The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Sunday, August 4, 2002, 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

BATALA
COP ASSUMES CHARGE: Dr Naresh Kumar on Saturday took charge as the chief of Batala police district in place of Ms V. Neeraj, who has been transferred to Nawanshahr.

BATHINDA
MARTYR REMEMBERED: The United Welfare Society and Shaheed Sandeep Singh Memorial Society organised a function here to mark the third death anniversary of the Kargil martyr. Mr Bhan Singh Bhaura, Lok Sabha member, inaugurated a library named after the martyr. An Akhand path was also held on the occasion.

ORDER ON REFLECTORS: Mr Gopal Krishan Singh, officiating Deputy Commissioner, on Saturday issued order that reflectors should be installed on all vehicles. In a statement here he said due to poor reflection of light, several accidents took place.

GURDASPUR
ASI BOOKED: The police has booked Harbans Singh, ASI, Nangal Bhoor, for extorting money. Balbir Singh, a resident of Nangal Bhoor, had complained to the police that the ASI had extorted Rs 500 from the village panchayat that approached him concerning a case of marital discord. The ASI is at large.

ARRESTED: The police on Friday arrested Amrik Singh, owner of Shiva Medical Store, Dhariwal, for violating prohibitive orders banning the sale of certain drugs without medical prescription. The medical store has been sealed.

HOSHIARPUR
NURSERIES: The Forest Department has set up 17 nurseries at district headquarters in the state. This was disclosed by Mr Harbans Lal, Forest Minister, while talking to mediapersons here on Saturday. He said Rs 4 lakh each had been spent on setting up these nurseries, adding that sapling plantation was being done in 5,700 hectares in the state in addition to 45,000 hectares where plantation had already been done.

RAIN GOD: To please the rain god, devotees of Sukki Choei Ashram, Bahadurpur, started a 48-hour “akhand kirtan” at the ashram here on Saturday. A spokesman for the ashram said langar would be served after the kirtan.

HAILED: Mr H.S. Hanspal’s appointment as President of PPCC, has been hailed by Dr Kuldip Nanda, district president of the Congress.

JALANDHAR
POLICE FUNCTION: The district police handed over case properties worth Rs 80 lakh, which were recovered during the past five months from different parts of the district, to their rightful owners during a special function organised at the Police Lines on Friday.

PATIALA
MEDICAL CAMP: The Bharat Vikas Parishad, Patiala (main), conducted a medical check-up camp at Batta village, 20 km from here. During the camp, 500 persons were checked by eye, dental and chest specialists. Sheema Joshi, secretary of the parishad, said free medicines were also distributed on the occasion.

AFWWA CAMP: HDFC bank, Patiala cantt, sponsored a monsoon health screen programme organised by the Air Force Wives Welfare Association (AFFWA), Patiala. During the programme complete check-up of more than 100 families of Air Force personnel was conducted. Mrs Harpreet Ahluwalia, wife of Wg Cdr D.S. Ahluwalia, presided over the camp during which Mr Inderpreet Singh, officer in charge of the cantt branch of HDFC, briefed audience about special schemes started for defence personnel.

DECISION HAILED: The National Theatre Arts Society (NTAS) has hailed the decision of the North Zone Cultural Centre (NZCC) to provide the facility of open air auditoriums free of cost to performing artistes and groups on weekends at Kala Gram in Chandigarh. The Director of the society, Mr Pran Sabharwal, urged the NZCC to provide such facilities at its head quarters in Patiala as well.

EXHIBITION: Students of Guru Harkrishan Public School held an exhibition on science, social studies, Punjabi culture and art and craft. The exhibition was inaugurated by Additional Deputy Commissioner Shiv Dular Singh Dhillon. Speaking on the occasion, the Chairman of the school, Mr Jagjit Singh Dardi, said the exhibition was aimed towards boosting the confidence of students.

OFFICE-BEARERS: Mr M.P. Jain has been elected president of the PSEB Stenographers Union. The other office-bearers are: vice-president — Mr Satnam Singh Cheema and the Shant Kumar Tandon; general secretary — Mr Sham Lal, joint secretary — Mr Gurmit Singh, and finance secretary — Mr Raj Kumar.

PHAGWARA
DIESEL TRAINS: The local Citizens Rights Forum on Saturday demanded that diesel trains should be used instead of electric trains in North India keeping in view the power crisis. Forum president Narinderjit Singh said lakhs of kilowatts could be saved by this step and used for agricultural and other sectors. He flayed the move to levy tax on generator sets.

CHANDIGARH

TEEJ FESTIVAL: The Baba Shiekh Farid Blood Donors Council has decided not to celebrate Teej festival this year. With the ongoing drought-like conditions in many parts of the country, council has expressed concern over the suicides being committed by farmers in drought-hit areas in Punjab. In the event of prevailing conditions, Mr G.S. Girn, general secretary of the council, said the council members would visit, spend time and share grievances and woes of the old age people, blinds, orphans and destitutes.

OATH: Members of the Student Council of Shivalik Public School, Sector 41, took oath to uphold the dignity of the institution during its investiture ceremony organised in the school auditorium here on Saturday. On behalf of the members of the council which consists of four houses, Ajit, Juhar, Zorawar and Fateh, the head boy, Aditya Sayal, and the head girl, Gurpreet Kaur, promised to maintain the dignity and prestige of the school. Earlier, the ceremony was initiated by lighting a lamp by Mr D.S. Bedi, Director Principal of the school.

BLOOD DONATION CAMP: In aid of children suffering from Thalassaemia, the eastern branch of Bharat Vikas Parishad, in collaboration with the Chandigarh Furniture Association, organised a blood donation camp at Shri Shiv Manas Mandir (Vayu Sena) in Industrial Area here on Saturday. According to Joint Secretary Vinod Jaidka, as many as 65 units of blood were collected at the camp. He added that the camp was conducted by a team of doctors led by Dr S.K. Agnihotri of the PGI’s Blood Transfusion Department and the Blood Bank Society.

SI POSTED: The Chandigarh Police has posted Sub-Inspector Neeraj Sarna as the in charge of the Sector 24 police post. The earlier in charge of the post SI Gurmukh Singh was recently arrested by the CBI while accepting bribe for settling a case in favour a complainant. Besides, SI Dalbir Singh has been posted as in charge of the Palsora police post.

TALK: About 250 employees were told about ill-effects of drugs, alcohol and tobacco during an awareness talk held in the Ordnance Cable Factory, Industrial Area, here on Saturday. Dr Praveen Sharma from the Department of Psychiatry, PGI, along with the project in charge, addressed the employees. The talk was organised by the Drug Awareness Counselling Centre, Servants of the People Society.

ELECTION: To give students an insight into the Indian election system, an elaborate polling was organised here on Saturday by Saint Soldier International School, Sector 28, where about 1,000 students cast their votes to elect their ‘head girl’ and ‘head boy’ for the current session. Secret ballot system and right to vote for all children were the underlying principles of the election. The five candidates in fray were given two days’ time for canvassing. Bikramjit Singh and Neha Kansal were elected head boy and head girl, respectively.

PANCHKULA
AWARDED: The Haryana Sahitya Academy has conferred a special award on Mr Moti Ram, a resident of Sector 11, Panchkula, a retired Deputy Accountant-Genral, Haryana, for his story ‘Abhilasha’. It is for the first time that the Panchkula resident has been honoured by the academy. Earlier, an award was conferred on Pandit Kedar Nath Kedar by the Haryana Urdu Academy. Born in 1939 at Gajipur district in Uttar Pradesh, Moti Ram did his graduation from Banaras Hindu University. He started his career in the Audit Department of Haryana as a clerk in Shimla. On December 15, 1995, he was promoted as the Welfare Officer in the department. In 1996, he took over as the Deputy Accountant-General. He was the General Secretary of Central Government Coordination Committee. He was nominated president of the All-India Audit and Accounts Officers Association, Chandigarh in 1996.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

KULU
ACCIDENT: A scooterist was killed when his vehicle collided head-on with a truck (HP-34-3763) near Bhuntar on Friday. Ramesh Chand, a resident of Nagwain village in Mandi district, died on the spot. Dr K.C. Sharma of Aut in Mandi district who was on the pillion, was brought to the Zonal Hospital. He later succumbed to his injuries.

KUMARHATTI
NOBLE GESTURE: In a noble gesture, the Barog Shri Alakdata Yuvak Mandal has decided to provide financial support to a migrant labourer, Bhim Bahadur from Nepal, who is suffering from blood cancer. The latter had to discontinue treatment for want of funds. The Yuvak Mandal has decided to gather funds door to door and has appealed to social organisations of the area come forward to help him.

PALAMPUR
THEFTS: Cash and property worth lakhs were stolen in four incidents of theft at Thakurdwara and Maranda on Friday night. According to reports, two incidents of burglary were reported from a locality at Thakurdwara where household goods and cash were stolen. The loss has been estimated at Rs 1 lakh. In another incident, thieves took away cash and electronic goods worth Rs 70,000. Thieves also broke into the office of Reliance Telecom at Kalu Di Hatti, near here, and decamped with cash and goods worth Rs 10 lakh.

SHIMLA
GHAZAL PROGRAMME: The Governor, Dr Suraj Bhan, has emphasised the need to promote Urdu, which was unfortunately being considered to be a language of Muslims only, he said. Speaking at the “Sham-e-ghazal” programme organised at Raj Bhavan here on Friday, he said Urdu was a rich language and could not be identified with any particular community. Dr Bhan, also released a collection of Urdu ghazals tiled “Dhoop Ka Tukda” written by Dr Sneh Tuli containing 62 ghazals in both Urdu and Hindi.