BATHINDA
NCP PRESIDENT: Mr Anil Kumar Gupta, president, district Tax Bar Association, has been appointed president of the city unit of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), according to Mr Amrit Pal Singh Brar, secretary of the state unit, here on Sunday.

PARTY OFFICE: Mr Bhupinder Singh Gora, vice-president, Punjab Youth Congress (PYC), said on Monday that the party would open its offices in each block of the state. Mr Gora and Mr Narinder Bhalaria, president, Youth Congress, Bathinda district, inaugurated the party office at Bhucho Mandi on Monday.

WOOLLENS DISTRIBUTED: Mr Mithu Ram Gupta, General Secretary, BJP (Bathinda district) said on Monday that woolens and shoes were distributed among the poor by the party workers to celebrate the birthday of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. He said party workers organised ‘havan’ for the long life of Mr Vajpayee.

HOSHIARPUR
SUD SABHA: The local Sud Sabha organised Sud Parivar Milan here on Sunday. More than 1,000 men, women and children belonging to the Sud community participated. A cultural programme was presented by children. Mr Banta Ram Sud donated 40 kanals to the Sud Sabha for setting up a community centre and a public school.

KHAMANO
elected: A meeting of the youth wing of Shiromani Akali Dal, circle Khamano, was held in Gurdwara Sahib Ranwan under the chairmanship of the circle president, Mr Gurdeep Singh Ghuman, in which the following office-bearers were elected: senior Vice-president — Sukhjeet Singh Mann; general secretary — Amarjit Singh Bilaspur;-Secretary — Gurdeep Singh Hawara; vice-president — Amarjeet Singh Manderan; cashier — Paramjit Singh Badesh and press secretary — Harjinder Singh Happy. 

rejected: District Session Judge, Fatehgarh Sahib, has rejected the bail application of Bhinder Singh Ranwan. In the mean time Ranwan has been sent to Patiala Jail in judicial custody upto January 4. The Khamano police has registered a case under Sections 457, 294, 295, 506, 323 and 34 of the IPC against Bhinder Singh on the complaint of Ram Singh Manderan, a property dealer. In his complaint Ram Singh has alleged that he was called by Ranwan and was beaten up. He alleged that Ranwan has also made comments about the caste of Ram Singh and his turban was also burnt. The police arrested Bhinder Singh and Sher Singh on the same day. 

KHANNA
meeting: An election meeting of the Electronics Dealers Association was held at local Abhishek Banquet Hall was here on Sunday. The meeting was conducted by its secretary, Mr Parvesh Nanchahal. Mr Vijay Vij was reelected president. He defeated his rival Mr Parvesh Aggarwal by a narrow margin of 2 votes. Mr Vij scored 14 votes out of total 26 votes. Besides, Mr Jagdeep Singh Titoo was elected vice-president, Sunder Vij — secretary, Charan Sood as joint secretary, Sanjeev finance as secretary and Garib Das Sharma, Surinder Singh, Rajesh Kumar, Rakesh Nanchahal and Jewan Kumar were elected as the executive members. 

elected: Mr Gagandeep Singh Kalirao was elected president of the District Ludhiana Dehati Bhartia Janta Yuva Morcha, in a meeting held here on Sunday. He was congratulated by Mr Vijay Diamond, vice-president, Bharti Janta Party, Ludhiana, and Mr Jaspal Singh Lotey, MC and the President, Bhartia Janta Party Khanna Mandal . 

LUDHIANA
Ekta Committee: The welfare society of the local Model Town Extension organised a meeting on Sunday at Punjabi Street Model Town Extension, Block D, near Shri Guru Nanak Park to elect the unity committee of the residents (Ilaqa Niwas Ekta Committee). The members laid stress on the need to eradicate corruption and create unity among the residents so that the welfare of the colony could be given full attention. 

flayed: The Punjab Pradesh Mahila Congress has flayed yet another cabinet expansion by the Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, in a bid to please his alliance partner. The state convener of the teachers’ cell of the party, Ms Jaswant Ghai, has said in a statement here today that the induction of another member in the jumbo size cabinet of the state will put further unnecessary burden on the state exchequer. She said the grave financial crisis facing the government, had led to many a development projects being stalled and more than 20,000 vacant posts of the teachers in the government schools and colleges had not been filled up due to paucity of funds. Moreover, the SAD-BJP government in Punjab had failed to implement the pension-cum-gratuity scheme for the government aided private college teachers on the pretext of lack of adequate funds. She wondered as to why the resource crunch had not come in the way of repeated cabinet expansions in Punjab. 

Sikh youth exhorted: Mr Balwinder Singh Bains, President, Youth Wing Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), exhorted the Sikh youth to keep a vigil on the evil designs of communal organisations who, he alleged, were hatching conspiracies to infiltrate into Sikh institutions and to weaken the Sikh religion. Addressing a religious congregation at Sokhi Road here to welcome the nagar kirtan taken out by Gurdwara Guru Nanak Prakash to mark the forthcoming Gurpurb, he charged the so called 'panthic' government in Punjab with digressing from the basic principles of Sikhism. The senior leaders of ruling Akali Dal had bartered away the interests of Sikh community and Sikh principles for the sake of retaining power and to promote their kith and kin. Prominent among those present at the occasion were Mr Sarbjit Singh Baba, district president, Mr Jagbir Singh Sokhey, Senior vice-president, Mr Ranjit Singh Ubhi, the general secretary of the party, Mr Amrik Singh Sokhey, Mr Sukhwant Singh Sukhi, Mr Baldev Singh and Mr Gurcharanjit Singh. 

muhurat: The sangeet muhurat for Sri Akal Takht Sahib, a serial on Sikh history and religious aspects produced under the banner of Singh Creative Movies, was held in a studio here on Saturday. The rituals for the muhurat was carried out by Information and Public Relations Minister, Punjab, Mr Natha Singh Dalam, and ex-minister Harnek Singh Ghaduan. 

hailed: Local Congressmen have hailed the victory of their candidate as Mayor. In a statement, Mr K.K. Kapoor, Mr Balraj Singh and Mr B.M. Khanna have said the new Mayor will work for the betterment of the city residents. The Vikas Nagar (Mauli Jagran) Welfare Association congratulated Mr Raj Kumar Goyal for his victory. This was stated by Mr M.L. Verma, president of the association, in press note. Mr Ram Pal Sharma, president of the Indian National Trade Union Congress, also congratulated him. Residents of Shahpur Rajiv Colony, Dadu Majra also hailed his victory. 

Delegation: A delegation of the Welfare Society, Sector 45, met Mr R K Goyal, mayor, and apprised him of the problems faced by residents of the area. The main problems of the residents include the use of V-6 road by a school. They demanded that the entrance of the school should be changed. This was stated by Mr S C Hans, president of the society, in a press note. 

rally: The Nationalist Congress Party will hold public rally on January 6 at Nehru Park, Sector 22, here. The rally, among others, will be addressed by Mr P. A. Sangma, Member Parliament, and Mr T. P. Peethabaran, general secretary of the party. This was stated by Mr Sham Lal Kanoujia, general secretary of the local unit, in press note issued here on Monday. 

Christmas celebrated: The NSS unit of GGDSD College, Sector 32, celebrated Christmas with inmates of Chandi Khust Ashram Society during the on going NSS camp, here on Monday. The unit also distributed sweets and fruits among the inmates. This was stated by Mr Safri Lal, programme officer, in a press note. The local unit of the Nationalist Youth Congress distributed sweets and fruits among inmates of the ashram. 

Harbhajan performs: Spirit of fun and gaiety marked the opening of the largest music store of the country to the people of Chandigarh here on Monday. As the store in Sector 17 was thrown open on Monday, a large number of music lovers thronged the place which has almost everything conceivable under the sun as far as music is concerned. There are over 45,000 titles, rock, pop, jazz, metal, classics, regional music, bhangra and so on. Another major attraction of the evening was the performance by pop singer Harbhajan Mann who rocked the crowds with his six famous numbers, the most hot ones being Mirza, Lala Lala and Oye Hoye. 

skills: Fun and frolic that began on December 15, in Government Institute for Mentally Retarded Children, Sector 32, ended on a high note on Monday. Mentally challenged children enthusiastically exhibited their skills that they had mastered during the winter camp. Rakesh distributed sweets and the Christmas cake was cut by Seema. Musical chairs, passing the parcel and bhangra were the other highlights of the occasion. Welcoming Ms Madhavi Kataria, Director, Department of Social Welfare, Mr B.S. Chavan, Joint Director of the institute, opined that the winter camp had brought cheers among the mentally challenged children. 

Minor fire: A minor fire broke out in parts of the kabadi market of Sector 44 here on Monday. However, no loss of life or property was reported. Two fire-engines were rushed on the spot and the fire was brought under control. The cause of the fire is not known. 

Scooterist injured: A scooter and a truck collided near the railway crossing at Mani Majra. The scooter driver reportedly got injured. According to sources in the police department, the injured was rushed to the PGI, Sector 12, where his condition was reported to be stable. A senior police official said they could give more information after recording the statement of the victim.