ABOHAR
CASE REGISTERED: The city police has registered a case against a former councillor, Surender Kumar, his two sons and four others under Section 307 of the IPC in connection with poll-related violence. The FIR was lodged on the behalf of three persons who were admitted to Civil Hospital on Sunday following clashes between supporters of a Congress rebel and Congress candidate in Seed Farm colony.

AMRITSAR
LABOURERS ATTACKED: In a complaint to the police, Mr Amarjit Sal, secretary of the district council of CPI contesting from the Amritsar (west) Assembly constituency, has alleged that some migrant labourers were attacked by a mob owing allegiance to an Independent candidate, Mr O.P. Soni, from the same constituency. He alleged that about 50 labourers, working in an embroidery mill at Chheharta, were attacked by the mob when they had gone to cast their votes at booth no. 40 A.

STUDENTS SELECTED: Nine students of Guru Nanak Dev University were selected to participate in the final round of Prof I.S. Grover Memorial Quiz Competition on Thursday.

SEWING SCHOOL: A welfare organisation, Himachal Sudhar Sabha, started its second sewing school for poor girls, here. Mr Vijay Kumar Gautam, chairman of the sabha, said the school would provide vocational facilities, as well as means of livelihood to the girls, besides making arrangements for their marriage.

BATHINDA
ORIENTATION COURSE: A two-day inter-college orientation course for peer education for girls would be held from Saturday at the local SSI Girls College. It is being organised under the University Talk AIDS programme. Ms Raj Gupta, chairperson, district AIDS control organisation in a press note issued here on Friday said experts in the field of HIV/AIDS, would address and train the young girls.

DHARNA CALL: Mr Randhir Singh, a leader of the Technical Services Union has in a press note issued here said that the union would hold state-wide dharnas on February 21 to protest against the privatisation of the Punjab State Electricity Board and stagnation due to non promotions.

MALERKOTLA
KILLED: Avtar Singh, 55, resident of Ahmedgarh, was killed in an accident near Poheer village on Thursday. According to the police, Avtar Singh's scooter was hit by a truck and he was killed on the spot.

MOGA
COMPLAINT FILED: In a complaint to the police, Ms Baljinder Kaur, resident of Chaudhariwala village, has demanded action against some supporters of state Agriculture Minister Gurdev Singh Badal. The supporters of the minister, she alleged, fired shots at her house two days ago as she and her family were supporting another candidate in the Assembly elections.

TRAFFIC JAM: Resentment prevails among public against the PWD Department over delay in the completion of a bridge between Moga and Jagraon, about 15 km from here. This, they say, was causing traffic jams on the Moga-Ludhiana road, resulting in unnecessary harassment to public.

3 INJURED: Three occupants of a tanker were injured when their vehicle skidded and crashed against a tree on the Moga-Ludhiana road on Thursday.

NAWANSHAHR
CASSETTE RELEASED: Bhagat Harbans Lal released a religious audio cassette “Gaddi Challi Mandiran Noo” by local singer Harkesh Sanehi here at function organised at Mandir Devi Devaliya on Friday. The cassette contains eight religious songs (Mata ki Bhentein) recorded by T-series.

DRINKING WATER: The local residents are sore over the erratic supply of drinking water for the past couple of weeks. The Municipal Council and the Punjab State Water Supply and Sewerage Board authorities attribute the problem to the breakdown of water pumps situated at Vikas Nagar and near Baba Balak Nath Mandir.

SALARIES: Resentment prevails among the teachers of upgraded government middle schools, as they have not received salaries for the past couple of months for the want of requisite budget allotment. The teachers allege that they have brought the matter to the notice of the authorities concerned a number of times.

ANNUAL FUNCTION: The local Shivalik Public School organised an annual prize distribution function here on Friday. Dr Darshan Singh Bedi, Principal, distributed prizes among the students who have excelled in different fields during the current academic session.

PATIALA
DECISION CONDEMNED: Nearly 300 members of the All India Telecom Employees Union (Class III), the All India Telecom Employees Union (Line staff), the Ministerial Union in CTO and DTO in a meeting of their joint circle executive committee held here on Friday condemned the decision of the government of disinvestment in Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited and proposal to do the same with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited. The employees also demanded that BSNL be retained as a public sector undertaking under the government control. The union further demanded pay scales at par with MTNL, but with government pension. Mr M.L. Sharma, circle secretary, National Federation of Telecom Employees, stated that the following were unanimously elected office-bearers of NFTE (BSNL) for Punjab Circle: circle president — Mr Aditya Narain Sharma; circle secretary — Mr M.L. Sharma; circle treasurer — Mr Nirmal Parshad. 

CAMP: The Income Tax Department will organise camps to facilitate filing of returns under the one-by-six scheme on Saturday, Sunday and Monday in Phases IX, X and XI, respectively of SAS Nagar. The department has urged people to avail themselves of the facility and file their returns. 

NATIONAL SCIENCE DAY: The North-west headquarter of the Survey of India will throw open its doors to general public between February 26 and February 28 as part of the National Science Day celebrations. Techniques of map-making, fair-mapping, printing, computer processing and photogrammetric surveys will be display during these days. Maps can also be bought. A map quiz, treasure hunt and lectures will also be organised. 

MEETING: The annual general meeting of the Panjab University Alumni Association will be held on Monday in the PU Physics auditorium. 

AGITATION THREAT: The anti-paid parking joint front here on Friday warned of reviving its agitation which had been suspended following assurances from local MP Pawan Bansal and Mayor Lalit Joshi. “We had suspended the agitation on the assurance by the two on not allowing entry fee, but nothing has happened so far,” the front spokesman, Mr Jagdishpal Singh Kalra, said here on Friday in a statement. The people were being allegedly fleeced and harassed by the staff of the contractor who was not ready to listen to the corporation even, the statement said. 

FATEHABAD
FOUNDATION STONE: Dr C. Parkash, vice president of the DAV Colleges Managing Committee, laid the foundation stone of a ‘yajnashala’ in DAV Centenary Public School, here. Mr H.L. Kapoor, secretary of the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, Delhi, and Mr K.L. Manuja, regional director of the Hisar-Bhatinda zone of the DAV institutions, were also present on the occasion.

BAN ON SMOKING: The Deputy Commissioner, Mr O.P. Indora, today issued an order banning smoking in auditoriums, health centres, hospitals, libraries, judicial complexes, railway stations, bus stands, government offices and other public places. The city Magistrate, Mr R.C. Pawaria, said that those violating the orders would be punished as per the law.

KAITHAL
SENTENCED: The Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr Baljeet Singh, here has sentenced a shopkeeper to one-year rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1,000 after convicting him under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954. The court has ordered that if the accused fails to pay the fine he will have to undergo further imprisonment of one month.

PANIPAT
ROBBERY: Some armed persons, reportedly, struck at the residence of an owner of a dye house on the Sanoli road here on Thursday and decamped with cash worth several thousands of rupees after injuring four members of the family. According to a report, the assailants entered the house at night and attacked the owner, Daulat Ram, with a knife. When other members of the family, including his wife Daya Rani, mother, Roshni Devi, and daughter-in-law, Poonam, resisted, they were also allegedly beaten up. Roshni Devi has been admitted to a private hospital. Her condition is reportedly serious. A case has been registered under Sections 395 and 397 of the IPC.

DHARNA: Member of the Aanganwadi Workers and Helpers Union staged a dharna in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office in support of their demands here on Friday. Earlier, the protesters, led by Ms Jagmati Malik, and Ms Bimla, state and district units presidents of the union, respectively, marched in a procession to the DC office and submitted a memorandum to the Union Social Welfare Minister through to DC.

BILASPUR
CONTRACT SYSTEM: A two-day district-level annual conference of the Bilaspur unit of CPI demanded that the government should ban ‘‘ contract system’’ in the PWD and other departments in the state. The system, they said, was milking the government dry due to a nexus between dishonest politicians, officials and contractors, while quality of work was continuously deteriorating.

LIFTS CLOSED: The Civil Hospital administration has closed down its six lifts because of their dilapidated condition. Earlier, the administration said that the lifts would be discontinued as they were incurring heavy electricity bills.

JAISINGHPUR
SCIENCE CLASSES: Government Senior Secondary School in Lambagaon, which was upgraded in 1998, does not run science classes for its senior students. At present, there are no science lecturers or laboratories in its senior wing and the three laboratory attendants, who were posted here, had also quit some time ago.

KUMARHATTI
LIQUOR SEIZED: In a special campaign, the police seized a canter carrying 5,300 pouches of illicit liquor on Thursday. The SP, Mr A.S. Chawla, told mediapersons here on Friday that following a tip-off naka was set up at Rajaund and a four-wheeler, reportedly carrying the contraband, was intercepted. Raj Kumar, Randhir Singh and Kuldeep Singh of Mandi Sandeel were arrested and the vehicle was impounded. Meanwhile, five bottles of illicit liquor were seized each from Gurmukh Singh of Mundhwal and Ratnu Ram of Munnar Heri village respectively. The police has registered cases under Section 61/1/14 of the Excise Act against all five accused.

DEMANDED: Civilians in Dagshai have demanded filling of the post of a civilian member in the C-grade Cantonment Board which has been lying vacant since the death of a civilian member, Raj Kumar Garg, a month ago. Development work relating to civilians had taken a backseat in the absence of a representative, said Mr Babu Ram Sood, former member of the board.

SHIMLA
PROGRAMME MODIFIED: Keeping in view the prevailing inclement weather conditions here, the Chief Electoral Officer has partially modified the programme for enumeration of voters in the Municipal Corporation, Shimla. As per the amended programme, the house-to-house enumeration would be conducted from February 9 to 25 and the draft electoral roll published on February 26 for inviting claims and objections.