The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Saturday, June 1, 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
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Income Tax Bar Association: president — Mr Anil Puri; vice-president — Mr Rajesh Mehra; secretary — Mr Lochan Kundra; and joint secretary — Mr Sham Sunder Sodhi.

SECURITY: Activists of the Pasla faction of the CPM on Thursday urged the Chief Minister and the district administration to provide them security. Mr Rattan Singh Randhawa, secretary of the party, also demanded the cancellation of “false cases” against six party workers in Jalandhar.

EXHIBITION INAUGURATED: An exhibition of readymade garments, designed by trainees of the dress designing course being run by the Department of Adult Continuing Education and Extension of Guru Nanak Dev University, was inaugurated by Dr jagjit Kaur at the Dashmesh auditorium here on Thursday.

HOSHIARPUR
NOMINATION PAPERS: As many as 720 candidates have filed nomination papers for the panchayat samitis elections in 185 zones of 10 blocks in Hoshiarpur district. Sixtysix candidates have also filed nomination papers in 21 zones for the zila parishad elections in the district.

GIRL TRACED: The Sadar police traced a teenaged girl of plus one from Rajinder Singh of Ajjowal here on Thursday evening. Rajinder Singh had allegedly abducted the girl from Sandra village when she came out from her school on Thursday afternoon. The police has registered a case.

MOTORCYCLE STOLEN: Some miscreants stole a motorcycle belonging to Darshan Joshila of Moga from the Khanpuri gate here on Thursday. The police has registered a case.

MOGA
MEDICAL CAMP: The Aggarwal Sabha will organise a free camp for orthopaedic problems on Sunday in the premises of Prem Hospital, here. Specialists in the field will examine patients at the camp, said president of the sabha, Mr Manjit Kumar Chokha.

ARRESTED: The police on Thursday arrested Balbir Singh of Raunta village in the district. Balbir Singh had allegedly committed fraud on shopkeepers in Nihalsinghwala in the district.

NAWANSHAHR
INAUGURATED: Mr Sukhjinder Pal, SE of the PSEB circle, here, on Thursday inaugurated a consumer convenience centre in his office to enable consumers and applicants to collect information and register their complaints. He said arrangements had been made to ensure an uninterrupted three-phase power supply for eight hours daily to farmers from June 10 for sowing of paddy. A control room with phone — 22038 and 27835 — would work round-the-clock for the purpose.

SURPRISE CHECKS: Dr K.S. Purewal, Civil Surgeon, has constituted a team comprising Dr Arjan Singh Gill, District Health Officer, Mr Sukhdev Chand, Inspector, Food and Civil Supplies Department and Mr Ashok Kumar, Supervisor, Market Committee, to conduct surprise checks on vegetable and fruit sellers. The committee conducted an inspection on Thursday and instructed vendors to destroy rotten and over-ripe vegetables and fruits.

PATIALA
B.ED ENTRANCE TEST: Punjabi University, Patiala, will conduct the entrance test for admission to B.Ed. course for the session 2002-03 on July 14. The test will be for admission to colleges situated in Punjab and Chandigarh that are affiliated with Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjabi University, Patiala, and Punjab University, Chandigarh. The coordinator, Dr Baldev Singh, informed that prospectus will be available from June 5 from the Publication Bureau of Punjabi University, at all colleges of Education in Punjab and Chandigarh and at Government Colleges of Gurdaspur and Ropar.

URGED: Several artistes today attended the bhog ceremony of Manjit Kaur, one of the artistes who died in a road mishap along with noted theatre personality Harpal Tiwana, and urged the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, and the MP, Mrs Perneet Kaur, to provide compensation to the deceased artiste’s family.

BOOKS DISTRIBUTED: The Dedicated Brothers Group, a social organisation, distributed free books and copies to several students at Deffodil Public School here on Thursday. The Deputy Commissioner of Patiala, Mr Tajveer Singh, was the chief guest on the occasion.

PHAGWARA
FIRE IN SCHOOL: A room of Saint Joseph’s Convent School, here, was gutted on Thursday. The fire brigade struggled for a couple of hours to douse the flames. The cause of the fire could not be ascertained.

SUICIDE: Poonam (20) of Hadiabad on Thursday committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance. She was rushed to the local Civil Hospital where she was declared dead.

CHANDIGARH

AGREEMENT SIGNED: The Godrej Industries food division has signed a joint venture agreement with the Karnataka Co-operative Milk Producers Federation (KMF), Bangalore, to distribute its Nandini brand of pure ghee in Goa, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala in the first phase and in several states in the eastern region in the second phase.

SHOES’ OUTLET: Chief Shoes, Sector 19, will now be open on all week days, stated Mr Mohinder Singh Kakker, partner, in a press release. The outlet which sells footwear for ladies, gents and children has received special permission from the UT Administration for the purpose.

RETIREMENT: Tarsem Lal Sharma, who was former president of the Joint Action Committee of UT Cadre teachers, besides being the general secretary of the UT Teachers Welfare Association and the president of the Temporary Teachers Association, retired from the UT Education Department. He retired from the Sector 11 Government High School.

ANTI-TOBACCO DRIVE: The Servants of the People Society organised a “no tobacco campaign” on the eve of the No Tobacco Day at Dadu Majra Colony and Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 38 (West). The campaign was organised in association with the Global Cancer Concern, India. About 1,500 participants were told about the ill-effects of smoking and chewing tobacco and symptoms of oral cancer. Later, a student rally was also held.

DELEGATION: A delegation of the Federation of Small-Scale Industries led by its president, Mr Yas Pal Mahajan, met the Chief Engineer of the Municipal Corporation to discuss deteriorating condition of roads in Industrial Area on Thursday. The delegation complained to the Chief Engineer that the roads had not been repaired for the past several years, as a result a large number of pot holes had appeared on them. The delegation also threatened to start an agitation if the roads were not repaired.

PANCHKULA
SCHEMES REVIEWED: The Deputy Commissioner, Ms Jyoti Arora presided over a meeting of officials to review progress of different welfare schemes before the scheduled meeting of Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police at Haryana Niwas on June 9. The Deputy Commissioner ordered that toilets in all government schools should be constructed before schools reopen on July 1. She also reviewed the Food-For-Work scheme and assessed the water supply and water shortage problem in different parts of the district. She also assessed the recovery of pending electricity bills from farmers.

BCC OFFICE-BEARERS: The district president of the Block Congress Committee, Mr Om Prakash Taneja, released a list of various office-bearers on Thursday. Eight vice-presidents,10 general secretaries, 13 joint secretaries, nine organising secretaries and eight secretaries have been appointed.

HARYANA

AMBALA
NOMINATED: Lt Col B.N. Bali (retd) has been nominated vice-president (non-official member) of the Zila Sainik Board for a period of two years. He will also be ex-officio member of the local District Public Relations and Grievances Committee.

CONDOLENCE MEETING: A condolence meeting of the local unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party was held on Friday. Tributes were paid to the former MLA, Mr Fateh Chand Vij, at the meeting, which was presided over by Mr Shish Pal Bhola.

RESENTMENT: A gate meeting of the local unit of the All Employees Association, HSMITC, was held under the leadership of Mr Krishan Kumar Sharma. Mr Sharma said they had not received the pay for April, which had led to disillusionment among the workers.

VEDIC CAMP: A ten-day character building Vedic camp is being held at DAV Public School, Ambala City. In the poetry recitation competition, Aditya Asija of DAV School, Ambala City, stood first, Tushar of Major R.N. Kapoor DAV, Ambala Contonment, second and Parul of DAV School, Ambala City, third. Consolation prizes were won by Ambika and Minni. In the declamation contest, Ragvinder of DAV School, Naraingarh, secured the first, Mann Sharma of DAV School, Ambala City, second and Aditya Asija and Akshay Kaushal of DAV School, Ambala City third, positions.

MURDER CONDEMNED: The Ambala Property Consultants Association held a meeting on Thursday to condemn the murder of a property dealer, Ram. Mr R.N. Samrat, general secretary of the association, said the police officials must expedite the investigation. Among others, Mr Mahendra Sethi, Mr Sushil Sahni, Mr Harish Kapoor, Mr D.S. Chabra, Mr K.K. Arora, Mr O.P. Mehta, Mr Somnath, Mr Kartar Singh and Mr Deepak Gupta were present.

FATEHABAD
IRRIGATION FACILITIES: The Deputy Commissioner, Mr O.P. Indora, on Thursday said the water services division of the Irrigation Department had provided additional irrigation facilities to 6223 acres in the district at a cost of Rs 4.19 crore. An additional sum of Rs 3.11 crore would be spent on improving the irrigation facilities, he said.

OLD-AGE PENSION: The district administration has constituted 12 committees to identify new beneficiaries for the old-age pension scheme in the district. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr O.P. Indora, said on Thursday that identification of new beneficiaries would be conducted between June 5 and 21. The applicants are required to bring their photo identity cards and ration cards, he said. The applicants must be at least 60 years old and should not be getting any type of pension exceeding Rs 200 per month.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

HAMIRPUR
RALLY: The Congress has intensified its activities in Hamirpur, the home district of the Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, for the next Assembly elections. The party will hold a rally at Jahoo in the Mewa Assembly segment on Sunday. Mr Vir Bhadra Singh, former Congress Chief Minister, will be the main speaker at the rally.

KUMARHATTI
ERRATIC POWER SUPPLY: The residents of Dhillon, Lohanji, Roundan Ghouron and Johl Behli villages under Barog panchayat are sore over fluctuations in the electricity supply, especially during night. They allege that the department concerned has turned a deaf ear to their repeated pleas in this connection. Due to these fluctuations, the electrical appliances have developed technical faults, they say.

SHIMLA
STUDENTS CAUTIONED: The Himachal Pradesh Government has asked the students to beware of non-recognised institutions in the state which are offering admission in various para-medical courses. Dr Asha Goel, Director of Medical Education and Research, on Thursday said no private institute in the state had been granted recognition for such courses.

INADEQUATE FACILITIES: Students of Physical Education Department of Himachal Pradesh University have alleged that they were being given stepmotherly treatment by the university. They said the department did not have proper infrastructure and adequate facilities.