BATALA
CONDEMNED: Industrialists of the Industrial Estate, Focal Point, here condemned the police here on Wednesday for the rise in thefts during the past few weeks. The Batala Industrial Focal Point Association also condemned the Civil Lines police station for their inaction in this connection.

BATHINDA
BOYCOTTED: Teachers of the local Giani Zail Singh College boycotted the classes and staged a dharna in front of the office of the Principal here on Wednesday in protest against the inaction in rectifying the errors in the pay fixation even after repeated reminders. They also protested against the non-implementation of the revised pay scales due from January, 1996.

BANDH: Students of Government Rajindra College, Industrial Training Institute, and District Institute of Education and Training boycotted the classes on Wednesday and observed a bandh to protest against the hike in college free and the decision of the PRTC authorities of not honouring the concession passes issued to the students.

DHARNA: Workers of Public Works Department (PWD) of the state would stage a dharna in front of the office of the Chief Engineer, Buildings and Roads (B&R), Patiala on October 18. Mr Suresh Sharma, state president of the PWD Field and Workshop Workers Union, said the letter number 4051, dated August 28 had created problems for muster roll employees. Employees of the Public Health, B&R, Irrigation and the Sewerage Department would also support the dharna, added Mr Sharma.

FATEHGARH SAHIB
REQUESTED: Sixteen councillors of the municipal council, Sirhind, Fatehgarh Sahib, have requested the executive officer to fix a meeting of the council at the earliest to elect the senior vice-president. The said post has been lying vacant since June 15.

GURDASPUR
DOWRY DEATH: Harvinder Kaur, resident of Saraspur and married to Kuldip Singh of Bhikhariwal, was killed for allegedly bringing less dowry. A case under Section 304 B of the IPC has been registered against Kuldip Singh, his father Sudagar Singh and mother Surjit Kaur. The police has taken into custody Surjit Kaur. The other accused are at large. Kuldip Singh is a Special Police Officer posted in Amritsar.

HOSHIARPUR
OBSERVED: Natural Disaster Reduction Day was observed here on Wednesday at a function organised at the local Government Senior Secondary School, Clock Tower, to make the people aware of natural disasters. Students and teachers from various schools participated.

VISITED: Mr L.R. Roozam, District and Sessions Judge, Mr Iqbal Singh Sidhu, Deputy Commissioner, and Mr R.P. Mittal, SSP, visited the district jail here on Wednesday and inspected the food prepared for the inmates. They also listened to their grievances.

KAPURTHALA
PROTEST MARCH: Workers of the BJP and residents of Kahlwan village took out a march here on Wednesday in protest against the arrest of Swami Purananand, a priest of Dera Sant Parkashanand. They also gave a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner demanding the withdrawal of the case and release of the swami.

LUDHIANA
SUSPENDED: The Commission-er of the Municipal Corporation, Dr S.S. Sandhu, has suspended Raj Kumar, a sewerman in the MC, for remaining absent from duty without informing his seniors. The civic body had earlier received the report that the said employee was arrested by the police on the charge of extorting money from slum dwellers. The Commissioner has issued instructions to all officers to conduct surprise checking daily against irregularities by the employees.

CONFERENCE: A conference on astrology will be held at Guru Nanak Bhavan here on November 4 and 5 to create awareness among the people about astrology. This information was given by astrologer Joginder Vyas. He said local astrologers, including Prof Mohan, Mr Suresh Atrai, Shastri Vasudev, Dr Mann, Mr Pradeep and many others from various parts of the country were expected to participate in the conference. 

CONDEMNED: The district unit of the CPI has condemned the failure of the state government to streamline the procurement of paddy even after 20 days of the arrival of the produce in the mandis. The CPI district secretary, Mr Kartar Singh Buani, who had carried out tour of the mandis in the district, observed that if the government failed to provide remunerative prices to the farmers for their produce, the agricultural economy in the state would be adversely affected and Punjab might once again become a food deficit state.

YOUTH FESTIVAL: Zonal youth festival for students of all women colleges affiliated with Panjab University of the city will be held at Khalsa College for Women from November 21 to November 23. The dates were finalised at a meeting of representatives from various colleges held on Wednesday. Students from nine colleges will take part in the festival. These include the host Khalsa College for Women, Government College for Women, Master Tara Singh College, Ramgarhia College for Women, Guru Nanak Girls College, Guru Nanak Khalsa College, Devki Devi Jain College, Mata Ganga College, Rotan, and SDP College. There will be 25 items comprising dance music, fine arts, home science, quiz, debate, poetry, creative writing and drama. Contests in fine arts will start from November 18. The Zonal youth festival of postgraduate students will be held at Gurusar Sidhar. The dates are yet to be finalised.

NAWANSHAHR
MEETING HELD: Mr Inderjit Singh, Director of Census, Punjab, on Wednesday, presided over a meeting of the officials concerned and gave them tips regarding the census to be held next year. As many as 1,000 enumerators have been deputed in the district, according to the Deputy Commissioner, Dr Roshan Sunkaria in a press note issued here.

Bandh call:  An all-party meeting was held here on Thursday, to deliberate on the Punjab bandh call for October 14. The meeting was attended by Mr Sukhdev Singh Bhaur (SHSAD), Mr Lal Singh Bains and Mr Ram Singh Nurpuri (CPM), Mr Mehar Chand Bhumbla (Janata Dal), and Mr Mohan Lal Mehli (CPI).

SEMINAR: Under a special drive launched by the district police and the Health and Education Departments a seminar was organised here at the local S.D. Senior Secondary School on Wednesday to make the students aware of the bad effects of drug addiction.

ROPAR
GRIEVANCES: The Minister for Urban Development and Housing, Mrs Upinderjit Kaur, held a district grievances committee meeting here on Tuesday. At the meeting 12 complaints were received, of which nine were redressed on the spot.

CAMP: The Lions Club Chandigarh Central will organise its 29th free eye operation camp at Satsang Bhavan in Sector 26 from October 14 to 17. The patients will be examined, treated and operated upon for various eye ailments by a team of eye specialists. Free meals, medicines, board and lodging will be provided to the patients. The camp will be inaugurated by Dr Joginder Singh, Director, Health Services, Chandigarh Administration, at 10.30 a.m. 

WORKSHOP: A week-long workshop on mehndi designs is under way in Sri Guru Harkrishan Model School, Sector 38, for students of Classes IX to XII. The children are being taught how to mix mehndi and make various designs. The skill thus acquired by the participants will be put to use at a mehndi stall for ladies to be set up outside the school complex on October 15 on the eve of Karva Chauth. 

YOUTH CLUB TEAM: A 10-member team of two youth clubs left for Madurai on Thursday to participate in national integration camp (NIC) being organised by the Madurai unit of the Nehru Yuva Kendra (NYK) Sangathan. The team will participate in the cultural programmes along with teams from other parts of the country. The camp is one of the series of such NICs being conducted on behalf of the Department of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India. The two youth clubs are Mehak Punjab Di, Ramgarh Buddha village, and Vasda Punjab Club, Singhpura.

ELECTED: Col D.R. Nijahwan (retd) has been elected President of the House Owners Welfare Association, Sector 34, for the third consecutive term. The other office-bearers of the association are Senior Vice-President — Major S.S. Sathi (retd); Vice-President — Flt. Lt K.L. Khullar (retd); General Secretary — Col J.S. Somal (retd); and Joint and Finance Secretary — Major Prem Singh (retd).

PROGRAMME: A two-day programme on income generating skill for women of the weaker sections of Dhanas village by the Centre for Adult, Counting Education and Extension, Panjab University, in collaboration with the Jan Shikshan Sansthan, Sector 38, started on Thursday. More than 30 women participated in the candle-making programme.

DONATE BLOOD: A blood donation camp was organised by the Regional Computer Centre on its premises in association with the State Bank of India, PEC branch Sector 12, here on Thursday. The camp was organised with the help of the Blood Bank Society, PGI. As many as 105 units of blood were donated by members of the staff and students.

AID FOR ASHRAM: A cheque for Rs 1.61 lakh was released to the Chandi Kusht Ashram, Chandigarh, by HelpAge India under adopt-a-gram scheme. This was stated in a press release by the organisation on Thursday. Mr Bhavneshwar Sharma, senior executive officer of the city branch of the organisation, informed that under the scheme they had adopted 117 old persons who receive regular financial help from the organisation. On behalf of HelpAge India, the quarterly instalment was released by Father Stephen from Bishop House at a function.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The elections of the General Hospital Maintenance Workers Union were held here on Thursday. The following were elected office-bearers of the union: President — Mr Vinod Kumar; General Secretary — Mr Rai Singh; Vice-President — Mr Hari Ram; Cashier — Mr Som Nath; and Joint Secretary — Mr Babu Lal.

RALLY: Rallies were held before the electricity office, Sector 15, maintenance booth, Sector 21, and various booths of UT roads were held on Thursday. These were in pursuance of the October 18 strike called by the Federation of UT Employees and Workers and the Chandigarh UT S.S. Federation. This was stated by Mr Bhag Mal Rana, General Secretary of the federation. While addressing the rallies all the leaders appealed to the working class to make the October 18 strike a grand success. They also asked the Administration to release the three-year bonus before Divali and DA instalment due since July, 2000.

CELEBRATED: Satluj Public School (junior wing), Sector 2, celebrated Elders Day here on Thursday. The students presented songs, skits and speeches to highlight the role of elders. Mr Pritam Singh Serai, school director, said that the youth, social welfare organisations and the government should work for the betterment of old people. He announced that he would take 32 senior citizens of the town to Nahan for a picnic. Mr M.S. Rathi, chief guest, said that the social organisations should initiate welfare schemes for the old people instead of depending upon the government agencies.

SONEPAT
THEFT DETECTED: Mr Sudhir Rajpal, Deputy Commissioner, at a meeting of the Irrigation Department officials here on Wednesday said as many as 925 cases of canal water theft had been detected during the current financial year. Of these 513 cases had been sent to the police for registering FIRs against the erring farmers.

KANGRA
PROTEST: Contractors met the Health Minister, Mr J.P. Nadda, at Tanda on Thursday and demanded the release of their payments to the tune of Rs 1.75 crore pending with the government. They also gheraoed the office of the executive engineer of the Public Works Department.

NIGHT PATROLLING: Residents of the Jayanti Vihar locality here have started night patrolling following a spate of thefts in the area. Residents have taken this step as the police has failed to nab the culprits.