IN brief

Rehri Union demands implementation of Central act and policy
AMRITSAR: All Punjab Rehri-Fadi Union (APRFU) today asked Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to immediately implement the Central Act and Policy-2009 relating to the streamlining of the makeshift shopkeepers. State president of the union Raj Kumar Shaheen said there are four lakh vendors who use rehri and fadi in Punjab and the government must streamline their working so that they earn the livelihood with honour and are not be harassed by the police and civic body staff

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‘Tercentenary of Baba Banda Bahadur should be Dalit empowerment year’
CHANDIGARH: Vice-Chancellor of Sri Guru Granth Sahib World University Dr Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia,who is also the president of Guru Gobind Singh foundation,demanded that the tercentenary of Baba Banda Bahadur’s liberation be celebrated as Dalit empowerment year. He said,“The new socio-political and economic dispensation introduced by Baba Banda Bahadur invested the lowest people with political power.”

Teachers to go on strike
AMRITSAR: Punjab and College Teachers Union (PCTU) today threatened to observe a two-hour strike on Nov 9-10 against the hurdles being created by the management of 170 non-government colleges in the state for revised pay scales. Union’s president Iqbal Singh Sandhu and general secretary H S Walia,in a press statement said while the SGPC has implemented the revised scales,the management of the aided colleges were causing hurdles.

Camp for football coaches starts at Quadian
AMRITSAR: Around 45 coaches are participating in the Indian Football Coaches’ Training Camp at Quadian in Gurdaspur. Mohammad Inaam Ghauri,Chief Secretary,Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat inaugurated the camp. Director of Elite Football Academy,in the UK,Charan Jeet Singh Gill said the camp aims to brush up new trends and practices in football and prominent coaches from Liverpool football club,Lee Taylor,David Ridhler and Tommy Taylor from Ham football club will give tips to the coaches.

Three-day zonal youth festival begins
AMRITSAR: A three-day long Zonal Youth Festival of colleges affiliated to the Guru Nanak Dev University was inaugurated here today at the auditorium of DAV College by Prof M S Hundal,Dean,College Development Council of the University. Dr Aruna Anand,principal of the college,said more than 500 students from 23 colleges of education affiliated to GNDU are participating in the festival.

19.25 quintals poppy husk seized,4 held
Ferozepur: The Ferozepur narcotic cell seized 19.25 quintals poppy husk from Zira on Tuesday. Four persons— Ajaib Singh,Sukhdev Singh,Vir Singh and Surinder Singh—were arrested. One pistol was also seized from Ajaib Singh. According to SSP,Surinderpal Singh Parmar,“Sukhdev has been implicated in many other criminal cases. The accused belong to Moga and Faridkot areas.” They had brought the stock at Rs 20,000 per bag from Rajasthan and were going to sell them at Rs 30,000 per bag in Punjab. They will be sent to Amritsar for joint interrogation,said SSP.

Congress general secy bereaved
CHANDIGARH: Punjab Congress president Mohinder Singh Kaypee expressed grief over the sudden death of Prof Surjit Singh,Additional Director of Public Instructions (retd),Punjab,and father of Congress general secretary Raj Pal Singh. Surjit Singh (79) breathed his last today at his Mohali residence. He is survived by his wife and three sons. Several other senior Congress leaders also expressed grief on Singh’s death.

International symposium gets underway
JALANDHAR: A two-day ‘International Symposium on Nanostructred Materials: Structure,Properties and Applications’ started at the Kanya Maha Vidyalaya on Wednesday. Scientists from leading institutes of the UK,France,Germany,Israel,Italy,Portugal,South Korea,China and India took part in the symposium.

Five booked for fraud
Bathinda: The Bathinda police registered a case against five persons under various sections of Indian Penal Code for making a fake registry of a piece of land belonging to Additional and District Sessions Judge Faridkot Ashok Kumar Singla. The accused have been identified as Ganpat Rai,Sarvarinder Singh,Sukhdev Singh,Manpreet Kaur,Jassa Singh and Gurdeep Singh.

Abhijit,Kahlon bags first position in debate
AMRITSAR: Abhijit Kaur and Sarvar Kahlon,students of Class IX of Spring Dale Senior School bagged first position in a debate competition held at DAV Public School on the topic ‘Mobile phones: Boon or Bane’. Teams from eight schools participated in the event. While Abhijeet talked about various uses of a mobile phone,Sarvar spoke about its disadvantages.