BARNALA
POPPY HUSK SEIZED: The Barnala police has seized eight bags of poppy husk, weighing 3.2 quintal, 1.5 kg of opium and one pistol during raids. Mr Ajaib Singh Kaleka, SSP, Barnala, said here on Friday that 3.2 quintals of poppy husk was seized from Ranjit Singh, 1 kg of opium from Adhrish Khan, 500g of opium from Jit Singh and a pistol from Harjinder Singh.

DORAHA
KILLED: A scooterist was crushed to death by some unknown vehicle on Thursday night. According to the sources, Kirpal Singh of Sewak Puri, Miller Ganj, Ludhiana was coming from Khanna on his scooter (CHR-3158) when he was crushed by some speedy vehicle, near Doraha. He died on the spot while the accused fled away. A case is yet to be registered. 

OFFICE-BEARERS: The annual elections of the district president and secretary of the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union would be held at the Arya College for Boys at 11 a.m. on Sunday. Releasing this information to the press, Prof Kuldip Singh, district president, said, “The new office-bearers for the session 2001-2 would be elected and asked all the delegates of the district to cast their votes. Candidates for the office of district president are — Prof Kuldip Singh, GNN College Doraha and Prof V.K. Bhardwaj, Arya College for Boys and those for the district secretary are Prof Parminder Singh, Arya College for Boys and Dr Yog Raj, S.D. Kamla Lotia College.” 

HOSHIARPUR
CASE REGISTERED: On the complaint of Kuldip Singh of Serihpur village, the Dasuya police registered a case under Sections 420 and 406 of the IPC against Jarnail Singh of Bhushan village on Friday for taking Rs 1,80,600 from Kuldip Singh for sending him abroad. But, he neither sent him abroad nor returned the money.

LIQUOR SEIZED: The Mahilpur police recovered 56 bottles of country-made foreign liquor from Kewal Singh of Fatehgarh village on Friday. The Bhunga police recovered eight bottles of liquor from Tilaku Ram of Chotala village on Friday. Cases have been registered.

ABDUCTED: Reena (14), a student of Class VII and a resident of the local Pahari Katra mohalla was allegedly abducted by Suraj and Katik of the same locality on March 18. Ram Kali, the mother of the victim, reported this to the police on Friday. A case has been registered.

APPOINTMENT LETTERS: Resentment prevails among the candidates, selected for the posts of Telecom Technical Assistant (TTA), against the authorities of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited for not issuing them appointment letters even after the completion of formalities. Spokesman for these candidates said here on Friday that three months had passed but the appointment letters had not been issued.

JAGRAON
CYCLIST KILLED: In an accident in Akhara village at about 10 p.m., two persons, Satnam and Baldev Singh, of Akhara village were going on a cycle to their home when a vehicle hit them from the back, killing Satnam Singh at the spot. Later on Baldev Singh who was injured, has been admitted to the Civil Hospital, Jagraon. The police has registered a case of rash and negligent driving.

JALANDHAR
BRIBE: A Vigilance Bureau team arrested Nirmal Singh, a Junior Engineer in the PSEB, posted at Kapurthala, while accepting a bribe of Rs 500 from a consumer on Friday. Ms Gurpreet Deo, SP (Zonal), in a press note released here, said Nirmal Singh had demanded Rs 1000 from Gurdial Singh of Mithara village for replacing a burnt cable, but agreed to accept Rs 500. A case has been registered.

CONFERENCE: The local Orthopaedic Society would organise a conference on “Back Pain Disorders and its Remedies” at Hotel Regent Park here on Sunday, Dr L.S. Choudhary, spokesman for the society, said. Eminent health experts from Mumbai, Delhi and Chandigarh would speak on the subject.

KHAMANO
DKD DRIVE: The Dalit Kisan Dal is making headway in its drive to get the widows, handicapped persons and old-age pensioners their due. In these three categories, the persons concerned have not received any financial assistance from any state agency. In the next phase of its social welfare drive, the dal will try to remove liquor vends from near schools and villages. The creation of opportunities for employment is to be taken up after the accomplishment of the second phase of the goal. This information was given by Mr Bhinder Singh Ranwan, General secretary of the Dal, on behalf of Mr Ravinder Singh Manela, who is the DKD chief.

LUDHIANA
CLUB INAUGURATES: Mr Sukhwant Singh Dugri, a Congress activist and former Vice-President of the Punjab Youth Congress, inaugurated Dragon Health Club in Model Town locality here on Friday. Speaking at the occasion, he exhorted the youth to channelise their energies through constructive activities like sport and body building. “A healthy body is a pre-requisite to a healthy mind.” He also asked the youth to launch a relentless fight against social evils and to shun habits like drug addiction. Mr Kuldip Singh Happy, owner of the health club, extended a warm welcome to the distinguished gathering present at the occasion. 

ELECTED: Mr Bharat Singh and Mr Kishan Chand were elected president and general secretary of the Punjab Breweries Workers Union, affiliated to the AITUC. The meeting presided over by Mr O.P. Mehta, advocate, elected the following as other office-bearers of the union: Mr Darshan Singh, senior vice-president; Mr Jeet Kumar, vice-president, Mr Jamuna Prasad; cashier, and Mr O.P. Mehta, legal advisor. Giving this information, Mr Mehta claimed that on the basis of a charter of demands submitted to the management, an agreement was signed between the workers union and the management, which led to a monetary gain of between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 annually for each worker. 

VACCINATION CAMP: A Hepatitis-B vaccination-cum-free medical check-up camp, sponsored by Pandit Chand Lal Memorial Trust, will be organised at Shri Krishan Mandir, Model Town Extension here on Sunday. According to Dr K K Rattan, camp director, the camp will be inaugurated by Dr Rajesh Batra of Shri Krishan Charitable Hospital and a team of eminent doctors will provide vaccination and medical check-up in the camp.

MANSA
MOLESTED: A father of two children, Gurmail Singh (35), a resident of Alampur Mandiran village, has allegedly molested an 18-year-old girl of Uddat Saidey Wala village in the district. A case has been registered.

PATIALA
VISIT SOUGHT: Mr Pran Sabharwal, a theatre activist and international co-ordinator of the World Panjabi Theatre Movement, on Friday urged the World Panjabiat Foundation, Chandigarh, to arrange a cultural visit for all those to Pakistan who were supposed to attend the world Panjabi Conference in Lahore. 

PATHANKOT
LIQUOR SEIZED: The Sadar police has arrested Subash Kumar of Sujanpur and recovered 20 bottles of liquor from him at Kothe Panditan village. A case has been registered.

PHAGWARA
DEMANDED: The Railway Travellers Welfare Association and the Citizens Rights Forum, Phagwara, on Saturday demanded the starting of two Diesel Multiple units on the Jalandhar-Phagwara-Nawanshahr rail route, a quota of 10 seats in AC chair car from Phagwara in 4660 Dn Amritsar-New Delhi and 2498 Dn Shane Punjab and a halt of 9367 Up and 9368 Dn Malwa Express at the Phagwara railway station.

ROPAR
ORDERS: The Deputy Commissioner, Ropar, Mr G.S. Grewal, has ordered the district health authorities to inspect the eatable joints to check the spread of cholera in the area. The orders will remain in force till December 31.

SAMRALA
LOK ADALAT: In the local Adalat held here on Saturday under the chairmanship of Mr Ravinder Kumar, Civil Judge, seven cases out of 15 were decided on the spot, according to Mr M.G. Prashar, vice-president of the local Bar Association.

ACQUITTED: Mr Baljit Singh of Machhiwara was acquitted here on Saturday by Mr Ravinder Kumar, Judicial Magistrate under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. Mr Baljit Singh who was challaned by the police station, Machhiwara , in 1999 and was on bail.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Sahit Sabha Machhiwara, unanimously; president — Mr Gurdial Dala; general secretary Mr Sookham Naranjan, and finance secretary — Mr Surinder Pal; for the year 2001-2002, according to Mr Jaswinder Sachdeva.

WHEAT PURCHASED: Only 9000 quintals of wheat have been purchased in the grain Market, Machhiwara, till Friday evening according to its chairman, Mr Gurcharan Singh Mithewal. The officials said there was much mixture and it is very difficult to purchase the wheat. Mr Ajmer Singh Bath, secretary of the committee, said purchase in the Sherpur Bet Mandi have also been started but in the Hedon Bet and Burj Powat Focal Point, no purchase were still done. Meantime the BKU leader Mr Jamiat Singh Gill demanded the purchase of wheat immediately where the procurement has not yet started. They threatened that if no purchases were done till Monday they will stage dharna in the markets.

RATES REDUCED: The nagar council Samrala, has decided to reduce the water rates from Rs 90/ to Rs 40/- and sewerage rates from Rs 50 to 20 according to Mr Bhajan Singh president of the nagar council here on Saturday. This decision was taken at a meeting of the councillors which held here under the presidentship of Mr Bhajan Singh. The reduction in water bill was appreciated by all citizens of Samrala.

AWARENESS DRIVE: More than 450 workers attended the 7th family health awareness campaign, organised by the UT State AIDS Control Society at Industrial Area, Phase-II, in collaboration with the Servants of People Society. Patients were told about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and its bearing on HIV and AIDS. Nearly 3000 condoms and information booklets were distributed free of cost to the workers. Dr Rameshwar Chander, Director Health Services, also visited the camp. The 8th camp will be conducted at Maloya on Sunday.

MEDICAL CAMP: About 511 persons were examined at a medical check-up camp, conducted by the State Bank of Patiala at Nurpur Bedi village in Ropar on Saturday. The camp was organised in collaboration with CRRID. Mr Sunil Kowshal, assistant general manager, regional office of the bank, distributed medicines to poor patients.

EXHIBITION OPENS: The Spring Summer Collection 2001, an exhibition of casual and formal wear designed by Navnee, a local fashion designer, was inaugurated at Hotel Aroma in Sector 22 on Saturday. She is a graduate from the National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi. The outfits, that include formal suits in chiffon to heavy embroidered sarees, range from Rs 1500 to Rs 10,000.

DEATH CONDOLED: The Punjab Governor and the UT Administrator, Lieut-Gen JFR Jacob (retd), expressed shock at the death of Maj Sharam Singh, a World War II veteran, who died here on Saturday. The ADC to the Governor laid a wreath on the body of the soldier at the cremation ground in Sector 25.

JD (U) MEETING: A meeting of the Janata Dal (U) was held here on Friday under the chairmanship of Mr Surinder Bhardwaj, president. Ms Shakuntla Devi was elected president and Ms Chandra Devi vice-president of Ward 7. While Ms Laj Wanti was elected general secretary, Ms Sunita Devi was elected secretary. Bably Devi was elected the treasurer.

PANCHKULA
LIGHTING SCHEME: The Non-Conventional Energy Sources Department will provide 360 domestic solar tubes and fans under the Solar Domestic Lighting Scheme to families living in Bhoj Rajpura, Palsora and naggal, which are unelectrified areas of the Morni hills. Disclosing this, the Deputy Commissioner, Ms Jyoti Arora, while presiding over a meeting to review ongoing works of the Shivalik Development Agencies in the district, on Saturday, said Rs 5.4 lakh had been released under the scheme. She emphasised the need for more tree plantation in the area and a mobile dispensary. She highlighted the need to introduce and encourage processing units of ginger, turmeric and chillies. Ms Arora said the Public Health Department would install seven handpumps in select villages of the Shivalik area at an estimated cost of Rs 11.2 lakh.

SAS NAGAR
PHONE COMPLAINT: The residents of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Cooperative Housing Complex in Sector 70 on Friday complained that the telephone connections of subscribers in the complex were out of order for the past 20 days. Mr Charanjit Singh, a resident of the complex, said complaints with the Telecom Department had failed to yield any result.

CHEQUES GIVEN: Mr Karanbir Singh Kang, senior vice-president of the youth wing of the SAD, distributed cheques worth Rs 5100 under the Shagun scheme of the Punjab Government in Kurdi, Negari, Sadpur, Chapadchiri, Muali Baidwan and other villages in the area on Friday.

AMBALA
WORK ON ROADS: The work on some roads, which could not start for the last two decades, has begun now, Press secretary of Ambala Cantt MLA, Mr Anil Vij, said on Saturday. Work has started on a road close to the GPO and roads in the Lal Kurti area.

PROTEST FAILS: The plan of the state Youth Congress to show black flags to the Union Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, came a cropper on Saturday when Mr Sinha arrived here by air instead of train. The Youth Congress activists, expecting that Union Minister would arrive by train, had assembled at the Ambala Cantt railway station to show him black flags as a mark of protest regarding the tehelka.com expose. Mr Sinha, accompanied by another Union Minister, Maj-Gen (retd) Khanduri, arrived at the Ambala Air Force Station and drove down to the inauguration site at Shahbad Markanda in Kurukshetra. 

COMPUTER TRAINING: Windlas Education Centre has decided to offer free computer training to girls and women from poor families. Centre director Mr Sudhir Windlas said on Saturday that on the successful completion of the six-month computer course, a certificate would be issued to the candidate. He said the aim of this course was to make the girls from poor families independent, a release said.

OFFICE-BEARER: The newly-elected president of Rashtrabhasha Vichar Manch, Dr Shashi Dhamija, announced the new office bearers on Saturday. The vice-president are Mr Uday Thakur, Mr Brij Mohan Kohli and Dr Urmil Gupta. Former convener Dr Jai Prakash Gupta is the general secretary and Dr Vijay Sharma and Dr Pradip Sharma are secretaries, according to a press note. 

CASE 'MOTIVATED': The Faridabad MLA, Mr Chander Bhatia, on Friday called the case against him and a few others as politically motivated and said he would fight the case in court. A press note issued by Mr Chander Bhatia said he would be present before the Special Magistrate for CBI cases on May 1. Mr Bhatia claimed that the case was registered against them on the directions of the former Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, since they had opposed him. He expressed gratitude towards the people of the area for supporting him.

ORDER RESERVED: The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Ambala, Mr J.S. Dhanjal, on Saturday reserved the order on the bail applications of former minister Anand Singh Dangi for May 4. Mr Dangi had filed two bail applications under Section 167(2) of CrPC.

INSTITUTE FUNCTION: Ms Nidhi was declared Miss MBA at a function organised at Shri Atmanand Jain Institute of Management and Technology, Ambala City, on Saturday. The Mr MBA title was given to Mohit, Dr C.L. Singla, the Principal of the institution, addressed the students on this occasion.

INLD YOUTH WING: Mr Suchha Singh Baknor, president of district unit of INLD youth wing, announced office-bearers of the district here on Saturday. According to a press note, the following are the new office-bearers — senior vice-president: Mr Gurdarshan Lali; vice-presidents: Mr Vijay Sharma and Mr Bhupinder Singh; general secretaries: Mr Amrik Singh, Mr Harnek Singh and Mr Jaswinder Singh: organising secretary: Mr Kulbinder Gill and spokesman: Karnail Singh. Mr Surender Raju Sharma has been nominated the president of Ambala Cantt unit, Mr Sunil Trikha of Ambala City unit, Mr Subhash Rana of Naggal unit and Mr Som Prakash Saini of Mulana unit. 

BHIWANI
MEMORANDUM: Residents of Ward No 23, 30 and 31 have submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner, seeking his intervention to direct the municipal authorities to repair the sewerage system, which has been lying chocked for several months.

KURUKSHETRA
EXHIBITION: The Vice-Chancellor of Kurukshetra University, Mr R.S. Chaudhry, inaugurated a week-long art exhibition at the Department of Fine Arts of the university here on Thursday.

SURCHARGE SCHEME: Keeping in view the consumers demand, the Uttar and Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigams have introduced a surcharge waiver scheme for defaulters in the state. Stating this here on Friday, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Abhilaksh Likhi, said under the scheme, total surcharge of those domestic, non-domestic and agriculture consumers in rural as well as urban areas of the district who deposited entire principal amount of arrears of electricity bills in one lot would be waived off.

PANIPAT
HEALTH CAMPAIGN: The Health Department has planned to launch an eight-day family health awareness campaign in the district from Monday. People will be examined and treated for sexually transmitted diseases. This was stated by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr M.R. Anand, while presiding over a meeting of the Health Department officials and representatives of non-government organisations at the local Civil Hospital on Friday.

ROHTAK
ROBBED: Two armed persons robbed a liquor vendor of Rs 4,500 and two cases of wine at gunpoint at Kahnaur village on Thursday. In another incident, some miscreants took away Rs 8,000 from a commuter of train, Mr Vinod Sharma of local Delhi Gate, by making him unconscious.

SONEPAT
PROBE DEMANDED: The Bus Passengers Welfare Association, Haryana, on Saturday urged the state government to order a high-level probe into the complaints about the issuing of tickets of excess amount to passengers travelling in the Haryana Roadways buses between Delhi and Faridabad.

URGED: The gram panchayat of Murthal village has urged the district administration and the police to register a criminal case against the SHO, Murthal police station, for allegedly misbehaving with the sarpanch of the village, Mr Dilbagh Singh. It demanded immediate transfer of the SHO.

MANDI
KILLED: A person was killed and two others were injured in three different incidents around Mandi on Friday. Man Singh of Patrighat village in Sarkaghat subdivision was run over and killed by a bus. Budh Ram of Dahar village in the Bali Chowki area was injured seriously when he was hit by a bus while crossing the road near bus stand. A mechanic, Pawan Kumar, was injured while repairing a bus.

NAHAN
IMPOUNDED: On the instructions of Commissioner, Excise and Taxation Department, Himachal Pradesh, 11 buses, run by private operators, have been impounded by the Excise and Taxation Department, Sirmaur, for the non-payment of tax arrears of over Rs 1 crore, pending for the last several years.

SHIMLA
ASSOCIATION: The following have been elected office-bearers of the SAS (Audit) Association: president — Mr J.S. kanwar; general secretary — Mr R.S. Thakur; vice-president — Mr K.K. Puri; secretary — Mr R.S. Kanwar; and finance secretary — Mr Dwarkesh.

CONG RALLY: The state-level rally of the Congress against the BJP led NDA government at the Centre will be held at Nagrota Bhagwan in Kangra district on April 30 instead of April 28. The AICC General Secretary, Ms Mohsina Kidwai, will address the meeting.