The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Sunday, January 26, 2003, 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

ABOHAR
POPPY SEIZED: The subdivisional police has recovered 560 kg of poppy husk from a truck. ASP Rakesh Aggarwal said the police had put a naka outside Ramsara village on the Hanumangarh-Abohar road. A truck was intercepted. Its driver halted the vehicle and jumped out but the police chased him and arrested him. It searched the vehicle which carried 340 bags of salt but 16 more bags of a different commodity were found. These carried 560 kg of poppy husk The truck had been loaded in Rajasthan. The police has arrested truck driver Hazoor Singh.

AMRITSAR
LOK ADALAT: Nearly 43 cases concerning labourers and owners were resolved amicably at the Lok Adalat organised at the Labour Court on Friday. This was disclosed in a press release issued here on Friday. It said a total of 100 cases were brought for consideration. The Lok Adalat was held under the supervision of Mr M.R. Batra, District and Sessions Judge, and presided over by Ms Harpreet Kaur Jeewan, Presiding Officer, labour Court.

HONOUR: Guru Nanak Dev University will honour its student-artists who had brought laurels by winning the overall championship in the North-Zone Inter University Youth Festival on January 27 at the Guru nanak Bhavan Auditorium of the university. A university press note issued here said a musical programme, “sur sangam”, would also be presented.

PARADE: Prof Darbari Lal, Deputy Speaker, Punjab Vidhan Sabha, will preside over the Republic Day celebrations at Ajnala instead of Majitha. This was disclosed in a letter by Mr R.K. Kaushik, Chief Secretary to the Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar, and the SDM, Ajnala, here on Friday.

BOOKED: The Majitha police has booked five employees of a Delhi-based private travelling firm for allegedly defrauding Lakhwant Singh of Wadala Kalan village. The complainant alleged that the accused, Navin Nayyar, Adesh Nayyar, Kulbir Singh, Aman Chadda and Mana Nayyar had taken Rs 3.5 lakh from him to send him abroad. He said neither the accused sent him abroad nor they returned his money.

BATALA
ENCROACHMENTS: There are encroachments on both sides of all leading roads in the town. The roads include City Road, Leak-Wala Talab area, Dera Road, APK Road, the G T Road. According to Mr P L Sharma and Mr Davinder Pal, both residents of the town, shopkeepers of the local Dera Road have encroached upon 15 feet in front of their shops. The Amritsar-Pathankot-Kashmir Road, 100 feet wide, has shrunk to 60-feet near the Batala Engineering Company ( BECO), Batala. The case near Gandhi Chowk is no better.

HOSHIARPUR
CRUSHED: A man was crushed to death by the Malwa Express at the unmanned Tanda-Tarapur level crossing on the Jalandhar-Pathankot section on Friday. The victim, identified as Sukhdev Singh, 30, was a resident of Nawan Shalla village in Gurdaspur district and had come to Tanda to attend a wedding. According to the Railway police, the victim was crossing the track when he was hit by the speeding train. UNI

KAPURTHALA
ARRESTED: The Bholath police has arrested five persons on a charge of possessing blue video cassettes, duplicate CDs and a computer. Mr R.N. Dhoke, SSP, identified the arrested a Sukhjinder Singh of Begowal, Sarabjit Singh, Manohar Lal, Nishan Singh, all of Begowal and Jasveer Singh of nadala. The police has registered a case under Sections 292, 293 of the Indian Penal Code and under provisions of the Copyrights Act.

LUDHIANA
CONDEMNED: The Punjab School Teachers’ Association has condemned the Punjab Government’s decision to abolish 50,000 posts lying vacant in its various departments. Stating this in a press note, Mr Charan Singh Sarabha, general secretary of the union, said the move had hit the employment prospects of 50,000 unemployed youth. He said the worst hit would be the departments of education and health. To discuss the steps of struggle against the decision, a meeting of the union would be held on February 22 at Moga, he said.

SEMINAR: The MCS-Italy, international textile processing group, will hold a seminar on latest technologies in textile manufacturing at Hotel Majestic Park Plaza on Tuesday. Stating this, Mr Sanjeev Kumar said Indian technologists would get a chance to interact with an international delegation comprising Mr G. Pilenga, managing director of the MCS, Mr R. Marchesotti, area in charge of the company, and Mr Luca Ferrari, chief technologist. A demonstration on fabric weaving, knitting and printing through automated dozing systems and computerised colour kitchens would be presented, he said. Similar seminars were also being held in Delhi, Mumbai and Tirupur, he added.

SAMAJ SEWA DIVAS: The Shaheed Memorial International Sewa Society and Jai Harinam Educational and Service Society will organise Samaj Sewa Divas at Ramgarhia Girls’ College on Saturday. Stating this, Mr Vajinder Singh, general secretary, said 350 brilliant students and 35 dedicated teachers from over 32 schools would be honoured on the occasion. Besides, Dr Sarup Singh Alag, renowned writer, Dr Balwant Singh of Sarab Rog Ka Aukhad Naam group, Mr Satish Jain, Mr Jagmohan Singh Kalsi and Mr Bhagat B.R. Taneja would be honoured for their social services, he said.

PAINTING EXHIBITION: On the eve of Republic Day, a painting exhibition was held on Saturday morning in the Devki Devi Jain College for Women by the Art Department. The exhibition was inaugurated by the president, Mr Narinder Kumar Jain.

WORKSHOP: A two-day workshop on call centre training concluded at the state office of Electronics Corporation of India, Model Town, here on Saturday. Over 50 graduate and postgraduate students from various streams attended the workshop. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Bakshish Singh, resource person, said the opportunities for call centre trainees were increasing as more than 350 centres had come up across the country and many more were coming up. Majority of such centres, with an annual turn over of Rs 675 crore, also offer good salaries, he said. The trainees would be given tips on personality development, customer relationship, communication and telephonic skills, call centre techniques, computer-related work, online system and international English, he said. There would be two batches. These would begin from Monday. Job placement would be provided to all trainees after the course, he assured.

HANDICRAFTS: The Adarsh Gram Udyog Samiti, Kaithal, organised a handicraft exhibition at Kaka Marriage Palace on Friday. Mr Dayal Singh, president of the samiti, said if people wanted to promote culture and provide employment to lakhs of unemployed people, traditional handicrafts needed be encouraged. In jute craft category, the first award was won by Kiranjit, in embroidery by M. Nirmala Devi, in painting by Harvinder Kaur, in patchwork by Seema Chauhan, in jewellery designing by Mohammad Aseev, in terra cotta work by Balbir Singh and in leather craft by Vinod Kumar.

BANK RESULTS: The Punjab and Sind Bank, Ludhiana zone, has crossed the Rs 1,000-crore mark in terms of business, according to Mr R.S. Chatwal, zonal manager of the bank. The business has been cumulatively generated by the 52 branches of the bank spread across the Ludhiana district. According to Mr Chatwal, over half of the branches of the bank are in rural and semi-urban area and five branches are of specialised category. Highlighting the achievements of the bank, he said that the bank had introduced many credit schemes for welfare of farmers, women entrepreneurs and others. He said the Zimidara Credit Card Scheme of the bank was very popular and beneficial to the farmers. Bank’s branches in Ludhiana district had already issued more than 7,500 Kisan Credit Cards under the scheme.

AWARDED: Dr O.P. Arora, Director, Arora Neuro Centre, was awarded Rashtriya Rattan Award-2002 in recognition for his services in the field of neuro-services. The award was conferred upon him by Mr Ashok Pradhan, Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Distribution, at the 43rd national seminar on ‘Individual achievement and nation building’ organised by the All India Achievers Conference at Taj Palace, New Delhi. Dr Arora thanked the organisation for the honour.

SEMINAR: A seminar on International English Language Testing System was conducted by the British Council India at Webmaster Education Services office on Saturday. Mr Vivek Saini, from the British Council, Chandigarh, presided over the seminar. He addressed the candidates and imparted them information regarding CELTS etc. Around 100 students attended the seminar.

MANDI GOBINDGARH
FUNCTION: Desh Bhagat Ayurvedic College and Hospital, Mandi Gobindgarh, organised a function on the occasion of completion of internship batch of 1996-97. The chairman of the institute, Dr Zora Singh, was the chief guest. He distributed certificates to the students, according to a press note issued by the Principal here on Friday. Mamta, Gagandeep and Avnet Kalsi who secured the first, the second and the third positions, respectively, in the final examination conducted by the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, were honoured on the occasion. Cash prizes were also given to them.

PATHANKOT
MEDICAL CAMP: A medical camp was organised on Saturday by the Field Ambulance under the aegis of the Black Arrow Armoured Brigade at Sural village in Gurdaspur as a goodwill gesture. The camp was inaugurated by Ms Abhilasha Kumari, AWWA President, of the Black Arrow Armoured Brigade.

CHANDIGARH

COMPETITIONS: Various competitions were organised at Prince Model School, Sector 47, on Saturday. School children recited poems, read out stories, painted and participated in a declamation contest. Prizes were distributed among outstanding students of the school by the Principal.

KNITTING CONTEST: The zonal round of “Aao Bune” knitting contest will be held at Kalagram on Wednesday. At least 400 students from 28 schools of the city and its vicinity are expected to participate in the contest. The state-level winners in each category will win cash prizes of Rs 5,100, Rs 3,100 and Rs 2,100. According to the organisers, the contest is being organised to generate awareness about the benefits of knitting among children. The contest has been organised till now in over 500 schools of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh. Over 1,00,000 students are participating in nationwide contest.

PRIZE DISTRIBUTED: A total of 133 students and 15 teachers were given away prizes at a function organised at the State Institute of Education in Sector 32 on Saturday. The Director, Public Instruction (Schools), Mr D.S. Mangat, presided over the function.

DONATED: Bhavan Vidyalaya students donated Rs 65,000 for cancer patients to the Global Cancer Concern India at a function on Saturday. Swami Brahmeshananda of Ramakrishan Mission was present on the occasion. The school also honoured meritorious students as part of its annual day function.

WORKSHOP: At least 100 teachers participated in a workshop for teachers of DAV Model School, Sector 15, on Saturday. The Director of Tough and Track, Mr Asit Ghosh, was the resource person. A tableau on the Kargil war has been prepared by teachers and students of the school. It will be presented in Parade Ground on Republic Day.

SCHOOL FETE: A fete was organised at Ankur Nursery School, on the Panjab University campus, here on Saturday. Children dressed in red uniform with colourful flags gave a warm welcome to the visitors. Prof K.N. Pathak, Vice-Chancellor was present at the fete. A baby show and fancy dress competition were organised. Interesting game stalls, mask-making and portrait-making counters drew large number of visitors. Ms Mamta Kohli, Principal, said the school attempted to engage maximum students in organising the show to give them a sense of participation.

PANCHKULA
TOOTH JEWELLERY: Tooth jewellery has been introduced at the Sector 9 branch of VLCC. Stating this, Ms Aradhana Saini, said this new trend was very popular abroad and was also catching up in western and southern parts of India. She said it added sparkle to the front teeth and involved bonding the jewel on the tooth.

INAUGURATED: Mr Hemant Arora, district governor, District 3080, inaugurated the second phase of Rotary House of the local Rotary Club. The Rotary House runs a vocational training centre and is used for holding literacy classes for illiterate children, sewing, embroidery and other vocational training.

HEALTH CAMP: A total of 102 patients were examined during a medical camp organised at Aasrewali village by Primary Training Centre, ITBP, Bhanu. The village was adopted by the ITBP last year. Medicines were distributed to patients free of cost at the camp.

R-DAY CELEBRATIONS: The Republic Day celebrations were held at DAV English Medium Senior Secondary School with enthusiasm here on Saturday. A fancy dress competition was organised on the theme of national leaders and martyrs. A choreography and a patriotic song competition was also organised. An inter-house patriotic poetry recitation competition was organised at Satluj Public School. Speeches on the significance of Republic Day were also delivered. The historic aspect of the day was highlighted by the Principal of the school, Mr Krit Serai. He also awarded certificates to the winners of the competition — Kartikeya Bhardwaj, Sofia Gill and Shweta Sharma. The tiny tots of D.A.V. Senior Public School, Surajpur remembered the sacrifices of the martyrs during the Republic Day celebrations. Students sang patriotic songs and held a march past and drill. The principal of the school, Mr Vijay Kumar, asked the students to rise up to the standards set up by the national leaders.

ELECTED: Mr Surinder Pal Singh has been elected president of the Maharaja Jassa Singh Ramgarhia Sabha, Patiala. Stating this here on Saturday, the sabha chairman, Mr Kirpal Singh, said Mr Gurjit Singh Advocate had been appointed secretary general and Mr Devinder Singh head cashier.

BLOOD CAMP: As many as 54 students, including 21 girls, donated blood at a blood donation camp held at the Bikram College of Commerce here in association with the Lions Club, the State Bank of Patiala and the Blood Bank of the Government Rajindra Hospital. The camp was inaugurated by the Principal, N.K. Narula during which Dr Tarlochan Kaur, Prof H.S. Tej and Dr Kusum Thakur were honoured, according to the Lions Club central president, Dr R.K. Saigal.

TRIBUTES: The Hindi Department of Punjabi University held a meeting to express its sorrow at the death of Harivansh Rai Bachchan. The Department Head, Dr Chaman Lal, paid tributes to the Hindi poet.

CLOTHES DISBURSED: Woollens, including sweaters, jerseys and blankets, were distributed among needy students of Government High School, Nararu, near here, by the staff of the State Bank of Patiala (Kauli branch). Ms Amarjit Kaur Chadha, Head Mistress of the school, appreciated the gesture of the bank employees. Mr Gurjit Singh Pannu, manager of the bank, also spoke on the occasion. A colourful programme was also held to mark the event.

HARYANA

AMBALA
INTER-SCHOOL COMPETITION: An inter-school competition of interpretation of “niyams” was organised by DAV Public School here on Saturday. Twenty five students from different schools took part in the competition, which included “mantraucharan”. First prize was won by Sumit Dalal of DAV Public School, while the second prize went to Swati of DAV School, Ambala City. The third prize went to Rashmi of DAV School, Ambala City. Consolation prizes were given to Abhay, Shivi and Shilpi.

PAINTING COMPETITION: An inter-school on-the-spot painting competition was organised in Darshan Academy here on Saturday. Students from 14 schools participated in the competition. The MLA, Mr Anil Vij, was the chief guest and he gave away the prizes to the winners. The first prize was bagged by Tulsi Public School, the second prize was won by Army School, while the third prize went to SD Public School, Ambala Cantt. In addition, Army School, Ambala Cantt, bagged the running trophy.

STUDENT KILLED: A student of a local college was killed in a road accident near bus stand in Ambala City on Saturday evening. According to information, Yojak (18) was standing near the Municipal Park beside his motor cycle when a private bus hit him. He was taken to the local Civil Hospital where he was declared brought dead. The police has registered a case.

FIRE: A fire broke out in a house of Army staff quarter at Jandli village on Saturday in which domestic articles were gutted. The exact loss could not be ascertained but Mr N.K. Purshekhar, the owner of the house, put the loss at Rs 50,000. The cause of the fire is stated to be short circuit.

SIRSA
VISIT: The Divisional Rail manager (DRM) of Bikaner division of the Northern-Western Railway. Mr L.C. Mojumdar, visited Sirsa on Friday. A delegation comprising businessmen, social workers, academicians and doctors met him and submitted memorandums regarding Sirsa railway station and available facilities in the district. On this occasion, the DRM issued instructions to the team accompanying him to prepare a study report. he also gave instructions to construct a new platform.