AMRITSAR
ANNUAL FUNCTION: Mr Justice N.K. Sud of the Punjab and Haryana High Court presided over the annual prize distribution function of Baba Gurmukh Singh and Baba Uttam Singh Senior Secondary School at Khadoor Sahib on Monday. He also gave away prizes to students of the school.

RETIREMENT SCHEME: The Insurance Employees Union on Monday opposed the voluntary retirement scheme announced by the government. The general secretary of the All-India LIC Employees Federation, Mr N.V. Nechane, suggested that instead of retrenching its employees, the LIC should utilise their services in the field of marketing. He said the LIC should venture into new schemes through valued-added services.

GOVT TEACHERS: In a press note issued here on Monday, the senior vice-president of the Government Teachers Union of Punjab, Mr Joginder Singh Gill, criticised the Punjab Government for not implementing the 4th Pay Commission’s recommendation that all employees be given annual increments under the assured career progression scheme.

GAS SUPPLY: The Consumer Rights Protection Society has alleged that residents of Vijay Nagar are not getting the supply of cooking gas for the past two weeks. According to a press note issued by Mr Baldev Raj Preenja, general secretary of the society, the owner of the gas agency in Vijay Nagar, had said that cooking gas could not be supplied due to the strike of employees.

FEROZEPORE
BOOKED: Four persons, including a head constable, have been booked under the Excise Act and 10 cases of liquor seized from their possession. Head Constable Hargopal Singh, besides Inderjit Singh, Ajit Singh and Pupinder Singh were trying to smuggle the cases here from Mamdot.

HOSHIARPUR
DOWRY CASE: On the complaint of Shiv Dev Singh, resident of Tentpal Hariana village, the police has registered a case under Section 498 of the Dowry Act against his daughter’s husband Vijay Kumar Jaswal, the latter’s mother Kamla Devi, father Sat Pal, sisters Rita Rani, Rani and Baby, brothers Rahul and Mohan Lal and brother-in-law Rajiv Kumar, all residents of new Sahibpur, Delhi. Shiv Dev Singh had alleged that his daughter Suman Lata was being tortured by Vijay and his family members and forced to bring more dowry.

THEFT: Gold ornaments worth Rs 30,000 were stolen from the house of Mr Amarjit Singh, superintendent of the local JR Government Polytechnic, in the Piplanwala locality on Sunday. He and his family members were not present in the house when the incident occurred.

ARRESTED: The Hariana police arrested Sarabjit Singh of Gajjan village and found him in the company of a teenaged girl Jasbir Kaur of the same village at Adda Bagpur on Monday. He had allegedly abducted the girl on November 16. According to police sources, a medical examination of the girl revealed that she had sex. A case under Section 376 of the IPC has been registered.

ONE KILLED: Sudhana Parshad died on the spot and Duda Nath sustained injuries when a truck hit them in front of the Mahavir Spinning Mill on the Hoshiarpur-Phagwara road on Monday. The truck driver fled away after the incident. The Sadar police has registered a case under Sections 279/304A of the IPC.

KHARAR
ROAD ACCIDENT: One person died while another was seriously injured in two separate road accidents here on Monday. According to the FIR registered with the Kharar police, Mr Lalan Giri, was seriously injured when he was knocked down by a bus (PB-12C-1636) belonging to a private bus company near Ballo Majra village. He was taken to the PGI, Chandigarh, where he died. The police has registered a case under Sections 279 and 304A of the IPC against the driver, Mohinder Singh. Similarly, Mr Charan Singh of Khanpur village was seriously injured when his scooter was knocked down by a CTU bus (CH-01G-5109). The injured was taken to the PGI. The police has registered a case against Kuldeep Singh, driver of the bus, under Sections 279 and 337 of the IPC.

LUDHIANA
Workshop: Ludhiana Midtown Junior Chamber will conduct a two-day workshop on ‘Managerial excellence’ for the corporate sector from November 24 at Magnet Resorts and Country Club. Junior Chamber-a global organisation of young people provides ample opportunities for individual development. According to press release, the benefit of the programmes would go to members only. The workshop would be conducted by Mr G. Balachandran, one of the trainers of Indian Junior Chamber. 

Fellowship: Dr Ashwani Chowdhary, microneurosurgeon at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, has been invited by the University of Arkansas for Medical Science (UAMS) and Barrow Neurosurgical Institute (BMI), Phoenix, Arizona, USA for fellowship in microneurosurgery from the last week of November, 2000 to January 2001. During these two months he will specialize in the field of neurovascular surgery, skull-base surgery and epilepsy surgery. The facilities were yet not available anywhere in Punjab. With good training in microneurosurgery and top-of-the-line equipment provided by DMCH, the people of Punjab and surrounding areas would benefit from the above facilities. Dr Chowdhary has already acquired fellowships in neurovascular and skull-based surgery from Germany, Paris and Slovenia. 

suspended: The Commissioner, municipal corporation, Dr S. S. Sandhu, has placed Mr Baldev Raj, a fireman of the civic body under suspension for remaining absent from duty, without informing his superiors. While asking senior civic officials to conduct surprise checking periodically to check regularity of employees, Dr Sandhu warned employees to perform their duties diligently to avoid penal action. 

conference: The 9th National Conference of Acupuncture Association of India ‘Acucon-2000” would be held on Dec 16 and 17, 2000, at the Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences, Hubli. According to the president of the association, Dr Rajinder Singh, main theme of the conference would be to highlight the efficacy of treatment of acupuncture therapy and to attract scientists, researchers and doctors from other medical fields. Dr Inderjit Singh, principal of Ludhiana Acupuncture Medical College, has been invited as a key note speaker at the conference. 

camp: A free eye operation camp will be held on November 22 and 23 near Nanowal village. The camp is being organised by the village gram panchayat. Dr Harpal Singh, Civil Surgeon, Fatehgarh Sahib, will lead a team of doctors at the camp. 

ELECTED: The following have been elected the office-bearers of the Panjab University Foreign Students Association, Chandigarh: president — Mr Lazarus I Okoroji (Nigeria); vice-president — Mr Dalmar Mohammad (Ethiopia); general secretary — Mohammad

Mohammad Khaleduzzaman (Bangladesh); and finance secretary — Ali Zolanvari (Iran).

UPGRADED: The members of Parent Teacher Association of Government Model Middle School, Sector 39, have thanked the Governor of Punjab and the Administrator of Chandigarh for upgrading the school from class VIII to class XII, informed Mr Pawan Kumar, president of the association.

SILVER JUBILEE: The State Bank of Patiala, Sector 35 branch, organised a consumer’s meet to mark the silver jubilee celebrations here on Tuesday. Mr Sunil Kaushal Assistant General Manager, Chandigarh region, while interacting with the customers explained the different kind of services being rendered by the bank.

TOPPER HONOURED: The State Bank of India, Industrial Area Phase I branch, organised a function at Kendriya Vidyalaya, Sector 29 here, on Tuesday to honour the students who toped in examinations, sports and extra curricular activities.

PROCESSION: The Chandigarh Gurdwara Asthapan Committee will take out a procession to mark the martyrdom day of Shri Guru Teg Bahadur Sahib on November 29. The procession will start from Sector 22-D gurudwara at 11.30 am and will conclude at Sector 37-C gurudwara at about 7.30 pm, informed the president of the committee.

RALLY: The members of Super Bazar Employees Joint Action Committee on Tuesday held a rally before the head office of the Super Bazar in Sector 22 here. Mr Bhagmal Rana, general Secretary of the Federation of UT Employees and Workers, said the registrar of the Cooperative Societies UT, Chandigarh had not followed the proper procedures and the Super Bazar had been closed in a haste. The termination of the employees was totally illegal, he alleged.

TALK HELD: A two-day talk on the harmful effects of plastics, organised by the Adult Education Department, Chandigarh at Kishangarh and Kajehri village concluded on Tuesday. Dr. R. C. Sobti, Professor and Head, Department of Bio-Technology, Panjab University, Chandigarh stressed on the physical hazards caused by chemical contents utilised by cheap cosmetics,’ distemper, cheap non- stick pans. Dr. Sobti also apprised the participants about the noise pollution caused by electronic gadgets including television, washing machines and stereo. about 150 ladies participated in the lectures.

AMBALA
LIONS CLUB: The installation ceremony of the Lions Club, Ambala (host), took place on Monday night. The new team is: president — Mr Kulbhushan Goel; I vice-president — Dr Suresh Aggarwal, II vice-president — Mr Rakesh Bansal; III vice-president — Mr Anil Chopra; secretary — Dr Ashwani Sharma; joint secretary — Mr Paramjit Singh Babbar; treasurer — Mr Anil Chopra; tail twister — Ms Sarita Jain; tamer — Mr Kamal Tandon; and the PRO — Mr Rakesh Jain; a released said.

BOYCOTT: It has been decided by the Ambala Central Cooperative Bank Employees Association, Ambala city, not to participate in the Cooperative Day function to be held on November 24 and 25 at Hisar, due to that non-acceptance of their demands by the government, a press note said.

CENSUS WORK: The census work will be conducted in Haryana from February 9 to February 28 next year with revisional round from March 1 to March 5. The houseless population will be enumerated on the night of February 28. It was stated in a press release issued by the district administration here on Tuesday. For conducting the census work in the state 46,000 enumerators and supervisors will be deployed. In Ambala district, 2,300 enumerators and supervisors will take part in census work. The enumerators will be imparted training in three rounds and the training will be imparted with the help of video cassettes for uniformity.

VACANCIES: Lectures from eminent scholars from the banking and insurance sector were organised at SA Jain Post-Graduate College, Ambala city, on Tuesday under the auspices of the Employment Information and Guidance Bureau. Mr P.K. Bhardwaj, Manager, LIC, Ambala city, and Dr Rajinder Singh Tomar, Manager, Uco Bank, emphasised on short term training courses for qualifying examination in getting the job opportunity in insurance and banking sector. Mr R.N. Arora, in charge of the bureau, informed the students that 10 lakh vacancies are likely to be vacant in the insurance sector in the coming years. Dr C.L. Singla, Principal of the college, assured the students to provide them free training for the jobs in insurance and banking sectors.

KILLED: One person was killed in a road accident near Ambala city on Monday evening. The deceased was identified as Amar Singh. According to the police, some unknown vehicle hit his motorcycle on Ambala-Hisar road. The police has registered a case.

HISAR
POWER THEFT: In a special drive, the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) detected 1,060 cases of power theft during the past two weeks. A DHBVN spokesman said the nigam imposed a fine of Rs 77 lakh on erring consumers and realised Rs 22 lakh as penalty. The power supply to 10,579 defaulters was discontinued during the campaign. CRITICISED: The Haryana Vikas Party has termed the constitution of village development panels by the Chautala government as a bid to undermine panchayats. In a statement issued here on Monday, HVP spokesman Jagdish Chander Jhanjria said the panels were undemocratic as they undermined the democratically elected panchayats. He demanded immediate winding up of the panels.

KAITHAL
DEWATERING: The district administration is making all-out efforts to drain out accumulated flood water from Jakholi village, which was recently flooded due to a breach in the Jakholi minor. This was stated by the Deputy Commissioner, Dr Mahavir Singh. He said the Irrigation Department had been directed to expedite dewatering operations and three more pumps had been installed for the purpose.

PROBE: The police has started an investigation into the alleged financial bungling in Hafed which took place recently at Guhla, from where complaints of irregularities in paddy purchase were reported. A special team of officials headed by a DSP is reported to have arrived from Chandigarh to inquire into the case.

RESENTMENT: Resentment prevails among teachers of government aided private colleges of Haryana as they have allegedly not been paid salaries for the past four months. In a statement issued here on Monday, Prof S.S. Dhull, secretary, Haryana College Teachers Union, has demanded immediate release of salaries to teachers and implementation of the pension scheme.

ROHTAK
BURNT ALIVE: Kamlesh, a married woman, was burnt alive at Muradpur Tekna village in Meham subdivision on Monday. Nafe Singh, her father-in-law, has been arrested in this connection.

SONEPAT
TUBEWELLS: The local Public Health Department has reportedly not been able to get power connections for two tubewells for the past several months, leading to a water crisis in the areas concerned. According to sources, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Sudhir Rajpal, has directed the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) to release the power connections for the tubewells but to no avail.

INAUGURATED: Mr Sudhir Rajpal, Deputy Commissioner, inaugurated a 10-day welfare camp for the handicapped on Monday. The camp has been organised by the District Red Cross Society in collaboration with the Jain Milan and Bhagwan Mahavira Aid for Handicapped Aid Samiti, Jaipur. Artificial limbs and other appliances will be provided free of cost to the disabled during the camp.

INDUSTRIALIST DEAD: Dharamvir Aggarwal, industrialist and brother of Indian National Lok Dal leader Sat Narain Aggarwal, died of bullet injuries at a marriage party here on Monday. The police has registered a case of murder against the suspect, Ramesh Singla, who absconded after the incident.

LAND GRABBING: The local Residents, Welfare Association on Tuesday urged the district authorities to take stern action against persons who had grabbed public land worth crores of rupees in and around the tehsil campus in the mandi area. The association alleged that the authorities concerned had failed to vacate the land in question despite repeated complaints from the public.

INJURED: A teacher sustained serious injuries when she was hit by a car near Murthal Adda here on Monday. According to a report, she was on her way home from school when the accident occurred. The car driver drove off from the spot.