AMRITSAR
EXHIBITION: An exhibition of Sardar S.G. Thakur Singh’s paintings is being held at the Indian Academy of Fine Arts on his birth anniversary. it was inaugurated by Deputy Commissioner Narinder Jit Singh. The exhibition will remain open till September 10.

BATHINDA
KISAN MELA: A kisan mela will be held at the local Regional Research Centre of Punjab Agriculture University on September 26 to educate farmers about the rabi crops, seeds, fertilisers and insecticides. This was stated in a press note issued here on Thursday by the Director of the centre.

RECRUITMENT: Recruitment for 36 posts of constable will begin on September 23, at Amritsar. This was stated in a press note issued here on Thursday by the BSF.

HONOURED: The local Brotherhood Club honoured 29 teachers of various schools at a function organised on the Teachers’ Day at St Xavier’s High School. Mr R.P. Meena, DIG, Faridkot Range, was the chief guest.

FARIDKOT
CAMP FOR DISABLED: As many as 116 hearing-aids, wheelchairs and artificial limbs were distributed among the handicapped in a camp organised by the District Elders Service Society at Sadiq village, 15 km from here, on Wednesday. According to Mr Jagmohan Singh Brar, president of the society, a team of experts headed by Dr T.N. Parmar, Principal of GGGSM College, Faridkot, examined 285 persons.

PENSIONS DISBURSED: The Punjab Government has given Rs 411.95 lakh to pay pensions to the aged, widows and the handicapped during the current financial year in the district of which Rs 71.76 lakh has been distributed among 13,514 beneficiaries. According to Deputy Commissioner A. Venu Parsad, 3,199 more beneficiaries have been identified.

WORKSHOP: The Punjab police and the Human Rights Commission jointly organised a workshop on the Indo-British project regarding rights of children and their protection against social abuses at Chand Baja village, 12 km from here, on Wednesday. More than 100 children, their parents, teachers, heads of voluntary organisations and members of the panchayat attended it. Ms Anita, Deputy Director Punjab Police Academy, Phillaur, sought the people’s cooperation to make the programme a success.

LUDHIANA
DHARNA: Telecom employees of the local division continued their dharna for the third consecutive day here on Friday in protest against the corporatisation of the department. The agitating employees also burnt the effigy of Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, Communication Minister, in front of the office of the General Manager (Telecom) near Bharat Nagar Chowk. A number of employees’ associations of the department have been organising dharna since September 6 in protest against the ongoing process of privatisation of the department. Employees from Khanna, Jagraon, Doraha, Samrala, Raekot and Mullanpur participated in the dharna. Addressing the dharna, Mr Sanjeev Gupta, District Secretary, Mr Balwinder Singh , Mr Inderjit Singh and Mr Lachman Dass stated that if the government did not consider their demands, the members will go relay fast from September 12 to 14. 

CAMP HELD: A dental awareness camp was conducted by the Indian Dental Association (IDA) at St Bawra Public High School recently. Dr Ajay Shahi, President of the Ludhiana chapter of IDA, Dr Surinder Singh, Vice-President, and Dr Neeraj Taneja, lecturer, BJS Dental College, Hospital and Research Institute, educated the students on dental problems and necessary precautions to be taken. The students were told to get dental check-up done every six months. The students were also told to check their dietary habits and avoid sticky and sweet food and consume fibrous food. Mr Satish Soi, Director, and Mr Chandra Prabha, Principal, appreciated the role of the IDA in bringing awareness among the school children. 

ORGANISED: A function was organised to welcome the freshers of Punjab Agricultural University, by the Guru Gobind Singh Study Circle. The function was presided over by Dr K.S. Aulakh, acting Vice-Chancellor, PAU. The evening of the function termed out to be an informative get-together for the freshers of the university and were informed about the rules and regulations of the library by Ms Harpal Kaur, Deputy Librarian, and the sports and co-curricular facilities were elaborated by Mr J.S. Toor, Joint Director Sports and Cultural activities. Earlier the function started with a dramatic presentation depicting present-day social scenario. Dr K.S. Aulakh emphasised the need for the uplift of moral and ethical values among the students of the PAU by participating in the activities of the Guru Gobind Singh Study Circle. Mr S. Sarbjeet Singh, Assistant Prof, Journalism, informed about the manifesto of ‘Culture of Peace’ adopted by UNESCO and asked the students to participate in such global movements. 

CINEMA TICKETS : Sonapunjab.com, a web site recently launched by two Ludhianvis, has introduced a unique feature of booking cinema tickets, flowers and food through the Internet. Even though the service has been started at a few outlets only, collaborations with more cinema halls, eateries and flower shops will be made, informed Mr Davinder Gandhi and Mr Sandeep Khanna of Sona Infosys. Second hand cars can also be bought and sold through the site. Besides this, the site also gives information on computer institutes of Punjab.

MOGA
BARBER SHOP: The management and students of a girls school at Suratduna village under the Nihalsinghwala police station in the district on Thursday urged the district administration to direct the owner of a barber shop situated in front of the school to shift it to some other place. They alleged that the shop become a source of embarrassment for schoolgirls.

COMPLAINT: Amayat Khan of Charik village in the district, in a complaint lodged with the Punjab Wakf Board on Friday alleged that Sewak Singh had illegally occupied a piece of land being used as a graveyard here.

INQUIRY SOUGHT: A widow, Manjit Kaur, of Jeeta Singhwala village under the Baghapurana police station on Thursday sought an inquiry against an official of the PSEB for allegedly molesting her. She has written to the department concerned and contacted the sarpanch of the village in this regard.

PATIALA
AWARD: Ms Baljeet Sandhu, lecturer of Life Sciences at Punjabi University was given the “Best Poster Award” at the 22nd international conference of the International Council for Physical Activity and Fitness Reseach (ICPAFR) held on August 26 to 28 at Baptist University, Hongkong. The award was presented by the president of ICPAFR, Dr A.L. Claessens of Katholeike University, Belgium at Yau Yat Tsuen Garden City Club, Kowloon Tong, this was stated in a press note issued by the university here on Friday. 

DELAY: The Council of Junior Engineers, PSEB, expressed serious concern over the delay in finalising the issues which were agreed upon by the management and the Council of JEs. The demands put forward by the JE council included finalising of basic and promotional scales through a high power committee, granting of Induction Post benefit, enhancement of promotion avenue of JEs by ensuring at least three effective promotions in their career through an existing committee, reduction in time gap for promotion from AAE to AE to three years and booking of unjustified labour amount of workcharge staff on revenue heads. Releasing a press note here on Friday the council’s general secretary Mr P.K. Alupuria said that most of the issues remain unimplemented, which has generated a wave of resentment among the Junior Engineers. 

CONFERENCE: The 2nd International Jyotish Conference 2000, is being organised by Prof Dr Ved Prakash Upadhyaya, Honorary Director of the International Federation of Astrology and Spiritual Science, at the English auditorium, Panjab University on Saturday and Sunday. Delegates from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Italy, Singapore, Canada, Australia, Ireland are participating in the conference. There will be sessions pertaining to vastushatra, astrology, palmistry, numerology and yoga tantra. Dr Bhupendra Soni of Baroda will preside over the conference. Gio Vanna Mazzarino(Italy), Dr Khilanath Basatakoty (Nepal), Mrs Geeta Jayasuriya and Prof R.K. Rohan Sisira Kumara (Sri Lanka), Prof Monjurul Ahsan (Bangladesh) and Mr Daswani (Singapore) will be special guests of honour. 

FREEDOM FLAME: South-East Asian Flame for Freedom from Tobacco on its way from Leh to Kanya Kumari, is reaching the city on Saturday. The first programme is going to be held at Shivalik Public School, Sector 41 from 10.45 a.m. to 11.30 a.m.; the second at 11.45 a.m. to 12.45 p.m. at the Government College, Sector 46; and the third programme at 3 p.m. at the Government College for Education, Sector 20 D. 

WEEK CELEBRATED: To mark of the 44th anniversary of LIC the Morinda branch office of the LIC celebrated insurance week from Sept 1 to 7 by organising special camps at Chamkaur Sahib, Kurali and Morinda. As many as 350 customers were attended to and were provided with detailed information regarding the various policies of the corporation. This was stated in a press release issued here on Friday by Mr Gurdip Singh, branch manager. A special counter to sort out the difficulties faced by customers were sorted out. A customer meet was also organised on the BO premises. 

HONOURED: The Lions Club Supreme, organised a function to mark Teachers Day at the Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 45 here on Friday. At the function six teachers from various schools were honoured for their distinguished services in the field of education. The teachers who were honoured are Ms Seema Chopra from GMSSS-18, Mr Shingara Singh, Principal of GSSS-45, Ms Sunisha Sharma from GMSSS-18, Ms Urmil Seth from Shishu Niketan, Ms Vibha Gautam from Shishu Niketan and Ms Savinderjeet Kaur from GSSS-45. 

WELCOMED: “Freshers Night” was celebrated at the Government College for Girls, Sector 42, hostel today. The seniors of the college hostel organized a colourful evening for the newcomers to the hostel. The Principal Mrs Mohini Sharma was the Chief Guest at the function. Continuing the tradition of youth culture in the city, the girls of the college danced in groups to the latest pop and Hindi film numbers and sang songs. The highlight of the show was modeling by the freshers from which a Miss Fresher, a Miss Elegant and a Miss Perfect were chosen along with two runners up.

FUNCTION: Students of Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, will present a cultural programme to mark the 9th annual day function at Bhargava Auditorium of the PGI on Saturday. Lieut-Gen (retd.) J.F.R. Jacob, Governor, Punjab, will be the chief guest. 

AWARENESS CAMP: The Chandigarh Social Welfare Advisory Board will organise an ‘‘Awareness generation camp for rural and poor women’’ in Government Senior Secondary School, Ram Darwar, Phase II, on Saturday. Ms Kamla Sharma, Chairperson, will be the chief guest. 

PLANTED: As many as 200 saplings of 15 species were planted by members of the Environment Club, Government Polytechnic for Women, Sector 10, on Friday. The president of the society, Mr S.K. Sharma, stressed upon planting more trees to keep the environment pollution free. 

MEETING: Residents of Bapu Dham Colony, Phase II, held a meeting over the problems being faced by them for the past many years. Later, Mr Dalip Sharma, mandal president and general secretary, Labour Colony cell of the BJP, Chandigarh unit, submitted a memorandum to the Mayor of the Municipal Corporation.

DONATION: An eye donation camp was organised in Jainendra Public School, Sector 1, on Friday. A lecture was also delivered by Dr Pankaj Gupta to educate the students, according to Ms Sudha Babbar, Principal of the school.

MEMO: Nine members of the high power committee of the Chandigarh UT Subordinate Service Federation have expressed solidarity with the agitating employees of the Super Bazar Employees Joint Action Committee. A memorandum was also given to the Adviser of the Administrator.

CRITICISED: Members of the Chandigarh UT Subordinate Services Federation have criticised the Chandigarh Administration for carrying out amendments in the Chandigarh Stage Carriage Permit Scheme, 1998. They have appealed the Administration to withdraw the notification.

BILASPUR
POLICE FUNCTIONING: Mr Atul Verma, SP, on Thursday led 335 schoolchildren in batches to the Sadar police station here and apprised them of the working of the police station and the method of the registration of an FIR. This was done as part of a campaign to make people aware of the functioning of the police.

KULU
COMMUNITY BHAVAN: Mr Chander Sen, MLA and Vice-Chairman of the HPMC, inaugurated a community bhavan at Archhandi village, about 15 km from here, on Wednesday. The building was constructed by the Kali Yuvak Mandal of the village at a cost of Rs 45,000. He gave Rs 20,000 to the Mahila Mandal for the construction of a road in the village.