DORAHA
EYE CAMP: A two-day eye camp organised by the Boparai Sports Cultural Club in collaboration with the of Nagar Panchayat, Ghudani Kalan, concluded here on Wednesday. The free eye camp was jointly inaugurated by Mr Sadhu Singh Ghudani, MLA, Payal, and Mr Raghvir Singh Boparai, an NRI. According to Mr Kulwant Singh Boparai, president, and Mr Saudagar Singh Ghudani, joint secretary of the club, 560 eye patients were examined out of which 15 were operated upon. Dr J.M. Singh, In charge, Eye-Mobile, along with his team rendered his services for the noble cause. Dr Walia, SMO, Ghudani Kalan, also offered his services. patients from all over the surrounding villages attended the camp. Mr Satwant Singh Boparai donated Rs 51,000 for the camp. Free spectacles were provided to the needy by Mr Bhupinder Singh, former sarpanch, and Mr Gurmit
Singh.CHEQUES DISTRIBUTED: Cheques worth Rs 11,98,500 were distributed to 235 persons under the Shagun Scheme by Mr Amarjit Paul, SDM, Payal, and Jathedar Sadhu Singh Ghudani, local MLA. In all 191 pension cases were approved out of which 59 were old-age pension cases and 131 were widow pension cases. According to Mr Paul, ‘‘In the Payal sub-division, till now, cheques worth Rs 32,13,000 have been issued to 630 persons.’’
FATEHGARH SAHIB
KILLED: One person was killed and two others injured in a road accident on the Sirhind-Madhopur bypass on Wednesday night. The deceased has been identified as Naveen Kumar (23), son of a local social worker, Mr Raj Kumar Gupta. According to information, the victim, along with two friends, was on a scooter when a speeding vehicle hit them. A case has been registered.
GURDASPUR
LOK ADALAT: Free legal services have been provided in 41 cases so far in the district, the District and Sessions Judge said here on Thursday. Presiding over a meeting of the District Legal Services Authority, he said a district-level Lok Adalat would be held in the sessions court complex here on May 12 to settle cases of economically backward people and those belonging to the Scheduled Castes. The income limit of those entitled to free legal services had been increased to Rs 30,000 per annum against Rs 18,000 earlier, the judge informed.
DHARNA HELD: Several hundred activists of the United Christian Front under the leadership of Ms Kamal Bakshi, president of the front, held a dharna in front of the office of the Deputy Commissioner here on Wednesday in protest against the shady defence deals of the NDA government. They raised anti-government slogans and presented a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner demanding the immediate resignation of the Central and state governments.
HOSHIARPUR
CIVIL HOSPITALS: In order to provide better health services to the people, 152 civil hospitals are being renovated at a cost of Rs 422 crore in the state. This was stated by Mrs Mohinder Kaur Josh, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Punjab, while addressing a gathering at Khialan Bulanda village, about 35 km from here, on Tuesday evening. She said 90 per cent work had already been completed, adding that 9 civil hospitals and 3 primary health centres had been renovated in the district at a cost of Rs 9 crore.
HONOUR: Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd has selected Surjit Gas, Hoshiarpur, of the Jalandhar sales area for the best over-all performance for 2000-2001. The corporation has given a certificate of honour to the owner of Surjit Gas. It has also awarded Capt Dhani Ram Kataria (retd) of the agency for his good public relations.
CEILING FANS: NRIs of Hoshiarpur will provide ceiling fans in all government primary schools in the district. This was disclosed by Mr Iqbal Singh Sidhu, Deputy Commissioner, here on Wednesday. He said an NRI, Mr Didar Singh, had given a cheque for Rs 5 lakh to him for the purpose. Mr Gitka Kalha, Commissioner, Jalandhar Division-cum-chairman, Punjab NRI Sabha, had given Rs 25,000, Mrs Sukhdev Kaur, sarpanch, Talwandi Salan, — Rs 50,000, Mr Lakhwinder Singh Lakhi — Rs 21,000. Major Singh Mauji — Rs 25,000, Mr Tara Singh, Talwandi Salan, — Rs 21,000, Baba Hardev Singh, Talwandi Araian, — Rs 11,000, and Mr Behari lal Saroya — Rs 10,000.
LAWYER
KILLED: Mr Balvinder Singh, an advocate and resident of Korsia village, died on the spot when a bus of Rajdhani Express Transport Company hit his Maruti Zen car near Hardokhanpur on the Hoshiarpur-Tanda road, about 7 km from here, on Wednesday. The driver of the bus, Dilbag Singh, fled the spot. The Sadar police has registered a case.
MAN HELD: The Sadar police arrested Bhaghail Singh of Daroli Kalan village and seized 10 kg of poppy husk from him on Tuesday. A case has been registered.
SUICIDE: Parminder Singh (30), son of Gurdeep Singh of Roopowal village, committed suicide by consuming poison. The cause of the suicide is not known.
LUDHIANA
BAISAKHI PROGRAMME: Baisakhi will be celebrated at the Satluj Club lawns on Sunday. According to Mr A.S.Chawla, general secretary of the club, famous Punjabi singer Harbhajan Maan and his troupe will perform. The chief guest will be Mr S.K.Sandhu, deputy commissioner,
Ludhiana.
NEW OIL BY ESSO: The Esso Petroleum India Pvt Ltd, launched its product ESSOTEX HP 24, a non-staining and washable oil for knitting machines here recently. The company also organised a seminar for the knitting industry at the time of the launch. The participants included Mr Nitin Sonavane, Mr Stuart Mckenzie, technical support manager, Exonmobil Asia Pacific, Mr Sanjay Mathur, regional industrial sales manager, and Mr Vishal Anand, manager business development. The company claimed that the knitting industry was facing an acute problem of staining of fabrics which can be solved by the use of Essotex HP 24. Esso has conducted many laboratory and field trials to prove the performance of the oil.
NEW CINEMA HALL: Notwithstanding the slump in cinema business a new cinema hall, claimed to be built with the latest state of art technology, will be start functioning from Friday. The management of the
cinema claims that it will have all the modern facilities and comforts for the viewers . The opening of the newly constructed Orient cinema at Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar will be done on Friday. One of the cinema owners said that the cinema would have digital dolby sound system. The booking counters would be fully computerised. The theatre would have good restaurant facilities and would be centrally air conditioned, he said. The cinema would be screening Jodi Number 1 as its first movie. There would also be a facility home delivery of the tickets in advance.
INTER-SCHOOL
CONTEST: Nearly 28 students from 14 schools participated in an inter-school extempore contest organised by Vardhaman Spinning and General Mills Limited at Kundan Vidya Mandir, Civil Lines, here on Thursday. Students from Classes XI and XII participated in the contest. The topics given to the students included ‘If I were a social reformer’, ‘Vision of Indian culture in 2010 AD’, ‘Hand-knitting and patience go hand in hand’, ‘Creativity and its importance’ and ‘Does a woman play an important role in a family?’. Bhumika Sharma of Kundan Vidya Mandir was declared first. For the second, third and consolation prize, there was tie and the three participants were given a common topic, ‘How will you spend Rs 1 million in a week?’ Finally, Divyanshu Malhotra of Sacred Heart Convent Senior Secondary School was declared second and Mukul Malhotra of Kundan Vidya Mandir stood third. Rashima Sood and Tina Puri, both students of DAV Public School, received consolation prizes. Ms Indira Kumar, Principal of the host school, lauded the performance of the participants and gave away the prizes to the winners of the contest.
CLUB FUNCTIONS: The Sarabha Ladies Club on Thursday celebrated its annual function at hotel Sheeba. The club members and guests were dressed in various colourful clothes. A blend of western and Indian outfits was displayed during a fashion show organised by the club members. The members carried different odhnis with western dresses. Lucky draws and surprise gifts were given to the club members. Ms Veena Kohli was given surprise gift for her heavy waist. Sheena, a school going girl presented a dance item on song ‘maiya yashoda ye tera kanhaiya’, which was appreciated by the audience. Ms Mridula Jain was the chief guest on the occasion. In another function, members of the Triveni Club celebrated Baisakhi at hotel Grewalz. The club members presented gidha, bhangra on the beat of dhol and sang various Punjabi songs. Ms Usha Goel, president, Sarabha Club, said that one should celebrate such festivals with happiness. Lucky prizes were given to the club members on this occasion.
PATIALA
ELECTED: Mr H.C. Chopra has been elected as President of the Haryana Government Pensioners Welfare Association during a meeting held here on Wednesday. Other members elected unanimously are: vice-president — Mr Babu Singh Sohal; general secretary — Mr Vidhya Sagar Malhotra; additional general secretary — Mr Sunder Lal and executive members — Mr K.C. Seth, Mr Jagdayal Singh and Mr Gurcharan Singh.
ANNUAL
FUNCTION: Ms Rakshinder Kaur, who top-ped the M.Ed examination of Punjabi University and Ms Baldeep Kaur, who stood first in the B.Ed examination, were honoured on the occasion of the 46th annual function of the Government College of Education held here on Thursday. The chief guest, Mr Ravinder Singh, principal of Government Medical College, distributed the prizes and extolled the virtues of good education. Mr Kanwarjit Singh, principal of Government College of Education, also spoke on the occasion. Prominent among those present were eminent educationists, Prof Pyare Mohan and Prof Shavinder
Rekhi.
CELEBRATED: The Railway Production Unit celebrated their 46th Railway Week at the Diesel Components Works (DCW) here on Thursday. The function was presided over by Mr G.K Wadhwa, Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of DCW. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Wadhwa said that the DCW had achieved the best turnover of Rs 250.67 crore this year, which was 15.82 per cent higher than the target and 11.39 per cent higher than the previous year’s turnover of Rs 225.03 crore.
BAR
ASSOCIATION: The District Bar Association (DBA) has urged the authorities concerned to safeguard their interests by not allowing the demolition of the existing chambers or seats of lawyers. A resolution to this effect was passed at a meeting of the Bar association here on Thursday, a copy of which had been sent to the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the District and Sessions Judge, the Chief Minister Mr P.S. Badal, the Commissioner, the Deputy Commissioner and the Chief Engineer
(PWD).
PHAGWARA
FREE LEGAL AID: Fortyfive cases for providing free legal aid were approved on Wednesday at a meeting of the subdivisional Legal Aid Committee with Mr Harbhajan Das, Additional Civil Judge (Senior Division)-cum-committee’s chairman, in the chair. An official press note said Mr Tejinder Singh Bal, Assistant District Attorney (Legal Services), told the meeting that so far free legal aid had been provided in 1,587 cases in the district, 59 lok adalats held, 4,896 cases settled and compensation of over Rs 4.44 crore given.
PROTEST RALLY: The Ramgarhia Colleges Staff Welfare Association on Wednesday held a protest rally outside the local Ramgarhia Polytechnic against the government’s move to stop grants to polytechnics in the state. Mr P.L. Bagga, convener of the association, described the move as anti-education and anti-employee and demanded its withdrawal.
SAHNEWAL
ELECTED: Mr Hardial Singh Sohi has been unanimously elected as president of the Employees Federation of the Punjab State Electricity Board Estate Mandal Committee. The election was held at a meeting of the committee held under the presidentship of Mr Surjit Singh Guraya, vice-president, Punjab. The other office-bearers: Mr Rajinder Singh Virk — secretary; Mr Kamaljit Singh — assistant secretary; Mr Jaspal Singh — additional secretary; and Mr Satpal Singh — finance secretary.
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Photographers association: Mr Narinder Singh — president; Mr K.K. Chibber — vice-president; Mr Mehboob Neela — general secretary; Mr Sodhi Lal — secretary; and Mr Gurmit Singh Mangli — cashier.
BAISAKHI
CELEBRATIONS: The birthday of Khalsa would be celebrated wit fervour on Baisakhi at Gurdwara Reru Sahib in Sahnewal. After the ‘bhog’ of Shri Akhand Path, Hazoori-Ragi Jathas of Darbar Sahib lead by Bhai Randhir Singh and Bhai Rajpal Singh, will regale the ‘sangat’ with ‘shabads’. According to Bhai Avtar Singh Bhola, president, Gurdwara Reru Sahib, deepmala would be done at night and ‘Guru ka langar’ would continue throughout the day.
