The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Monday, November 19, 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
AIRLINES’ INCENTIVES: Uzbekistan Airways, Central Asia’s largest airlines which is operating five weekly flights from here to various destinations throughout the world, has offered special incentives to frequent fliers. The spokesman for the airlines told reporters here on Saturday that under the new scheme, regular passengers could avail concessions like upgrading to the first and club classes from the economy class. Regular fliers could earn premium, silver and gold cards after flying more than 30,000 km, he added.

WORLD DIABETES DAY: Public awareness is must to control diabetes and the government and NGOs should come forward for this purpose. This was stated by Dr O.P. Mahajan, Principal, medical college, at the celebrations of World Diabetes Day at Guru Nanak Dev Hospital here on Saturday. The programme was organised by the Novo Nor disk Education Foundation along with the Department of Medicine and Cardiology of the medical college.

STOLEN: A truck and a car were stolen in separate incidents from the Bhagtawala and Gurdwara Shaheed Baba Deep Singh areas here, respectively, on Friday. A case has been registered under Section 379, IPC. Meanwhile, the police has booked four persons, Amarjeet Singh, Harjidner Singh, Ram Singh and Manjit Kumar, for gambling under Sections 13, 3 and 67 of the Gambling Act.

BATHINDA
CHILDREN’S DAY: Blooming Buds, a local pre-nursery school, on Saturday organised a function to celebrate Children’s Day. Mr Harminder Singh Jassi, MLA and president of the District Congress Committee was the chief guest on the occasion. About 70 children participated in a fancy dress competition on the occasion. Ms Ranju Bala, Principal, SSD Girls School, and Ms Arvinder Kaur were the judges for the competition.

GURDASPUR
CAMP FOR HANDICAPPED: As many as 90 persons were provided with artificial limbs at a charitable camp for the disabled held here on Sunday by Sri Satya Sai Samiti to celebrate the 76th birthday of Sri Satya Sai Baba. According to Mr Dina Nath Mahajan, state coordinator of the samiti, the camp was the sixth of its kind organised by the samiti. In the earlier camps, as many as 552 persons had been provided with artificial limbs.

HOSHIARPUR
DENTAL EDUCATION: Dr B.S. Parmar, Professor and head of Department of Oral and maxillofacial Surgery, Dashmesh Dental College, Faridkot, has emphasised the need to provide dental education to schoolgoing children. He was addressing the inaugural session of the one-day certificate course in oral surgery and cosmetic dentistry organised here on Sunday by the local unit of the Indian Dental Association.

JALANDHAR
DENTAL CAMP: The district health authorities, in collaboration with NGOs, organised a free dental camp under the dental healthcare fortnight at the Civil Hospital here on Saturday. Mr Satish Chandra, Commissioner, Jalandhar Division, inaugurated the camp. Dr Ashok Sharma, Nodal Officer, said more than 250 patients were examined and provided with free medicines. Besides, 30 poor patients were provided with free sets of dentures.

KHAMANO
ACTION SOUGHT AGAINST COPS: Vehicle owners are sore over the alleged misconduct of traffic control cops in demanding bribe from them if their vehicle documents are incomplete. They have demanded strict action against this malpractice by the administration.

LUDHIANA
PULSE POLIO AWARENESS RALLY: A pulse polio awareness rally of school and college students was held by Dr Rajinder Kaur, Civil Surgeon, Ludhiana. Ms Santosh Bhatia, Deputy Mass Media Officer, in a press statement said the rally ended at Old Civil Hospital covering areas near Gurdwara Kalgidhar, Subhani Building and Brown Road. Various placards and banners with slogans of “Pukare baal aatma, polio ka khatma” were displayed on the occasion.

MOGA
BURIED ALIVE: Two labourers digging tubewells at Dhilwanwala village under the Baghapurana police station in the district, were buried alive on Saturday when a mound of earth fell on them. The bystanders immediately started removing earth and extricated the labourers’ bodies which have been sent for a post-mortem examination.

NAWANSHAHR
MEDICAL CAMP: Guru Gobind Singh Charitable Trust, Ludhiana, in collaboration with Amardeep Singh Shergill Memorial College, Mukandpur, about 20 km from here, organised a free medical check-up camp on the college premises on Sunday. Dr S.S. Johal, former Vice-Chancellor of the PAU and Chairman of the college managing committee, inaugurated the camp at which a team of doctors from the CMC, Ludhiana, examined more than 1,500 patients.

DEATH ANNIVERSARY: Amardeep Singh Shergill Memorial College, Mukandpur, on Saturday organised a programme on the campus to mark the death anniversary of Shergill in whose memory the college was established. As many as 20 students also donated blood at a blood donation camp organised by the Lions Club to mark the occasion.

THEFT: Cash and gold jewellery were reportedly stolen from Bhuvneshary Mandir, Rahon, about 7 km from here, on Saturday. A case has been registered and investigations are on.

PATIALA
FUNCTION: Children visiting the Bal Bhavan at Sular village on the outskirts of the city participated in a fair organised on the occasion of ‘Bal Divas’. The children were exposed to a unique project instituted for the less privileged among them. The children participated in on-the-spot painting, clay modelling, collage and quiz competitions. They were exposed to the efforts made by the Devendra Cultural Centre to provide recreational activity to slum children of the neighbourhood. The children residing in slums in the village are getting rudimentary education. Over 650 children from 45 schools participated in the competitions on Sunday. A cultural programme was also organised by students of Saraswati Public School, Patiala, according to the centre executive secretary, Dr Ravi Bhushan. Deaf and dumb students also participated in various events on the occasion. Prizes were also given to the children by Ms Satwant Kaur, who is also chairman of the Bal Bhavan. Dr Bhushan said drawing sheets were provided by the North Zone Cultural Centre (NZCC) while the prizes were sponsored by Juneja Realtors.

CHANDIGARH

QUIZ CONTEST: An inter-college and inter-school quiz contest on travel and tourism was organised, here on Sunday. Comprising nine rounds on airlines, cities, river and lakes, monuments and travellers as well as writers’ comments on travelling, the quiz saw participation of students from St. John’s, Vivek High School, Tender Heart, College of Architecture, Government College for Girls and Boys, MCM DAV College among others.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the All-India Uttranchal Vikas Parishad: chief adviser — Mr Vishnu Pandey, president — Mr Matbar Singh Panwar, senior vice-president — Mr Man Singh Chamkoti, vice-president — Mr Dhirpal Singh Negi, secretary — Mr Surender Singh, joint secretary — Mr Pan Singh Rana, treasurer — Mr Shambhu Prasad Balooni, auditor — Mr Baldev Singh Panwar — advisors — Mr Rama Nand Bandooni and Mr Dinesh Semwal, organising secretaries — Mr Kunwar Lal Gabarwan and Mr Balwant Singh Negi.

SAS NAGAR
FAULTY METER: Dr Roopinder Singh, a resident of Sector 70, has complained that an electricity meter that was installed at his residence has been giving excess readings. An official of the electricity board said though the electronic meters were calibrated, the specific meter would be checked.

PHARMACY WEEK: Week-long celebrations to observe the National Pharmacy Week on “Pharmacists in health care: counselling for women’s welfare” began at the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) here on Saturday. A panel discussion on women’s health-related issues and collage display competition were the highlights of the day. Dr Amarjit Singh, president of the branch of the IMA, said the association had organised several activities to create awareness about the women healthcare.

ANIMAL FAIR: The Ropar District Cooperative Milk Producers Union and the Verka plant here would organise an animal fair at Focal Point, Bhago Majra, near here, on Monday. A competition to access better quality of breeds of cows and buffaloes would also be organised, according to Mr S.S. Bhalla, Deputy Manager of the Mohali Milk Plant. TNS

ELECTED: Mr B.S. Tej and Mr Albel Singh have been elected president and secretary-general of the Citizens Welfare Council. The other office-bearers are Mr Gyan Singh, Mr Amrik Singh and Mr Pavitar Singh — senior vice-presidents; Mr Karam Singh — finance secretary; Mr Puran Singh Kirti, Mr Trasem Singh, Mr Charanjeet Singh, Mr Sukhwinder Singh, Mr Manohar Singh, Mr H.S. Sangha, Mr T.S. Teer, Mr Harminder Singh, Mr Dalbeer Singh and Mr J.S. Bhullar — vice-president.

KIRTAN DARBAR: A two-day kirtan darbar would be organised at Gurdwara Sahibzada Ajit Singh in Phase 2 here on Monday. Bhai Maskeen, a known narrator of scriptures, and a number of ragis would be present on the occasion.

HARYANA

HISAR
REMAND EXTENDED: Judicial Magistrate Jaibeer Singh has extended the judicial remand of Sonia, daughter of Relu Ram Punia, a former MLA, and six of her relatives for another 14 days. Sonia, her husband Sanjeev, father-in-law Anoop Singh, mother-in-law Rajbiri Devi, brother-in-law Subodh and two other relatives Rajender Prasad and Rampal Singh were produced in the court on Saturday. Sonia had allegedly clubbed her father, mother, sister, brother, sister-in-law and three children of her brother to death when they were asleep at their farmhouse in Litani near here on the night of August 24.

JIND
2 DIE IN MISHAP: Two persons were killed and three others injured in separate incidents in the district. Two persons were killed and another injured when the jeep in which they were travelling was hit by a vehicle on the Jind-Gohana road near Nidani village. The deceased were identified as Krishan of Kaithal and Jai Lal of Bir Bangra village.

KALKA
BAL MELA: The local Rotract Club would hold its 11th Bal Mela here in which different competitions would be organised. President of the club Vikas Kochar and secretary Amit Goyal said here on Sunday that the mela would be organised on Sunday on the premises of local Government Senior Secondary School. Different competitions like baby show, fancy dress, making of greeting cards, solo song, group song, group dance, paintings and cooking etc would be held. Mr Naveen Gupta would be the chairman for the events.

SIRSA
PRESS DAY: A seminar on “Threats to journalism” was organised by the Active Journalists Association at the local Jhunthra dharamshala while celebrating Press Day on Saturday. Speaking on the occasion, the patron of the association, Mr Inder Mohan Sharma, stressed the need for organisational unity to face the challenges and threats facing journalism today.

SONEPAT
KILLED: Prem Singh(65) was hit and killed by the Shatabadi Express near the railway crossing here on Saturday. According to a report, the victim belonged to Guhna village in the district. He was crossing the railway track when the accident occurred.

INJURED: Mukesh was seriously injured when he was allegedly attacked with lathis by four youths at Sitawali village, about 20 km from here, on Saturday. The injured youth was rushed to the local Civil Hospital where he was stated to be out of danger. The police has registered a case against the alleged assailants and a hunt is on to apprehend them.