Ex-councillor booked for beating up JE
Employees continue protest, demand arrest
Pathankot, August 10
The police today booked former Municipal Councillor Jang Bahadur Bedi for beating up Pathankot Municipal Council junior engineer Desh Bandhu.

PSEB signs 2 pacts with Punjab Biomass
Patiala, August 10
The Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) has signed two agreements with M/s Punjab Biomass Power Limited for setting up 12 MW rice/wheat straw biomass fuel based power plants at Baghaura village in Rajpura tehsil and Sawai Singh village in Patiala tehsil.

Capt distances from Natwar’s politics
Ludhiana, August 10
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today distanced himself from the “politics of Mr Natwar Singh”. He said, he had not met Mr Natwar Singh in the recent past. Nor had he met Congress president Sonia Gandhi or Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

SC gives relief to excise officials
New Delhi, August 10
While settling an important legal question whether the tax authorities had a right to prepare hard disk copy of seized material on raids at the premises of tax evaders raised by the Punjab Excise Department, the Supreme Court has ruled that there was nothing wrong in it as in the age of internet and IT provisions of law should not be read with rigidity.

Govt decides to employ retd teachers on contract
Chandigarh, August 10
The Director Public Instruction (Colleges), Punjab, Mr Kanwarjit Singh, today stated the government had decided to employ retired teachers on contract to tide over the acute shortage of teachers in government colleges across the state.

COMMUNITY

Hostile gestures at retreat ceremony

Along the zero line (Hussainiwala), August 10 If the hostile gestures being exchanged by the sentinels of BSF and Pakistani Rangers during the retreat ceremony at Indo-Pakistan Joint Check Post, Hussainiwala, are any indication, the relations between the two neighbouring countries seem to be far from normal. Visitors rush through ‘Nishan-e-Hind’ to watch the retreat ceremony at the zero line on the Hussainiwala border. — Tribune photo by Vinay Malik

MP Sidhu to take up cases of foreign convicts Amritsar, August 10 Monica Christy, a Nigerian National, who completed her 11 years jail in April this year, continues to be behind bars for the past four months— thanks to apathy by her country. BJP MP Navjot Sidhu talks to Ms Monica Christy, a Nigerian national, who has completed her sentence in Amritsar central jail on Thursday. — Photo by Rajiv Sharma

State to set up Vigilance Commission
Chandigarh, August 10
The Punjab government today decided to constitute a Vigilance Commission on the pattern of the Central Vigilance Commission.

90 units of blood collected
Patiala, August 10
Dr Abjhijit Mukharjee, Director, THAPAR Institute of Engineering and Technology (TIET), Patiala inaugurated a blood donation camp.

COURTS

SC gives relief to excise officials
New Delhi, August 10
While settling an important legal question whether the tax authorities had a right to prepare hard disk copy of seized material on raids at the premises of tax evaders raised by the Punjab Excise Department, the Surpreme Court has ruled that there was nothing wrong in it as in the age of internet and IT provisions of law should not be read with rigidity.

ADMINISTRATION

Amritsar to have passport office
New Delhi, August 10
The Centre has decided to set up a regional passport office in Amritsar and develop circuits to boost tourism in Punjab.

Ensure presence of doctors: DC
Fatehgarh Sahib, August 10
Ms Jaspreet Talwar, Deputy Commissioner, while presiding over the monthly meeting of district officials here today, directed the Civil Surgeon to ensure the presence of doctors in the hospital OPD and emergency, supply of medicines and upgradation of the blood bank.

Salary hike for safai karamcharis
Chandigarh, August 10
The Punjab Government has decided to increase the salaries of safai karamcharis at the mohalla level in all municipal corporations and municipal committees in the state.

CRIME

Five of gang held with fake currency
Batala, August 10
The police has arrested five members of a gang and seized fake currency worth Rs 35,800, one revolver of .38 bore with six live cartridges, one country-made .12 bore pistol with two live cartridges and two motor cycles.

Bid to loot bank: 2 arrested
Bathinda, August 10
The police foiled a theft bid at the Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) near the court complex here yesterday and arrested two persons in this connection.

SDO held taking bribe
Patiala, August 10
The Patiala wing of the Vigilance Bureau today caught red-handed an SDO of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB), Madan Pal, while the latter was accepting bribe from a non-resident Indian industrialist Sukhvir Singh Cheema for ensuring uninterrupted power supply to his unit.

2-yr-old raped
Amritsar, August 10
A two-year-old girl belonging to a migrant labour family from Jharkhand was allegedly raped by a labourer, Jamal (25), also belonging to Jharkhand.

EDUCATION

Resentment against school Principal
Hoshiarpur, August 10
Great resentment prevails among members of the Sikh community against the Principal of Mount Carmel Senior Secondary School, Kakon, for instructing Sikh students to remove their ‘dastars’ (turbans) while coming to school.

PSSSB chief promises fairness in teachers’ selection
Chandigarh, August 10
The Punjab Subordinate Services Selection Board (PSSSB) will announce the merit list for the selection of 2,000 teachers by the end of this month, said Brig Charanjiv Singh Harika (retd), Chairman of the board, while promising fair play in the selection.

BUSINESS

Foot-and-mouth disease vaccine unit to be set up
Chandigarh, August 9
The Punjab Council of Ministers today cleared the proposal to set up a unit for manufacturing the vaccine to check foot and mouth disease in the country.

Truce with truck operators’ faction
Ropar, August 10
With the signing of an agreement with one group of truck operators here today, the district administration today claimed to have solved the dispute with truck operators and Ambuja Cement Plant which was going on here for past several months.