Amritsar
Holiday on Oct 9: Guru Nanak Dev University has announced holiday on October 9 in its all non-teaching departments and administrative branches on the occasion of the birth anniversary of fourth Sikh Guru Ram Das. 

Convention: As many as 200 teachers from Punjab will participate in the School Teachers Federation of India’s (STFI) convention to be held in Delhi on October 6, said Sucha Singh Ajnala, president of the Punjab Government Teachers Union (GTU). 

Banur
Rally flagged off: Cabinet minister Captain Kanwaljit Singh flagged off a “chetna rally” of youth Akali Dal activists to observe the birth centenary of Shaheed Bhagat Singh here on Sunday. Addressing the gathering, he said people owed their freedom to men like Bhagat Singh who revolutionised the freedom struggle. Two plays - “Mitti rudan kare”, directed by Dr Aman Bhogal, and “Suraj chhipan ton pehlan”, based on Bhagat Singh’s stay in jail before being executed - were enacted commemorating the spirit of revolution and freedom.

BARNALA
Blood donation: Punjab health and family welfare minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla expressed concern over the low ratio of voluntary blood donation in the state. She said 19 per cent of the people from the state donate blood voluntarily where as national average stands at 58 per cent. 

Camp: A state-level blood donation camp was organised by State Blood Transfusion Council, Punjab at Bansal palace here on Monday. Dr Balbeer Singh, civil surgeon, Barnala, honoured 27 organisations and nine couples. 

Protest march: The Sarv Party Zabar Virodhi Action Committee held a protest march here on Monday. About 200 persons cutting across the party lines participated in the march. Later, a memorandum was sent to the Chief Minister through the DC. 

BATHINDA
Body found: The crushed body, later identified as of Jaswinder Singh of Guru Ki Nagari Colony, was found lying at the Bathinda-Patiala railway line at Gaji Ratan link road, near here, on Monday. Vijay Goyal, president, Sahara Public Welfare, said soon an ambulance was rushed to the spot and the GRP was informed about the accident. 

BATHINDA
Baby found: Volunteers of the Sahara Public Welfare found a newly born baby abandoned in a park at Model Town Phase 2 here on Friday. The baby was being treated at the Civil Hospital here. If the organisation failed to find its parents, it would be given to someone under the adoption policy. 

Hoshiarpur
Woman alleges torture: The police booked Sukhdev Singh, his sister-in-law Pammi and brother Lakha Singh, all residents of Kamrawan, under sections 498-A of the IPC for allegedly torturing Harjinder Kaur of Jalalpur Nangli on Sunday night. According to the police, Harjinder Kaur has alleged that her in-laws allegedly tortured her to bring Rs 50,000 from her parents. 

Smack seized: The police arrested two persons during raids on a jeweller’s shop and a brick-kiln on Sunday night and seized 55 gm of smack from their possession. Raids were conducted on Suhag Jewellers on the Phagwara road and seized 50 gm of smack from its owner Sarju, alias Suraj. Similarly, the Garhdiwala police raided a brick-kiln at Mangarh on Monday and seized 5 gm of smack from Parminderjit Singh, alias Goldi, a resident of Mangarh.

Nawanshahr
Mini-marathon: Hundreds of students participated in an open mini-marathon organised, by the Akhil Bharatiya Hind Suraksha Youth Sanram Democratic Parishad here at ITI grounds on Wednesday, to commemorate the birth centenary Shaheed Bhagat Singh. 

Phagwara
Paddy purchase: Kapurthla deputy commissioner J.M. Balamurugan, Punjab technical education minister Chaudhary Swarana Ram visited local mandis on Monday to assess the paddy procurement arrangements. Expressing satisfaction the Phagwara SDM said around 18,000 quintals of paddy had been purchased. 

PULKANJARI
Tributes paid: Lieut-Gen Sreedharan Shyam Kumar, General Officer Commanding (GOC), Vajra Corps, paid tributes to martyrs of the 1971 war at Pulkanjari War Memorial on Monday. Talking to mediapersons, he said the Army was in a state of readiness and his message to the force would be to “keep the bullets dry.” Coming here after a stint in Nagaland, the officer said this area being peaceful, he could afford to focus on the welfare schemes of the Army.

Rajpura
180 donate blood: As many as 180 volunteers donated blood at a camp organised by Chitkara Institute of Engineering and Technology in association with the Rotary Club here on Monday. The camp was inaugurated by institute director Madhu Chitkara, who lauded the efforts put in by teachers and students for organising the camp. Institute principal Dr R.K. Bansal said the college would soon come up with a blood information cell to maintain record of blood groups of students and their kin.