L U D H I A N A

AISSF takes out protest march
LUDHIANA, Jan 30 — All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) activists today took out a protest march and staged a dharna at Mini Secretariat, demanding immediate release of Sikh youths languishing in jails and settlement of other panthic matters.

Mr Harminder Singh Gill, President, AISSF, addresses party workers who staged a dharna in Ludhiana on Tuesday.

Ladhowal project: textile industry for tax holiday
LUDHIANA, Jan 30 — Representatives of the textile industry have demanded that the industry should be given a tax holiday for at least five years for shifting to the Ladhowal industrial complex. The land could be reserved for dyeing and composite units only, as the engineering units had declined to shift because of the waterlogging in the area.

Ludhiana quake relief touches 50 lakh mark
LUDHIANA, Jan 30 — Moved by the touching scenes in Gujarat caused by the worst-ever catastrophe, Manpreet, a Class ix student of Government Senior Secondary School, Mianpur, donated his own blanket for the earthquake victims.

PNB drive to recover Rs 88 crore
LUDHIANA, Jan 30— Punjab National Bank (PNB) is holding lok adalats to recover long-pending repayment of loans under the non-performing assets (NPA) category. Under the new policy of the RBI to recover NPAs, the bank is launching an awareness drive to convince defaulters to avail the last opportunity to settle unpaid loans without any litigation and to avail themselves of the benefits of interest waiver.

225 leprosy cases detected
LUDHIANA, Jan 30 — The district health administration observed Anti-Leprosy Day as part of the national leprosy elimination campaign in EWS Colony on Tajpur Road here today.

‘Free power supply bane of Punjab economy’
LUDHIANA, Jan 30— The economy of Punjab was slowly but steadily leading towards a major crisis thanks in part to the populist policies of the Punjab government and the lack of will on the part of agriculture economists and other policy makers to take a stand against the short sighted policies of the state. The free power supply to the agriculture sector was a major constraint in the diversification of Punjab agriculture.

4 proclaimed offenders surrender
DORAHA, Jan 30 — While the Payal police has already arrested two proclaimed offenders in the Dhakki Sahib arson case, four more have surrendered before the Duty Magistrate.

• Judicial remand for Dhand
  

  

LUDHIANA CALLING As the nation was celebrating the Republic Day and country's military might was being exhibited along the Janpath, the nature struck with fury scripting an epic tragedy within a span of few seconds only. tremors were felt in the city as well. While the duration of the earthquake was in itself long enough to send shivers among people, yet everyone seemed to be relieved to learn that everything was well.

COMMUNITY

Tributes paid to Mahatma Gandhi
LUDHIANA, Jan 30 — Tributes were paid to Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi on his martyrdom day in several functions organised in the city today by the District Youth Congress, the District Congress Committee (DCC) and the district Administration.

IT-enabled services under-utilised: experts
LUDHIANA, Jan 30 — The potential of information technology-enabled services like Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and Global Positioning System (GPS) is not being fully utilised in India as yet. Low bandwidth and high cost are two basic hurdles before the Indian IT industry.

Biopesticide conference: BET 2001
LUDHIANA, Jan 30 — A conference on Biopesticide : Emerging Trends (BET 2001) is scheduled to be held at Chandigarh between February 7 and 9, 2001. The conference is being organised jointly by the Society of Biopesticide Sciences, Jalandhar; Punjab State Council for Science and Technology (PSCST), Chandigarh, and Indian Ecological Society, PAU, Ludhiana.

Congressmen hail Vora's directions
LUDHIANA, Jan 30 — Several senior Congress functionaries have hailed the directive of Mr Moti Lal Vora, General Secretary, All-India Congress Committee (AICC), and in charge of the Punjab affairs.

100 animals treated
LUDHIANA, Jan 30 — An Animal welfare camp by the People For Animals was organised here yesterday at New Sabzimandi.

CRIME

Cash, jewellery worth Rs 1 lakh stolen
LUDHIANA, Jan 30 — The Model Town police has registered a case against two persons for allegedly stealing cash and ornaments worth about Rs 1 lakh from the house of Kuldeep Singh.

EDUCATION

Teacher-taught relationship improving: seminar
LUDHIANA, Jan 30 — Several lecturers and students of local education colleges participated in a seminar on “Modern education”, organised at BCM College of Education here today.

Strike in ITI
SAMRALA, Jan 30 —Trainees at the local ITI went on an indefinite strike today in protest against the instructions of Mr Jagdish Singh Garcha, the Minister for Technical Education, according to which ITIs would remain open on Saturdays and Sundays. The strike is also being held against the fee hike and new rules.

Rotary award function concludes
LUDHIANA, Jan 30 — A three-day Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) programme organised for the college students of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir concluded at Gujranwala Guru Nanak Khalsa College here on Sunday.

SPORT

GNP School lift basketball cup
LUDHIANA, Jan 30 — Guru Nanak Public School (GNPS), Sarabha Nagar, clinched the District CBSE School Basketball Championship here yesterday by defeating BCM School, Shastri Nagar, in a one-sided match by 56-25. Before the break, GNPS was leading by 24-4.