R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

• Regional Potpourri

PUNJAB

Faridkot
MEDICAL CAMP: More than 700 persons were examined and needy patients were given free medicines in a medical check-up camp organised by the district police at the local Police Line on Sunday. Mr Alok Shekhar, Deputy Commissioner, inaugurated the camp. District police chief M.F. Farooqui was also present on the occasion.

Fazilka
ORGANISED: The Fazilka Press Club on Saturday organised a function in memory of those journalists who had contributed towards the Fourth Estate. He garlanded the photographs of late Lala Sunam Rai, Satyendra Kumar Nagpal, Dr Gobind Ram Sharma ‘ Hamdam’ and B.L. Goklani.

Ropar
CONVENTION: A convention of the Saini community was held at Saini Bhavan, Ropar, to discuss their representation in the legislature, executive and judiciary. Held under the presidentship of Mr L.R. Mundra, members of the community decided to form an apex body, “the Akhil Bhartiya Saini Sabha”, after setting up bodies in the district and state levels, said the secretary of the Saini Bhavan, Ropar, in a press note here on Sunday.

CHANDIGARH

CHEATED: Mr Vishal Garg, a resident of SCF 12, Sector 20, has reported to the police that he gave Rs 40,000 to his servants Ranjit Kumar Sahny and Varinder Kumar to deposit in Punjab State Cooperative Bank on July 17. But they neither deposited nor returned the money.

STOLEN: Deepak Kumar, a resident of Sector 10, Panchkula, has alleged that his purse containing a mobile phone, Rs 2,000 cash, a gold ring and an ATM card was stolen from his car while it was parked in front of the Sector 22 market.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Gurdwara Shri Guru Singh Sabha, Sector 37-C: president — Mr Harmohan Singh Chawla; vice-president — Mr Kundan Singh; general secretary — Mr Hari Singh Tuli; treasurer — Mr N.S. Virk; and store in charge — Mr Gurmit Singh. Meanwhile, the martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Dev was observed on the gurdwara premises on Thursday. A medical check-up camp was also organised at Fortis Hospital, Mohali. 

HARYANA

Karnal
PATWARI CAUGHT: The Haryana State Vigilance Bureau has caught red handed Gaje Singh, a patwari, posted at Assandh in Karnal district while taking a bribe of Rs 3,000 from Mr Darbara Singh, a resident of Manchuri village, in lieu of issuing ‘fard’ (map) of his agricultural land.

Panipat
EXPLOSIVE FOUND: A rocket-like explosive object has been found at Ambala-New Delhi national highway number one near Machroli village about 10 km from Panipat, today evening. The object was noticed by some villagers at around eight in the evening. At this, they informed the concerned Samalkha police station. Panipat SP Anil Kumar said experts were being called to check whether the explosive was live or dead.

Sonepat
ONE KILLED: Gaurav Sharma (27), an employee of the local Civil Hospital, fell down from a running train and was killed on the spot between Sonepat and Sandal Kalan railway stations, near here, on Saturday. The victim belonged to Samalkha.

THREAT: Employees of the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam have threatened to close the sub-urban unit of the 33-kv power sub-station at Kharkhauda town on June 23 if the police failed to arrest those involved in assaulting them, manhandling the SDO and damaging the furniture and records of the sub-station on June 10 last.

ANTI-ENCROACHMENT: The Sonepat Municipal Council continued its anti-encroachment campaign in different parts of the city on Saturday. Officials of the demolishing squad, armed with tractor-trailers and JCB machines, demolished ‘tharas’ built by shopkeepers and cleared the main roads near the cloth market, general bus stand and the Murthal Adda.

BUSTED: With the arrest of two persons, the CIA staff on Sunday claimed that it had busted an inter-state gang of LPG cylinder thieves operating in parts of Haryana and the neighbouring states for the past few years. As many as 102 LPG cylinders were recovered.

CLASH: Two persons, including a woman, were injured in a clash took place between two rival groups at Jatheri village on Sunday. The injured have been identified as Kela Devi and Dhambir.

EIGHT HURT: As many as eight persons were injured when a three-wheeler over turned near Mimarpur village on Sunday. The injured have been identified as Gulab Singh, Mehar Singh, Phoolan Devi, Nanak Singh, Sandeep, Raj Singh, Subhash and Sonu.

ARRESTED: The police on Sunday claimed that it had arrested Neetu, Pradeep, Manish, alias Mesha, Vikas, Karamjit, alias Kala and Pradeep in connection with a criminal case registered against them.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Bilaspur
ORDERED: The District Magistrate-cum Deputy Commissioner, here has made it mandatory for all those who come to Bilaspur district for earning their livelihood to get themselves registered with the police regarding their permanent address.

Dalhousie
TAKES CHARGE: Mr M.K. Raina took over as the Executive Director, Region-II of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) at its headquarters at Banikhet in Chamba district on Friday.

Nurpur
RAIDS CONDUCTED: The police on Saturday conducted raids at Thakurdwara, Ularian, Tyora, Gagwal, Barota and Basantpur villages in the subdivision and seized three working stills and 188 litres of illicit liquor. Pushpa Devi, Swarna Devi, Jeet Singh and Kishori Lal were arrested under the Excise Act. The police also destroyed 200 quintals of lahan.

WATER SCARCITY: There is an acute shortage of water in Kopra, Hadal, Kherian, Ondh, Ther, Suliali, Minjgran, Kotpalari, Pundar, Sukhar and Vahi Pathiar gram panchayats due to the drying up of natural water resources. The IPH Department has deployed seven tankers to cope with the water scarcity in the area.

REGIONAL POTPOURRI

A lot to write home about

Dexterous hand: Khushboo, a nine-year-old student of St Mary’s School in Hisar, who is an expert in mirror writing.

Khushboo, a nine-year-old student of Class V of St Mary’s School in Hisar, has a rare talent — she can write in the reverse, i.e. inscribe the mirror image of script with her hand. You just give her a dictation or some written matter, and she would promptly inscribe its mirror image on a piece of paper.

Her father, Dr Suresh Kumar, a psychiatrist at the local Civil Hospital, is amazed at the unique quality his daughter possesses. “We got to know about this around a month ago, and were pleasantly surprised on seeing her deftly pen down text in the reverse,” he says. Interestingly, Khushboo is equally comfortable in writing English, Hindi as well as numbers in the reverse. While doing so, she writes from right to left, like writing the Urdu or Persian script.

According to her parents, Khushboo used to write legibly with both hands when she started going to school. However, gradually she started using her left hand. “Her friends and other neighbourhood children get something written on their hands by her and then rush to see it before the mirror,” narrates her mother.

Khushboo spends her spare time on the computer and she is mainly interested in computer-aided painting and designing. English is her favourite subject and she wants to become a psychiatrist like her father when she grows up.

“She kept on telling me that she wanted to be famous when she was a little child, and her desire to do something different might have prompted her to practise this art,” observes her father.

A real-life tale of ‘dosti’

It happened in “Dosti”, a Bollywood blockbuster, and now it is happening in real life. Confronted with similar circumstances, polio-afflicted Khushwant Singh and visually challenged Jasveer Singh, both residents of Bassi village of Begowal in Kapurthala, are bosom friends.

Jasveer pushes the wheelchair of Khushwant, while Khushwant guides Jasveer through the lanes of the village as they move in search of employment. Together they travel in bus, as they come to the town, making rounds of the employment exchange and appearing for interviews.

Twenty-six-year-old Khushwant is a postgraduate in Punjabi and a diploma holder in computer sciences from a vocational institute in Ludhiana. Despite having cleared a number of written tests for teaching and computer jobs, he has been rejected in interviews as he is 90 per cent disabled.

Jasveer, too has been facing odds ever since he lost his sight at the age of 13 following an illness. It was at that time when he learnt Braille from an institute in Ludhiana. Thereafter, he passed his matric, class XII and completed graduation from a college in Begowal. He also undertook a teachers’ training course for the visually handicapped but like his friend, he too has failed to get any job. But both have not lost hope and continue to fight against all odds.

A visionary cop

Years of handling dreaded criminals has not killed the human in him. In fact, he represents the humane face of the Punjab Police.

Head Constable Balwinder Singh Bhattal (50), posted at Ludhiana district police headquarters, has helped 140 visually impaired to see the world. It is only due to his motivation that as many as 2000 persons have pledged their eyes.

Balwinder Singh manages to squeeze time from his hard duty hours to work for the visually challenged and arrange eyes for them. Working actively in collaboration with Punarjot Eye Centre, Mr Bhattal has arranged for the eye donation of several donors even at odd hours, as the eyes are meant to be donated within two hours of a person’s death.

“Policemen also have a heart,” he says, challenging the infamous image of cops. He said that he strives to change this image through his works. His other feats include funding the supply of medicines to a hospital near his village for the past 10 years. He organises free medical camps every month in rural areas and is constantly in touch with several hospitals for arranging treatment for the poor and needy patients free of cost.

Popularly known as a messiah of the blind in Ludhiana district, Mr Bhattal though finds it difficult to convince the grieving relatives of a deceased for donation. He leaves no stone unturned to make sure that the eyes are not wasted.

“After all a dead person provides sight to two persons. So I cannot afford that even a single eye is wasted. At times I have to face the wrath of relatives also. But the satisfaction I derive after people see and come back to me with gratitude become my drive to work all the more towards my mission,” he says.

Contributed by Sunit Dhawan, Deepkamal Kaur and Kanchan Vasdev