AMRITSAR
APPOINTED: The Punjab Government has appointed Dr P.S. Raikhy, an economist and senior professor of Punjab School of Economics of Guru Nanak Dev University, as member of the Punjab State Disinvestment Commission.

GANG BUSTED: The police on Thursday claimed to have busted a gang of miscreants allegedly responsible for looting certain PCO booths in certain parts of the city in the past 15 days, with the arrest of three of its five members. Those arrested are Harvinder Singh, Bhagwant Singh and Kiranvir Singh.

BIOGRAPHY: Captain Kanwaljit Singh, Finance Minister of Punjab, would release the biography of late Bhagat Puran Singh, founder of Pingalwara here , written by Principal Narinder Singh Soch on February 16 at the Senate hall of Guru Nanak Dev University here, according to Dr Inderjit Kaur, president of the All-India Pingalwara Society here.

BATHINDA
RELIEF MATERIAL: The District Collector, Mr J.P. Chandellia, said an amount of Rs 7.38 lakh had been collected from all over the district in the control room established in the District Supply Office for earthquake victims. The collector appreciated the efforts of the public, various organisations, educational institutions, students and public representatives for donating liberally.

AWARENESS RALLIES: The Additional District Census officer, Mr Hanuman Singh Shekhawat, said awareness rallies would be organised in the district for programme census 2001. The rally would be flagged off on the district headquarters on February 19 by the District Census Officer, Mr J.P. Chandellia.

CRITICISED: Dr Vineeta Gupta, general secretary of the Insaaf International, in a written statement issued here on Thursday criticised the decision to shift the children’s hospital to raise funds for building the District Administrative Complex.

APPOINTMENT PRAISED: Mr Rajinder Singh Raja, general secretary of the district unit of the Youth Congress, said in a written statement issued here on Thursday that the appointment of Ms Ambika Soni as the general secretary of the All-India Congress Committee (AICC), and as member of the Congress Working Committee, was a welcome step and that her appointment would instil a new hope in the party.

JAGRAON
LOK BHALAI PARTY: The Lok Bhalai Party would work towards establishing good relations between traders and farmers, said Mr Balwant Singh Ramoowalia at a press conference here on Friday. He alleged that Mr Parkash Singh Badal had propped up political goons in the state. He added that his party would fight the Majitha byelection.

ABSTAINED: The Bar Association of Jagraon and the District Bar Association abstained from work on Friday as a mark of respect to Narinder Pasricha, a young advocate who had died.

JALANDHAR
KNITTING CONTEST: The fifth “aao bune” hand knitting zonal contest was organised at the local Red Cross Bhavan here on Thursday. Nearly 100 students from 18 schools of Nakodar, Mehatpur, Gumtala, Noormahal, Goraya, Jandiala and Jalandhar participated in the three-hour on-the-spot knitting contest.

KHAMANO
ARRESTED: A revenue patwari, Jaipal Singh, was arrested on Friday by the vigilance team for taking a bribe of Rs 200 from a Khamano-based person. This team was led by Mr Paramjit Singh Khaira.

KHANNA
WARM WELCOME: A warm welcome was given to Nippun Mittal, a student of Class VII of A.S. Modern School, who returned on Thursday after winning a silver medal in 16th sub-junior national boxing championship in Chennai. A trophy and Rs 5100 was given to him by the school management and Rs 1100 was given to him by Mr Param Jit Singh and Mr Kamal Jit Singh Gill.

FIRE: A loss of Rs 1.25 lakh was estimated in a fire near Malerkotla Chowk on Friday morning. According to a partner in the fruit shop, the shop caught fire around 1:45 am and the fire brigade reached the spot at 2:15 am. The fire was controlled by the firemen in half an hour.

LUDHIANA
TRAINING COURSE: An advanced refresher training course on osteosynthesis, with special reference to dynamic compression plating in small animals, is being organised at the Department of Surgery and Radiology, Punjab Agricultural University. A part of the course is being conducted by Dr R.K.C. Bali , Director of Companion Animal Hospital, Cologne, Australia. According to Dr V.K. Sobti, Director of the course, the training of faculty members in this course would help them in the management of fractures of long bones in dogs. The course started on February 1 and would continue till February 21.

ANIMAL HEALTH: The Indian veterinary congress and national symposium on animal health and production in new millennium will be organised in the College of Veterinary Sciences, Punjab Agricultural University, on Thursday and Friday. The eighth annual conference of the Indian Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Research will also be held simultaneously. A one-day workshop on disease diagnostic technique' for field veterinarians will also be held.

INAUGURATED: Mr Ramesh Inder Singh, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister of Punjab, inaugurated an effluent treatment plant in Ludhiana on Friday. Addressing a function in South City after the inauguration, he said infrastructure development could be carried out at the desired level only with private participation.

ELECTED: Mr Chanan Ram Prasad was unanimously elected as president of the Ludhiana District Telecom Employees Cooperative USETC Society. The other office-bearers are: Mr Nardeep Singh Grewal as honorary secretary; Mr Vijay Kumar as vice-president; and Mr Amar Singh as cashier.

LOK JANSHAKTI: The Lok Janshakti and the Dalit Sena will support the SAD(B) candidate in the Majitha byelection. This was stated by the newly appointed state president of the Lok Janshakti, Mr Amar Singh Mehmi, while addressing party workers here. He said his party and the Dalit Sena will field candidates in the next Assembly elections in consultation with other constituents of the NDA in the Centre. According to Mr Mehmi, a meeting of all district presidents of the sena would be convened at Jalandhar on Sunday to finalise the constitution of state and district level units. The party will set up its units in all 12,700 villages in Punjab, he claimed.

FESTIVAL AT GGNIMT: The Gujranwala Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology (GGNIMT), Civil Lines, is organising ‘Crescendo’, its maiden inter-university festival from March 1 to 3. More than 30 teams from various information technology, management and commerce colleges and departments of the Punjab Technical University, Panjab University, Guru Nanak Dev University and Punjab Agricultural University will participate in the contest. The festival will be an extravaganza of fun, music, literary and professional activities, including debates, corporate quiz, one-act play, dumb charade, opera, sangam, shake a leg, bindas bol etc. The other dimension of festival will be to gauge the professional competence of students through activities like case presentation, strategy wars, software analysis and designing.

IT RETURNS: Assessees who are required to file returns in Form 2-C under the 1/6 scheme can fill it till February 28. The Income Tax Department is holding special camps in different parts of Ludhiana to help the public to file Form 2-C.

COLLAPSED: A mule burdened with an overloaded cart containing crates of peaches and tomatoes collapsed near Damoria Bridge here on Friday morning.

MANSA
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Council of Junior Engineers of Punjab State Electricity Board: president - Er Ajaib Singh Dhaliwal, senior vice-president - Er Pirthi Singh, vice-president- Er Gurdas Chand; general secretary — Er Amarjit Singh Sidhu and treasurer - Er Sanjeev Kumar Jindal.

MOGA
EYE CAMP: A week-long free eye operation camp in memory of Swami Sant Baba Bhag Singh Sukhanand is proposed to be held from February 22 at Lop village under Badhani Kalan police station in Moga district, according to the Deputy Commissioner here, Mr Kanwalbir Singh Sidhu, on Friday. Medicines will be given to patients free of cost.

MUKTSAR
SCIENCE DAY: National Science Day was celebrated at the PSEB Adarsh Senior Secondary School at Bhagu during which various programmes were organised to educate school children about information technology. Mr Kanwaljeet Singh, Deputy Commissioner, Muktsar, inaugurated the programme.

NAWANSHAHR
ELECTED: Mr Gurjit Singh Saraf has unanimously been elected president of the local Swarankar Sabha here on Thursday.

GUJARAT RELIEF: Mr S.P. Angra, Block Development and Panchayat Officer, on Wednesday, handed over 100 blankets and a sum of Rs 12500 and one day’s salary of his staff to the ADC (Development), Mr G.S. Bhatti, for onward transmission to the Gujarat Earthquake Relief Fund.

SEMINAR ORGANISED: The District Education Department organised a career-guidance seminar at Government Senior Secondary School, Mukandpur, about 20 km from here, on Wednesday. Mr Narinder Singh, District Guidance Counsellor; Mr Jog Raj Singh, vice-principal of the school and Mr Amarjit Singh, career teacher, delivered special lectures to as many as 165 students of senior classes of the school. A question-answer session was also organised.

PATIALA
COLLECTED: The Harbans Theatre Lane Residents Welfare Association, here has collected an amount of Rs 15,000. Mr Pran Sabharwal, president, Dr H.S. Sohal, chief patron and members of the association presented the cheque to Jasbir Singh Bir, Deputy Commissioner, Patiala, who appreciated the noble gesture. Prominent among others who were present on the occasion were Mr Manjit Singh, Advocate, Mr S.S. Sandhu, Mr S.K. Kapur, Dr Jawahar Khanna, Mr Jaspal Garg, Mr Ajay Thapar, Mr P.C. Singla and Mr K.C. Khanna.

ELECTED: Dr Balbir Kaur Sohal has been unanimously elected as president of the Oorja Lady’s Club (Phulkari), PSEB in a meeting here today. Other members elected are senior vice-president, Ms Usha Kundra; vice-president, Ms Nirmal Mittal; secretary, Ms Inderjeet Kaur Ghambir, joint secretary, Ms Krishna Dhirmani and treasurer, Ms Chander Attari.

CONDEMNED: In an emergency meeting of the District Bar Association (DBA) held under the chairmanship of Mr Kundan Singh Nagara, president of the association, it was resolved to condemn the arrest of Mr Gurcharan Singh Sandhu, who had allegedly been falsely implicated in a criminal case. The association has unanimously resolved to abstain from work for a day in protest against the arrest of Mr Sandhu.

ORGANISED: A three-day seminar on Yoga and Sadhana is being organised from February 16 and Gurdwara Sant Kambliwala here to propagate and highlight the humanitarian work being done by Anand Marg Pracharak Samgha. Anand Marg is a social-spiritual organisation dedicated for the welfare of the suffering humanity and bring about universal development.

RELIEF FUND: The Jan Hit Samiti, Punjab, donated a sum of Rs 21,000 through a bank draft in favour of the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for the people who suffered in the Gujarat earthquake.

SOCIOLOGY SEMINAR: The Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology of the Punjab University will organise a two-day national seminar on ‘Gender Equality and Development: Challenges for the millennium’ scheduled to be held on February 23 and February 24. Over 100 scholars from various universities will present their papers and participate in the different sessions of the seminar.

LECTURE DELIVERED: Mr Avtarjeet Singh Dhanjal, a noted sculptor of Punjab, now settled in England, held discourse on art, artist and the art world at the Department of Fine Arts, Punjabi University, here on Friday. Mr Dhanjal said that art is a process of evolution that is carried by all living beings.

PHAGWARA
JAYCEES TRUST: Indian Junior Chamber, formerly known as Indian Jaycees, would construct 1,000 huts in Gujarat for earthquake victims at a cost of Rs 3.3 crore. Phagwara-based Mukhinder Singh, former national president of the Indian Jaycees, has been made in charge of the Jaycees Trust which has been set up for this purpose, according to information here on Thursday.

CHARAS SEIZED: A migrant worker has been booked and 3 kg of charas worth Rs 70,000 seized from him at the local Shivpuri by the CIA staff.

TARN TARAN
QUAKE RELIEF: A truck, loaded with essential articles and clothings collected with the efforts of local Aasra Welfare Society, was despatched to Gujarat after being flagged off by Mr Jagdish Kumar Mittal, SSP, on Wednesday. Mr Lakhwinder Singh, president of the society, also presented a draft of Rs 4000 for the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund to Mr Mittal.

INTOXICANTS: Mr Manmohan Sharma, executive secretary of the voluntary Health Association of Punjab expressed concern that addiction had assumed alarming proportions in the state. Dependence on intoxicants was giving rise to many social ills. Mr Sharma has given a call to all individuals and groups to involve themselves in fighting the menace of addiction and get together on February 17 and February 18 for a two-day meeting at Anandpur Sahib, in an effort to evolve a joint action plan for de-addiction.

CHAIRMAN: Dr S.S. Pal has taken over as Chairman of the Department of Library and Information Science, Panjab University. Author of various books, monographs and research papers, Dr Pal had recently worked on a UGC-funded project on preparing university level texts on special library system and information service.

ELECTED: Mr Jogdhian Singh has been chosen as the Chief Advisor to the Technical Teacher’s Training Institute Workers Union, Sector 26, in a special meeting held here on Friday under the presidentship of Mr Krishan Paul. Mr Sukh Ram will be the advisor, while Mr Atma Ram will be the organising secretary, Mr Jagir Singh, the propaganda secretary and Mr Ram Ajore, Mr Baku Singh and Mr Sultan Singh will be the members.

AMBALA
RECOVERED: The police has recovered 15 kg of poppy husk from a dhaba situated on GT road near Mohra village. A case has been registered under the NDPS Act. The police also seized 60 bottles and 750 pouches of liquor from a Maruti car near Naraingarh. Two persons have been arrested in this connection.

INAUGURATED: Mr Faqir Chand Mullana, MP, inaugurated school rooms in Mallour village on Friday. The three school rooms have been constructed at a cost of Rs 3.21 lakh. Mr Mullana also inaugurated a chaupal, built at a cost of Rs 1.25 lakh and laid the foundation stone for Devi Lal Vridhashram. Mr Mullana had earlier laid the foundation stones for vridhashrams in Balana, Matherishekhon, Kalera and Khaira, a note said.

SONEPAT
1 KILLED: One person was killed and two others sustained injuries when a maruti car in which they were travelling dashed against a tree on G T Road near here on Friday. According to a report, the car was going towards a village near Samalkha when the driver while attempting to save a three-wheeler hit a tree and the car driver was killed.

INJURED: Vinod, a resident of Bahalgarh village, was hit by a truck and sustained serious injuries. He was immediately rushed to the local Civil Hospital from where he was shifted to the Medical College Hospital at Rohtak for further treatment. According to the police, the injured person was going on foot when he was hit by the truck on the Sonepat-Bahalgarh road near Fazilpur village.

FIRE BROKE: Gunny bags worth over Rs 50,000 were reduced to ashes in a fire which broke into a factory on the Pio-Munyari Narela road, about 20 km from here, on Thursday. According to a report, the municipal fire-brigade reached the spot and controlled the fire after an hour. The cause of the fire has not been ascertained so far.

SHIMLA
BUILDING GUTTED: The building of a primary school in Sharda village, about 25 km from here, was gutted in a fire on Wednesday. The cause of the fire could not be ascertained. The total loss has been estimated at Rs 4 lakh.