Tribuneindia...Regional Briefs

	REGIONAL BRIEFS	Thursday, July 1, 1999
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BATALA
Anti-Pak protest: Thousands of activists of the Bharatiya Janata Party, and the Bharatiya Yuva Janata Morcha, held a procession here on Tuesday. An effigy of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was burnt.

FEROZEPORE
Couple commits suicide: A couple residing in the Ghumar Mandi area of the cantonment committed suicide on Tuesday. The victims identified as Jaspal Singh (30) and his wife, Seeta (25). According to the police, Jaspal Singh, an employee of Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala, first hanged his wife to death and then followed suit.

Girl missing: In a representation to the Director-General of Police, Punjab, on Tuesday, Mr Madan Mohan, a resident of Kucha Madan Lal Bhatia here, said his 19-year-old daughter, Taruna, had been missing under mysterious circumstances since May 20. A case was registered on May 26.

Bodies recovered: The bodies of Chander Mohan, alias Raju, and Sunny, alias Vishal, who drowned in a canal near Bareke village, on Monday, were recovered, according to the local SDM, Mr D. P. S. Kharbanda. The bodies were cremated on Tuesday.

KAPURTHALA
Busted: The city police has busted a gang of robbers with the arrest of five members of the gang, Mr Iqbal Singh, SSP, said here on Tuesday. The arrested were identified as Deepak Arora, Vishav Sagar, Kulwinder Singh, Rajiv Sachdeva and Neeraj Kumar, local residents.

Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Footpath Tea, Pan, Biri Workers Welfare Society. President — Mr Babu Ram; Vice-President — Mr Ram Surat; Adviser — Mr Debu; General Secretary — Mr Ajay Singh; Assistant Secretary — Mr Papu; Cashier — Mr Hari Ram and Press Secretary — Mr Ram Singh.

Jayanti functions: Various functions were organised on the occasion of Kabir Jayanti here on Tuesday. A “shobha yatra”, which was taken out by Sadguru Kabir Maha Sabha, passed through various sectors. The yatra, which started from the Sector 30 Guru Ravi Dass Gurdwara, passed through Sectors 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 37 and 38 before culminating at Sadguru Kabir Mandir Bhavan, Dadu Majra. Mr Swarna Ram, Punjab Education Minister, announced a grant of Rs 50,000 for the proposed students’ hostel aimed at catering to the needs of students belonging to weaker sections of society.

Land for school: The UT Estate Office has allotted a site measuring 4.40 acres for a high school in Sector 44-D to the St Joseph’s Educational and Charitable Trust. It was inadvertently mentioned in the story “3 private schools get sites” that the trust had been allotted 1.54 acres.

PANCHKULA
Helmets: Even as the order on helmets has been stayed till July 15, the Panchkula Consumers Forum has urged the Chandigarh Administration to ensure the quality of helmets being sold in the city. The Vice-President of the forum, Mr K.D. Sharma, said most of the helmets being sold in the city did not pass the specifications set by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

BHIWANI
Two killed: Two persons were killed in two separate train accidents near Charkhi Dadri subdivision. A person was killed near Charkhi Dadri railway station on Tuesday while crossing the line. Brahm Prakash (32), a resident of Kulwas (Rewari), was crushed to death while crossing track.

GURGAON
Ban: Mr Krishan Kumar, District Magistrate, has extended the ban on opening of hotels, dhabas after 11 p.m on the national and state highways and other areas in the city till August 31.

ROHTAK
One electrocuted: Surender Aneja was reportedly electrocuted at Partap Mohalla here on Tuesday. According to information, he was electrocuted while trying to rectify some fault in the cable TV wire at his house. In another incident, the police found the body of a youth behind power house at Khokra Koat here on Tuesday. The body bore injury marks.

Streetlights maintenance: Mr Arun Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, has directed the municipal authorities to rectify all non-functional light points in the town. In a statement here on Tuesday, he said the main roads would be covered in the first phase, while 31 wards of the town would be taken in the second phase. He said the process would be completed in a month.

SONEPAT
Protest: The Sonepat Citizens Council, the Sonepat Residents Welfare Association and representatives of various political parties, social organisations and trade unions on Wednesday protested against the erratic supply of drinking water in the city and the failure of the Public Health Department to take steps to maintain the supply in spite of repeated complaints.

Arrest demanded: The Haryana Nagrik Samiti on Wednesday urged the state Government to order immediate arrest of the owner of Uni Sule Private Limited, here, for allegedly manufacturing fake drugs. In a press release issued here, the association demanded immediate closure of the company.

Regional potpourri

Students scale Parigyal

A MOUNTAINEERING team of the local Bishop Cotton School scaled the 22,290 ft high Mount Leo Parigyal, the third highest peak in Himachal Pradesh, on June 21.

The nine-member team led by Ranjit Singh Dhaliwal and Sushil Thakur, both staff members, and comprising C. Yurgyal, V.S. Rathore, A.R. Bhandari, R.Chauhan, A. Bodh, MHA Khan and V. Negi, all students, was flagged off by Mrs V.S. Rama Devi, Governor, on June 6. The team proceeded via Narkanda, Rampur, Pooh to Nako to set up base camp at an altitude of 16,500 ft to get acclimatised.

It set up two more camps — one at 18,000 ft and the second at 20,000 ft — before climbing the summit. It braved strong icy winds of over 100 km per hour to conquer the peak.

The team underwent rigorous training for about one year under the overall supervision of Brig D.K. Khullar, who led Bachendri Pal to Mount Everest in 1983.

The team attributed the success of the expedition to meticulous planning, strict discipline and first class guidance from the base camp by Col S. Sharma, Director, Mountaineering and Allied Sports Institute, Manali, Rajeev Sharma, chief instructor and a veteran of Mt Everest, and Gautam Thakur, a top mountaineer.

The summit party consisted of four students one teacher, four instructors and the director of the institute.

Theatre personality

The district has to its credit a distinguished art personality Sohan Dhaliwal, associated with Punjabi plays for the last 25 years. He started his career with an art group of Patiala in 1973 and later on established his art group 'Natak Kala Sangam' in 1975 with the co-operation and co-ordination of famous art personalities like Jagjit Sareen, Sudesh Verma, Gurdas Mann and Jeevan Neel. His productions have been telecast on Doordarshan Network, Jalandhar Doordarshan and on international channels. "Chhewan Dariya" and "Shamlaat" are still fresh in the minds of the people even after a lapse of one decade of telecast.

He has also worked with famous art personalities and film producer Yog Raj Sedha in the much acclaimed films "Chann Pardesi" and "Waaris". Starting his theatre career with "Rakat Kamal" of Dr Laxmi Narayan Lal, "Kal, Aj ate Bhalek" of Dr Harcharan Singh, "Prithvi Ka Swarag" of Dr Ravi Kumar Verma, "Natak Samrat & Band Gali" of Kapoor Singh Ghuman, his play "Satya Katha" won awards in Delhi, Bombay and Madras. He has done a musical teleplay "Heer Ranjha", latest production to hit at CPC National Network, New Delhi. It is for the first time that a Punjabi musical dance play will be telecast shortly on Doordarshan.

His Natak kala Sangam has been organising a state level three-day annual Natak Mela at Mandi Gobindgarh for the past 15 years. In these melas artist from all over the country participate.

Netaji Park

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Park is fast taking shape on the decade-old John Sahib ki Diggi in Ambala Cantonment. The land was earlier allotted to a housing society comprising VIPs.

The drain water of Mahesh Nagar locality used to collect here and flood nearby localities during the rains causing great hardship to residents of the newly developed Housing Board Colony. There will now be a children's park, an artificial lake, a fountain, on the left side of the drainage and greenery on the right side.

The PWD is taking up two projects simultaneously — beautification of area and construction of a drainage to make the flow of rain water smooth. The total cost of the project is Rs 54.75 lakh. But the contractor, Mr Jaswant Rai Verma, could not give the breakdown how this amount would be spent. He says that he has been allotted the project only for creating an artificial lake and filling of earth, the cost of which works out to Rs 25 lakh approximately. He says that the department has released only Rs 12 lakh so far, and alleges that the remaining amount spent on the project is stuck up.

The park on completion will fulfil a long pending demand of the people of Ambala Cantonment.

Trust to open CBSE school

The Jagir Singh Charitable Trust is all set to start a CBSE school at Samrala by recruiting members of the teaching staff from Kerala. Set up by Mr Jagir Singh himself for the uplift of the needy and downtrodden in the field of education and medicine, the trust is now all set to start a day boarding public school and a computer centre in Samrala.

In line with the international standards, the future programme of the trust includes introduction of TAFE (Technical Advanced Further Education) by seeking affilitaion with one of the Government accredited institutes based in the USA, Canada or Australia.

The day boarding school, according to Mr Devinder Singh Benepal, a functionary of the trust, will function in accordance with the Sikh doctrine and Sikh thought. Justice Kuldip Singh is being approached to provide his advice and guidance. Eminent Sikh personalities will be associated with the managing committee.

The Trust will lay special focus on sports development by picking the talent from the grass root level. Shiv Jagday, National Coach of the US hockey team, will look after the sports programme. The trust also proposes to fully involve the Director of Sports, Col Raminder Singh, besides former international and national coach, Sukhvir Singh Grewal, and coach of Haryana, Baldev Singh.

To look after the medical needs of the new School, the trust proposes to organise a panel of eminent doctors, including Dr Amrik Singh, Dr Darshan Singh, Dr H.S. Kang and Dr Barjinder Singh of the USA.

To set the ball rolling, the trust has already purchased four acres of land near Samrala and the initial estimate is that the complex will cost about Rs 1 crore. The school will start admissions from the next academic session.