Briefly State

‘Review decision on Amritsar-Toronto flight’
Chandigarh: With the Amritsar-Toronto flight set to go off air in two days,Congress MP from Gurdaspur Pratap Singh Bajwa has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi,requesting them to ask the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation to review its decision. “The direct Air India flight from Amritsar to Toronto will be discontinued from October 31. They propose to bring passengers from Amritsar to Delhi for their onward journey to London and Toronto. Such an arrangement is not in favour of passengers and will also hit the export trade,” the MP said in the letter. He said the ministry had spent nearly Rs 200 crore to create infrastructure at the airport,adding that all such expenditure would go waste if the flight was discontinued.

SGPC polls: Date extended for filing claims
Chandigarh: Keeping in view certain complaints from the public and after holding meetings with deputy commissioners and assessing the overall situation,the chief commissioner of gurdwara elections has ordered extension of the date for filing claims and objections regarding the draft electoral roll for Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) up to November 12. A spokesman of the Gurdwara Election Commission said the claims and objections related to inclusion or exclusion of any name from the toll could now be presented to the appropriate revising authority till November 12.

Power engineers holds dharna
Bathinda: Engineers of the Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant,Bathinda,and Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant,Lehra Mohabbat,staged a dharna at the call of PSEB Engineers’ Association to lodge a protest against the state government’s decision to hand over all upcoming thermal projects to private firms and the proposed Gidderbaha thermal plant to NTPC “against the opinion of technocrats and power sector experts”. The engineers also rued the “inordinate delay” in signing a tripartite agreement in which the state government was to stand as a guarantor to protect their service conditions — pension benefits,pay scales,allowances,provident fund et al.

SAD finalises plans to rev up women’s wing
Chandigarh: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has finalised plans to galvanise its women cadres so that they can take the message of development initiatives of the government to every house of Punjab. SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal,Istri Akali Dal chief Paramjit Kaur Gulshan and party spokesman Dr Daljit Singh Cheema had a three-hour meeting with prominent members of the Istri Akali Dal and elected members of panchayati raj institutions and local bodies to discuss the plan of action and directed them to chalk out individual plans to strengthen the party and the wing at grassroots level. Sukhbir said women should be educated regarding the economic policies of the Congress-led UPA government that caused steepest ever price rise of essential commodities,disturbing the kitchen budget of every homemaker. He also hinted at an early reorganisation of Istri Akali Dal and asked Gulshan to announce the office-bearers of all its wings by November 30.

3 held with Rs 5.32 lakh fake currency
Patiala: The Patiala police have arrested three persons and recovered fake currency notes worth Rs 5.32 lakh from their possession. According to SSP Gurpreet Singh Gill,the Patiala police,on a tip-off,arrested Harjit Singh alias Pinki,Thakur Gill and Bahadur Singh red handed while printing a huge amount of fake currency notes at a house in Bahadurgarh. The accused were using a computer,a colour printer and a scanner,which have been confiscated,along with currency notes in the denominations of Rs 1,000,Rs 100 each,Rs 50 and Rs 20. On another tip-off,the police arrested one Milkha Singh and recovered from his possession a computer set,a scanner,a printer,along with fake voter ID cards,educational certificates,birth certificates and driving licence,and a rubber stamp.

Moga district marks areas for cracker sales
Ludhiana: For the first time ever,the district administration of Moga has earmarked areas where sale of crackers for Diwali has been allowed. DC Dr Vijay N Zade said: “We have ordered that setting up of cracker stalls in D M college ground,Godhewala Stadium and Municipal Committee Stadium will be allowed after relevant permission from the district administration. Fire brigade and police officers will be posted in these areas to avoid any kind of untoward incident. No one will be allowed to sell crackers from any other place in the city.”