AMLOH
CRITICISED: The present government headed by Mr Parkash Singh Badal has failed on all fronts, said Mr Shamsher Singh Dullon, Member of Parliament, while talking to the press at Tandha Badha village of this subdivision. He had come to the village on Friday to attend a bhog ceremony of a veteran Congress worker, Sarwan Singh, who remained the Sarpanch of the village for over three decades. He announced a grant of Rs 1 lakh for the development works of the village. Among others, Mr Gurdev Singh, senior vice-president of the district Congress and Mr Dilbagh Rai Sood, general secretary, paid tributes to those killed in the Gujarat earthquake.

SAMPLES TAKEN: A team headed by the Chief Agriculture Officer of district Fatehgarh Sahib had drawn samples from packed tins and bags of insecticides and fertilizer of two firms at Amloh and one at Bugga Kalan village in a drive against adulteration, on Friday, which were sent for laboratory analysis. In reply to a question, Mr Karnail Singh Chief Agriculture Officer, said that a minimum target of 25 samples in a block has been fixed for the department, other members of the team included Mr Bhagwant Singh Walia, Agriculture Officer and Mr Kulwant Singh Malhi, Agriculture Development Officer.

AMRITSAR
TEACHERS’ WORKSHOP: A one-day workshop for Punjabi college teachers was organised by the College Development Council in collaboration with the School of Punjabi Studies of the Guru Nanak Dev University in Guru Nanak Bhavan of the university on Friday. Prof B.S. Dahya, former Vice-Chancellor of Kurukshetra University, delivered the inaugural address of the workshop.

MALKIT SINGH: Guru Nanak Dev University has decided to honour singer Malkit Singh, an alumnus of the university, at its 27th annual convocation on March 3.

DHARNA STAGED: Farmers of the border belt staged a dharna here on Friday to press their demand for raising the compensation to farmers having agriculture land beyond the border fencing from Rs 2,500 per acre to Rs 5,000. The dharna was organised by the district working committee of the Punjab Kisan Sabha.

LOK ADALAT: As many as 35 industrial and labour cases were settled and a sum of about Rs 30,000 was paid to various workers during the labour and industrial lok adalat held in the local labour court on Friday. The adalat was presided over by Mr S.P. Bangarh, presiding officer of the labour court.

GUJARAT RELIEF: Mrs Renu Goel, local BJP councillor, handed over bank drafts for Rs 57,100 to Mr Parkash Singh Badal for the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for Gujarat earthquake victims at a function here on Friday. Those present on the occasion included Punjab BJP chief Brij Lal Rinwa and state ministers Jagmeja Singh Sekhon, Baldev Chawla and Chiranji Lal Garg.

BATHINDA
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following has been elected office-bearers of the Peoples’ Law Forum: president — Mr Vasu Dev Aggarwal; vice-president — Mr Chander Mohan Ruby; secretary — Mr M.M. Behal; and finance secretary — Mr Harbans Singh Sidhu.

BALACHAUR
EXAM CENTRE: Mr P.C. Chaudhary, Assistant Registrar, Panjab University, Chandigarh, has set up an examination centre for BA-I, II and IIIrd year classes at MBBGGG Girls College, Rattewal, in the subdivision. This was stated by Mr Gurbachan Singh, Principal of the college.

KILLED: Gian Singh of Paniali Kalan was killed when his cycle was hit by a car (PB 32C-0786) near the DCM factory, 20 km from here, on Thursday. The Balachaur police has registered a case against the car driver under Sections 279, 427 and 304 (A) of the IPC.

FARIDKOT
ALLOCATED: The Punjab Government has allocated more than Rs 10 lakh to the district Sainik Board under different welfare schemes aimed at providing employment to Dalits and wards of ex-servicemen. This was stated by Mr Daljit Singh Brar, deputy director of the board here on Friday.

FATEHGARH SAHIB
RELIEF FUND: As many as 25 of the 30 complaints have been settled in the sangat darshan organised by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr B.S. Sadan at Tanda Badha village in this district. Mr I.S. Randhawa, SP (HQ), Dr Harpal Singh, Civil Surgeon, Mr R.S. Brar, Assistant Commissioner (Grievances), and Mr S.K. Batish, Deputy Registrar were present. Later Sudan and Sant Baba Ajit Singh Hansali Wale flagged off one truck loaded of relief material for Gujarat from Hansali village. Baba Ajit Singh Hansali Wale also given a cheque for Rs 2 lakh for the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund to the Deputy Commissioner.

HOSHIARPUR
SUICIDE: Paramjit Kaur, daughter of Rattan Chand of Mehatpur village under Mukerian police station, allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan at her residence on Thursday.

BURN INJURIES: Satwant Kaur, wife of Harminder Singh of Padrana village, died of burn injuries on Thursday.

SCOOTER FOUND: The Mahilpur police on Friday found a Bajaj Chetak scooter (PB098-8109) on the Mahilpur-Jaijon road.

MOBILISATION PROGRAMME: Punjab National Bank, Hoshiarpur region, is observing a deposit mobilisation fortnight in all branches in the district. This was stated by Mr H.L. Arora, Senior Regional Manager of the Hoshiarpur branch, in a press note here on Friday.

KHANNA
DECLAMATION CONTEST: Paramjit Singh, a BA I student of A.S. College, Khanna, won the first prize in the Krishan Kishore Grover Hindi Declamation Contest organised by Panjab University, Chandigarh on Friday. About 16 colleges from Chandigarh and Ludhiana participated in the contest. The student would be honoured and presented a gold medal at the annual convocation of the university.

KHARAR
PHONES: Mr Hardev Singh Saini, panch of Tewar village in Kharar subdivision has alleged that the telephone exchange which had been installed about eight to nine months ago was not working properly and telephones mostly remained out of order. In a press note he alleged that there was no technician posted in the exchange in the village and senior officials were apathetic to their demand. 

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Taraksheel Society, Kharar: president, Mr Iqbal Singh; vice-president, Mr Randhir Singh; secretary, Dr Sukhvir Singh; cashier, Mr Jaspal Badala; press secretary, Mr Iqbal Singh. 

LUDHIANA
DISTRIBUTED: As many as 53 cards worth Rs 18.65 lakh were distributed among farmers at Indian Overseas Bank, Siahar branch. The cards were given by Mr V.Gomtinayagam, General Manager of the bank. He also apprised the gathering of the different credit schemes like Kisan credit card, education loans and housing loans.

HONOURED: Dr. Harmesh Singh Bains, Reader in the department of Paediatrics, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, has been given the Membership of National Academy of Medical Sciences (India) in recognition of his services to the medical profession. Dr Bains has published two books entitled Paediatric Practice and Malnutrition in children and has participated in many international conferences.

NOMINATION HAILED: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s east mandal unit has hailed the nomination of Mr Sanjay Kapoor as mandal president (East) of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM). A meeting of the party, with Dr Subhash Verma in the chair, expressed gratitude to the BJP district president, Mr Harbans Lal Sethi, and the BJYM district president, Mr Kamal Chatley, for the nomination. Mr Sat Pal Gosain, Deputy Speaker, Punjab Vidhan Sabha, and Mr Pran Bhatia, group leader of BJP councillors in the municipal corporation felicitated Mr Kapoor. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Sanjay Kapoor assured that he would do his utmost to strengthen the organisation and to provide a dynamic and meaningful leadership to the youth. Dr Verma and other office-bearers of the mandal unit vowed support to the BJYM unit.

JANATA DAL MEET: The core committee of the Janata Dal (secular) will meet at its state office here on Wednesday. According to Mr Inderpal Singh Nanda, general secretary, the meeting will be attended, besides core committee members, by district presidents and other office-bearers of the state and district units. Among other things, the ongoing membership campaign, ways and means to raise contribution for the earthquake victims of Gujarat and the proposed state-level party conference, to be held here in the end of March, will be discussed. Former Prime Ministers, Mr H.D. Deve Gowda and Mr V.P. Singh, are expected to participate in the meeting.

WELCOMED: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has welcomed the representation to sikh community in the Jammu and Kashmir Cabinet. The vice-president of district unit of the party, Mr Nathaniel Gill, while addressing a party meeting here on Friday, described the decision of J and K Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, as a bold step. He pleaded that the Christians should also be given adequate representation in the Centre and state cabinets. The meeting was attended by the district president, Mr Rashpal Singh Gill, the senior vice-president, Mr Ramesh Nanchahal, Mr J. Bansi Lal, Master Robert, Mr Afzal Choudhry, Mr Surinder Singh, Mr Vimnal Gulati and Mr Hem Raj Jindal, besides others.

POSTPONED: The Punjab Ophthalmic Officers Association’s meeting has been postponed. The meeting will now be held here on Wednesday. Earlier it was scheduled at Jalandhar. The association in a press note has informed all the members to be present in the meeting. On this occasion, 75 blankets and Rs 5,100 would be given to the Health Minister of Punjab for the earthquake victims.

CONTEST HELD: Nearly 12 students of SKN Model High School, Tilak Nagar, participated in a speech contest held on Saturday. The participants included students from Classes V to X. They spoke on the achievements of Swami Dayanand, Subhash Chandra Bose and Lala Lajpat Rai. Anil Kumar of Class X was declared first, Heena of Class VII got the second prize and Amandeep of Class VII stood third. Mr Sham Sunder Malhotra gave away the prizes.

TRAINING PROGRAMME: The Department of Food Science and Technology, Punjab Agricultural University, is organising a 10-day training programme on food processing with the help of a foreign expert, Mr A. Pennings, adviser of the Netherland Government on food processing activities. The programme will start from Monday. Mr Pennings will be imparting training about processing of different types of candy, chocolates, ice creams, yoghurts, pasteries and cakes. He will also interact with the industrial units to know their manufacturing and quality control problems and suggest solutions.

MANSA
LEPERS’ HOUSES: More than 300 lepers of the town have alleged that the district administration has ordered the stopping of construction of their houses on the land allotted to them by the then Deputy Commissioner, Mr R.L. Kalsia. In a joint statement issued on Friday, Mr Ruldu Singh, senior vice-president of the state unit of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta), Mr Rajwinder Singh Rana, state secretary of the CPI (ML), and Mr Surjit Singh Gill, state president of the Labour Front, demanded that the government should provide houses free of cost to the lepers.

PROBE SOUGHT: Mr Prem Sagar Bhola, general secretary of the local unit of the Shiromani Akali Dal, Mr Balwinder Singh Kaka, former president of the Youth Congress, Mrs Amarjit Kaur, district secretary of the All-India Democratic Women Association, and Mr Harpal Singh Palli, all municipal councillors, have demanded a high-level probe into the alleged misutilisation of lakhs of rupees received by the local municipal council under the golden jubilee scheme.

OATH COMMISSIONER: Resentment prevails among residents of the subdivision, including lawyers, over the absence of an oath commissioner in the district court. Mr Rajnish Jindal, president of the legal cell of the Youth Congress, Mansa, has demanded the appointment of oath commissioners in the district.

NAWANSHAHR
TOUR: As per the directions of the career guidance wing of the local district Education Department, 24 students of the local Government Senior Secondary School were taken on a tour of the Doaba Cooperative Sugar Mills here on Thursday. This was stated in a press note by Mr Narinder Singh, District Guidance Counsellor.

CONTRIBUTED: The teaching and non-teaching staff of government schools in the district have contributed one-day salary towards the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund. This was stated by the District Education Officer, Mr Santokh Singh Ranu.

PATHANKOT
ARRESTED: The Dinanagar police on Thursday arrested Mr Vijay Mahajan, president of the Dinanagar Municipal Council, under Section 107/151 of the CrPC following a complaint lodged against him by Mrs Sushila Rana, executive officer of the council.

KAVI DARBAR: A seminar and kavi darbar by the post graduate department of Punjabi of SGGS College, Sector 26, will be held on February 20 in the college premises, here. According to Dr L.S. Kheeva, director of the seminar, a paper on ‘The New Panjabi Poetry’ will be presented by Dr Sukhdev Singh of PU and Dr Surjit Singh of the Regional Centre Muktsar. Dr Jagbir Singh of Delhi University will preside over the seminar. Dr Jaswinder Singh of Panjabi University, Patiala. Dr Jaspal Singh from SAS Nagar. Mr Amarjit Grewal of Technical University, Jalandhar. Dr Gurpal Singh Sandhu of PU. Dr S.S. Bhatti of Regional Centre, Bhatinda and others are expected to take part in the discussion. Prof Surjit Pattar, a Punjabi poet will preside over the kavi darbar. Dr Jagtar, Prof Harinder Mehboob, Mr A.S. Puni, H.S. Halwarvi, Sukhminder Rampuri, and Ms Amarjyoti would also recite their poems on the occasion. 

NOTICES RESENTED: The Market Welfare Association, Sector 37-C has condemned the reported move of the Administration of issuing notices to several traders under building byelaws. Mr Rohit Sood, president of the Association, in a press note said that the Administration had issued notices to tent houses and others. He claimed these traders do not use any machinery or power and neither cause pollution. He said that a deputation of Chandigarh Beopar Mandal, Chandigarh Tent Dealers Society and the Association met the Advisor to the Administration and apprised her of the problems. A delegation will also meet Mr Sarbjit Singh Sandhu, the Chief Architect on Monday. 

QUIZ: Panjab University Chemical Society organised a quiz on general scientists and chemistry. 30 teams participated in the quiz out of which four were selected to participate in the final rounds. Prof B.M. Deb, chairman of the department, presided over the function. Asha Sethi and Amandip Kaur won the first prize while Preeti Kataria and Nishu Mahajan came second.

PU EVENT: ‘CYANIDE’ the all- India-college Cultural event organised by students of Panjab University Chemical Engineering Department will be held at the PU campus from February 21 to February 24. The occassion will include technical, dramatics, music, informals, literary and fine arts events spread over five days. The music section will have singing competitions in the individual categories and antakshri. There will be mock wars, catch-an-egg, Mr and Ms Cyanide etc in the informal section. Stage plays, twisted movies, skits and mimickry contests will be held in the dramatics section. Paint- your-face, paint-your-shirt, rangoli and collage-making will be a part of the Fine Arts section. Cross words and matho mania will be part of the technical section. 

EYE CAMP: Bharat Vikas Parishad, Ambala Cantt, will organise a free eye camp at Ambala Cantt on Sunday. Dr Narender Garg and Dr Ajay Chandel will examine the patients on this occasion. A similar camp was organised in Mahavir Jain Bhawan Ambala City in which the patients have been provided free eye-operation facility. 

SIRSA
ECONOMICS LECTURE: Dr M.M. Goyal, Senior Reader in Economics Department of Kurukshetra University, delivered a lecture on “SWOT analysis of Indian economy” at the local Government National College on Friday.

BILASPUR
OFFICE-BEARERS: Dr Asharam, president of the Kotkehloor Mandal, has declared the following as office-bearers of the mandal: vice-presidents — Mr Bhag Singh Thakur and Mr Chetram Sharma; secretaries — Mr Jagannath Gautam and Ms Premlata Vaidya; members — Mr Banta Singh Dhiman, Mr Achharam, Mr Shayam Balabh, Mr Kishan Singh Thakur, Mr Shayam Lal Thakur, Mr Geetaram Thakur, Mr Gobindram and Mr Shashi Pal Sharma; and treasurer — Mr Chander Prakash.

HAILED: Mr Krishan Kumar Kaushal, chairman, Himachal Pradesh State Cooperative Bank and former MLA, has hailed the decision of Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal to order the construction of the Behal-Gwalthai road in Changer area of Kotkehloor constituency.

CHAMBA
KILLED: One person was killed and another wounded when a Canter (HP 46-513) rolled down into the 50-metre deep nullah near Bharmour, 65 km from here, on Thursday night. According to Mr Sanjay Kundu, SP, Krishan (24) succumbed to his injuries on way to the hospital. Kewal the injured, was admitted to the Bharmour hospital in a critical condition. Both were residents of nearby villages of the Bharmour township. The police has registered a case of negligent and rash driving.

HELD FOR MURDER: The police on Thursday arrested Nidhia Ram on the charge of murdering Amin Chand (40) of Biyuni village under Kihar police station in the district last Saturday 10. Giving this information here on Friday, Mr Sanjay Kundu, SP, said Nidhia Ram had admitted his crime. A case had been registered under Sections 302, 201, 34 of the IPC.

POST FILLED: With the recent posting of Mr Subhasheesh Panda as Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) of the district by the Himachal Pradesh Government, the post of ADC has been filled after a gap of about 15 years. The post had been lying vacant since 1986, when Mr Ajay Mittal was transferred from Chamba.