The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Thursday, November 8, 2001, 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
GURBANI: ETC Channel, Punjabi, on Tuesday successfully tested live transmission of Gurbani kirtan from the Golden Temple between 4 a.m. to 7 a.m. The telecast was beamed across nearly 150 countries. Rabindera Narayan, president of channel, said the regular live transmission was expected to begin from November 12.

LOK ADALAT: Four legal Benches headed by Mr Rajiv Malhotra, Additional Civil Judge (Senior Division), conducted a state-level lok adalat at Batala subdivision on Tuesday. As many as 727 cases, including civil, criminal and matrimonial disputes, were settled at the lok adalat and 286 cases were disposed off through compromise. A sum of Rs 1,00,79,129 was awarded to claimants.

INAUGURATED: Swami Vivek Anand Study Centre was inaugurated by Swami Agnivesh, Member of Parliament, here on Tuesday. He laid stress on breaking the barriers of casteism, language, custom and hatred. Dr S.P. Singh, Vice-Chancellor, Guru Nanak Dev University, highlighted Vivekanand’s philosophy. Swami Agnivesh released a book ‘Swami Vivekanand and India’ edited by Dr Harmohinder Singh Bedi.

BATHINDA
NSS CAMP: A one-day NSS camp was organised at Government Senior Secondary School, Rampura Mandi on Wednesday. About 53 volunteers and staff members of the school participated. Ms Surinder Kaur, Principal of the school, in a press note issued here said volunteers cleaned the school campus.

CIVIL DEFENCE EXERCISE: The Civil Defence, Bathinda, organised an exercise on Tuesday. The exercise was done on the basis of training given by Mr Karnail Singh Gill, Senior Superintendent, Civil Defence Control Centre, and Mr Shamsher Singh, CDI, to the people. Mr Gill in a press note issued here on Wednesday said members of rescue, fire fighting, casualty, welfare and warden services performed before the gathering.

DORAHA
CASE REGISTERED: A case has been registered against an unidentified person who allegedly killed a person in road accident on Tuesday. According to Harjinder Singh of Araichan village he and his father Bhoor Singh were coming back from Doraha when his father, who was ahead of him on a cycle was crushed by a fast moving vehicle at Kaddon Chowk. The driver fled with the vehicle and he could not note down the number of the vehicle due to darkness.

FARIDKOT
DISTRIBUTED: Under the Punjab Government scheme to give residential plots to the weaker sections of the society in the state free of cost, Mr A. Venu Prasad, Deputy Commissioner, distributed 180 plots to the beneficiaries of three villages, namely Deep Singh Wala, Jhok Sarkari and Sangat Pura on Tuesday. Addressing a function at Deep Singh Wala village, the Deputy Commissioner said the revenue officials had been asked to identify more shamlat lands in all villages. He announced a grant of Rs 25,000 for the construction of a dharamshala in the village.

HOSHIARPUR
COMMUNITY POLICING: To improve the functioning of the police in the present scenario and to make relations cordial between the police and the public, the involvement of the community in policing is the need of the hour. This was stated by Dr Parmod, Director of the Institute for Development and Communication, while addressing in a one-day workshop on community policing organised by the district police at Police Grounds here on Wednesday. Mr C.S.R Reddy, DIG, Jalandhar Police Range, Mr Sanjeev Kalra, SSP, Hoshiarpur, and many others expressed views on community policing.

CASE REGISTERED: The Sadar police has registered a case under Sections 454 and 380, IPC, against Pappu and Som Nath, residents of the local Sutehri Khurd area, for stealing a VCR, Rs 6,000 cash, gold ornaments and clothes worth Rs 26,000 from the house of Hazari Lal at local Mohalla Ranjit Nagar on Tuesday.

ARRESTED: The Tanda police arrested Ajit Singh, alias Jitu of Hambran, and recovered 6,000 ml rum from him on Tuesday evening.

JAGRAON
GURGADDI GURPARB OBSERVED: Hundreds of devotees gathered at the municipal park here on Wednesday to observe the Gurgaddi Gurparb of Guru Granth Sahib. The Gurmukh Granth Sabha had started the celebrations at Guru Ravi Bhagat Ram Das Ji Gurdwara on Kacha Malate Road, on Monday.

EYE CAMP: A free eye operation camp will be held at Civil Hospital, Sidhwan Bet, from November 11 to November 16 in the memory of Sant Darbara Singh Lopowala. Renowned doctors will render their services for the treatment of eye ailments, and operate upon the needy patients.

PROCESSION: The CPML, the Kirti Kisan Union, the Pendu Mazdoor Union and the Inqualabi Kendra, Punjab, held a procession here on Wednesday in protest against the bombings in Afghanistan by the USA. They held a rally near the local SDM’s office on the GT Road. Addressing the rally, Mr Hardev Singh Sandhu and Mr Tirlok Singh Jhordan, state president and district president of the KKU, respectively, Mr Sardara Singh Mahal of CPML and Mr Kamaljit Khanan of the Inqualabi Kendra criticised the USA for killing hundreds of people for their own selfish ends and demanded immediate end to bombing.

RAPE CASE: The Raikot police has booked Daljit and Kala of Boparai village on rape charge. The victim alleged that she along with her sister was going towards fields in the late evening hours when they kidnapped and raped her.

RESENTMENT: The Sub-registrar here has stopped the registration of sale deeds for urban property on the pretext that the old sale deeds showing the ownership of the vender should be presented at the time of registration. This puts hundred of people in difficulty as they are not in possession of old sale deeds.

MANSA
STRIKE: On a call given by the Private Colleges Non-Teaching Employees Union, Punjab and Chandigarh, the non-teaching staff of the local S.D. Kanya Mahavidyalaya began a week-long stay-in strike on Monday. This was stated by Mr Surinder Paul Bansal, secretary of the union, Punjabi University. The local college unit president, Mr Ram Murti, and the secretary, Mr Balour Chand, urged the Punjab Government to fulfil the pending demands of the non-teaching staff immediately.

PATIALA
LANGUAGE WEEK: The week-long Punjabi language week celebrations concluded at the Punjab Languages Department here on Wednesday. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Gobind Singh Kanjla, Social Security, said Punjabi community was losing track of the traditional Punjabi culture and the youth among the community was latching on to the pop bandwagon. This, he said, was a wrong trend and needed to be halted. Mr Kanjla said Punjabi language had a rich tradition and he lauded the efforts of the state languages department towards promoting the language. Mr Kanjla announced a grant of Rs 2 lakh for the implementation of various schemes initiated by the Language Department. Mr Madan Lal Hasija, Director of the department, also spoke on the occasion.

PHILLAUR
ANTI-TERRORIST DAY: The Punjab unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Punjab, will observe ‘Anti-Terrorist Day” throughout the state on November 25 instead of November 18 keeping in view the Maharaja Ranjit Singh coronation function at Amritsar. Stating this state BJP general secretary Avinash Jaiswal told mediapersons here on Tuesday that the BJP would organise block, district, and state-level rallies against terrorism.

ROPAR
2 KILLED: Jagannath Dutta (40) of Kapurthala and his driver, Kamaljit Singh, were killed when the car in which they were travelling collided head-on with a private bus near Asron on Tuesday. Subhash Chandar Dutta of Jalandhar sustained injuries and was admitted the local Civil Hospital. They were going to Chandigarh.

SAHNEWAL
THEFT: According to an FIR registered at Sahnewal police station on Monday, Karamjit Kaur, wife of Harbant Singh of Kohara village has complained that her house was burgled while she and her family members had gone to Naina Devi. She said when they returned, the locks were broken and things were scattered all around. A television set and some cash was also missing. A case under Sections 454 and 380 of the IPC has been registered.

SAMRALA
AKALI LEADER DEAD: The funeral of Jathedar Harcharan Singh Madpur (85), the oldest Akali leader, was held at his native village Madpur, 5 km from here, on Thursday. He had participated in almost all Akali morchas and had remained in jails for many years. Many leaders of Panthic Morcha, including Bibi Satvinder Kaur Dhaliwal, former MP, attended his funeral.

MEETING: The monthly meeting of the Ex-Servicemen Action Committee, Samrala subdivision, was held at the local Civil Rest House on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Maj Harchand Singh Neelon, state president of the committee. The meeting resolved to start agitation in the beginning of January, 2002, if the Supreme Court’s direction of implementing ‘one-rank-one-pension’ rule was not followed by then.

TARN TARAN
TRAFFIC BLOCKED: Vehicular traffic remained disrupted for hours together here on Tuesday when hundreds of farmers, accountants of commission agents of the local grain market and ‘paledaars’ staged a dharna on the byepass near the Bath crossing. They demanded the withdrawal of a case registered against Jaspal Singh, an accountant of the grain market under Sections 406, 420, IPC. The dharna was lifted when Mr Balbir Singh, SHO, assured the agitators that they would get justice in the case.

CHANDIGARH

DEPUTATION MEETS DC: A deputation of shopkeepers of Azad Market, Industrial Area, Phase 1, here on Tuesday met the UT Deputy Commissioner and submitted a memorandum regarding their rehabilitation along the labour colony. The deputation apprised the DC of financial losses suffered due to shifting of the shops from roadside to the inner parts of the colony. They urged the administration to allot shops where the colony would be rehabilitated.

HONOURED: The Punjab and Haryana High Court’s Young Lawyers Association on Wednesday honoured Dr Anmol Rattan Sidhu, and Mr C.M. Munjal on being elected as chairman and secretary, respectively, of the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana. Mr Sukhjinder Singh, chairman, Young Lawyers Association, hailed the newly-elected office-bearers and demanded that some reasonable stipend be given to the beginners in the legal profession as it was difficult for young advocates to survive in the profession. Dr Anmol Rattan Sidhu assured them that a special scheme would be drafted for the purpose. He also assured the association that Rule 36 of the Advocates Act would be implemented in letter and spirit.

DIVALI CELEBRATIONS: The local Rotary Club celebrated Divali with senior citizens here on Tuesday. Over 150 senior citizens joined the celebrations at the Rotary house, where the rotarians, rotaractors and members of the inner wheel organised special games with attractive gifts. The president of the club, Mr Anil Khanna, said three senior citizens were honoured in recognition of their service. — Dr S.S. Bajaj, Dr Mamgain and Ms Nachattar Kaur — The district chairman of the inner wheel district 3080 presided over he function.

STUDY TOUR: An 11-member delegation of the Uppal Kalan Municipality of Andhra Pradesh here on Tuesday visited the local Municipal Corporation as part of a study tour. The delegation, comprising Municipal Commissioner, Chairman of the municipality and nine councillors, met the officials of the corporation and the Mayor, Ms Harjinder Kaur. They visited several places and facilities of the corporation to understand the model of town planning and sewerage. The delegation visited the Sector 39 water works department of the corporation.

DECLAMATION CONTEST: An inter-college declamation contest was organised by Commerce and Business Administration Society of the Government College for Girls, Sector 11, here on Wednesday. Students from various colleges of the city participated in the contest. The topics included “WTO and Domestic Industry”, “Effects of US attacks on Afghanistan on the Indian Economy”, “Entry of Multinationals: A boon or doom for the Indian industry”. While the first two positions were bagged by the host college, the third prize went to GCM-11. The results are: Charu — GCG-11 (1), Aditi Sodhi — GCG-11, Vivek Kumar — GCM-11 (3). The function was presided over by the Principal of the college, Ms Vijay Lakshmi. The contest was judged by vice-chairman of CII, Mr Jagjit Singh, GM of PSIDC, Mr Sham Lal Bansal, and Mr Suresh Chadha, Reader from the University Business School.

PANCHKULA
AWARENESS WEEK: The State Bank of India’s Vigilance Awareness week concluded here on Tuesday. The week began on October 31. A declamation contest was organised for trainees on topics relating to corruption and transparency, discipline in public life etc. Mr H.L. Khanna, Assitant General Manager, gave away prizes to the winners. Mr S.C. Sharma and Mr Romesh Kumar won the first and second prize, respectively.

ANNUAL DAY FUNCTION: Efforts would be made to start post graduate classes at the BRS Institute of Medical Sciences in order to benefit students from rural areas. This was stated by Mr R.S. Chaudhary, Vice Chancellor of Kurukshetra University, while presiding over the seventh annual day celebrations and prize distribution function of the institute at Kot Billa village on Monday. Awards were given students in various activities like sports, cultural programmes and educational activities. Earlier, badminton, throw ball and kho-kho matches were held, along with poetry symposium, song and dance competition. Students were also awarded for best research papers and debate competitions.

SMALL SAVINGS: Mr L.M. Goyal, Chief Secretary, Haryana, on Tuesday stressed on the significance of small savings. He was addressing a gathering on the occasion of district small savings prize distribution function held here. The Deputy Commissioner, Ms Jyoti Arora, while speaking on the occasion said the small savings target of Rs 56 crore for the district would be surpassed. A sum of Rs 1,23,480 was given to 22 agents as cash award. Nineteen agents were also given awards, who had motivated investments ranging from 25 lakh to 1 crore. Mr Rakesh Yadav, Mrs Kusum Bansal and Mr Ashish Arora won the first, second and third position in SAS scheme, while Mr Ashok Goyal, Ms Rita Singla and Ms Tripta Sharma secured first, second and third position in PPF agency.