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PUNJAB

Amritsar
HOSTAGE CRISIS: International Bhai Mardana Yadgari Kirtan Darbar Society and the UK-based Human Humanity Society are making joint efforts to secure the release of three Indian hostages held in Iraq. Mr Harpal Singh Bhuller, president of the society, stated this in a press release issued here on Friday. He said the secretary of the society, Mr Gurpreet Singh, was already in Iraq and with the help of Indian drivers they were trying to talk to abductors.

Bathinda
ARRESTED: Rajinder Singh, Kaurjit Singh and Gurtej Singh, all field assistants in the Punjab State Forest Development Corporation, have been arrested by the Vigilance Bureau, Bathinda for their alleged involvement in the wood scam. In a press release issued here on Friday, Mr Amrik Singh Waraich, SSP said Ranjit Singh, a supervisor of the same department, who was also involved in the scam, was yet to be arrested.

Jalandhar
COMPUTERISATION: To increase the efficiency and accuracy of its various operations, computerisation of the Improvement Trust, Jalandhar, has begun here on Friday. Stating this in a press conference, Mr Tejinder Singh Bittu, chairman of the trust, said the accounts section had been made fully computerised from Friday.

Pathankot
ARRESTED: The Dharkalan police has arrested a postmaster of Uprala Thara branch for misappropriating public deposits under Section 409 of the IPC. According to Mr Manminder Singh, Superintendent of Police, Senior Superintendent of Post Offices, Gurdaspur, lodged a complaint with the police alleging that postmaster Romesh Singh had collected money from the villagers, but failed to deposit it with the post office. However, the accused had allegedly made fake entries in the passbooks of the depositors.

PILGRIMAGE TAX: The toll tax imposed on the vehicles at the Lakhanpur barrier, about 20 km from here, on the Jammu and Kashmir-Punjab borders is a big burden on the pilgrims and daily commuters. Narrating this Mr Jatinder Dev Sharma, a BJP leader, Mr Dinesh Kumar and Mr Prem Kumar, former local MC, said the officials deputed at the barrier were not behaving properly with the pilgrims.

SAMRALA
BJP MEETING: A meeting of the BJP Ludhiana Rural Khanna District was held under the presidentship of Dr Hans Raj Sood in the local Arya Samaj Mandir on Saturday. According to Mr Sant Parkash Kalra, district media in charge of the Khana BJP, new mandals of 40,000 votes will be made so that the party can establish contact with every voter in rural areas and the party units be established.

ACTION SOUGHT: Mr Sant Parkash Kalra, district media in charge of the BJP, has condemned the misconduct of vigilance officials with Mr Surinder Singh Sidhu, DTO, Moga. While talking to mediapersons in the civil rest house, Mr Kalra demanded from the Chief Minister to inquire the matter and punish the vigilance officials involved in the incident.

CHANDIGARH

PRIZE DISTRIBUTION: There was a big rush of children at Meena Bazar, Mani Majra on Saturday. The occasion was the prize distribution ceremony for “Hug hug mama I luv you” contest held earlier to mark the Mother’s Day. The children who participated in the contest were of age group from 3 to 12 years. The first prize was given to Ashima and Ameya. The second prize went to Arjun Verma and Akanksha Sharma. Harsimarn Singh, Balvneet Gujral and Sandeep Singh took the third prize.

CAMPAIGN AGAINST FEMALE FOETICIDE: A human chain was formed by the members of Seva Bharati, Punjab, to spread the message of evil of female foeticide on Saturday. The chain ran through the Madhya Marg, Sector 27, here. A function to spread the similar message was also organised in the GMCH, Sector 32, in which a debate competition on the issue was organised. The Director Health Service, UT, Dr C.P. Bansal, and Director-Principal of the GMCH, Prof H.M. Swami, were present on the occasion.

SHAHEED UDHAM SINGH REMEMBERED: The Shaheed Udham Singh Memorial Bhavan Society and the All-India Kamboj Maha Sabha Chandigarh unit jointly organised a commemorative function on the occasion of the martyrdom day of Shaheed Udham Singh on Saturday. The function was organised at Memorial Bhavan Sector 44. The elections of the Kamboj Maha Sabha, Chandigarh unit were held.

CAMP: A free week-long camp for the hearing impaired got underway at the Sector 35 here on Saturday. The camp has been organised by the Hear India Corporation in association with Siemens.

CONDOLENCE MEETING: A condolence meeting was organised at the PGI on Saturday after the demise of Assistant Professor of speech therapy and audiology at the PGI, Dr Meena Raghunathan. Dr Meena, who was one of the senior most professors in the institute, passed away on Friday after suffering from cancer. She had joined the PGI in 1981 as junior speech therapist and rose to become the Assistant Professor in 1999.

MEETING: The meeting of the welfare committee of the PGI employees was held on Friday in which the employee union demanded the repatriation of the Deputy Director, Administration, of the PGI, Ms Meeta Rajivlochan, following an incident of her alleged altercation with the law officer T.S. Bagga earlier this month. The committee members who attended the meeting included head of ENT department of the PGI, Prof S.B.S. Mann, Head of Gastroenterology, Prof B. Nagi, Dr D. Behera of pulmonary medicine department, Dr B.D. Radotara, additional professor in Department of Histopathology and Prof D.K. Bhasin of Gastroenterology.

PANCHKULA
VANAMAHOTSAVA: The Rotary Club, Panchkula, celebrated Vanamahotsava by launching a plantation drive along the banks of the nullah passing through Sector 12 -A. Members of the club led by President, Mr N.P. Sabharwal, planted 100 saplings to celebrate the centennial year of Rotary International.

HARYANA

Hisar
CONCLUDED: A training programme for the students of agricultural engineering, organised at Northern Region Farm Machinery Training and Testing Institute here, concluded on Friday. Mr M.K. Miglani, Vice-Chancellor, Haryana Agricultural University, distributed the certificates to the 99 participants who had come from 11 states.

Kaithal
BEATEN UP: A group of school students gave a thrashing to a conductor and driver of Haryana Roadways bus following a dispute over tickets. Several students had boarded the bus from Hari Garh Kingan.

Karnal
DEMONSTRATION: The state unit of Mahila Congress on Friday organised a demonstration protesting against the state government for deteriorating law and order situation, rising crime against women, rising unemployment and the SYL canal issue.

Panipat
MEETING: The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Anurag Rastogi, held a meeting on Friday with officials of various departments to discuss the shortage of water in the district triggered by delay in the monsoon. In an official communique released here, it was stated that a number of teams have been constituted to check the cases of theft of canal water. It further stated that steps had been taken to ensure adequate supply of water to all water tanks and village ponds.

Sirsa
AGITATION THREAT: The state unit of the BJP will launch “jail bharo” agitation on the SYL issue, the party spokesman, Mr Sarvananda Arya, said here on Friday. In a press conference, he lamented the Congress party’s alleged anti-people policies. Mr Arya said the intention of the Congress became clear after they backed out on the Haryana MLAs resignation issue. He said the party would meet the Governor on August 4 to present a memorandum on the water issue and their next step would be to launch ‘‘jai bharo’’ agitation.

Yamunanagar
SUBMITTED: Alleging increase in the rate of crime against women in the state, activists of the District Mahila Congress on Friday submitted a memorandum to the Haryana Governor and urged him to dismiss the INLD government.