were arranged at many places for devotees participating in the kirtan. It was led by a gatka party, followed by four ‘Sahibzadas,’ and Panj Piaras’.

SONEPAT
ASSAULT: Mr Rajinder Sharma, a school teacher, was assaulted by some youths on the Sonepat-Gohana road, near here, on Thursday.

1 KILLED, 2 HURT: One person was killed and two were injured in three road accidents here on Thursday. According to a report, Raj Kumar of Hamirpur sustained serious injuries when he was hit by an unknown vehicle on the G.T. Road, near Murthal, about 8 km from here. According to another report, two persons were seriously injured when a tractor overturned near Wazirpur village. One of them later succumbed to his injuries and another was taken to the PGI, Rohtak, for treatment.

STUDENT ASSAULTED: Rajesh Kumar, Class X student, sustained serious knife injuries when he was attacked by a group of students belonging to a rival group at Rajlu Garhi village, 10 km from here, on Thursday. According to another report, Dharampal, a Jat of Khanda village, was waylaid and murdered by some persons while he was on his way to his house near Kharkhauda town, 19 km from here, Thursday evening. An old enmity was stated to be the cause of the murder. The police has registered the cases.

SNAKE BITE DEATH: Eighteen-year-old Virender, alias Kala, died of snake bite at Rohna village, 15 km from here, on Thursday. According to a report, the body has been sent for the post-mortem examination.

YAMUNANAGAR
HEALTH SCENARIO: Dr M.L. Ranga, Health Minister, Haryana, addressing a press conference at Guru Nanak Khalsa College here said the government had taken a number of steps to improve the health scenario in the state. He said the budget for health services had been raised Rs 371 crore from the earlier Rs 316 crore. The government has also made it mandatory for all doctors to serve in the rural areas for at least five years, he added. He said the pay scale of the BAMS doctors had been made equal to those of the allopathic doctors. The government had also earmarked funds to establish an Ayurveda Research Centre here.

BLOOD CAMP: Dr M.L. Ranga, Health Minister, inaugurated a blood donation camp organised jointly by the Lions Club and G.N. Khalsa College here on Thursday. Dr Ranga said the people should donate blood should also come forward for eye donation. He said an eye bank would be opened here shortly. He announced Rs 31,000 as prize and incentive to the blood donors and organisers.