AMLOH
ONE KILLED: Mr Gurmukh Singh (45), a mason, was killed on Thursday when his moped on which he was travelling slipped on the road near Sounti village. In another accident, Pal Singh of Salana village was injured in an accident on Friday and admitted to Civil Hospital, Khanna.

ONE BOOKED: Gurpreet Singh, a resident of Tibbi village, near here, was arrested by the Amloh police under the Anti-Corruption Act, 1988. According to FIR, Mr R.S. Jangee, SDM, Amloh, had made a complaint to the local police that Gurpreet Singh had tried to give undue gratification for favouring him in a case which was pending with the SDM court. Mr K.S. Cheema, Magistrate, sent him to judicial lock up on Thursday.

AMRITSAR
SYMPOSIUM HELD: A symposium on the epic work titled “Chingar Ton Brahm Jot” (from spark to the divine flame), by Swami Budhpuri, was organised by the Punjabi School of Sikh Studies at Guru Nanak Dev University, here on Thursday. It was presided over by Dr S.H. Soch, Vice-Chancellor, the State Minister for Agriculture, Mr Gulzar Singh Ranike was the chief guest.

BOOK RELEASED: Two books, “Living Reality” and “Sri Guru Granth Sahib Darshan”, by Bibi Inderjit Kaur Khalsa, were released by the Vice-Chancellor, Dr H.S. Soch, here on Thursday. The books deal with the Sikh religion, and the life and philosophy of the Sikh Gurus.

BARNALA
TEACHING COURSE: Kendriya Vidyalaya at the local Air Force station organised a 21-day in-service course for teachers of kendriya vidyalayas of the Chandigarh region at Kendriya Vidyalaya here on Thursday. GP Cap Ranjan Bhattacharya inaugurated the course.

BATHINDA
CONVENTION: A convention on human rights will be organised here on Sunday by the human rights wing of the District Congress Committee. Mr Manohar Lal Bansal, general secretary of the wing, said this in a press note on Thursday.

FEROZEPORE
BRIBERY CASE: Vigilance officials led by DSP, Mukatsar, Mr Vinod Kumar, here on Thursday, nabbed Kulbhushan Kalra, technical assistant, FCI, red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 5,000 from Manoj Kumar. According to Mr Hardyal Singh Mann, Superintendent of Police, a case has been registered.

HOSHIARPUR
HOMAGE PAID: A function to commemorate the 16th martyrdom day of Mr Balbir Singh, a well known socialist leader, who was gunned down by terrorists, was organised at the local DAV School, on Thursday. Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, Mr Maninderjit Singh Bitta, Mr Prem Singh Chandumajra, Mahant Ram Parkash Dass and others paid tributes to the leader.

LIQUOR SEIZED: The police on Thursday arrested Sarwan Dass of Harta village and Gurmeet Kaur, alias Mito, and seized 6000 ml and 6750 ml of country made liquor.

RAPIST HELD: The police, on Thursday, arrested Tarsem Lal, son of Bakshish Singh, of Rialon village under Sections 363, 366 and 376, of the IPC, for abducting and raping a girl of his village.

KHAMANO
MEDICAL CAMP: A health check-up camp will be held at Sanghol on May 16 in which doctors examine patients free of cost. The camp will be inaugurated by the Deputy Commissioner, Fatehgarh Sahib, Mr Vikas Pratap. A healthy baby show and cultural programme will also be organised.

KHARAR
BKU FLAYS PSEB: The Bhartiya Kisan Union, Ropar, has alleged that the Punjab State Electricity Board has failed to supply electricity for 24 hours a day to villages in Ghruan circle and Garangan circle although four years have passed when the necessary amount was deposited by the villagers. According to a press note issued here on Friday, a deputation of the union met the Executive Engineer, Kharar, on March 24 and assured that supply would start in April but nothing happened.

CONFERENCE ON MAY 13: The Anandgarh Hatao Sangharash Committee and other villagers are holding a big conference on May 13 in Mullanpur Garibdas in which all those personalities including advocates who extended help on the Anandgarh issue including Mr Ravi Inder Singh, former Speaker of Punjab, would be honoured.

LUDHIANA
MC PLAN: In response to the increasing demand for public conveniences in several commercial centres and other localities in the city, the Municipal Corporation has conducted a detailed survey of the existing facilities and the places where these were much needed. The survey has identified at least 74 places in the city, where toilets and urinal blocks would be provided in a phased manner on a long-term basis. The MC Additional Commissioner, Mr S.K. Sharma, said the survey had identified 27 places, including commercial and residential areas in Zone A, where public conveniences had to be provided. In zone B, 30 public conveniences already existed and a similar number more had to be provided. The Zones C and D possessed six and 14 sets of public conveniences and needed eight and nine-numbers of these facilities, respectively. The survey, conducted by O and M cell of the MC, further pointed out that many of the sets of public conveniences in different localities were in need of extensive repairs and renovation since the fittings and fixtures were either missing or non-functional. According to Mr Sharma, the MC would encourage private participation in extension of basic amenities, as had been done in the construction of camouflaged garbage dumps in the city. The conveniences would either be provided on build and transfer (BOT) basis or the job would be handed over in entirety to private parties, who would also be responsible for maintenance, and in turn, would have the right to put up advertisement boards.

SUGGESTIONS: The Research Evaluation Committee of the (PAU) which met here on Wednesday approved two recommendations for the control of pests and diseases affecting fruit plants. The committee, under the chairmanship of Dr M.S. Bajwa, Director, Research, has recommended that for the management of citrus scab the infected leaves should be clipped during July and three sprays of Ziram 27 SC (0.25 per cent) or Dithane M-45 (0.25 per cent) or Bordeaux mixture (2:2:250) or 50 per cent Copper oxychloride (0.3 per cent) should be applied during the last week of June until August at a 20-day interval. For the control of peer mites, committee suggested the frequent irrigation till June and removal of alternate sources of mites i.e. castro and bhang. The fruit growers have been advised to spray 0.5 per cent Ethion (500 ml Fosmite 50EC) or 0.03% dimethoate (500ml Rogor 30EC) or 0.37per cent Dicofol (1000 ml Kelthane 18.5 EC) in 500 litres of water.

ANNUAL FUNCTION: A colourful annual function of the advisory groups of the College of Agriculture, PAU, attached to the Department of Entomology was organised here on Wednesday. Dr G.S. Dhaliwal, Professor, Ecology Department, was the guest of honour. Students presented folk songs, gazals and dances. The highlight of the programme was a quiz contest, which evoked keen interest among the participants. Students of the first year class dominated the show. The chief guest presented mementoes to students. Tanya Dhillon, who topped in the college with highest grade point, and Puneet Joshi, who was declared Mr Fresher, were honoured on this occasion.

JATHA FOR LAHORE: A jatha will visit Lahore in June in connection with the bicentenary celebrations of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s coronation, according to Mr Tara Singh, secretary, Shri Guru Gobind Singh Sewak Jatha. Apart from taking part in the bicentenary celebrations on June 28 at Lahore, the jatha would also visit historical gurdwaras in Pakistan, including Gurdwara Nankana Sahib, Gurdwara Sacha Sauda, Gurdwara Panja Sahib, Gurdwara Rori Sahib, Gurdwara Bhai Lalo Ji and several other gurdwaras in that country. Those desirous of joining the jatha should contact with their passports and a recent photograph in the office of the sewak jatha behind Kailash Cinema, added Mr Tara Singh.

SABHA'S PLEA: The Maha Sabha, Ludhiana, a social welfare organisation, has said three murders that took place recently in Sunet village could have been avoided if the district administration had taken precautionary measures. The murders took place over a disputed plot, reported to be shamlat property. In a press not released here on Friday, the sabha president, Col J.S. Brar, said long time ago the sabha had informed the Deputy Commissioner, the Commissioner, the Municipal Corporation and the Chairman, Improvement Trust, about encroachments being done on the vacant shamlat land in the area by unscrupulous elements. The sabha had put forward suggestions that all vacant shamlat plots should be put to some public use. But it was a matter of great regret that the authorities concerned did not pay any heed to the suggestions resulting in the loss of three precious lives.

NEW MEDICAL TECHNIQUE: Dayanand Medical College and Hospital claims to have become the first institute in the region to remove the non-functional kidney through laproscopy. Dr S.C. Ahuja, Principal, DMCH, said in a press note that the kidney was removed by Dr B.S. Aulakh, a urologist, and Dr Atul Mishra. The traditional kidney surgery involves 10 to 15 cms incision on one side of abdomen below the ribs and patient is given injectable antibiotics and glucose for three-four days. The patient is discharged after seven to eight days. Lalita Kumari, the patient from Pathankot, complained of pain in one side of abdomen and fever. She had a shrunken non-functional kidney. Dr Aulakh advised that her kidney had to be removed. He conducted the surgery through laproscopy and the operation was performed successfully. The five-hour long procedure included three small holes in the abdomen and through one hole, a miniature video camera was put inside and in other two holes instruments were passed. Under videoscopic vision, kidney was dissected and removed. Dr Aulakh said the new technology would be used for other urological conditions, donors for kidney transplant, kidney cancer and for removal of adrenal glands and tumors.

MANSA
SENTENCED: Mr Sukhdev Singh, Chief Judicial Magistrate, convicted Jagtar Singh, Avtar Singh, and their mother, Mukhtiar Kaur, of Ghrangna village, under Section 11(1) of the Punjab Regulation Colonies Act, 1975, on Thursday, and sentenced them to rigorous imprisonment for one-and-a-half-years and a fine of Rs 5000 each. The accused had raised an unauthorised colony at Mansa Khurd village in the district.

ILLEGAL PLYING: Hundreds of private vehicles have been plying illegally on hire and reward, allegedly in connivance with the officials of the local transport office, in the district. When contacted, Mr Gurpal Singh, District Transport Officer, said he had challaned, about 400 vehicles, in past one year.

DEAD: Nirmala Devi (32), a housewife, who had sustained hundred per cent burn injuries, died at the local Civil Hospital on Wednesday. In a statement, recorded by Ms Baljinder Kaur Brar, Executive Magistrate, she stated that nobody was to be blamed for her death.

TRAINING CAMP: A training camp on financial difficulties of farmers and on diversification of crop was organised at Phaphre Bhaike village on Thursday. Dr Malkit Singh Kauldhar District Training Officer, Bathinda, stressed on agro-based vocations along with farming.

PATIALA
DHARNA: As many as 3,000 members of the Punjab State Pharmacists Association will be holding a dharna in the Assembly segment of Health Minister, Dr Baldev Raj Chawla, on May 13 here. Stating this in a press release on Friday, Mr Sham Lal Sharma, President of the association, said the pharmacists are taking this step for the implementation of the demands accepted at a meeting held between Dr Chawla and the association. Mr Sharma said their pay scales were lower than those of the junior engineers even though the pharmacists were more qualified. He threatened that if the accepted demands were not implemented immediately, a state-level dharna would be staged at Lambi on June 10.

ELECTED: Mr Hardiyal Singh Bhati has been elected as the Chairman of the Sri Guru Ravidas Sabha, Pratap Nagar. The other office-bearers are: President — Mr Bant Singh; Senior Vice-President — Mr Kabal Singh; Vice-President — Mr Gurnek Singh and Ms Amarjit Kaur; and General Secretary — Mr Darshan Singh.

REFRESHER COURSE: A joint deputation of the Punjab College Librarians Association (PCLA) and the Chandigarh Librarians Association (CLA) led by its General Secretaries Mr Barjinder Pal Dhiman and Mr I.V. Verma respectively met the Vice-Chancellor and Director, Academic Staff College, Panjab University, Chandigarh, and requested them to conduct the Refresher Course in Library and Information Science. The deputation was informed by the Director that a three weeks UGC sponsored Refresher Course in Library and Information Science would be held at the Academic Staff College of the university from June 5 to 25.

STUDENTS EXCEL: The Punjab Elementary Education Project Committee, Patiala Education Block III, working under the aegis of the Nishkam Sikh Welfare Council will be honouring 40 boys and girls of the block for securing 70 per cent marks in the SCERT examination. The President of the committee, Mr TR Sharma said three students have secured the first three positions in the block, and five students have stood first in mathematics, science, social studies, Hindi and Punjabi.

TEACHER INVITED: Dr Kirandeep Kaur of the Department of Education and Community Services of Punjabi University has been invited to deliver a paper on “Education at the Second World Education Market Conference” to be held from May 21 to 24 at Vancouver, Canada.

CONFERENCE: The Department of Anthropological Linguistics and Punjabi Language of Punjabi University and the Dravidian Linguistic Association, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, will organise the 29th All-India Conference of Dravidian Linguistics on Punjabi University Campus from June 21 to 23. Giving this information, Dr Joga Singh, organising secretary of the conference, said the Indian languages in the global context would be main theme of the conference.

BLOOD DONATION CAMP: A blood donation camp was organised by the Thalassemia Welfare Society in coordination with State Bank of Patiala (SBOP) and the District Red Cross Society in memory of Birji birth anniversary here on Friday. About 65 people donated blood which would be given to the children suffering from thalassemia.

NEW IGP: Mr P.M. Das has taken over as the new Inspector General of Police (IGP), Government Railway Police (GRP), here on Friday. On the occasion, Mr Das said the major thrust would try to make the department “sensitive towards terrorist, solve discomforts faced by passengers such as robbery, thefts, pickpocketing and viewing the present condition of Railway tracks”. Mr Das said he would try to overcome the problems of manpower that persists in the department. He added that the purpose was not to bring about drastic changes but the onus will be on to improve the existing services.

PHILLAUR
OPIUM SEIZED: The Noormahal police on Thursday arrested three persons and seized more than 4 kg of opium from their possession. Those arrested have been identified as Jasbir Singh of Cheema Kalan village, Kulwant and Billu of Nagra village.

AMBALA
SPOT EVALUATION: The spot evaluation of answer sheets of Kurukshetra University are in progress at three centres at Ambala. The Principal of GMN College, Mr I.D. Shukla, said the spot evaluation is proving to be an effective system. “This time, the results of the university will definately be declared in time because of spot evaluation system,” he said. He said the teachers check the copies in the college and it enables uniformity in marking and this system will be fair to the students. The teachers at the spot evaluation centre, however, opined that the earlier system of taking the copies to their homes was better. “We had the flexibility of checking the copies. Now, we have to check the copies sitting here. There is no flexibility and we think that this will not be of help to the students,” a teacher added.

MEETING: There was bedlam in the Municipal Council, Ambala city, at a general meeting on Friday over the alleged assault on the MC President, Mr Rajender Guddu, by the councillor, Mr Mahinder Tanwar. Moments after the meeting started the councillor, Mr Surender Gogu, stood up and criticised the assault on Mr Rajender Guddu. He demanded the removal of Mr Tanwar. This sparked off a major row between the Congress and the BJP councillors. The Vice-President of the Municipal Council, Mr Dharam Pal Chaddha, said no assault as such had taken place on Mr Guddu but this statement of his was contradicted by Mr Guddu who stressed that he was assaulted. Mr Mahinder Tanwar, who is accused of assaulting Mr Guddu, then leveled casteist allegations. The Municipal Councillor, Ms Bimla Sharma, questioned the point of calling a meeting “when ultimately no discussion on serious issues takes place.” “We are answerable to the people and if the agenda is not discussed, what do we tell to the people,” she said. The meeting was postponed till May 18. After the meeting, the issue of the MC President being assaulted was the subject of much discussion among the municipal councillors.

ROHTAK
PROHIBITED: The District Magistrate, Mr Anil Malik, on Thursday, prohibited the setting of fields on fire, under the provision of Section 144 of the Cr PC. He also prohibited the farmers from using the area below the electricity transmission lines for threshing purpose. The prohibitory orders will remain in force till May 31.

SIRSA
SEMINAR: The local unit of the Panchnad Research Institute organised a seminar on “Mutual Expectations of the Administration and NGOs” at the local Shiv Shakti blood bank here on Wednesday. GP Capt A.V. Thakur Desai, and Mr D. Suresh, Additional Deputy Commissioner, highlighted the cooperation between administration and NGOs.

SONEPAT
FELICITATED: Dr Vikas Vishasht, a lawyer of the Supreme Court, was felicitated for his contributions at a function organised by the Gram Sudhar Sabha and other social organisations of Bhigan village, 13 km from here, on Thursday. Mr O.P. Chaudhary, a former Vice-Chancellor of MDU, Rohtak, presided over the function. Mr Mukhtiar Singh Malik, a former MP was the chief guest.

INJURED: Six persons, including a woman, were injured following a clash between drunkard youths and members of a marriage party at Jauli village, 30 km from here, on Thursday. According to a report, eve-teasing and objectionable remarks led to the clash. The police has registered a case.

BILASPUR
URGED: The local unit of the H.P. Headmaster Cadre Officers’ Association, on Thursday, urged the government to fill all vacant posts of headmaster and principal lying vacant in more than 60 per cent schools of the district. The delay had blocked the promotions of senior teachers and caused resentment among them, it said.

MEETING HELD: The zila parishad chairman, Mr Banta Singh Dhiman, while addressing a quarterly meeting, here on Thursday, said the parishad would spend Rs 24 lakh for the provision of drinking water and repair of link roads and paths in various areas of the district, this year. The meeting was attended by a large number of district officials.

JAISINGHPUR
ELECTED: The following have been elected as the office-bearers of the NGO Federation: president — Mr Subhash Rana; senior vice-president — Ramesh Sakalani; vice-president — Janak Chand; and general secretary — Subhash Sharma.