Tribuneindia...Regional Briefs

	REGIONAL BRIEFS	Thursday, June 24, 1999
weather n spotlight today's calendar	............

FEROZEPORE
Demand draft: Mr Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, Minister of Cooperatives, Punjab, distributed demand drafts worth Rs 4.10 crore among cane growers at a function held here on Tuesday. He said only four sugar mills of Punjab were running in profits. Action would be taken against those Cooperative Banks officials who were charging compound interest instead of simple interest on the loans taken by farmers, he warned.

HOSHIARPUR
Seminar: To apprise the public about the Lok Adalats and free legal aid schemes, the district legal services authorities will organise a seminar on July 1 in the Sessions Court complex, according to the press note issued by the legal service authority here on Tuesday. Mr R.M. Gupta, District Sessions Judge, appealed to the public to participate in the seminar.

JALANDHAR
Double murder solved: The police has claimed to have solved a double murder case with the arrest of two persons, Bhajan Singh and Sat Pal. Mr Gaurav Yadav, SSP, said here on Tuesday that the mutilated bodies of Bakhshish Singh, alias Bakhshi, a resident of Chak Chela (Shahkot), and Dharma resident of Bheelan (Subhanpur, Kapurthala) were recovered from fields of Jagir Singh of Chak Chela village on June 6. Investigation had revealed that Bhajan Singh and his servant Sat Pal, resident of Jakkopur (Lohian), had attacked the deceased with an agricultural tool (kahi) and killed them.

MALERKOTLA
One dead: The scorching heat on Wednesday claimed the life of Raj Kumar (22), a son of Prem Kumar, a rickshaw-puller. According to reports, Raj Kumar was going to his home on foot. He fell near Delhi Gate here in the morning and died on the spot.

PATIALA
Dharna: Revenue patwaris and kanungos here on Tuesday picketed at the tehsil office. Mr Daljit Singh, President, district unit of the Revenue Patwaris Union, claimed that the work of the tehsils had suffered due to their agitation. Mr Paramjit Jindal, General Secretary of the union said the patwaris held a condolence meeting to pay tributes to the Indian soldiers who had died fighting in the Kargil sector.

Hunger strike: An Employees Struggle Committee comprising staff unions of almost all government departments on Tuesday began a hunger strike to press the government to accept their demands. In a press note Mr Darshan Singh Kang, Mr Major Singh and Mr Sham Lal, representatives of the committee, said 30 employees sat on a hunger strike on Tuesday. They are demanding bonus payment, pending since the past two years, cash payment of dearness allowance from January onwards, LTC allowance, and 15 per cent house rent allowance for the employees.

ROPAR
Vishwakarma Sabha: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Vishwakarma Sabha: Chairman-Mr Basant Singh; President — Mr Santokh Singh; Senior Vice-President — Mr Nirmal Singh; General Secretary — Mr Sardul Singh Namdhari; Joint Secretary — Mr Shivjeet Singh; and Treasurer — Mr Ajit Singh.

Grant: The Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, has announced a grant of Rs 2 lakh to the local Sahibzada Ajit Singh Academy. According to Mr Rajan Chopra, Principal of the academy, the Chief Minister announced this grant when the Royal Band of the academy visited the CM.

Arrested: The munshi of the Kurali police station, Bhupinder Singh, and a Home Guard, Gurmeet Singh, were arrested by the local Vigilance Bureau, on Monday at Kurali, while they were accepting a bribe of Rs 3,000 from Mr Jagmohan Lal, a wholeseller of medicines. Mr Malwinder Singh Sidhu, DSP, Vigilance Bureau, said here on Tuesday that another accused Gurmeet Singh, SI, was absconding.

SAMRALA
No teachers: Parents of school children are worried as about 50 posts of teacher have been lying vacant in Samrala Block for a long time. The gram panchayat has demanded from the Education Minister, Mr Tota Singh, to fill the posts immediately.

Action committee: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Joint Action Committee of technical Teachers' Training Institute Employees unions and associations for 1999-2000: Chairman — Mr D.R. Kathuria; Vice-Chairman — Mr S.L. Gupta; General Secretary — Mr Jasvir Singh; Joint Secretary — Mr G.B. Pandey; Finance Secretary — Mr M.R. Goyal; Organising Secretary — Mr T.C Kashyap; and Chief Adviser — Mr S.C. Shukla.

Traders body: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Traders Welfare Association, Sector 32-D: patron — Mr Rajinder Kumar Mittal; chairman — Mr R.K. Aggarwal; president — Mr Ashwani Khanna; senior vice-president — Mr Mohandhatta; vice-president — Mr Raj Kumar Batra; general secretary — Mr K.N. Sharma; joint secretary — Mr Jagdish; and treasurer — Mr K.K. Sethi.

PANCHKULA
One arrested: The Chandi mandir police arrested a resident of Mani majra on Wednesday for allegedly manufacturing spurious cold drinks of a popular brand at his shop in Madanpur village and confiscated at least 15 crates of the drink. The suspect was allegedly selling these drinks in Ramgarh and in neighbouring areas in Punjab.

HISAR
Drowned: Dilbag Singh (26) drowned in the Balsamand canal near the Industrial Area here on Tuesday. According to reports, Dilbag Singh, an employee of a pharmaceutical company, had come to the canal to take a bath. His body was recovered after five hours.

SIRSA
Armyman commits suicide: Jeet Singh (23) of Rampura Dhillon village in the district allegedly committed suicide in the fields on Tuesday. According to informed sources, he was in the Army and was stopped by his parents to join duty after his leave was over. He had been summoned by his officers. His body was cremated in the village the same day.

Injured: Gogi (27) of Baring Khera village was seriously injured in a road accident near Mandi Dabwali on Tuesday. According to informed sources, Ms Sukhpaul Kaur, wife of his elder brother, was under treatment at a private nursing home in Mandi Dabwali and he was going there to donate blood when he met with an accident.
Gang busted: The Mandi Dabwali police on Tuesday busted a gang of thieves with the arrest of Kailo and Gailo Devi of Dhuri. This was stated here by Mr B.S.Sandhu, SSP, on Wednesday.

Poppy husk seized: A 200 kg of poppy husk was seized by the police on Monday, with the arrest of two persons. Police sources said on being informed that a jeep from Rajasthan was smuggling poppy husk, the house of a sarpanch of Musli village in Theellenabad subdivision was cardoned and Narayan Singh and Balora Singh were arrested, while three others managed to escape.

Open darbar: Dr Avtar Singh, Deputy Commissioner, on Monday while presiding over a weekly open darbar organised at the local Patwar Bhavan, directed the district Red Cross Society to present a sewing machine to Ms Surjeet Kaur, a widow of Haripura village. He also directed the Minor Irrigation Tubewell Corporation here to repair a damaged irrigation channel of Malekan village within 15 days.

Suicide: Sonu Dhawan a student of Class X of Khairpur, died at the local Civil Hospital here on Monday. According to informed sources, she had consumed poison when she failed to pass the examination conducted by the Board of School Education, Haryana.

Police post: Mr B.S. Sandhu, SSP, inaugurated a new police post at Dhaulpalia to check increase in the crime rate in the area.

Arrested: Karaj Singh, alias Bittu, a Jat Sikh of Kasankhera village, here was arrested under the Excise Act on Monday. A spokesman of the police said here on Tuesday that they had recovered 130 kg of lahan and a huge quantity of illicit liquor from their possession.

SONEPAT
Two held: The police has arrested Kuldeep Singh and Vikas of Subhash Nagar in connection with an alleged attempt to rape a 16-year-old girl.

Killed: Surinder (46) died when he was hit by a truck on the G.T.Road near Ganaur chowk, about 20 km from here, on Tuesday. The Ganaur police has registered a case against the truck driver on the charge of rash and negligent driving.

Dharna: Members of the Multipurpose Health Karamchari Union sat on a day's dharna in front of the office of the Civil Surgeon on Tuesday in support of their demands. Leaders of the association announced that they would take part in the state-level rally on August 8 at Bhiwani and the dharna on August 17 in New Delhi which are being organised in protest against the failure of the state government to accept the legitimate demands of the agitating employees.

Prayer meeting: Several thousand persons, including women and ex-servicemen, participated in a prayer meeting organised in the memory of Lachhman Singh who died fighting Pakistani infiltrators in the Kargil sector of Mehlana village, about 8 km from here, on Monday. Mr Jagbir Singh Malik, Minister of State for Horticulture and Marketing, Mr P.K.Mahapatra, Deputy Commissioner, and a large number of officials were present on the occasion. Mr Mahapatra gave Rs 15,000 to the bereaved family on the behalf of the District Red Cross Society and Capt Jagdish Sharma gave Rs 10,000 on the behalf of Brig Satnam Singh, Sub Area Commander, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

BILASPUR
Appointed: Mr B.S.Chauhan has been appointed as the District and Sessions Judge in place of Mr L.N. Sharma who has taken over as the District Sessions Judge of Kulu. Mr Chauhan was earlier posted at Chamba.

Foundation stone: The Chief Minister, Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal, will lay the foundation stone of the Rs 29-crore Changar irrigation scheme at Dabat village, in the Kot Kehloor constituency, 85 km from here, on Sunday. For this lift irrigation scheme, water will be lifted from the Bhakra Nangal canal and irrigate 2,516 hectares of land.

SHIMLA
Competition: The 32nd All-India Drama and Dance Competition began here at Kali Bari Hall on Monday. The programme started with performance of Bharatnatyam by Jisha Damodaran. Nearly 700 artistes from all over the country are participating in a five day competition being organised by the All-Artistes Association in collaboration with the HP State Language and Culture Department.

Regional potpourri

Lifting 50 kg with reimplanted wrist

In 1986 the left wrist of five-year-old S.P. Singh from Gurdaspur district got chopped off while he was working on the chaff-cutter. The boy was rushed to Gurdaspur Civil Hospital, where the doctor on duty advised his parents to take him immediately to the CMC and Hospital, Ludhiana. Here his left wrist was reimplanted by Plastic Surgeon Dr A.G. Thomas.

After a long span of 13 years, the patient visited CMC and Hospital on June 3, 1999. He is now able to carry a weight of 50 kg with his reimplanted wrist.

Prostitutes and Urdu literature

Prostitution traces down its origin to vedic period itself, even if it was in the form of court dancers, devdasis or vaishyas. These women had influenced politics and literature of their times. But this contribution of prostitutes in Urdu literature and politics is still not known to most of the people. And the documents and evidences regarding this are still hard to find. This reason was however enough for Dr Ved Prakash Suri to take up as the theme of his scholarly venture.

Dr Suri is the only scholar in the country who has done research on "The contribution of prostitutes to Urdu literature" and has got a doctorate degree in Urdu from the University of Jammu on this topic.

Dr Suri who was working as Deputy Registrar in Jammu University before his retirement a couple of years ago, hails from Mirpur, now in Pak-Occupied-Kashmir. As his mother, Brij Rani loved Urdu language, she taught her son herself but when during the partition, young Ved Prakash, who was only 14 at that time, was separated from his family and was forced to work at a prostitute quarter by some tribals at Hira Mandi in Lahore, the plight of those poor women generated his interest in their study.

Later, when he escaped from their custody and rejoined his family at Jammu, he resumed study of Urdu language and did his post-graduation in this subject. But these childhood impressions about the plight of prostitutes were so strong that he decided to make it the theme of his research for doctorate degree.

Having recently honoured by Kukhran Biradari in Jammu for his literary contribution, he has now started working on those prostitutes who have contributions in the field of politics and has almost completed one-fourth of it. He emphasises that his work should not be considered a historical document but whatever material is available, would be compiled in the form of a book. He has been successful in finding the relevant material in the libraries of Jammu, Delhi and Srinagar but says he would have to travel more to find other relevant information.

Van runs on LPG

The economical and smokeless alternative of petrol is likely to take the fancy of vehicle (four wheeler ) owners. Mr Rajinder Mehra, of Nurpur, who works as a mechanic in the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) Workshop at Pathankot has installed a gas conversion kit in a Maruti van here and fitted an LPG (cooking gas) refill in the van for supply of fuel to the engine in lieu of petrol. A Vaporizer is also installed with the kit. LPG-fuelled vehicle has no engine start problem. It is efficient for short as well as long distance travel.

Significantly, the LPG fuel used in the vehicle is absolutely smokeless and the vehicle does not emit smoke. Mr Mehra claims that by installing this gas conversion kit which roughly costs Rs 15,000 the heavy cost of petrol can be saved. He calculates the cost for 1 km in LPG-fuelled vehicle (Maruti van) to 60 paise whereas the same distance costs Rs 1.80 in petrol-fuelled van. One refill of the LPG is consumed in 300 km of travelling.

— Contributed by TNS, Kavita Bhargava and Rajiv Mahajan.