AMRITSAR
INAUGURATED: The former Minister for External Affairs and MP, Mr R.L. Bhatia, on Sunday inaugurated the computer laboratory at R.R. Bawa DAV College for Girls in Batala. Mr Bhatia also gave away Rs 1 lakh to the college for buying more computers.

BARNALA
PCO OWNERS' STIR: Local PCO owners staged a demonstration here on Friday to protest against the move of Ministry of Telecommunications. Later, a delegation of the PCO owners on Monday met Mr Gurcharan Singh Dadhahoor, member of the AICC and a former MP, from Sangrur.

APPEAL: Mr N.S. Walia, SDM, called a meeting of the representatives of various political parties and voluntary organisations at his office on Monday for sending relief materials to the earthquake victims in various parts of Gujarat. Mr Malkit Singh Keetu, MLA, Mr Lakhwinder Singh, SP (Detective), Mr Prem Chand Aggarwal, Chairman, Punjab Beopar Mandal, and Mrs Sukhdarshan Kaur, President, Municipal Council, appealed to the voluntary organisations and the public to donate liberally. About 2,500 blankets were donated by residents.

DORAHA
CULTURAL FESTIVAL: The 12th festival of Baba Bulle Shah will be held at Rajewal village on February 7 and 8, according to Mr Najar Singh Canada, chairman of the Baba Bulle Shah Manch.

FARIDKOT
EYE CAMP: A five-day eye camp organised by the local Balbir Hospital and Research Health Centre concluded here on Monday. Fortyfive operations were performed and more than 500 persons were examined by Dr P.S. Sandhu, Head of the Eye Department, GGS Medical College and members of his team. Medicines, spectacles, boarding and lodging facilities were provided free of cost to the needy, said the Senior Medical Officer of the hospital.

GURDASPUR
DONATION CELL: The Deputy Commissioner, on Monday ordered the opening of a cell to collect donations for Gujarat Earthquake Relief Fund. It was decided to send 3,500 blankets for the earthquake victims.

KHAMANO
SHOPS SEALED: Liquor shops falling in the Khamano circle were sealed and employees were arrested by the Khamano police on Republic Day. The SHO Khamano, Mr Shamsher Singh Guddu, when contacted, said shops, including at Khamano, Sanghol, Nanowal, Barwali and Chari, were raided at 4 pm by different police parties lead by ASI Rajinderpal, ASI Mohan Lal , ASI Gurbachan Singh, head constable Major Singh and head constable Nirmal singh. A case under Section 188, IPC, has been registered. Those arrested have been identified as Raj Kumar Raji, Rajinder Singh, Rajkumar, Hardev Singh, Ramesh Kumar, Sagar Kumar, Pirthi Singh, Neelu Sharma, Sanjay Kumar, Sanjeev Kumar, Jagnahar Singh, Ramesh Chand, Puran Singh and Gurmeet Singh, all employees of the shops. The shops belongs to Jaswinder Singh and Company, Machhiwara.

LUDHIANA
FLAYED: The CPI(ML) Liberation has flayed the policies of liberalisation and globalisation initiated by the previous Congress government headed by Mr P.V. Narsimha Rao and now being pursued by the NDA government. The District Secretary of the party, Mr Ramesh Sharma, has said in a statement that despite its slogans of swadeshi, the BJP government in the Centre was following “anti-people” economic policies. Describing the WTO agreement as a historical blunder, he said the adverse effects were already visible.

LAUNCHED: The Chawla group has launched a new restaurant at Hardy's World here. Mr Tejinder Singh Chawla, Managing Partner of Chawla Food Chain, said for the first time Thai food would be available in the city. The restaurant will serve choicest tandoori delicacies.

TRIBUTES PAID: A meeting of the state unit of the Lok Morcha, Punjab, was held at Jassowal village, 15 km from here, in which tributes were paid to martyrs of the National Liberation Movement. Mr Amolak Singh, general secretary of the state unit, and Mr Kasturi Lal, president of the district unit, remembered Gurdev Jassowal, describing him as a untiring soldier of peoples’ struggle. Mr Himmat Singh, district secretary, presented the annual report. Meanwhile, the following were elected office-bearers of the district unit of the morcha: Mr Kasturi Lal — president; Mr Himmat Singh — secretary; Mr Jasvir Singh — finance secretary; Vishal, Raj, Parminder Singh and Balwant Singh — executive committee members.

AWARENESS PROGRAMME: To spread dental awareness among the people in the city, Christian Dental College is organising a mega event, Fusion, from January 31 to February 4. The festival will begin with a seminar on ‘Esthetic dentistry’ on the inaugural day. The five-day festival will also include literary events like quiz, debates, creative writing, jam and dumb charades. The grand finale to the event will be in the form of a carnival. A free check-up camp will also be organised on February 3 and 4. This was informed by the Principal of CDC, Dr J.L. Joshi. He said, ‘‘our aim is to create awareness through dental camps. The collected funds would be utilised towards providing subsidized community dental health services to the underprivileged of society by procurement of new community van’’. The chief coordinator of the event, Dr Vaibhav Munjhal, said that more than 450 students from all over the country would be taking part in the mega event.

TRAINING: The Department of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Extension, PAU, will organise a training programme on dogs’ care on February 7. The head of the department said in a press note that interested persons could send their entries to the Professor-cum-Head of the department. He said the training would be free but on the first come first serve basis.

OPENED: A nursing home was inaugurated by Mr Sat Pal Gosain, Deputy Speaker, Punjab Vidhan Sabha at Salem Tabri here on Monday. A free medical camp has also been started. Mr Sunil Lakhotra, director of the nursing home and Mr Krishan Rajpal, general secretary, were also present on the occasion.

MACHHIWARA
SPORTS MEET: A three-day rural sports meet will be held at Sherpur Bet Shergarh village by the Baba Phalahiwala Sport Club from February 8 to 10. In the meet kabaddi, volleyball and athletics contest will be held. According to Mr Inderpal, club secretary, Mr Gurcharan Singh Ghalib, MP, will distribute prizes. The next sports meet will be held at Machhiwara by the Sri Charan Kanwal Sports Club from February 16 to 18 which include kabaddi, football, athletics and rassakashi events. The Guru Nanak Sports Club will hold meet at Hambowal Bet village from February 26 to 28. According to Mr Satish Malhotra, chairman of the club, the sixth sports meet would be dedicated to martyr Ranjit Singh, who laid his life for the country in Jammu and Kashmir last year. Cultural programmes would also be presented.

EYE CAMP: A free eye operation camp, organised by the Dasmesh Sports and Welfare Club, will be held at Hedon Bet village on February 5 and 6. According to Mr Surinder Singh, club president, patients will be examined on February 5 and eye specialist Dr Jatinder Mohan Singh will operate upon patients the next day.

MALERKOTLA
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Government College unit of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad: president — Mr Balwinder Singh; vice-president — Mr Mohammed Bashir and secretary — Mr Harpinder Singh Chehal.

DERAILED: A Malerkotla-bound passenger train coming from Ludhiana derailed at Dodiwal village, about 4 km from here. Three of the seven bogies got off the track which was broken. Twelve persons were injured in the mishap. The Railway Police has registered a case.

MEETING: Employees of the State Bank of Patiala (SBOP) resent the move of the bank to introduce Voluntary Retirement Scheme. At a meeting of the SBOP Employees’ Federation held here on Sunday at the Hanuman Mandir complex, the president of the federation alleged the Centre wanted to destroy trade unionism in the banking sector, besides selling its interests to the MNCs.

MANDI GOBINDGARH
CELEBRATED: SNAS Senior Secondary School and SNAS Model School, here, celebrated annual day function. Students presented a cultural programme. Mr Prem Kumar Bansal, a local industrialist, gave away prizes, while Mr Anil Suraj, secretary of the managing committee of the institution, highlighted the projects to be completed in the next academic year. School magazine, Sugandh, was released on this occasion.

POWER CUTS: Undeclared power cuts have derailed the working of steel rolling industry here, according to Mr Surinder Singhi, president of the Gobindgarh Steel Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In a representation to the PSEB authorities, it was stated that prescribed degree of heat during shutdown period resulting into the additional consumption of fuel.

MANSA
STRIKE ENDS: The district administration persuaded on Saturday Mr Jagdev Singh Chakerian, general secretary of the Save Mansa Cooperative Spinning Mill Action Committee, to end the hunger strike which he had begun on January 22. The DC urged the workers of the spinning mill to withdraw their agitation and assured them that they would be rehabilitated and given loans for self-employment.

MOGA
EDUCATION SCHEMES: The 18th annual prize distribution function of Jagat Sewak College for Girls and Jagat Sewak Public School was held at Parao Mehna in the district on Saturday. Punjab Education Minister Tota Singh, while presiding over the function, said the government had formulated a special programme under which a number of schemes would be launched in the educational sector.

PATIALA
UNION: Mr Sukhdev Singh was unanimously elected as president of the Punjab Drivers Operators Union here on Thursday. The other elected office-bearers are general secretary — Mr Jaspal Singh; senior vice-president — Mr Gurdev Singh; vice-president —Mr Harbans Singh; cashier — Mr Baldev Singh; and secretary — Mr Dilbagh Singh.

ELECTED: Maj-Gen Trilochan Singh Aujla has been unanimously elected as president of the Punjab Heritage Foundation at the meeting held here on Thursday. The other members elected are: vice-presidents — Dr H.S. Wealthy and Dr P.P.S. Cooner; secretary general — Prof R.S. Gill; treasurer — Prof J.S. Kler; and executive members: Mr G.S. Sidhu, Col Karminder Singh Kamboj, Mr Gurdeep Singh and Dr S.S. Tiwana.

CRITICISED: The Punjab Small Editors Union President, Mr Sohan Singh Bahra, criticised the advertisement policy of the Punjab Government on Sunday which he claimed had severely affected the small newspapers being brought out in the state. In a statement here, Mr Bahra said it was tragic that Punjabi news papers, who were doing yeoman’s service in the propogation of the Punjabi language, were being denied the government advertisements. He said due to this new dispensation small Punjabi newspapers being published since a long period were now finding it difficult to bring out their publications and were struggling to survive. The editor appealed to the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, to come to the rescue of these papers saying it was urgent to save them in the interest of the state and the Punjabi language.

COACHING CLASSES: The IAS and Allied Services Training Centre of Punjabi University will start the coaching classes for Probationary Officer (PO) Banking Services. Giving this information, Dr G.S. Bajwa, Director of the centre, said the interested candidates can apply on plain paper alongwith three latest passport size photographs and attested copies of the testimonials in their office by January 30. Classes will be held from 2 p.m. to 5p.m. Interview will be held on February 2 in their office at 10 a.m. The SC trainees will be provided with free coaching and scholarship as per rules.

ORGANISED: The Bank of India, Patiala branch, held a recovery camp here on Sunday as per the latest RBI guidelines applicable to the NPA accounts as at March 31, 1997. Mr V.D. Kumar, Chief Regional Manager, presided over the camp in which a good number of borrowers participated and showed a lot of enthusiasm about the scheme. Compromise proposals worth Rs 11.72 Lakh were finalised on the spot. One more camp is being proposed to be exercised during February before the end of the scheme.

STONE LAID: The foundation stone of the girls’ hostel was laid by Mr Satya Prakash, president of the Gobindgarh Educational and Social Welfare Trust, under the aegis of the Punjab Institute of Management and Technology (PIMT) at Mandi Gobindgarh to provide residential, management and information technology education in the region.

INAUGURATED: A science exhibition inaugurated by Mr Manjit Singh, SDM, Patiala, was set at the Dhudial Khalsa Senior Secondary School where about 50 models depicting technology of light and science were presented by various participating schools. The students who participated in this function were from Guru Nanak Public Foundation School, Modern School, Dhudial Khalsa Senior Secondary School and various other schools.

TARN TARAN
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local unit of the Backward Class Employees Union: president — Mr Bhupinder Singh; senior vice-president — Mr Satwinder Singh; secretary — Mr Parminder Singh; treasurer — Mr Sarwan Singh and press secretary — Mr Amarjit Singh.

ANIMAL WELFARE: The Animal Welfare Board of India and Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals will jointly organise a function to mark celebrations of the Animal Welfare fortnight here on Monday. The function, to be held at the Haryana Raj Bhavan, will be attended by the Governors of Himachal Pradesh and Haryana. Justice Guman Mal Lodha (retd), Chairman, Animal Welfare Board of India, will preside over the function.

CELEBRATED: Basant Panchami was celebrated at Ashiana Public School in a colourful way. The children came dressed in yellow and brightened the ambience. Ten most well dressed children were given prizes. Each child planted a seed as a part of the spring season. Swings decorated with marigold flowers were put up for the children. Kite flying was also organised in the school.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Chandigarh Medical Representative Association: president — Mr Sanjeev Mahajan; vice -president — Mr R.K. Puri; general secretary — Mr Vikram Sikka; joint general secretary — Mr Chander Bhushan; press secretary — Mr Nirlep Bhardwaj; treasurer — Mr Ajay Sharma; and office secretary —Mr Ashish Guleria.

OFFICE-BEARER: The following have been elected office-bearers of the PGI Medical Technologist Association: presidents — Mr R.K. Khanchi and Mr Ravinder Garg; vice-presidents — Mr Ojas Bhatt and Mr G.D. Mehmi; general secretaries — Mr Subhash Chandra and Mr Prem Chand; treasurers — Mr Vijay Aggarwal and Mr Suresh Rajpal; and joint secretary Mr Sanjeev Gupta.

RAJPUT SABHA: The office-bearers of the Mair Rajput Sabha were elected here on Sunday. Chairman — Mr Rajeev Sahdev; senior vice-president — Mr Narinder Singh Jaura; vice-president — Mr O.P. Verma; general secretary — Mr Satinder Verma; finance secretary — Mr Satish Verma; and press secretary — Mr Lakhmir Singh.

AMBALA
COMPETITION HELD: An inter-school essay and painting competition on stress on environment was held at Roots Cantonment Public School, Ambala Cantonment here on Sunday. Students from various age groups, from about two dozen schools, participated in the competition. Among others, the Cantonment Executive Officer, Mr S.S. Chahal and the Cantonment Board member, Mr Prithvi Singh Tetarwal, were present on the occasion.

KURUKSHETRA
MOURNED: The executive body of the district Bar Association held a meeting on Saturday here under the chairmanship of its president, Mr Amar Singh, to mourn the death of thousands of people in the quake-hit Ahmedabad and surrounding areas in Gujarat. Two minutes’ silence was observed for the departed souls, said the general secretary, Mr K.K. Kaushik.

PANIPAT
POWER THEFT: As many as 263 cases of power theft were detected during raids conducted by the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam in the past one month in the district and cases were registered against seven offenders. A fine of Rs 23.09 lakh was recovered from the rest, said the DC, Mr M.R. Anand.

SAMPLES TAKEN: The DC, Mr M.R. Anand, said 15 samples of chillies, cold drinks, wheat flour, and other food products had been taken in the district in December and sent to laboratory. Out of 17 samples taken last time, three had failed and offenders would be suitably dealt with, he added.

SONEPAT
BLOOD DONATION: The Social Welfare Forum organised a blood donation camp for earthquake victims of Gujarat here on Sunday. Fiftyone persons, including the members of the forum, Beopar Mandal and other voluntary organisations donated blood. The donors were awarded commendation certificates.

STIR THREAT: Mr R.K. Nagar, president of the HUDA Public Health Karamchari Union, Haryana, on Monday warned the authorities of the HUDA and the state government that the union would launch a statewide agitation if the employees’ demands were not met.

POWER CUTS: Resentment prevails among residents of the city and its suburbs against the frequent power cuts and trippings in the early hours of morning and later throughout the day. As a result supply of drinking water was hit.

JAWALAMUKHI
VISITED: Chief of the state unit of the Congress Vidya Stokes accompanied by former Chief Minister Thakur Ram Lal visited the Jawalamukhi shrine on Monday. Ms Stokes offered prayers. She was received at the temple by senior Congress leader Pardeep Choudhry.

BASANT CELEBRATED: Thousands of people took a holy dip in the Beas river on the occasion of Basant Panchami on Monday. People flocked Kaleshwar in Dehra subdivision of Kangra district to take a dip in the holy Panjtirthi Tank and the Beas river. They also visited the Kaleshwar temple.

1 KILLED: A scooterist died on the spot on Sunday night near Kathog village on the Jawalamukhi-Chandigarh road when his scooter met with an accident. The deceased, Dev Raj (25), of Kathog was driving the scooter. The pillion rider was also injured seriously. He was admitted to the local hospital.