R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Abohar
BROTHER SHOT: Angrej Singh was shot dead by his younger brother at Gajsinghpur in the Sriganganagar area, 40 km from here, on Saturday, the police said. According to information, Angrej Singh and his brother, Lakhbir Singh, allegedly exchanged hot words while consuming liquor at their house late in the evening. Lakhbir reportedly hit Angrej with knife and escaped.

FOUND: The body of a woman (45) was found floating in the Shergarh sub-canal here on Saturday. The body was cremated by Sahara Club members after a post-mortem examination at the local Civil Hospital.

Phagwara
MORCHA FORMED: An anti-privatisation morcha of employees was floated here on Saturday with Mr Prabhat Kumar as its convener. Called Nijikaran Virodhi Mulazam Morcha”, it will hold a protest march here on May 11 against the Punjab Government’s move to privatise the PSEB, government schools, health services, ITIs and 17 other departments.

CONDEMNED: Prof Kirpal Singh Badungar, a former SGPC president, Jathedar Sukhdev Singh Bhaur, general secretary, SGPC, Jathedar Jarnail Singh Wahid, organising secretary, SAD and member SGPC on Saturday condemned Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s statement regarding the creation of Haryana Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee as an attempt to divide Sikhs.

Tarn Taran
BOOKED: The Bhikhiwind police has booked two couples for cheating Satnam Singh, a resident of Kacha pacca village. The accused have been identified as Sukhwinder Pal Singh of Khehra village near Phagwara and his wife Santosh Rani and Jasbir Singh of Rahon falling under district Nawanshahar district and his wife Pinder. The police said the accused duped Satnam Singh of Rs 7 lakh on the pretext to send him abroad.

CHANDIGARH

GLAMOUR: Revlon showcased international trends in colour cosmetics and make-up at ‘Summer Glamour 2005’. Professional artistes will address make-up related queries, and provide on-the-spot makeovers and live demonstrations.

Panchkula
MEDICAL CAMP: Over 120 persons, mainly women and children, were examined at a free medical check-up camp organised by the Panchkula Malayalee Association at Rajiv Colony here on Sunday. A four-member team of doctors examined patients for various ailments and distributed medicines free of cost. The president of the association, Mr Murali, said the camp was organised in the slum colony in order to provide healthcare at the doorsteps of the poor.

DEMAND: A deputation of Sector 15 residents led by councillor, Naresh Rawal and Inderjeet Chaudhary on Sunday met the Deputy Chief Minister, Mr Chander Mohan, and urged him that a government dispensary be opened in Sector 15. The residents said a large number of senior citizens stay in the sector which also has a day care centre and a shishu greha at Bal Bhavan. Hence there was need to set up a dispensary here. Mr Chander Mohan assured them that he would take up the matter with the Health Department.

INAUGURATED: An exclusive showrrom of LG electronics was inaugurated at Sector 14 by Deputy Chief Minister Chander Mohan on Sunday. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Chander Mohan said the fact that so many multinational companies were opening exclusive showrooms in Panchkula proved that the town was developing fast and was growing out of Chandigarh’s shadow.

YOGA CAMP: Over 500 delegates from all over the region attended the annual function of the Bhartiya Yog Sansthan at Yavanika Garden here on Sunday. Mr Jawahar Lal Mehra, a yoga expert was the chief guest and demonstrated to the delegates various asanas, pranayamas and taught them meditation techniques. He said the purpose of practicing yog was not just to cure dieseases, but also to ensure that they do not succumb to disease. He said there were 400 Bhartiya Yog Sansthan branches all over the country and abroad in Australia, USA, Mauritius and Fiji.

Pension disbursed: A sum of Rs 59. 70 lakh has been disbursed to 20134 beneficiaries under various pension schemes of the government in April. An official press note said that this money was disbursed as old-age pension, widow pension and pension for physically challenged and orphans.

Havan: The employees in the Mini Secretariat here organised a havan yagya and bhandara on the office premises on Friday. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Brijender Singh, and his wife also participated in the yagya. The yagya and bhandara was organised for the well being of the officials.

HARYANA

Kaithal
ARRESTED: The police has solved over 20 cases of thefts which took place in the district in the past fortnight and recovered stolen goods worth Rs 22 lakh and arrested 27 persons involved in these incidents. Stating this here on Saturday the district police chief, Mr Mohinder Singh Sheoran, said the goods recovered from those arrested included cars, motor cycles, trolleys, engines and generator, gas cylinders, ghee tins and computers.

Sonepat
KILLED: One person was killed and another was seriously injured when members of two families in Matan village clashed on Friday night. Sanjay died while being taken to the PGIMS, Rohtak. On the complaint of Sanjay’s brother, Ajai, the police has registered a case against Dharambir, Pale Ram and Surat Singh.

Murder case: The Murthal police has arrested five persons in connection with the murder of Mr Fakhrudin, a son of Mr Zulfi, a Muslim of Umedgarh village in this district, on Wednesday night. Mr Sukhdev Singh, Superintendent of Police, told mediapersons here on Sunday that the arrested persons were identified as Dharam Singh Brahman, Jai Bhagwan Kumahar, Raj Kumar Tyagi, Vijay, alias Vija Brahman and Raj Kumar Kumahar, all residents of the same village.

Body found: The police recovered the body of a truck driver on the Sonepat-Bahalgarh road, near Kirpal Motors and the office of the Truck Operators Union, 3 km from here, on Saturday night. The victim was identified as Bijender of Farmana village.

Three arrested: The police arrested three persons and foiled an attempt to smuggle bulls to Uttar Pradesh for slaughtering purposes during the night patrol near Sector 23 here on Saturday night. The arrested persons were identified as Bijender of Lakhan Majra village in Rohtak district, Irshad of Meerut district in UP and Noor Hasan of Harera village in Meerut district.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Kulu
INFORMED: Economic rights have also been included in the human rights and people are to be informed about it. This was stated by Mr I.D. Bali, member, National Human Rights Commission, here on Saturday. Mr Bali said he was here to bring awareness among the district administration, lawyers and the mediapersons so that people were aware of the new development.

Palampur
SELECTED: Dr Rajan Katoch, a scientist serving with CSKHPKV, Palampur, has been selected as member of the group study exchange team for Brazil. Dr Rajan Katoch has specialised in the field of biochemistry and is at present posted in the College of Agriculture of the University.

Solan
SENTENCED: The Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mr D.K. Sharma, on Saturday sentenced Sardar Mohammad and Har Shiv Kumar of Manjholi village to 10 years’ imprisonment and fined them Rs 1 lakh each for possessing over nine quintals of poppy straw. An additional imprisonment of two years each was also announced in case of default in the payment of fine. 

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

Hope for animals

PET PROJECT: Helping animals in distress is a cause close to Poonam Kalra’s heart. — Photo by Inderjit Verma

Poonam Kalra, nee Florence, does not believe in waiting for others to take initiative. Fired by a can-do attitude and desire for helping animals in distress, she has started an organisation for them, Hope.

Besides providing food and medicine to dogs, horses and cattle, Hope is also involved in sterilisation and awareness campaigns.

Poonam conducts awareness campaigns for tongawallahs, slum-dwellers and others to create an awareness of how to care for animals.

“It’s very sad that people here prefer neglecting an animal life when their little actions could mean a lot,” she says.

At her awareness camps, she educates people about ways to take care for animals, how to give them first aid, the maximum load limit for carts, right method of tying straps around an animal et al. “Though reaching out to people at this level is tough, once you do, it does yield results.”

She prefers organising such campaigns during festival time as it helps in channelising the feelings of love and compassion towards animals. “For instance, since Christmas is the time to give, I ask people to give as much love as they can to the animals who are uncared for.”

Be it a stray dog in distress or a horse driving an overloaded cart, Poonam is not the one to ignore any beast. She does not hesitate to stop overloaded carts and get the excess load off them.

And now, it is schoolchildren whom she wants to reach out to. “Kids are full of love and compassion and I feel it’s best to catch them young,” she says. She is, however, saddened at the lukewarm response she gets in terms of volunteers for such work. Also, the organisation does not have land of its own and she relies entirely on her own resources for carrying out various campaigns.

Age no Bar for studies

Dharam Pal Singh has been busy studying for his final exams in the past few weeks. Nothing unusual, except that this first year student of the Department of Laws at Chaudhary Devi Lal University (CDLU), Sirsa, is on the wrong side of 50.

The 59-year-old student used to commute about 200 km from Hisar daily to fulfil his wish to study law. Having retired as Superintendent from the state Employment Department, this ‘senior’ student is perhaps the eldest on the campus.

Unlike many fellow retired colleagues, he did not want to sit idle and smoke ‘hookah’ all day. “I find it interesting to study with the younger students. Even the teachers in my department are younger to me,” he laughs.

Calculated words

He can juggle numbers with as much ease as words. Punjabi short story writer, Gurmail Madaharh of Sangrur, who retired as senior auditor from the state Food and Supplies Department two years ago, penned several shorts stories, novels, poems, and a travelogue in his over 35- year service.

He made a debut in the Punjabi literary world with a book of short stories, ‘Angole Aadmi’ (unnoticed persons), in 1974.

A man of letters, he has also translated Urdu and Hindi short stories into Punjabi under the titles ‘Urdu Dian Chonwian Kahanian’ and ‘Sansar Parsidh Khed Kahanian’. Besides, he has translated stories of Nobel Prize winners into Punjabi. These were published by the Punjabi Academy, Delhi, in its bimonthly magazine ‘Samdarshi’ in 2004.

His Punjabi short stories have also been translated and compiled into three books in Hindi and one in Gujarati. Some have been featured in vernacular magazines too.

In 2000, he had won an award from the Language Department, Punjab, for his short story collection ‘Ikhlaq Gum Hai’. Post-retirement, this former auditor has figured out a role as a full-time writer.