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Land to Reliance okayed
Chandigarh, August 2
About 480 acre of panchayati land across 23 sites in Punjab, 450 acre of land across six industrial areas and a chunk of 150 acre of land at Laddowal farm near Ludhiana will be given to Reliance Retail Limited (RRL) on varying terms and conditions.

Make RIL deal details public: Sukhbir
Chandigarh, August 2
General secretary of the Shiromani Akali Dal Sukhbir Singh Badal today described the deal signed between the Punjab Government and Reliance as “a cruel joke on the farmers of the state who have been fed on dreams of the company transforming their destiny”.

RIL deal a drama, says Badal
Ropar, August 2
Terming the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the Punjab Government with Reliance Retail Limited headed by Mukesh Ambani as a drama, SAD chief and former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said if his party was voted to power in the next assembly elections, he would order probe against all the mega project signed, including that with Reliance.

Japanese bank to give Rs 462 cr for development
Amritsar, August 2
A team from Japan National Bank Corporation, led by Yama Moto and Hashi Motto, is visiting various city slums and holding detailed discussions with the civic authorities here, for the allocation of Rs 462 crore development grant.

Work on refinery project on: Singla
Bathinda, August 2
Claiming that the prestigious Guru Gobind Singh Refinery project is not a poll stunt, Finance Minister Surinder Singla said HPCL had allocated Rs 300 crore for immediate work, which had already begun at the refinery site and debt component of the project had also been taken care of.

Finance Minister Surinder Singla and PPCC general secretary Raninder Singh at a function to launch plantation drive in Bathinda on Wednesday. — Tribune photo by Kulbir Beera

Trust for free treatment of breast cancer
Chandigarh, August 2
Although the incidence of breast cancer has been on the rise in India, especially Punjab, there has been no major intervention in terms of enhancing awareness about this cancer which is treatable if detected early.

Pran Arora (left) and Sanjiv Arora

6 get life term in triple-murder case
Moga, August 2
A local court today sentenced six persons, accused of committing triple murder at Abohar in 2000, to life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5,000 each whereas the other five accused involved in the murder were acquitted.

COMMUNITY

Excise staff on strike against Virk’s suspension
Gurdaspur, August 2
The entire staff of the Excise and Taxation Department of Gurdaspur yesterday struck work in protest against the suspension of Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner (AETC) T.S. Virk.

Excise & Taxation staff go on strike
Batala, August 2
Staff members of Gurdaspur district’s Department of the Excise and Taxation went on a two-day strike against the suspension of Mr T.S. Virk, Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Gurdaspur.

Badal not against NRI Sikh nomination
Abohar, August 2
The SAD chief, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, is not opposed to nomination of NRI Sikhs as members of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee.

Badal pulls up Cong over MLA’s conviction
Chandigarh, August 2
President of the Shiromani Akali Dal Parkash Singh Badal today described the conviction of Congress MLA from Majitha Sawinder Singh Kathunangal as “the beginning of the end of the Congress regime”.

Fire at Police Public School
Bathinda, August 2
Panic gripped students of Police Public School today, as a fire broke out following an electric spark at the school building here today. While a student fell unconscious, no loss of life was reported.

Sheesh Mehal sealed
Malerkotla, August 2
The local administration has sealed Sheesh Mehal, the house of Sajida Begum, after her death and the security arrangements have been made to prevent any damage to the valuable articles and the Mehal spreading in the eight bighas.

ZP chief, 18 members resign
Hoshiarpur, August 2
Mr Arjan Singh, Chairman, Zila Parishad, Hoshiarpur, and 18 members — Mohimpal Singh, Usha Rani, Piara Singh, Manjit Kaur, Kulwinderjit Kaur, Sushil Kumar, Nirmal Singh, Dilbag Singh, Jaspal Singh, Gian Chand, Chura Ram, Jaspal Singh, Subhash Chander, Jiwan Singh, Usha Rani, Ravinder Kaur and Balbir Kaur — have submitted their resignations to the Deputy Commissioner, Hoshiarpur, here today under protest against the non-cooperative attitude of the staff of Zila Parishad.

Drive to beautify canal area
Ropar, August 2
Following an appeal from the district administration, a large number of NGOs in the district today gave their proposal for the beautification of the area along the Sirhind canal.

Demonstration by Ambedkar Club activists
Hoshiarpur, August 2
Activists of the Baba Sahib Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Youth Club, Hoshiarpur, led by Mr Anil Kumar Bagha, carrying lathis went in a procession in bazars, including Bassi Khawaju, Clock Tower, Roshan Road, Bus Stand and Phagwara road and Sutheri road, etc and forced the shopkeepers to down shutters of shops this afternoon in support of their demand for the dismissal and registration of a case against Mr B. C. Gupta, president and Ms Vandna Choudhry and Mr A. S. Jauhar, both members of the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Hoshiarpur, for their remarks in the judgement of the forum of July 4, 2006 in the case of Harbhajan Singh versus Punjab State Electricity Board. No untoward incident has been reported from any corner of the city.

Diarrhoea claims one life
Hoshiarpur, August 2
A woman, identified as Bholi, wife of Ramo, died yesterday while 25 were suffering from diarrhoea at Panjora village, 42 km from here in Garhshankar subdivision of this district, according to sarpanch of the village Gurdial Singh.

Trust meeting held
Fatehgarh Sahib, August 2
A meeting of the executive committee of Baba Moti Ram Mehra Charitable Trust was held under the chairmanship of Mr Surjeet Singh at Baba Moti Ram Mehra Gurdwara here today. All members of the executive of the trust attended the meeting.

Tihar Jail inmates to exhibit products
Amritsar, August 2
The jail authorities of Tihar Jail, New Delhi, and Amritsar Central Jail, have decided to exhibit items manufactured by jail inmates at a two-day exhibition to be held here from August 4.

Bank staff hold protest over transfer of officer
Patiala, August 2
At least 300 officers of the All-India Bank Officers Association (AIBOA) (Punjab State Committee) held a demonstration before the State Bank of Patiala head office here today.

COURTS

Challan filed against SDM in poaching case
Hoshiarpur, August 2
In an important development in the peacock hunting case against former Pathankot SDM Puneet Goel, the Department of Wildlife has filed a challan in a court against him now posted as Administrative Officer, Directorate of Information and Public Relations, Punjab, Chandigarh, Mohinder Singh of Hambra village at Tanda and Makhan Singh of Pathankot.

ADMINISTRATION

Inside Babudom
Controversy over DFO’s transfer
Garhshankar, August 2
The transfer of the DFO, Garhshankar, Mr Harbhajan Singh, has stirred up a controversy. The officer was allegedly got transferred recently as he pursued a case involving encroachments on the forest land.

CRIME

Fake currency racket busted; 2 held
Ferozepore, August 2
The Ferozepore police has busted an interstate gang allegedly involved in running a fake currency racket and has arrested two persons in this connection.

Suicide by son after spat with father
Hoshiarpur, August 2
A quarrel between a father-son duo led to suicide by the boy at Pandori Kadh village of this district last evening.

Youth, mother booked in rape case
Hoshiarpur, August 2
A case of alleged rape of a student of class X on account of which she became pregnant has been reported from Mehtabpur village under the Mukerian police station of this district last evening.

EDUCATION

GND varsity to honour employees: VC
Amritsar, August 2
Guru Nanak Dev University will honour outstanding employees of various departments in recognition of their contribution to the betterment of the university. Besides incentives, the university would also award an appreciation letter to such employees.

Teachers stage dharna to support Mohindra College Principal
Patiala, August 2
Members of the joint action committee of Government Mohindra College and the Government College Teachers Association (GCTA) staged a dharna in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office here yesterday against the “indifferent attitude” of the local administration in the case pertaining to the attack on Mohindra College Principal Mr D.I.S. Brar.

DEO(S) sends notices to 2 pvt schools
Fatehgarh Sahib, August 2
Mr R.D. Goyal, District Education Officer (S), has unearthed a fraud with candidates aspiring to get admission in B.Ed. colleges under the rural category getting fake rural area certificates from private schools .

Animation exponent enthrals students
Patiala, August 2
Internationally famous animation exponent Prabal Pramanik and his team of artistes conducted a programme of animation movies at the Punjabi University’s Theatre and TV Department auditorium here yesterday.

Make access to books easy: experts
Patiala, August 2
“We are in dire need of enforcement of the Public Library Act. Since the children hold the key to the future, therefore, we should make sure that they have easy access to books,” said Dr Jaswant Singh, a resident of United States, at a seminar on declining popularity of library and books organised by the Department of Journalism and Mass communication and Global Punjab Foundation here today.

Teacher invited to Hong Kong
Patiala, August 2
Mr Dharam Veer Sharma, lecturer in the Department of Computer Science, Punjabi University, has been invited to present his paper entitled, “An iterative algorithm for segmentation of isolated handwritten words in Gurmukhi script”, in an international conference on pattern recognition to be held in Hong Kong, shortly a press note issued by its Public Relations Department said here today.