Abohar
Paddy purchase begins: Purchase of paddy in the rural areas has begun in this region. Balluana MLA Gurtej Singh Ghuriana inaugurated the purchase at the rural centre Malukpura. He assured that purchasing agencies would enter two more rural centres at village Jandwala Meerasangla located close to the international border and Balluana on the Abohar-Malout road (NH-15) by Wednesday. The state government agencies offered Rs 1,050 for each quintal of paddy on Tuesday assuring that lifting as well as payments would be expedited within 48 hours. 

Bathinda
Anniversary celebrations: Celebrating the anniversary of the Amantran restaurant, Bathinda, on Tuesday, the MD of the restaurant Gajinder Bobby and Manoj Neetu held a function with the students of the Mahant Gurbanta Das Deaf and Dumb School. They also thanked industrialist Rajinder Mittal for cooperation and support in opening a food court at the Mittal’s City Mall. 

BSNL Week: Observing BSNL Week, the telecom major is organising three-day exhibition-cum-sale at BSNL Gol Diggi office from Monday. Customers would be made aware of BSNL services during the exhibition, sources said. 

Lions Club aids Leh victims: A truck-load of help for the people of Leh was sent on Tuesday by the Lions Club Harmony, Dhanaula of district 321-F under the leadership of District Governor Lion KS Sethi and Dr Hira Lal Garg, district cabinet secretary, Lions Club. The consignment was flagged off by Sardar Paramjeet Singh Padda, SDM, Barnala, Kulwant Singh Kanta, Surinderpal Balla, Sanjeev Goyal, SHO, Dhanaula, Lion Jeewan Bansal, president of the club, Lion Navneet Sharma (zone chairman). 

Chandigarh
Appeal against Badals’ acquittal: The Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) would appeal for reinvestigation of the disproportionate assets case in which Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his family members were recently acquitted, said party president Simranjit Singh Mann. He said the entire case should be retried on the lines of the Best Bakery case as all 22 witnesses as well as the two Investigating Officers had turned hostile. He also demanded exemplary punishment for the police officers who had turned hostile. 

Hoshiarpur
Governor urged to return ‘black law’: Dal Khalsa has criticised Akalis for giving “draconian” powers to the police. Opposing the Punjab Special Security Group Bill, 2010 and Punjab (Prevention of Damage to Public Property) Bill, 2010, the Dal in a statement said that this was not expected from Akalis who had faced the brunt of laws like TADA and police excesses. Terming the bills as "black laws" and against the spirit of democracy, the Dal asked the Governor to return the Bill for review before signing it. 

ACCIDENT VICTIM SUCCUMBED TO HIS INJURIES:Jatinder Singh (24), son of Malkiat Singh of Possi, succumbed to his injuries at the Civil Hospital last night. He was seriously wounded when a truck hit the motorcycle, which he and his friend Gurdip Singh of the same village were riding at Saila Khurd last night. Both were admitted to the Civil Hospital where Jatinder Singh died.The truck driver fled with his vehicle after the accident.

Jalandhar
DAV University: Foundation stone ceremony on Oct 22: The DAV Managing Committee is going to set up DAV University in the city with a foundation stone ceremony slated to be held on October 22 by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. A meeting of heads of all the DAV institutions across Punjab and nearby states was convened at DAV Institute of Engineering and Technology. The meeting was chaired by Poonam Suri, secretary, DAV College Managing Committee, New Delhi. 

School uniforms distributed: The Block Senior Welfare Society, Adampur Doaba, distributed uniforms among students of the primary school of Gazipur village on the birth anniversary of Shaheed Bhagat Singh. President of the society, BC Dutta, former President of the Municipal Corporation, Mohinder Singh, senior vice-president of the society Captain Chhatar Singh, vice-president Sarwan Dass and head teacher of the school Jeet Kaur were present during the occasion. 

BSNL disinvestment opposed: As many as 700 representatives of all BSNL ( Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) unions, met here today to deliberate on recommendations made by an expert committee headed by Sam Pitroda. The unions resolved to oppose disinvestment of 30 per cent shares, reduction of employee-strength by one lakh over the next three years and to unbundle BSNL’s spare capacity due to the surrender of landlines. CK Mathivanan said though BSNL was all set to use such spare capacity to run broadband networks and broadband enabled cable TV, private telecom companies were keen to take over such spare capacity. 

Khanna
Elected: A meeting of the Sheller Association, Khanna, was held at Market Committee office in which Yadwinder Singh Yadhu was elected president of the association unanimously. More than 40 sheller owners participated in this meeting. He was also given the right to elect other office bearers. While thanking sheller owners in the meeting, the new president in his address said that sheller industry was facing great difficulties. He would bring up their difficulties with government officials and would try his best to solve them. Ex-chairman, market committee, Harbans Singh Rosha, Davinder Singh Khattra, Ajmer Singh Poorva and several other sheller owners were present at this time.

Nominated:Lakhvir Singh Kalal Majra, senior Akali Dal leader, was nominated chairman of the Market Committee, Khanna, by the Punjab government. In a press conference, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Bikramjit Singh Khalsa gave this information. He expressed his faith that Kalal Majra would work with dedication to solve the problems of the Asia’s biggest grain market in Khanna. 

Patiala
Vedanta to set up power plant : Vedanata Group, Talwandi Sabo Power Limited and the PSPCL have signed an agreement to add 660 MW to the existing capacity of 1980 MW at Talwandi Sabo project, informed PSPCL chairman cum Managing Director K.D. Chaudhri. He added that MoU has been signed in accordance with the New Power Generation Policy 2010. 

Phagwara
Gang of robbers in police net: The police today busted an inter-district gang of robbers and arrested its four members near Narangshahpur, while their fifth accomplice managed to escape. Phagwara SP Kamaljit Singh Dhillon said on a tip-off, a police party nabbed the four robbers, identified as Deepak Sandhu of Railway Colony, Ludhiana, Sandeep Kumar of Basant Bihar, Haibowal, Ludhiana, Sukhwinder Singh of Manak, Ludhiana, Lokesh Puri of Chandon Nagar, Ludhiana, while they were coming on their Alto car (PB-10CV-3205). Their fifth accomplice, identified as Raman of Ajitwal, Jagraon, managed to escape. The police recovered one .38 bore revolver, .315 bore pistol, five gms of cocaine and five gms of smack.

SGPC poll: Claims and objections regarding voters’ lists of rural areas of Phagwara for SGPC elections could be filed with local SDM office by October 28, said Phagwara SDM Amarjit Paul here today. He said claims and objections for the urban localities could be filed before Phagwara Nagar Council Executive Officer by October 28. The SDM said the voters lists are available in local SDM office, Nagar Council office, Kanango Circles Ranipur, Rihana Jattan and in all gurdwaras belonging to the SGPC. 

Labourer electrocuteda: Labourer Sandeep Singh of Kaleran village sustained serious burn injuries after he got an electric shock while working on his job in nearby village Chiherru last night. He was admitted to the local civil hospital. 

PO nabbed: Phagwara police has succeeded to nab a proclaimed offender identified as Dilbar Kumar today. He was wanted in connection with different theft cases and was declared a PO in April this year.