10 poor couples tie the nuptial knot

Chandigarh Tribune
CHANDIGARH, Sept 27 - As many as 10 poor couples tied the nuptial knot during a mass marriage function organised jointly by the Lions Club, Chandigarh Plaza and the Arya Samaj, Sector 12 Panchkula, at Raipur Kalan village near here today.
Aimed at facilitating the poor families to arrange the marriages of their wards, these marriages were solemnised amid chanting of 'mantras' and 'shabad kirtan' and in accordance with both Hindu and Sikh rituals.
Addressing the gathering comprising of the relatives of the newly wed couples, the local MP Mr Satya Pal Jain, lauded the efforts of the organisers and urged the social organisations to organise such functions regularly to enable the poor and the needy to solemnise the marriages of their children.

7,500 seek 'donor eyes' in UT

Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 24 — An estimated 2.2 million "donor eyes" were needed in the country. Last year only 15,000 "donor eyes" were available due to fewer donations. In Chandigarh nearly 175 transplant operations are done every year but almost 7,500 patients come up with demand every year.

Mr Satya Pal Jain, MP, presided over the seminar.

Highlight graft in judiciary: Jain

Chandigarh Tribune
CHANDIGARH, Sept 20 - The local MP, Mr Satya Pal Jain, today lamented the moral degradation in the judiciary, executive and politics.
Speaking at an open discussion on "Judicial system, corruption and the common man", Mr Jain wanted accountability of all functionaries, including judges. He had wanted the media to highlight corruption in the judiciary.
Prof D.C. Saxena of the Department of English, Panjab University, alleged that while there were a few cases of corruption in the judiciary before Independence, their number had now gone up.

Philatelic advisory panel recast

Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 15 — The union government has reconstituted the Philatelic Advisory Committee to apprise the government of matters pertaining to postage stamps and philately and such other matters as may be referred to it from time to time.

The Union Communications Minister, Mrs Sushma Swaraj, will be the chairperson of the committee. Mr Kabindra Purkayastha, Minister of State for Communications, will be the co-chairman. The committee has four officials and 28 non-official members.

Mr Satya Pal Jain, local MP, Mr P. Upendra, Mr Rajnath Singh, Mr Shekhar Gupta, Ms Shobana Bhartiya, Ms Dayanita Singh, Ms Nalini Kamaini, Mr Vikramjit Singh Sahni, Gen K.P. Candeth, Mr Gopinath Gajapati, Mr Swaraj Parkash and Mr Trishala Jain are among the non-official members. ...

Parking fee system suspended temporarily

Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 12 — The Bharatiya Janata Party-Akali Dal, ruling alliance in the municipal corporation has suspended the parking fee system imposed in certain sectors of the city for a month, and constituted a nine-member committee to look into the parking fee issue afresh.

A meeting of senior BJP leaders and councillors was held in the party office in Sector 36 here today.

Besides the Mayor, Mr Gian Chand Gupta, who will be the chairman of the committee, the other members include the local MP, Mr Satya Pal Jain, Mr Dharam Pal Gupta, local BJP president: Mr Prem Sagar Jain, Senior Deputy Mayor, Ms Harjinder Kaur, Deputy Mayor, Mr Des Raj Tandon, Mr Inder Lal Batra, President, Chandigarh Beopar Mandal, Mr B.K. Sharma, a representative from the employees, and Mr O.P. Mahajan of Sector 17. ...

Mr Satya Pal Jain, who arrived from Delhi in the morning and held a meeting with senior officers of the Administration to discuss the issue, has appealed to the public to make their representations to the committee.

STD facility in all Punjab exchanges soon

Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 8 — All telephone exchanges in Punjab will be provided with STD facility by March, 1999, that will connect them with the rest of the country. Efforts are also being made to make phones available in Chandigarh on demand.

Mr R.N Sharma, Chief General Manager Telecom, Punjab Circle, said this during a meeting with MPs from Punjab and Chandigarh here today. The work on connecting all exchanges that do not have the STD facility is going on, he added. At present a number of rural and small exchanges in Punjab do not have STD facilities, he added. ...

The meeting was held at Punjab Bhavan. Mr Satya Pal Jain, Mr Prem Singh Chandumajra, Mr Zora Singh Mann, Mr Satnam Singh Kainth, Mr Tarlochan Singh Toor, Mr Rajmohinder Singh and Mr Sukhdev Singh Libra were among those who attended the meeting.

Deputationists feel aggrieved

Tribune News Service

by Prabhjot Singh

CHANDIGARH, Sept 5 — Reluctance on the part of senior functionaries from Punjab and Haryana to join the Chandigarh Administration on deputation is not without reason. There have been numerous instances when the state government acted arbitrarily in recalling officers, cutting half way through their deputation period, on "flimsy" or "personal grounds". ...

Even the local MP, Mr Satya Pal Jain, had spoken to the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, that the present system should not be disturbed as it would affect the "clean up drive".

It was at his instance that the transfer of the Director of Investigation of Income Tax was cancelled by the Ministry of Finance. Mr Jain had told The Tribune that the engineers lobby had tried to pressurise him but he made it clear that he "would not tolerate any fraud being played with public funds." ...

Jain seeks probe into demolitions

Chandigarh Tribune
CHANDIGARH, Sept 4 - The local MP, Mr Satya Pal Jain, has condemned the demolitions at Maloya and demanded a high-level probe into the operation, in a press note issued here today.
He visited Maloya yesterday and interacted with those whose jhuggis had been demolished.
He assured the affected people that he would send a copy of their memorandum to the Administrator. He also held discussion with senior functionaries of the Administration last night.
Meanwhile, a deputation of the local unit of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha met the Deputy Commissioner, Mr R.K. Rao, and demanded immediate ban on the sale of two brands of toffees which allegedly contained beef bone gelatine.

Officials' visit delays Shatabdi departure

Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 4 — The departure of the Delhi-bound Shatabdi Express, which arrived an hour behind schedule today, was further delayed as the visiting members of the Passenger Services Committee of the Railways had to see a slide show and verbal presentation by officers of the Ambala division. ...

Among those who were held up today included the city member of Parliament, Mr Satya Pal Jain, who was on his way to Delhi, complained to committee members that he had come to know of their visit when he tried to ascertain the reasons for the delay.

He later told newspersons that he had not been intimated about the visit of the committee members. He was on his way to Gwalior, he said. ...

Monsoon effect recreated

Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 3 — Songs and dances depicting the splendour of rain and forests marked a function organised by the Engineering Department of the UT Administration at Sector 47 here today. ...

A "saawan nritya" (rain dance) performed by girls of Sector 32 Government Senior Model School recreated the effect of monsoon on village belles.

Earlier, the local MP, Mr Satya Pal Jain, who was the chief guest, said planting trees had been part of our culture. He said trees were treated as living beings, which was evident from the ritual of offering prayers to tulsi and peepal.

Primary health centre for Palsora

Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 3 — The Chandigarh Administration will set up a primary health centre at Palsora village, which will be run by the local Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32.

An announcement to this effect was made by Mr Jagdish Sagar, Adviser to the Administrator, while presiding over a nutrition exhibition "santulit aahar-khushhali ka adhaar" organised by the Dietetics Department of the GMCH at Palsora.

Mr. Satya Pal Jain, MP, inaugurated the exhibition. Mr Sagar said for setting up the proposed health centre, 200 to 250 persons would have to vacate land for the purpose.

He stressed upon the need to hold such camps and exhibitions at villages. ...

Sanctioned

The Tribune

The local MP, Mr Satya Pal Jain has sanctioned Rs one lakh out of his local area development fund for the development of community park in Sector 19, a press note issued by the Sector 19 Cheap Houses Residents Welfare Association president, R.C. Gupta said.