LUDHIANA
DANCE COMPETITION: Priyank, Jasmeet and Nancy were declared winners in their respective age groups in ‘Kya masti kya dhoom’, a dance competition for children organised by the Venus ladies club here at Malhotra Palace. Over 25 contestants took part in the competition. The children were dressed in bright coloured outfits. They performed dances on tunes of various Hindi and Punjabi numbers, including pairon mein bandhan hai, ek pal ka jeena, dil saada chori ho gaya, and lift kara de. In the age group of 4-6 years, Ishika was declared second for her performance in ek pal ka jeena. Simarpreet was adjudged second for her performance on Punjabi number dil saada chori ho gaya in the age group of 7-11 years. In the third category of 12 to 16 year of age, Ramanpreet was declared second in the competition.

GURMAT TEST: The Guru Gobind Singh Study Circle conducted a gurmat test at several schools of the city on Friday. The test was organised at Ramgarhia Girls Senior Secondary School, Millerganj, Guru Teg Bahadur Public School, Noorwala Road, and many other local schools where hundreds of students attempted the objective and subjective type question. Ms Manoj Khosla, Principal, Guru Teg Bahadur Public School, said students were enthusiastic about tearing the sacred teachings of the Sikh gurus.

CAMP: The Bharat Vikas Parishad in collaboration with S.S Jain Sabha will organise a ‘viklang’ aid camp at Lions Bhavan on Sunday. Mr R.L. Gupta, Superintendent, Viklang Sahayata Kendra, in a press note said the camp would be organised in the memory of Bhagwan Mahavir. Nearly 200 handicapped persons will be benefited in the camp. They will be providing artificial limbs, calipers and hearing-aid machines. Mr S.K. Sandhu, Deputy Commissioner, will be the chief guest and Lala Lajpat Rai, MP, will preside over the function.

LOK ADALAT: A special Lok Adalat will be organised in the old Sessions Court Complex on October 6. Mr S.S. Arora, District and Sessions Judge, in a press note on Friday said various cases under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act pending in different courts in the Sessions Division will be taken up. He said persons interested in seeking settlement of their disputes could apply to the office of the Civil Judge (Senior Division).

PROGRAMME: ‘Shama’, a musical programme will be organised at South City on Saturday. The programme will be jointly organised by South City and Adeeb International (Sahir Cultural Academy).

STRIKE: Bank employees of the seven branches of Indian Bank in Ludhiana district observed strike here on Friday as a part of the all-India strike call given by the Indian Bank Employees Union in protest against the non-implementation of the 7th bipartite settlement reached between the Indian Bank Association and the United Forum of Bank Unions in 1997. Addressing a demonstration in front of the Clock Tower branch, Mr Harvinder Singh, vice-president, Indian Bank Employees Union (North Zone), said, ‘‘The management has adopted an indifferent attitude regarding the payment of pending arrears of the revised wages”. He disclosed that after prolonged deliberations among the management of three banks, the United Bank of India, UGC Bank and Indian Bank, the settlement was arrived at regarding the payment of wage arrears, which had not been paid till today by the Indian Bank Management. The management of two other banks had already arrived at the settlement with their respective unions but the management of Indian Bank was delaying the implementation of the agreement.

MANDI GOBINDGARH
MEETING: A meeting of the Punjabi Lakhari Sabha, Mandi Gobindgarh, was held under the Chairmanship of Mr Ameer Dhawan in the office of the Municipal Council, here on Thursday. Ajit Singh Mann read out a story ‘Heena Rookh’, Sanjeev Paak recited a poem ‘Daugli Zindgi’, Ram Singh Albela presented a song ‘Sarhaddan De Warras’, Mr Charanjit Singh Bajwa narrated a short story ‘Sannata’, and Surjit Singh Marjara sang ‘Tarian noon girdshan nahin rehandian, hast-rekhawan badaldian rehandian’.

TEACHERS HONOURED: The Malwa Yuvak Club and panchayats of Jatanna Uchcha and Jatanna Neewan honoured three teachers of the area, namely Mr Devi Dayal of Chaddi village, Mr Amar Aftab of Dyalpura village and Mr Bharpoor Singh of Manpur village at virasat mela held at Jatanna High School on Thursday. A play directed by Mr Tarlochan Singh of the local art centre, ‘Chanann de Vannjare’, was staged. Jathedar Kirpal Singh Khirnian inaugurated the function, which was held to mark the upgradation of the school.

MANSA
CHARGE AGAINST CONG: The Congress is making false statement to mislead people, Dr Lakhwinder Singh Moosa, district president of the Youth Akali Dal, alleged here on Friday. He said the NDA government had been paying right prices for wheat and paddy to farmers and justified the MSP of paddy and wheat.

FARMER WRITES TO CM: Mr Munshi Singh, of Kasimpur Chhina village in this district has in a letter to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal complained that the Forest Department had been wrongly claiming that 36 of the trees planted by him were its property. He said he had written in this regard to the department two years ago but no step had been taken.

PATHANKOT
LIQUOR SEIZED: The Sadar police has reportedly arrested Ashwani Kumar and Kamal Deep of Sujanpur and seized 80 bottles of illicit liquor from their possession. A case under the Excise Act has been registered against them.

SAMRALA
TOURNAMENT: The zonal-level tournament of high schools of the Doraha education block have been organised at Waryam stadium at Kubbe village. According to a press note issued by the Headmistress, GHS School, Lal Kalan, the results are: Hammer throw (senior boys): Amandeep 1 and Hardeep Singh 2. Junior boys: Raju Adhikari 1 and Harvinder Singh 2. 200 m race: Husandeep. 110 m hurdle: Husandeep. 4x400 m and 4x100 m relay race: GHS Lal Kalan. The zonal meet was jointly organised by Ms Ramesh Passi, Headmistress, and Mr Raghbir Singh Sidhu, DPE, Lal Kalan.

TARN TARAN
PERMISSION SOUGHT: The Punjab Government has sought permission to recruit 200 women home guards to search women who take meals for their husbands working in fields across the fencing along the Indo-Pakistan border. This was stated by Mr Gulzar Singh Ranike, Minister of State for Agriculture, on Wednesday. Mr Ranike distributed grants worth Rs 22 lakh to the gram panchayats of Chutala, Dalake, Rurreassal, Valipur, Khehra and Kot Jaspat villages.

TWO BOOKED: Simerjit Kaur and her husband, Sukhbir Singh, of Naushehra Pannuan village, have been booked under Sections 21, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act. The SSP said on Wednesday that on a tip-off, a naka was laid at Beer Baba Budha Sahib where Simerjit Kaur was searched and 400 gm of smack was seized from her possession.

CELEBRATIONS: To promote Hindi language, the National Saving Organisation, Haryana Regional Office, celebrated Hindi fortnight from September 14 to September 28. Though most of the work in the office is done in Hindi during the fortnight. Handwriting, slogan writing and speech competitions were also held. Winners were given prizes.

AMBALA
REMOVAL SOUGHT: The residents of Dalipgarh have demanded that a liquor vend operating near a religious place be shifted to some other place. In a memorandum addressed to the Deputy Commissioner, the residents stated that the liquor vend was operating near a religious place and unsocial elements gathered at the vend. The memorandum stated that it had become difficult for ladies and children to pass through the area during evening hours. Action was yet to be taken on a similar memorandum submitted earlier.

NSS CAMP: The NSS volunteers of SD College, on Friday participated in a camp held at Nanhera. The camp, which will run for 10 days, was inaugurated by the City Magistrate, Ms Pratima Chaudhary. The programme officer, Dr S.P. Sharma, giving details of the camp activities said the NSS volunteers would improve the cremation ground, the children’s park, start cleanliness drive in the village and generate awareness about education and savings among the residents, besides other things.

STRIKE: The President of the Federation of Indian Bank Employees Union, Mr R.K. Gulati, on Friday said a complete strike was observed by the staff throughout the country as per the call given by the joint forum of bank unions of Indian Bank. The call for the strike was given to demand payment of wage arrears. These arrears were from November 1, 1997 after a bipartite settlement was signed for a wage revision, according to a press note. He said while all other banks, including UCO Bank and United Bank of India, have already paid arrears, the Indian Bank management had not called the representatives of the union for finalising the modalities.

LADEN’S EFFIGY BURNT: The activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad burnt an effigy of Osama bin Laden and Pakistan, President Gen Pervez Musharraf here on Friday. The activists raised slogans against terrorism and demanded that efforts be made to bring terrorism to an end. They pointed out that terrorism was a crime against humanity and innocent lives were lost due to terrorism. The activists, while condemning the terrorist attack on the USA, said student community would support the government in its fight against terrorism.

10-DAY CAMP: A 10-day NSS camp of MDSD Girls College was inaugurated by the MLA, Mrs Veena Chhibber. During the camp, the NSS volunteers would generate awareness about women empowerment and stress on health, education and environment. The Principal, Dr Kiran Angra, was also present on the occasion.