AMRITSAR
AWARENESS CAMP: A consumer awareness camp was organised by the Amritsar Welfare Consumer Forum in collaboration with the police in the conference hall of Majitha police district which was presided over by Mr G.S. Sahota, DIG (Border Range). He called upon the NGOs to come forward to create awareness among people about the rights of the consumers.

ELECTED: Mr Dharam Singh and Mr Sukhdev Singh were elected as chairman and vice-chairman of the district unit of the Co-operative Labour and Construction Union, respectively, at a meeting held here on Thursday. This was stated in a press note issued here.

NURSES URGE GOVT.: The Punjab Government Nurses Association on Thursday urged the state government to increase the pay scale of nurses from Rs 8000 to Rs 13,000. At a state-level meeting held at Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital here, Ms Raj Bedi Anand, general secretary of the association, sought the immediate release of DA for the nurses. It also demanded to fill the vacant posts of nurses in various government hospitals.

ROAD BLOCK: As many as 270 residents of the Shaheed ML Dhingra HIG Housing Complex Welfare Society decried the government’s move to block a road in the complex. This was stated in a press conference here on Wednesday, president and general secretary of the society, Mr C.L. Chopra and Dr Neeta Mohindra, respectively.

BATALA
ANNIVERSARY: An anniversary of Maharaj Aggarsen was observed here on Friday. The Aggarwal Bhawan, near Community Hall, Khajuri Gate, Batala, was inaugurated by 1008 Swami Nishchlanand Ji Maharaj of the Goverdhan Peeth. A havan was performed and many dignitaries of Batala were present on the occasion.

DERA BASSI
STOVE BUSTED: Raju, a labourer and resident of Bhagwas village, sustained more than 50 per cent burn injuries when the stove on which he was working busted on Friday. The victim was rushed to the Civil Hospital, Dera Bassi. Doctors referred him to Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, Chandigarh. 

GURDASPUR
CONVENTION HELD: A large number of employees of the PSEB, power consumers, panches and sarpanches participated in a convention held here on Wednesday under the aegis of the Council of Junior Engineers of this district. The convention condemned the proposal of the Punjab Government to pass the Punjab Electricity Bill 2003, which relates to the privatisation and corporatisastion of the Punjab State Electricity Board.

HOSHIARPUR
SAMMELAN: The local unit of the Janta Dal has decided to organise a janta sunvai sammelan on October 12 at 4 pm in the party office here. In a press note here on Thursday Mr Dharam Pal and Mr Chanan Singh, president and vice-president of the unit, stated that the issues of poor sanitation, pitiable conditions of roads, water supply and street lights would be the focus of the sammelan.

ARRESTED: The Mahilpur police arrested Kalman Singh of Mukhomazara village under Sections 15, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act and seized 22 kg of poppy husk from him on Wednesday.

BOOKED: The Hariana police has registered a case against Balbir Singh and his mother Amarjit Kaur of Muradpur Narial under Section 324, IPC, for assaulting his wife Narinder Kaur and injuring her.

JALANDHAR
CRITICISED: The Khalsa Mission Council (KMC) has criticised the Nanaksar sect for undermining the dignity of the Sikh religion by publishing photographs of two of their former chiefs with Guru Nanak Dev and by distributing banned religious material. The president of KMC, Jathedar Dilbagh Singh, in a press statement issued here on Wednesday, said the Nanaksar sect was intentionally undermining the dignity of the Sikh religion by publishing pictures of Baba Nand Singh and Baba Ishar Singh with Guru Nanak Dev.

LUDHIANA
RAMAYAN GYAN YAJNA: A nine-day Ramayana gyan yajna started in Rishi Nagar under the supervision of Bhagat Hans Raj ji on Friday. The yajna being sponsored by the Shri Ram Sharnam Ashram, Kitchlu Nagar, will conclude on October 5. Satsang sessions will be held everyday from 6.30 am to 8.15 am and 4 pm to 6 pm from Saturday onwards. The concluding session will be held from 7 pm to 9 pm on October 5, according to Mr Naresh Soni.

JAGRAN: The Shiv Shakti Maa Durga Club, Gandhi Nagar, will organise a Bhagwati jagran on Saturday in the locality. A number of jagran parties will participate in the jagran. The Shiv Mandir Committee, Isher Nagar, will also hold a Bhagwati jagran on Saturday.

BHAJAN SANDHYA: A bhajan sandhya is being organised at Shri Radha Gobind temple in Shri Gobind Gaudham on Tuesday. The bhajan sandhya will be held by Mr Vinod Aggarwal from Mumbai, according to Mr. Sunder Dass Dhamija.

PATIALA
PHONE EXCHANGES: All 151 telephone exchanges in the Patiala circle have been connected with reliable optical fibre media besides being provided with calling line identification facility. The General Manager,BSNL, Mr Rajiv Kumar, said on Friday that a host of other facilities had been provided to facilitate the consumers. He said a cash counter had been opened at Nabha and an exchange had been opened at Dappar. The nigam would also introduce limited mobility facility in the circle shortly.

COURSE: A reorientation course for 144 drivers of the Indian Reserve Battalions is being run at the IRB training centre, Sangrur. Four batches will be trained under the course, which has been started in order to update their driving skills.

BANK SCHEME: In order to provide cheaper credit to farmers, the State Bank of Patiala has tied up with International Tractors Limited to offer a concessional rate of interest of 11 per cent with six months gestation period for purchase of tractors under the scheme ‘SBP Sonalika Plus’. An MoU was signed by Mr J.R. Devgan, General Manager (Planning and Development), on behalf of the bank and Mr Y.R Nakra, GM(Commercial), International Tractors, on behalf of the company.

TARN TARAN
HONOURED: Mr Raminder Singh, Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar, Mr Narinder Bhargav, SSP, Tarn Taran and Mr Jasdev Singh Jassowal, were honoured at the 23rd annual cultural affairs organised by 21 gram panchayats of the area at Jassraur village falling under the Ajnala Subdivision on Wednesday.

DECIDED: Kalyan Homoeopathic College and Hospital here has decided to open a free homoeopathic dispensary at the local Bhai Veer Singh Birdhghar. Dr Pawitter Singh, Director, said here on Wednesday that it had been decided to provide free medical facility to those residing at the Birdhghar.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Panjab University Architecture and Engineering Staff Association (PUAESA): president — Mr R.K. Rai; vice-president — Mr Anil Behal; secretary — Mr A.S. Bhandari; joint secretary —Mr D.V. Sharma; and treasurer — Mr B. Bhargwa.

WINNERS: Vibha and Santosh Sharma, both students of MA II, won the first prize in the ‘Uccharan Pratiyogita’ organised by the Department of Hindi of Panjab University. Sunita and Vineet, both also from MA II, were second and third, respectively.

KALYAN SABHA: Mr Kartar Chand Sahota has been appointed general secretary of the All-India Christian Kalyan Sabha. The appointment has been communicated to Mr Sahota by the Chairman of the All-India Christian Kalyan Sanstha, Prof Mushtaq Masih Chowdhary. 

PROGRAMME: The Swami Ram Tirtha Cultural Centre organised a cultural programme in Sector 24 here on Thursday. The Chairman of the Punjab Khadi and Village Industries Board, Mr Jugal Kishore Sharma, was the chief guest and Mr Hans Raj Sharma, president of the society, presided over the function. Students of the centre gave performance. 

MEETING: The executive committee of the Itihas Sankalan Samiti, Punjab, held its meeting here on Friday to condole the demise of Moro Pant Pingle, one of the founder members of the RSS and patron of the Akhil Bharatiya Itihas Sankalan Yojna. Pingle died on September 21 at Nagpur. Prof A.K. Kakar, president of the samiti, said the death of Pingle was an irreparable loss to the nation and the organisation.

STUDENTS EXAMINED: Nearly 600 students were examined at a free dental check-up camp held at Government Senior Secondary School, Karsan, on Friday. It was organised by the Kusum Arora Memorial Trust . The chairman of the trust, Mr K. D. Arora, said: “Health care camps will be organised in eight government schools situated in rural, slum and colonies which have been adopted by the trust”.

PANCHKULA
BLOOD CAMP: The Forum for Common Cause, Panchkula, will organise a blood donation camp at the Community Centre, Mansa Devi Complex on September 28 to commemorate the 96th birth anniversary of Shaheed-e-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh. It will be inaugurated by Mr Abhay Singh Chautala, MLA.

CELEBRATED: Tiny tots of Shemrock Smiles celebrated Dasehra in the school on Friday. The children staged Ramlila and burnt an effigy of Ravana. 

CAMP: A free medical consultation camp will be organised by Dr Minakshi Rohilla, gynaecologist and Dr Anju Jha, skin specialist, in the sarai complex of Nada Sahib Gurdwara, here, on Sunday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.