AMRITSAR
NEURO SURGEON: Dr Ajit Randhawa, neuro surgeon, participated in the annual meeting of the American Association of Minimally Invasive Spinal Medicine and Surgery held at Phoenix, USA, on December 28, 2002. Dr Randhawa presented his paper on new techniques in the treatment of spine problem including disc surgery.INVITED: Dr Sanjay Arora, psychiatrist, has been invited to participate in the international conference on de-addiction to be held in Israel from January 8 to 12. Dr Sanjay Arora will present papers on drug addiction.
FARIDKOT
DISTRIBUTED: Mr A.Venu Prasad, Deputy Commissioner, distributed cheques amounting to over Rs 20 lakh to 180
beneficiaries belonging to the weaker sections of the society under the Indira Awas Yojna at a simple and impressive function here on Saturday.
ARRESTED: As part of the campaign against the abuse of drugs in Faridkot district a team of the district Health Department with the help of members of the Sahara Service Society on Saturday caught a resident of Mohalla Mahikhana here while selling poppy husk. He has been identified as Gian Chand.
FATEHGARH SAHIB
ROAD SAFETY WEEK: To create awareness among people regarding traffic rules, the Transport Department would observe Road Safety Week from Monday. This was stated by Mr Vikas Partap, Deputy Commissioner, here on Sunday. Functions would be organised at various places during the week. On Monday, truck drivers would be told regarding traffic rules. Free eye check-up and pollution checking camps would also be conducted on the occasion. A camp to issue learning licenses would be held at Mandi Gobindgarh on Wednesday with the assistance of the Gobindgarh Club, Mandi Gobindgarh. A poster-making competition would be organised on Friday and a free pollution control camp would be organised on Sunday.
GURDASPUR
HELD: The police has detained Mangal Singh, and Gaurav for selling and giving on rent pirated CD films and video cassettes. Mr Varinder Kumar, SSP, on Sunday said that five CDs of blue films and 248 video cassettes had been recovered.
ARRESTED: The police on Sunday arrested Ravi Singh, a resident of Chhanni Maula, for selling drugs without prescription. A case under Section 188, IPC, was registered against the accused on Saturday.
HOSHIARPUR
BOYCOTT THREAT: The struggle committee of 909 retrenched panchayat secretaries has decided to boycott the proposed test being conducted by the Punjab Government on February 23 for the recruitment of 700 new panchayat secretaries in the state.
ARRESTED: The police has arrested three persons involved in circulating fake currency notes of Rs 500 denomination. It may be recalled that the police recently busted a gang which used to prepare counterfeit currency and arrested its three members.
JHANDA KALAN
RECOMMENDED: The district administration has recommended to the Union Government the names of Major Singh, Gurjit Singh and Kashmir Singh of Jhanda Kalan village, who sacrificed their lives to save two persons for gallantry wards.
LUDHIANA
ADULT
LITERACY: The Gill road branch of the State Bank of India here organised an adult literacy programme for the uneducated adults of the area. According to Mr S.K. Kapoor, Chief Manager, basics of the vernacular was taught to the adults by the bank staff. About 30 adults participated in the programme. Study material contributed by the staff members out of their savings, was distributed among the participants free of cost. On the occasion, each member of the bank took a pledge to educate one adult during the year.
FOUNDATION
STONE: The Local Bodies Minister, Mr Jagjit Singh, will lay the foundation stone of a project for paving of roads and streets in Daulat Colony in the Sunder Nagar locality here on January 6. Stating this, the area councillor, Mr Rajesh Jain, (Kala Navkar), said the City Mayor, Mr Nahar Singh Gill, would preside over the function.
CONGRESS
SEWA DAL: On the directions of Mr Rajinder Raj Gasgonia, chief organiser of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Sewa Dal, the additional chief organiser, Mr Ravinder Singh Bagga, has dissolved the district (urban) unit of the dal with immediate effect. Addressing a meeting in Basti Abdullapur here, Mr Bagga announced that Mr Nirmal Singh Kaira had been nominated acting district chief for the time being. Prominent among others present at the meeting were Dr Mohan Lal, additional chief organiser, Ms Inderjit Mohi, Mr Gurnam Singh, Mr Amit Kumar Sharma, Mr Surinder Kumar, Mr Tilak Raj, Mr Mandip Singh, Mr Vijay Sharma, Mr Raj Kumar, Mr Kaka Singh, Mr Gulzar Singh and Mr Bodh Singh.
CONTEST: To mark the end of Christmas festivities Father Daniel Gill of Holy Christ Church, Sarabha Nagar, organised a carol-singing contest on the church premises. The competition got underway at 11am on Sunday. Eight solo participants and six carol singing groups from different parishes participated in the contest. The function was inaugurated by Ms Promilla Christopher, a gazetted officer with the Central government. The judges were Ms Balbir Kaur, music teacher from Sacred Heart Convent Senior Secondary School, and sister Kripa Jose and sister Lucia from Sacred Heart School, BRS Nagar. Mr. Premchand, Joint Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana, gave away prizes to the winners.
COMPUTER
CENTRE: The Youth Services Club, in collaboration with the District Youth Centre, Ludhiana, has started a computer centre here. The centre was inaugurated by Mr Palwinder Singh Grewal, chairman, YHAI, on Sunday morning. The club secretary said the centre would provide free training to boys and girls. The centre is situated in Rameshwar Public School, Jain Nagar, Shivpuri. There are 30 seats at present.
LOHRI
CELEBRATIONS: The Malwa Sabhiyacharack Manch, Punjab, will celebrate Lohri on January 10 in Punjabi Bhavan here. This was stated by the chairman of the manch, Mr K.K. Bawa, and its president, Mr Pawan Dewan, in a written statement. The manch has invited singers like Harbhajan Mann, Hans Raj Hans, Sardool Sikander, Pammi Bai, Jassi, Mohammad Saddique, Surinder Chhinda, Kuldeep Manak, Parminder Sandhu, Amar Noorie, Sukhwiner Sukhi, Jaswant Sandila, Ravinder Grewal and Inderjit Nikku, Angrez Ali, and many others. Healthy baby and ‘dastar bandi’ contests will also be organised.
CELEBRATIONS: To mark the birthday of Guru Gobind Singh, gurpurb celebrations will be organised in Gurdwara Dukh Niwaran Sahib from Tuesday to Thursday. Stating this, Bhai Pritpal Singh, head sewadar of the gurdwara, said ‘akhand path’ would begin on Tuesday and end on Thursday. It would be followed by ‘katha’ and ‘kirtan’ till midnight, he said. Bhai Harnaam Singh from Srinagar, Bhai Onkar Singh from
Amritsar, Bhai Tejinder Singh from Shimla, Bhai Gurcharan Singh from New Delhi and Bhai Amarjit Singh from Patiala would be among the popular ‘kirtani jathas’, the said.
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Punjab Agricultural University Supervisory Staff Association: president — Mr M.R. Passi; vice-president — Mr Surinder Singh; secretary — Mr R.C. Sudan; joint secretary — Mr Daljit Singh; treasurer — Mr Subhash Chander; counsellors — Mr A.S. Marjara, Mr M.S. Bhinder and Mr S.K. Verma.
OPPOSED: The United Cycle and Parts Manufacturers Association has condemned the decision of the Punjab State Electricity Board to increase electricity tariff in the state by 25 per cent for all categories of connections. Stating this, Mr Varinder Kapoor, general secretary of the association, said the board had already increased the tariff from 20 to 30 per cent which was badly affecting the industry. He said any further increase would compel the industrialists to shift their units to other states. He said members of the association had also appealed to the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, to intervene into the matter.
HONOURED: The Ludhiana City Junior Chamber (Jaycees), a youth organisation providing leadership development opportunities, held its national convention in Nagpur from December 26 to 29. Jasminder Singh from Ludhiana was given an award for the most outstanding Jaycee. Mr Jaswaninder Singh has conducted 20 training programmes in public speaking and community development. On Friday he was felicitated here at a function, which was attended by members of four chapters namely Ludhiana City, Ludhiana Central, Ludhiana Midtown and Ludhiana Elite.
CONFERENCE: The Electrohomeopathic Doctors Association, Punjab, will organise an international conference on the occasion of the 194th birth anniversary of Count Ceasre Mattie, the founder of electrohomeopathy, on January 11 at Kotkapura. Dr K.S. Khiara, its press secretary, said the conference would be inaugurated by Mr Ramesh Chander Dogra, Health and Family Welfare Minister, and would be presided over by Mr Ramesh Dutt Sharma, State Health and Family Minister.
MANSA
REMANDED: Makhan Singh, a junior assistant in the Divisional Forest Office here, who was caught by the Vigilance Bureau on Friday accepting a bribe of Rs 500 from Mr Tara Singh, a retired forest guard, for preparing some pension documents, was produced before the Duty Magistrate, Ms Jatinder Kaur, on Sunday. He was remanded in judicial custody till January 19.
BKU(E) MEETING: The district unit of the BKU(E) in its meeting held here on Sunday at a gurdwara with Mr Ruldu Singh, senior vice-president of the state unit of the BKU, in the Chair opposed the privatisation of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB). It decided not to allow PSEB officials to disconnect power connections to tubewells .
NAWANSHAHR
SCOOTER MARCH: Activists of the Kirti Kisan Union held a ‘scooter march’ on Saturday in a number of adjoining villages to mobilise farmers to boycott the payment of power bills re-imposed by the Congress government. Mr Surinder Singh Bains, Mr Harmesh Dhesi and Mr Daljit Singh, senior leaders of the union, addressing the rallies at various villages accused the Congress government of betraying the farmers who were reeling under the burden of huge debt.
PATIALA
SCHOOL INAUGURATED: Green Fields, a playway school for kids, was inaugurated here on Sunday by Mr Gopal Singla, Municipal Counsellor, Patiala. While appreciation the modern facilities provided by the school, Mr Singla said audio-visual aids along with books and other learning aids would create the right environment for the young mind to grow. A cultural show was presented by small children. The Principal, Ms Kamal Kishore, stated that the school would be upgraded to senior level soon.
OFFICE-BEARERS: The elections of the Punjab Pensioners Welfare Association will be held at the Central Public Library, here on January 18. Mr Dyal Singh Bajaj, its general secretary, stated that while the president, the general secretary and the finance secretary will be elected, the other office-bearers would be nominated by the elected members.
EXHIBITION: The 5th Punjab NCC Army Battalion organised an arms exhibition at National High School on the occasion of introducing an NCC course in the school, here on Sunday. Two NCC instructors exhibited the use of medium machine guns and .303 rifles to the students. The Principal, Ms Harinder Kaur, stated that the NCC course had been introduced in the school with a view to the all-round development of students.
DISTRIBUTED: The Basant Ritu Youth Club,
Tripuri, in association with the Nehru Yuva Kendra and the Asian Foundation for Help on Sunday distributed coats and shoes among nearly 565 students belonging to 40 schools. Rations were also distributed by the SDM, Patiala, Mr Manjeet Singh Narang.
TARN TARAN
NARCOTICS SEIZED: Verowal police recovered 291 intoxicant tablets and 101 capsules from the possession of Manohar Lal resident of Nagoke village on Friday night. A case under Sections 22, 61, 85 of the NDPS act has been registered.
