Jalandhar, December 1
Awareness camps were organised to observe World AIDS Day in the city and its surrounding areas today.

Though various NGOs and societies observed the day by holding camps, the district health authorities were seen escaping the day as no such function was organised by the department.

Punjabi singer-turned-politician Hans Raj Hans was the chief guest at the function organised by Manav AIDS Prevention and Care Society on the Jalandhar-Pathankot bypass. The society distributed pamphlets, handouts and banners among public and educated them about the consequences and methods of prevention, said society general secretary Narinder Pal Singh.

A play based on the stigma being faced by the patients was staged by students of a nursing college at Pushpa Gujral Science City in Kapurthala.

Chief guest Dr H.S. Lamba highlighted the importance of the day, said project coordinator Dr Munish Kumar of the Red Ribbon Project.

Hoshiarpur: Around 2.5 million new cases of AIDS were detected during 2007 of which half of the patients were below the age of 25, civil surgeon Dr S.K. Gupta said today.

Addressing a seminar on World AIDS Day at the Police Recruits Training Centre, Jahan Khelan, he said a special campaign had been launched for which a symbol of Red Ribbon was being used for the past 15 years.

An AIDS awareness fortnight was being observed from December 1.

Dr Ajay Bagga, in charge, school health programme, said presently 33 million persons were suffering from the disease, of which about 25 lakh were reported in India. According to official sources, 12,474 patients were in Punjab.

To make awareness among the trainees of the PRTC, commandant of the centre G.S. Sandhu said he would do his best to make the campaign a success.

Nawanshahr: The Kirpal Sagar College of Education organised a seminar to mark the National AIDS Day on Monday. Civil surgeon Dr Chitranjan Brar, presided over the function. Dr Ashok Guru, district health officer, delivered the keynote address. Dr Karamjit Singh, chairman, Kirpal Sagar, also spoke.

Pathankot:World AIDS Day was observed at all the subdivisional headquarters in the district today.

At a function at Gurdaspur, a seminar-cum-workshop was organised.

Speaking on the occasion, civil surgeon Dr R.S. Rana asked the NGOs and youngsters to make the awareness programme a mass movement. He stressed the need for full participation to curb AIDS.

Several other speakers shared information with the audience on various modes of transmission and prevention of AIDS. They emphasised that individuals must feel empowered to access treatment, to know their rights and to take action against stigma and discrimination.

Besides principal CM Bham of the Institute of Hotel Management, Gurdaspur, many doctors were present at the function. A poster competition was organised on the occasion.

Another seminar was organised by the Sudip Charitable Hospital in the town. Dr Vinay Sharma gave tips to people about the preventive measures.

Jalandhar, December 1
Beginning its drive for removing all sorts of encroachments on the scheduled roads and national highways, the municipal corporation today carried out massive demolition operation in Rama Mandi amidst much opposition.

As the team returned from the site in the evening, some people even threw stones at it, but without anyone getting hurt. The team, led by joint commissioner Rahul Gupta, got removed as many as 30 permanent extensions of up to 10 feet outside shops and 125 temporary encroachments.

Some shops that had illegally come up underneath the bridge were also demolished. All hawkers and vendors selling fruits, vegetables and other household items were also forced to vacate the area.

The joint commissioner said the operation would be soon extended to other scheduled roads and national highways. He said some shop owners from Kapurthala Road had approached him seeking his clarification on the demolition notice received by them. “We will call them soon and try to satisfy their queries,” he said.

Nawanshahr, December 1
The filing of nomination papers by former parliamentary secretary Parkash Singh’s son Angad for the block and district-level elections of the Youth Congress scheduled to be held on December 7 has given a new dimension to the election process here.

A section of the local Youth Congress leaders led by city wing president Satish Rana today raised an accusing finger on the functioning of district returning officer (DRO) B.D. Tripathi. “Though AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi has initiated the process of election to ensure democracy at the grass-roots level, the DRO and other officials appointed by the party high command are manipulating the process of election to appease certain influential leaders,” alleged Rana, adding that if certain Congress leaders wanted to establish their kin in the party set-up by making mockery of the election process, then there was nothing wrong in continuing the convention of nominating the office-bearers.

The Youth Congress leader accused the DRO of discrimination in completion of formalities of nomination papers. While the DRO refused to accept the nomination papers of the candidates without the requisite bank drafts, certain candidates were given relaxation in the stipulated date for submitting the requisite bank drafts.

They demanded that DRO Tripathi should be replaced immediately so that the organisational elections could be held in an impartial manner.

Tripathi, when contacted, denied the allegations by Youth Congress leaders and said that the relaxation for submitting the bank drafts had been permitted by the party high command. As many as 104 nominations - 48 for the district delegates and 56 for the six blocks - have been filed in the district.

Jalandhar, December 1
Members of the Rice Millers Welfare Association, Punjab, today demanded that the specifications of percentage of damaged contents in rice be increased to 4 per cent from the current permissible level of 3 per cent.

Venting their ire against the state government, the rice shellers said the state government had hastily procured paddy from all quarters overlooking the quality of the produce. They said due to rains in mid October, the damage was far high this time.

They added that the practice of mechanised harvesting further spelled trouble for them as dry and wet grains remained stacked together for months before their shelling, increasing the chances of further damage.

Rakesh Jain, president of the association, said the procuring agencies of the state had purchased 120 lakh metric tones of paddy worth Rs 12,000 crore but no milling work could be carried out till date due to non-enhancement in the percentage of damaged and discoloured contents in the rice specifications by the union government. He said there were 3150 rice mills in the state and nearly 1.5 lakh labourers hired for the purpose were sitting idle.

Senior vice-president Roshan Lal said the SAD government had all sympathies with the farmers but no one ever thought about the problems of the shellers. He said while the BIS standards for other food crops, including wheat, maize and barley, had specifications in two subheads “damaged” and “slightly damaged” but in case of rice there is only “damaged” category.

He said lately more commonly sown Hybrid 201 variety of paddy also showed more signs of damage and discolour, adding that the state government and the central government must sit together to resolve the problem before the damage increased further bringing in huge losses.

Nawanshahr, December 1
As many as 62 students of class IX of different government and aided schools in the district have secured merit positions in the national means-cum-merit scholarship test-2008 conducted by the State Council of Educational Research and Training, Punjab, in August this year. The students are:

SC category: Pardeep Kumar (GGSSS, Daulatpur), Keshav Kumar (SGHGKHS, Charan Kanwal, Banga), Kamaljit (GHS, Chahar Mazara), Maninder Pal (DSNHS, Nawanshahr), Kirandeep, Sumandeep, Amandeep Kaur, Pooja Rani (BGGSSS, Banga), Ramanpreet Kaur(GHS, Sanawa), Neelam Kumari (GHS, Jhingran), Swaranjit (GSSS, Banga), Davinder Kumar (GSSS, Bharta Kalan), Roopa Rani (GHS, Karyam), Gurpeeet Kaur (GHS, Sanawa), Gurpreet Kaur (GGSSS, Rahon).

BC category: Raj Kumari (BGGSSS, Banga), Harpreet Kaur (GSSS, Chaunagra), Harpreet Kaur, Hardeep Singh (GHS, Kaulgarh).

General category: Gurpreet Kaur, Tavleen Singh, Pardeep Rani, Amandeep Kaur, Simranjit Singh, Manpreet Kaur (GHS, Surapur), Monika, Amandeep Kaur, Kamlesh Kaur (GHS, Rakran Dhahan), Harjinder Singh (GSSS, Bazidpur), Rajan Sood (GHS, Nighi), Harpreet, Monika Rani (GSSS, Karnana), Sukhjinder Kaur, Anuradha Sharma, Ravinder Kaur (GGSSS, Daulatpur), Pooja, Pinky Tiwari (GGSSS, Herian), Ashwani Kumar, Sanjay, Kulwant Singh, Karan Atwal (Mahil Gehilan), Gurpreet Singh (GSSS, Bachhauri), Ranjodh, Amandeep, Lal Bahadur, Pankaj Dutta (GSSS, Nawanshahr), Sandeep Kumar (GSSS, Banga), Monika Rani, Navneet Kaur, Gagandeep Kaur, Kulvir Kaur (BGGSSS, Banga), Harminder Kaur (GGSSS, Naura), Surinder Kumar (GSSS, Rahon), Amandeep Kaur (GSSS, Saroya), Ravina Ruby (GHS, Karyam), Manisha Chaudhary, Manpreet Kaur, Neha Rani, Sakhashi Devi (GSSS, Bagowal), Rajwinder Singh (GSSS, Bakapur), Jaspreet Kaur (GHS, Simbal Mazara), Rajwinder Kaur (GHS, Gunachaur).

District science supervisor Balihar Singh Bains said these students would be given a scholarship of Rs 500 each per month up to class XII, provided they continued to secure at least 55 per cent marks while studying in a government or government-aided school.