ABOHAR
TRAFFIC SUSPENDED: Traffic on important roads of the sub divisional town remained suspended for two hours on Thursday in protest against the alleged assault on a driver of Punjab Roadways by persons connected with liquor trade at the general bus stand here. Sources said the passage to a Punjab Roadways bus had been blocked which had arrived at the bus stand from Hanumangarh on the pretext that the driver had not halted the bus on the way to facilitate jeep-borne liquor vend employees to check alleged smuggling of liquor.

BATALA
ELECTED: The following staff members of the local Baring Union Christian College have been elected office-bearers of the local unit of the Panjab and Chandigarh College Teachers’ Union for the year 2002: president — Mr R.L. Rikhi; vice-president — Mr Sukhjinder Singh; secretary — Mr P.K. Sharma; and finance secretary — Mr Ashwani Kansra.

BATHINDA
GOBINDGARH FORT: The historic Gobindgarh Fort in the city, which is in a dilapidated condition, may soon become a place of tourist interest. The local MLA, Mr Surinder Singla, while addressing mediapersons here, said the Union Tourism Minister, Mr Jagmohan, had given an assurance about giving funds for the renovation of the fort.

ELECTROHOMOEOPATHY CAMP: An electrohomoeopathy camp was organised at Haraipur on Monday during which 325 patients were examined. It was the first such camp in the district. Electrohomoeopathic specialists, Dr G.S. Siraria, Dr R.L. Shakria and Dr Baltej Komal, examined the patients.

DRYCLEANERS’ PLEA: Members of the Bathinda Dyers, Drycleaners and Laundrers Association on Saturday urged Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha to withdraw the proposal of imposition of 5 per cent service tax on the drycleaners as it would put extra financial burden on them. Mr Tajinder Mehra, general secretary of the association pointed out that already the drycleaners were experiencing a bad phase.

FATEHGARH SAHIB
FUNCTION: The Bhagwan Parshu Ram Jayanti would be celebrated at Mandi Gobindgarh by the District Brahmin Sabha on May 14. According to Mr Devi Dyal, district president, Capt Amarinder Singh would preside over the state-level function and the “bhoomi poojan” for the construction of Bhagwan Parshu Ram temple and inn would be performed by the CM. He said more than 10,000 delegates would participate in the function.

MEDICAL CAMP: The Sirhind unit of the Bharat Vikas Parishad on Monday organised a free medical and general check-up camp at Ashoka Senior Secondary School. Students were medically examined by teams of doctors from local Civil Hospital. Mr Sanjeev Sharma, president of the club, said around 1,000 students were checked. 

FEROZEPORE
SPURIOUS CASSETTES: The police has busted a gang involved in the production of spurious music cassettes and compact discs and arrested Rajesh Goyal of Basti Tankanwali and Shiv Kumar, a local resident, in this connection. According to the SSP, Mr Praveen Kumar Sinha, the police raided several places and recovered, 1,462 such cassettes and CDs. He said other material related to duplication and production of such cassettes had also been recovered. A case has been registered.

HOSHIARPUR
DROWNED: Jagjit Singh of Lalan Mohinan, village employed with a contractor of Gurdaspur district, was drowned in the Beas while he was chasing illicit liquor smugglers near Bahadurpur Rajoa, on Sunday. On a complaint of the father of the deceased, a case has been registered under Section 304, IPC.

BOOKED: On a complaint of Sucha Singh of Bhuchan village the police has registered a case under Section 420, IPC against travel agents Happy and Balbir Kaur for cheating him. Sucha Singh has alleged that the agents took Rs 3.15 lakh from him for sending his son Malkiat Singh to Australia, But neither they sent Malkiat Singh abroad nor returned back his money.

JALANDHAR
KILLED: Two persons were killed after being run over by a train. A police report said that Surinder Kumar was killed on the outskirts of the city on the Jalandhar-Pathankot section while crossing the rail tracks. In the second incident, a person was killed near Maqsudan on the Jalandhar-Amritsar section of Northern Railway.

LUDHIANA
ACHIEVEMENT: Sumit Amar, an MBA final-year student of the Punjab College of Technical Education, has put India on the Worldwide Ranking List, in terms of number of certifications earned. Out of 37 lakh members, Sumit Amar is currently ranked fourth in the world after Alan Cheung (USA), Willen Clements (Spain) and John Doyle (Norway) who are ranked first, second and third in the list, respectively. Sumit has achieved the position of highest certification holder in India. He is pursuing an MBA with specialisation in information technology from the PCTE and has always shown-keen interest in computers and information technology. Congratulating him, Dr K.N.S. Kang, Director, PCTE, said, “The college is proud of Sumit Amar and we expect every student to make an effort to bring laurels to the nation”. The certification ranking list is available at www.test.phoenix.co.uk/bb/php and www.ob-d.com/bb/asp. The transcript ID No. of sumit is 2232802.

POLIO CAMPAIGN: The district administration is all set for the five-day ‘Mop-Up Polio Campaign’, which will begin on Tuesday. Dr Kuldip Kaur Sahni, District Vaccination Officer, in a press note on Monday said health workers would visit door to door to administer polio drops to children below 5 years age. More than 1,200 teams of health workers would take part in the campaign.

WELCOMED: The Bhagwan Parshuram Brahman Sabha, has welcomed the government’s decision to disallow the use of Red Cross sign by doctors and hospitals other than those of the Red Cross societies. In a press note here on Monday, the sabha president, Mr Krishan Rai Sharma, the district administration should launch a public awareness drive on the World Red Cross Day to stop the misuse of the sign by medical stores and others.

‘CHATURMAS’: The fourth acharya of Shraman Sangh, Dr Shiv Muni ji Maharaj, would spend his “chaturmas” at the Jain Sthanak in Civil Lines here, according to Mr Ram Kumar Jain, president of the Chaturmas Committee. Representatives of various branches of Shri Sangh had requested the muni to spend his “chaturmas” at Mandi Gobindgarh on Saturday, but he gave his consent to spending the “chaturmas” in the city.

KATHA CONCLUDES: Shrimadbhagwat Amar Katha concluded at Shri Prem Mandir, Chauri Sarak, here on Sunday with Baba Rijakdass from Saharanpur giving the final discourse. Before the discourse, a havan was performed and later a “bhandara” was also held.

MALERKOTLA
CRUSHED TO DEATH: Sohan Lal Sharma, a resident of Ahmedgarh, was crushed to death by a train when he was crossing the railway line near the Ahmedgarh bus stand. The body of the victim was handed over to his relatives after a post-mortem examination at the local Civil Hospital on Sunday. A case has been registered.

NO AMENITIES: Residents of the local Jujhar Singh Nagar have forwarded a representation to the local SDM, demanding basic amenities for the locality. Mr Mohinder Kumar, a spokesman for the locality, alleged that there were no sewerage and streetlights in Jujhar Singh Nagar. Residents alleged that the local administration was doing nothing for the locality.

MOGA
CASE REGISTERED: The Badhani Kalan police in the district has arrested two brothers Anil Kumar and Ajay Mumar, both of Geeta Colony here, for running four vehicles on fake registration numbers and documents. A case has been registered.

WHEAT BURNT: Huge stocks of wheat loaded in a tractor-trailer belonging to a farmer of Bhekha village under the Baghapurana police station in the district was burnt on Saturday when the tractor-trailer caught fire. In another incident standing paddy crop was reduced to ashes when it caught fire from a nearby field.

MUKTSAR
THEFT CASE: The police has registered a case against a truck driver, Gurnam Singh, for allegedly stealing wheat from gunny bags and filling them with sand while transporting the wheat purchased by the FCI to the godowns from the purchasing centres.

PATHANKOT
GANG BUSTED: The local police claims to have busted a gang of robbers and recovered Rs 50,000 along with a scooter and rods used in a looting incident which occurred on April 13 under Dhar Kalan police station. According to the police, Mr Abhay Maahajan complained that while he was returning in his car, along with his driver, from Dalhousie on April 13, two scooter-borne persons gave them a chase and attacked their car with rods. They took away a bag lying in the car containing about Rs 2 lakh in cash. The police on Sunday arrested three persons allegedly involved in the crime. The accused have been identified as Rajesh Kumar, driver of the car, Santosh Kumar of Sujanpur and Dev Anand Bhagat of Batala.

SAMRALA
STRIKE: Members of the local Bar Association under the leadership of their president Anil Gupta, observed a full day strike here on Monday causing inconvenience to the general public. The call of strike was also given by the Samrala Bar Association and in this connection the lawyers of the bar also observed full day strike on April 30.

MEETING: A meeting of the Class IV Para Medical and Health Employees Union of Ludhiana district held at Koom Kalan under the presidentship of Convener Amarjit Singh, on Sunday. In the meeting, they demanded Rs 5,000 for wheat loan without interest, and DA as sanctioned by the Punjab Government from January 2002.

SANGRUR
THEFT IN TEMPLE: Three fans and a bell were stolen from the local Maha Kali Devi Temple on Sunday night. A complaint had been with the local police in this regard.

LAWYERS’ STRIKE: Members of the District Bar Association on Monday observed a strike in protest against the alleged involvement of some judicial officers in corruption cases. In a resolution adopted on May 4, members of the District Bar Association condemned the alleged involvement of judges in corruption cases and sought strict action against them.

BLOOD DONATION CAMP: The Thalassaemic Children Welfare Association will organise a blood donation camp to commemorate the International Thalassaemic Day on May 8 at the PGI. The association will also organise five more such camps on May 25, April 8 and 22 and July 6 and 20. This was stated by Mr S.P Ajmani, president of the association, in a release issued here on Monday.

MEETING: The Indian Council for Child Welfare Employees Union at its meeting held on Sunday at Bal Bhavan, Sector 23, alleged that the management was not doing anything to do away the problems of employees and betterment of the Bhavan. The demands of the union included payment of 49 per cent dearness allowance, implementation of service rules framed in 1970 and raising of medical allowance to Rs 250. In a release issued here on Monday, Mr Bihari Lal, a union leader, threatened to hold a march towards UT Secretariat on May 23.

SATSANG: Harmonious relationship between body, mind, soul and God is required to vouch safe purity, peace and prosperity in society,’’ said Mr Kirpal Sagar and executive member of the Sant Nirankari Mandal, while addressing a congregation at Sant Nirankari Satsang Bhavan in Sector 30. Explaining the philosophy of the Sant Nirankari Mission, Mr Sagar said it is fulfilling the most-felt need of the time by uniting the human mind with the almighty. This gives mind the right direction that puts man into clash with none but love for all.

PANCHKULA
ELECTRICITY BILLS: The consumers have welcomed decision of waiving off 75 per cent arrears on electricity bills by the government under its new policy. The consumers were depositing the arrears of electricity charges with great enthusiasm. The local administration has been organising various meetings with panches, sarpanches and other prominent persons of different villages to educate the public about the scheme. While addressing a meeting in Jalopy village and its surrounding area, Ms Jyoti Arora appealed the gathering about the new policy of the government and said the step has been taken by the government for the welfare of the farmers and consumers especially in the rural areas. She urged them to make a movement to motivate other consumers to pay their arrears by May 15.

PAONTA SAHIB
KILLED: Jaggan Nath Bhatt was killed on Sunday when a truck hit him while he was taking a morning walk at Shamsherpur, here. Bhatt was a retired teacher from Badripur. The truck driver fled from the scene. A case has been registered.