ABOHAR
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Bar Association: president — Mr Satish Narang; secretary — Mr Mohinderpal Singh Tinna; joint secretary — Mr Rajneet Singh Phore; and treasurer — Mr Daljit Singh Kanwar.

ARRESTED: Shiv Kumar, son of Bhola Ram of Dutaranwali village, has been arrested by the police for illegally carrying a 12-bore gun. He was challaned under Sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act, official sources said on Saturday.

REMANDED: Raj Kumar of Sukhera Basti, arrested in connection with a theft, was remanded in judicial custody by a local court on Friday.

NABBED: The Sadar police on Friday arrested Pipal Singh, alias Titu, of Ghuriana village for carrying illicit liquor.

VETERINARY CAMP: As many as 658 head of cattle were examined and eight operated upon at a free veterinary camp organised by the Bharat Vikas Parishad at Ramsara in the subdivision on Friday.

AMRITSAR
LOK ADALAT: As many as 216 cases were disposed of and a sum of Rs 76.72 lakh was awarded at the lok adalat held on Saturday in the district and sessions court under the supervision of Mr H.B. Handa, District and Sessions Judge. The adalat was organised by the District Legal Services Authority.

CHEQUE PRESENTED: Mr Kirpal Singh, president of the Chief Khalsa Diwan and former MP, on Saturday presented a cheque for Rs 4 lakh to Mr Parkash Singh Badal towards the relief fund for earthquake victims of Gujarat. The sum was collected by students and staff of Sri Guru Harkrishan Senior Secondary School being run by the Chief Khalsa Diwan.

SEIZED: Officials of the Agriculture Department seized hundreds of litres of spurious pesticides from a local seed store on Saturday. The police has registered a case under the Essential Commodities Act.

INFO-TECH CENTRE: An info-tech centre was inaugurated here on Saturday by the Minister of State for Local Government, Mr Balramji Das Tandon. The centre has been set up in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Advanced Computing and Management. The Punjab Health Minister, Dr Baldev Raj Chawla and the Punjab Minister for Rural Development and Panchayats, Mr Nirmal Singh Kahlon, were among those who spoke on the occasion.

BARNALA
BANK BRANCH: Mr Anirudh Tiwari, Deputy Commissioner, Sangrur, has requested the Manager (Head Office), State Bank of Patiala, to set up a branch of the bank in the local courts complex. In a letter to the Manager, Mr Tiwari said the District Pensioners Advisory Committee had passed a resolution demanding the setting up of a branch in the courts complex to make it easier for senior citizens and widows of Barnala region to get their pensions.

BATHINDA
GOLD MEDAL: Monu, a student of Punjabi University Gurukanshi Regional Centre, Bathinda, won the gold medal in the declamation contest at the youth festival organised by Punjabi University, Patiala. Neetu, an MA(Punjabi) student, won the second prize in the declamation contest. Students of the centre also won the trophy in the declamation competition held at Bhai Aasa Singh Memorial Girls College, Goniana.

TECHNICAL CAMP: The Community Polytechnic Wing, Bathinda, organised a camp at Nandgarh village to the district to provide information regarding technical and village services to villagers. This was stated in a press note issued here on Saturday by Mr Vijay Kumar Singla, Assistant Project Officer of the wing. Mr B.R.Gupta, Principal, Government Polytechnic Institution, Bathinda, inaugurated the camp.

FARIDKOT
FREE LEGAL AID: The Punjab Legal Cell Service Authority has enhanced the income limit from Rs 18,000 per annum to Rs 30,000 to provide free legal aid to the needy in the state. This was announced by Mr H.P. Handa, District and Sessions Judge, Faridkot, while presiding over a meeting of district legal service officers here on Friday. Deputy Commissioner A. Venu Prasad was also present at the meeting.

TRAFFIC AWARENESS: The District Traffic Awareness Committee organised a traffic awareness seminar at the local K.N. Jain Senior Secondary School for Girls on Friday. Dr Arun Kumar Araon, district police chief, presided.

FEROZEPORE
HELD FOR GRAFT: Sleuths of the Vigilance Department, led by Mr Baljit Singh, DSP, arrested Angrej Singh, a patwari of Talwandi Nepalan in the district, while he was accepting a bribe of Rs 8,500 from Sarwan of Warian village. This was stated by Mr Hardyal Singh Mann, SP, Ferozepore range.

HOSHIARPUR
WOMEN’S AWARENESS PLAN: To increase awareness about health education, environment and social security among women the Social Security, Women and Child Development Department, Punjab, has introduced the Central Government’s Kishori Shakti Plan in Bhunga, Nakodar and Adampur blocks of the state. Mr R.L. Kalsia, Director of the department, inaugurated the plan in Bhunga block, 18 km from here, on Saturday.

KHANNA
STONE LAID: The foundation stone of education block of local Government Girls Senior Secondary School was laid down by Mr Shamsher Singh Dullo, MP, in a function organised in the school premises here on Sunday. Mr Dullo said, while addressing the function, that the education is must for the development of the country and society. He gave a grant of Rs 2.50 lakhs on the occasion. Ms Varsha Shukla, Principal of the school, thanked the chief guest and others who attended the function.

DECIDED: The local Khatri Sabha has decided to call its general body meeting, in next10 days to discuss the role of the president, Mr Vinod Ghai, in a meeting organised here on Sunday. According to a press note, sabha condemned the role played by some members in the last meeting.

ROBBERY FOILED: An attempt to loot the State Bank of Patiala branch was made by some unidentified robbers on Thursday night. Robbers entered in the bank building to break the building wall and tried to open the safe. Sources said that an attempt to loot UCO Bank situated in Sanghol was also made few days back. A complaint has been lodged in the local police but no arrests have been made so far.

DISTRIBUTED: About 40 pairs of shoes were distributed to the needy students of Government Primary School, Khamano Khurd, by a social worker Hardev Singh Kang.

LUDHIANA
SEMINAR ORGANISED: A seminar on increasing quality of crops was organised at Dholan village near Jagraon. The seminar was organised by Syngenta India in collaboration with Cooperative Department. Mr Malwinder Singh Malhi, Area In charge advised the farmers to use proper and balance fertiliser for quality and good crops. The farmers should follow the recommendations of the PAU experts, he said. Dr Arwind Mundra advised the farmers to follow the cooperative farming to save expenses. Mr Harkewal Singh, sarpanch of the village, thanked the participants and the experts.

CONTRIBUTED: The employees of the State Bank of India, Railway Station Branch, in the city have contributed Rs 3,950 towards Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for the earthquake victims. According to the SBI Staff Association of the branch, the members of staff had also collected hosiery goods for the quake affected people of Gujarat.

CELEBRATED: The SC/BC Employees Coordination Committee has decided to observe the birthday of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule with traditional gaiety on February 20 and has made an appeal to the entire SC/BC community to join the celebrations. A meeting of the district unit of the committee, presided over by Mr Gurmit Singh Railway, described Mahatma Phule as a pioneer of women education, particularly those from the weaker and opressed sections of society. The meeting also condemned defacing of the statue of Dr B.R. Ambedkar in Nasik (Maharashtra) and called upon the government to bring the culprits to book. Among others, the meeting was attended by Mr Mewa Singh Mehmi, Mr Kewal Singh, Mr Jaswant Singh Kharag, Mr Amrik Singh, Mr Bara Singh, Mr Balwant Singh Mehton, Mr Kuldip Singh and Mr Jaswinder Pal Singh.

PCMS DOCTORS: The PCMS Association, Punjab, has said PCMS doctors doing postgraduation (PG) courses in government medical colleges will continue to be considered on duty and get full pay instead of a stipend as mentioned in a recent advertisement for admission to PG courses. Dr M.S. Randhawa, Dr D.S. Gill and Dr Manjit Singh, patron, president and general secretary, respectively, of the association said in a joint statement that the Punjab Chief Minister and the Health Minister had given their consent to the association in this regard.

GUJARAT RELIEF: Residents of Jagpalpur village, near here, on Saturday sent a truckload of relief material for victims of the Gujarat earthquake. The truck was flagged off by Mr Pritam Singh, SDM.

SAMRALA
SHIVRATRI: Maha Shivratri will be celebrated in Mahadev temple at Papraudi village on February 21 where jangums and dhadies will recite poetry and story of Shiv marriage. The Shivratri will also be celebrated at Shamspur village and a shobha yatra will be performed on February 19 in Samrala city, according to a devotee Mr Yash Pal Gopal, here on Sunday.

KABADDI CUP: In the memory of Alankar Toni, son of International kabaddi coach Devi Dayal Sharma, 2nd International Kabaddi Cup will be held on Mangat Waryam Stadium Kubba, 10 km from here, on February 21 and 23 according to Mr Gurmel Pehlwan, chief patron of the tournament, here on Sunday. The teams from Canada, England and California will participate in this tournament. A show match of girls from Jalandhar and Amritsar will also be held. The first prize will be Rs 71,000 and second prize Rs 51,000. Foreign teams of bhangra and giddha will be a centre of attraction in the tournament according to Mr Devi Dayal Sharma.

CULTURAL COMPETITION: In the third inter-college cultural competitions held at Malwa College, Bondli-Samrala here, Mr Sandeep Hans, SDM, Samrala, chaired the morning session while Mr Charanjeet Singh Atwal, Speaker of Punjab Vidhan Sabha, presided over the afternoon session on Saturday. He declared a grant of Rs 50,000 to the college. On this occasion Ms Tarnjot Kaur of Mata Ganga College, Manji Sahib Kotan, was declared best dancer. Guru Nanak Khalsa College for Women, Model Town, Ludhiana, won the trophy for poetry recitation. Mr Ganga Ram of Government College, Karamsar Rara Sahib, stood first, and Harbeer Kaur of Guru Nanak Khalsa College stood second and Arminder Kaur of GNN College, Doraha, stood third in poetry recitation. In the lok geets Harmandeep Singh of GHG College, Gurusar Sudhar, stood first and Harbeer Kaur of Ludhiana stood second and Tarnjeet Kaur of Mata Ganga Sahib College for Girls, Manje Sahib Kottan, stood second.

JUDGE DEAD: Justice Pritpal Singh, a former Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, died on Sunday. He joined the PCS Judicial Branch in 1951 and was promoted Additional District and Sessions Judge in November 1969. In 1981, he was appointed registrar of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and was elevated to the Bench of this court as Additional Judge in February 1983. On March 16, 1984, he became a permanent judge in the court and retired as Judge in October 1987. He also served as the presiding officer of the Industrial Tribunal till October 16, 1992.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Arya Samaj, Sector 22-A: president — Mr Ram Ratna Mahajan; vice-presidents — Mr Kewal Krishan Mahajan, Mr Desraj Thapar and Mr Ved Prakash Arya; general secretary — Mr Budhram Arya; secretaries — Mr Sadhu Ram Sharma, Mr Ishwar Kumar and Mr Rajender Kumar Chauhan; and cashier — Mr Kamal Krishan Mahajan.

TRADERS MEET MAYOR: A delegation of the Traders Welfare Association, Sector 37, called on the Mayor on Saturday and highlighted the demands of the market. The problems included non-functional streetlights and congestion at the parking lot.

BOOKED: The proprietors of Amar Circus have been booked by the local police on the charge of defacing public property. A case under Section 3 of the Prevention Of Defacement of Property Act has been registered at the police station in Sector 31. The case was registered after the police found posters of the circus pasted on an electric pole near the Airport Chowk.

IGP ESCAPES UNHURT: The UT Inspector General of Police, Mr B.S. Bassi, escaped unhurt when his car met with an accident near Shahabad while he was on his way to New Delhi on the Friday evening. It is learnt that the accident occurred when the driver lost control after a wayward buffalo came in front of the car and in an attempt to avoid hitting the animal, the car hit the berm of the road. Though the left side of the car was severely damaged, the officer, his personal security officer and the driver escaped unscathed. The IG resumed his journey to Delhi in his escort vehicle.

ORGANISED: A samagam was organised by the Khalsa Panchayat Chandigarh at the gurdwara in Sector 19 on Saturday. Representatives of various gurdwara committees spoke on the occasion. A protest march was taken out against the killings in Kashmir. An amount of Rs 110,000 was collected for the affected families. This was announced in a press note.

FASTING PERIOD: According to the calendar of the Anglican Church of India, the 40-day period of fasting will begin on February 28. The first day of fasting is called Ash Wednesday. This was announced by Mr Sanjivee Massey, secretary to Bishop, Anglican Church, of India.

CLARIFIED: The President of the CTTC, Mr BB Bahl, has dissociated himself from views of certain Congress leaders that the elections to the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh should be held on non-party basis. In a press note issued here on Sunday, he said this did not represent the official party view. It may be recalled that news reports had mentioned that certain Congress leaders had met the UT Administrator, Lieut-Gen JFR Jacob (retd), and urged him to hold elections on non-party basis.

ANNUAL DAY FUNCTION : The Haryana Governor, Babu Parmanand, today stressed the need for imparting ancient spiritual, cultural and moral education along with the modern scientific technical and general education to children. He was speaking at the annual day function of Parmahansa Yogananda Public School organised by the Parmahansa Yogananda Society of India on Sunday. An impressive cultural show was presented by the school children on the occasion. The Governor also launched the scholarship scheme initiated by the society, under which eight outstanding postgraduate students of Panjab University would be given monthly scholarships of Rs 250 each for a year.

PANIPAT
STONES LAID: Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker Satbeer Singh Kadiyan laid the foundation stones of a government middle school and Kargil Shaheed Library at Puthar village, about 25 km from here, on Saturday. The library is in memory of Hav Vijay Singh, who was killed during the Kargil war.

RAPE CASES: The police has arrested Ramesh of Furlak village on the charge of raping a minor girl of the local Ramnath Colony. In a complaint lodged at the city police station, the girl’s father alleged that she was enticed and raped by Ramesh. In another case, Ashok and Raju of Sutana village have been arrested on the charge of attempting to rape a girl of Panipat on January 27 in the village.

HIT-AND-RUN CASES: Prabhu Dayal (60) of Noorwala village was hit by a vehicle on Saturday. He was taken to Civil Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. In another case, Shanker of Palri village was knocked down by a vehicle in front of Shingla Palace Hotel on the GT Road. He was taken to a hospital, where he died.

SIRSA
LAUNCHED: The local Postal Department on Friday launched a service for the overnight delivery of post. The first message sent through this service was received on Saturday morning at the local GPO by Mr S.D. Malhotra, Superintendent, Post Offices, Hisar division.