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165th death anniversary of Sham Singh Attari
Tributes paid to Sikh General
Amritsar, February 10
A light and sound programme depicting the life and history of Sham Singh Attari, a legendary Sikh General in the army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and his bravery shown in the battlefield would be showcased at his “samadh” at the border township of Attari here. Declaring this, Animal Husbandry and Panchayati Raj Minister Gulzar Singh Ranike, who was the chief guest at the state-level function organised to mark the 165th death anniversary of the Sikh General, said the programme would commence from Baisakhi onwards.

Punjab minister Gulzar Singh Ranike pays tributes to Sikh General Sham Singh Attari on his death anniversary in Attari on Thursday. A Tribune photograph

Sangat Darshan
Badal distributes grants worth Rs 5 crore
Jalandhar, February 10
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal distributed grants worth Rs 5 crore for development works, besides listening to the grievances of 90 villages at a sangat darshan held in Nakodar today. He emphasised on the need for active partnership of panchayats in ensuring quality works on different development projects.

Attempt To Murder
Real estate developer gets 4 years in jail
Jalandhar, February 10
A local court today sentenced a local real estate developer to four-year imprisonment, besides slapping a penalty in a case of attempt to murder and restraining government official from performing his duties.

Contractual RMOs, RVOs form joint panel
Amritsar, February 10
Contractual Rural Medical Officers (RMOs) and Rural Veterinary Officers (RVOs) today formed a joint action committee for pressing the government and initiate action plan for their demands, including regularisation of their jobs.

Medicines worth Rs 1.10 lakh seized
Amritsar, February 10
The Health Department on a tip-off seized a huge quantity of intoxicants from a medical store at Katra Sher Singh here today.

Embryo found from canal
Nawanshahr, February 10
An embryo was found in a canal near Begumpur village here on Thursday. Pargan Singh, Nambardar, who spotted the embryo at about 5.30 pm. informed the police.

	Shaheed Bhagat Singh wrestling tourney begins Kusum Arora Tribune News Service Jalandhar, February 10 The second Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Wrestling Tournament began at the Punjab Armed Police (PAP) M.S. Bhullar Indoor Stadium in Jalandhar Cantonment here today. Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal inaugurated the tournament. International wrestler Sushil Kumar lit the torch at the PAP indoor stadium before the commencement of the tournament. The organising committee of the tournament awarded Sushil Kumar with a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh. Sukhbir Badal also announced Rs 4 lakh for Sushil for his commendable contribution in bringing laurels to the country in the game. The Deputy CM also awarded DIG Kartar Singh and Satpal Pahalwan with an award of Rs 1 lakh each. The tournament is being jointly held by the Wrestling Federation of India and Punjab Wrestling Association. As many as 300 wrestlers from 10 countries, including hosts India, Canada, USA, Australia, Georgia, Iran, Japan, UK and Germany, are participating in the three-day-long event. The tournament will conclude on February 12. The first match of the day was held between woman wrestlers of India and the USA, while the men tournament was held between India and Nigeria. Bimla Devi won the tournament in the women category while Sushil Khatri won in the men category.
	165th death anniversary of Sham Singh Attari Tributes paid to Sikh General Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 10 A light and sound programme depicting the life and history of Sham Singh Attari, a legendary Sikh General in the army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and his bravery shown in the battlefield would be showcased at his “samadh” at the border township of Attari here. Declaring this, Animal Husbandry and Panchayati Raj Minister Gulzar Singh Ranike, who was the chief guest at the state-level function organised to mark the 165th death anniversary of the Sikh General, said the programme would commence from Baisakhi onwards. Meanwhile, the Sardar Sham Singh Attari Wala Trust today sought the renaming of Attari International Railway Station after the name of the legendary Sikh General. Kuldeep Singh, president of the trust, while speaking on the occasion also sought the renaming of the Amritsar-Attari road after his name, besides setting up a “jyoti” at his “samadh” situated at the border township. He said the newly constructed “India Gate”, adorning the huge statue of Sham Singh Attari, did not have his name and billboards with his names should be installed at the gate. Kuldeep Singh also demanded installing of streetlights from Attari township to international railway station, besides providing car parking facility there. Ranike assured Kuldeep Singh that he would take up the issue with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for forwarding it to the Central Government, which had the authority of changing the name. He later inaugurated the museum opened in the memory of the Sikh General showcasing his life and bravery and promised to give Rs 1 lakh for its maintenance. Dignitaries paid tribute to the Sikh General at “India Gate” on the Chheharta Bypass road here. The Punjab police reversed their arms and two minute silence was also observed.
	Sangat Darshan Badal distributes grants worth Rs 5 crore Tribune News Service Jalandhar, February 10 Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal distributed grants worth Rs 5 crore for development works, besides listening to the grievances of 90 villages at a sangat darshan held in Nakodar today. He emphasised on the need for active partnership of panchayats in ensuring quality works on different development projects. Addressing villagers, he said the sangat darshan programmes were aimed at identifying the problems of the villages and redressing them on the spot by the district authorities. The people had largely benefited fromthis initiative, he added. Castigating the Central Government for pushing the country to economic backwardness, Badal said today India figured among the poorest countries in the world despite being rich in natural sources, hardworking and enterprising people and balanced climatic conditions. Due to the misconceived policies of successive Congress regimes, a majority of the population lived below the poverty line. If such situations continued, the future of the country would be bleak in the coming years. He criticised Congress leaders like Capt Amarinder Singh who have come out after four years of hibernation to mislead and befool the people. The masses knew the agenda of such leaders and would teach them a befiitng lesson at the hustings. Those present on the occasion included Revenue Minister Ajit Singh Kohar, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Sarwan Singh Phillaur, senior Akali leader Kuldip Singh Wadala, and senior officers of the district administration.
	Attempt To Murder Real estate developer gets 4 years in jail Tribune News Service Jalandhar, February 10 A local court today sentenced a local real estate developer to four-year imprisonment, besides slapping a penalty in a case of attempt to murder and restraining government official from performing his duties. Yesh Pal Khanna, a Model Town-based real estate developer, and his son had fired at sleuths of the Income Tax Department on December 11, 2008, when they reached the house to conduct a raid at about 10 am. Having search warrants against the real estate developer, a raiding team, led by Rajinder Kaur, Deputy Director, Income Tax Department, and Rohit Sharma, Deputy Director of the Income Tax Department from Amritsar, had reached the house of Yesh Pal Khanna and asked him to cooperate. The sleuths had also taken along two constables, including a woman cop, from the local police for assistance during the raid. Yesh Pal Khanna asked the sleuths for using washroom when they started questioning him and his son Rohit Khanna. Apprehending some mischief by the Khannas, the raiding party allowed Khanna to use a washroom on the first floor, revealed Rajinder Kaur. Yesh Pal Khanna reportedly got furious and tried to misbehave with the raiding party. The father and son managed to give a slip to the raiding party and escaped from the back door of the house. One of them fired three shots at the raiding party, but missed the target while fleeing from the house. The accused had also taken along documents relating to the property deals and other sale-purchase deals worth crores. He reportedly had been evading various taxes.
	Contractual RMOs, RVOs form joint panel Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 10 Contractual Rural Medical Officers (RMOs) and Rural Veterinary Officers (RVOs) today formed a joint action committee for pressing the government and initiate action plan for their demands, including regularisation of their jobs. A number of workers of the two associations gathered from different parts of Punjab and protested against the government at the Zila Parishad complex here. Dr Gagandeep Singh Dhillon, press secretary of the Rural Veterinary Officers’ association said the members of the two associations decided to join hands and formed an action committee, which would review the action plan for regularisation of their jobs. The members of the newly constituted committee would remain in touch with the Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj besides Chief Minister’s Office in this regard, said Dr Dhillon. The agitating workers held a protest dharna outside the office of the ADC (Development) against the indifferent attitude of the state government towards their demands and submitted a memorandum to the authorities. He informed that the delegation of Contractual Rural Medical Officers and Rural Veterinary Officers had met the CM, who had assured them of taking urgent step to address their problems.
	Medicines worth Rs 1.10 lakh seized Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 10 The Health Department on a tip-off seized a huge quantity of intoxicants from a medical store at Katra Sher Singh here today. Sources said the owners of the shop failed to provide purchase and sale records of the habit-forming drugs to the raiding party, led by Sanjiv Garg, Drug Inspector, and Davinder Singh, pharmacist. According to information, the raiding party seized 30,000 tablets, 22,000 capsules and 69 cough syrups worth more than Rs 1.10 lakh.