AMRITSAR
PHONE TARIFF: The Janta Dal (United) on Monday castigated the government for hiking the tariff on telephone calls. The Janta Dal (United) rural unit president, Mr Harjinder Singh Arora, said the hike was anti-people and should be withdrawn immediately.

BATHINDA
BLOOD DONATION: Mr Vinod Bansal, spokesman, Aasra Welfare Society, said on Tuesday that the reluctance on the part of the people in donating blood has led to shortage of blood at the local blood bank.

JALANDHAR
SMUGGLER HELD: The police has arrested a smuggler along with 10 kg of opium. According to the police, following a tip-off, a naka was set up near Layyewal village in Nakodar on Sunday night and a jeep intercepted. The search of the vehicle led to the seizure of 10 kg of opium. Subsequently, the driver of the vehicle, identified as Joga Singh of Baloki village, was arrested.

REPAIR WORKS: To save as many as 150 villages from any disaster during the rainy season, the district administration will spend Rs 3 crore to carry out repair works at the Dhussi bandh, near here. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Ashok Gupta, on Monday inspected the complete stretch of the Dhussi bandh from Lasara to Bhoda village in Phillaur.

KHARAR
FUNCTION: The local Rotary Club organised a function at Shaheed Maj Harminder Pal Singh Government Elementary School, Mundi Kharar, on Tuesday. According to the project chairman, Mr Tej Singh, copies, stationery, summer clothes were distributed among 26 adopted children. hepatitis-B vaccination was given by Dr Inderjit Singh Bhatia, child specialist , to the children of the under privileged sections of the society.

MANSA
POLICE DRIVE: Mr S.S. Srivastava, SSP, here said on Tuesday that under a drive during April 75 persons had been arrested under the Excise Act. The police seized two working stills, 1,398 kg of lahan, 236 litre of illicit liquor and 392 litre of countrymade liquor in the district.

PATHANKOT
ROBBERY: Robbers struck at the house of Ashok Kumar at the Bharat Nagar colony on Sunday night and allegedly looted jewellery, cash and other articles. Sources said Ashok Kumar, along with his family members, had gone to attend a marriage function when the incident took place.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Shaheed Sainik Parivar Parishad (Women Wing): chairperson — Mrs Santosh Rana; president — Mrs Shamma Anand; vice-president — Mrs Santosh Chandel; general secretary — Mrs Raj Dogra; and secretary — Mrs Chanchal Dadwal.

PATIALA
STRIKE: Employees of the local Cooperative Bank observed a two-hour pen down strike on Tuesday in protest against the forcible implementation of the' pay parity ' letter issued by the Punjab Government. Addressing the employees, Mr M.S. Malhi, Additional General Secretary of the state federation, disclosed that the cooperative banks were registered under the Cooperative Societies Act and the pay structure was entirely different from what the employees were getting. He said the employees of the cooperative banks would go on mass casual leave and observe a one-day strike on June 13 if their demands were not met. A dharna would also be staged in front of the office of the Registrar, Cooperative Societies, in Chandigarh, on the same day.

SEMINAR HELD : The Association for Democratic Rights organised a seminar," the role of working class in the recent changed situation all over the world", here on Tuesday. Mr Sucha Singh Gill, economist, Punjabi University, said the educated class of the country was agitating not just for their social and political rights but also for economic rights.

PHAGWARA
AID GIVEN: As many as 110 tricycles and wheelchairs, 50 crutches, 20 walking sticks and 150 hearing aids worth Rs 8 lakh were distributed free of cost to the physically challenged at a camp organised here on Monday by the National Institute for the Visually Handicapped, Dehra Dun, the Lions Club, Phagwara, and the District Red Cross, according to a press note issued here on Tuesday. The Punjab Social Welfare Minister, Mr Joginder Singh Mann, inaugurated the camp.

TARN TARAN
MOBILE CANTEEN: Subedar Amarjit Singh (retd), general secretary of the local block unit of the Indian Ex-services League, Punjab and Chandigarh, has condemned the non-arrival of the mobile military canteen here on Monday to provide products to ex-servicemen and widows of military personnel. Mr Amarjit Singh, in a press note, said the mobile canteen used to come here on the 5th and 15th of every month, but did not come on Monday.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Association of Eicherities: president — Neha Suri, vice president — Gaurav Mittal, secretary — Manuraj and treasurers — Poonam Kaith and Poonam Verma. 

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the PCMS Association of Government Medical College and Rajindra Hospital, Patiala. president — Dr D.S. Bhullar; senior vice-president — Dr Manjit Singh; vice-president — Dr Jaswinder Singh; general secretary — Dr Y.S. Banga and treasurer — Dr Varinder Verma.

MES UNION: The following has been elected office-bearers of the MES Workers Union (AC), Ambala Branch-GE AF, Chandigarh: chairman — Mr R.S. Banga; president — Mr Bachittar Singh; senior vice-president — Mr Kulbhushan Sharma; secretary — Mr Ashwani Chhibbar; senior joint secretary — Mr Sohan Lal and treasurer — Mr Kitab Singh.

ASSOCIATION: The following have been elected office-bearers of the All-India Central Ground Water Board Employees Association, Chandigarh: chairman — Mr Shubh Karan Singh; vice-chairman — Mr Bhag Singh; general secretary — Mr Ishwar Dass; assistant secretary — Mr Altaf Ahmed; treasurer — Mr Kuldip Singh and executive members — Mr Ram Kumar, Mr S.S. Solanki, Mr Om Parkash, Mr Tej Bahadur and Mr Nachattar Singh. 

DEAD: A visit to the Sector 43 ISBT proved to be fatal for a 28-year-old shopkeeper, Upinder Garg, when he was returning on his scooter from the bus stand after dropping his father, Uma Shankar Garg. Upinder Garg, died after being hit by a truck on the road dividing Sectors 44 and 51. He was declared brought dead at the PGI . Upinder Garg a resident of Sector 20, was running a shop in Sector 22. He is survived by his father, mother and two younger brothers. The deceased had gone to the bus stand to drop his father who is employed as a draughtsman at the Panchkula office of the Haryana Irrigation Department. According to the police, the driver of the truck (PAD 9249) fled from spot after the mishap. The truck has been impounded by the police.

NEW DIRECTOR: The Chandigarh Administration on Tuesday handed over the charge of Director Sports to the Additional Deputy Commissioner , Mr I.S. Sandhu. Till now the Deputy Commissioner, Mr M. Ramsekhar, was officiating as the Director Sports.

PANCHKULA
OLD-AGE PENSION: A sum of Rs 37,17,280 has been disbursed as old age pension, widow pension, pension to handicapped and destitute children. This information was given by the Deputy Commissioner, Ms Satwanti Ahlawat. She said over 20, 000 people had benefitted from this.

QUIZ: A quiz on Indian mythology was held at Chu Mantar Nihari Baba Temple, Surajpur. As many as 14 persons participated in the contest and Ahsas and Ritu won the first and second prize, respectively.

INJURED: A resident of Sector 11 here, Ankur Bansal, was injured when his scooter (HR-04-7292) was hit by a tractor in Sector 21 on Monday night. The tractor driver, Sanjeev, tried to flee, but was caught by residents. The tractor was without a number plate and headlights.