FEROZEPORE
Udham Singh Bhavan: The Minister of State for Cooperation and Sainik Welfare, Mr Janmeja Singh Sekhon, laid the foundation stone of Shaheed Udham Singh Bhavan at Achhewala on Saturday. The bhavan is being set up by the local Shaheed Udham Singh Memorial Trust at a cost of about Rs 15 lakh. Addressing the function in connection with 100th birth anniversary of Udham Singh, Mr Sekhon paid tributes to the martyr and asked people to work for national unity.

HOSHIARPUR
Act opposed: The Clinical Laboratories Association here has strongly opposed the proposed Punjab Nursing Home Registration Act, 1998. In a meeting held here on Friday under the presidentship of Mr Balkar Singh Bamber, President of the association, the members felt that with the introduction of this Act, poor people of Punjab would be adversely affected. They supported the Indian Medical Association unit of Punjab in opposing the Act.

Yuva morcha: The local unit of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha organised a blood donation camp at Government Senior Secondary School in connection with the birthday celebration of the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, on Friday. Sixty units of blood were donated at the camp. Mr Nipun Sharma, President and Mr Nav Nettar Chand Babbi, Vice-President of the morcha, also distributed stationery to school children on the occasion.

JALANDHAR
Probe sought: Mr Ramesh Bunty, President of the local unit of All- India Youth Congress , criticised the dictatorial and unilateral decision of the sports officials of the Punjab Education Department here on Saturday. He said the attitude of sports officials of the department was ruining the careers of many upcoming youngsters. He alleged that only one player had been selected for the state team from the local cricket team, which had won the Inter District Championship (under 16). He sought an inquiry in the matter.

KAPURTHALA
New timings: The Deputy Commissioner, Mrs Usha R.Sharma, on Saturday passed an order regarding change in the school timings from 9 to 9.30 a.m., in view of thick fog, till January 31,1999. The new timings will apply to all government and private schools in the district. LUDHIANA

Bar Association: The following have been elected office-bearers of the District Bar Association: President — Mr K.R.Sikri; Vice-President — Mr K.C.Sharma; Secretary — Mr T.P.S. Dhaliwal; Joint Secretary — Mr Govind Puri; and Finance Secretary — Mr Vijay Bhatia.

PHILLAUR
Gang busted: The police here has busted an inter-district gang of thieves and arrested its 14 members, in different raids conducted in the area. The police has seized three pistols, three knives and several household goods, including gold and silver ornaments from them.

SAMRALA
Teachers' strike: Teachers of the local Malwa College have participated in the state level dharna and rally by teachers of non-government colleges at Chandigarh. Their main demand is to get the pension and gratuity scheme accepted.

Cheques distributed: Jathedar Kirpal Singh Khirnian, member of the SGPC and the District Planning Board, distributed cheques for Rs 50,000 for the development works at Ropalon village, Rs 1.50 lakh for Ghungrali Sikhan village, Rs 46,000 for Rupa village, Rs 83,000 for Mehdudan village, Rs 20,000 for Balala village, Rs 57,000 for Seh village, Rs 89,000 for Khahra village and Rs 1.50 lakh for Shamaspur village, from district funds. He also distributed cheques under the Shagun scheme.

Kribhco conference: The Krishak Bharti Cooperative Limited organised a conference here on Saturday, it was presided over by Mr M.R.S. Chawla, Assistant Registrar, Cooperative Societies, here. Mr Chawla emphasised on the use of chemical fertiliser to increase crop production. Kribhco officials discussed about their fertiliser production, supplies and rural development programme being carried out in the villages.

SANGRUR
Distributed: About 90 sweaters were distributed among school children belonging to the weaker sections at Dhuri, about 15 km from here, on Thursday by the local Rotary Club.

Blood donation: As many as 30 students of the local Akal Degree College for Women donated blood at a blood donation camp organised at the college on Sunday. Dr Harjit Kaur, Principal of the college, said Mrs Tuhina Tewari, wife of the Deputy Commissioner, inaugurated the camp.

BHIWANI
Aid for poor: Mr Ram Bhajan Aggarwal, Minister of State for Home and Tourism, said financial assistance of Rs 39 lakh had been provided to families living below the poverty line in the district to start self-employment projects during the past two-and-a-half years by the present state government. He was addressing public meeting at Palbas, Ninan, Kaunt Umravat, Pubanpura and Nangal villages on Friday.

Bank building: Mr Som Vir Singh, MLA of Loharu, inaugurated the building of Bhiwani Central Cooperative Bank for providing financial assistance at the doorstep of the rural people. Mr Rishi Ram, Managing Director of the bank, said during the past two years, Rs 224 crore had been advanced as loans in the rural area for crop and non-farming activities.

GURGAON
Kidnapped: The Tauru police has registered a case against Abdul Sattar, a librarian of the local Government College for kidnapping a girl student of the college. The father of the girl informed the police that the librarian along with his friend had kidnapped his daughter.

Girl killed: A seven-year-old girl was killed on the spot after being hit by a truck near Sikandarpur on the Gurgaon-Mehrauli road. The DLF police has registered a case against the truck driver.

JIND
Development work: The state Agriculture Marketing Board would spend Rs 2.36 crore on development work in the district during the current financial year. Mr Tarun Bajaj, Deputy Commissioner, said here on Saturday that the board would spend Rs 50.37 lakh on the construction of four link roads in the rural areas of the district. He said Rs 16.26 lakh was being spent on the repair of different roads and the board would construct a new purchase centre at Sudkain Khurd village during the current year.

SIRSA
Thief arrested: Noori, alias Kashmir Bajigar, of Kuranganwali village in the district was arrested by the Rori police in connection with a criminal case registered against him under Sections 457 and 380 of the IPC. The police seized 10 kg brass and 11 kg aluminium, which had reportedly been stolen by the accused from the house of Colu Ram Bajigar of the same village on Friday.

Road mishap: Mohan Lal (60) died on the spot while his younger brother Lal Chand (35) and Billu Ram (45), husband of his sister, were injured in a road accident in this district on Saturday. According to sources Lal Chand and his two relatives were going to a brick kiln near Paniwala Motta village when the horse cart on which they were going collided with a bus.

Six injured: Six persons of a family of Fatehpuria village, received injuries when their autorickshaw turned turtle near Sirsa on Thursday.They were taking the body of an infant for performing the last rites. The injured include the infant's father Rajinder Kumar, his wife, mother, father-in-law, mother-in-law and brother-in-law.

Thieves: Three members of a gang of thieves were arrested by the local police here on Friday. Ten cases of theft in the district have been solved with the arrests of these persons. The SSP, Mr B.S. Sandhu, said the accused confessed that they had stolen electric wire from a dozen tubewells in the area.

Balidan divas: A declamation contest was organised at Arya Senior Secondary School here. The function was presided over by Mr Sitaram Bagla, a freedom fighter and ex-MLA. Teams from various educational institutions of the city participated in the contest.

KANGRA
Lecturers' association: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local unit of the HP Non- Government College Lecturers Association, MCM DAV College: President — Mr Naresh Sharma; Vice- President — Dr (Mrs) Usha Sharma; Secretary — Dr Rajender Sharma; Joint Secretary — Mrs Manju Parti; and Cashier — Dr Sanjiv Raj.

THEOG
Criticised: Mr Sunil Sharma, Vice-President of the Rajiv Gandhi Youth Forum, Himachal Pradesh, has criticised the government decision of giving employment to retired Government servants, as this move would give a big jolt to thousands of unemployed youth in the state.