Employees of local banks observed a protest day here on Wednesday against the Centre Government’s alleged anti-people policies. The employees wore protest badges on their shoulders during office hours. A spokesman of the employees said the protest move was successful and all employees of various banks took part in the
protest.LOAN
RECOVERY: The local Primary Agriculture Development Bank has recovered about 80.3 per cent loans and dues. This was stated Mr Kulwant Singh Kang and Mr Tara Singh, officials of the bank. They said the bank was in the second place in
Fatehgarh Sahib district in the matter of recovery of loans.
KHARAR
DHARNA: The Punjab State Electricity Board Employees Federation sat in dharna and blocked traffic near Bhagomajra village on the
Kharar-Morinda road here on Wednesday. Speakers threatened to intensify their struggle if any step was taken to privatise the PSEB. Vehicular traffic was diverted from Kharar for two hours.
LUDHIANA
WORKSHOP: Dr D.N. Kotnis of Dr Kotnis Health and Education Centre has returned after attending the 4th Federation of Indian NGOs for Drug Abuse Prevention (FINGODAP), a national conference organised by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, in Kolkata. Dr Kotnis said in a press note that the conference was sponsored by the Federation Against Abuse of Drug and Alcoholism. The main aim of the conference was to find ways to check drug abuse. Delegates from more than 350 non-government organisations from India and abroad took part in the conference. More than 30 research papers were read out at the conference, he said. use of acupuncture, homoeopathy and yoga for de-addiction were discussed in the conference. The papers were presented by Dr Debasis Bakshi from Kolkata and Dr Micheal O Smith from Canada. They spoke about detoxification with acupuncture. Dr Kotnis felt happy that acupuncture was becoming popular in both India and abroad.
PAINTING
CONTEST: Shri Govind Godham celebrated New Year by organising an on-the-spot competition for students on Sunday. Six hundred students from 36 schools participated in the contest. Since Godham is dedicated to care of cows, the theme of the competition was ‘Cow and its benefits’. Students of Gupta Model School did well by bagging a number of prizes in the contest. Prerna got the second position in the group of students of classes I to IV. Rubnib won consolation prize and Pooja Tandon got a special prize. Shilpa Miglani won the second prize in the Kam Dhenu section that comprised of classes V to VIII. In the Yamuna Section, Neha Pal, Hina Dhingra won the second and the third prize, respectively. Shikha Gaba was awarded a consolation prize, whereas Barkha Chopra won a special prize. In the Kapila section, Rahul Sood and Umesh Gupta won consolation prizes. In the Saraswati Section, Shelka Sharma won a special prize. The function was attended by Mr Sundar Das, Mr Rajeev Duggal, Mr Satish Gupta, and Ms Simmi Gupta, Principal of Gupta Model School.
CAMP: New Senior Secondary School, Sarabha Nagar, organised a camp in collaboration with Duce Food Industries, SAS Nagar, here. The aim of the camp was to inculcate a habit of drinking milk among children. More than 500 students were served milk on the occasion. The Principal of the school, Mr M.C. Gupta, spoke on the occasion.
TEACHERS’
PROTEST: In a move to press for the acceptance of their demands by the college authorities, the Arya College Teachers Unit will boycott the house examination on Saturday. Prof Prem Walia and Prof. R.L. Behl, president and secretary of the unit, respectively, said if their demands were not accepted, the agitation would be intensified.
NAGAR KIRTAN: A ‘nagar kirtan’ was taken out from gurdwara Kalgidhar Singh Sabha in connection with birthday celebrations of Guru Gobind Singh on Tuesday. It passed through Jail Road, G.T. Road, Clock Tower Chowk, Chaura Bazar, Chauri Sarak, Vaishno Devi Chowk, Samrala Road, Baba Thaan Singh Chowk and Brown Road areas before culminating at the starting point. Several ‘kirtani jathas’, schoolchildren and devotees participated in the ‘nagar kirtan’. ‘Langars’ had been put up along the ‘nagar kirtan’ route.
SUNDER KAND: The Marwari Mitter Sangh held its weekly recitation of Sunder Kand in Basti Jodhewal on Tuesday. Among those who recited the holy scripture in turns were Mr Abhay Singhi, Mr Kamal Lohia, Mr Raj Kumar Bucha, Mr Subhash Setia, Mr Navrattan, Mr Sanjay, Mr Dalchand Prajapat, Mr Raju Sharma and Mr Surinder Tank.
SWEATERS DISTRIBUTED: The Ludhiana Welfare Society held a function at Gurdwara Singh Sabha in Gobind Nagar on Tuesday at which sweaters were distributed among the needy schoolchildren. Principal Bhupinder Harsh and Mr Manjit Singh Matharoo, president of the society, warned children against intoxicants. Among others who attended the function were Mr Sadhu Singh, Mr Surinder Singh, Mr Sat Pal Sharma, Mr Iqbal Singh Lotey, Mr Harjit Singh Nanda, Mr Balbir Singh Khalsa, Mr Harnek Singh, Mr Vikramjit Singh, Mr Kulkwant Singh, Mr Gurmit Manak and Mr Harish Sharma.
DISTRIBUTED: Fifty pairs of shoes were distributed among needy schoolchildren by the management of the Maa Bhagwati Club at a function in Dugri on Tuesday. The function was presided over by Mr Avinash Sikka, president of the club. Mr Dimpy Makkar, Mr Harish Goyal, Mr Vinay Dhir, Mr Devinder Kumar, Mr Sharad Sharma and Mr Rakesh Kalra also attended the function.
IDOL INSTALLATION: An idol-installation ceremony will be held at the newly built Shri Radha Kunj Bihari Mandir in Moti Bagh Colony, Tibba Road, on Wednesday, according to a spokesman of the temple management. A ‘shobha yatra’ will also be taken out on Tuesday. Swami Yashodanandanacharya has been invited to attend the ceremony.
LANGAR: Residents of Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar organised a ‘parbhat pheri’ and a ‘langar’ on Monday in connection with the birthday of Guru Gobind Singh. A large number of residents of the area participated in the ‘parbhat pheri’.
CHESS
PLAYER: Nipun Makkar of class VIII-C of Kundan Vidya Mandir has won the Ludhiana District Chess Championship held at CMC. A number of participants from different schools and colleges participated in the championship. The Principal of the school Ms Neena Khanna, congratulated Nipun Makkar for the win. She said steps would be taken in due course of time to motivate and inspire more students to take up the game of chess seriously.
POSTER-MAKING
CONTEST: Parika Rawal of class XI-B of Kundan Vidya Mandir has won the first prize in an inter-college and inter-school chart and poster-making competition. Parika Rawal competed with college-level students at the contest. Her poster on the topic ‘War and violence — where will they lead us to ?’ was declared the best among all. She wielded her brush very deftly to express her feelings on the drawing sheet and it surpassed all others.
MANDI
GOBINDGARH
NAGAR KIRTAN: To celebrate the birthday of Guru Gobind Singh, which falls on Thursday, a ‘nagar kirtan’, led by ‘Panj Piaras’ was taken out on Wednesday. The ‘nagar kirtan’ passed through main bazaars of the town. Several welcome gates were erected on the route.
MANSA
MONEY STOLEN: Mr Gian Singh Mittal, a businessman of Bhikhi town in the district, was robbed of Rs 25,000 near the bus stand here on Tuesday.
MOGA
ORDERS: The Deputy Commissioner has directed the managements of schools and colleges in the district to open their institutions at 10 a.m. instead of 9 a.m. from January 8 to 23 in view of the cold weather.
HELPLINES: The Punjab police and the District Elders Service Society set up nine helplines at the city police station at Faridkot on Monday, especially for senior citizens. Senior Superintendent of Police, Faridkot, Harinder Singh Chahal has been appointed in charge of the
helpline.
PATIALA
TRAINING PROGRAMME: Dr R.N. Pal, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Punjabi University, has been selected by the Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi, to conduct a training programme in research methodology this year. The Public Relations Department of the university stated on Wednesday that the training programme would include faculty lecture schedule besides collecting and compiling resource material for research scholars.
ANNUAL FUNCTION: Modern School and its 55th annual function on its school premises here on Wednesday. The programme started with a march-past followed by classical dance. Other events included folk dances and group songs.
BEREAVED: Photo-journalists Subash Patialavi and Rajesh Arora lost their father Tek Chand on Tuesday. The cremation was held at the Rajpura road cremation grounds on Wednesday.
SAMRALA
MEETING: A meeting to discuss preparations for celebrating Republic Day was held here on Wednesday in the Municipal Committee Hall under the presidentship of Mr Jaspal Singh Jassi, SDM, Samrala. Talking to mediapersons, Mr Jassi said officials of the subdivision had been assigned duties for the function.
APPOINTED: Inspector Tejinder Singh Sandhu has taken over as the Circle Inspector of the Samrala police station, while Inspector Gurdeep Singh has been transferred as in charge of the Women Cell, Khanna.
CREMATED: Gurbhajan Kaur (94), mother-in-law of Mr Balbir Singh Rajewal, national general secretary of the Bharti Kisan Union, was cremated here on Tuesday evening. Prominent personalities, mediapersons and workers of the BKU attended the funeral.
ATHLETICS
MEET: The 15th annual athletics meet of Nankana Sahib Public School, Samrala, would be held on school campus on January 15, said Ms Kuldeep Kaur, Principal of the school. Jathedar Kirpal Singh Khirnian, member of the SGPC and additional secretary of the school, would inaugurate the meet and Mr Amarjit Singh Balion, president of the NSPS, would preside over the function, she added.
TARN TARAN
PROTEST: Employees of cooperative sugar mills in the state have decided not to work on gazetted holidays in protest against the alleged anti-worker policies of
Sugarfed, which has issued instructions to pay half of the remuneration to workers for their work on holidays. Mr Harpal Singh
Sran, chairman, Mr Ram Lubhiya, president, and Mr Tejinder Nannhi, general secretary of the Sugar Mills Workers’ Joint Action Committee, Punjab, in a joint press statement issued here on Tuesday, said employees had decided not to work on holidays from January 13.
BUS STOLEN: A mini bus was stolen from Adda Chabal on Monday night. The Chabal police has registered a case under Section 379 of the IPC. The bus belongs to Mr Sukhwant Singh, a resident of Dodda village.
REVOLVER SEIZED: The Khalra police seized a .12 bore revolver from the possession of Harpal Singh, a resident of Harri Uddoke village at a checkpoint on Monday. A case under Sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act has been registered against the accused.
The Chewa panchayat is all set to develop Panchmunda cave as a major holy place. There are twin natural Shivalingams inside the cave. The panchayat also plans to promote the cave from tourism point of view. The cave, situated on a hilltop at a height of 6000 ft, about 8 km from Kumarhatti, has got little attention so far despite being a known religious place for locals. Every year hundreds of local devotees throng the cave on Shivaratri. Mr Ramesh Chauhan, head of the Chewa panchayat, says a road to the cave will be constructed soon. Besides getting some financial assistance from the district administration the panchayat will soon collect funds from the residents. At present the cave is approachable by a narrow zigzag footway through dense forest. But due to its bad condition and lack of knowledge among outsiders the cave has so far remained out of reach of tourists. The cave is approachable from two sides one from Barog and another from Koro Khanthari village. Both ways meet near Shri Bhagwati Nagarkoti temple, Patta Ghat, another religious place in the midst of a dense growth of pine trees. However for motorists an easy alternative is first one from Barog where one has to take a turn from the Kalka-Shimla national highway to a kutcha motorable road to Chewa village from where the 2-km long steep path starts. The cave is situated in the middle of a vertical cliff. At one time only one person can go ahead. The cave has a height of nearly 6 feet with available inside space to accommodate not more than two persons at a time. Inside the cave there are a pair of 2 ft high hard rock natural Shivalingams with a cluster of rocks hanging over it.