Conference on dentistry: The 21st national conference of the Indian Society of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry will open here on Sunday at Government Dental College. The Chairperson, Dr Navneet Grewal, told newspersons on Friday that over 300 delegates from the country and abroad would participate. The conference would be inaugurated by the Finance Minister, Capt Kanwaljit Singh.

Engineers' demand: The president of the Diploma Engineers Association of the Irrigation Department, Mr Jaskaran Singh Virk, in a press note issued here on Friday said according to the rules, all diploma holder engineers join as Junior Engineers and retire on the same post. He said despite various representations to the government and a meeting with the Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, their demand had not been met. The association urged the government to notify the post of Junior Engineer as a gazetted one and give time bound promotions to JEs.

Cyclone relief fund: Inmates of the All-India Pingalwara Charitable Society have contributed Rs 4,125 to the cyclone relief fund. The general manager of the society, Mr Surjit Singh Rahi, in a press note issued here on Friday said handicapped girls had collected the money by selling candles made by them during Divali.

'Adopt a granny scheme': The All-India Women Conference here on Friday adopted 68 old women under the 'adopt a granny scheme' with the support of HelpAge International. The president of the conference, Mrs Ranjit Chatha, in a press note issued here, said under the scheme, food and new clothes would be given to them besides other items.

FEROZEPORE
Ban on carrying arms: The Additional District Magistrate has banned the carrying of arms at marriage parties in the district under Section 144 of the Cr PC. The order will remain in force till December 31. The order has been issued to avoid any mishap during marriage functions.

MC election postponed: The election to the posts of senior vice-president and vice-president of the local municipal council was postponed on Friday as none of the councillors proposed any name for these posts.

LUDHIANA
Disciplinary action sought: The PPCC secretaries, Mr Krishan Kumar Bawa and Mr Gurdev Singh Labran, and General Secretary, Mr Nahar Singh Gill, have demanded disciplinary action against senior Congressman and former MLA Bir Devinder Singh for his remarks on the auctioning of the turban of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh.

Water project sanctioned: The Water Supply and Sewerage Board has sanctioned a Rs 33.54 crore project to install 56 new tubewells and lay water supply lines for the people residing in areas where the water from the Buddha nullah and the industrial effluents had seeped into the drinking water supply. This was announced at a general house meeting of the municipal corporation here on Friday.

Seminar organised: A seminar was organised by the Wool and Woollens Export Promotion Council and the National Institute of Fashion Technology on woollen knitwear forecast autumn/winter-2000-2001. It was inaugurated by Lala Lajpat Rai, a senior parliamentarian and pioneer of the woollen hosiery industry.

Fellowship awarded: Dr B.S. Dhillon, Assistant Director-General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, has been awarded fellowship by the Indian National Science Academy. Dr Dhillon is an internationally reputed maize breeder and geneticist.

Appointed: The Chandigarh Administration has appointed Mr V.S. Bhargava, Labour-cum-Conciliation Officer-designated as Counciliation Officer charged with the duty of setting industrial disputes.

Computerised: The Sector-42 Attawa branch of the State Bank of India has been computerised. With this the number of computerised branches of the bank in the city have risen to 19. According to a press note, the new branch will provide better customer services and will remain open between 10.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. on week days and from 10.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. on Saturdays.

Flagged off: A bus carrying more than 100 participants of the Thalassemics Children Welfare Association, Chandigarh, was flagged off on Saturday by Dr Lata Kumar, Head of the Paediatrics Department, PGI. The Federation of Indian Thalassemics, New Delhi (FIT), which comprises 25 thalassemics societies of India is organising a march on Sunday at the India Gate to mark the National Thalassemia Day.

Teachers’ body: The UT Teachers Association has elected following officer-bearers unanimously for the term 1999-2000. President — Mr Amar Singh Hayatpur; Senior Vice-President — Mr Ramesh Kumar Vasudev; Vice-Presidents — Mr S.S. Gill and Mr Rajinder Kumar; General Secretaries — Mr Ashok Kumar Sharma and Mr Jagtar Singh Rana; Secretaries — Mr K.S. Pathania and Mr Avtar Singh; Secretary Finance — Mr R.D. Kaushal; Press Secretary — Mr T.R. Badwal.

PANCHKULA
Workshop: An orientation workshop on HIV/AIDS for the children of Senior Secondary Schools at Morni, was held here on Saturday. The workshop was organised by the Survival of Young and Adolescent (Surya) Foundation for the first time at Morni, a press release said. As many as 70 students and 10 teachers from different schools in the area participated in the workshop.

Campaign: In response to the call of the District Administration, the Residents Welfare Association of Sector 21, with assistance from the Shiv Shakti Sankeertan Mandal, launched a door-to-door campaign to collect aid material for the victims of the super cyclone in Orissa, a press release said.

SAS NAGAR
Plea: The Citizen’s Welfare Council of SAS Nagar has urged the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA) to get the encroachers removed from Guru Nanak and ‘Jhotakut’ labour colonies in the town.

Function held: The Lions Club (Chandigarh) Nintingale organised a function on the eve of Children’s Day at Government Higher Secondary School, Sohana, near here on Saturday. Ms Sublesh Bansal, President of the Chandigarh unit of the club said 100 jerseys were distributed to students to Class VIII, IX and X.

SONEPAT
Case registered: The Baroda police has registered a case against Mr Rajinder, a sarpanch of Mahra village, on the charge of embezzlement of public funds on a complaint of the Block Development and Panchayat Officer, Gohana. The SSP, Mr K.P. Singh, told newspersons here on Saturday that the police was investigating the case and no arrest had been made.

Goods burnt: Goods worth several thousands of rupees were reduced to ashes in a fire which broke out in the house of Mr Narinder Kumar in the Shanti Vihar colony here on Friday night. The cause of fire was not immediately known as the owner of the house had gone to his native village. The neighbours brought the fire under control with sand and water after a struggle of over an hour.

Office-bearers: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Sector 14 Welfare Association: president- Mr Sushil Chand Jain; vice-presidents- Mr D.N. Madan and Mr V.K. Kapoor; general secretary- Mr Diwan Singh; organising secretary- Mr Thakur Dass Taneja; and treasurer — Mr M.H. Ansari.

Thieves held: The police has arrested two persons, Mohinder of the Mam Chand colony and Yoginder of Purkhas village, on the charge of theft and recovered stolen property worth Rs 25,000 from their possession. The SSP, Mr K.P. Singh, told news-persons here on Saturday that the property recovered included five computers, one printer and some other computer-related goods. The culprits, he said, had stolen these goods from a computer centre owned by Mr Virender of Sonepat city.

YAMUNANAGAR
Part-time sweepers: The part-time sweepers working in primary schools in the district have not been paid salary for the past 18 months. There are about 100 sweepers who are working in Yamunanagar on a monthly salary of Rs 300. Mr P.L. Babbar, District Education Officer, said the sweepers had not been paid wages because the government had not released money for the purpose.

JAWALAMUKHI
Youth festival: A two-day youth festival of HP University concluded on Friday at Government Degree College, Dhaliara, 20 km from here. More than 300 student artistes from various colleges of the state participated in the festival. The President of the state unit of the BJP, Mr Suresh Chandel, distributed the prizes to the winners of different items.

KULU
Blood donation: The local branch of the State Bank of India organised a blood donation camp at Government Degree College on Friday. As many as 150 students and 20 bank employees donated blood.

NURPUR
Schoolgirl raped: A student of class XI of Government Senior Secondary School, Raja Katalab, near here, was allegedly raped by Chain Singh of Banolli village when she was returning home on Tuesday. A case has been registered.

SHIMLA
Blood donation camp: As many as 250 persons donated blood at a camp organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad in the state to mark the death anniversary of Sunil Upadhyay on Friday. The camp was inaugurated by Mr Deepak Sharma, vice-chairman of the state Red Cross Society, by donating blood for the 63rd time. In all, 73 workers of the parishad donated blood.