BATALA
Man arrested for satta: Charanjit Singh of Mian Mohalla, Ram Nagar, has been arrested for his involvement in “satta.” Parveen Kumar, his accomplice and resident of Prem Nagar, has fled. A case has been registered under the Gambling Act.

JagraOn
Attack condemned: North India Classical and Vernacular Teachers’ Union president Harbhajan Singh Dhindsa has condemned the assault by the police on unemployed art and craft, PTI and BEd teachers. In a press note, Mr Dhindsa flayed the police action in Rampura Phool, Patiala, Chandigarh and Ludhiana, where teachers were protesting peacefully. He also condemned the arrest of teachers and blamed the state government for playing with the future of teachers. He also questioned the continuity of teachers’ training when they were not to be employed. He demanded the filling of all vacant posts of teacher.

Eye camp: A free eye check-up camp was organised by the Lok Sewa Society, Jagraon, at the Red Cross Maternity Hospital here. It was inaugurated by SDM Sukhwinder Singh Gill. A blood donation camp was also organised. Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate Jatinder Walia urged people to donate blood. Mr Gill commended the working of the society. Eye specialist Dr Sukhjiwan Kakkar examined the patients. Society chairman Gulshan Arora and other members honoured the blood donors.

Drama against drugs: A drama on drug addiction, “Mitti Rudan Kare”, will be organised by Ripatry Theatre, Punjabi University, Patiala, on July 19 at Maan Palace, Sidhwan Bet, and July 20 at Katyal Palace, Raikot. According to SSP R.K. Jaiswal, DIG Parag Jain will be the chief guest at Sidhwan Bet and Deputy Commissioner Ashok Gupta at Raikot.

Kapurthala
Fake liquor seized: The Excise Department on Monday seized as many as 85 cases of fake liquor from five liquor vends located in different parts of the town and Bholath. Excise Commissioner Parampal Singh said the forged label ‘Land Lord Rum’ of Jagatjit Distillery at Hamira was pasted on the bottles. He said the distillery had been informed about the seizure.

MOGA
2 jailed for smuggling: A city court on Saturday convicted two persons of smuggling poppy husk and sentenced them to ten-year imprisonment. The convicts, Inderjeet Singh and Kala Singh, were nabbed by the police in 2003. The accused were also fined Rs 1 lakh each.

NAWANSHAHR
Midday meal scheme: Midday meal scheme has been introduced in elementary schools with a view to improving attendance. The responsibility of preparing the meal has not been assigned to teachers. Women groups in villages would be formed for the purpose. This was stated by Mr Jagtar Singh Khatra, DPI (Elementary Education), Punjab, at Nawan Gran village, on Sunday. 

Federation: The following have been elected office-bearers of the district unit of the Punjab Subordinate Services Federation: president — Mr Purshottam Rana; senior vice-presidents — Mr Baldev Singh, Mr Jaswinder Patti, and Mr Jagiri Ram; vice-presidents — Mr Jarnail Singh, Mr Shiv Raj and Mr Shalinder Singh; general secretary — Mr Prem Rakker; joint secretary — Mr Harmesh Ghataron; finance secretary — Mr Bhajan Dass; organising secretary — Mr Iqbal Singh; and auditor — Mr Varinder Kumar.

Plea on NRI marriages: Mr Palwinder Singh Gill, president, Canadian Marriage Fraud Victims Society, while lauding the initiative of the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs and the NCW to check the menace of fraudulent marriages by NRIs, urged the authorities concerned not to indulge in sex-based discrimination. He lamented that though there were a lot of cases in which brides had deceived grooms, no administrative, political and social organisation had taken up the issue. The proposed law should also bring the sufferings of male victims under its purview, he said.

Driving licences issued: A suvidha camp for making on-the-spot driving licences was held here on Saturday. As many as 62 licences were issued. 

Phagwara
Scholar honoured: Adorned with the ‘Mother Teresa Award’ and the title of ‘Rotaract Mother’, Dr Neelam Sethi, has now been honoured with ‘Woman of the Year’ award and a silver medal by the International Biographical Centre (IBC), Cambridge, the UK, for her services as a social worker, writer, poetess, research scholar, research director and an orator. She is the head of the Hindi Department at Kamla Nehru College for Women here.

One held: A resident of Patiala, Rattan Singh, was arrested on Monday for carrying poppy husk. Five kg of poppy husk were recovered from his possession during a checking near the Santokhpura railway crossing here. A case under the NDPS Act has been registered.

Ropar
Byelections: The byelections to fill vacant seats of ward-10 and ward-11 of the Municipal Council, Morinda, will be held on July 30 as per the schedule released by the Election Commission, Punjab. The nominations are to be filed on July 20 between 11 am and 3 pm and scrutiny will take place on July 21. The SDM, Chamkaur Sahib, has been appointed the returning officer.

PCS (Judicial): Tripatjot Kaur of Ropar has cleared the PCS (Judicial) examination held in April 2006. She secured the 18th rank among the 36 selected candidates. She is a gold medallist in LL.B and has been practising at the District Courts, Ropar, for the past four years.