The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Wednesday, May 8, 2002, Chandigarh, India

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50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

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R E G I O N A L B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
STRIKE: Mr Bhanu Puri and Mr Harvinder Singh, president and vice-president of Shri Laxmi Narayan College, unit of the National Students Union of India, along with some other students of the college, met the Vice-Chancellor of Baba Farid University, Faridkot, regarding the continuing strike in the college. The teachers and students of the college are on strike following the suspension of three teachers in the college. In a press note issued here today, the NSUI said the Vice-Chancellor of the university had assured the students of suitable action. Meanwhile, the strike, in the college entered its 23rd day on Monday.

RARE OPERATION: A single plastic surgery operation was able to restore the impaired vision, due to a rare birth defect, of Amit Singh of Jammu. The defect called ‘‘blepharophimosis’’ shows absence of skin on the upper eyelid. Hence folds of the upper eyelids are absent. Instead of multiple surgeries to correct the defect, a single operation performed for the first time at Guru Ram Dass Hospital here by a team of experts led by Dr Bhupinder Singh, Head of Plastic Surgery Department, along with Dr Amita Joshi and Dr Sunil Mehra, corrected the defect by birth.

ALLEGATIONS DENIED: The Punjab Irrigation Assistant Engineers Association, headed by Mr Nanak Singh Longia, has denied the allegations of the Diploma Engineers Association that illegal means were used for promotions of SDOs. The former claimed that the Department of Punjab Irrigation observed in 1999 that the qualifications specified in the rules may be relaxed by the government on the recommendation of the Chief Engineer in respect of junior engineers. Addressing a press conference, Mr Longia demanded from the Punjab Government to hold the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) meeting at the earliest to consider all recommended candidates seniority wise so that the stagnated cadre may get some relief.

CABLE TV: The Defence Colony Welfare Association, Ranjit Avenue, at a general meeting held here on Monday threatened to disconnect the existing connections of SITI cable if the rates of the cable TV were not brought down. The rates of cable TV in Defence Colony were much higher than other areas of the city. This was stated by Mr J.P. Singh Aulakh, general secretary of the association, in a press note here.

FEROZEPORE
PLANTATION DRIVE: While their husbands are at the border guarding the nation, the families of the soldiers of the Khemkaran Brigade of the Indian Army have taken a pledge to undertake a plantation and cleanliness drive. They have also decided to discourage the use of polythene bags. The families are also observing an environment week. To mark the beginning of the week, a rally was held in which children aired slogans in support of greenery.

CAMP HELD: The district Transport Department in collaboration with the Nehru Yuvak Kendra and Shahid Udham Singh Club held a learners driving licence camp at Hakewala village. According to Mr Gurcharan Singh Sandhu, ADTO, more than 225 driving licences were made on the spot after verifying the eligibility conditions and documents. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr D.K. Tiwari, who presided over the camp, exhorted the people to follow traffic rules.

CSD CANTEEN: Major-Gen O.P. Nandrajog, GOC, Golden Arrow Division, on Tuesday inaugurated a CSD canteen at Patti. General Nandrajog reiterated the Army’s commitment towards welfare of its ex-servicemen by providing them all support services right at their door-step dedicating a well-stocked canteen with all modern facilities to ex-servicemen of the area, he thanked them for their valuable contribution for the Army even after retirement.

LUDHIANA
SEMINAR: The Indian Business Academy, Bangalore, organised a seminar on courses in business management at a hotel on Sunday. Ms Chitra Parthasarathy, senior faculty, said the academy had started a postgraduate diploma course in business management. She said the two-year course would help the students get live management environment by means of interactive sessions, discussing case studies and organising events. She said students would be assessed on the basis of seminars, debates, essays, book reviews and written examination.

FINANCIAL HELP: As many as 176 needy students from 36 schools of the city were given school fee by the Shri Sidh Sewa Mandal at its 15th annual day held at Mandir Sidh Baba Balak Nath, Dhuri Line, here on Monday. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Surinder Sharma, president of the mandal, said the society had been adopting children from primary classes for the past 15 years. He said the society would help them pay their fee as long as they wanted to pursue their studies. He said around 400 students had applied for the purpose out of whom 176 were screened, majority of them being children of widows.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Excise and Taxation Officers’ Association; president — Mr Sucha Singh Cheema; senior vice-president — Mr H.L. Chadha; general secretary — Mr Paramjit Singh; and vice-presidents — Mr Pritam Singh Sidhu, Mr R.K. Grover and Mr Jasmel Singh.

MOGA
ARRESTED: The district police claims to have arrested a group of persons headed by Gurdev Singh, stated to be a former police constable, along with three of his accomplices, who had snatched a truck loaded with sugar bags from Makho village in Ferozepore district after throwing its driver in a canal. Stating this here on Tuesday, the Senior Superintendent of Police said all miscreants were wanted in several cases of dacoities and snatching away of vehicles which they used for committing robberies at several places in the state.

ROBBERY FOILED: The district police on Monday detained a Tata Sumo coming from Kokari Kalan village in the district and took into custody its occupants Inderjeet Singh and Gurdev Singh and the driver, all residents of a village in Amritsar district, from whom it seized two pistols and a large number of cartridges. Speaking to mediapersons on Tuesday, Senior Superintendent of Police, Mr Virender Kumar, said the suspects had confessed that they were planning to loot a rice mill and its owner but failed to do so following their arrest. The police said the suspects had snatched the vehicle from its owner near Ludhiana.

PATIALA
DECISION FLAYED: The Punjab Wholesale Chemists Association has condemned the decision to reimpose octroi in the state. Mr Surjit Kumar Mehta, president of the association, appealed to the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, to pursue the case strongly in the Supreme Court. He said the re-imposition of octroi had increased the problems of traders manifold. He also apprehended harassment by the octroi wing of the municipal corporation.

SAMRALA
TRIBUTES PAID: Tributes were paid to Bibi Ram Kaur at her native village Sihala, near here by several prominent personalities on Sunday. Though Ram Kaur was illiterate, she served the equational institutions of the area with great energy. Among others who paid tributes were Jathedar Kirpal Singh Khirnian, members SGPC, Mr Balbir Singh Rajewal, General Secretary of the BKU, Mr Mewal Singh Sihala, leader BKU, Jathedar Joginder Singh Seh, General Secretary of SAD (B) Ludhiana district, Jathedar Gurcharan Singh Mithewal, Chairman of the Market Committee, Machhiwara, Mr Jasbir Singh Jassi, Youth Congress leader, Mr Jaswant Singh Kaler, President of the Document Writers Association Samrala.

CHARGE TAKEN: Mr Charanjot Singh Walia has taken over as BD & PO here in place of Mr Baljit Singh Kainth who has been transferred to Ropar. Similarly, Mr Manjit Singh has taken over as Naib Tehsildar, Machhiwara, while Mr Jaswinder Singh has been transferred to Lehra-Ganga. Earlier, Mr Manjit Singh was posted as Angrarian Naib Tehsildar in Sangrur district.

COMPENSATION: No compensation has so far been given to the farmers who lost their wheat due to fires during past 20-25 days. This was stated by Mr Joginder Singh Seh, general secretary of the district unit of the SAD (B). Meanwhile, the president of the Sacha Sauda Arhtia Association, Machhiwara, Mr Nirmal Singh Nagra, in a press note demanded from the SDM, Mr Jaspal Singh Jassi, to grant Rs 15,000 per acre to the farmers whose wheat had been burnt.

TARN TARAN
SMACK SEIZED: The Tarn Taran police has seized 250 gm smack from Surjit Singh, alias Lali, a resident of Kakka Kandiala village, which has an international price of more than Rs 25 lakh. The police has also seized 150 gm opium from Daljit Singh, alias Manga, a local resident. Mr Narinder Bhargav, district police chief, said the culprits had been booked under the NDPS Act and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code. Mr Bhargav said 2 gm of poppy husk had also been seized from Nirmal Singh of Harike and 2 kg of poppy husk from Sarbjit Singh, a resident of Dubli village.

SEIZED: The police has seized a 455 bore revolver along with two cartridges from Jaskarn Singh, a resident of Kullha village under Patti police station, while a 38 bore revolver along with six cartridges has been seized from Amar Parkash Singh, a resident of Kallha village, Sadar police station. A stolen Maruti Zen car has also been recovered from the latter.

CHANDIGARH

ACCUSED: The former Mayor of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, Ms Kamla Sharma, accused senior Congress leaders of pressurising the Chandigarh Administration to allot them land for a Delhi-based school here on Monday. She also alleged that Congress councillors were interfering in the work of certain officials. The Congress president, Mr B.B. Bahl, however said the BJP leader was imputing motives to the partymen.

AWARDED: The Regional Service Provider of Punjab Technical University, GCS Computer Tech Pvt Ltd, has been awarded the coveted ISO 9001:2000 certification. The certification is awarded in recognition of strict adherence and commitment to the standards of quality set-up by the International Organisation for Standardisation.

PROTEST RALLY: The Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation (PSIEC) Staff Association, at a meeting on Tuesday, decided to hold a state-level rally on May 22 in protest against the non-fulfillment of demands of employees. The association had given a demand charter to the management on April 15, said general secretary N. Marwadi. The employees of the corporation from all offices in Punjab will participate in the rally to be held in front of Udyog Bhavan.

MEDICAL CAMP: A cancer detection camp was, organised at Ajit Karam Singh International Public School. Sector 41, here on Tuesday. The camp was organised by The Global Cancer Concern for the parents and staff of the school. A team of four specialists and a lab technician conducted medical and gynaecological tests, PAP smear and blood test free of cost. Students of Class VI to X collected donations for the organisation. The students will be awarded badges, certificates, medals and prizes in July.

PANCHKULA
AIDS AWARENESS: A puppet show and a free medical camp for creating AIDS awareness was organised for Haryana Roadways employees here on Tuesday. The programme was organised by the Unnat Bharat Vikas and inaugurated by the District Transport Officer, Mr Jagtar Singh Sandhu. The former DHO, Panchkula, Dr S.P. Bhardwaj, conducted the medical check-up camp

IDENTITY CARDS: The Haryana police has provided new identity cards to its entire force, to prevent its misuse. A spokesman for the department said the government had provided free travelling facility to all policemen upto the rank of Inspector and samples of the new identity card had been sent to the Transport Department to prevent its misuse. The DGP, Haryana Police, has also ordered all serving police personnel to retain their ID cards. The cards are also being issued to all retired non-gazetted officers and other ranks.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Residents Welfare Association, Sector 11, Government Colony, Panchkula: president — Mr Prem Sagar; vice-president — Mr Sunehra Singh and general secretary — Mr Suraj Bhan Dhankar.

HARYANA

AMBALA
HSMITC DHARNA: A gate meeting of the All-Employees Association, HSMITC, Haryana, was held under the presidentship of Mr Krishan Kumar Sharma. Mr Sharma said the employees would hold a dharna on a call given by the Joint Action Committee, MITC, Haryana, and a rally would also be held to protest against the government’s decision to close down the HSMITC. Mr Baldev Singh, while addressing the gate meeting, said employees from Raipurani, Shahzadpur and Sain Majra would participate in the demonstration.

NUMBER PLATE: Superintendent of Police, Ambala, Mr Manoj Yadava, said it was mandatory to change the number plate colour by July 1. Mr Yadav said the plate colour of private vehicles should be white and the number written with black colour. He said directions had been given for changing the number plate colours by July 1.

ELECTION TO SAMITI: Mr Rakesh Chura has been elected director of the Khojkipur Sahkari Rin Sewa Samiti. The other directors who were elected include Mr Balbir Singh, Mr Balwant Singh, Mr Gurmit Singh, Mr Ram Kishan, Mr Joginder Singh and Mr Suresh Kumar.

BHIWANI
TAX RECOVERY STAYED: A local court has issued stay order on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by an advocate, Mr P.C. Sharma, against the new assessment of house tax. Mr Sharma had filed the PIL on March 19 challenging the recently enhanced house tax rates stating that irregularities had been committed while surveying for the assessment of house tax.

FATEHABAD
DEBATE HELD: Noted educationist, columnist and a former chairman of the Haryana Public Service Commission, Mr D.R.Chowdhary, has expressed concern over the manner in which the issue of Hindutva was being whipped up in the name of nationalism in our country and said this was a dangerous trend. Speaking as chief guest in a debate organised here on Sunday on `Secularism vs Communalism’, Mr Chowdhary said Hindu religion and Hindutva were two different things. While Hindu religion was a culture that included in it a number of thinking individuals, Hindutva was a narrow thinking that propagated religious bigotry. Noted historian Dr Suraj Bhan also spoke on the occasion.

HISAR
2 GET LIFE TERM: A local court sentenced two persons to undergo life imprisonment for murdering a fruit sellers here on September 11, 2000. The court sentenced Sonu of the Mill Gate area and Raju of Dhani Barwali to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 500 each on them.