The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Saturday, April 20, 2002, 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
AWARDED: The Rotary Club, Amritsar north, bestowed “vocational award for excellence” upon Dr Ashok Uppal, neurologist, on the occasion of charter anniversary-cum-vocational awards function of the club. The honour is given to a person by Rotary International for high ethical professional standards. The District Governor of Rotary, Mr Harminder Singh, gave the prestigious award on Thursday.

BATALA
MARRIAGE PALACES: As per the order of the District Magistrate (DM), Gurdaspur, Mr K.A.P. Sinha, the District Town Planner has issued a copy of the DM’s order to all Executive Officers of municipal councils falling in Gurdaspur District. In his order, the DM has instructed all Executive Officers of municipal councils like Batala, Pathankot, Quadian and Gurdaspur to send nine copies of site plans and maps of every marriage palace which falls in her/his jurisdiction. In this order, the DM has given instructions to all Subdivisional Magistrates to thoroughly study the maps and site plans of every marriage palace and then give clearance certificates to them, said Mr Gian Chand, President, Municipal Council, Batala on Friday.

KHANNA
FUNCTION: A function was organised by the Muslim National Front, Punjab, to celebrate the birth anniversary of Baba Bhim Rao Ambedkar under the chairmanship of Sayed Yakub Hussain Nakvi, president of the front. While addressing the function Mr Yakub said the unity among Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims and Christians in Punjab was an example for the nation. The function was also addressed by Prof Dr Nashir Nakvi, Professor of Islamic Studies. Mr Rashid Khan was appointed president of the Muslim National Front, Khanna unit, on the occasion.

PRIZE DISTRIBUTION FUNCTION: Annual prize distribution function of Guru Teg Bahadur National Senior Secondary School Rahaun, was organised. Dr Kehar Singh, chairman of the Punjab School Education Board, was the chief guest on the occasion. The prizes were distributed to the students by the chief guest. Principal of the school Jasbir Singh Gill thanked the guests. A cultural programme was also organised on the occasion.

POSTPONED: The general meeting of the local municipal councillor was postponed here on Friday, following the death of the father of a municipal councillor, Ms Urmila Sahnewalia, for April 24. It may be mentioned that this meeting was earlier scheduled for March 9 and was postponed for Friday due to death of a relative of a councillor, Mr Jaspal Singh Lotey.

DANCE SHOW: ‘The Blast’, a dance and drama show, was organised by students of Indo-British Cultural Academy at the Lakshmi Ladies Club on Wednesday. The programme was choreographed by Mr Amit Verma and Mr Vinay Verma. The students presented the choreography on the life of Mirza. Another group dance, the Jazz was presented by participants. Muskan, Happy, Tanvir, Mika, Anil presented a mime and the Salsa dance participants presented an item on aaiye aa jaaiye. Meanwhile, members of the Aar Cee Club celebrated Baisakhi in traditional way at a local hotel here on Thursday. Ms Pinki, president of the club, presented a vote of thanks on the occasion.

BOOK RELEASED: The Punjabi Sahitya Akademi, Ludhiana, released a book titled Kudrat writen by Varinder Parihar. The function was presided over by Dr Surjit Patar, Prof Gurbhajan Gill, Prof Ravinder Bhathal and Prof Niranjan Taseem. Mr Guriqbal Singh, the compere of the programme, gave brief introduction about the author and his achievements in the field of poetry. Prof Bhathal, general secretary of the akademy, welcomed the poet and the writers who came to attend the function. He gave details of the literary programmes to be conducted by the newly elected team of the akademy. Prof. Aziz Parihar, a noted Urdu poet and elder brother of Varinder, gave the literary background of the family and the poetic quest of Varinder who made him a poet. Releasing the book, Dr Patar said Parihar has shown the various layers of nature in his original style with depth. Kulwant Jagraon said while reading the poems of Parihar, it seems as poet is breathing in nature. He has depicted the exploitation and pain of bleeding nature in his poetry, he added.

LUDHIANA
MAHAVIR JAYANTI: A nine-day celebration programme by the SS Jain Biradari and the SS Jain Yuva Conference in connection with Mahavir Jayanti got under way here on Friday. According to Mr. Moti Lal Jain, President of the SS Jain Biradari, prayer meetings would be held at Jain Sthanak, Rupa Mistry Street, from 6.30 to 7.30 am and discourse would be held from 10.30 am to 12 noon. On April 21, Salig Ram Jain Public School would be inaugurated and a parbhat pheri would be taken out from the Jain Sthanak on April 25, he added.

FREE MEDICAL CAMP: The District Leprosy Society will organise a free medical camp to detect leprosy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) on Saturday at the Tajpur Road near Government School. The special camp and awareness exhibition will be inaugurated by Mr R.C.Garg, District Health Officer. The patients will be examined by Dr G.K.Bansal and medicines free of cost would be given to the patients. An awareness lecture will also be delivered on the occasion.

PATHANKOT
REMANDED: Mr Harish Anand, Judicial Magistrate, remanded Kartar Chand of Hara Teeka village of Dhar Kalan subdivision in police custody here on Friday for allegedly preparing a bogus and fabricated power of attorney. According to police sources, the accused on February 20, 2000, prepared a bogus power of attorney, which was allegedly witnessed by Rattan Chand and Charan Dass. The accused on the basis of the power of attorney procured a loan for Rs 2.20 lakh from a bank. A case was registered against the accused following an inquiry.

HOUSING COLONIES: Mr R.S. Puri, Housing and Urban Development Minister, has said that housing colonies will be constructed for poor people on the land acquired by PUDA in various cities and towns of the state, including Pathankot and Sujanpur. He said a sum of Rs 50 crore had been earmarked for this programme.

SAMANA
WHEAT CROP BURNT: About 70 acres of standing about wheat crop was burnt on Thursday and was totally damaged at Retgarh village, 5 km from here. The loss is approximately worth Rs 10 lakh. The reason for the fire could not be immediately ascertained.

CHANDIGARH

RALLY: A rally of Central Government Employees and Workers was held opposite the office of the Accountant General (A & E) Haryana in Sector 35 on Thursday to protest against the decision of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to open CGHS Dispensary and to withdraw facility of treatment from AMAs. Among others who addressed the meeting included Mr Surinder Pal, Mr Sudesh Kumar, Mr Ashok Rana and Mr Keshav Kapoor.

APPOINTED: Mr Sanjeev Babbar has been appointed General Secretary of the Anti-Corruption Cell of the CTCC. This was stated in a press note issued by Mr B.M Khanna, Chairman of the Cell.

CAMP FOR GIRLS: As many as 35 girls participated in a special camp for adolescent girls by the Indian Council of Social Welfare in collaboration with the SOSVA (North) in Dhanas village on Thursday. Dr (Mrs) Neena Goyal was present on the occasion and spoke to the participants, according to Mrs Sharestha Mehta, Honorary General Secretary of the Council.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Tribune Youth Club: president, Mr Sukhwinder Singh Mann; vice-president, Mr Vishnu Verma; general secretary — Mr Sunil Khurana; office-secretary, Mr Pradeep Rajput; cashier, Mr Ajay Kumar Tayal; assistant cashier, Mr Vijay Anand Tiwari; joint secretary, Mr Prakash Gosain; sports secretary, Mr Ashok Kumar Yadav; propaganda secretary, Mr Monu Sharma; executives, Mr Sanjeev Deen, Mr Virender Singh Jaswal, Mr Ajay Singh; Mr Harish Pandey and Mr Imran Khan.

SEMINAR AT CSIO: Electronics and information technology in agriculture, post-harvest technology, water management, energy in agriculture, management of inputs, fertiliser, pesticides and soil evaluation technologies will be discussed at the Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIO) here in a two-day National Hindi seminar on ‘Agri-electronic Instrumentation’ on April 23 and 24. Around 70 scientists from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and the Council of Indian Agriculture Research will present their papers on these issues. The CSIO will transfer technology on portable kits and instruments to check pollution in edible oils and aflatoxin metre on the occasion.

ELECTED: Mr Sanjay Sharma and Mr B. S. Sodhi have been unanimously elected as president and general secretary, respectively, of the Municipal Corporation Employees Association. The other office-bearers are: Mr Kuldeep Singh —patron; Mr Harmesh Gupta — chairman; Mr Kashmira Singh — adviser; Ms Harinder Kaur — senior vice-president; Mr Baljeet Singh — vice-president; Mr D. P. Singh, Mr Rajinder Singh, Mr Raj Kumar Rangi — joint secretaries; Mr Rajiv Walia — cashier; and Mr Pardeep Gupta — press secretary.

PEC CONVOCATION DEFERRED: The 31st Annual College Convocation of Punjab Engineering College, has been deferred due to some unavoidable circumstances. The Convocation scheduled on May 3 has been postponed to May 4. Rehearsal will now be held on May 3.

CAR CATCHES FIRE: An Ambassador car of the Punjab Revenue Department was partially damaged when it caught fire due to a short circuit near a theatre in Sector 17 on Friday afternoon. Personnel of a police control van, who spotted the car on fire, called up the fire station. The driver, Mr Rajendar Pal, was alone in the car at the time of the incident and escaped unhurt.

HARYANA

AMBALA
SEMINAR: An Information Technology and career counselling seminar was held at Hartron Workstation in Ambala Cantt. Mr Rajnish Jaiswal, Director, said that the students must be alert towards those institutions which promise foreign degrees. He said that some so-called foreign institutions enter into a partnership with Indian universities and announce different courses, when some of them were not even registered in their own countries, a note said. Mr Ramesh Gupta, Director, Hartron, Ambala City, said that there are several instances of institutions playing with the future of the students by promising to send the students abroad. About 127 students participated in the free seminar held for four days.

LIQUOR SEIZED: The police has seized 2,800 pouches of liquor from a vehicle near Tangri bridge at Ambala Cantt. The pouches were carried in Tata-407 vehicle. The police has registered a case. In another raid, the police seized 200 pouches of liquor and arrested a person in this regard.

FATEHABAD
ORGANISED: the local Mother Teresa International Convent School organised a talent search programme on the school premises here on Thursday. Mr Resham Singh Bhangal, an NRI of the district, was the chief guest on the occasion. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Bhangal said providing quality education to children was a must for the development of the country. The Principal of the school, Ms Leela Jaswal, said the school had been endeavouring to provide the best of education with modern facilities to its students.