Abohar
Passbooks go missing: Alleging that the passbooks of 85 saving accounts were missing conspicuously, more than 20 account holders stormed the main post office in Hanumangarh junction area and gheraoed the chief postmaster on Thursday. The agent claimed that he had handed over 85 passbooks to a clerk in September but he had misplaced it. They alleged that record of the payments made by them since December 2006 was not available with the post office. The postmaster assured them to investigate the complaints, sources said.
Kerosene missing: The district administration at Sriganganagar has directed the fair price shop licensees not to issue kerosene against the ration cards that had been issued by sarpanches but not verified by the block development and Panchayat officers, official sources confirmed today. Kerosene is being siphoned off in a big way against the ration cards that had been issued arbitrarily by sarpanches of most of the villages in Sriganganagar district, confessed district food and supplies controller (DFSC) Ajaypal Jyani.
Bathinda
NFL holds camp for farmers: The regional office of the National Fertlisers Ltd. at Bathinda organised a farmer awareness camp with the cooperation of Markfed at Lalbai in the Muktsar district. Bal Mukund Sharma, chief manager, Markfed, Chandigarh was the chief guest on the occasion. Deputy Registrar, Muktsar, Raj Kumar, presided over the function. State manager of the NFL, LR Jandhra and DM Markfed, HE Dhaliwal, were also present on the occasion. Nearly 150 farmers took part in the camp. Technical expert Markfed Rakesh Sharma advised the farmers about pesticides and seeds while regional manager, NFL, Bathinda, Rajveer Taya, gave suggestions on maintaining soil fertility.
Power cut today: Owing to necessary repair work in the 66KV grid of Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Pant, power supply to various colonies will remain disrupted on Friday. A PSEB press note said that there will be no power supply to Paras Ram
Nagar, Gol market, Main market, Vishal Nagar, Shakti Nagar, Dhobi Bazaar and Amrik Singh road from 10 am to 5 pm.
Kudos to BCL: The BCL Industries and Infrastructure Ltd (formerly known as Bathinda Chemicals Ltd) has been ranked at 338 among top 500 large industries of the country. A business magazine has identified the BCL as the fastest growing manufacturing industry, a spokesman of the company said. Rajinder
Mittal, CMD, said that the group would install a 2.2 MW biomass based co-generation power plant that will be environment-friendly.
Goods stolen from shops: In two different incidents, miscreants broke open shutters of two shops in the city on Wednesday night and decamped with goods worth
lakhs. The incidents occured at Rama Enterprises, a showroom of Samsung, located at Amrik Singh road and Raj Emporium at Dhobi Bazaar.
Chandigarh
Assurance to migrants: State Labour Minister Tikshan Sud on Thursday assured full security to migrant labourers and urged them not to panic and believe any rumours. The minister said the state had history of cordial labour relations with migrant labourers, who had been working in the state peacefully since decades. He said one isolated incident by mischievous elements could not snap age-old ties of migrants with Punjab. Urging them not to believe any rumours, the minister said the state was committed to protect the life and property of every citizen of the state and migrants should not think about leaving the state in which they had been working since ages.
Director of Animal Husbandry: Dr Harjinderjit Singh Sandha, who was earlier heading the Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory at Jalandhar, has taken over as director, Animal Husbandry. A release here on Thursday said Dr Sandha, a postgraduate in veterinary medicine, joined the Animal Husbandry Department, Punjab, in 1981 and had attended various national and international workshops and conferences. He had published more than 10 scientific papers in reputed journals and was recently awarded for his outstanding contribution in the field preparedness for control of bird flu in the state.
Hoshiarpur
Bid to break open ATM: The Sadar police last night arrested Vikash Kaushik of local Mohalla Shastri Nagar and Sudhir Chander, alias Sanju, resident of Ajit Nagar of the local Central Town, who attempted to break open the ATM of the Aslamabad branch of the State Bank of India on the night of December 13. According to SSP Parmod Ban, the duo had been arrested under sections 457 and 380 of the IPC. Their interrogation was being done to know their involvement in other crimes.
Jalandhar
Int’l wrestling tourney from today: Twelve countries will participate in the Senior Commonwealth Wrestling Championship in freestyle, Greco-Roman and female wrestling beginning tomorrow at Punjab Armed Police (PAP) indoor stadium in Jalandhar Cantonment. The championship would conclude on December 20. The championship will witness wrestling skills of 100 male wrestlers and 37 female wrestlers from Australia, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand, Scotland, North Ireland, Nigeria, England, Singapore, Pakistan, Cameroon
and India.
LUDHIANA
SAD legal cell reconstituted: The Shiromani Akali Dal has reconstituted the state body of its legal cell. President of state legal cell Harish Rai Dhanda (Chief Parliamentary Secretary) on Thursday released the list of its new office-bearers numbering 95. Iqbal Singh Gill had been retained as working president. He was appointed on this post in October 2008. There were five senior vice-presidents, including Ramjit Singh Ratol and Harpreet Singh Garcha of Ludhiana (members of Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana), Gurmail Singh Kuthala, Sangrur, Lekh Raj Sharma and Gazi Mohammad from Chandigarh. There were 20 vice-presidents, including Jagdev Singh Virk, who had also been nominated as the spokesperson.