AMRITSAR
INSTALLED: The following have been installed office-bearers of Lions Club, Golden Temple: president — Mr S.S. Narang; secretary — Mr H.S. Walia and treasurer — Mr J.S. Arora.

WELFARE SCHEMES: The Shiv Sena (Bal Thackeray) in a letter to the Chief Minister, the Deputy Commissioner and the SDMs has demanded welfare schemes for the villagers of Rurey Asal, near Tarn Taran. It demanded pucca houses, exemption to the tune of 50 units of electricity and old-age pension.

BARNALA
EYE CAMP: The Lions Club (Harmony) will organise a three-day eye operation camp at the Primary Health Centre, Longowal from September 11. This was stated in a press note issued here on Friday by Dr Sandeep Kumar, president of the club.

SEIZED: The local police seized six bags of poppy husk from a tractor-trailer on the Barnala-Patti road. This was stated by Mr Ajaib Singh Kaleka, SSP, in a press note issued here on Friday.

BATHINDA
PENSION ADALAT: A pension adalat was organised here on Friday by the Punjab State Electricity Board ( PSEB) under the chairmanship of Mr Baldev Singh Mann, Administrative Member, PSEB. As many as 52 cases were settled.

EYE DONATION CAMP: An eye donation camp was organised by the local Divine Eye Research Foundation and Baba Brahm Dass Youth Welfare Club at Sema Kalan village on Friday. In a press note issued here on Friday Mr Rakesh Kumar, president of the club, said at least 200 persons were examined and given medicines free of cost. Ms Gurminder Pal Kaur, Deputy District Education Officer inaugurated the camp.

GURDASPUR
STRANGLED: Saroop Singh Baath and his son Bikramjit Singh (27) of Sukha Raju under the Dhariwal police station were strangled to death on Thursday by the latter’s in-laws when they were coming back home from their fields. However, Sukhjinder Singh, another son of the deceased managed to escape. A case under Section 302 of the IPC has been registered against Gurnam Singh, father-in-law, Balli and Doctor, both brothers-in-law, Gurpal Singh, a police constable posted at Batala city, Sukhdev Singh, alias Begi, and few others. Gurpal Singh has been arrested.

KHAMANON
MEMORANDUM: A deputation of the Youth Welfare Sports Club, Nanowal Kalan village, met the Speaker of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Mr Charanjit Singh Atwal, and presented a memorandum of demands to him. Mr Atwal announced a grant of Rs 25,000 to the club. The club President, Mr Gurmit Singh and others welcomed the Speaker. Mr Atwal also attended a function arranged by the local branch of the State Bank of India in connection with vanamahotsava. 

LUDHIANA
DEATH: Artists of Art Theatre, Ludhiana held a condolence meeting on Friday at Punjabi Bhavan here to pay tributes to late Amarjit Grewal, former producer of Jalandhar Doordarshan Kendra. H.S. Randhawa, president of Art Theatre, applauded the services of Grewal in Punjabi art, culture, media and other fields of society. Tributes were also paid to film comedian Mukree, famous singer Nazia Hasan and all-time favourite music maestro, Kalyanji. Theatre personalities Raj Kumar, Karamjit, Ajaib, Raman, Surinderjit Simmi, Amritpal Kaur, Shashi Kala, Vishal, Mandeep Singh, Pradeep Joshi, Jamsher, Vijay Kumar were amongst those present on the occasion. 

PROTEST: The members of the Joint Action Committee of primary teachers have decided to continue their protest in a meeting held on Friday following a meeting with Mr Tota Singh, Education Minister, Punjab. Mr Baldev Krishan Modgil, General Secretary, Government Primary Teachers Association, said protest rallies will be held at Jandial. Guru on September 9, at Fatehgarh Sahib on September 16, at Kotkapura on September 3 and at Phagwara on September 30. He also announced that a convention on ‘Save Primary Directorate’ will be held on October 8 at Phagwara. Their demands include continuation of primary directorate, preference to ETT teachers for the posts of 7230 JBT and separate grade for head teachers. 

TREE PLANTATION: Punjab National Bank, Jawadi Branch, organised a tree plantation camp at Government Middle School, Phoolanwal today. Mr K.I. Singh, Senior Regional Manager,was the chief guest on the occasion. In his address, Mr Singh highlighted the benefits of tree plantation. He advised the students to plant a tree on every important occasion. He also honoured the students who had topped in the examinations. More than two hundred saplings were planted on the occasion. Mrs. Sukhwant Kaur, Headmistress of the school, appreciated the scheme launched by Punjab National Bank. 

MACHHIWARA
APPOINTED: The following have been appointed office-bearers of the Machhiwara unit of the Shiromani Akali Dal: President — Mr Faqir SinghHiyatpura; Sr Vice-Presidents — Mr Gurdeep Singh Sherion, Mr Ajit Singh Ramgarh, Mr Gurmail Singh Benipal; General Secretaries — Mr Nachhatar Singh Mand Khanpur and Mr Harbans Singh Machhiwara; Vice-Presidents — Mr Hokam Singh Garhi Tarkhana, Mr Gurcharan Singh Behlolpur, Mr Harbans Singh Benipal; Joint Secretary — Mr Sewa Singh Monewal; Treasurer —Mr Amrik Singh; and Members of Working Committee — Jagdev Singh, Jaswant Singh, Balbir Singh, Bahadur Singh, Tarlok Singh, Amrik Singh, Sewa Singh, Mohan Singh, Anokh Singh and Harnek Singh. 

UNION: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Elementary Teachers Union Punjab, Block Machhiwara: President — Mr Iqbal Singh Pai; Vice-President — Mr Pritpal Singh; General Secretary — Mr Rajnarinder Pal Singh; Treasure — Mr Amandeep Verma; Press Secretary — Mr Kuldip Kumar; and members Executive Committee — Mr Sewak Sony, Mr Kishan Dass, Mr Amarjit Singh and Mr Shamsher Singh. 

MOGA
SURRENDERED: Vijay Rana, a prime accused, and one of his accomplices who had allegedly killed Lakhvinder Singh at Panchrukhi village on Wednesday surrendered in the court of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr Purender Vaidya, on Friday. Disclosing this to mediapersons, Mr Gurmeet Singh, DSP, said they were hiding in a forest near the village.

MEETING CONVENED: Mr Kuldip Rathore, District Returning Officer, appointed for conducting the organisational election of the Congress party in Kangra district, had convened a meeting of all Assistant Returning Officers at the Circuit House, Dharamsala on September 10 to finalise the election schedule. This was stated by Mr Brij Buital, MLA and senior congress leader, here on Friday.

PATHANKOT
KILLED: Prabhu Ram, a mini bus driver, was killed in a clash with another minibus driver over the booking of passengers near Chaki Bridge on Thursday. A case has been registered.

PATIALA
PROMOTED: Mr S.S. Pahwa, deputy director (Administration) at the NIS here has been promoted to the post of director, according to a communication received from the SAI corporate office at New Delhi. Five other SAI deputy directors have also been promoted to the post of director. They are Mr Suresh Harmilipi, Mr Jasbir Singh, Mr K.N. Sharma, Mr S.N. Chowdhury and Mr G. Kishore Mr D.K. Sharma, deputy director (finance) has also been promoted to the post of director (Finance). All the above mentioned promotions have been made on ad-hoc basis against temporary vacancies. 

PASSED AWAY: Dr Vishwshar Nath Shastri, popularly known as Guruji, former vice-principal of the local Government Ayurvedic College and former Superintendent of Government Ayurvedic Hospital, breathed his last on Saturday following a brief illness. He was 87. He is survived by three sons. Rasam pugri will be held on Tuesday at Kali Devi Mandir from 2 to 3 p.m. 

PHAGWARA
JUDICIAL REMAND: Ajit Singh Nagi, SDO, Telephones, and Harjinder Singh Lal, JTO, who were arrested on September 6 for taking bribe of Rs 1000 from Lakhwinder Kumar, have been remanded in judicial custody till September 21.

RAID: Mr Pritam Singh, SDM, on Friday conducted a surprise raid on 10 local depots and found certain irregularities in their functioning. While six depots were found closed during working hours, irregularities were found in the rate lists displayed on the stock boards outside some depots . He has recommended action against erring depot holders.

PHILLAUR
COURSE FOR COPS: Mr Sarabjit Singh, Director-General of Police, Punjab, inaugurated a special course on personal effectiveness for police personnel at the Punjab Police Academy, Phillaur on Friday. Ten DSPs from various parts of the state participated in the course and 20 newly appointed tehsildars who are attached with the Academy, also took part in the programme.

LOCK-UP: Resentment prevails among the members of the MOI Workers Union over the locking-up of the MOI Engineering Limited, by its management, last month. In a press note, Mr Jagdev Singh, president of the union alleged that the officials had locked the unit without giving the workers prior notice. 

HONOURED: As many as 62 students of the Government High School Dadumajra were donated school fee and stationary by the Lions Club, Chandigarh Shivalik, to mark Teachers Day and World Literacy Day, at a local hotel on Saturday. Four teachers along with the Principal of the school, Ms Suman Malik, were also honoured by the club, said Mr J.S. Arora, public relation officer of the club. 

PROBLEMS: Members of the Block Nationalist Congress Party, Chandigarh, block 15, held a meeting in Palsora and discussed the water shortage in the colony. M.S. Radha Rani, block president disclosed that the colony had only three water taps for a population of 3000. The members have warned the administration to take necessary action, otherwise dharnas would be organised. 

CELEBRATED: The Life Insurance Corporation of India celebrated its 44th anniversary by organising special camps from September 1 to 7 at Chamkaur Sahib, Kurali and Morinda. Over 350 customers were given detailed information regarding its policies, said Mr Gurpal Singh, Branch Manager of the Morinda office. 

NOMINATED: Mr Ajit Salani, a noted film producer and journalist, has been nominated a member of the executive committee of the Society For The Care of the Blind, Chandigarh, by the Advisor to the UT Administrator, for the year 2000-2001. 

UNION: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Punjab State Red Cross Branch Employees Welfare Union: advisor — Mr Darshan Kumar Chadha; president — Mr Hari Singh Rawat; vice-president — Mr Madal Lal Sachdeva; general secretary — Mr Krishan Kumar Saini; joint secretary — Mr Daya Nand; propaganda secretary — Mr Ujagar Singh; treasurer — Mr Inder Singh; and executive member — Ms Sudershan Bhardwaj. 

AWARENESS CAMP : As many as 40 jail inmates attended an AIDS awareness camp organised by the Indian Council of Social Welfare, Chandigarh branch in collaboration with the State AIDS Control Society at the Central Jail, Burail, yesterday. Those who spoke on AIDS include Dr Rajiv Vadhera, Dr Chander Kant, Dr Ajit Saroha. A play directed by Zulfqar Khan on AIDS was also shown to the inmates. Later, eatables were distributed by the honorary general secretary of the council Mrs Sharestha Mehta. 

CONVENTION: The Trade Union Council, Chandigarh, will hold a mass convention of the employees and workers of industrial units at Nehru Kendra, Sector 21, on Sunday. Mr Raghbir Singh Sandhu, president and Mr Rakesh Chopra, general secretary of the council, stated that the convention is aimed at organising the working class against closures and lock-outs of the industrial units, demanding bonus and uniting working class against price rise and privatisation. 

MEETING: A general body meeting of Housfed was held on Saturday. It was informed that the membership of Housefed had been raised to 102 member societies. A total of Rs 7 crore had been sanctioned by way of loans. The rate of interest had been reduced to 13.5 per cent, with a rebate of 0.25 per cent for regular payment of loan on annual basis. The loan limit was increased to Rs 5 lakh in the first charge. The Chairman, Mr Surjit Choudhry, said the issue of cost of land at Rs 2,500 per square yard has been taken up with the Administration. The Administration had been asked to regularise minor violations by imposing penalties on the lines followed in Delhi, the meeting was informed. 

PANCHKULA 
CONSUMER FORUM: The Panchkula Consumer Forum has appealed to the trading community to follow the Consumer Protection Act’s statement — “Goods sold, if found defective by consumer are replaceable”. Following a policy letter from Mr Shanta Kumar, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Government of India, the forum had taken the action, said Mr Jagdish Sainai, general secretary of the forum. 

WORKSHOP: A parenting skills workshop was introduced by Pragati Gandhi, a consultant of “Ideas for Advancement” on parent-teachers day in Satluj Public School, Sector 4, here on Saturday. Mr Kirt Serai, Principal of the school stressed on the link between home and school. 

SAS NAGAR
COMPLAINT: Residents of Manauli, Papri, Durali, Chao Majra and some neighbouring villages have complained about the erratic power supply and unannounced power cuts. The power failure had adverse affects on the student preparing for their terminal examinations, they said. 

BILASPUR
RAIDED: The District Food and Supplies Department raided several shops here on Thursday and seized banned coloured polythene bags. Each erring shopkeeper was fined Rs 50 and issued a warning in this regard.

HAMIRPUR
NEW SP: Mr Rajendra Mohan Sharma, on Friday took over as the SP of Hamirpur district. He succeeds Mr N. Venugopal, who has been shifted in the same capacity to Kulu. This is Mr Sharma’s second stint at Hamirpur. First time, he stayed here for about four months only.