Abohar
Entry tax: The Punjab Cotton Factories and Ginners Association has lauded local MLA Sunil Jakhar for raising voice against entry tax in the Vidhan Sabha. State president Bhagwan Bansal and executive member Suresh Bansal in a release here on Wednesday said the traders could now hope of getting some relief. For the present government’s imposition of entry tax in addition to the VAT, many industrialists in Punjab were planning to establish new units in the neighbouring states, as they offer subsidy of Rs 1,000 on sales and income tax.

AMRITSAR
GND varsity closed on Dec 21: All branches of the Administrative Block and non-teaching departments of Guru Nanak Dev University will remain closed on December 21 on the eve of Id festival, according to a notification issued by the registrar of the university issued here on Wednesday.

Bathinda
Meeting held: Bahujan Samaj Party held a meeting in village Ganga (Ablu ki), under the chairmanship of Mohinder Singh Bhatti, district president of BSP, in which they discussed the issues regarding unemployment and deceitful schemes of government towards Dalits. Appealing to the party workers to work hard, Bhatti said the Bahujan Samaj Party is the only alternative.

CHANDIGARH
Punjabi NRI Sammelan: Ramesh Inder Singh, chief secretary, Punjab, on Monday reviewed arrangements for the Punjabi NRI Sammelan being organised on January 5 and 6 at Chandigarh and Jalandhar, respectively. He stated this at a high-level meeting of senior IAS officers from Chandigarh and Jalandhar division and representatives of the PHD Chamber of Commerce. He said a conference would be held at Hotel Taj on January 5. More than 200 NRI delegates were expected to attend it. A larger conference would be held in Jalandhar on January 6 for which invitation cards could be collected from the commissioner, NRI, or from deputy commissioners of respective districts later in the week.

Ferozepur
Body found: The police today recovered a body lying near cremation ground in Malwal village which was later identified as that of Krishan Kumar, a rickshaw-puller, who was residing in the gurudwara village for the past some time. According to the information, the body bore injury marks and had no clothes on when the police reached the spot. The police later sent the body for post-mortem and an investigation has been initiated to solve the case and identify the culprits.

Case registered: The police has registered a case under section 307/34 of the IPC against four persons identified as Angrej Singh, Balvir Singh, Ajmer Singh and Sonu on the basis of a compliant lodged by Gurdev Singh of Aashiye Ke village. In his complaint, Gurdev alleged that while he was coming back from a marriage party on Friday last, four people came in an Indica car and fired at him from a .12 bore gun which hit his shoulder.

Hoshiarpur
Union chief dies:  President of District Numberdars Union and younger brother of president of Janta Dal (S), Punjab, Ch Inderjit Singh Saini, Balbir Raj Kaku (65) died at a private hospital at Jalandhar on Wednesday. He had a stroke on last Sunday and was admitted to a hospital at Jalandhar.

Man accused of abduction: On the complaint of Kulwant Kaur of Mohalla Gautam Nagar, the city police last night booked Jaspal Singh of Subhash Nagar under sections 363 and 366 A of the IPC for abducting her teenaged daughter. According to police sources, Jaspal Singh had allegedly abducted Kulwant Kaur's daughter Surbi Sandhu (13) on December 14, 2007. The family members searched for Surbi, but all their efforts were in vain.

Jalandhar
Vehicle lifters  in police net: The CIA staff of the district police nabbed two vehicle lifters and recovered a stolen motorcycle from their possession. CIA staff in charge inspector Harinder Singh said vehicle lifters Vatandeep Singh and Monu of the Mehtabgarh and Aarfwala localities of Kapurthala were nabbed from a canal near Basti Bawa Khel after a tip-off.

MOHALI
Appointed: Dr Suresh Kumar Tondon took over as 18th vice-chairman of the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) at an impressive function in board’s complex on Tuesday. Dr Tondon had previously occupied posts like principal of Gobindgarh Public College, Alour (Khanna), member senate, Punjab University, Chandigarh.

Free eye camp: An eye camp in the memory of youngest Sahibzada Fateh Singh was organised day on Monday at Perch village by the SAS Free Polyclinic Trust in association with Sri Guru Harkrishan Sahib (charitable) Eye Hospital, Sohana, which was inaugurated by Sukhdev Singh Libra, member parliament (Lok Sabha). Libra appreciated the good work being done by the trustees, doctors and donors who contributed towards this noble cause. General secretary Balbir Singh intimated that over 150 persons were examined during the camp and 11 patients would be operated upon for cataract at Sohana Eye Hospital. He said those operated would be given dark glasses and power glasses besides the medicines.

Auction: The office of the district transport authority will hold the auction for reserve vehicle registration numbers on January 11 instead of December 21. According to a press note, the auction had to be postponed because December 21 had been declared a holiday because of Id-ul-Zuha. Interested persons can submit their applications along with demand drafts by January 9. The auction will be held for the remaining numbers of the PB 65 F, E, D, C, B and A series.

Remanded: A local court, on Wednesday, remanded Ranvir Singh, a travel agent, arrested by the Mohali police to a day in police remand. The accused, a resident of Phase 11, was arrested on Tuesday. He was facing allegations that he had taken Rs 2 lakh from Jalandhar resident Gurnam Singh promising to send him abroad in 2001. He, however, did not sent him abroad and returned only Rs 40,000 of the total amount.

PATIALA
Nominated: Dr Jai Kishan, director, state tuberculosis training and demonstration centre, TB Hospital, Patiala, has been nominated as a member of the Central Committee of TB Association of India. Dr Jai Kishan delivered a guest lecture on “International Standard of TB Care and National TB Control Programme of India” in a NATCON-2007 Conference, which was organised at Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, and was inaugurated by union minister of health and family planning A. Ramadoss.

Workshop: The biotechnology division of the Punjab State Council for Science and Technology, Chandigarh, organised a workshop in collaboration with Science and Technology Entrepreneur’s Park at Thapar University, on Wednesday. As many as 50 persons, including officials and field staff of the department of forests, Punjab, and farmers from Patiala, Sangrur, Bathinda, Faridkot, Mansa and Fatehgarh Sahib districts took part in this workshop. Shailender Kaur, DFO, Sangrur, and P. Anand Kumar, DFO, Bathinda, also expressed their views.