JAGRAON
SEIZED: The local police has arrested Malkit Singh of Subhash Nagar and Raj Mohammad of Daresi Ground, Ludhiana, who used to bring blue colour kerosene at cheaper rates and after adding chemicals changed its colours and sold the same in Ludhiana at higher rates. For the purpose of transportation, they used tanker (PB-23-8157). The police has recovered from their possession a huge quantity of kerosene which they were carrying without valid documents. The police has registered a case under Section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act and Section 420 of the IPC. 

KHAMANO
CENSUS-2001: The third and final rehearsal for the census-2001 was held at Government Senior Secondary School, Khamano Kalan, on Sunday after which census material was distributed to the teachers selected for the operation. The teachers were asked to complete their assignments in good spirit. 

DHARNA: To get the unconditional release of Mr Binder Singh Ranwan, all arrangements were being made for the proposed dharna in front of the Chief Minister’s residence on February 12 at Chandigarh. Stating this here Mr Rajinder Singh Manderan, Mr Mangat, Kisan Union leader, Bahadar Singh, sarpanch, Manele, Mahila Mandal leaders Ms Gurmeet Kaur and Ms Shamsher Kaur in a joint statement disclosed that public meetings are being held in villages to mobilise the people. They stated that Bhinder Singh Ranwan was leading the farmers and Dalits for the last 20 years in their struggle for justice but he has been implicated in a false case and at present he with an accomplice Sher Singh is lodged at Patiala Jail. A dharna at district headquarters Fatehgarh Sahib was also staged some times back, where a top official had given assurance that a high level inquiry will be held, but nothing has been done yet, they warned that their struggle will continue till his release. 

KHARAR
MISHAP: Mr Amrik Singh of Morinda was killed when his car (HR 38 E 5469) was hit by a truck (PB-65 A 1560) near Mamupur village on the Kharar-Morinda road on Sunday. The Kharar police has registered a case under Section 304-A of the IPC against the driver of the truck. 

LUDHIANA
SHOBHA YATRA: Sri Guru Ravidas Sabha will organise a ‘shobha yatra’ in the city on February 7 to mark the birthday of Guru Ravidas. According to Mr Bansi Lal Premi, vice-president of the sabha, the yatra will commence from Samadh Mai Chando, Sri Guru Ravidas Bhavan, Issa Nagri, and will pass through main localities of the city. A large number of religious, social and educational institutions, including Dr Ambedkar Sewa Samiti, Dr Ambedkar Memorial School, Dr Ambedkar Public School, Manavta Public School, Dr Ambedkar Dalit Sena and Dr Ambedkar Navyuvak Dal, will take part in the yatra. 

RELIEF FOR QUAKE-HIT: Activists of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have collected relief material, in cash and in kind, for the victims of the earthquake in Gujarat. Presiding over a meeting to review the collections made by the party rank and file, the district president of the party, Mr Rashpal Singh, informed that special camps were organised for this purpose near Caulvary Church, Bans Bazar, Shimlapuri, Meena Bazar Chowk and many other localities and the residents overwhelmingly responded to the need for mitigating the sufferings of the victims and donated liberally. 

CIVIC AMENITIES: The Anti-Pollution and Welfare Association has deplored the civic body for its complete failure to provide civic amenities to the residents of New Janata Nagar and Shimlapuri localities. A meeting of the executive committee, presided over by Mr Sher Singh held here on Sunday observed that the MC had laid water main pipes in Street Nos 5, 6 and 7 way back in July 2000, but the water connections were not released to the residents so far. Further, the water pressure was low in the lines and the no arrangements were made to remove garbage and filth from the locality. According to Mr Sher Singh, the meeting further criticised the erratic functioning of streetlights and called upon the MC to make adequate lighting arrangements and traffic signals on Gill Road, Grain Market and Canal Bridge crossings in view of the heavy traffic due to diversion, necessitated by ongoing construction of Dhuri line flyover in the city. 

FAREWELL AT KVM: Nearly 260 Class XII students of Kundan Vidya Mandir, Civil Lines, were bid adieu by their juniors in a party organised on the campus on Monday evening. Class XI students presented dance, music and choreography items. Miss Evening, Miss KVM and Mr KVM were chosen amongst the Class XII students. Lucky draw was also held. Ms Indira Kumar, Principal, told the students to work hard and do well in examination. She wished them all good luck for their future life. 

MOGA
DONATIONS: Members of the Punjab State Ministerial Staff Association at its meeting held here on Sunday decided to donate one-day salary to victims of the Gujarat earthquake. Members of the association also donated as many as 100 bottles of blood.

QUAKE RELIEF: The district administration has collected 2,097 blankets, 28 quilts, 200 utensils, food stuff and medicines for the earthquake victims. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Kanwalbir Singh Sidhu, talking to mediapersons here on Monday said three collection centres had been set up and arrangements made to despatch goods to Ahmedabad.

ENCYCLOPAEDIA: An encyclopaedia on the life of Lala Lajpat Rai would be brought out shortly, according to the secretary of the Servants of People Society of India, Mr Satpal Grover, here on Sunday. Talking to mediapersons, Mr Grover said the material for the work was being collected from the USA and other countries.

PROTEST: Members of the Bharatiya Kisan Union of the Punjab unit on Sunday protested against the sale of imported goods in Punjab and the opening of multinational companies in India. The Press Secretary of the BKU, Mr Bhupinder Singh Maheshari, said members of the BKU would launch an agitation if the sale of imported goods was not stopped.

NAWANSHAHR
COLLECTED: Mr Baldev Nayyar, district chairman of the Lions Club district 321-D and resident of Banga town, sent 222 blankets and Rs 10,000 collected from people for the Gujarat earthquake victims. The local Lions Club also handed over 72 blankets to the SDM, Mr Pritam Singh Johal, according to Mr Iqbal Singh, president of the club.

RELIEF SENT: Dr Roshan Sunkaria, Deputy Commissioner flagged off three truckloads of relief material containing 2,500 blankets, 100 bags of clothes, 30 bags of woollen clothes, 50 bags of utensils for earthquake victims in Gujarat. A draft for Rs 8.45 lakh has also been sent towards the Prime Ministers Relief Fund, said a press note issued here on Monday.

PHILLAUR
ARRESTED: The Phillaur police on Friday arrested Roshan Lal of Thall village under Sections 386 and 507 of the IPC for demanding ransom of Rs 3 lakh from Parminder Singh. Roshan Lal, in a threatening letter, allegedly threatened to kidnap Parminder’s children if he failed to pay the ransom. The suspect had confessed his crime, the police said.

SAMRALA
LIQUOR SEIZED: Eight bottles of liquor were seized from Jaspal Singh of Jaspalon village at a naka near Mehdoodan focal point. A case under Sections 61, 1 and 14 of the Excise Act has been registered by the police. During the naka, a stolen scooter was also recovered by the Mehdoodan chowki police, Mr Sushil Kumar, DSP, added. 

RELIEF FUND COLLECTED: Rs 41,000 were collected here on Monday by the Punjab Public School, Samrala, for Gujarat Relief Fund, according to Mr Harjinder Singh Riat, Principal of the school. The sum of Rs 8100 is only collection of 7th class children, he added. The blankets and clothes of ladies are also being collected, Mr Riat told the pressmen. 

DHARNA: The non-government aided retired college teachers of Punjab staged a dharna at the educational convention organised by the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union at PU Extension Library, Ludhiana, on Sunday in protest against the change in the cut of date for employees of non-govt. aided college teachers from 1.4.92 to 26.4.99. Retired college teachers including Mr. G.C. Mago (Jalandhar), Mr. S.P. Randev (Ludhiana), Mr Hamdardvir Nausheharvi (Samrala), Mr. N.S. Tuli and Mr B.S. Bajwa (Ludhiana), condemned the PCCTU leaders and the Punjab Government for going against the interest of retired college teachers of non-government aided colleges. 

SANGRUR
CONTEST: The prize distribution function of the ABVP Mastermind Contest — 2000 was organised by the local unit of the ABVP at the local Arya College on Saturday. Mr Joginder Singh, former Director of the CBI who was the chief guest gave away the prizes.

TARN TARAN
GANG BUSTED: The Bhikhiwind police has arrested five members of a seven-member gang of looters. Mr Jagdish Kumar, SSP, said here on Saturday that the arrested had been identified as Gurjant Singh of Bhikhiwind, Tarsem Singh of Bhaini Gurmukh Singh, Mann Singh of Patti, Kabul Singh of Baler and Inderjit Singh of Dialpur. A case under Sections 399 and 402 of the IPC has been registered. The other two members of the gang managed to escape, the SSP said.

GEOGRAPHY QUIZ: The team of the Department of Geography, Panjab University, won the Prof B.S. Dhaliwal Memorial Trophy for winning the Inter-college, inter-university geography quiz organised by the Geographical Society, DAV College, Sector 10 here on Monday. Ten teams from Chandigarh, Patiala, Ludhiana, Dera Bassi and Hoshiarpur participated. Dinesh Singh Patial, Sanjeet Singh, Dinesh Prakash Kadiyan of the department won the first prize, while Sukhdeep Singh, Shivdarshan and Kamaldeep of DAV College, Sector 10, won the second prize. Divya, Piku Sharma and Nilakshi of GCG-11 won the third prize. Prof Gosal, who presided over the competition, gave away the prizes to winners. 

PROTEST: Shri Sanatan Dharam Sabha, Sector 42, has protested against the hike of the land price by the administration for the religious shrines. In a letter addressed to the Union Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, and the UT Administrator, Lieut-Gen J.F.R. Jacob (retd), the sabha protested against the clubbing of religious shrines with the commercial institutions and allotting educational institutions land at cheaper rates. According to the president of the sabha, Mr D.P. Sharma, the cost of the land for temples and gurdwaras has been hiked from Rs 2,900 to Rs 5,800 per sq yard by clubbing it with commercial institutions. The religious organisations, he said, are run through public donations and without any commercial benefits. 

AWARD: Nearly 300 dogs participated in the 30th and 31st All-Breeds Dog show organised by the Chandigarh Kennel Club at the Leisure Valley on Sunday. In the 30th show, cocker spaniel belonging to Mr S.J. Singh was awarded the best of show award. The second best was a Welsh Coorgi owned by Dr Ajay Pal Singh Mangat and third was the Labrador of Mr B.L. Thakur, according to press note. Similarly, dachshund owned by Sonnapatthy of Kolkata was given the best of show award. The second best was dobermann pincher of Mr Paramjit Singh Sandhu and third best was GSD owned by Mr Abdullah Noori. The best puppy was basset hound. In the dog fashion show, the dog dressed as bridegroom was adjudged best. Other dogs dressed as expectant mother and vagabond took the other prizes. 

ELECTED: Mr Jagbir Singh Sabharwal has been elected as president of the Employees Welfare Association, of the office of the Advocate-General, Punjab, Chandigarh. Other office-bearers are: Mr Kamlesh Chander Wadhawan — secretary; Mr Sukhdev Ram Bansal — finance secretary; and Mr Amarjit Singh — Cashier. The executive members are: Mr Banta Singh, Mr Harbans Singh Dardi, Mr Himmat Singh, Mr Jaswinder Singh, Mr Balwinder Singh, Ms Pushpa Kumari, Mr Suraj Kumar and Mr Raj Kumar. 

INAUGURATED: The Punjab Chief Secretary, Mr N.K. Arora, inaugurated Markfed’s fifth counter in the Punjab Civil Secretariat on Monday. Mr Arora lauded Markfed for its innovative steps taken to procure fresh fruits and vegetables from farmers directly and supplying the same to consumers at competitive rates. Mr D.S. Bains, Managing Director of Markfed, revealed that Markfed’s fruit and vegetables project would be expanded to cover other cities of Punjab, so that stronger links could be established between the farmers and the consumers. 

LECTURE: Prof Mushirul Hasan, an eminent historian, will deliver the seventh Hari Ram Gupta Memorial Lecture at the Department of History, Panjab University, on Tuesday. Professor Hasan is professor of history, Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi, and has worked extensively on the first half of the twentieth century. He also specialises in the field of Partition of India. He will talk on “Satire as social history: The politics of humour in Awadh”. Padmashri Prof B.N. Goswamy, an eminent art historian, will be chairing the lecture. Other than Professor Goswamy, Dr J.S. Grewal, Prof Sattar, Prof Romila Thapar have earlier delivered the lectures. 

PU LIBRARY: Panjab University library has been adjudged the best library in the region, according to the latest issue of the Bulletin of Indian Associations of Information Centres, Calcutta. In the report of a special research survey conducted by two research scholars of GND University, Amritsar, and MDU, Rohtak, published in the bulletin, PU library has the highest number of users, maximum number of working hours and largest number of books issued and consulted. The report also states that the library gets the lowest share of the university budget in comparison with the other university libraries of the region. 

RESULTS: Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Sector 23, held the following competitions in the school on Monday. Long stitch competition was won by Lalita, Poonam and Neeti, while Preeti, Pooja and Hemlata got the consolation prizes. Bindu, Gurwinder and Kanta of Class VI, Chanda, Monica and Seema of Class VII and Sushma, Suman and Sarita of Class IX won the prizes in knitting competitions which were held by Vardhman Knitting Yarns. 

CHAIRMAN ELECTED: Mr J.R. Dhiman has been unanimously elected as chairman of the Panjab University Stenographers Association, while Mr Dwarka Nath as vice-chairman. The other office-bearers are: Mr Shiv Sharma — secretary; Mr S.K. Bhandari — joint secretary; and Ms Meera Rai — treasurer. Ms Amita Bansal, Ms Neelu Soni, Mr Bhupinder Singh and Ms Sudha Rani have been elected as executive members. Ms Usha Rani and Mr Lalit Kapoor have been co-opted as members. 

AMBALA
POLICE-PUBLIC WEEK: The Inspector General of Police, Ambala range, Mr Hari Singh Ahlawat, on Monday said that a police-public week would be organised at all district headquarters by the district police chiefs from February 11 to 18, to improve relations between the police and public. He said that in the district-level functions, besides speeches by experts, declamation contests, debates, quiz and on the spot painting competitions would be held. The best paintings would be awarded at a state-level function to be held in Panchkula. Confiscated fire arms, photos of criminals, extremists, proclaimed offenders and wanted criminals would also be displayed. Equipment of forensic science and items of police use would also be shown. One rural and one urban model police station would be selected in each district for the inspection of public to know their functioning. He said that the Haryana police would organise a state-level Janata-police sammelan on February 20 in Panchkula. “The aim of this sammelan is to improve relationship between police and public and to build confidence among the people,” he said. 

AWARD: Dr Rattan Singh Dhillon, Head of the Department of Punjabi, SD College, Ambala Cantonment, has been selected for Dr Tarlok Singh ‘Kanwar’ award. A press note stated that this award would be conferred on him by Sarjana Kendar, Kapurthala, in its annual convention to be held on Sunday. Dr Dhillon is a recepient of Haryana Sahit Akadami Award (1990) and has also received Dr Ambedkar Fellowship and Kartar Singh ‘Sumer’ award. 

KAITHAL
TRUCKS FLAGGED OFF: The Deputy Commissioner, Dr Mahaveer Singh on Monday flagged off trucks and canters carrying relief material worth Rs 7.76 lakh for earthquake victims of Gujarat. The relief material included 5000 blankets, 100 shamianas, 160 curtains, bamboos and ropes.

SONEPAT
CRITICISED: Representatives of various farmers’ organisations have strongly criticised the state government for acquiring agricultural land for industrialisation and threatened to launch an agitation. This was stated in a press note issued here on Monday.

LOOTED: Yashpal, a trader from Panipat, was allegedly looted by certain car-borne armed robbers on the GT road near Teha village, about 20 km from here, on Sunday.

THREE ARRESTED: With the arrest of three youths of the Garh Shahjahanpur village, the police on Monday claimed to have achieved a breakthrough in the murder case of a six-year-old boy Rishi whose body was found from a well near the village recently.

HAMIRPUR
HEART CAMP: Dr C.S. Pruthi, chairman-cum-managing director of Pruthi Hospital, said here on Sunday that of the 450 persons examined during the three-day free heart check-up camp, nearly 65 per cent were found suffering from ailments. The camp was organised by the Heart Patient Welfare Society here.

KULU
MINOR RAPED: A minor girl was allegedly raped by a teacher at Phabati village in the Kals area of the district on Saturday. Mr N. Venugopal, Superintendent of Police, said the girl accompanied by her sister had gone to the fields where she was raped. The police has registered a case under Section 376 of the IPC against Dot Ram, language teacher of Government Middle School, Kashladill.