Abohar
Potable water: One of the major problems of the Sadar Bazaar here found a solution on Monday when Amar Lal Babbar, a resident here, installed a water cooler with 350 litre capacity supported by a 1000-litre capacity potable water tank in the market. 

Books for poor students: As many as 50 students from the economically-backward families were selected under the Book Bank scheme after they were interviewed at the Gopi Chand Arya Mahila College here on Monday, informed principal Neelam Arun Mittu. The selected students would be issued books under the scheme.

Amritsar
Strike call: A strike call given by the All India Customs Group D Officers Federation on August 20 is likely to paralyse the working of the local customs commissionerate which looks after the Attari railway station, Wagah checkpost, International airport and cargo complex at Amritsar railway station. The general secretary of the association Jagjit Singh Babbar said the officers would sit on dharna outside the revenue building during the strike to press for their six-point charter of demands which include lifting of ban on recruitment in government services, remove discriminatory features in the sixth pay commission report.

B’deshi national held: Bangladeshi national Sudesh Chander Dass, a resident of Handpura, was nabbed by a BSF patrol party under Lopoke police station on the Indo-Pak border when he was trying to cross over on Sunday night. The Amritsar Police district (Rural) in a press note here on Monday said Sudesh was without valid documents. The BSF handed over the culprit to the police. A case has been registered. 

Undertrial’s suicide bid: Mohammad Rashid of Wazirabad, Gujranwla (Pakistan), an undertrial of Pakistan, tried to commit suicide after an altercation with the jail warden here. A case under Section 309, IPC, was registered against him at Sadarpolice station. He hit himself on his head with a brick. He was immediately taken to the jail hospital for treatment.

Barnala
SBI officers go on strike: To lodge their protest against the merger of State Bank subsidiaries into the State Bank of India, the State Bank Officers’ Association observed a complete strike here on Monday. This information was given by deputy manager Sampuran Sharma, regional secretary, State Bank of India. Due to the strike, the common man as well as the businessmen faced inconvenience.

Bathinda
Heritage fair: Malwa Heritage Foundation, Bathinda, will organise the fifth Heritage Mela from November 21-23 at village Jaipalgarh. They also honoured senior officials and others for attending the first meeting held of the Malwa Heritage Foundation.

Seminar held: A de-addiction seminar was organised at Polytenic College on August 15 with the help of DIG Jatinder Jain and principal Yadwinder Singh. A film was shown to the students of whom 36 resolved to say no to drugs. The aim was to make the youth aware of the side-effects of drugs.

Teach Punjabi: Principal Jagdish Singh Ghai has said that the Punjabi language should be made compulsory till class XII for the students. He also requested chief minister Parkash Singh Badal to take steps to make Punjabi literature and language surge ahead. 

New centre: Abax Education Company Challenger, Chandigarh, has opened a Sharp Brain Centre  at Rampura Phul, in  Bathinda district. At this centre, students in the age-group of 5-age years have been taught fast computing just by applying the mind. 

Morcha rally: Amlok Singh, general secretary, Lok Morcha, has said that a rally would be held on August 20 to protest against the government policies. The Morcha demanded that the government should control price hike, control petrol-diesel price, stop contract system in jobs and stop levelling charges against government staff. 

Contest held: The Bharat Vikas Parishad, Bathinda, organised a function here in which members and their families took part in large numbers. Different contests were held to mark the occasion. President of the unit Manoj Kumar, general secretary K.C. Mittal, treasurer Madan Gopal Jindal, were among those present. Children sang patriotic songs on the occasion. A mehndi contest was also held on the occasion in which Chandan Priya was declared winner. Sandeep was chosen the Teej Queen while Manpreet won in the solo dance contest.

Fatehgarh Sahib
Development works  discussed: The first meeting of the Fatehgarh Sahib municipal council was held on Monday. The councillors discussed 12-point agenda. They decided that the problem of safai karamcharis in ward Nos. 1 to 6 in the city could be solved by deploying the karamcharis on contract basis. Besides, it was decided that a sub-office of the fire department should be built with the help of the Mandi Gobindgarh MC. They also decided to rent out the shops in three-canal land near the Bachat Bhawan.

Jalandhar
Pending demands: Members of the Private Colleges Non-Teaching Employees Union (PCNTEU), Punjab and Chandigarh, have expressed resentment over the Punjab government’s failure to fulfil their long-pending demands. Union general secretary M.L. Khullar said if  their demands like sanction of interim relief, enhancement of medical allowance and implementation of pension and gratuity schemes were not met, the union would launch a state-wide  agitation.

Shooting tourney: The PAP would be conducting a two-day open district shooting championship at its indoor shooting range in Jalandhar cantonment on August 19 and 20. Shooters from any part of the state can participate in the championship. 

Kapurthala
Farmer drowns in flood waters: A farmer Jagir Singh (54) of Karnail Ganj village, falling under Bholath sub-division, drowned in flood waters. His body was recovered from Kamrai choe on Monday. According to the information, Jagir was coming to Bholath from his village on August 16 for treatment of his fractured arm. On his way, he was caught in flood waters at Akala choe bridge. The farmer’s relatives kept on looking for him, but to no avail. Finally, the body was recovered from Kamrai choe on Monday. The body has been sent for post-mortem examination. 

LUDHIANA
Complaint redressal: The municipal corporation will organise a complaint redressal program in its Zone B office on August 20 at 2 pm. Complaints related to house tax, building branch, water bills, B&R branch, O&M cell, street lights and all other complaints related to civic body would be heard during the programme. 

NABHA
Heart camp: Eminent cardiologist from Mohali Dr T. P Singh, DM, Cardiology, along with Dr S. Choudhry, Dr Punit Verma and Dr Amarjit Sawhney, examined 300 heart patients at a camp organised by the Rotary Club here. He stressed on lifestyle changes and regular exercises for the prevention of heart problems. The patients were given free ECG, peripheral neuropathy and blood tests. Medicines were also provided free of cost to the needy.

Patiala
Tubewell connections released: PSEB chairman Y.S. Ratra informed that keeping in view the demands of various kissan unions, the board had decided to release tubewell connections to all applicants under general category who had applied for the connections up to 31-3-1990. Ratra disclosed that the orders had been given to release all such connections up to 31-3-2009. He hoped that the farmers, who had been waiting so long for tubewell connections, would get immediate relief with this decision.

Theatre fortnight  ends: Baradari Gardens would have an open-air stage to strengthen garden theatre movement, announced divisional commissioner S.K. Ahluwalia during the concluding function of NTAS' Tiranga Theatre Fortnight at Central State Library Hall here on Monday. He was the chief guest. A Punjabi play 'Kul Birtaant' by duo Pran Sabharwal-Sunita Sabharwal of the National Theatre Arts Society was staged. Among 30 fresh and trained artistes of 'Kul Birtaant', lead actors Kulwinder Singh and Gurjeet Kaur and baby Nemat Sabharwal won cash prizes.

CHANDIGARH
Results announced: The Haryana renewable energy department has announced the results of slogan writing and poster making contest organised on the theme of renewable energy and global warming in Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula on August 9. The competitions were organised by the department simultaneously in the Tricity in collaboration with the Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) and the department of science and technology, Chandigarh. A spokesman said the awards would be given away by the chief guest, Vilas Muttemwar, union minister for new and renewable energy, in the presence of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on August 20 at Inderdhanush Auditorium, Panchkula.

JHAJJAR
Road blocked: Residents of Khudan village on Monday blocked the Jhajjar-Rewari road for about an hour in protest against unsatisfactory bus service. The villagers said their wards had been facing hardships in going to schools and colleges due to poor bus services. Tehsildar Raj Singh with other officers reached the spot and pacified them assuring that he would talk to the authorities concerned. The blockade was lifted after his assurance. 

REWARI
2 killed in accidents: Two persons were killed while 12 others were injured, three of them seriously, in road accidents here in the past 24 hours. An eight-year-old girl, Varsha, was killed while her father Hawa Singh and mother Santosh Devi were injured when the car they were travelling in was reportedly hit by a canter on the Delhi-Jaipur highway. In another incident, Dinesh Kumar, store manager of Atlas Tube Industries, Bawal, died while 10 others, including seven employees of the factory, were injured when the vehicle, in which the employees were travelling, reportedly collided with a jeep on the Rewari-Bawal road on Sunday. 

Labourer killed: Dahananjay, a labourer and resident of Jharkhand, died when the wall of a factory at Jaliawas village reportedly collapsed on Saturday. The police has registered a case of causing death by negligence under Sections 336, 337 and 304-A of the IPC against factory supervisor Mani Shanker and labour contractor Sanjay in this regard. 

SIRSA
hopping complex: Vice-chancellor of Chaudhary Devi Lal University, Sirsa, K.C. Bhardwaj on Monday laid the foundation stone of a shopping complex on the university campus. The shopping complex to be built at a cost of Rs 2 crore will be ready in eight months. He said the shopping complex would house shops of stationary, fruits and Photostat, besides a cafeteria, dining hall and an ATM on the ground floor and post office, bank, health centre, bookshop and a chemist shop on the first floor. The complex would have a good parking area, the VC added.