Bathinda
Scholars dwell upon pop culture & literary studies: The Department of English, DAV College here, organised a seminar on ‘Pop Culture and Literary Studies’ on Wednesday. Dr Manjit Singh, Registrar of the Punjabi University, Patiala, inaugurated the seminar in which literary scholars from Punjab, Chandigarh, Delhi and Haryana took part. The keynote address was delivered by Dr Rana Nayar, Professor and Head, Department of English, Panjab University, Chandigarh. Dr JS Anand, principal of the college, welcomed the chief guest and scholars.

One held for fraud: Bathinda police on Wednesday arrested brother of the managing director of a company allegedly involved in an investment fraud. The allegation against the company was of being involved in a scam. The company, K-Forex, had duped a number of people, of lakhs by making alluring promises. Acting upon the complaints, a few days back, the police had booked them under various sections of the IPC. Conducting raids at the premises of MD Rajesh Kumar and his kin, police on Wednesday succeeded in nabbing his brother Ramesh Kumar.

Audition at Muktsar: Audition for the grand finale of the 11th international exclusive beauty pageant Miss World Punjaban 2010 was organised at Desh Bhagat Dental College and Hospital (Muktsar). The audition was organized by the Sabhiacharak Sath Panjab in association with the PTC Punjabi TV channel. The function was inaugurated by S. Raminder Singh, Commissioner, Ferozepur Division. DR Zora Singh, chairman, Desh Bhagat Group of Institutes said this round was held for girls in Malwa region of Punjab and neighbouring Rajasthan. Another round would be held at the group’s Mandi Gobindgarh campus on November 22. Prabhjot Singh Sandhu from Australia, Major Singh Samra from Canada and Preetinder Singh Grewal from Sydney were jury members.

Zonal youth fest: Baba Farid College of Engineering and Technology, Bathinda, participated in various events in the ‘Zonal Youth Festival’ held at GTBKIET, Chhapianwali, Malout on November 12-13. A drama ‘Ghar Gum Hai’ was staged by the students under the guidance of famous dramatist Tony Batish. Mime on the life of Shaheed Bhagat Singh and a hilarious skit ‘Chideyan da Chamba’ was also performed by the students. Director-Principal Dr Jasbir Singh Hundal and MD S. Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal congratulated the students.

Fire tragedy averted: A major fire tragedy was averted at the Bharat Petroleum fuel station located at the Hanuman Chowk, here on Wednesday. Noticing a spark in the valve chamber of the tank, staff of the station hurriedly put sand over it and doused the flame in its initial stage. Meanwhile, fire brigade officials rushed to the spot and sprayed foam. Later, territory manager of company, Rajiv Saraswat said the incident that took place due to problems in power supply.

Jalandhar
Badminton tourney: PTU inter-college badminton tournament concluded at DAV Institute of Engineering and Technology here today. Thirty-two teams in the category of men and 20 teams in the category of women participated in the event. The host team won the overall trophy. The team from Giani Zail Singh College College of Engineering and Technology, Bathinda, won the first runners up trophy and Shaheed Udham Singh College of Engineering and Technoloy Tangori won the second runners up trophy.

Pensioners assn’s rally on Nov 24: Demanding arrears of pension revision, the members of the Punjab Government Pensioners Association today lambasted the state government and threatened to sit on fast unto death. The pensioners would also be holding a state-level protest rally in Jalandhar on November 24. State president of the association, Balbir Singh Hundal said the association has been demanding arrears of 43 months after the pension revision in August 2009 in a single installment. However, the state government announced to pay the arrears in three installments, which would reduce 60 per cent of face value.

Mandi Ahmedgarh
Dehlon lads kabaddi champs: Boys of Dehlon Zone emerged kabaddi champs during the recently-held state-level junior school sports. Girls bagged the fourth position in kabaddi. The winning team comprised students from Government Primary Schools at Rurka, Assi Kalan, Dharaur, Natt and Maksudran. More than 1,600 students from 20 districts participated in the event.

Nakodar
Man found murdered: Mahinder Singh (55) was found murdered on the outskirts of Samrai village last night. His scooter was also found lying near the body.

10 school kids hurt in mishap: As many as 11 persons, including 10 schoolchildren, sustained serious injuries, when a tempo on which they were traveling collided with a truck while saving a scooter on the Nakodar-Jalandhar road yesterday. All injured were admitted in local Civil Hospital. The tempo was badly damaged in the accident. Nearby residents made hard efforts to rescue the children from the damaged tempo.

Phagwara
Eid celebrated: Eid-ul-Azha (Bakrid) was celebrated with gaiety by Muslims at Phagwara, Phillaur and Nakodar today. Thousands of people from all walks of life offered namaaz on the occasion.

Scooter thieves held: The police arrested two scooter thieves, identified as Hardip Singh and Harkamalpreet Singh of Hardasspur village, last night. Both the thieves have confessed to crime. The police recovered one scooter, owned by Swaran Singh, from them which was stolen from the village last month.

Man kills self: Surinderpal Singh reportedly committed suicide by hanging himself at his home in Gobindpura Mohalla last evening. Mental depression was said to be the cause of suicide, the police said. The body of the deceased was sent to local Civil Hospital for post-mortem examination.

Dowry case: In a dowry case, Balbir Singh and his mother Mahinder Kaur have been booked for physically and mentally torturing former’s wife Ranjana, a resident of Guru Nanakpura. Nobody has been arrested yet.

SC federation to gherao Parliament: The SC/BC Employees Welfare Federation, Punjab, will gherao Parliament on November 29 in support of the long-pending demands of Dalits, said federation’s district president Satwant Toora here today. He said a state-level meeting of the federation would finalise the strategy of the agitation scheduled to be held on November 21 at Phagwara. Their major demands are 40 per cent reservation according to Dalit population, reservation in private sectors, abolition of contract system and regularisation of the services of ad hoc employees.