The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

NEWS AND VIEWS

PUNJAB

HARYANA

JAMMU & KASHMIR

HIMACHAL

REGIONAL BRIEFS

NATION

OPINIONS

MAILBAG

BUSINESS

SPORTS

WORLD

SPECIAL COVERAGE

CHANDIGARH

LUDHIANA

DELHI

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

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

PUNJAB

ABOHAR
One held: A Nihang, identified as Chanan Singh, resident of Tapali PS Rampura Phul village in Bathinda, was arrested under Sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act by the police while searching a passenger train. He was carrying a .12-bore illegal pistol which he had purchased from Sriganganagar against a payment of Rs 3,500.

Girl dies: The second minor daughter of Thanwer Dass also succumbed to her injuries at Kesari Singhpur in Sriganganagar on Saturday evening. He had beaten up his minor daughters for no reason on Friday night and fled. The younger daughter had died on the spot, the second had hidden injuries and collapsed late in the evening. The culprit had deserted his wife a few months back.

Batala
8 booked in land dispute case: The police has registered a case against eight persons regarding a land dispute. The complainant, Satnam Singh, a resident of Bullowali village, said the accused have illegally taken over his land falling in Dhir village. The accused, out of which one have been arrested, have been booked for forgery and cheating.

Mass marriages: In a mass marriage ceremony, thirty-one pairs tied knots at Dharam Kot Bagga village near here on Sunday. The ceremony was organised by two NGOs, Kabir Panthi Federation and Samajik Cheatna Manch. Newly-wed couples were given a sewing machine, trunk, utensils, double bed, two boy’s suits, two ladies suits and blankets to boy’s father as gift.

FAZILKA
Senior doc dies: Dr I.M. Challana, senior medical officer, Civil Hospital, Fazilka, died of a cardiac arrest here on Sunday. He was in the hospital premises when he suddenly collapsed. He is survived by his wife and two minor daughters. Dr V.K. Mujral, president of the Indian Medical Association, Fazilka, Shashi Kant, president of the Punjab State Pharmacists Association, Ferozepur, have expressed shock over his death.

MOGA
2 arrested: The district police held two persons with over 4 quintal of poppy husk in the past 24 hours. Kuldeep Singh of Dhur Kot Ransinh village was held with 3.85 quintal poppy husk, while Gurcharan Singh of Daulenwala village was arrested with 35 kg poppy husk.

Tributes paid: Hundreds of people paid tributes to Punjab Devi, a social activist and mother-in-law of Dr B.C. Josan, member of the Panjab University Syndicate and Senate, at a prayer meeting held at Rukna Mangla village on Sunday. She had recently died after a protracted illness. Hans Raj Josan, a former minister, was also present.

Death mourned: Scores of BJP workers, led by the city unit president, Ravi Setia, joined a meeting in a local temple on Sunday to condole the death of former Delhi CM Sahib Singh Verma. The late leader had recently visited Abohar to discuss his brother’s plan for opening a medical education institute near the union Capital.

Nawanshahr
Rly reservation: The city residents have urged the Railway authorities to increae the timings of computerised reservation centre situated at the local railway station for convenience of the public. They have also requested to make the centre functional on Sunday’s as most of the times the residents have to go to Phagwara, Jalandhar, and Ludhiana for getting the reservation done.

77 examined: Nearly 77 persons underwent examination during a diabetes detection cum awareness camp organised by Baldev Nayyar, a social worker, in collaboration with the Lions club at Banga, near here today. Out of the total persons examined, 37 were found diabetic.

Patiala
MOURNED: World Sikh Intellectual Council president B.S. Balluana on Sunday expressed grief over the demise of former Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma.

PHILLAUR
4 hurt in firing: Four persons sustained bullet injuries, when a Nihang Joginder Singh opened fire in a rural mela organised at Sultanpur village near here on Saturday. A case had been registered under Section 307, IPC, against Joginder Singh, but the accused was still at large. Personal dispute was said to be the cause of firing.

2 Nihangs held: Two Nihangs, Jatinder Singh of Dhilwan village in Kapurthala district and Gurjit Singh of Amritsar for the murder of a Nihang youth, Chatar Singh, which took place at Raipur Araian village, near here, on May 31.The third accused, Nihang Mandip Singh, was still absconding. This was stated by DSP Harpreet Singh Benepal here on Sunday. A love affair of Chatar Singh and Gurjit Singh with the same woman was believed to be the cause of the murder.

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

Books, beliefs and Buddhism

D.R.Chaudhry Septuagenarian author, educationist and social thinker D.R. Chaudhry is considered an authority on Haryana. Having written much about various aspects of the state in different newspapers, magazines and journals, this Rohtak-based writer-journalist has recently come up with a book on the state.

Titled “Haryana at Crossroads: Problems and Prospects”, the book focuses on key issues like relevance of khap panchyats, crisis in agriculture, caste politics, education, industrial development, status of women, Punjab-Haryana disputes and so on.

In short, Chaudhry has made an attempt to put forward the challenges before the state as well as the prospects lying ahead. He feels that ever since its inception, Haryana made rapid strides in economic development, but it still lags in cultural advancement.

“Be it the green revolution, industrial growth or infrastructural development, the state has achieved a lot. However, at present, the green revolution has reached a plateau and the infrastructure is decaying,” he observes.

The widely travelled writer maintains that apart from imbalanced development, neglecting the cultural aspect has also been a major limiting factor. “Apart from these, mounting unemployment, rampant corruption and rising crime graph are pushing the state to the brink of crisis,” he asserts.

Chaudhry, who has held positions like chairman of the HPSC, member of the Haryana Planning Board and Haryana Education Board, retired as Reader in English from Dayal Singh College of Delhi University.

At an age when most people prefer to lead a quiet and easy-going life, this unyielding activist is already thinking of penning another book on the role and contribution of Haryana in the 1857 uprising and yet another on Buddhist philosophy, which is his latest interest.

Surgeon-cum-painter

Dr Madhuri Mehta, an ENT surgeon of Hisar, is making waves both in her professional and personal lives.

On the professional front, she has joined the select band of less than a dozen ENT surgeons of India who specialise in the latest kind of treatment – skull-base surgery.

On the personal front, as a painter, her works are getting increasingly noticed.

The skull base is the area which serves as the floor for the brain and roof for the ear, nose and throat. That’s why it is known as the virtual no man’s land among neurosurgeons and ENT surgeons. Dr Madhuri says the skull base can be a host to several types of cancerous tumours. However, these were impossible to detect in the absence of proper diagnostic equipment and surgical techniques.

The advent of sophisticated ENT microscopes and endoscopes and the latest investigative medical procedures like CT scan and MRI surgeons now have a reach to the skull base and can operate on this area without traumatising the brain, she says.

Her interest in skull-base surgery began more than a year ago when she attended a neurotology workshop at Mumbai under the guidance of renowned otologist Dr K. P. Morwani, who is among the pioneers of skull base surgery in India.

In May last, Dr Madhuri was selected for an advanced training course in skull base surgery in Italy under Dr Mario Sanna, who is considered as the best skull base surgeon in the world. There she won the prize for best dissection of the skull. Back from Italy, Dr Madhuri and Dr Morwani organised a skull base surgery workshop at the Jindal institute from June 22 to 24. Together, they performed 34 operations of the skull base. One of the patients had a tumour which had spread to brain and neck. Even the surgeons of AIIMS, Delhi, expressed their helplessness in treating him. Dr Madhuri and Dr Morwani performed a marathon operation lasting 14 hours and successfully removed the tumour.

The family of the late Om Parkash Jindal industrialist-turned-politician is setting up a cancer hospital in the institute, she informs. Once it is functional, she will do her surgeries in that hospital.

But the long hours in the operation theatre have not diminished her interest in painting. She is an accomplished painter and has of late been holding exhibitions of her paintings. She is now getting invitations from girls’ colleges all over Haryana to exhibit her works there. Many of her paintings have received rave reviews from well-known critics.

Contributed by Sunit Dhawan and Raman Mohan