Ferozepur, March 12, 2013: Today afternoon, an unexploded bomb found,  in the grain market situated in thickly populated area of Ferozpeur City , created a panic in whole of the area.

Immediately on getting the information, Vibhor Kumar Sharma, DSP, Ferozepur algonwtih Jasbir Singh Pannu, SHO City police station and his team reached the spot and called the bomb defusing squad.

DSP said, one woman named Sheelo residing in the slum area near the grain market, who had come there, noticed the bomb and informed the police. 

The details as to how and from where this bomb has come to the mandi area have not yet been disclosed by the police.  

However, according to the reliable sources, it has been seen some of the junk dealers in the city and some drug addict persons are normally seen taking out the bronze wires by putting the stolen items on fire and this work looks to be of such type of person who might have stolen the junk material.  There is possibility that police may also be working on this theory and the investigation of HE36 type hand grenade may lead to some conclusion.

By the time of filing this news, the unexploded bomb was taken into possession by the bomb defusing squad which would later on be handed over to the Army.

It is pertinent to mention here that about one month back in the very sensitive Army area of Ferozepur Cantt, one youth had died due to explosion of a bomb at the shop of junk dealer.

Police making investigations on the site were unexploded bomb has been recovered at Ferozepur City on Tuesday afternoon.

Ferozepur, March 13, 2013: Lieutenant General Ashwini Kumar Bakshi took over command of the elite Vajra Corps on Wednesday. 

After taking over, he paid homage to the martyrs by laying a wreath at the War Memorial.

An alumnus of the National Defence Academy Khadakvasala, Indian Military Academy, Dehradun and National Defence College New Delhi, Lieutenant General Bakshi was commissioned in the Bihar Regiment in Jun 1975.  The General officer has held various coveted command, staff and instructional appointments during his chequered carrier.  He has attended prestigious professional appointments and courses in India.

Prior to taking over command of Vajra Corps, Lieutenant General AK Bakshi was the Military Secretary to the President of India at Delhi.  A recipient of the Sena Medal, Vishisht Seva Medal for meritorious service, Lieutenant General Bakshi has replaced Lieutenant General Sanjeev Madhok,  who has moved to Army Headquarters as Director General information and Technology.

Ferozepur, March 13, 2013:  The Jat Rakhwankaran Sangharsh Committee, Punjab hold demonstration infront of the deputy commissioner’s office, under the leadership of president Karnail Singh Bhawra, to register their protest demanding immediate inclusion of jats in the OBC reservation quota.

Speaking on this occasion Bhawra said,  “In 1980 the Mandal Commission gave reservation to 83 castes and in this list, Jats were kept at serial number 42. In this report, the name of number of castes comes after Jats but all those categories have been extended the benefit of reservation but Jat category has been kept out of it.”

He further said, the jats have not been included in the reservation category in Punjab and the education children of jats are struggling for the jobs and the government is intentionally ignoring their demand. 

Karnail Singh Bhawra, president JRSC said, the jats have been compelled to resort to agitation in Punjab.  They will continue their agitation on daily basis in front of the DC office till such the assembly session.

On this occasion, Jathedar Darshan Singh, member executive committee, All India Jat Rakhwankaran Sangharsh Committee and general secretary, Punjab said, all other states have implemented the reservation policy barring Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. Recently, the Haryana Government has also implemented the reservation.

They demanded from the government to implement in Punjab also.

Jalandhar, March 13, 2013: In a major breakthrough, Border Security Force personnel have successfully seized two packets  of  narcotics suspected to be heroin and FICN of the face value of Rs. 9,92,000 on Wednesday in the AOR of Border Out Post Muthianwala in Ferozepur Sector. 

Keeping in view the vulnerability of Border from smuggling point of view, Aditya Mishra, Inspector General BSF has issued operational guidelines to further strengthen border domination so as to effectively check the menace of smuggling on Punjab border with Pakistan.

Consequently BSF Field Units are maintaining strict vigil on border round the clock.

On the intervening night of March 12- 13 at about 2345 hrs BSF troops deployed on border observed movement of three Pakistani smugglers on the International Border, who further moved inside the Indian territory.  At about 130140 hrs, they started throwing the contraband over the fence.  The ambush party challenged them to stop but these  Pak smugglers resorted to fire on BSF troops.  The ambush party also fired back in self defence. However, the smugglers managed to escape from the scene taking cover of high growth of wheat crops and thick growth of sarkanda.  

On search of area, 2 packets of contraband items, suspected to be heroin and 3 packets of FICN having FICN of the face value of Rs. 9, 92,000 in the denomination of Rs. 500 have beenrecovered.

BSF personnel with the seized two packets  of  narcotics suspected to be heroin and FICN of the face value of Rs. 9,92,000 on Wednesday in the AOR of Border Out Post Muthianwala in Ferozepur Sector. 

Dharamshala, March 13, 2013: The Tibetan Career Centre, a joint initiative of Central Tibetan Administration and TechnoServe, is holding its first ever recruitment for the post of beauty therapist at Lugsam settlement in Bylakuppe.

For the first time in Tibetan settlements in India, Tibetan Career Centres in India and Nepal is working with ‘Kaya Skin Care and Clinic’ to recruit Tibetan beauty therapist,” Palden Sangpo, Consultant at Tibetan Career Centre in Bylakuppe, said .

“As we see growth of Tibetan beauty professional in major cities like Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai and Delhi, who are working with major beauty brands in India. In fact the beauty professional like hairstylist and beautician has become new trend in Tibetan community and Tibetan community has produced a good number of such professionals,” Palden said.

He said the Career Centres are planning such recruitments in various Tibetan settlements.

Tibetan Career Centres are located in Dharamsala, New Delhi, Bangalore, Mundgod, Phuntsokling (Odhisa), Dekyiling (Uttarakhand), Bylaku

New Delhi / Jalandhar, March 13, 2013: Balbir Punj, Senior leader of BJP has called for a bifurcation of the top management and financial set-up of the Indian Railway, “One part should be run purely on commercial considerations and the other should be dictated by social, national & strategic concerns of the country”.

Participating in the debate of Railway budget in Rajya Sabha today, Punj said that the Railway projects with social and strategic angle should be financed out of the allocations from the general budget.

Punj said while China has expanded its railway network to the last mile at Indo China border, the Indian border areas continue to be without railway connectivity.

Absence of Railway facilities in these areas has adversely affected the economic activity. The fruits of development too have not reached the people of these difficult areas in full measure. This in turn has resulted in their alienation from rest of the country. In case of hostilities between India and China, our armed forces would surely be at great disadvantage compared to the Chinese who would have the benefit of their railways reaching them supplies close to the possible war theatres.

Punj said that the Union Government must make sufficient allocation from the general budget, during the current and the next five year plan period, to initiate projects to connect all the remote areas of the country with the main land.

Punj said that the Railway budget had provided one more opportunity to the UPA regime to put the railways back on the rails, but unfortunately it has been lost. Accusing the Railway Minister of presenting a ‘cut and paste’ budget, he said the budget speech lacked vision and any original ideas which could restore Railways back to health.

He said there were three things common in all the railway budgets which were presented during the tenure of the UPA I and UPA II.

Elaborating this point and giving examples, Punj said,  one, all the Railway budgets had promises galore, second all the budgets made announcement of opening of several new organisations and launching of new projects. And third, budget speeches of successive Ministers seldom made any mention of the promises and announcements, made in the previous years.

Punj accused the Railway Minister of claiming credit for five schemes which were announced by his predecessors. There are;

• Internet facility timing extension for ticket seekers was announced in June 2010 by Mamata Banerjee
• Facility for booking tickets on mobile phones was announced by Lalu Prasad in 2008-09
• SMS alerts on reservation status through code 139 was announced by Mamata Banerjee in 2009-10
• Next Gen e-ticketing reservation system was sanctioned in 2012-13 by then rail Minister Mukul Roy.
• Electronic display boards in trains for passengers was announced by Lalu Prasad in 2008-09

Punj said the cut in Depreciation Reserve Fund (DRF) would adversely affect the quality of services rendered by the railways and also the safety of passengers.

The allocations made under the said category are to be used in repairing old bridges, tracks and replacement of out dated equipments. He said the funds allocation for signals and communication net work have been cut by Rs. 953 crores. The funds available for track renewal have been reduced by 661 crores and for repairing of bridges by 124 crores. The allocation for traffic felicitations slashed by Rs. 120 crores. All these reductions in allocation would adversely affect the safety of Railway network and passengers, he added.

Raising the issue of tragic death of Kumbh pilgrims at Allahabad Railway station, Punj held the Railways responsible for the tragedy and said those who lost their lives were not victims of an accident but of murder.

Punj asked the Railway minister whether he had visited Allahabad prior to the tragedy to take stock of the arrangement made by the Railways for Kumbh or not? In case the Minister had not, he asked why?

Analyzing the Railway finances, Punj condemned the hike in freight  rates by 5.8 per cent. He said the Railways have increased freight rates 450 times since 2001. In 2001, the Railways, he said, had 60 per cent share in the transportation of goods. And this stood reduced to mere 30 per cent now. The hike in freight rates would have cascading inflationary effect on the economy. As a result, prices of several commodities such as steel, coal, cement and salt would go up further.

India, Punj said, had 53000 kms of Railway track at the time of independence. In the last 65 years, the country has added merely 13000 of railway lines, i.e. 200 km per year. In contrast China has added more than 70,000 kms of railway lines during the same period.

Chandigarh, March 13, 2013: The Punjabi Cultural Council has opposed
the scrapping of regional language paper in the Union Public Service
Commission examination and shoot off a letter to Prime Minister and Union Human Resources Minister to personally intervene into the matter.
In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Punjabi Cultural Council Chairman Jaswant Singh Chhapa and President Harjeet Singh Grewal have sought immediate withdrawal of the UPSC's new notification, terming it as a "big blow" to rural aspirants. They said that regional languages cannot be ignored and this will lead to an "unhealthy and unequal competition" among rural and urban students.
They said the UPSC had proposed an aptitude and English papers instead of regional language paper in the exams. The notification, however, would mar chances for all Indian as well as some foreign language students who had the civil services in mind when they decided to study languages.
They added that according to it, only when there is a minimum number of 25 candidates qualified in a particular language including Punjabi, will they be permitted to write their answers in that language. In the main examinations, candidates can write answers only in the language which was their medium in the Degree Courses.
The Council said that this "prescription" will definitely reduce the number of candidates opting to write in regional languages.

"This has come as a severe blow to rural aspirants studying in government schools", the Council added.
The Punjabi Cultural Council said, "The regional languages are important, cannot be ignored. These restrictions, which bar rural aspirants in the Civil Services (Main) Examinations, will open up broad gateway to only urban aspirants who study in Hindi or English medium," they added.
The Punjabi Cultural Council has appealed to the members of parliament
from different states to oppose the new notification regarding scrapping of regional language paper in the UPSC examination.

Chandigarh, March 13, 2013: Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal issued a statement this evening in connection with what happened inside Punjab Vidhan Sabha today.

The statement reads; “Today, at around 9.30 AM, when I was going to my office, I received the information from the Secretary, Punjab Vidhan Sabha, that Leader of the Opposition, Sh. Sunil Kumar Jakhar has brought some unidentified and unauthorized persons without valid entry passes to Punjab Vidhan Sabha premises with unknown motives.  As this involved a security breach of the most sensitive nature in the highest forum of democracy, I immediately instructed the Secretary, Punjab Vidhan Sabha to take prompt and appropriate effective action to cleanse the premises of any unidentified and unauthorized persons. 

In the meantime, the session of the House began.  During Question Hour, the Leader of the Opposition, Shri Sunil Kumar Jakhar got up in rage, and raised the issue of some Punjab police personnel allegedly stopping the entry of some persons into the House.  Even before I could react, they started disrupting the proceedings of the House by raising slogans and charging into the well of the House.   Thereafter, they staged a walk out.

Shri Madan Mohan Mittal, Hon'ble Parliamentary Affairs Minister then got up to move a resolution about the security breach and a breach of privilege of the House, asking for its condemnation.  He brought to the attention of the House a similar incident that had taken place in the Indian Parliament at New Delhi when the security of the entire national leadership and political class came within a shadow of irretrievable damage. 

The resolution moved by Shri Madan Mohan Mittal, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, was being seconded by Hon'ble Minister, Sardar Bikram Singh Majithia, when the Opposition Members led by the Leader of the Opposition, Shri Sunil Kumar Jakhar re-entered the House and began disrupting the proceedings again.  At this point, considering the gravity of the whole situation, I left the Chair for the Chairman to conduct the remaining part of the proceedings.  When I was in my chamber, I received information that violence have taken place in a portion of the premises of the Vidhan Sabha, and some officials of the Watch and Ward staff had been criminally assaulted.  This further raised the gravity of the whole incident.  Then I got the House adjourned to first study the security scenario. 

Enquiries made by me revealed that members of the Watch and Ward Staff have been criminally assaulted and badly mauled by some Hon'ble Members of the Opposition, for which Shri Jai Pal, a member of Watch & Ward Staff of Vidhan Sabha has made a separate complaint to the Secretary, Vidhan Sabha for appropriate action.

As Speaker and custodian of the House, it is my constitutional and lawful duty to maintain the decorum, dignity and privilege, and security of the House and the complex.  All of these have been brutally violated.  This has never happened in the history of the House.  What makes the incident even more shocking is that a person holding the highly responsible office of the Leader of the Opposition, was directly responsible for this breach of privilege and security. The identity of the illegal entrants was unknown and, therefore, a potential threat to the highest forum of democracy in the State.”  

Chandigarh, March 14, 2013:The Punjab State Commission for Scheduled Castes today issued notice to UT Home Secretary, SSP, Union Territory and Secretary Punjab Vidhan Sabha seeking action taken report on assault of Head Constable Jai Pal by Congress MLAs in the premise of Punjab Vidhan Sabha on March 13.

The Commission today headed by its Chairman Rajesh Bagha with members Parkash Singh Gardhiwala, Dalip Singh Pandhi today met to consider the representation of Jasbir Singh Mehta, President Guru Ravidass Welfare Society, Mohali, who had requested the Commission to take strict action against Congress MLAs, who had tendentionally assaulted Dalit Head Constable on duty and ridiculed him with casteist remarks. He said that he had pleaded the Commission it was the duty of Punjab State Commission for Scheduled Castes to protect the Scheduled Castes population of the state and ensure justice for them at every forum.

The complainant also attached the cutting of various newspapers suggesting that Chandigarh Police was dragging its feet to register FIR against guilty MLAs on one pretext or other. He also expressed apprehension that MLAs were exercising their undue authority to scuttle the investigation in the case.

Taking serious cognizance of the whole incident, the Commission felt that if a Head Constable, who belongs to Scheduled Caste Community, was not safe in the premises of Punjab Vidhan Sabha and Members of Legislative Assembly, who were supposed to enact Legislation for the protections of SCs, were themselves committing atrocities on them, it was the duty of Punjab State Commission for SCs to intervene and ensure expeditious justice to the aggrieved party.

The Commission under powers conferred to it under section 10 of The Punjab State Commission for Scheduled Castes 2004 sought action taken report from the SSP, UT and Home Secretary UT. The Commission said that if it did not receive the reply within stipulated time, the Commission would be forced to exercise powers of Civil Court conferred on it by the law.

A notice was also issued to Secretary Punjab Vidhan Sabha to provide factual report of the incident to the Commission. One copy of the complaint was forwarded to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, New Delhi for information and further necessary action. 

Chandigarh, March 14, 2013:  Six Congress MLAs have been booked by name alongwith a few others under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on the charges of allegedly   

assaulting a public servant by Chandigarh police.

The case has been registered under Sections 147, 149, 332, 353 and 384 of the IPC on a complaint filed by Sukhwant Singh Gill, commandant, Police Armed Police Mohali.

The allegation against the accused Congress MLAs is that they allegedly assaulted on a police constable outside the Congress legislature party office on the Assembly premises.

According to available information, the Congress MLAs who have been booked are; Gurkirat Singh Kotli, Kuljit Singh Nagra, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Jagmohan Singh Kang, Rana Gurjit Singh and Balbir Singh Sidhu.

It has been learnt that the complaint was forwarded by the Punjab Assembly secretary to the Chandigarh Police for registration of an FIR.

Ludhiana, March 15, 2013: Two school children died and four others injured when a truck crashed through the school boundary wall at Jandiali village here this morning.

When contacted, a government official told City Air News that the truck was on its way to Chandigarh from Ludhiana when the incident occurred at around 8-45 a.m. on Friday.

It is learnt that the truck was being driven by cleaner and the truck driver himself was sleeping on rear side of the vehicle.

While driving the truck got out of control following which it run over the central verge and went towards wrong side and crashed against the boundary wall of Government Elementary School, Jandiali, near here. As a result, the about 7-ft high boundary wall got crashed over the school children present in the open.

Two children died on the spot.

The deceased have been identified as Sukhdeep Singh and Kulbir Kaur.

Four school students have sustained injuries in the mishap. Three of injured have been admitted into a private hospital at Ludhiana and one at a village-school at Kohara, a nearby village.

All the children were around 10-12 years old.

On receiving information about the tragedy, police personnel from Ludhiana and Police Station Sahnewal rushed to the spot.

Police Commissioner of Ludhiana Ishwer Singh and Ludhiana deputy commissioner Rahul Tewari were among those who visited the spot.

Police have arrested the driver and the cleaner of the truck.

Meanwhile, the chief minister Punjab, Parkash Singh Badal had announced an ex-gratia grant of Rs. 2 lakh each for the family of the two deceased’s, said the government official.

Further police investigations are on.

Chandigarh / Ludhiana, March 15, 2013: The Punjab Education Minister Sikandar Singh Maluka today expressed deep grief over the unfortunate incident in which 2 school children lost their life and five others were injured when a speedy truck ramped into the school boundary wall of Government Elementary School Village Jandiali, (Ludhiana) where these children were sitting on the other side of the wall.  

Maluka said that the Punjab Government would provide Rs. 2 lakh as a financial assistance to the each family of the deceased besides he directed the District Administration to provide free treatment to the injured school children.

The Minister prayed the almighty to departed soul and strength to the family members to bear this irreparable loss.

It may be recalled here that two school children died and five others injured when a truck crashed through the school boundary wall at Jandiali village here this morning.

The truck was on its way to Chandigarh from Ludhiana when the incident occurred at around 8-45 a.m. on Friday.

While driving the truck got out of control following which it run over the central verge and went towards wrong side and crashed against the boundary wall of Government Elementary School, Jandiali, near here. As a result, the about 7-ft high boundary wall got crashed over the school children present in the open.

Two children died on the spot.

The deceased have been identified as Sukhdeep Kaur (11)  and Kulvir Kaur (10).

Five school students have sustained injuries in the mishap. They have been identified as Kajal (11), Anmol (10), Priyanka (11), Kajal (10) and Shivani. The first four injured are undergoing treatment at CMCH, Ludhiana and the fifth is undergoing treatment at Civil Hospital, Ludhiana.

Besides, the truck cleaner Thana Singh (64) also sustained injuries in the accident. He has been admitted at CMCH, Ludhiana.

On receiving information about the tragedy, police personnel from Ludhiana and Police Station Sahnewal rushed to the spot.

Police Commissioner of Ludhiana Ishwer Singh and Ludhiana deputy commissioner Rahul Tewari were among those who visited the spot.

Ludhiana deputy commissioner Rahul Tiwari and others inspecting the spot where accident occured at Jandiali village, near Ludhiana on Friday morning, claiming lives of two school children.

Another picture taken at spot of accident.

Cranes being used to clear the Chandigarh-Ludhiana road for smooth traffic after the accident.

An inside view of Government Elementary School, Jandiali.

An injured school girl.

Chandigarh, March 15, 2013:  A case was registered by the Vigilance Bureau Punjab against Vikas Garg, IAS, former DC Patiala and 9 others persons for abuse of official position and getting government property registered in the name of private persons.

Out of the 10 accused, 5 are public servants and 5 private persons. 

The public servants who obtained interim bail are Naib Tehsildar Gurinder Singh Walia, Rajbir Singh DRO, Pritpal Singh Qanugo and Suresh Kumar Patwari.

Except G.S Walia, the other 3 public servants have joined the investigation with the Vigilance Bureau.

Out of the remaining 6 accused, Yashpal Aggarwal, Devinder Singh Sandhu and Jaswant Singh were arrested and are in judicial custody.

Vikas Garg IAS was arrested on March 14 and produced in the judicial court on Friday. One day police remand has been given by the court.

The remaining two accused, N.P Singh and Ravdeep Singh are still evading arrest. PO proceedings against them have been initiated by the Vigilance Bureau.

New Delhi / Chandigarh, March 19, 2013: Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Member Parliament from Bathinda today said that Anti-Rape Bill was just a first step in the journey of 1000 miles and there was a dire need to do everything possible to ensure the safety and security of country’s women within and outside their homes.

Welcoming the Anti-Rape Bill passed in Lok Sabha, Badal said that there was lot of things to be done to maintain dignity of women besides securing and safeguarding them from various crime fallen in the category of Crime against Women.  Badal condemning the horrific incident of rape in the National Capital on December 16, 2012 said that the law must be implemented in true spirit to avoid such crimes in future and the requisite seriousness in these cases should be brought. 

Describing the sections of bill, Badal said that there was nothing in the definition of rape in section 375 of the IPC, which mentions about Physically Challenged, mentally retarded, handicapped women and girls, while this section of the society have no voice. She said that it has come to fore that 97 percent rapes were done by the people known to them and these women facing such horrific crimes within their families. She demanded the safety and security of this section must be ensured. 

Talking about Section 370 of the IPC about trafficking, Badal said that something must be mentioned in this bill about those women, who had been pushed into flesh trade by their husbands besides ensuring the safety to the adopted children and women being pushed into this trade.

Ridiculing the Union Government for adopting pick and choose in the suggestions from the Justice Verma Committee, Badal said that this was the sad part that Union government took only those suggestions whatever they wanted by extending disregard to the rest ones.  She also said that after December 16, 2012 there were 40 more cases of rape taken place in the National Capital, which reflects the seriousness of the government in implementing the laws in this regard.

Jalandhar, March 20, 2013 :  The Additional Sessions Judge, Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi has sentenced Sudhir Sharma, a Travel Agent of Delhi to undergo seven years Rigorous Imprisonment with fine of Rs.40,000 U/s 120-B r/w Section 420,467,468,471 IPC and Section 12(2) of the Passport Act, 1967 for sending the persons abroad on fake and forged passports.

A case was registered by CBI on March 16, 2001 on the allegations that during the period between 1992 and 96, Sudhir Sharma, a Delhi based travel agent entered into criminal conspiracy with then Peon (now expired) working in the PV-II Section, Ministry of External Affairs, Patiala House, New Delhi with an intention to earn easy money by sending the aspirants from Punjab to abroad on the basis of forged undelivered official passports which were stolen from the said office.

In pursuance of the criminal conspiracy, Sudhir Sharma got prepared photographs of three aspirants from a Studio at Connaught Place, New Delhi and handed over the same to the Peon in the Ministry of External Affairs, who stole the undelivered and unlaminated official passports which were originally prepared in the name of government officials. After removing the photographs of the government officials from the passports, the accused had pasted the photographs of three aspirants on these passports after forging the signatures of government officials. The visas were allegedly obtained from the Embassy of USA, Panama, Caracas and Venezuela by the accused. Thereafter, they were taken to Sahar Airport, Mumbai on different dates from where they left the country on the basis of fake/forged official passports.

On completion of investigation, a charge sheet U/s 120-B r/w Section 381, 419, 420, 467, 468, 471 r/w 468 of IPC & Section 12(1)(a) & (d) and Section 12(2) r/w Section 3 of the Passport Act, 1967 was filed in the Designated Court, Delhi.

During the Course of trial, CBI examined 32 witnesses.

The Trial Court found the accused Sudhir Sharma guilty and convicted him.

Sudhir Sharma is already in jail as was earlier convicted in similar 5 cases of CBI.

Ferozepur, March 20, 2013: A unique trakking expedition of “Golden Arrow Garuds” was undertaken across the snow capped peaks of Himachal Pradesh by a team of two officers, two junior Commissioned Officers and 15 Other Ranks from mid Feb 2013 to first week of March 2013. 

The team scaled the picturesque Indrahar Pass at 14,300 feet trekking from snow bound areas ahead of Mcleodganj to Triund, Lahesh Caves and onwards to the pass.  The trek route was mostly snow bound and passed across crevasses and avalanche prone areas.  This was the first of its kind experience for most of the young climbers.

Liladhar who hails from district Sikkar of Rajasthan was visibly overjoyed at the end of the trek and remarked that he hailed from a remote desert village and had never seen proper mountains, leave alone snow and ice.  He further added that, had he not been a soldier, he could never have enjoyed such a marvelous experience.  The team members are now looking forward to sharing photographs and their experiences with friends and family back home.  The team members mentioned that with a team like theirs, they are confident of scaling Mt Everest, every mountaineer’s ultimate dream.  The first expedition of the year to Indrahar Pass has symbolically paved the way for other mountaineers and trekkers this season.

Jalandhar, March 20, 2013:Army took on the noble responsibility of spreading health awareness and providing medical facilities to families and civilians of Suranussi Garrision by means of an health Camp. 

Various medical institutes and clinics contributed towards the efforts.

The major contributors to organise this Health Camp were Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences, DAV Ayurveda College, DAV Physiotherapy Centre  and Third eye Hospital.

The Health Camp organised by 223 Adv Base Ordnance Depot was inaugurated by Annie Poonnen, Deputy Director, Regional AWWA on March 19.  She extolled the organisers for joining hands towards the noble cause.  She also appealed for special emphasis on ‘Women’s Health’ and said this is another step towards “ Clean, Green and Fit Vajra Corps”.

 More than 1,000 local residents availed the benefits including specialist check up and awareness lecture on ‘Breast Cancer’ and “Physiotherapy as a means for fitness”.

Emphasis was laid on life style modifications to cure/arrest diseases and on early detection.