BATHINDA
SALARY DONATED: Inspectors (Grade II) of the Punjab Food and Supplies Department have decided to donate a one-day salary to the Gujarat earthquake victims. It was decided at a meeting of the Union of the Inspectors Grade-II here on Wednesday.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Phul tehsil unit of the SC/ BC Employees Federation: president — Mr Gurcharan Singh; general secretary — Mr Mela Singh; and treasurer — Mr Sadhu Singh. Meanwhile, the election of the office-bearers of the Phul (East) block was also held. Mr Balwinder Singh has been elected president while Mr Mandar Singh general secretary.

DONATED: The Punjab Ayurvedic Medical Services Association (PAMSA) has resolved that the doctors of the association will donate one-day salary to the Gujarat earthquake victims. The association has also resolved that the doctors will go to the affected state if the need arises, according to Dr S.S. Romana, senior vice-president, PAMSA, in a press note issued here on Tuesday.

DORAHA
FOUNDATION STONE: Mr Jagdev Singh Talwandi, President, SGPC, laid the foundation stone of a hall and a canteen of Mata Ganga Khalsa College, Manji Sahib, Kottan, on Wednesday. He promised full financial support to the college. Prof Balwinder Singh Jora of Shaheed Sikh Missionary College and Mr Dyal Singh, honorary education secretary, SGPC, were also present. Mr Dalwinder Singh Cheema welcomed the chief guest. Mr Talwandi later visited Gurdwara Manji Sahib where he laid the foundation stone of the rooms. 

POSTPONED: The sports meet of Maksoodra village, that is to be held on February 2, has been postponed. The fresh date would be announced shortly, according to Mr Sikander Singh, vice-president of the Youth Club, Maksoodra. 

FEROZEPORE
TRACED: The police claims to have traced two teenaged brothers, who went missing from the city in October. Varinder Kumar and Ravinder Kumar were traced in Bangalore, according to a press note.

ANTI-LEPROSY DAY: Anti-leprosy day was observed at the local Anand Dham Kusht Ashram. Addressing a gathering, the District Leprosy Officer, Dr G.S. Dhillon, announced a new state policy for the disabled in which surgery and medicine would be provided to lepers free of cost.

HOSHIARPUR
SEMINAR: A seminar on “Role of Religion in Blood Bank” was organised on the occasion of the first anniversary of Bhai Ghanayia Ji Charitable Blood Bank here on Tuesday. Mr Iqbal Singh Sidhu, Deputy Commissioner, inaugurated the seminar. A blood donation camp was organised in which employees of Punjab National Bank and the Hoshiarpur Welfare Society donated blood.

LEPROSY DAY: Leprosy Day was observed by the District Leprosy Society here on Tuesday at a function organised at the local TB Hospital. Dr Kiranjit Kumar, Civil Surgeon, presided.

KHARAR
COMPETITION: As many as 112 students from different school of Kurali participated in the inter-school on-the-spot painting competition and on-the-spot paper reading completion organised in connection with the valedictory function of the Oil Conservation Fortnite organised in Kurali on Wednesday. In this competition students from Chakwal National Senior-Secondary School, National Public School and DAV Model Senior Secondary School, all of Kurali, participated. Mr S. N. Verma, Principal, spoke on the various aspects of the oil conservation. The function was sponsored by the Punjab State Office of Indian Oil Corporation, Chandigarh. 

LUDHIANA
EMPLOYEES' FRONT: The PAU Employees United Front, comprising the PAU Employees Federation, the PAU Employees Welfare Forum, the PAU Employees Progressive Front and the PAU Employees Technical Association, have welcomed the appointment of Dr K.S. Aulakh as Vice-Chancellor of PAU. A deputation led by Mr Avtar Singh Deol, chairman of the front, met Dr Aulakh on Wednesday and apprised him of their problems. 

ELECTED: A meeting of the Urban Estate Phase II Dhandari Kalan Residents Welfare Society held here on Tuesday expressed concern over the water supply in the area, which had deteriorated after the transfer of the area from PUDA’s control to the Municipal Corporation. A resolution was passed to urge the corporation to arrange water supply through storage tanks so that the supply could be ensured in the absence of power. At the meeting, Mr Dalbir Singh Panesar was unanimously elected as chairman of the society. Other office-bearers are: Mr Satnam Singh Khera — president; Mr T.N. Gupta — senior vice-president; Mr J.S. Dilawari — vice-president; Mr Ujagar Singh — general secretary; Mr Lakhwinder Singh — joint secretary; Mr Manak Singh — cashier; Mr J.K. Nayyar — joint cashier; and Mr Phuman Singh —legal advisor.

TOYS DISTRIBUTED: Members of the Rotary Club, Ludhiana north, distributed toys, stationery and other items among students of Ek Prayas on Tuesday. According to Mr Ravinder K. Singhania, secretary of the club, nearly 43 children were given things. Two steel almirahs were also given. Among those present on the occasion were Mr Tulsi Das Jaitwani, Mr R. S. Behl, Mrs Samira Bector and Mrs Radhika Jaitwani. 

GURBANI COMPETITION: Guru Gobind Singh Study Circle recently organised an inter-school Gurbani recitation competition at Gurdwara Guru Teg Bahadur Satsang Sabha. Thirty two teams from different schools of the city participated in the competition, including 14 teams in the senior and 18 teams in the junior group. In the senior group, Ramgarhia Girls Senior Secondary School, Guru Nanak International Public School, and GGN public School received first, second and third prize respectively. In the junior group, Guru Nanak International School, Ramgarhia S.S. School (boys), and Shri Guru Harikrishan Public School got first, second and third prizes respectively. 

ELECTION: Mr Sohan Singh Khokhar has been elected president of the District Nambardar Association. The other office-bearers are: general secretary — Mr Sudagar Singh; senior-vice presidents — Mr Dharamvir and Mr Karamjit Singh; cashier — Mr Raj Kumar; joint secretary — Mr Surjit Singh; press secretary — Mr Amarjit Singh; and executive members — Mr Sarwan Singh and Mr Jang Singh. 

CASSETTE RELEASED: An audio cassette Hussan Wale by Angrez Ali was released here on Tuesday by Mr Jagdev Singh Jassowal, the founder of the Mohan Singh Foundation. The function was organised by the Baba Farid Foundation International. The songs have been written by S.M. Sadiq. Jassowal said that in the present day, where a majority of cassettes were of a low standard, the present cassette brings out the ideal of mutual love between eastern and western Punjab. Among others, Mr Darshan Singh, DPRO, Ludhiana, Dr F.C. Shukla, Mr Ninder Gill, Mr Lal Singh Gill, Mr Tarsem Ali and Mr Kundan Achharwal, were present. 

MALERKOTLA
POPPY HUSK SEIZED: The Ahmedgarh police has arrested two persons and seized 27.5 kg of poppy husk from them. The arrested persons have been identified as Jagroop Singh and Ravi Haldhar. A case has been registered.

PRESS CLUB: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Press Club: president — Ashok Joshi; senior vice-president — Satish Kapoor; vice-president — Asghar Parihaar; general secretary — Shahabudin; secretary — Mukesh Gandhi; and treasurer — Rajinder Kathuria.

OIL CONSERVATION: An oil conservation fortnight concluded here on Wednesday. Various functions were organised in the district in this connection. Addressing a function organised at Permeshwar Oil company here, Mr R. Kartic, District Coordinator, appealed to people to save oil.

MANDI GOBINDGARH
HONOURED: Baljinder Singh, a bronze medal winner in the World Power Weightlifting Championship held recently in Chennai, was honoured at a function organised by the local Municipal Council here on Wednesday. He was given a cheque for Rs 50,000 by Mr Lachhman Singh Saini, Executive Officer. Mrs Beant Kaur, councillor, also honoured him with a cash prize of Rs 5,100. Baljinder Singh expressed confidence in winning the gold medal in the forthcoming Asian Championship to be held in Hyderabad in May. 

MANSA
KIWANIS INTERNATIONAL: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local branch of the Kiwanis International: president — Mr Krishan Kumar Goyal; vice-president — Mr Girdhari Lal Goyal; secretary — Mr Rajinder Garg; treasurer — Mr Prem Singh Mittal; and directors —Dr Manmohan Singh Sethi, Mr Jaswinder Singh Sarao, Mr Pardeep Singla, Mr Satinder Verma and Mr Chetan Goyal.

BAR ASSOCIATION: The following have been appointed office-bearers of the District Bar Association: president — Mr Ajit Singh Bhangu; senior vice-president — Mr P.K. Singla; vice-president —Ms Rekha Sharma; general secretary —Mr Joginder Singh Bhullar; secretary — Mr P.K. Sapolia; and treasurer — Mr Darshan Sharma.

KILLED: Bharpur Singh (30) of Malikpur Khiala village in the district, died on Tuesday. He was hit by a jeep while going on cycle on Monday. A case has been registered.

NAWANSHAHR
CAREER AWARENESS: The district Education Department organised a talk on career awareness at Government High School, Kot Ranjha, 6 km from here, on Tuesday. As many as 140 students attended. Mr Narinder Singh, District Guidance Counsellor, delivered lecture.

EARTHQUAKE RELIEF: The gram panchayat and gurdwara Shaheed Ganj Urapur, about 15 km from here, have sent a truck load of blankets and clothes for the Gujarat earthquake victims on Tuesday, informed Mr Daljit Singh, sarpanch of the village.

PATIALA
FOUNDATION STONE: The foundation stone of Guru Harkishan College was laid by Sant Baba Amar Singh Barhundi at a village near Ahmedgarh in Sangrur district here on Tuesday. Mr Jagjit Singh Dardi, Chairman of the Guru Harkishan Trust, said that the trust was concentrating at numbering the state among tops in the field of information technology. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Dardi said that the college will be undertaking university affiliated courses such as BCA, MCA, BMIT and MA, both at the graduate as well as under-graduate levels. He added that the latest studies on Internet, e-commerce and web-designing will also be dealt with in the college.

PLACEMENTS: Mr Bhagwan Dass Ahuja, president of the American Innovation Technology Company, visited the Punjab Institute of Management and Technology (PIMT), Mandi Gobindgarh, on Tuesday for placement of MCA and MBA students and offered 40 seats to the students of the institute to join the company in New Jersey. 

INAUGURATED: The Housing Development and Financial Corporation (HDFC) inaugurated their branch here on Wednesday and out of the total number of 126 branches, 30 are in the Northern region. Commenting on the bank’s strategies for its retail banking operations, Mr Vinod Yennemadi, Executive Director, HDFC Bank, said that the customers can get cash access anytime through the ATM, proprietary and savings accounts and NRI services. He added that the customers can also avail themselves of loans against shares, apart from automatic interactive banking channels such as net banking and HDFC Bank International Debit Card. 

PHAGWARA
HAWALA: The local police on Monday arrested a hawala racketeer Parwinderjit Singh of Central Town, Jalandhar, and recovered Rs 15,85,350 from his car at a police naka, near Kanshi nagar, according to a press note issued by SSP Iqbal Singh.

PHILLAUR
BANK FRAUD CASES: About 50 senior police officers of the Punjab police on Tuesday were given guidelines by ICICI Bank officers at Punjab Police Academy, here to detect bank fraud cases and to nab the culprits, who indulge in such frauds.

ANTI-LEPROSY DAY: Anti -Leprosy day was observed by the District Leprosy Society, UT, Chandigarh, through a health awareness programme among school children. Dr Vanita Gupta, District Leprosy Officer, organised mass awareness programmes for detection of leprosy cases among students of government schools in the slums, colonies and villages, here on Wednesday. As many as 2000 students and 150 teachers from 21 schools were educated during the programme. 

TELEPHONE BILLS: The State Bank of Patiala has entered into an agreement with the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited for collection of telephone bills and branches of the bank situated in Sector 22-D, 35-D, 10-D, Industrial Area Phase II, Grain Market branches in Chandigarh and Phase V in SAS Nagar, Sector 7 Panchkula and Kharar branches will accept the telephone bills from February 1, 2001. 

ELECTED: The office-bearers of the Tehri Garhwal Gram Sudhar Samiti, Chandigarh, were elected here on Sunday. President — Mr Rameshwar Prasad Mishra; vice-president — Mr Dewan Singh Rawat; general secretary — Mr Jagdamba; joint secretary — Mr Dhan Singh Aswal; treasurer — Mr Dev Anand; press secretary — Mr Hukam Singh; advisor — Mr Jagdish Singh Aswal; and publicity secretaries — Mr Sohan Singh, Mr Dinesh Prasad, Mr Bhagwan Singh Negi and Mr Awal Chand. 

CELEBRATED: The Lions Club Vishal and Lions Club Rose organised a langar at the local kusht ashrama on Tuesday as part of the celebrations to mark the world leprosy day. As many as 150 inmates of the ashrama were given food and milk and biscuits were distributed among children. 

HELP FOR QUAKE-HIT: Acting on the appeal of Chandigarh Beopar Mandal, the Sector 11-D Market Welfare Association collected Rs 51,000 for the Gujarat relief fund. The cheque of the equivalent amount was then later handed over the Deputy Commissioner of Chandigarh, here on Wednesday. 

TRAINING: All the staff members appointed for the census are informed that one training module of 15 minutes, prepared by the Indira Gandhi Open University, will be broadcast over All India Radio network during 7 am and 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. from February 1, 2001 to February 9, 2001. They are requested to tune their radios to listen the training module and derive maximum benefit from it. 

LECTURE IN USA: Mr Kamaldeep Dhawan, Senior Research Fellow in the Department Pharmaceutical Sciences, Panjab University, has been invited to deliver a lecture on “Passiflora incarnate Linn-A Traditional Medicine of the Pre-historic Era”, at the University of Hawaii, Honolulu in the USA. 

MANDI
KILLED: Nanak Chand (50), a foreman in the HPSEB and a resident of Alathu village, was killed when he was run over by a bus at Talyar, near here, on Tuesday while going home on a bicycle.

BANK BURGLED: Burglars took away Rs 19,000 from the Upper Bhambla branch of Himachal Gramin Bank on Sunday, according to a report received from the Sarkaghat subdivision. The thieves used a welding gas machine to cut the chest containing cash.

SHIMLA
POSTPONED: The Planning Department has postponed the meeting of MLAs with the Chief Minister for finalising priorities for the annual plan for 2001-2002, scheduled for February 2 and 3.