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TOP STORIES

Cong govts lend little support to gurdwara panel to hold poll
Chandigarh, July 7
The hostility is apparent. Even though the Gurdwara Election Commission is maintaining strict silence, it is evident that Congress governments — both at the Centre and in Punjab — are lending little support to the Commission for conducting the forthcoming Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee elections. 

• RSS using Badal, says Bedi
• Give Sehajdharis right to vote: Sandhal
• Haryana page: SGPC poll observers from Haryana apprehensive

News Analysis
Cong’s punishing, rewarding policy quite baffling
Chandigarh, July 7
Mr Ashwani Sekhri, Mr Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Prof Darbari Lal have been removed from the Punjab Council of Ministers because they failed to ensure the victory in their respective Assembly segments of the Congress candidate, Mr R.L. Bhatia.

Demolition drive abandoned under ‘political pressure’
Jalandhar, July 7
The sudden and quiet burial of the much-hyped demolition drive, launched by the local municipal corporation in the last week of June when parts of certain buildings in the Model Town area were demolished by MC officials, and a complete silence over it by the civic body has not only raised many eyebrows, but also given rise to apprehensions among residents that the drive has been withdrawn under political pressure.

Rs 51,500 looted in daylight robbery at bank
Pathankot, July 7
In a daylight robbery, four persons looted the Shahpur branch of the State Bank of Patiala. The robbers struck at the bank, located in a busy locality, at about 1.15 p.m.

Porters offer sweets to each other to celebrate Railway Budget's declaration of free railway pass to their wives, at the Amritsar railway station on Wednesday. — PTI

Illegal custody of Nepali youth
Centre recommends action against cops
Amritsar, July 7
The government of Nepal has taken up the case of chaining of one of its nationals for three days in illegal custody after he was picked from Nepal by the Amritsar police and then booked in a “fabricated case”. The Nepali national, father of an accused in a theft case, was brought from Nepal by the Amritsar police last month following a theft, allegedly committed by his son and two others in a house near Lawrence Road here.

DSP case: role of govt lawyers under scrutiny
Chandigarh, July 7
The conduct of two senior law officers of the Punjab Government dealing with the ongoing case concerning the alleged irregularities in the selection of Deputy Superintendents of Police sometime back has come under the scanner.

POLITICS

Save Kanshi Ram from Mayawati: BSP
Chandigarh, July 7
In a memorandum submitted to Punjab Governor Justice O.P. Verma, Bahujan Samaj Swabhiman Sangharsh Samiti members today demanded that BSP leader Kanshi Ram should be “freed from the clutches of Uttar Pardesh’s former Chief Minister Mayawati”. 

Samta Samaj Party merges with LJP
Ludhiana, July 7
The Samta Samaj Party, headed by Mr Phul Singh Baraiya, has been dissolved to merge with the Lok Janshakti Party led by Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan.

COMMUNITY

Villagers gherao police station
Gharinda (Amritsar), July 7
A large number of residents of Gharinda and nearby villages, including women and children, today gheraoed the Gharinda police station against alleged police atrocities. The protest call was given by the Police Jabar Virodhi Action Committee”. Activists of communist parties and farmer organisations participated in the protest.

Highway patrolling from today
Ludhiana, July 7
Highway patrolling in Punjab is being introduced from tomorrow. As many as 20 highway patrol vehicles fitted with all the latest gadgets to help the accident victims will be flagged off by Mr A.A. Siddiqui, Director-General of Police, from the Punjab Police Academy Phillaur.

BKU organises dharna outside PSEB office
Moga, July 7
The Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta) yesterday organised a dharna in front of the Punjab State Electricity Board SDO’s office at Ajeetwal, near here. The farmers blocked the Moga-Ludhiana road in the evening for over two hours. They gheraoed the SDO, Mr Gurmeet Singh, and did not allow him to leave after duty hours. The SDO was “freed” only after police intervention.

Rs 17,000 loss to Punjab Roadways depot daily
Hoshiarpur, July 7
Despite having a fleet of 104 buses which ply on 68 routes, the local depot of Punjab Roadways is incurring a loss of about Rs 17,000 every day. Mr Amarjit Singh, General Manager of the depot, told this correspondent that out of a fleet of 104 buses, 17 were out of service.

Self-employment scheme action plan approved
Patiala, July 6
The action plan under the Swaran Jayanti Gram Self-Employment Scheme for 2004-2005 was passed at a governing body meeting of the Zila Rural Development Agency here today.

Dharna against govt decision on micro-hydel projects
Patiala, July 7
On a call given by the Technical Services Union, technicians of the Patiala,Sangrur and Khanna circles today organised a dharna at Nadampur, near here, to protest against the state government’s decision to give four micro-hydel projects on contract to private parties.

Lucky coupon draw delayed
Sangrur, July 7
The draw of the 26th free lucky coupon scheme of the Small Savings Department, to be held in May or June, has not been held so far. More than one crore lucky coupons had been sold.

PWD staff wear black badges
Amritsar, July 7
Employees of the PWD (B&R) staged a rally and wore black badges to protest against filing of corruption cases against its engineers by the Vigilance Bureau, at its local office here today.

82 NCC cadets donate blood
Bathinda, July 7
As many as 82 NCC cadets, including 10 girls, donated blood at a camp organised by 20, Punjab Batallion, NCC, Bathinda, here today. 

Prominent Rotarian Seth dead
Patiala, July 6
A large number of people joined the funeral procession of Mr Raj Kumar Seth (88), seniormost member of Rotary International District 3090 who died on Monday evening. Mr Seth belonged to one of the oldest business families of the city.

Five injured in clash
Lalru, July 7
Five persons, including two women, were injured in a clash over a piece of common land between two families of Khelan-Mahlan village, about 15 km from here, this afternoon.

Autorickshaw overturns; 3 hurt
Lalru, July 7
Three women were injured when an autorickshaw in which they were travelling overturned at Gulabgarh village on the Dera Bassi-Kheri Jattan link road, near Dera Bassi, this afternoon.

COURTS

HIGH COURT
Nomination papers
Chandigarh, July 7
A Division Bench of the High Court has issued notice for July 9 on a petition filed by one Pushpinder Kaur of Gurdaspur. 

Shortage of staff in labour court
Amritsar, July 7
The condition of the labour court here has gone from bad to worse. The court that addresses problems of labourers, daily-wage employees and employees of companies is suffering from shortage of staff for the past five months.

AGRICULTURE

Punjab Agro to procure coarse grains
Chandigarh, July 7
The state government has declared Punjab Agro Foodgrains Corporation as the state agency for procurement of coarse grains, namely maize, barley etc on minimum support price under the Central Government policy.

ADMINISTRATION

New bus stand planned, school offered alternative site
Patiala, July 7
In a bid to quick-start the setting up of a bus stand in the city, the district administration has offered the Atma Ram Kumar Sabha School management an alternative site so that the present ground of the school can be used for the purpose.

CRIME

Youth’s hands chopped off in clash
Kapurthala, July 7
In a shocking incident, a group of young boys chopped off both hands of a 22-year-old youth as they clashed in Pandori village of Bhulath subdivision here yesterday.

Uncle held for killing boy
Sangrur, July 7
With the arrest of Naib Singh, an uncle of Sadha Singh (13) of Longowal village who was murdered with a sharpedged weapon on June 6, the police yesterday claimed to have solved the blind murder case of Sadha Singh. The body of Sadha Singh was recovered from near the village bus stand.

Man kills brother
Sangrur, July 7
Jagdev Singh, son of Dalip Singh of Andana village, near Khanauri, in this district, allegedly murdered his brother, Jiwan Singh, with a “gandasa” (sharpedged weapon) on the night of July 6 when he was sleeping in his house.

2 murders solved, four held
Jalandhar, July 7
The district police has succeeded in solving two separate murder cases with the arrest of four persons. Mr G.P.S. Bhullar, SSP, stated here today that one Drashan Kumar of Budala village in Noormahal, in a complaint on July 3, said that his brother Sarabjit Kumar had been kidnapped by unidentified car-borne persons from Budala bus stand.

Police fails to arrest rape accused
Muktsar, July 7
Even after 12 days of registration of an FIR of rape against Mahant Madho Dass of Dera Mahant Dhian Dass at Doda village, the Muktsar police has failed the arrest the mahant. However, when contacted, Gidderbaha DSP Malkiat Singh said that the police had been raiding several places to nab the accused.

EDUCATION

Engineering institute gets accreditation, Rs 10 cr grant
Jalandhar, July 7
Under the Technical Education Quality Improvement Project, the Dr B.R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology has received a grant of Rs 10.3 crore from the World Bank.

DC honours toppers
Fatehgarh Sahib, July 6
Deputy Commissioner S.K. Ahluwalia, here today honoured students of the district who have excelled in middle, matriculation and senior secondary examinations. He said it was a matter of pride that a student of Government Senior Secondary School, Salana had got ninth position in the state in matriculation examination.

AISSF to fight for students’ cause
Muktsar, July 7
Priority of the AISSF (All-India Sikh Students Federation) will be to redress the problems of the student community, AISSF president Tarlochan Singh said here yesterday. He said that he would launch an agitation to put pressure on the authorities to reduce academic and hostel fees in the state. 

Prof Goswami joins Punjabi varsity
Patiala, July 7
Professor Emeritus and Padma Shree Dr B.N. Goswami has joined Punjabi University, Patiala, as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Fine Arts. An eminent art historian, Dr Goswami joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1955 but resigned in 1958 to pursue career in fine arts.