AMRITSAR
2 children drowned: Two children, Nurwinder and Jaspinder of New Jawahar Nagar, were drowned on Thursday morning when they were trying to take a dip in Vallah Canal. However, their bodies could not be recovered till the filing of the report.

Barnala
Barnala Panchayat Samiti: Harpal Singh Pandher has been unanimously elected as the chairman of Panchyat Samiti here. Out of 25, as many as 18 members participated in the election that was held at the office of BDPO, Barnala. Dr Balbir Singh Pakhon Ke was elected as vice-chairman. 

Bathinda
Camp held: A grand procession was taken out to mark the closing ceremony of the Vedic consciousness and personality development programme held to create awareness about female foeticide, AIDS, casteism and other social ills. The students vowed to take part in such camps even in future. 

Appointed: Gurjinder Singh Maur has been appointed as deputy director by the Punjab government. He was working as an officer at the district-level in Social Security, and Woman and Child Welfare department. He had recently visited Canada to oversee social security schemes there. 

Training programme: A two-day training programme on safety was arranged by Director of Factories, Punjab and Punjab Industrial Safety Council. It was inauguarted by Sodhi Mall, joint director, factories, and H.N. Singh, general manager, Grasim Cement, Bathinda. Sixty three persons from various industries took part. M.P. Beri, deputy director, factories, said the main objective of the programme was to bring awareness among factory workers and the management. Deepak Garg, MD, Multimelt Steels, Rampura Phul was the chief guest. Also present were Dinesh Pandey, B.S. Gupta and A.R. Goel.

BATALA
Rotary Club: J.S.Gulloo and Yogesh Goel have been unanimously elected president and secretary, respectively, of the Rotary Club, Batala Midtown. 

CHANDIGARH
Radhika tops varsity exam: Radhika Trikha, daughter of Rajan Trikha, assistant general manager, SBI, Chandigarh, has stood first in the university in the BSc (bio-technology) examination of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. She has secured 1530 marks out of 1800. 

Hoshiarpur
Aid for needy: The District Red Cross Society in collaboration with the Union ministry for social security and empowerment has identified 128 handicapped persons for providing artificial limbs. 

Kalka
Hospital raided: A team from the heath department raided J.N. Shorie Hospital, Pinjore, on Friday and sealed an ultra sound machine. M.L. Garg, district health officer (DHO), Panchkula, told The tribune that the ultra sound machine was being operated by the hospital staff in absence of the licensed operator, who was abroad these days. Dr Sangeeta Shorie denied that the machine was being operated by the doctors of the hospital. 

Holiday trains stopped: The department of railways, Ambala division, has suspended two holiday special trains running between Kalka and Shimla after July 1. Ajay kochhar, station superintendent of the Kalka railway station, said the two holiday special trains were started to cope with the heavy rush. The rail car no-101 up had also been dropped and it would run on the Kalka-Shimla section on demand, added Kochhar. 

Mansa
Farmers rue power cuts: “Farmers are in trouble during the paddy season because the PSEB has not been able to provide power to them,” said district president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta), Ram Singh Bhainibagha. He informed that now in the paddy season, farmers were being provided eight hours of power supply, but they were not receiving continuous supply. 

Panchayat Samiti chiefs: Chairman and vice-chairman of Mansa, Sardoolgarh and Jhuneer Panchayat Samitis were elected. Charanjeet Kaur, resident of Chakerian, and Binder Singh, resident of Dullowal, were elected chairman and vice-chairman respectively of the Mansa Panchayat Samiti. Baljit Singh of Jhanda Kalan was elected chairman of the Sardoolgarh Panchayat Samiti. For Jhuneer Panchayat Samiti, Dev Singh Raipur and Jarnail Kaur  Jorkian were elected chairman and vice-chairman respectively. 

Nawanshahr
Blood donation: The local Shaheed-e-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh ITI, in collaboration with the Blood Donors Council, organised a voluntary blood donation camp here on Friday. ITI principal Jaswant Singh inaugurated the camp where 55 units of blood were donated by staff  and students. 

Diabetes camp: Banga-based social worker Baldev Nayyar organised a diabetes detection-cum-awareness camp at Rai Heart Hospital, Banga, on Friday. As many as 75 persons were examined, of which 36 were found diabetic. Nayyar gave tips on dietary habits, lifestyle and exercises for diabetes management. 

PATIALA
Pbi varsity results: Punjabi University, Patiala, has declared the results of MA Hindi part-II, MA religious studies part-I, MA women studies part-I, MA English part-I, MA fine arts semester-II, MCA semester-VI, MA Buddhism studies semester-II, MA defence studies semester-IV and MA Gurmat sangeet semester-IV. Co-ordinator, examinations, Dr Gurmel Singh said the results were also available on varsity website www.punjabiuniversity.ac.in http://www.punjabiuniversity.ac.in> 

Appointed: Vice-chancellor of Punjabi University Dr Jaspal Singh has appointed Dr S.S. Khehra as the registrar of the university for a period of one year. Dr Khehra is a professor in the law department. He has also appointed Dr Devinder Singh, reader in the zoology department, as director of planning and monitoring. 

Camp for farmers: State Bank of India (SBI) organised a camp for farmers under the Central Government Agriculture Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme-2008 at its Mall road branch on Friday. The camp was presided over by Shyamal Kanti Dass, deputy general manager of the SBI, who handed over the debt waiver letters to 100 farmers. He assured them of future financial help through various agriculture schemes. 

Bank inaugurated: A.C. Varma, managing director, State Bank of Patiala (SBoP), inaugurated the 45th branch of Malwa Gramin Bank at Chehal village on Friday. He reiterated that the SBoP will extend full cooperation to Malwa Gramin Bank. Ajit Singh, chairman of Malwa Gramin Bank, while explaining various schemes of the bank, appealed to the farmers to use the bank loans judiciously and avoid wasteful expenditure. 

Results declared: Punjabi University, Patiala, has declared the results of MA Hindi II, MA religious studies I, MA women studies I, MA English I, MA fine arts II, MCA semester VI, MA Buddhism studies semester II, MA defence studies semester IV and MA Gurmat sangeet semester IV. Giving this information, co-ordinator examinations Dr Gurmel Singh said these results were available on the university website www.punjabiuniversity.ac.in. 

Mohali
One killed: Chander Pal (30) was killed when a speeding car hit his bicycle here today. According to the police, the deceased was a resident of Mohali village and was coming back from work when the accident took place. He was taken to a private hospital by the driver of the car which had hit him. Chander Pal died after reaching the hospital. The deceased hailed from Uttar Pradesh and is survived by his wife and three children. The police has started the investigations. 

NIPER gets new dean: Dr Saranjit Singh, professor and head, department of pharmaceutical analysis, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), is the next dean of the institute. He has succeeded Professor K.K. Bhutani, who completed his second term of the years on July 2. Singh took up his new post on Thursday. 

Directory released: SAS Nagar deputy commissioner Rahul Bhandari released directory of the Mohali Industries Association during a special interactive session on Thursday. Members of the association interacted with the DC regarding the various problems being faced by the industrialists in Mohali. They highlighted the poor condition of the roads, power cuts and lack of cleanliness. “The DC has asked us to give a complaint to the SDM,” said Naresh Nanda of Master Line. 

Ambala
Gutted: Goods worth lakhs were gutted when two shops in Ambala Cantonment caught fire early Friday morning. Officials of the fire department stated that the fire occurred due to a short circuit. Three fire tenders were rushed to the spot. The owners, Ashwini and Pramod Kumar, stated that they had almost lost everything. 

BHIWANI
Man consumes poison: Ramesh of the local MC Colony reportedly consumed some poisonous substance in his room on Friday. He has been admitted to the Civil Hospital here in serious condition.