Chandigarh Beat

Polls
FEROZEPUR: Arrangements for holding panchayat elections on June 21 in Ferozepur district are complete. A total of 1,202 gram panchayats in 11 blocks will go to polls. As many as 9,85,829 people will caste their votes. Deputy Commissioner, Ferozepur, Gurdev Singh Sidhu said here today that polling will be held in 1,480 polling stations and 7,400 government employees have been deputed for polling.

Measures
GURDASPUR: A sum of Rs 4 crore will be spent on flood protection measures in Gurdaspur district, S. K. Sandhu, Deputy Commissioner, said while talking to newspersons, here today. The DC, accompanied by officers of the Drainage Department, undertook a tour of flood-prone areas along Ravi river. Sandhu said that six drag line machines had been pressed into service for desilting 26 miles of six drains which would be completed by June 30.

The DC also inspected the flood protection measures being taken in Rosa, Kamalpur, Gahlari, Chakri, Chaura, Jainpur and Thakurpur. Sandhu said he had formed a committee comprising SDMs and divisional forest officers which would plant 50,000 saplings along Dhussi bund.

Posting
CHANDIGARH: The Haryana Government has given the charge of the Land Use Board to M. L. Tayal, Commissioner and Secretary, Industries and Environment Department, relieving H. C. Disodia. Tayal is an IAS officer of Haryana cadre. The government has also appointed Madan Lal, of Jind, as non-official member of the District Public Relations and Grievances Committee, Jind, with immediate effect.

Grievance
PATIALA: The students of BSC-II appearing for the Maths calculus and differential equation exam being conducted by the Punjabi University have alleged that the question paper on the subject contained three questions that were wrong. The students said that since they lost a lot of time in trying to attempt these questions, they should be compensated with grace marks.

Facility
ROOPNAGAR: Mushrooming of private banks poses no threat to nationalised banks in the state. Instead, the government-run banks, including the Punjab and Sink Bank have witnessed a rise in transactions, PSB Zonal Manager G. S. Vedi said here today. He said that financial dealings within his jurisdiction had registered a five per cent growth as compared to last year8217;s transaction of 21 per cent. Vedi, who was here in connection with the opening up of an extension counter of the Punjab and Sink Bank, at the Sainik Rest House, assured financial help to ex-servicemen. Special loans shall be sanctioned for self-employment schemes in the district, he said and announced a scholarship for wards of 20 ex-servicemen in the area. Earlier, Deputy Commissioner Kulbir Singh Sidhu inaugurated the extension counter.

Hailed
LUDHIANA: The Punjab State Veterinary Officers Association PSVOA has welcomed the three time-scales after 4, 9 and 14 years of regular service given to veterinary officers of Punjab by the state government as were recommended by the Fourth Pay Commission. A meeting of PSVOA was held here today under the presidentship of Gurcharan SIngh Chahal, the state president. The PSVOA is expecting the release of other notification of three increments for postgraduate vets as recommended by the Fourth Pay Commission. According to Rajinder Singh, state general secretary, PSVOA, has demanded 25 per cent of basic pay as NPA for veterinary officers of Punjab on Central pattern.

Holiday
SHIMLA: The state government has declared June 10 as a restricted holiday in all government offices, boards, corporations and educational institutions, on account of Kabir Jayanti.