Amritsar
Blood donation camp: The Sri Guru Ramdas Blood Donation Sewa Society would hold a blood donation camp to mark the 62nd Independence Day. The camp would be held at Bhai Veer Singh Hall from 10 am to 2 pm. Ambuja Cement India, the All-India Human Rights Association and Government Medical College would assist the  society in organising the camp.

Play on Sunday: The Indian Academy of Fine Arts, along with SSAI Creations, would present Nanak Singh-written Punjabi play “BA Pass” in Dharam Singh Engineer Auditorioum, Art Gallery, on August 16 at 6.45 pm.

University extends admission date: Guru Nanak Dev University has extended the last date for admissions to fill the vacant seats of various courses run on the university campus, Amritsar, regional campuses at Jalandhar and Gurdaspur, and its constituent colleges, University College, Basti Nau, Jalandhar, ASSM College, Mukandpur (Nawanshahr), and SRSPM College, Niari (Gurdaspur), till August 24. This was stated by  Registrar Raghbir Singh in a press release here.

BATHINDA
Desh Bhagat’s new campus: A campus of the Desh Bhagat Institute of Engineering and Management was inaugurated near Dagru rail crossing on the Moga-Ferozepur road on Friday. The institute is affiliated to the Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar. The AICTE, New Delhi, has already approved the institute for B.Tech and MBA courses.

Janmashtami celebrations: Janmashtami was celebrated at the Central Jail here on Friday. Kaur Singh, the deputy superintendent of the jail, greeted everyone on the occasion and asked them to follow the path shown by Lord Krishna in The Geeta. Rakesh Narula from Bathinda Vikas Manch organised the event.

CHANDIGARH
CM calls for tax exemption to banks: Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to exempt cooperative banks from income tax and also advised Nabard to revise its policy of raising quantum of refinance and downsize rate of interest on the refinance to the extent of 2.5 per cent in the interest of the cooperative movement. 

Power allotment: Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday demanded that the Centre give preferential dispensation to landlocked states like Punjab, Haryana and Delhi in the allotment of power, coal blocks and also exempting these states from the condition of 30 pc mandatory import of coal.

DHURI
Ambulance service: A local NGO, Sahara Jan Sewa Samiti, started an ambulance service here on Friday for transporting patients to hospitals in the Dhuri area and other cities, like Patiala, Ludhiana and Chandigarh. The vehicle service will be available to the public round the clock. The Red Cross DC had donated the vehicle.

Jalandhar
Jail inmate dies: Members of the Bhartiya Valmiki Dharam Samaj staged a dharna today after a 30-year-old jail inmate died under mysterious circumstances. The deceased, Nandu, a resident of New Dilbagh Nagar in Basti Gujan, was lodged in the jail since December 7, 2008 on charges of involvement in a smuggling case. Jail superintendent SP Singh said Nandu had shown signs of an epilepsy attack this morning after which he was immediately taken to the civil hospital where he breathed his last.

SANGRUR
Freedom fighters honoured: A day before the 63rd Independence Day, chairman of local NGO, Umeed Foundation, Arvind Khanna honoured 14 freedom fighters and their family members from the Sangrur Assembly constituency at a function here on Friday. Khanna presented shawls and “sanman patras” to them.

March against price rise: Members of the CPI (ML) Liberation on Friday took out a protest march through the town against rising prices. They also held a rally in front of the DC’s office here. Sher Singh Dhandholi and Pargat Singh Beer, leaders of the CPI (ML) Liberation, addressed the rally. 

Tarn Taran
ASHA workers: The following have been elected office-bearers of the district unit of the ASHA Workers Union: president - Jaswinder Kaur; senior vice-president - Harjit Kaur; general secretary - Manjit Kaur; joint secretary - Veer Pal Kaur; treasurer - Lakhwinder Kaur; organising secretary - Ranjit Kaur; and press secretary -Harpreet Kaur.

CHANDIGARH
Applications invited for flats: The Haryana Housing Board has invited applications for the allotment of 1,134 modern multi-storeyed flats at Bawal and Brahi on higher purchase basis under the Industrial Worker Residential Scheme. Giving details of the flats, a spokesman of the board said out of the total flats, as many as 374 flats would be built at Bawal and 760 flats at Brahi. At Bawal, 80 flats would be of type 'A', 120 flats of type 'B' and 174 flats of type 'C'. Similarly, at Brahi 160 flats would be of type 'A', 240 flats of type 'B' and 360 flats of type 'C', he added.