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PUNJAB

Abohar
MC staff continue strike: While continuing their strike and dharna inside the Municipal Council complex, the employees organised a flag march on Friday. It was led by Mukesh Soni, president of the Safai Sewak Union, Vinod Sharma and Anju Middha, senior office-bearers of the coordination committee. The employees of the fire brigade and water works too joined the strike and shouted slogans against the state government for its anti-employee policies. The strike by safai sewaks resulted in overflowing garbage dumps in all the residential colonies and markets.

State govt flayed: The Fazilka and Abohar units of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Krantikari) during a joint meeting here on Friday criticised the state government for terrorising the leaders of the farming community by framing false cases against them. District secretary Jagjit Singh and block secretary Bal Krishan Fauji warned the authorities against raiding the houses of the senior functionary of the BKU. They called upon the farmers and trade union workers to intensify preparations for the state-level rallies to be held on December 9 at Ludhiana and December 10 at Patiala against privatisation of boards and corporations.

Extension lecture: The DAV College of Education on Friday organised an extension lecture by Dr DR Vij recipient of the 'NCTE Life Time Achievement award', principal Dr Venita Singh informed. The 84-year-old academician exhorted the would-be teachers to keep smiling and make teaching interesting to involve the students in each subject.

LPG cylinders: Akhil Bhartiya Grahak Panchayat has urged the Indian Oil Company to redress the grievances of the LPG users in the region. In a complaint faxed to the Chandigarh- based CGM this week, the NGO regretted that refills are booked only after 21 days of the last supply. As the supply is being made after 10-15 days of the booking, this virtually forces the consumers to wait for 35 days in the winter season for the next refill.

Amritsar
50 screened for hearing loss: A free audiological diagnostic camp was organised in Bhandari ENT Hospital, BK Dutt Gate, here. Over 50 patients, having varying degree of hearing loss, were screened during the camp. Dr A.K. Bhandari said that the camp focused on early detection and amplification of hearing loss in such cases, especially young children and the new-born. “The facility for cochlear implantation in such children and other suitable cases is shortly being made available at the centre,” he said. Meanwhile, free audiometry, otoacoustic emission and other sophisticated screening tests were carried out in collaboration with Meenakshi Speech and Hearing Centre and MEDEL cochlear implant during the camp.

Muktsar
Annual placement drive: Following the annual campus placement drive conduced by the two Mohali based software companies KK Technologies and Tech Lab, 18 students were selected from the department of Computer Science and Engineering and Information Technolgy for placement in the companies.Meenakshi Kundal, Razi Ahmed, Kumar Gaurav, Guriqbal Singh, Amit Kumar, Kumar Nitish, Aparna and Richa Sharma were selected for jobs by KK Technologies with an annual package of Rs 1.8 lakh each. Tech Lab selected Parilakshita, Devinder Singh, Mandeep Singh, Richa Sharma, Shiffali Singh, Amit Kumar, Meekashi, Kumar Gaurav, Arpita with an annual package of Rs 1.70 lakh per annum. Director Principal Dr DS Grewal congratulated all the students.

Patiala
Awarded: The Academic Council of the International Consortium of Contemporary Biologists and the Board of Trustees of Madhavi Shyam Educational Trust, Ranchi, conferred the Senior Scientists Award-2009 on Prof Amarjeet Singh and Young Scientist Award-2009 on Manish Kapoor (lecturer), Puneet Kumar and Bhushan Kumar (both research scholars) of the department of botany, Punjabi University, Patiala, during the second international conference on “Bio-Wealth Management for Sustainable Livelihood” held at Institute of Forest Productivity, Ranchi, from November 20 to 22.

300 new buses for Punjab: Punjab has decided to induct at least 300 new buses in the Punjab Roadways and Pepsu Road Transport Corporation. This was stated by Punjab Transport Minister Master Mohan Lal here on Friday. He said the state was committed to improving public transport system and with this end in view it had decided to introduce local bus service in four major towns of the state that included Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar. The minister said transport officers in these cities had been asked to prepare a blueprint of the project and forward it to the Transport Department.

CHANDIGARH

Lecture on dangers of smoking: The medical committee of MCM DAV College for Women, Sector 36, recently organised a lecture on Anti-tobacco drive: Smoke-free city. HKM Huria of Bios Qualitias Service Society apprised the students of the ill-effects of smoking, both active and passive. College principal Puneet Bedi appreciated the college committee’s efforts.

Lalru
2 held with liquor: The police on Friday arrested two persons for possessing 480 bottles of liquor. The police had received a tip-off that an SUV containing liquor had left Chandigarh. It intercepted the vehicle containing the liquor at a checkpoint on the Chandigarh-Ambala highway, near Lalru village. Shyam Sunder and Chinda Lal, both residents of Pipli, Haryana, were arrested. A case under various section of the Excise Act has been registered.

HARYANA

Chandigarh
Power tariff cut: Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has approved the proposal to reduce power tariff for both fisheries and horticulture to 25 paise per unit. Stating this here on Friday, an official spokesman said the decision would further encourage the farmers in taking up fisheries and horticulture in a big way, thus adding more to their income.

Ex-servicemen rally: An ex-servicemen’s rally is being organised by the Kharga Corps in Ambala on November 29. The aim of the rally is to increase the interaction of ex-servicemen with various civilian and military agencies, provide necessary assistance to war widows and acquaint ex-servicemen with various welfare schemes. A medical camp is also being held alongside.

Kalka
Computer stolen: In a complaint to the local police, Sunil Kaushal, principal of Noble School, Pinjore, alleged that a computer and an LCD monitor worth Rs 35,000 were stolen from the school office, according to police sources.

150 blankets distributed: At least 150 blankets were disbursed among the needy to mark the 96th birth anniversary of Ranbir Singh Hooda, father of Bhupinder Singh Hooda, at Pinjore. Ram Prakash Khanagwal and Krishana Khanagwal, nominated councillors, said a programme was organised by Scheduled Caste Cell of the Congress.

SIRSA
CBI team in Sirsa: A CBI team from Ahmedabad on Thursday reached Sirsa to investigate a case of fraud. The team led by an officer of inspector rank went to a paperboard mill in the town and quizzed its owners and took away some records. Though team members refused to divulge details, sources in the local police said that the CBI was investigating a fraud by an Ahmedabad firm that is allegedly claiming an exaggerated amount for damage of paperboard supplied by Sirsa mills.

SONEPAT
Bypass sought: Claiming that traffic congestion had become an order of the day in Sonepat town, BJP MLA Kavita Jain has written letters to the CM and the PWD Minister for construction of a bypass around the town on priority.

JAMMU & KASHMIR

Jammu
Lecture on women’s health: The Women’s Studies Centre of Government College for Women, Gandhi Nagar, organised a lecture on “stress free life and holistic health of women” on Friday. The lecture was organised in collaboration with the Centre and Adult/Continuing Education and Extension, University of Jammu. On the occasion, Dr Arti Bakshi, Head of the Psychology Department, University of Jammu, discussed various strategies and methods to tackle stress in daily life. She also had an interactive session with students and staff members.

Entrepreneurial development cell: Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SNVDU), Katra, moved one step forward towards the acceleration of entrepreneurial activities of the state by establishing an entrepreneurial development cell on Friday. The cell was inaugurated by Vice-Chancellor NK Bansal. The cell is sponsored by the All-India Council for Technical Education, New Delhi.

Workshop for principals: A workshop on “Connectivity to Colleges” under the National Mission on Education for principals of government and private colleges affiliated to University of Jammu was organised by the College Development Council here on Thursday. BSNL DGM K Sri Krishana, who was the key speaker, made a power point presentation and explained the operational aspects of the scheme. Director of the College Development Council Rajive Gupta dwelt on the objectives of NMEICT and said under the programme 419 universities and 20,000 colleges would be interlinked to provide the National Knowledge Network (NKN).

Software centre set up: IBM has launched a software Centre of Excellence (COE) at the Model Institute of Engineering and Technology (MIET) with the aim of providing world-class skills to students on IBM technologies. According to a statement issued here, IBM experts would also conduct faculty development programmes for upgrading the skills of the MIET faculty.The IBM would provide over 20 software products, including the DB2 database.