AMRITSAR
ACTING SCHOOL: Padmini Kohlapure, who was on a visit to the city, said a two-week workshop on acting would precede the opening of her acting school here. The school would charge Rs 250 for every audition, she added.

ABOHAR
LOK ADALAT: As many as 118 cases were decided at a lok adalat held here on Saturday. The Subdivisional Legal Services Committee held the quarterly lok adalat under the supervision of Mr M.M. Singh Bedi, District and Sessions Judge, Ferozepore. The two Benches were presided over by Civil Judges Mr D.S. Johal and Mr L.K. Singla. A sum of Rs 16.21 lakh was awarded to claimants.

BANNED: Ms Raji P. Srivasatava, District Magistrate, has banned the movement of harvester combines on roads and harvesting of the paddy crop with harvest combines between 7 p.m. and 8 a.m. The order will remain in force till November 16.

REMANDED: Dr Pushpinder Singla, Medical Officer, Government Rural Hospital, Bhikhi, who was arrested while allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 3,000 from Mr Parvinder Kumar Sharma, was remanded in police custody for one day by the Chief Judicial Magistrate.

CONFERENCE: A district cooperative conference was organised on Friday by Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited here. Capt Tejinder Singh, Deputy Registrar, cooperative societies of the district, was the chief guest. Participants discussed the use of fertlisers.

PATHANKOT
ARRESTED: The police has arrested Rakesh Singh, Navin Singh, Harish Singh, Raghunath Singh and Baljinder Singh, residents of Saili Kulian here, for allegedly injuring Gharo Ram of the locality. An FIR has been registered under Sections 323, 324, 148 and 149 of the IPC.

PATIALA
DECISION WELCOMED: The Focal Point Industrial Association thanked the Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, and Local Bodies Minister, Mr Balramji Das Tandon, for deciding to abolish octroi during a general body meeting of the association held here on Sunday. The association president, Mr Murari Lal Goyal, said though the final decision would be taken by the end of the month, the abolition was a positive step towards the overall development of the industrial sector. He added that the long-pending agenda of the association members related to house tax was solved with the consent between the members and Municipal Corporation. Speaking on the occasion, general secretary, Mr Bharat Teja said the enhancement case regarding the price of industrial plots in the area, of all the factory owners in the Focal Point Industrial Area, had almost been completed. Mr Goyal said under the enhancement case, the land owners in the focal point area were asked to pay Rs 325 per sq yard, which may now be reduced to Rs 265 per sq yard. 

DEMANDED: The All India Telecom Employees Union, Class III, took serious note of the mishandling of power by Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, Minister of Telecommunications, by appointing more than the sanctioned strength as TAC members in various circles of the country. This was stated by Mr S.K.Singhi, District Secretary during a meeting held here on Sunday. Mr Singhi said Mr Paswan had added an extra burden on the state exchequer by nominating 19,000 TAC members throughout India as TAC members. He said extra members should be immediately removed else the Central Government should bear the expenses. He added that there were a total of 483 TAC members in Punjab circle. He opined that these TAC members did not even pay their telephone bills for the calls above the free call facility of 1,150 calls allowed to them. He demanded an inquiry into the matter so that the telephone connections of such members could be discontinued.

DEBATE ORGANISED: Rakesh Ankit of Military School, Chail, bagged the first position at the second ‘Padamashree J.K. Kate Memorial All-India Public School English Debate, organised by Punjab Public School (PPS), Nabha, here on Sunday. Divya Sharda of the PPS and Shreyant Divyanker of Scindia School, Gwalior, got second and third positions, respectively. Scindia School won the overall trophy followed by PPS, Nabha and YPS, Patiala, on second and third positions, respectively. Giving this information, Mr M.S. Bedi, Headmaster of the school, said 18 participants from nine schools had participated in the debate competition. The topic of the debate was ‘As all peaceful means to solve the Kashmir problem have failed, so war is the only solution’. Brigadier D.S. Grewal, Station Commander, Nabha, was the chief guest and Prof Inder Mohan, Principal of Government Ripuduman College, Nabha, was the chairman on the occasion. Major Amarjit Sirohi, Dr Idris Khan and Major Sanjay Maini were the judges. 

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Mukat Pipes Workers Union, Rajpura: president — Mr Naib Singh; general secretary — Mr Avtar Gill, cashier — Mr Baljit Singh; vice-president — Mr Tara Singh; and joint secretary — Mr Sukhdev Singh. 

MUSICAL PLAY: A Punjabi musical play ‘Daire’ — a social satire on female foeticide — was staged by the district administration in association with various other organisations at Baradari Garden here on Sunday. The inaugural performance was organised to celebrate the ‘Women Empowerment’ year in association with National Theatre Arts Society (NTAS), Hospital Welfare Section, St John and Red Cross Society, Patiala. Directed by Mr Pran Sabharwal, the script of the play was based on Dr Satish Kumar Verma’s ‘Daire’. The programme comprised of group songs and dances, besides the play which was inaugurated by Mrs Krishan Gupta, former chairperson Hospital Welfare Section, Red Cross. Mrs Surinder Kaur Grewal, chairperson, Women Commission, while presiding over the function announced a cash award for NTAS and said the play would be staged at other places of the state too. 

PHILLAUR
ASSURANCE: Mr P.K. Kheti chief adviser, Punjab Private Schools Organisation on Saturday said the Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, had given an assurance to a delegation of the organisation on the demands which include abolition of house tax and water and electricity on concessional rates.

SAMANA
EYE CAMP: An eye camp was organised by the Satsang Bhavan Committee here on Saturday. Dr B.S. Chhabra, SMO, Civil Hospital, Sangrur, and his team examined about 800 patients and operated upon 90 others. Medicines, food and spectacles were given to patients free of cost.

MEETING HELD: A meeting of the local Arhtiya Association was held under the chairmanship of Mr Tarsem Chand Singla, president of the association, at the local Aggarwal Dharamshala on Saturday. The meeting, also attended by the SDM, Samana, the DFSC, Patiala, the DM, Punsup, Patiala, and the DM, Markfed, Patiala, was held to discuss arrangements for the procurement of paddy.

SAMRALA
APPOINTED: Mr Parminder Singh Gill, a local advocate, has been appointed general secretary of the Legal Cell of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee by the state President, Capt. Amarinder Singh. He has been appointed on the recommendation of the chairman of the Legal Cell. 

STRIKE: Members of the local unit of the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union observed a two-hour strike from September 12 to 22 on the Malwa college campus. The teachers were demanding the release of pension-cum-gratuity schemes, release of arrears and house rent allowance for colleges in rural areas. 

SAHIT MANCH: A mini-story competition will be organised by the Punjab Sahit and Sabhyacharak Manch, Alloona Tola. President of the manch Mohan Singh Malhans has asked the participants to send two copies of their stories by October 15 to general secretary of the manch Jatinder Singh Hans. 

BILASPUR
SANCTIONED: The state Health and Family Welfare Minister, Mr Jagat Prakash Nadda, held a series of meetings at Salnoo, Khangad, Baghad, Bhated, Delga, Kandraur, Jablyana, Dhaar, Gwalimathani, Malyawar, Bhatoli and Balch in the Bilaspur Sadar constituency on Saturday

KULU
GUTTED: A two-storeyed residential building was gutted in a devastating fire at Pangan village under Manali subdivision of the district on Friday. Mr Ashwani Sood, Tehsildar, Manali, visited the village and gave a relief of Rs 5,000 to the owner of the house.

SCHOLARSHIPS: Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students of Government Post Graduate College here have not been given scholarships for the past two years. This was stated by Vinod Kaistha, president, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, in a press note here on Saturday. A memorandum in this regard had been given to the Principal of the college, he added

PARWANOO
SONG COMPETITION: A national group song competition was organised by the Kalka-Parwanoo branch of Bharat Vikas Parishad at Raju Palace Hall here on Sunday. Mr Manu Anand, general-manager of Purolator India Ltd., was the chief guest at the function. The function was sponsored by the local branch of Punjab National Bank. As many as 13 teams from various schools from the nearby areas took part in the competition. The teams were divided into senior and junior sections. Hindu Senior Secondary School won the first prize and Arya Senior Secondary School stood second in the senior section and DAV School, Surajpur, bagged first prize and Himachal Primary School stood second in the junior section. 

SHIMLA
WARNED: Mr Gopal Das Verma, working president of the National Federation, has warned the state government against scrapping the State Administrative Tribunal and said employees of the state would launch an agitation if it went ahead with the move. He said the tribunal had provided relief to many employees.

URGED: The Himachal Pradesh Promotee School Lecturer Association has urged the government not to close down the four zonal offices of the Deputy Director of Education. It pointed out that district education officers were already overburdened with work and assigning more duties to them would further affect the efficiency of the department.