Rare distinction
for a woman
Conferring of
the President's police medal on officers for meritorious
service on Independence Day and Republic Day is an annual
event. But it is rare for a woman official holding a
middle-rung position in a government department to be
chosen for this honour.
Ms Sunita Sharma, Quarter
Master Sergeant with the Punjab Civil Defence at
Amritsar, has been decorated with the prestigious
President's police medal on January 26 for courage,
honesty and devotion.
A letter that Mr M.K.
Shukla, Director-General of Civil Defence, sent to Ms
Sharma on January 26 says: "This medal is a token of
recognition of the dedicated service that you have
rendered."
In his recommendation to
the Union Home Ministry for conferring President's police
medal on Ms Sunita Sharma, the Commander of the Punjab
Home Guard's 4 Battalion at Patti (Amritsar), said:
"During the black days of militancy, Patti tehsil
was the worst affected. When doing such jobs considered a
direct invitation to death, she set an example in
courage, fortitude and spirit of sacrifice. She not only
performed her duties fearlessly but also encouraged
others to do so as this was a test of their dedication to
duty".
"Her exemplary
dedication, thorough honesty and singleness of purpose in
the performance of her duty, merits recognition by the
award of President's Home Guard and Civil Defence Medal
for meritorious service which I strongly recommend,"
he stated.
Ms Sharma (47) impressed
everyone with her honest, laborious and dedicated
approach to her work, the recommendations said. Any task
that was assigned to her, she performed it to perfection
because of her habit of paying full attention and
concentration. Within no time, she set an example to her
colleagues with her efficiency, proficiency and
expertise. To say that she introduced discipline and
dedication to office routine would be an understatement.
Her devotion to duty has
been noted not only by the Divisional Commandant,
Jalandhar, but also by the Deputy Commandant-General,
Punjab who have cited her example to other civil defence
units.
Hawker menace in
Shimla
The lanes of
Shimla are becoming more and more crowded day by day.The
people coming here from all over the country for short
stint on labour work, find selling small utility items on
the pavements the least laborious. The vocation, free
from rent of tax of any kind, is most lucrative too.
The net result is that all
lanes and public places of the town, including the Ridge,
are full of hawkers. They sell all kinds of unhygienic
eatables too. If not checked the menace is likely to
assume epidemic proportions.
The worst part of the
problem is that, with a view to creating more space for
their trade, these crafty people break public urinals and
latrines. That causes a lot of inconvenience to the
public, and pollutes the environment, in addition to
heavy loss to the Municipal Corporation.
It is, therefore, highly
desirable that the authorities concerned regulate the
inflow of labourers, register their entry, issue identity
cards and provide accommodation. Families should normally
not accompany low-paid wage earners.
Similarly all hawkers too
should be identified, registered and taxed adequately not
only to check the loss of precious revenue, but also to
save the public from the temptation of buying and
consuming substandard food.
Legal luminary
dead
In the death
of Mr Ujagar Singh Atwal, the Jalandhar Bar Association
has lost a legendary figure who will be remembered for
all time to come. He donated all his books to the Bar
Association library.
Mr Atwal, who began
practising as a lawyer at Lyallpur (now in Pakistan),
migrated to Jalandhar after partition. He was elected
unopposed General Secretary of the district Bar
Association throughout and was its president twice. He
also taught law at Law College in Jalandhar and was a
columnist for a number of newspapers.
Mr Atwal handled important
cases like the Lala Jagat Narain murder case.
(Contributed
by Rajendra Sharma, K.L. Noatay and UK Bhanot.)
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