MANSA
FARMERS’ PROTEST: Hundreds of farmers blocked traffic on Thursday on the Mansa-Sirsa road near the new foodgrain market, Mansa, in protest against the non-purchase of their paddy lying in the market. Addressing the farmers, Mr Ruldu Singh, senior vice-president of the state unit of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta), said officials of procurement agencies were rejecting paddy stocks on the pretext that these were discoloured. He accused the officials of wanting more commission.

PATIALA
FIRE DRILL: A fire drill was organised by the Indian Oil Corporation’s (IOC) Sangrur depot in which 35 employees of the IOC participated and demonstrated their skills of extinguishing rapidly-spreading fires by using special foam and other specialised equipment. The drill also emphasised on the role of doctors and police control room in such situations.

CANCELLED: The much-hyped performance by singer Hans Raj Hans was cancelled on the fourth day of the Inter-University Youth festival, in which more than 800 students from 20 universities from all over the country are participating. Group skits were held at Guru Teg Bhadur Hall, which were followed by eight programmes, including Tribal Dance, Rangoli, Group skits, mimicry, mime and clay modelling, at different venues inside the campus. The day concluded with dinner for participants at Working Womens Hostel.An on-the spot painting competition was held near the Art Gallery on Thursday. The festival, which commenced on Tuesday, would conclude on Saturday with a valedictory and prize distribution function.

DIVALI CELEBRATED: The members of the Interact Club of Ajit Karam Singh International Public School, Sector 41-B, celebrated Divali with the students of Night School at Kajheri. The students have been adopted by the National Educational Development Trust of ASKIPS. Over 60 students from Kajheri were given fruits, candles and clothes. The club members interacted with the students and presented green plants. The Director Public Instructions UT, Mr D.S. Saroya, was the chief guest on the occasion.

OFFICE BEARERS: The following have been installed office-bearers of the Interact Club, Ajit Karam Singh International Public School: president — Krity Kamboj; vice-president — Rohit Bhatt; secretary — Amanmeet Garg; joint secretary — Simranjeet Singh; treasurer — Loveenia; director club services — Jaspreet Kaur; director community — Rumman Akhtar; director international — Parnika Kalra and sergeants at arms — Kiranpreet and Gurminder.

FEST CONCLUDES: A two-day Divali-fest organised by the Tata Infotech Education Center, Sector 35 concluded here on Saturday. Mohit and Sheveta were declared best male and female dancers, respectively, at a dance competition held at a Sector 17-based music shop on the concluding day. Team comprising Param, Roma, Ajeet and Vineet, were adjudged winners of the antakshri competition held on Friday.

CONTEST HELD: A seminar-cum-presentation contest, which saw the participation of six teams from city colleges, was organised by the Department of Computer Applications, Government Post-Graduate College, Sector 46, here on Saturday. The topics for the contest included “Evolution of dot com”, “E-Commerce” and “Network security”. The first position went to the team from Government College, Sector 11, comprising Piyush Vig, Rahul Dhammy and Nakul Goyal. The team from the host college, comprising Suksham, Akshay, Hardeep and Dixon, came second and the third place went to the team of Ravneet, Nisha, Monika and Gita from the Dev Samaj College for Women. Speaking at the function, the chief guest, Mr Vivek Atray, said the Chandigarh Administration was making efforts to promote IT industry by setting up an IT park. Earlier, the Principal, Maj D.P. Singh (retd), emphasised the importance of IT industry.

HANDICRAFTS EXHIBITION: Beautifully-weaved jute items and ‘durry’ made from waste materials in cotton mills were the main attraction of the handicraft exhibition organised by the Shilpikar Bahuddeshiya Yankari Mahila Sanstha from Nagpur at Bhaghwan Parshuram Bhavan in Sector 37. Over 25 artisans from Nagpur have come to the city with their creations. Variety of jute items like table and floormats, flower stands and hand bags with bead embroidery have been displayed in the exhibition. The members have also displayed terracotta ‘diya’ stands, paintings of mythological figures for divali.

TALKS ORGANISED: Justice D.V. Sehgal delivered a talk on “Access to Justice for all” at MCM DAV College, Sector 36, here on Friday to mark the legal services day celebrations. Justice Sehgal, who is the Chairman of the Lok adalat, UT, talked with college students about the accessibility of the system. He lamented that clogging of the judicial system was caused due to large number of writ petitions, corruption, discrimination on the basis of sex and slow investigation. Meanwhile, NSS volunteers of Government College, Sector 46, held at talk by Prof Hans Raj, programme coordinator of the NSS, to mark the legal services day. Prof Hans highlighted the role of the state legal authority and lok adalats in providing speedy justice to the weaker sections of the society.

QUIZ HELD: As many as 76 teams from schools in Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula participated in Aero Quiz 2001, which was organised by the local chapter of the Aeronautical Society of India here on Friday. The results are: seniors : Tashi Phuntsog and Suhail Shergill (Bhawan Vidayala, Sector 27), Vineet and Dinkar (DAV, Sector 15), Ankur Goel and Harisharan (Little Flower, Panchkula), and Bhitesh Bhall and Harmeet Singh (Shivalik Public School, Sector 41). Juniors : Ritwik Grover and Tarunpreet (St Johns), Neehar Mishra and Kriti Ashok (Sacred Heart), Ankur Aggarwal and Bhupesh (Little Flower), and Akshat Sondhi and Ravneet Singh (St Kabir).

PANCHKULA
3 BOOKED: The police has booked the owners of Shubham, Best and J.K. Poultry farms for not maintaining cleanliness in their respective establishments. They have been booked for violating Section 144 of the CrPC. Mr Manoj Yadav, SP, said the three have been booked on a complaint by the Block Development Officer, Barwala, who conducted surprise inspection of the poultry farms and found that the owners were violating the directions issued to them by the district administration. Meanwhile the police has arrested Pitambhar Mir, a resident of Dhaluwala for gambling. The accused was caught red-handed while gambling. A sum of Rs 210 has also been recovered from his possession. A case under the Gambling Act has been registered against him with the Pinjore police station.

LEGAL AID CAMP: A literacy camp on legal aid was organised at Kharagmangoli village on the occassion of the legal services day, here on Friday. The camp was held under the supervision of the Legal Aids Counsels at the instance of District Legal Services Authority. Besides, senior counsels, sarpanch, panches and other villagers were also present. People were imparted knowledge about the availability of free legal services and other rights of citizens. Pamphlets containing information regarding free legal aid were distributed among villagers.

SAS NAGAR
COMPETITION HELD: A poster-making and an essay-writing competition on ‘ill effects of bursting crackers’ was organised by Golden Bells Public School at Sohana here on Friday. Students, carrying placards and banners with messages of health hazard posed by crackers, held a procession in the town. The Principal of the school, Mrs Gurjeet Bawa, advised the students to celebrate a eco-friendly Divali. 

URGED: The Mohali Industries Association has urged the Punjab Government to review its decision to levy surcharge on the taxable turnover on all dealers registered under the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948. Under the government’s decision, all the industrial units enjoying exemption or deferment of tax would have to pay the surcharge on their taxable turnover with effect from Tuesday. The president of the association, Mr B.S. Baidwan, said there was resentment among the industrialists over the government’s move.