The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Friday, December 14, 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

AHMEDGARH
7-YR IMPRISONMENT: Mr J. S. Khushdil, Additional Sessions Judge, has sentenced Sanjeev Kumar of the Chhapar road, the main accused in a case registered under Sections 306 and 34 of the IPC in 1995, to seven years’ imprisonment. According to the prosecution, the accused, along with other members of his family, had forced his wife, Reeta, to commit suicide. The other family members were acquitted for want of evidence.

ANNUAL FUNCTION: Government High School in collaboration with Dr Jasminder Kaur Lidder Memotial Trust organised its annual function recently. Ms Manjit Kaur, Deputy DEO, was the chief guest on the occasion. The function started with ‘shabad kirtan’ by Jaswinder Kaur and group. Harvinder Sharma, Manjit Singh , Harjit Singh and Harpreet Singh presented patriotic songs. Mr Kuldeep Singh, Headmaster, read the annual report of the school. Capt Balwinder Sharma and Mr Daljit Singh, office-bearers of the trust, spoke about the contributions of Dr Lidder to the field of education. In her keynote address, Ms Manjit Kaur appealed to the people of area to cooperate with the Education Department to improve the standard of education in government schools. She also gave away prizes to brilliant students of the school.

AMRITSAR
DEMANDED: The talmel committee of para-medical and health employees Punjab has demanded the immediate arrest of Gurinder Singh, working in the ESI hospital, who was ordered to be charged-sheeted and transferred by the Director Health Services. The committee headed by Mr Parshotam Sharma and convener Mr Harinder S. Dosanih has demanded that he be charge-sheeted and transferred as he was accused in cases of embezzlement, besides other frauds.

BAND COMPETITION: The fifth Bhai Mardana band competition for school children will be organised by the Sri Guru Arjan Dev Sat Sang Sabha in association with the management of Sri Darbar Sahib, SGPC, on January 5, 2002 to commemorate the ‘Parkash Utsav’ of Sri Guru Gobind Singh. Dr Gursharan Singh Kainth, organising secretary of the competition, said here on Wednesday.

BATHINDA
PROTEST RALLY: Members of the coordination struggle committee, Punjab, three wings of the PWD, and employees of the Sewerage Board from all over the state will hold a rally at Gidderbaha on December 18 to press the authorities concerned to accept their demands.

DENTAL CAMP: Desh Bhagat Dental College, Muktsar, organised a free dental check-up camp at Khirkianwala on Wednesday. As many as 310 patients were examined at the camp. Medicines free of cost were given to the needy. Mr Manpreet Singh Badal, who inaugurated the camp, announced a grant of Rs 11,000 for the organisers.

MEDICAL CAMP: The ‘Helping Hand Educational Society’, an NGO, in cooperation with the youth club of Phullo Mitti village, will organise a camp for the polio-affected and handicapped persons on December 15. Mr S.L. Garg, president of the society in a press note issued here on Thursday said that tricycles, wheel chairs, hearing aids would be distributed among the needy patients and measurements of handicapped for providing them callipers and artificial limbs would also be taken.

CHETNA RALLY: Members of the Council of Junior Engineers PSEB participated in the chetna rally held here on Wednesday to create awareness among masses against the implementation of the Electricity Bill, 2001. Mr S. P. Singh, president of the council in a press note issued here on Wednesday said chetna rallies were being held throughout the state as the implementation of the Electricity Bill 2001 could render many of them jobless.

FARIDKOT
RALLY: Hundreds of employees of the Central Cooperative Bank in the state will hold a rally in front of the office of the Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Chandigarh, on December 21 in protest against the failure of the Cooperative Department to accept their long-pending demands.

SAFAI KARAMCHARIS: Safai Karamcharis from all over Punjab will organise a ‘maha panchayat’ at Kotkapura, on December 19 to finalise their future course of action keeping in view the adamant attitude of the state government towards their long pending demands.

GURDASPUR
THREE DEAD: Three persons were reported dead in two separate accidents near here on Thursday. In an accident near Sekhan, 5 km from here, two youths identified as Malkiat Singh and Gurpej Singh, died on the spot when their scooter was hit by a truck. In another accident, Sham Singh, Sub-Inspector, Agriculture Department was run over by a vehicle near Abbal khair village on Thursday.

JAGRAON
BOOKED: The Raikot police has registered a case against Sukhdev Singh alias Tainni of Jatpura village under Sections 294 and 34 of the IPC on the complaint of Mr Buta Singh, sarpanch of the village. According to the complainant, the accused used vulgar language against the gram panchayat on the public address system of the local gurdwara.

LUDHIANA
VIJAY DIVAS: The models of the tank, fighter plane and the statues of the war martyrs of 1971 war put up outside the Mini Secretariat here are being given a fresh look in view of the Vijay Diwas which is commemorated in memory of the martyrs who laid their lives for the protection of the frontiers of the country during different wars. The Vijay Divas is commemorated every year on December 16. A team from Halwara Air Force Station was in the city on Wednesday and was repainting and cleaning the memorials of the various defence personnel put up outside the Mini Secretariat. The day is observed by the district administration every year outside the mini secretariat and the statue of Flying Officer Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon and Major Bhupinder Singh who lost their lives fighting for the country in 1971 against Bangladesh.

MACHHIWARA
SWEATERS DISTRIBUTED: The local Lions Club distributed sweaters to 80 needy students at two separate functions held at the Government Primary Schools at Chakli Adal and Indira Colony. Mr Rupinder Singh Benipal, secretary of the club, informed that both the functions were presided over by Mr Stawinder Mohan Singh Advocate, president of the club. He added that 127 notebooks were also distributed among the students. “Our club is committed to welfare of the poor, and will keep helping them in future also,” he said.

NABHA
STAY ORDER: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has given a stay order to Mrs Surjit Kaur, Sarpanch of Todarwal village. Mrs Surjit Kaur had challenged the process of distributing cheques during the sangat darshan programme held here on November 8. The Bench comprising Mr Justice J.L. Gupta and Mr Justice Ashutosh Mohunta has ordered status quo on the utilisation of funds.

INAUGURATED: Mr Jatinder Singh Kariha, local MLA, inaugurated school buildings at Bhagauran, Nai-Mazara and Sanawa villages on Tuesday. He also inaugurated the boundary wall of the Government Primary School at Barnala Kalan village.

NAWANSHAHR
HUNGER STRIKE: The district unit of the Be-rozgar Adhyapak Front, organised a day-long fast in front of the office of the District Education Officer here on Thursday in protest against the delay in the issuance of appointment letters to the selected B.Ed teachers against the ETT posts.

PATHANKOT
BOOKED: A team of the Vigilance Bureau, Jalandhar, has booked Yash Pal, Panchayat Secretary, allegedly for taking a bribe of Rs 2,000 from Mr Surti, Sarpanch of Nala village, for procuring a certificate for the latter from the authorities concerned. A case has been registered under Sections 7 and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

PATIALA
ORGANISED: At a programme organised on Prof Gulwant Singh’s first death anniversary at Punjabi University’s Punjabi Literary Studies, head of the Punjabi Literary Studies Department, Dr Amritpal Kaur, informed that a book depicting the life of Prof Gulwant Singh would be shortly produced. Prof Gulwant Singh taught Punjabi and Persian languages, while Islamic and Sikh mysticism was his field of specialisation.

PREPARATION COURSE: The Punjabi University’s IAS and Allied Services Training Centre will start personality development — cum- interview preparation course coaching classes for candidates who have qualified for DSP’s interview from December 20. Giving this information, the Director of the centre, Mr G.S Bajwa, said that mock interviews will be held at the end of the course.

LAUNCHED: In an effort to spread IT awareness, Websoft Technologies, Patiala launched a compact disc on Wednesday containing tutorials on Linux, Unix, C++, C# and Java.The disc also contains a data recovery software named “data guard” along with information on web- designing and multimedia.

HARYANA

AMBALA
SEIZED: The police has seized the pouches of country-made liquor in huge quantity from Ambala cantonment and Dukheri village. According to information, the police seized 1800 pouches of liquor from a house of a resident of Nanhera village close to the Ambala cantonment. In another raid the police seized around 100 pouches from Dukheri village. Two separate cases have been registered in this regard.

CONDEMNED: The Mahila Morcha of the state unit of the BJP has condemned the cowardice attack by the terrorists at Parliament. Mrs Neeta Kher, president of the state unit, said that the Opposition should support the POTO Bill to crush the terrorism in the country. The Ambala cantonment unit of BJP also summoned an emergency meeting and condemned the incident.

COMPLAINT: Residents and shopkeeper of Defence Colony, Ambala Cantonment, have alleged that the Army officials have been harassing them by demolishing their constructions. In a memorandum sent to the Deputy Commissioner, Ambala, Sub-Area Commander, and the Defence Minister, stated that on Monday two JCOs and a few jawans along with police constables demolished sheds of their shops and buildings on the plea that the building had been constructed on the land, that belonged to defence authorities. The residents have stated that they had constructed sheds on their own land. They have urged the Sub-Area Commander to direct the Army officials not to harass them.

SIRSA
STATION VISIT: Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command, Air Marshal V. K. Bhatia, visited Sirsa Air Force Station. Station Administrative Officer said here on Wednesday that the Station Commander, Group Capt S. Vardhman had received Air Marshal V. K. Bhatia, who later laid a wreath on the Shaheed Smarak and observed two minutes’ silence in memory of the martyrs. He expressed happiness over the operational preparedness of the station.

PLANNED: The Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) has a plan to refurbish 12 feeders of 11 kv and erect 10 new feeders. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Ankur Gupta, said here on Wednesday the nigam had planned to set up 737 additional power distribution transformers in the district and replace 447 others with that of higher capacity.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

DALHOUSIE
VIKAS PARISHAD: The Bharat Vikas Parishad, a non-governmental organisation, has decided to adopt Mehla village in Chamba district by March said, Mr Rajinder Gupta, zonal president of the parishad, here on Thursday. It had also resolved to adopt 500 children of the Khajjiar area whose board and lodging and education expenses would be borne by the parishad in collaboration with a Canada-based family, he added.

HAMIRPUR
FUNCTION: The Inner Wheel Club, Hamirpur, organised a function here on Tuesday to help poor students and destitute women. The club gave scholarship to four children, shoes to 25 students of Dangri School and also gave a sewing machines free of cost to a destitute women. Ms Bala Behl, the chairperson of the club was the chief guest.

APPOINTED: President of the Hamirpur District Non-Gazetted Services Federation, Mr Prem Chand Verma has appointed the following office-bearers in the district federation. Acting senior vice president — Mr Gian Verma; chief organising secretary — Mr Ranjeet Thakur; joint secretaries — Mr Ashok Kumar Dhiman, Mr Om Prakash Sharma and Mr Narendra Pathania; organising secretaries — Mr Durga Dass, Mr Dinesh Sharma and Mr Vishwa Nath and press secretary — Mr Gopal Krishan.

NURPUR
TWO KILLED: Two persons died on the spot when their motor cycle was hit by a truck near the Dakki bus stop on the Pathankot-Mandi highway here on Thursday. The deceased have been identified as Sudharshan Kumar and Vijay Kumar. A case has been registered. The SDM, Mr B.S. Atri, has released a sum of Rs 10,000 as ex-gratia to next of kin of the deceased.

SHIMLA
HYDEL PROJECT: As many as 1,87,142 hectares of forest land in the tribal Kinnaur district will be directed for the construction of 66 mw Kushanq hydel power project. The Union Ministry for Environment and Forests has granted mandatory approval for the diversion of forest land to pave way for the construction of the project.