ABOHAR
MAN HELD: The police on Monday arrested Krishan alias Gurjit of Rajpura for being in possession of 50 gm smack. He has been allegedly operating from New Delhi for a narcotics gangs. He has been booked under the NDPS Act.

BATHINDA
PROTEST RALLY: Activists of the Field and Workshop Workers Union of the Public Works Department would organise a rally on Thursday at the district headquarters and concerned offices in protest against the government for not fulfilling their demands. This information was given in a press note issued here on Tuesday by Mr Bharat Bhushan, general secretary of the union.

FARIDKOT
LOK ADALAT: As many as 28 out of 54 cases of different categories were settled at the district level Lok Adalat held here on Monday. A compensation of more than Rs 13 lakh was given to beneficiaries on the occasion, according to Mr Gurnam Singh, Additional District and Sessions Judge here.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Bharat Vikas Parishad, Punjab ( East): president — Mr Hukam Chand Jain (Chandigarh); vice-presidents — Mr Om Prakash Jindal (Nabha) and Mr Avinash Jain (Chandigarh); general secretary — Dr Narinder Kumar Sharma (Patiala) and treasurer — Mr Gian Chand Goyal (Patiala), according to Mr Satish Baghi, a senior member of the Bharat Vikas Parishad here.

DENTAL CAMP: The local Dashmesh Dental College will organise a two-day free dental check-up camp at its premises from April 6. Medicines will be provided to needy patients free of cost, according to Mr Kuljit Singh Walia, camp in charge.

HOSHIARPUR
WHEAT PROCUREMENT: All arrangements for procurement of wheat in the state have been completed and the procurement will start from Sunday. This was stated by Mr Sohan Singh Thandal, State Minister for Civil Supplies, here on Monday. The minister said as many as 1,623 procurement centres had been made in state.

WOMAN FOUND DEAD: Body of a woman was found from a gorge between Chohal and Mehangowal villages on the Hoshiarpur- Dharamsala road on Sunday. The deceased has been identified as Amar Kaur (49), resident of Ibrahimwala under Bhulath police station of Kapurthala district. The Sadar police has registered a case.

JALANDHAR
COMPUTER AWARENESS: The Agricultural Cooperative Staff Training Institute on Monday started a week-long training programme here to create awareness among farmers and its field officers regarding utility of computer technology in modern farming. Mr Nachattar Singh, Principal of the institute, in his inaugural address said such training programmes were based on utility of internet and latest computer technology in modern farming.

KHAMANO
STD SERVICES: Khamano remained cut off from the rest of world for the third day on Tuesday because STD services are out of order. Residents of the town are annoyed with the Telecommunication Department because this exercise has become usual phenomena. 

LUDHIANA
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Ludhiana Small Scale Manufacturers Association (SSMA) for the year 2001-02: president — Mr Harish Khanna; senior vice-president — Mr Narinder Setia; vice-presidents — Mr Arjinder Singh Koloti, Mr Jagdish Rai Monga and Mr Brij Mohan Nayyar; secretary — Mr Bharat Bhushan Gupta; joint secretary — Mr Manohar Lal Gupta; finance secretary — Mr Ajit Singh Chhabra; public relations secretary — Mr Ramesh Kakkar; chairman — Mr Amarjit Singh Kumar; and patrons — Mr Harbans Singh Batra, Mr Jaspal Singh Shahpuri and Mr Kamal Jain.

MANSA
ACCIDENTS: Two women were run over by a truck at Mansa Kanchian on Monday early in the morning. After the accident, the truck driver lost control over the vehicle and run over Pawan Kumar and Charan Dass Sharma of Barnala who were returning after paying obeisance at Dera Sacha Sauda, Sirsa near the New Grain Market at Mansa. The deceased were brought to the Civil Hospital for a post mortem examination. The city police has registered case against the accused.

POPPY HUSK SEIZED: Satnam Singh and Ranbir Singh were arrested and 60 bags of poppy husk seized from them. The information was given in a press note issued here on Tuesday by Mr Balwinder Singh Romana, Deputy Superintendent of Police. Two more accused managed to escape. A case under the NDPS Act has been registered with the Bhikhi police station.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the block Khiala unit of the district PCMS Association: president — Dr Pushpinder Kumar Singla; vice-president — Dr Ranjit Singh; general secretary — Dr Nishan Singh and treasurer — Dr Parshotam Jindal.

SATTA GAMBLING: The police has intensified its campaign against satta gamblers and other anti-social elements in the town and elsewhere in the district. The Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mr Hakam Singh, told mediapersons here on Tuesday that the police had arrested Raj Kumar, Pawan Kumar and Ganesh Kumar of the town for gambling.

MOGA
LABOURER DEAD: A labourer Nasir Ali (50) working in a local rice sheller was found dead in the premises of the sheller. According to reports, the labourer died a natural death.

PATIALA
MULTICULTURALISM: Multiculturalism is inseparable from democracy, especially in India. This was observed during the second panel discussion on multiculturalism organised by the Institute of Multiculturalism and Sikh Studies, in its programme for holding conferences and seminars on recent trends in world thought held here on Sunday. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Bhagwan Singh Josh of Jawahar Lal Nehru University, New Delhi, in his presentation said that capitalist democracy was inimical to local cultures. He said that India had always been a dialectal nation, following the path of the national and federative principles. He also asserted that Guru Granth Sahib was the most ideal multicultural text for recognizing the futuristic multicultural societies of the world. Dr Manjitinder Singh of Punjabi University added that multiculturalism had also been enriched by the work of feminists and subalterns. 

SYMPOSIUM: Inaugurating the two-day seventh symposium on ‘Radiation Physics’, organised by the Indian Society for Radiation Physics at the Physics Department of Punjabi University, the Vice-Chancellor, Dr Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia said that this topic had emerged as a distinct scientific discipline with pure and applied aspects. Dr Ahluwalia said that it was primarily a result of all discoveries and inventions made in the 19th and 20th centuries, that various negative and positive consequences of radiation had come to the forefront and opened up key concepts such as atomic nucleus, radioactivity, atomic and subatomic particles. The subject was spreading to other branches of science such as in medicine, astronomy, space sciences, engineering as well as on applied level, in industry, power generation and military operations. Dr R.P.Bajpai, Director, Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIO), the Chief Guest, spoke on the importance of radiation in the field of microelectronics. Prof S.P.S.Virdi, Head of the Physics Department of Punjabi University, said that this debatable issue provides a common platform for sharing of knowledge among physicists with different specialisations. 

DHARNA: A day-long dharna was staged by the FCI Executive Staff Union before the FCI, District Office, on the call of the National Committee, here on Tuesday. About 150 employees participated in the dharna which was a protest against finalisation of wage revision of the Category III and IV due from January 1, 1997, finalisation of wage revision of worker due from January 1, 1998, harassment of field staff on account of alleged storage or transit loan, non-implementation of the Matric Category IV employees to Category III and OTA payment to staff and workers.

DONATION: The teachers and employees of Punjabi University, Patiala, have contributed a sum of Rs 7.40 lakh to the Punjab Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for the people of Gujarat affected by the recent earthquake. Giving this information, Dr B.S. Bhatia, Registrar, Punjabi University, said that the teachers and employees have contributed one-day salary for the quake-relief fund. An additional amount of Rs 41,000 has been contributed for the similar cause. 

LECTURE: The Department of Guru Gobind Sahib Studies, Punjabi University, will organise the Guru Teg Bahadur Memorial lecture on the subject of ‘Cosmology of Guru Gobind Singh’ at the Senate Hall on Saturday here. Dr Gurdev Kaur, Head of the department, said that the lecture would be delivered by Dr Harjit Singh Gill, Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla.

SSIA: Dr Harkirat Singh has been elected as the president of the Small Scale Industries Association at a meeting held here on Tuesday. Other members elected unanimously are: senior vice-president — Mr S.D. Bharat; vice-president — Mr Prem Singh; secretary — Mr Devinder Singh; joint secretary — Mr Arun Ralhan; and treasurer — Mr G.K. Tandon.

MISS GCG: Akanksha Mehta won the Miss GCG Hostel title during the farewell party organised by the Government College of Girls (GCG) in the hostel here on Tuesday. Amanpreet and Pushpinder were declared the first and second runners-up, respectively. The function followed a number of cultural items presented by the hostel girls to entertain the on-going girls of the college. Kamalpreet presented a Punjabi song while Rajveer and Gagandeep duo gave a brilliant dance performance depicting folk culture. Randeep, Meenakshi and Gavandeep gave solo performances on various Hindi film songs. Even the third year students of the hostel gave a group dance performance on a Punjabi pop number. 

PHAGWARA
WOMAN KILLED: Paramjit Kaur of the Friends colony here was killed when her moped was hit by a bus on the Hoshiarpur road here on Monday. She died in the hospital. The bus driver, Balwinder Singh, fled after the accident. However, the police has impounded the bus. 

ROPAR
EDUCATION CENTRE: The Swami Yashpal Sarvhitkari Vidya Mandir, a centre for education named after Swami Yashpal, was thrown open to children at Tonga village in this district. It was inaugurated by Swami Yashpal, according to Mr Anil Kumar Sharma, Principal of the institute. 

PSIEC: PSIEC employees held a gate rally in front of Udyog Bhavan in support of their demands. The main demands included regularisation of services of the daily wagers, filling up of vacant posts through promotions, repatriation of deputationists and increase in the business of corporation. The employees resented the decision of the management to absorb some of the Punwire employees. They also alleged that wasteful expenditure on tours by the management members without any direct benefits to the corporation. The leaders of the staff association threatened to intensify the agitation. In the first phase gate meetings will be held in all the offices of PSIEC situated throughout Punjab. Protest week from April 16 to 20 will be observed in the second phase and in the third phase the employees will observe chain fast which will be culminated in a state level rally on May 5. After that one-day token strike will be observed in all the offices of the PSIEC.

PROTEST: The Student Council of SGGS College, Sector 26, staged a protest against the imposition of “unjustified fines” by the college authorities. During their three- hour protest, the students forcibly closed the fee counter. The students also raised slogans against the college management. In a press note, Mr Amandeep Singh, president of the council, claimed that the fee counter was allowed to function only after some assurances by the college authorities. 

PANCHKULA
SOCIETY: An all-women managed cooperative group housing society was formed by the Group Housing Promoters and Builders Federation as part of the on-going international year of women empowerment, here on Tuesday. The office-bearers include Ms Archana Sanghi — president, Ms Swaraj Channi — vice-president, Ms Sunanda Singla — secretary, Ms Anita Gupta — joint secretary, Dr Seema Sood — cashier, and Dr Rajni Lamba — adviser. 

BILASPUR
ORDER PASSED: Mr Jagdish Chander Sharma, District Magistrate, has passed an order prohibiting carrying of arms and ammunition in the Kot-Kehloor police station area under Section 144 of the IPC for maintaining law and order in Naina Devi ‘‘Chetra Navratra’’ fairs with immediate effect till April 3.

ELECTRICIAN FOUND DEAD: The body of Ishwar Dass Chaudhary, a resident of Sundernagar area and night shift duty electrician of ACC Cement factory at Barmana near here, was found on Monday near a conveyor belt in factory premises. The police has registered a case and a post-mortem examination was conducted at the regional hospital here.

MEETING HELD: The district unit of the Himachal Pradesh Health Department Employees Federation here in a meeting on Monday presided over by the district president Shayam Dass Thakur urged the government to give non-practicing allowance (NPA) to all four employees.