Abohar
Priyanka bags silver: Priyanka Karwasra of Gopi Chand Arya Mahila College has won silver medal in the 85th Punjab Junior Athletics championship that was organised recently at Hoshiarpur by the Punjab Athletics association, principal Dr Neelam Arun Mittu informed on Monday.

BATHINDA
Hockey tourney: On the second day of the Punjabi University Inter-College Hockey (Girls) Championship being organised by the local DAV College at the Sports Stadium, Government College of Physical Education, Patiala defeated SRK College of Physical Education, Bhago Majra (Kharar) 4-2. Bidhi Singh UK, chief guest, announced a grant of Rs 5100 for the players. He was presented a memento by Prof NK Gosain and others.

Malout Prof gets award: Prof R.K. Uppal, head, department of economics, DAV College, Malout has been honoured with the Bhartiya Shiromani Puraskar and Gold Medal by the Delhi-based Institute of Economics Studies. The award was conferred to him during the 14th national seminar on economic development in New Delhi. He was selected for the award in recognition of excellence in the field of education and research.

Students shine in contests: Students of the Universal Public Senior Secondary School, Talwandi Sabo, clinched 13 gold, four silver and six bronze medals at the district-level in educational competitions conducted by the PSEB, Mohali. Principal Manjeet Kaur Sidhu congratulated the medal winners.

CHANDIGARH
Shambhu to be tourist destination: Punjab Tourism Minister Hira Singh Gabria on Monday said Shambhu village, near Rajpura, would be developed as a tourist destination. He said an outlay of Rs 55.69 lakh had been made in the annual plan 2009-10 for the project. The Punjab Heritage and Tourism Promotion Board would execute this project. A consultant had been already appointed and the work had been allocated. The project was sanctioned by the Ministry of Tourism at an estimated cost of Rs 4.35 crore with the funding pattern of Rs 2.90 crore and a state share of 14.5 crore.

Appointed: The state government has appointed Paramjit Singh Sidhwan as Political Secretary and Gurvinder Singh as Personal Assistant (Political) to Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal with immediate effect. A spokesman of the Punjab government said here on Monday that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had already given his in principle approval to these appointments.

Tourist destination: Punjab Tourism Minister Hira Singh Gabria on Monday said that Shambhu village, near Rajpura, would be developed as a tourist destination. He said that an outlay of Rs 55.69 lakh had been made in the annual plan 2009-10 for the project. The Punjab Heritage and Tourism Promotion Board would execute this project. A consultant had been already appointed and the work had been allocated. The project was sanctioned by the Ministry of Tourism at an estimated 
cost of Rs 4.35 crore with the funding pattern of Rs 2.90 crore and a state share of 
14.5 crore.

Ludhiana
Heritage fest begins:Zonal Youth and Heritage Festival of Panjab University, Chandigarh, kicked off today at Kamla Lohtia SD  College. Hakam Singh Giaspura, Mayor of the Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana, was the chief guest on the occasion. College president Naveen Chander Mittal, principal Dr Mohd Saleem and other members welcomed guests and participants.

Sriganganagar
Martyr’s statue damaged: Sacrilege of the life-size statue of Shaheed Udham Singh, in the border town of Srikaranpur, has evoked wide-spread condemnation from all the quarters. Morning walkers had on Sunday morning noticed that miscreants had removed the pistol and book by harming the hands of the statue of the great martyr. Representatives of different political parties, NGOs and educational institutions, who participated in the meeting on Monday at a religious place in Srikaranpur, expressed concerned over the incident. They urged the authorities to investigate on the basis of the FIR that was lodged against unidentified person on Sunday and book the culprits.