ABOHAR
MEETING: The Students Federation of India (SFI) at its annual meeting has demanded that classes for undergraduate students should be started at Government Senior Secondary School from the next academic session to save them from the alleged exploitation by private colleges.

PROTEST MARCH: Members of the Technical and Mechanical Employees Union organised a protest march on Friday from Public Health Divisional office to bus stand expressing concern over the increasing political interference in the day to day working of the department.

AMRITSAR
RELIEF SENT: Parents, students, teachers and the management of Springdale Senior School, Amritsar, on Friday sent three truck containing relief items to Gujarat. This consignment was flagged off by Mr O.P. Soni, MLA, and president of the Springdale Educational Society, Mr Surinder Singh Sandhu.

NURSES’ GESTURE: The Punjab Nurses’ Association has decided to donate one day’s pay for the earthquake victims of Gujarat, state general secretary of the association, Mrs Gurcharan Kaur, said here on Friday. Meanwhile Sri Durgiana Committee has announced a donation of Rs 7 lakh besides personal donations in cash and kind for quake victims, secretary general Nand Lal informed.

BATHINDA
EYE CAMP: The Divine Eye Research Foundation (DERF) will hold an eye camp on Sunday at the local MBR Public School. This was stated by Mr Rakesh Narula, President, DERF, in a press note issued here on Saturday. Mr Narula said during the camp cataract patients would be identified and they would be operated upon later at a private hospital free of cost. He said a seminar would also be held to create awareness about eye donation.

QUAKE RELIEF: Mr Rahul Bhandari, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Muktsar, on Saturday flagged off eight trucks loaded with about 25,000 blankets for the earthquake victims of Gujarat. Mr Kanwaljeet Singh Cheema, Deputy Commissioner, said in a press note that very soon another consignment of blankets, quilts, clothes and food would be sent to Gujarat. Members of the Ladies Club, Muktsar, have collected Rs 51,000 for the quake victims.

MOVE FLAYED: The Punjab Civil Medical Services Association (PCMSA) has criticised the latest move of the state Medical Education Department in which it has decided that doctors serving in the state-run hospitals will not be paid salaries during the in-service postgraduation. Dr Ajit Pal Singh, district president, PCMS, in a written statement issued here on Saturday said the MBBS doctors serving in the state-run hospitals were getting pay and service-linked benefits for the past many years while doing postgraduation but now it had been decided by the Medical Education Department that all service-linked benefits and pay be stopped.

BLOOD DONATION CAMP: Students of Desh Bhagat Dental College and Hospital organised a blood donation camp in which 30 units of blood were collected. Dr V.I. Verghese, Principal of the college said in a press note issued here on Saturday that the college administration would make all possible efforts to help victims of Gujarat earthquake.

MEETING HELD: A meeting of the workers of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) was held here on Thursday in which they demanded a minimum support price of Rs 735 per quintal. This was stated by Mr Babu Singh, a spokesperson for the SAD in a press note.

OFFICE-BEARERS: Mr P.S. Grewal on Friday took over as Chairman and Managing Director of National Fertilisers Limited (NFL). NFL is one of the largest producers of the nitrogenous fertilisers in the country.

LANGAR: A group of 40 volunteers of the Mahadev Amarnath Sewa Samiti have started a langar for the quake victims at Samakhala village about 150 km away from Bhuj. This was stated by Mr S. Kumar in a press note.

DHURI
MEETING HELD: Mr Harbhajan Singh, who recently joined as Deputy Superintendent of Police, held his first police-public meeting at the local police station here on Friday. The meeting was attended by several prominent persons of the town, including the President of the local Municipal Council, leaders of various political parties, representatives of various local associations and unions besides Municipal Councillors.

DORAHA
SEMINAR: A farmer's training camp and seminar on floriculture was held by the Horticulture Department at the Government Landscape Unit near here on Thursday. Mr C.L. Bains, Finance Commissioner (Development), in his inaugural address said the farmers should plant flowers of different types apart from the routine crops. For the purpose of bringing changes in the routine cycle of growth, a committee of experts had been constituted which would present its report shortly. ‘‘The report would then be sent to the Centre for approval,’’ Mr Bains added. Mr Kuldip Singh Sandhu, Director, Horticulture Department, Punjab, said, ‘‘Only horticulture can give a blow to the GATT agreement and it is the only way out with which farmers can maintain their economic stability’’. 

SPORTS MEET: The seventh rural sports meet would be organised here by the Guru Hargobind Sports Club from February 9 to 11. Bullock cart races would be the main attraction of the competition. 

FARIDKOT
RELIEF SENT: Mr A. Venu Prasad, Deputy Commissioner, flagged off six trucks containing relief material in aid of earthquake victims at Bhuj in Gujarat here on Friday. He said an amount of Rs 25 lakh donated by government, semi-government employees, social and religious organisations would be sent on Monday. Two volunteers of the district Red Cross Society also accompanied the trucks.

FEROZEPORE
2 WOMEN HELD: Two women, Balbir Kaur and Kashmir Kaur, were held in connection with the murder of Balbir Kaur of Sodhewala village in Makhu near here on Thursday. The two were caught and handed over to the police by people near bhootiwala village. A case has been registered at the Makhu police station.

PATWARI HELD: Vigilance sleuths, led by DSP Baljit Singh, caught Rajinder Pal, patwari of Gidderbaha in Muktsar district, allegedly while accepting a bribe of Rs 800 from Sukhdev Singh in lieu of executing mutation of his piece of land. Mr Hardyal Singh Mann, SP, Ferozepore range, said a case has been registered in this regard.

SMACK SEIZED: A police team led by SHO Shamsher Singh seized 15 gm of smack from Harvinder Pal Singh, alias Bablu, of Azad Nagar in the city.

JALANDHAR
STOLEN: An amount of Rs 2,500 and some copper utensils were stolen from the Shiv Temple in Mehatpur township near here on Friday. Mr Vijay Kumar, caretaker, complained to the police that the amount and some other articles were found missing when people came for worship in the morning. A case has been registered.

KILLED: Suleman, an 18-year-old carpenter, was crushed to death by a vehicle at the Avtar Nagar locality of the city on Friday.

SUSPENDED: Gian Singh, a Punjab Police constable posted as security guard at the Nakodar road bill collection centre of the Department of Telecommunication, has been suspended by the SSP Jalandhar for misbehaving with a Press photographer, Sanjiv Kumar and other telephone subscribers standing outside the bill collection window on Friday. Mr Gaurav Yadav, SSP, said Gian Singh had been placed under suspension and a departmental inquiry ordered against him.

CONTRIBUTION: The Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) has decided to contribute about Rs 2 crore as the employees agreed to donate a day’s salary for Gujarat Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. This was stated by Mr Kamaljit Singh Gill, Engineer-in-Chief (North), in a press note released here.

KHAMANO
CASE: The local police has registered six cases against local liquor vendors and contractors, including 13 operators for violating the orders of the Excise Commissioner, Patiala, according to which they could not open the vends on January 26. They were produced in the court at Fatehgarh Sahib where they were granted bail on Saturday. 

KHANNA
ASSOCIATION: Young lawyers of the town formed a new body, named the Young Lawyers Association, on Friday. Mr Jasbir Singh and Mr Rahul Sharma were elected vice-president and secretary, respectively, of the new association. The association has formed a committee to prepare constitution of the body. The association also decided to collect funds for the earthquake victims of Gujarat. 

CONGRESS: A Congress worker, Mr Ashok Kumar Gupta, has joined the BJP, according to a press note issued by Mr J.S.Lotey, the city BJP president. Mr Gupta said that he had joined the BJP because he felt that only this party was competent to serve the people of the nation. 

APPEALED: The Bharat Vikas Parishad, Khanna, on Saturday appealed to Mr R.N. Dhoke, SSP, Khanna, to trace persons involved in looting incidents in the area in order to wipe out the terror prevailing in the area. In a letter to Mr Dhoke, the parishad alleged that a looting incident occurred at the house of Dr Pritpal Singh, a BJP member, in which his wife was injured. But even after 10 days of the incident, the police had not taken any action. 

MEETING: Mr Kuldeep Khullar, a social worker and member of the Grievances Committee of Samrala subdivision, on Friday appealed to Mr Sandeep Hans, the local SDM, to call a meeting of the grievances committee as the same had not been called for the past two months. He said the meeting should be immediately called so that problems of the area could be discussed and sorted out. 

LUDHIANA
SINGING CONTEST: Students of nearly 15 colleges will participate in a folk songs competition to be organised by the Punjabi Sabhayacharak Akademi in the Guru Nanak Khalsa College for Women, Gujarkhan Campus, on Wednesday. The best five singers will be given prizes. Renowned singers, Mohammad Sadeek and K. Deep will be present during the contest, informed Dr S.N. Sewak, president of the academy.

CULTURAL PROGRAMME: To create awareness about the rights of women and children among the rural masses, the Ludhiana Sakharta Samiti organised a cultural programme in Ludhiana Block -2. Songs, plays and other items were presented in the programme. The items conveyed the idea of the rights of children and their protection, status of women, termination of female foetus and care of expecting mothers. Students of high schools at Laddowal, Mundian Kalan and Bhaini Shalu participated in the programme, informed Mr H.S. Randhawa, project coordinator. 

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been nominated office-bearers of the district unit of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha by Mr Kamal Chatley, district president of the morcha: vice-presidents — Mr Satinder Mahajan, Mr Aman Kumar and Mr Surendra Kapila; general secretary — Mr Hairsh Tandon; organising secretary — Mr Jiwan Gupta; secretaries — Mr O.P. Tripathi, Mr Harjinder Singh Gogi and Mr Kuldip Singh Bhola; press secretary — Mr Sanjiv Malhotra; and cashier — Mr Vipan Jain. The following have been nominated mandal unit presidents: Mr Bharat Bhushan Sharma (North), Mr Rajnish Dhiman (South), Mr Sanjay Kapoor (East), Mr Vikas Sood (West).

MALERKOTLA
GANG BUSTED: With the arrest of two persons the Malerkotla police on Friday claimed that it had busted a gang of automobile thieves operating in the city for the past one year and solved many cases of thefts. DSP Kulshinder Singh told mediapersons that the arrested persons had been identified as Sikander Singh, alias Chinda and Balwinder Singh , alias Binda, a resident of Jagraon. The police had recovered two scooters from them. The Malerkotla police had also arrested Mann Singh, alias Mannu, who was wanted in 53 different cases in Punjab and Haryana.

MANSA
AMBULANCE SERVICE: Deputy Commissioner, Raji P. Srivastava said an ambulance service would be launched by the Rural Education Development Council, Bareta, for the poor and needy patients of the area.

RED CROSS SCHEME: The district Red Cross Society will start a scheme for the benefit of the Scheduled Caste youths from poor families, with a view to make them self-sufficient. This was stated by the Deputy Commissioner here on Friday.

RELIEF SENT: Thirteen cartons of medicines were despatched on Friday by the Civil Surgeon, Dr Niranjan Singh Suman, to Ludhiana, from where the medicines collected from all over the state would be sent to Gujarat. These medicines have been collected by the district administration in association with various social organisations.

RURAL SANITATION: The Punjab Government has released an amount of Rs 23.05 lakh for the implementation of “ Rural Sanitation Programme for Scheduled castes” in the district. The amount has been distributed to all five blocks of district on the basis of their population.

MOGA
FARMERS’ WOES: Farmers of various villages in the district on Friday expressed concern over damage caused to their recently- sown wheat crop due to frost and severe cold wave conditions. A delegation of farmers of the district stated this before mediapersons here on Friday.

NANGAL
RALLY HELD: Volunteers of the local unit of the NSS organised a rally to create awareness regarding social evils. The rally was organised under the stewardship of NSS Programme Officer Vijay Kumar.

NAWANSHAHR
NO SALARY: Resentment prevails among teaching and non-teaching staff of the local Doaba Arya Senior Secondary School and W. L. Arya Girls Senior Secondary School as they have not received their salaries for the past two months as the bank accounts of these institutions have been frozen. The Doaba School staff observed a day’s strike in protest against the non-payment of their salaries.

PATIALA
GUJARAT RELIEF FUND: Expressing their deep sorrow over the Gujarat earthquake, Mr Rakesh Kaura, President of the District Veterinary Officers’ Association, has decided to donate one-day salary of all the members of the association to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund to share the grief of the bereaved families of Gujarat who suffererd loss of both life and property. 

ELECTED: Dr Harbans Pathak, Professor, public administration, Punjabi University, has been elected as the Chairman of the Patiala branch of Indian Institute of Public Administration for the years 2001 to 2003. Mr O.P. Gupta, former Administrative Officer, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, has been elected as the Honorary Secretary, while Dr I.J.S. Sethi, Reader, political science, Punjabi University, will be the Vice-Chairman. Dr Manjit Singh, Head, Department of Social Work, Punjabi University, will be the Joint Secretary-cum-treasurer. Mr H.S. Arora will be the Programme Officer, while Dr R.K. Choudhry, Dr Dalip Singh, Mr Satya Pal Goel and Mr Jatinder Attari are the executive members.

PHAGWARA
ARRESTED: Mohinder Singh Bika, Development Officer in United Insurance Company, was on Friday arrested by a Vigilance team, allegedly while receiving Rs 2,000 from Shaminder Singh of Khothran village. A press note by Mr P.S. Basi, president of the All-India Anti-Corruption Forum said the team was headed by Mr Amrik Singh, DSP Vigilance.

PHILLAUR
FIELD OFFICER HELD: A vigilance team headed by DSP Amrik Singh, on Friday caught Mohinder Singh, a field officer, United Insurance Company, while taking a bribe of Rs 2,000 from Shaminder Singh of Khottrran village for clearing his claim case.

SAMANA
500 BLANKETS SENT: Two trucks containing 500 blankets, cotton clothes, medicines, etc were flagged off on Friday by the SDM, Mr Manpreet Singh Chhatwal, from the office of Aggarwal Dharmshala, for earthquake victims of Gujarat.

SAMRALA
WORK SUSPENDED: Members of the local Bar Association suspended work on Saturday due to death of the mother of a former judge, Mr Param Jit Singh of Samrala. Earlier, a two-minute silence was observed at a condolence meeting held in the Bar room which was presided over by Mr M.G. Prashar, vice-president of the association. 

SANGRUR
THIEVES HELD: the local police has arrested three members of a gang of thieves, Chamkaur Singh and Devinder Singh, both from Ram Nagar Sibian village, and Ram Karan from Amria district in Uttar Pradesh. This was stated in a press note issued here on Friday.

POPPY HUSK SEIZED: The local police has arrested three persons, Karnail Singh, Sonu and Bali, allegedly involved in the smuggling of poppy husk. The police has also recovered poppy husk from their possession.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected as the office-bearers of the Panjab University Students Union (PUSU): patrons — Mr Kuljit Singh Nagra, Mr Binder Singh, Mr Gurinder Grewal, Mr Gurinder Singh Billa, Mr Lakhwinder Singh, Mr Gurjinder Pal Singh and Mr Sukhminder Singh; advisor — Mr Munish Anand; Convenor, — Mr Harsharanbir Singh Hundal; chairman — Mr Lakhjeet Singh; president — Mr Malwinder Singh Kang; senior vice-presidents — Mr Gurdeep Singh Sandhu and Mr Gurjeet Singh Lutheri; vice-president — Mr Rajneesh Sareen, Mr Sikhjot Singh, Mr Rohan and Mr Alok Singh Sandhu; and general secretary — Mr Mohan Singh Sran.

ELECTED: Mr O.P. Ahuja has been elected as the Chairman of the Panjab University Traders Welfare Association, while Mr Sukhvir Gupta has become the president of the association. Mr Rajeev Gupta is the secretary to the president and Mr Bihari S. Bhatia will be the vice-president along with Mr Kedar Nath Gupta. Mr Harbans Singh Thandi and Mr Parmod Bindra will be general secretary, while Mr Narinder Kumar has been chosen as the finance secretary. Mr Ajay Dhadda will be the publicity secretary. The newly elected association has, meanwhile, decided to donate a sum of Rs 21,000 to the Vice-Chancellor to forward to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for the earthquake victims in Gujarat. 

FLAYED: The Chandigarh Territorial Youth Congress has flayed the move of the BJP led government at the Centre to raise the income tax by 2 per cent on the pretext of providing relief to the earthquake victims of Gujarat. Mr Rajesh Sharma, general secretary of the Congress termed it unfair for the imposition of such deduction on the income tax payees. He said that it will add to the burden of the citizens. 

HONOURED: The Food Craft Institute, Sector 42, has been honoured by the Government of India for being one of the active supporters of the “training for all” objective of the Ministry of Tourism under the National Training Policy. The Principal of the institute, Mr Alok Shivapuri, received the award at the India Tourism Day celebrations organised by Ministry of Tourism, New Delhi. The principal also presented a paper on “Strategy for self sustained development of institutes” as a case study for fund raising aspects of the institute in the second session of the function. 

AMBALA
DISABLED URGED: Sanskritik and Samaj Kalyan Sabha has urged the physically challenged to get themselves enumerated during the census. The sabha has started an awareness campaign among the disabled to get themselves enumerated in the census-2001 under the appropriate columns. “Since, the census has finally introduced disability in the census-2001, which is to take place from February 9 to 28, the sabha has been trying to reach out to disabled persons so that the people with disabilities are accounted for in the census,” a release issued by the sabha president Mr R.L. Chopra said. The organisation has requested the people with disabilities to not to hide their disability and their families must come forward to give the relevant information to the enumerators. Meanwhile, the students of Dairy Farm school, Ambala Cantonment took out a rally in the Sadar Bazar area on Saturday to generate awareness about census. 

JWALAMUKHI
HRTC REVAMP: State Transport Minister Kishan Kapoor said here on Friday that the BJP government would make the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) an economically viable unit. Mr Kapoor said a concrete plan to revamp the HRTC functioning was in the offing.

KULU
CONTRIBUTIONS: The International Meditation Institute here has contributed Rs 1 lakh to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for which a draft was handed over to the Additional District Magistrate here on Friday. The Rotary Club, in association with the Banker’s Association, has established a camp at dhalpur to collect relief money and material. NCC cadets are visiting door to door to collect funds for the quake-hit.