He said he had brought the matter to the notice of chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and the latter had assured him that the final decision would be taken after taking him into confidence.

Jalandhar, April 28
Panic gripped 32 number Mohalla in Jalandhar cantonment after the rumour of a bomb spread in the area on Monday evening.

A person noticed a bomb-like object in the mohalla, following which the police and the Army were informed.

However, the local residents and the police heaved a sigh of relief when the thing was found out to be just an empty shell, said Jalandhar cantonment SHO Paramjit Singh.

Phagwara, April 28
Lok Sabha deputy speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal yesterday stressed on maintaining dignity of both the Houses of Parliament and suggested that the MPs should be given adequate training.

He said people with credibility and integrity should be elected for the smooth conduct of proceedings of Parliament.

He was commenting upon questions about the “disorderly” behaviour of AIADMK leader V. Maitreyan in the Rajya Sabha at a function here.

On April 24, Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari invoked Rule 225 under which the chairman can ask a member to withdraw from the House if he feels that his behaviour was grossly disorderly and evicted AIADMK leader V. Maitreyan for disrupting the proceedings of the House.

Maitreyan was asked to leave the House during question hour after he repeatedly demanded a response from the Prime Minister over shipping minister T.R. Baalu’s admission that he used his office to get gas for companies run by his sons.

Atwal earlier inaugurated the 22nd free “jal seva” (drinking water) service for rail passengers and others at the local railway station.

The Janata Seva Samiti, Phagwara, headed by Vipin Khurana, had been performing it from April to October every year.

Over Rs 4 lakh was spent on providing cold water to passengers every season.About 50,000 glasses of water were served to passengers in the halting trains by volunteers of the samiti during the season.

The samiti raises funds through donations made by philanthropists, including NRIs. The railway authorities had, through a letter a few months back, banned free service of drinking water by NGOs at railway stations.

However, with the intervention of Atwal, the NGO here was allowed to continue its annual practice. — PTI

Hoshiarpur, April 28
As many as 15 members of a marriage party were wounded when their bus rammed into a parked tractor-trailer near Musahpur village in Mukerian subdivision of this district on Monday morning.

The injured were admitted to the civil hospital at Mukerian, from where two were referred to the DMCH, Ludhiana, and 12 to the civil hospital, Gurdaspur.

According to police sources, the incident occurred at around 2.30 am when the bus, carrying members of a marriage party from Gurdaspur to Nangal Bhoor village (Pathankot), was returning.

Jalandhar, April 28
ADC (general)-cum-returning officer for the zila parishad elections S.P.S. Marar on Monday said the district had been divided into 21 zones for the purpose and an assistant returning officer had been notified for every zone.

He said nomination papers of the candidates would be taken between 11 am and 3 pm till May 2 (May 1 excluded owing to government holiday).

The SDM Jalandhar-1 will receive the nomination papers in his office for the Pholariwal, Patar and Jamsher zones. The SDM-2 has been appointed for the Nougaja and Wariana zones.

PUDA additional chief administrator will receive nominations from the Cholang and Behram Shrishta zones at the BDPO Bhogpur office.

The assistant tax and excise officer, Jalandhar-1, has been asked to accept nominations from the Talwan zone at the sub-tehsil office of Noormahal.

Deputy director of local bodies will receive nominations from Jandu Singha at the BDPO office, Adampur. Candidates from Bundala, Samrai and Jandiala will present their nominations to the district transport officer at BDPO, Rurkan Kalan.

Deputy director of land records will accept nominations of the Gidderpindi zone at the BDPO, Lohian. The Shankar, Kular and Mehatpur zones have the SDM of Nakodar as their returning officer.

The SDM of Phillaur will accept nominations of Apra, Ganna Pind and Dosanjh Kalan. The SDM of Shahkot has been appointed assistant returning officer of Dhandowal and Bajwa Kalan villages.

Marar said candidates could also present their papers at room number 18 in front of his office in the district administrative complex.

Batala, April 28
Welcoming the decision of including Batala into the Gurdaspur parliamentary constituency, member of parliament (MP) Vinod Khanna said development of the area would be his top priority.

This was his first visit to the town after delimitation and inclusion of the town in the constituency.

Addressing local BJP workers, Khanna exhorted them to work together so that the party could emerge victorious in the parliamentary elections due in 2009.

He said, “I am not a political leader but a public servant and it’s my duty to serve the people.”

He asked the party workers to help public in raising the issue of inflation and to act as a bridge between public and their representatives.

Talking to mediapersons, the MP said the Batala-Jalandhar rail link and industrial development would be on his priority list if he was given another chance.

Among others present were chief parliamentary secretary Jagdish Sawhney, BJP treasurer Bal Krishan Mittal and local unit chief Ashok Modgil.

Hoshiarpur, April 28
On the first day of filing the nomination papers for various zones of the zila parishad and the block samitis for the panchyati raj elections, only Parveen Bala of Bharta filed her nomination papers for the panchayat saimiti election in Mahilpur block of this district as the BSP candidate from zone 10, Chack Kataru (general women), on Monday.

Deputy commissioner N.K. Wadhawan said elaborate arrangements had been made for holding peaceful and fair elections for the 203 zones of 10 block samitis and 24 zones of zila parishads for which the polling process has been started.

More than 8,800 government employees would be deployed for the election process in the district. To monitor the polling process at 1,596 polling stations and 1,611 polling parties had been constituted.