AMRITSAR
Relief for Bihar flood victims: Parveen Kumar Sinha, SP, CID, and chief patron of the Bihar Flood Relief Society, on Saturday flagged off a fleet of three trucks carrying relief material for flood victims. Pulses, rice, wheat flour, dhotis, clothes, utensils, match boxes and other essential items of daily use were collected by the society. Four collection centres have been designated where people could send contributions. The centres include PTU learning centre at Kennedy Avenue Market, Prem Ashram Senior Secondary School, S.L. Public School, Madhav Vidhya Niketan and Dhanwantri Ayurvedic Herbals.

Prisoner operated upon: Undertrial prisoner Gurnam Singh, suffering from cataract, was operated upon in the Civil Hospital here on Saturday. He is lodged in Amritsar Central Jail for murdering four members of a family of Bhittewid village. Gurnam had earlier complained of weak eyesight and requested jail authorities to provide treatment. His request was forwarded to the state government, which gave its assent.

ANANDPUR SAHIB
Sangeet Academy: SGPC president Avtar Singh on Saturday laid the foundation stone for the building of Gurmat Sangeet Academy at Anandpur Sahib. The academy will be built at a cost of Rs 52 lakh and its construction work will be completed with the help of Sant Baba Labh Singh. Speaking during the occasion Avtar said people of Haryana did not want a separate SGPC. Some political parties had raised the issue during elections. He said the SGPC were quite satisfied with assertions given by the Central government and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

SANGRUR
Language tribunal sought: The Kendriya Punjabi Lekhak Sabha (Sekhon) on Saturday asked the state government to set up a Punjabi language judicial tribunal for initiating proceedings and awarding punishment to officials violating the provisions of the Acts. This was stated by general secretary of the sabha Tejwant Mann. He also asked the state government to adopt the language policy Punjab Di Bhasha- Punjabi.

Jalandhar
Socialist front’s convention: The All-India Socialist Front will hold its annual convention here on October 11 and 12 on the birth anniversary of Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan and death anniversary of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia. Balwant Singh Khera, chairman, Malta Boat Tragedy Probe Commission, said the main theme of the conference would be to consolidate progressive, secular and socialist forces.

Honoured: Dr G.S. Gill, president of Shaheed Banta Singh Sanghwal Welfare Trust, and Dr Jasbir Kaur, granddaughter of the martyr, were honoured during a seminar at Shaheed Udham Singh Welfare Centre, Birmingham. Dr Kaur presented a paper highlighting the contribution made by the Ghadar Party in India’s freedom movement.

Donation: A retired lecturer Gurdev Singh Nijjer of Kapur village and his wife Gurjit Kaur today organised a programme in which they donated Rs 250 each to needy families of the area. They also provided them with garments.

Mohali
Four injured in mishap: A major tragedy was averted when a local mini bus jumped the road divider near Dera Bassi around 7.30 pm on Saturday. According to the police, three passengers, including a woman, and a roadside worker sustained injuries. The injured were taken to the Dera Bassi civil hospital from where the woman was referred to GMCH-32, Chandigarh. The bus was coming from the Lalru side. According to eyewitnesses, the bus driver was driving very fast and could not see the barricades where work was going on. The bus driver and conductor immediately fled from the spot. No case has been registered yet.

Panchkula
Grandparents’ Day: Grandparents’ Day was celebrated at Shemrock Smiles Preparatory School, M.D.C. Panchkula, here on Saturday. Little school children showed all respect and love to their grandparents as they welcomed them by showering flower petals and by applying tilak on their foreheads. Children then presented a small cultural programme that began with the chanting of mantras and shlokas.

Thieves produced in court: A five-member gang of car thieves, on production warrant from Assam, was produced at a local court on Saturday. They were sent in the police custody till September 19. The accused, Dharmender, Surender, Harish, Mangat Ram and N. Chakchoki, belonged to Sonepat, Panipat and Nagaland. They were caught when they were trying to sell the stolen vehicles in Assam. At least 34 cars, including a number of Baleros, had been stolen from the town in the recent past.

REWARI
In-laws booked: The Kosli police has booked a young woman Urmila’s husband Subhash, mother-in-law Ramesh Devi and three others, all residents of Balawas Jamalpur village, on a charge of harassment for dowry. Urmila, who got married to Subhash in July, 2007, alleged that her in-laws allegedly demanded Rs 1 lakh to purchase a car. However, when her parents expressed helplessness, her in-laws allegedly tortured her.

Blood donation camp: To mark the 62nd birthday of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on September 15, a blood donation camp will be organised at the Government College, Bawal. Deputy commissioner Chander Prakash said the camp would be organised under the auspices of the District Red Cross Society.

SIRSA
Proclaimed offender held: The police has claimed to have arrested a proclaimed offender, who had been evading arrest in a case of poppy husk trafficking since July 5, 2003. Krishan Pal, a resident of Khatoli in UP, was trapped by the police near Rori in this district while he was carrying 53 bags of poppy husk in a truck.But he managed to give the police the slip. A local court had declared him a proclaimed offender on June 2, 2004.