ABOHAR
TRAINING CAMP: A two-day training camp on the safety of industrial workers of the area concluded here on Friday. During the camp, Mr S.C. Awasthi, Joint Director (Factories), Punjab, spoke on “How to prevent and control industrial accidents to ensure optimum productivity with safety”.

AMRITSAR
WORLD PEACE DAY: The Lions Club, Amritsar, celebrated the World Peace Day on Saturday. The district governor of the club, Mr Kuldeep Singh, presided.

SEMINAR: A seminar on “Swami Vivekanand — the ideal of Indian youth” was organised on Saturday at the Shahzada Nand College for Girls under the auspices of the Swami Vivekananda Study Circle. The seminar was presided over by Swami Prananda.

EFFIGIES BURNT: Workers of S.P. Worsted Mills on Saturday burnt effigies of mill owners, alleging that they had been ousted without pay by the latter. Mr Balwant Rai Billa, president of the Subashwadi General Mazdoor Union, demanded that justice be given to the workers at the earliest.

BATHINDA
PULSE POLIO: Mr Chiranji Lal Garg, Minister for Science and Technology, inaugurated the pulse polio campaign by administering polio drops to children of the slum area on the Bibiwala road in the city. Social and non-governmental organisations like the United Welfare, Rotary and Rotract Clubs, Lions Club, Dera Sacha Sauda, Young Blood Club, PCMSIA, PCMS-RU, Jain Welfare Society etc organised camps at different parts of the city.

DHURI
SCHOOL FUNCTION: The local Gurukul Convent School organised its fifth annual prize distribution function here on Saturday. Mr G.K. Singh, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Sangrur, was the chief guest. He announced a grant of Rs 2,100 for the school library.

FARIDKOT
RETAINED: The Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) has decided to retain Mr S.K. Gupta and Mr Avtar Singh Sidhu as the presidents of the District Congress Committee of Faridkot and Muktsar, respectively, till the next elections of the office-bearer of the party in Punjab. This was stated by Mr Avtar Singh Brar, vice- president, PPCC, at a press conference here on Friday.

FEROZEPORE
INAUGURATED: Mr Janmeja Singh Sekhon, Irrigation Minister, Punjab, inaugurated a health park and a health club built in memory of social worker, Gobind Ram at an estimated cost of Rs 10 lakh by the Ferozepore Cantonment Board. He announced a grant of Rs 1 lakh from his discretionary quota for the uplift and maintenance of the park and the club.

JAGRAON
MEETING HELD: A meeting of the Medical Practitioners Association, Punjab, was held here in which the state president, Dr Surjit Singh, the working president, Dr Kulwant Rai, state level members and many unregistered medical practitioners participated. The association blamed the Punjab Government and the Director Health Services for the closure of thousands of clinics in the state run by medical practitioners. They were providing primary healthcare to the poor at cheaper rates. They may not have degrees but had an experience of assisting the qualified doctors. Moreover, qualified doctors were ready to work in the villages. The association claimed that its members only handed preliminary cases and did not indulge in surgery and operations. The association condemned the registration of thousands of cases in the state against them and demanded its withdrawal. The members demanded to recognise all the registered ayurvedic practitioners, encourage primary health care in the villages after imparting some training or to provide alternative jobs for the unemployed unregistered practitioners.

CAMP ORGANISED: Sant Nirankari Mission, Jagraon branch, and Cadila Joids group held third hepatitis-B camp at the Tehsil road here. Dr Rajkumar Garg, SMO, Sidhwan Bet inaugurated the camp.

LUDHIANA
FETE AT SCHOOL: Colourful stalls of games and eatables marked the annual fete at CFC Public School on Saturday. Music was played for the whole day and the students danced on the latest Hindi and English numbers. There were stalls of a variety of games like tambola, target hitting and car racing. The students enjoyed stalls of eatables like pav bhaji, noodles, ice creams, cold and hot drinks. Mr Daniel Abraham, Director of the school, was there to enjoy with the students.

DEMO GIVEN: Several award winning artists from different parts of Punjab gave a demonstration of different techniques of painting to the students of Khalsa College for Women, Civil Lines, in a workshop held on Saturday. The artists included Mr O.P. Verma, retired senior artist from Amritsar Medical College, Dr Gopal, Vice-Principal of DAV College of Education for Women, Ms Neeta Mohindra, DAV College, Amritsar, and Mr Baldev Gambhir, national award winner.

DANCE COMPETITION: Students of over 15 CBSE schools participated in a dance competition organised by the Sahodaya Schools’ Association at Guru Nanak Public School, Sarabha Nagar, here on Saturday. The contest was categorised into two parts. In the first part, students of seven schools performed classical dances. The first prize went to the team of the host school. The students of Kundan Vidya Mandir were declared second and the third prize went to the team of Spring Dale Public School. In the second part, students of nearly 15 schools performed folk dances. The host team which performed Rajasthani dance clinched the first prize in this category too. The students of Gujranwala Guru Nanak School who performed bhangra were declared second while the team of Spring Dale Public School bagged the third prize for performing giddha. Students of the host school lifted the overall dance trophy while the team of Kundan Vidya Mandir clinched the runners trophy. Mr Bhagat Singh, chairman of the host school trust, gave away the prizes. Ms Kulwant Virdi, Principal, appreciated the efforts of the students.

MEETING HELD: The first meeting of the Arya College Old Student’s Association, formed last month, was held here on Sunday. Of the nearly 20 old students of the college who turned up, there were few who graduated from the early 1950s batch. Others included doctors, businessmen, lecturers and advocates of the town who studied for some while in the college. The members decided to convene another get together in March this year and invite old students now settled in different parts of India and abroad. Mr Darshan Singh Arora, president of the association, and Mr Parshotam Das Sharma, general secretary, were among those present on the occasion. Besides, Mr V.K. Mehta, Principal, Mr Satish Sharma, lecturer of the college as well as the old student, were also present.

CELEBRATED: To mark the Women Care Day, a gynaecological check-up camp was organised at Vandana Luthra Curls and Curves here on Sunday. Dr Vidhu Modgil, gynaecologist, Suman Nursing Home, and Dr Tarundeep Bajaj, Dr Divya Sabharwal, both gynaecologists at the VLCC, gave free counselling to all the visitors. Ms Rohini Sood, clinic manager at the VLCC, said, ‘‘Today’s woman, be it a housewife or a working lady, is under lot of stress. To cope up with the increasing demands of the livelihood, she keeps neglecting her own problems, which become serious with time. And a regular psychological and gynaecological check-up is a must to avert such a problem.’’ During the camp, Dr Vidhu guided the ladies to perform self-diagnosis for detecting breast cancer. She also discussed the postmenopausal problems. She told them about the symptoms and management of cervical, uterine and ovarian problems. Pap smear test, Hb test and ultra sound were conducted at concessional rates. The centre also organised a quiz on women related issues, the result of which would be declared on January 27. 

MANSA
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local branch of Rotary International: president — Mr R.C. Goyal; and secretary — Mr Pawan Garg.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local branch of the Aggarwal Sabha: patron — Dr N.P. Goyal; president — Mr Brij Lal Goyal; senior vice- president — Mr Girdhari Lal Fatta; vice-president — Mr Bhim Sain; general secretary — Mr Megh Raj Goyal; and treasurer — Mr Hem Raj Gupta.

NAWANSHAHR
AWARDED: Dr Javed Alam, president, Punjab Muslim Welfare Association, and resident of Banga town in the district, has been awarded the Bharat Jyoti Award by the India International Friendship Society, Delhi, for his notable contribution in the field of social service.

FUNCTION: The local Bhai Ghanaiya Seva Samiti, the Blood Donors Club, Aur, and the Youth Welfare Club, Bahadurpur, jointly organised a “lok bhalai” function at Bahadurpur village, about 10 km from here, on Friday. Woollen clothes, shawls and sewing machines were distributed among schoolchildren and needy women. Ms Surinder Kaur, Assistant Commissioner, presided.

REPAIR SOUGHT: Residents of colonies developed along the local Kulam road are sore over the pathetic condition of the road. They have alleged that the road was dug up for laying sewerage pipes about four to five months ago but it had still not been repaired.

HELD FOR GAMBLING: The district police has arrested Mulkhraj of Rahon and Mukhtiar Singh, alias Manga, of Nawanshahr under the Gambling Act. This was stated by Mr Ishwar Singh, SSP, on Saturday. In another case, Raj Kumar of Nawanshahr and Jaswinder Singh of Dhilwan village (Jalandhar) were held with pornographic films.

PATIALA
DEATH MOURNED: A meeting was held at the Netaji Subhash National Institute of Sports here on Saturday to mourn the death of India’s chief national coach in freestyle wrestling, Randhir Singh, who died in a road accident near Sonepat. Addressing the gathering, the Executive Director of the institute, Lieut-Col B.S. Ahluwalia, said he had made a notable contribution towards the development of freestyle wrestling in the country.

EXTENDED: The seven days banking of the personal segment branch at the Leela Bhavan market of the State Bank of Patiala was inaugurated by the Chief General Manager, Mr Amitabha Guha, on Sunday. The business hours have now been extended from 10 am to 4 pm on weekdays and on Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 1 pm. He said the bank would soon launch the 12 hours banking service at Bhupindra Nagar branch.

DECIDED: The Punjab Government has decided to upgrade four primary schools, four middle schools and four high schools from each assembly segment in the state. This was disclosed by the Minister of State for Health, Raja Narinder Singh, while inaugurating a dharamshala at Sangatpur village in Nabha subdivision on Sunday.

PHILLAUR
BJP MEETING: The Punjab BJP President, Prof Brij Lal Rinwa, has summoned a meeting of state office-bearers and district presidents of the BJP on Wednesday at Khanna. This was stated by the BJP state general secretary, Mr Avinash Jaiswal, on Saturday.

SAMRALA
PULSE POLIO: In the last round of the pulse polio immunisation campaign 22 teams led by Dr J.P. Singh, SMO, Samrala, administered polio drops to children.

TARN TARAN
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Parents Association: president — Dr Kashmir Singh Sohal; general secretary — Mr Darshan Singh Gill; vice-president — Mr Phoola Singh; joint secretary — Mr Joginder Singh; organising secretary — Mr Jaswant Singh; and treasurer — Mr Kewal Singh.

INAUGURATED: The Haryana Governor, Babu Parmanad, inaugurated a blood donation camp at Rajasthan Bhavan, here on Sunday. He said all precaution should be taken to keep the blood collected at camps safe and healthy. Over 150 units of blood were collected. The camp was jointly organised by the Rajasthan Parishad, a social welfare organisation, in collaboration with the National Integration Medical Association under the supervision of Dr Neelam Marwah, Head of the Department of Blood transfusion, GMCH-32.

WORKSHOP: Mr J.S. Ahluwalia, Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, N.W. region, inaugurated a three-day workshop in his office on Saturday. As many as 20 employees working in Chandigarh and Panchkula took part in the workshop Mr Ahluwalia gave away prizes to the participants.

ORGANISED: A workshop on “Road safety measures — drive safely — save a life” was organised by the Centre for Adult, Continuing Education and Extension at Panjab University here on Sunday. More than 70 drivers, working with local schools, attended the workshop. Mr Sagar Preet Huda, ASP, inaugurated the workshop. Dr Ajaib Singh, Director of the centre, and Prof Jatinder Mohan of the Department of Psychology also spoke on the occasion.

AWARDED: The youth week, celebrated by the Nehru Yuva Kendra, ended with an award giving ceremony at Ram Krishna Ashram, Sector 15, here on Saturday. The Youth Club of Khuda Alisher was adjudged as the best club of the year and was awarded Rs 5,000. Four youths namely Devesh Moudgil, Kulbir Singh, Pritam Singh and Amarjeet Singh Saini were awarded cash prizes and certificates for their contributions to various youth programmes during the last year.

PANCHKULA
BLOOD DONATION: The Panchkula Public Schools Association organised the first blood donation camp at Doon Public School, Sector 21, here on Sunday. Over 100 donors, sent by the schools and the Residents Welfare Association, Sector 21, donated blood at the camp held in collaboration with the PGI Blood Bank. The association decided to make the blood donation camp an annual feature based on the response it elicited from the public. It was informed that the association would maintain a computerised blood pool to provide a ready donor at the time of emergency.

PANIPAT
CASE REGISTERED: A case of dowry death has been registered at the Chandni Bagh police station against six persons, including the husband, father-in-law and mother-in-law of Koshalya, who died on Thursday, allegedly due to food poisoning. The case was registered on the complaint of her father Suresh Jindal, who alleged that his daughter had been poisoned to death.

REWARI
PRESS CLUB: The following have been elected office-bearers of the district Press Club: patron — Mr Nawal Kishore Rastogi; president — Mr Tarun Jain; vice- presidents — Mr Purshottam Goyal and Mr Mahabir Singh; general secretary — Mr Mohan Jatoi; joint secretaries — Mr Surender Indora and Mr Rakuar Yadav; and treasurer — Mr Arun Sharma.