AMRITSAR
HEALTH MELA: The local unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) will organise a two-day Health Mela at Heir village on December 3 and 4. This was stated by Dr P.C.Arora, president of the IMA, in a press note issued here on Wednesday. The Health Minister, Mr Baldev Raj Chawla, will inaugurate the mela.

SELECTED: The Institution of Engineers has selected Dr Jasvir Singh, Head of Department of Electronics, Guru Nanak Dev University, for the S.R. Thomas ward medal for his contribution in the area of digital communication and signal processing.

BATHINDA
ESSAY COMPETITION: An essay writing and painting competition was organised by the National Service Scheme (NSS) unit of SSD Girls College on the occasion of the World AIDS Day here on Wednesday. Deepika and Rajni stood first in the painting competition. In the essay writing competition Neelam and Falika Gupta stood first while Paramjeet and Geetika stood second. As many as 47 students of the college participated.

DORAHA
SPORTS MEET: The 14th Annual Sports Meet is going to be organised at village Rabbon by Tiwana Sports Club on December 1, 2 and 3. The main events will be volleyball, smashing, kabaddi, races etc. The meet will be inaugurated by Sant Jagjit Singh Harkhowal. 

FEROZEPORE
SEMINAR: A seminar was organised at RSD College on the topic ‘‘IT revolution in India’’ here on Wednesday. It was sponsored by ICICI. Mr H.S. Dhillon, DIG, presided over the seminar. Navpreet Kaur, Aastha Rudra said Ashish Kalia were awarded the first, second and third prizes, respectively.

GURDASPUR
GANG BUSTED: The police busted a gang of cheats by arresting Shambhu Das and Kale Shah here on Wednesday. Their accomplices Dahu and Paswan of Bihar are still at large. Mr Varinder Kumar, SSP, said the gang used to extract gold from the ornaments on the pretext of cleaning them.

HOSHIARPUR
SENTENCED: Mr L.R. Roozam, District and Sessions Judge, has sentenced Sarwan Singh of Dale Chack village to life imprisonment for murdering Raman Kumar of Himachal Pradesh. This was stated by Mr Maninder Singh Multani, Public Prosecutor, here on Wednesday.

GHERAO THREAT: Activists of the Janata Dal (U) have threatened to gherao municipal authorities if they fail to remove encroachment from municipal land occupied by the managements of some religious places and some influential persons. This was stated by Mr Adarsh Gupta, president of the local unit of the Janata Dal (U), in a press note issued here on Wednesday.

KAPURTHALA
HONOURED: More than 60 senior citizens residing on the Rail Coach Factory premises were honoured by the RCF Women’s Welfare Organisation at a function here on Wednesday. This was done under a campaign ‘‘respect for elders’’.

KHARAR
arrested: The local police has arrested two women namely Manjit Kaur and Jeetu on the charges of creating nuisance at public places. They were produced before Mr Malkiet Singh, Tehsildar, Kharar, on Thursday and were released on bail. 

Ludhiana
Lohri mela: Malwa Sabhyacharak Manch will organise a Lohri mela in the city. A meeting of the manch was convened here, to chalk out the detailed programme of the event. Giving details, Mr Pawan Diwan, president of the manch, informed that like previous years, prominent personalities from different fields, like art, culture and literature, will be honoured during the mela and a seminar on Punjabi culture, would also be held on this occasion. The meeting nominated Mr Varinder Ranguwal as convener, Mr Hardev Singh Ayali, Mr Surinder Singh Kooner and Mr Rajinder Singh Basant as patrons of the manch. 

eye camp: The S.S. Jain Sabha organised a free eye check up camp in Shri Phool Chand Jain Eye Medical Centre, Mahavir Bhawan in the city. A team of doctors, led by Dr Manoj Gupta, conducted check up of the eyes for cataract, astigmatism and many other eye ailments. 66 operations were performed and the patients were performed free medicines, glasses and food by the organisers. 

dharna: The coordination committee of para-medical and health employees union, in its meeting held in the office of Civil Surgeon here, discussed the situation arising from transfer of five activists and office bearers of the coordination committee and the health assistants union, Punjab from Ludhiana to Jagraon. Mr Amarjit Singh, convener of the committee, said that the meeting condemned the ‘one-sided’ action of the health administration, which was taken under pressure from rival unions. Calling upon the authorities to immediately revoke the unjust action and cancel the transfers, the committee decided to hold a dharna at the office of Civil Surgeon on December 4, if the administration did not relent by then. 

criticised: The Urban Estate Welfare Association has criticised the working of the PSEB complaint centre of Atam Nagar subdivision. In a written complaint, submitted to senior officers of the PSEB, the general secretary of the association has alleged that the staff at the complaint centre had failed to attend to a complaint of voltage fluctuation in the Urban Estate Colony on the evening of November 28. As a result, the electrical fittings, appliances and even telephone sets were damaged. Mr Gupta has urged the PSEB administration to fix responsibility for the lapse and take stern action against the erring and negligent employees. 

MALERKOTLA
SUICIDE: Naranjan Singh, a farmer, committed suicide by jumping in front of a passenger train near Rohira village, 18 km from here, on Tuesday. A land dispute with brothers is said to be the reason behind it.

MANSA
BOOKED: A case has been registered against Maghar Singh, Sukhwinder Singh, Jagraj Singh Fauji and Ludar Ram, all members of the managing committee of Khalsa High School, under Sections 454 and 380 of the IPC on a complaint by Mr Parghat Singh, a science teacher in the school alleging that they took away school records after breaking the locks.

MEETING: Mr Raji P. Srivastava, Deputy Commissioner, presided over a meeting of the District Sainik Board held here on Tuesday. It was decided at the meeting to name government schools after the names of armymen who laid their life for the country and the gallantry award winners.

MOGA
RESENTMENT: Resentment prevails among people over the inordinate delay being caused in the transmission of telegrams, including express message and press telegrams, at the local Telegram Office. Of the seven employees only two are reportedly working regularly.

POLYTHENE BAGS: People here have urged the Municipal Council to ban the use of polythene bags, which are not only polluting the environment but also blocking the sewerage system.

URGED: Members of the Punjab Pensioners Association at its meeting held here on Tuesday urged the government to open a branch of a nationalised bank near the local Treasury Office. Mr Kanwalbir Singh Sidhu, Deputy Commissioner, presided over the meeting.

NAWANSHAHR
WHEAT STORAGE: The Punjab Government with a view to make proper arrangements for wheat storage in the ensuing wheat procurement season has invited tenders for the construction of warehouses. This was stated by Mr Sohan Singh Thandal, Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies, while addressing a gathering at Rurki Khas village, about 8 km from here, on Wednesday.

RALLY HELD: The district unit of the Medical Practitioners Association, Punjab held a rally in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office and burnt the effigies of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Health Minister Dr Baldev Raj Chawla at the Chandigarh Chowk here on Wednesday. They were protesting against the raids on the clinics of some medical practitioners.

DEMONSTRATION: Activists of the district unit of the Punjab Students Union held a demonstration in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office here on Wednesday in protest against the fee hike and withdrawal of free-bus travel facility. Mr Raminder Singh Patiala and Mr Kulwinder Singh Chahal, president and general secretary of the union, respectively, presented a memorandum to the DC.

PHAGWARA
RALLY POSTPONED: The Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union has postponed its rally to be held in Jalandhar. Prof Charanjit Chawla, general secretary of the union, said the rally slated earlier for December 2 would now be held on December 4.

CELEBRATED: The NCC day was celebrated at Guru Nanak College here on Wednesday . Addressing cadets, Mr Inderjit Singh, college Principal, and Lieut Sawinder Singh Coy, Commander NCC, stressed the need to imbibe the spirit of unity and discipline. Saplings were planted on the occasion.

APPOINTED: Mr Sulakhan Singh has been appointed president of the local Block Youth Congress Committee (Rural) by Mr Devinder Singh Babbu, state Youth Congress chief . This was stated in a press note here on Wednesday.

PHILLAUR
DHARNA: Mr Kashmira Singh, president of the Akali Dal, Noormahal, and Mr Gurchetan Singh Johal, ex-sarpanch, along with several villagers sat on a dharna in front of Noormahal police station here on Wednesday. They were protesting against the release of certain persons involved in a dacoity case.

SAHNEWAL
roads in bad shape: The link roads, leading to a dozen of villages near Sahnewal , are in a pitiable condition. They are badly broken in many places. The link roads from Sahnewal to villages such as Ramgarh, Majara, Umaidpur, Natt, Dharaur, Kohara, Bilga, Tibba, Pawa Khagat, all are in a poor state and are in need of urgent reconstruction. Residents of the area are resentful over the sorry state of affairs. Water from the surrounding fields collects in the deep holes present on these broken roads and the passersby cannot differentiate between the road and the holes. Concerned villagers, in and around Sahnewal, have demanded immediate reconstruction of these link roads. 

eye camp: A free eye camp will be organised by Youth Welfare Club, Uppal, with the collaboration of B.S. Automobiles, Kohara, and the residents of the area at Koom Kalan village on December 5. The routine check up and operation will be performed by Dr Ramesh Mansooran and his team. The camp will be inaugurated by Dr Rajinder Kaur, Civil Surgeon, Ludhiana. 

Demanded: Mangat Sports and Welfare Club, Katani Kalan; Guru Nanak Sports Club, Kot Gangu Rai and Youth Welfare Club, Uppal, have demanded a memorial to be erected in the memory of martyr Prem Singh, who sacrificed his life for the nation and his people. They demanded monetary help from the Punjab Government and the Centre, for the bereaved members of the family in order to ensure their economic security. 

fire averted: An alert cop, Mr Karan Singh, on beat duty in Sector 7 averted a major fire here on Thursday evening. A wooden frame shop at the rehri market caught fire but the cop noticed it and alerted the fire authorities. Fire-engines reached in time and took control over the fire. No loss of property was reported. 

Role discussed: The Population and Development Education Cell of the Regional Resource Centre for Adult and Continuing Education, Panjab University, organised an awareness programme on “Role of panchayats in promoting literacy and population education” here on Thursday. Dr Dazy Zarabi, Programme Coordinator of the centre, spoke about the objectives of the programme. Earlier, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Ram Shekhar, inaugurated the programme and discussed in detail about the literacy status in Chandigarh and the role of panchayats in effectively running the centres in the villages. Ms Manjeet Paintal, Director of the centre, impressed upon the sarpanches to be more responsible and motivate the community towards literacy programme and to link it with development programmes for the benefit of the neoliterates and the weaker section of society. 

Award: Dr A.K. Saihjpal, Reader, Accounts and Finance Department, Panjab University, is being conferred with Best Faculty of the Year Award-2000 by the Indian Institute of Materials Management, Mumbai. The award will be presented in New Delhi on Friday. 

Tributes paid: A havan following prayers was performed in memory of Lala Achint Ram on his 39th death anniversary at Lajpat Rai Bhavan, Sector 15, here on Thursday. A large number of followers from Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh paid floral tributes to Lala ji, according to Mr Onkar Chand, secretary of the Servants of the People Society. 

FARIDABAD
ARRESTED: The Haryana State Vigilance Bureau arrested Jagdish Chander, a steno-typist with the Estate Office, at Faridabad on Tuesday while accepting a bribe of Rs 2,500 from Mr Viresh Kumar for the transfer of plot. A case has been registered.

HISAR
SENTENCED: The Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr Sanjeev Aggarwal, sentenced a milkman to six months imprisonment on the charge of selling adulterated milk on Tuesday. The officials of the Food and Supplies Department had taken the samples eight years ago.

KILLED: Subash of Shiv Nagar was killed when his tractor overturned near Dabra Chowk here on Tuesday. According to the police, he was on his way to Dabra village when the mishap occurred.

REMOVED: The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Anurag Rastogi, on Tuesday removed three panchayat members, including a woman of Uklana village, for having more than two children under the Panchayati Raj Act. Those removed are Ms Ram Rati from ward No 4, Mr Raj Kumar from ward No 5 and Mr Bhim Singh from ward No 8.

FELLOWSHIP: Dr D.P. Singh, Professor of agronomy, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, has been given the Fellowship of the Indian Society of Agronomy (ISA) for his contributions in the field. It was officially stated here on Tuesday.

SANCTIONED: The Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, has sanctioned a Rs 25-lakh project for CCS Haryana Agricultural University. Under the project a statistical-cum-computing laboratory will be established in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. Dr L.S. Kaushik, professor and head, said here on Tuesday that the project had been sanctioned under the Improvement of Science and Technology Infrastructure in Universities Scheme of the Ministry of Science and Technology.

KALKA
celebrateD: The silver jubilee function of Sophia Convent School was celebrated here with great enthusiasm and gaiety by the management, staff and students. The cultural show presented by tiny-tots was liked very much by audience. The function started by lighting a lamp and a song swagatam vandana. Rt Rev Dr Gerald Mathias, Bishop of Shimla and Chandigarh, was the chief guest, while Maj Gen, George M. Lasrado, VSM, was the special guest and Rev, Sister Michelle was the guest of honour. On the occasion, the school also honoured all past principals of the school and the first student who was taken on rolls of the school in 1975 when the school started. 

NARNAUL
COMMISSION: A fact-finding commission set up by Chief Minister O.P. Chautala to study various aspects of the prohibition in the state headed by Mr G. S. Chahal, former Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, recorded statements and accepted affidavits regarding the matter at the PWD rest house here on Wednesday. Addressing a press conference, Mr Chahal said that 51 affidavits were received and 31 persons from the Mahendragarh district got their statements recorded.