AMLOH
ELECTION: A meeting of the Amloh block of the Adhyapak Dal was held here on Saturday and the following were elected officer-bearers president — Mr Danesh Kumar (Alladadpura); patron — Mr Kuldeep Singh, (Fatehpur); general secretary — Mr Jangir Singh; senior vice-president — Mr Rajinder Gotam; vice-president — Mr Kulbir Singh; joint secretary — Mr Dilbagh Singh; finance secretary — Mr Karamjit Singh (Sounti); press secretary — Mr Tejwant Singh Happi; and auditors — Mr Gobind Singh and Mr Sukhchain Singh.

CONFERENCE: A meeting of the Ghatginti Dalit Front, Amloh tehsil, presided over by its president, Pal Singh, decided to hold a conference here on May 15. Among others, the meeting will be addressed by Mr Harvel Singh Madhopur, secretary general, Punjab and Mr Harnek Singh Badali, district president of the front. Briefing the press, Mr Madhopur said main demands of the front included free education from school to university level for the Dalit families, the construction of latrines in the villages and to provide sewer schemes in the villages.

HOSHIARPUR
SIGNATURE CAMPAIGN: The District Congress Committee organised a workers’ rally in connection with the signature campaign related to the Tehelka expose, on Friday. Mr Jagir Singh, observer of the PPCC, said they would obtain at least 2.50 lakh signatures from the people of eight assembly segments of the district before May 20.

CRITICISED: In a joint press note here on Friday, leaders of the Punjab Pradesh Nagar Palika Karamchari Sangathan criticised the Local Bodies Department, for assigning octroi collection to private contractors. They urged the government to reintroduce the system of collecting octroi by the regular staff of the municipal councils.

JAGRAON
3 HELD: The ASI, Mr Nirwair Singh, of the bus stand police station here has arrested three persons namely Tarsem Singh, Joginder Singh and Lal Singh. During interrogation they admitted having committed theft at the house of Dr Harwinder Singh.

JALANDHAR
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the ENT Forum (Jalandhar region): president — Dr Sanjiv Sharma, vice-presidents — Dr Sarabjit Singh and Dr Ramesh Arora; general secretary — Dr Kamal Kishore; and joint secretary — Dr Harish Nanda.

KAPURTHALA
DHUSSI BUNDH: Mr V.K. Singh, Deputy Commissioner, said on Friday that Rs 60 lakh would be spent on strengthening the dhussi bundh in Sultanpur Lodhi sub-division where the Beas was eroding the bundh. The task would be completed before the onset of the rainy season, he said.

STREAMLINING TRAFFIC: Ms Gurpreet Deo, Senior Superintendent of Police, has assured the public that transparency will be brought in the working of the police force of the district. More police force will be deployed in the district to streamline the traffic, she said on Friday.

NOMINATED: Mr Kirpal Singh Dhillon, former Congress MLA, has been nominated member of the Telephone Advisory Committee, Punjab circle, a communique from the Ministry of Communications said.

KHARAR
KILLED: Mr Kaka Singh of Allapur village was killed when his bicycle on which he was going was knocked down by a Maruti car (HR-01-1332) near Sahoran village on Kharar-Kurali road on Friday night. He was rushed to the Civil Hospital, Kharar, where he was declared dead. The local police has registered a case under Sections 279 and 304-A of the IPC against the driver of the car.

LUDHIANA
PAINTING COMPETITION: A painting competition was held at Nishkam Vidya Mandir, No1, Dugri Road, here on Friday. Nearly 40 students participated in this competition. The subjects of painting were railway station, bus stand, picnic scene, circus, traffic and mela. Mr Bikas Sen Gupta, a former art executive-cum-exhibition officer, PAU, and Ms Sen Gupta, a former art teacher of Kundan Vidya Mandir, selected the paintings of Indu Bala of Class VIII, Soni Rani of Class V and Rinku Kumar of Class VII. These three students were awarded first, second and third prizes, respectively.

DENTAL COURSE: The Indian Dental Association, Punjab branch, will organise a certificate course on “Easy steps to excellence in prosthodontics”, on Sunday. Dental surgeons from all over the Punjab will be attending this course. The course will have extensive lectures.

QUAKE RELIEF: Staff and students of Green Land Senior Secondary School here have collected Rs 1 lakh for victims of Gujarat. A bank draft for submission to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund (Gujarat) was handed over to Mr Ashok Ganguly, Chairman, Central Board of Secondary Education, at a special function. Mr Rajesh Rudra, Director, Mrs Baldeep Pandher, Principal of the school, besides staff members, students and other distinguished guests were present at the function.

MEETING: The Shiromani Akali Dal (B) advisor, Mr Rajinder Singh Bhatia, has exhorted the youth and the workers of the Akali Dal youth wing to propagate the policies and programmes of the ruling party to meet the challenge posed by opposition parties, including the Congress, which was misleading the people. Presiding over a meeting of the district unit of the SAD’s youth wing at Gurdwara Kalgidhar here, he asked the party rank and file to create rapport with the poor and the neglected sections of society and make sure that benefits of various welfare schemes of the government percolated deep down to the genuine beneficiaries. Among those present at the meeting were Dr N.S. Dhanju, Mr Jatinder Singh Gulati, Mr Inderjit Singh Gumber, Kanwar Inder Singh Naaz, Mr Surinder Kumar, Mr Jinesh Mehra, Mr Satbir Singh and Mr Kamaljit Singh.

OFFICE-BEARERS: Mrs Bimla Verma, state president, Nationalist Mahila Congress, has nominated Bibi Jagir Kaur (Ferozepore) as general secretary of the state unit and Mrs Aruna Rani as president of the Ludhiana district unit of the party. The other office bearers nominated are: Mrs Inderjit Kaur Sekhon, senior vice-president: and Mrs Kuldeep Kaur and Mrs Manjit Kaur Nijjar — secretaries. Mrs Arun Mehta has been nominated as district president for Gurdaspur, while Mrs Om Wati Devi and Mrs Ranu Balmiki as vice-presidents of the Ludhiana district unit.

SEWERAGE: The sewerage work at Shaheed Karnail Singh Nagar, Pakhowal Road, which had been held up due to financial constraints will begin shortly, according to the area councillor , Mr Baldev Singh. The councillor gave this assurance to members of the Welfare Society of Phase-II here on Friday at their meeting which finalised the guide map to the locality. The councillor also told the society members that Mr Hira Singh Gabria, MLA, would be shortly making available a grant of Rs 1 lakh, for the construction of the community centre in the locality, according to Maj Sher Singh Aulakh, president of the society.

PATHANKOT
SAFETY PROBLEMS: Mr B. Vikram, Deputy Commissioner of Gurdaspur, met a committee of Army officials somewhere in the Northern Command area on Friday and apprised them of the safety problems of the inhabitants of the adjoining areas of 2 Ammunition Sub Depot.

PATIALA
RUMOURS: The Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) has scotched rumours regarding the effects of radiation that will be emitted due to the setting up of the proposed nuclear power plant at Drolli village in Patran sub division, near here. In a press release, the PSEB management has stated that after the plant comes up the farmers of the region will not have to get their agriculture produce tested. The Environmental Survey Laboratory, as a precautionary measure, will be testing samples of the produce at random. The press note also said that, at present, 14 nuclear reactors are operating in the country and no reports of any ill effects have been received till yet. The PSEB management further clarified that more than 10,000 families were living in the vicinity of all the 14 nuclear plants in the country and a comprehensive study had revealed that incidents of cancer due to excessive radiation were much less to these families as compared to the general public living in far off places.

WEEKLY OFF DAYS: In order to reduce the gap between demand and availability the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) management has decided to introduce weekly off days for the industrial sector from May 15. A press release of the board said that starting from May 15, the PSEB has decided to introduce off days on every Tuesday in industrial units in Khanna, Hoshiarpur, Amritsar and parts of Mandi Gobindgarh and Ludhiana. Thursday’s will be off days in Patiala, Faridkot and parts of Jalandhar and Ludhiana. Friday will be an off day for Ropar, SAS Nagar, Bathinda, Jalandhar and parts of Ludhiana and Gobindgarh. Power supply will be shut down on every Saturday in Kapurthala, Ludhiana (suburban) and parts of Ludhiana and Gobindgarh. Sunday will be an off day for Tarn Taran and parts of Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Gobindgarh while power supply will be shut down on every Monday in Amritsar (suburban), Sangrur, Nawanshar and parts of Ludhiana and Gobindgarh. However, it has not been made clear when these restrictions will be lifted.

FUNCTION: In the present world of competition, computer education is of utmost importance for students. The latest in information technology can enable students to tackle any situation without any hindrance in their life. This was stated by Mr Bhagat Singh, Principal Secretary, Higher Education, during the annual prize distribution function held at Mohindra College here on Saturday. He said the need of hour is to lay more emphasis on leading a comfortable and luxurious life for which one has to acquire higher as well as best education. Mr Bhagat Singh said that education means not only to grasp the books but understanding the moral values also. On the occasion, prizes were distributed to 52 students from various fields in addition to medals, scholarships and certificates of merit. Apart from this, various other students were given prizes who excelled in studies, cultural activities, sports and NCC. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Manmohan Singh Bajaj, Chairman, Improvement Trust, said the new generation should try to initiate levels for raising the status of Punjab language and Sikh history and enable the future generation to know about the same in detail.

ROPAR
BANKER’S CLUB: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Bankers Club, Ropar: president — Mr V.K. Sehgal; secretary — Mr V.P. Gupta; and treasurer — Mr M.L. Verma.

JEWELLERY EXHIBITION: An exhibition of contemporary and traditional jewellery by Asha Kamal Modi of Art Karat fame is being organised at the Kidar’s Gallery in Sector 7 from May 14. This three-day long exhibition which is called ‘Hope’ will offer the contemporary women elegant, exclusive handcraft jewellery in alloy metals studded with semi- precious stones like zircons, turquoise, amethyst, pearl and corals in an affordable price that range between Rs. 500 to Rs 5000. Asha Komal Modi, who is a familiar name in designer brand jewellery both in the national and international circle, started Art Karat in 1988 with an objective of popularising jewellery made of different metals other than gold. In her on words “I want to erase the irrational obsession of gold in a woman’s mind and make her realize that jewellery is a reflection of her personality.” A trained Gemologist , Asha Komal Modi, was honored with award for excellence by the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council in the year 1989.

SHRAMDAN: The “shramdan” at the Sukhna Lake here has received good response from the public with over 2,500 persons participating in the past one week. Those, who did “shramdan” on Saturday included Prof Hans Raj, Ms Harminder Kaur, both programme officers, along with 37 NSS volunteers of Government College, Sector 46, 50 volunteers from a Government Senior Secondary School and 65 NSS volunters of MRA Senior Secondary School, Sector 27. The UT Chief Engineer along with other officer also participated in the “shramdan”. CITCO will provide refreshments to the “shramdanis” from Monday onwards at the desilting site, according to a press note.

SONEPAT
RAID CONDUCTED: Officials of the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam from Karnal, Panipat and Sonepat conducted a surprise raid on the premises of the Haryana Steel and Alloys Limited at Murthal, about 8 km from here, on Friday to check power theft and tempering of electricity meters.

STOLEN: Thieves broke open the locks of a medical store and two other shops on the Sonepat-Rohtak road here on Friday night and decamped with cash, medicines and other goods worth several thousand rupees. According to a report, the police pressed into service the dog squad, but failed to achieve any breakthrough.

BLOOD DONATED: As many as 205 students, including 50 from Ganaur, donated blood at a camp organised by the ITI, Sonepat, and the Rotary Club (East), Faridabad, here on Friday. Mr S.N. Roy, DC, inaugurated the camp and Mr Dev Raj Dewan, MLA, gave away a wall clock and a commendation certificate to each donor.

FORCIBLE COLLECTION: Resentment prevails among traders of Ganaur mandi against the alleged forcible collection of Rs 2 per gunny bag from them by officials of the procurement agencies. They alleged that their complaints to the authorities in this regard had fallen on deaf ears. They demanded a high-level probe into the racket.

THEFT: A motor cycle was stolen from a house in Sector 14, here on Friday.

CHILD DROWNS: The Gohana police recovered the body of 3-year-old Rahul from a nullah on the Baroda road in Gohana town on Friday. The child was reportedly missing from his house and during the search operations, the parents found one of his chappals near the nullah and suspected that he had fallen into it.

BILASPUR
CHARAS SEIZED: The police on Thursday seized 510 gm of charas from a passenger of a bus going from Manali to Delhi. The Superintendent of Police, Mr Atul Verma, said the passenger, Roshanlal of Patran in Patiala district, was arrested.

SHIMLA
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Himachal Pradesh Agriculture Department NGOs Association: president — Mr Chaman Chauhan; senior vice-president — Mr Gian Kashyap; vice-president — Mr Het Ram Verma; general secretary — Mr Surinder Sharma; joint secretary — Mr Surinder Thakur; finance secretary — Mr Tara Singh Chauhan; and organising secretary — Mr Ved Parkash Sharma.

SOLAN
RAIDED: A police party, led by the Assistant Superintendent of Police, Mr Y. Lakshmipati, raided a house at Subathu on Friday and seized some incriminating material. A case has been registered.

STONE LAID: The Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal, laid the foundation stone of a Rs 7.5-crore bridge to be constructed on the Ropar-Nalagarh road, near Nalagarh, on Friday. He also inaugurated a bridge, constructed at a cost of Rs 25 lakh, at Chikni Khud. It would reduce the distance between Jagat Khana and Dhang and benefit around 5,000 persons.