Abohar
Maryada Utsav: The Jain Shwetambar Tera Panth Anchik Samiti organised the 144th Maryada Mahotsav in Leelawali village, around 54 km from here.

AMRITSAR
Undertrial escapes: Rajbir Singh, an undertrial who was in jail in attempt to murder and theft cases, escaped from police custody when he was being taken to court for hearing. The handcuffed accused dodged the police near the entry gate of the court. The two policemen who were taking him to court also disappeared from the scene when the accused dodged them.

Programme on Sci-Finder: More than 200 scholars participated in the Sci-Finder Awareness Programme organised by Guru Nanak Dev University at its premises here on Wednesday. S.S. Chahal, director, Research, presided over the function.

BASSI PATHANA
Two die in accident: Two motorcyclists died on Tuesday night in an accident near Mandher village. Kewal Singh (46) of Akalgarh village in Jalandhar district and Baljinder Singh (48) of Phillaur were on their way on a motorcycle when they had a head-on collision with a truck near Mandher village and both of them died on the spot. The truck driver fled the site of accident. Bodies of the deceased were sent to the Bassi Pathana civil hospital and handed over to the families after post mortem.

BATHINDA
Sangharsh Committee: Subhash Yadav, president of the Sangharsh Committee, has said in a press statement that various parties were promising lion’s share of seats in view of the coming municipal elections, but no one was paying heed to allotment of houses which were constructed after demolishing slums. He complained that the officials of the PUDA were responsible for the delay.

SOI meet: At a meeting organised by the Student Organisation of India at the Hajiratan Gurudwara in Bathinda, Baljeet Singh, district president of the SOI, said that the Congress promoted students organisations only to get votes and later forgot about them.He said that Sukhbir Badal, SAD ( B) chief, was worried about drugs afflicting youngsters and said the SOI would help anyone who was ready to kick the habit.

Injured: A woman and her son sustained injuries in a road mishap that occurred on the Bathinda-Gonian road on Wednesday. The injured Banna Devi and Akash were on  a motorcycle, when a  car hit them.

Ferozepur
Suicide: Enraged over the illicit relation of his wife, one Vasdev of Basti Gol Baaghwali committed suicide by hanging himself in his house. Family sources informed on Wednesday that Vasdev had told his wife Veero to desist from her relationship with one Joginder, but to no avail. And last night, he hanged himself to death. The police has arrested his wife and registered a case under the Indian Penal Code on the basis of the statement of Vasdev’s elder brother.

Jalandhar
Effigies burnt: Activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Surakhsha Samiti burnt the effigies of Raj Thackeray and his cousin Udhav Thackeray, leaders of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and Shiv Sena respectively, to lodge their protest against their ‘anti-north-Indian stance’. The activists, led by the chief of the Samiti Ram Rattan, gathered at the Doaba Chowk on Wednesday morning and shouted slogans against Raj and Udhav before burning the effigies.

Banner trouble: An NGO Rashtriya Lok Manch has alleged that their banners, put up to spread awareness on polio, were deliberately removed by some municipal corporation men. The NGO has submitted a memorandum to the deputy commissioner in this regard. NGO chief Balraj Thakur said the banners were jointly put up by them and the health department.

MALERKOTLA
Dharna against gas agency: Muslim women on Wednesday staged a dharna in front of Malwa Gas Agency of Hindustan Petroleum against the shortage of LPG. The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), Punjab, also participated in the dharna. Later, a memorandum was presented to local SDM Jaspal Singh Jassi after a march in the city.

Mansa
Demanded: Punjab Kisan Union’s Tamkot unit staged a dharna on Wednesday in front of XEN’s office, Canal department, and demanded the repair of canal distributory passing through the village for regular water supply. Addressing the dharna, farmers’ leader Ranjit Singh Tamkot said the canal distributory passing through Tamkot has been in a poor condition for long. He also complained of irregular water supply in the distributory. The XEN assured the farmers that their demands would be met within a week.

Moga
Sangat darshan: As many as 22 complaints were settled out of 38 brought before the 37th sangat darshan programme held at the district administrative complex, informed S.S Johal, deputy commissioner, here on Wednesday.

Nawanshahr
Accident death: Haridev Garg (26) of Kishanpura village was killed when his motorcycle collided with a jeep near Langroya village at around pm on Tuesday. According to sources, the victim lost control over the vehicle while trying to save a stray dog and crashed into a jeep coming from the opposite direction.

PATHANKOT
Eight arrested: The police has arrested eight persons, including one proclaimed offender, here on Wednesday. According to a press statement by the SSP office, Gurdaspur, seven persons Shashi Kumar, Harbans Lal, Jogindro, Shashi Bala, Chanchala, Kuldip and Batti have been arrested under the Excise and Gambling Acts. One computer, Rs 3,500 and 3,807 ltrs of illicit liquor were recovered from their possession. Roop Lal of Rauwal, PO, has also been arrested by the Dinanagar police.

PATIALA
Honoured: Karamjit Singh, a Punjabi University research scholar of the department of physics, has been awarded the Young Scientist Award- 2008 (engineering sciences) during the 11th Punjab Science Congress by the Punjab Academy of Sciences for his research in the field of nanotechnolgy. Karamjit is doing his PhD and his focus is on optical and photo catalyc behaviour of semiconductor and nanostructures.

Nominated: Dr D.S. Bhullar, president of the Patiala branch of the Indian Medical Association, has been nominated as the joint secretary of AKN Sinha Institute of Indian Medical Association at New Delhi.

Seminar: Punjabi University will soon start a series of lectures, seminars and conferences at its regional centres and neighbourhood campuses, leading to celebration of Guruta Gaddi Diwas of Guru Granth Sahib on its campus in April. A Gurmat Sangeet Utsav will also be organised in collaboration with Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee. The vice-chancellor of the university Dr Jaspal Singh stated this while inaugurating a seminar on ‘Shabd Guru’, organised by the department of Guru Granth Studies on Wednesday.

Blood donation camp: A blood donation camp was organised by the NSS department of the Punjabi University in collaboration with Rajindra Hospital at Kala Bhawan on Wednesday. As many as 243 teachers, students and non-teaching employees of the university donated blood.

Phagwara
Man robbed of gold ring, mobile: Three masked persons reportedly robbed Nawanshahr resident Des Raj of a gold ring and a mobile at Jamalpur village, falling under Sadar police station on Tuesday night. ccording to the information, the victim was returning on scooter to his house from Goraya when he was looted.

SANGRUR
Protest against damaged road: Activists and members of the BKU (Sidhupur), along with villagers, staged a dharna for two hours against the non-repair of the damaged road from Bhawanigarh to Bhalwan village on Tuesday. Surjit Singh, Bhawanigarh block president of the union, said the 2.5 km-long stretch from Bhawanigarh to Kakra had not been repaired during the past 16 years.

Ministerial staff hold rally: The Sangrur district unit of the Punjab State Ministerial Services Union under the leadership of district president Raj Kumar Arora today held a rally at the district administrative complex here and accused the Badal government of not fulfilling promises, made with the employees during the previous Assembly elections and in the poll manifesto of the SAD. Arora also criticised the state government for not notifying the terms and references of the Fifth Punjab Pay Commission so far.