Winners: Ms Teena Sukehja of the local DAV College won the first prize in the inter-college debate organised by the Department of Youth Services of the college on Thursday. Ms Meenakshi of Lal Bahadur Shastri College, Barnala, and Ms Shalini of DAV College, Gidderbaha, won the second and third prizes, respectively.

FAZILKA

Released on bail: Baljit Singh, Tehsildar, Ludhiana, who was lodged in the sub-jail at Fazilka on Wednesday for appearing late in court has been granted bail on Thursday. He was to appear in a mutation case of Jalalabad town in the court of Mrs Gurdarshan Kaur, Judicial Magistrate. He, however, arrived in the court late and was sent to the sub-jail.

GURDASPUR

Book fair: Principal Shabeel Dass Library Trust organised a bookfair at Khalsa High School here on Thursday. Books on different subjects were displayed by the Panjab Languages Department and other publishers.

LUDHIANA

Youth festival: The College of Basic Sciences, Punjab Agricultural University, lifted the overall trophy at the 10th Professor S.N. Kakkar Memorial Youth Festival which concluded here on the university campus on Wednesday. Dr Gurcharan Singh Kalkat, Vice-Chancellor of the university gave away the prizes to the winners and laid emphasis on the need for inculcating discipline and the spirit of competition among the students.

MOGA

Donated: The Assistant Public Relation Officer here, Mr Inderjit Singh, has donated his ancestral house in Daudhar Garbi village in this district to the government primary school of the village in memory of his mother.
Term extended: The term of the Chairman of the Moga Improvement Trust, Mr Joginder Singh Jain, has been extended for two years by the state government.

PATIALA

Nominated: Dr Niranjan Singh of the Department of Physics at Punjabi University here has been nominated Joint Secretary of the Indian Society for Radiation Physics, Mumbai. Dr Nirmal Singh, Dr P.S. Sandhu and Dr B.S. Sandhu all from the Physics Department have been nominated members of this society, according to a press note issued by the university on Thursday.
DA release: The Punjab College Librarians' Association has demanded immediate release of the DA instalment for July this year on the un-revised UGC pay-scales. A memorandum, addressed to the Chief Minister and the Finance Minister, Punjab, has pointed out that Haryana Government had already released the DA instalment for July this year on the revised as well as un-revised pay-scales.

PHILLAUR

Course for Inspectors: The Punjab Police Academy, Phillaur, has organised a two-day course on "Departmental Enquiries and Proceedings" for Inspectors of Police. The course was inaugurated by Mr S.C. Gupta, Deputy Director (Legal).

TARN TARAN

Tributes: Rich tributes were paid to the 1971 Indo-Pak hero and winner of the MVC, Lt Shamsher Singh Samra, on Wednesday at Pakhoke, his native village. Mr Tarlochan Singh Tur, MP, announced a grant of Rs 2 lakh for the development of the village.

Students' convention: The first district-level convention of the district unit of the Students' Federation of India which concluded here on Thursday expressed concern over the fee-hike, shortage of hostels in different colleges in the state, and increase in the incidence of eve-teasing in colleges.

HISAR

Award: Three scientists Dr R.P. Gupta, Mr P.C. Verma and Mr Raj Kumar of Veterinary Pathology Department of Haryana Agriculture University here have been honoured with the Savitree Jibachch Singh award. The award instituted by the Indian Association of Veterinary Pathologists was conferred on these scientists for the best poster presentation on ultra structural changes in liver and kidneys of zinc deficient guinea-pigs at the annual conference of the association held at Trichur.
Poppy husk: Railway authorities here found 21 Kg poppy husk from two unclaimed bags. The bags were found in a compartment of a passenger train here on Friday morning. The train had arrived here from Ludhiana. The poppy husk packed in 2 kg packets was found during the cleaning of the compartment. A case has been registered.
Honoured: Dr Thomas M Varghese, Professor of Botany and a former Dean, Basic Sciences and Humanities at CCS Haryana Agriculture University here, has been elected president of the International Society for Environmental Resource Management.

KURUKSHETRA

Child abductor arrested: The Kurukshetra Police has arrested Baba Rudra Giri, a resident of local Gandhi Nagar for allegedly abducting nine-year-old Sunil Kumar and compelling him to beg, and recovered the boy from his custody.
Arrested: The local police has arrested Bikramjeet Singh, alias Bittu, a resident of Sector 13, here for allegedly stabbing to death his younger brother, Brahamvir on the night of November 16 last.

PANIPAT

Crushing starts: The crushing of sugarcane at the local Cooperative Sugar Mill began on Thursday. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Anurag Rastogi said that sugarcane growers had been paid their arrears.
Resentment: Members of the Sarv Karamchari Sangh Haryana held a gate meeting here on Thursday and expressed resentment over the non-payment of bonus.
Open darbar: A block-level open darbar was held at Samalkha on Wednesday under the presidentship of Mr A K Singh, Additional Deputy Commissioner. As many as 123 complaints were received in the darbar.
Compensation demanded: The Haryana Kisan Sabha has demanded a compensation of Rs 5,000 per acre to be paid to the farmers whose standing crops had been destroyed or damaged by rain.

SIRSA

Seized: Nearly 210 bags of fertilizers were seized from a factory here on Wednesday. Fertilizer was allegedly stored for black marketing.
Liquor seized: Mrs Simranjeet Kaur was arrested from Sikanderpur village of this district under the Excise Act and the police seized 50 liquor pouches from her possession. While giving this information the SSP, Mr B.S. Sandhu, said here on Friday that the police also arrested Sarain Singh of Rajasthan and seized huge quantity of liquor from his possession.
Fire accidents: Mrs Kiran Bala of Odhan village in Sirsa district received serious burns on Thursday evening while lighting a lamp in her house. She was admitted to civil hospital here but as her condition deteriorated, she was referred to hospital in Ludhiana. In another accident Rajinder Kumar, a local resident received serious burns at his house on Thursday and was admitted to civil hospital. His condition was stated to be stable.
Power theft: A special campaign to detect power theft has been launched. While giving this information Mr B.S. Sandhu, SSP said the police had detected 14 cases of power theft in the city and registered criminal cases under Section 379, of the IPC and under Sections 39 and 39A of the Indian Electricity Act.
Body found: The body of a young person was recovered from a religious place here on Wednesday. The body has been sent to the civil hospital for a post-mortem examination.

SONEPAT

Surprise raid: The Haryana Development and Panchayat Minister, Mr Kanwal Singh, conducted a surprise raid at the office of the Block Development and Panchayat Officer at Ganaur, 16 km from here, on Thursday and found all officers and employees present. According to official sources, similar raids were conducted at Sonepat and Kharkhauda and the Minister found only one employee absent from duty.
Three arrested: The Sadar police arrested three persons on the charge of gambling during a surprise raid conducted by the police in Kabirpur village near here on Thursday. The police also recovered cash and some other articles from them.

National Integration Day: The National Service Scheme wing of Government Senior Secondary School, Panjgrain celebrated "National Integration Day" at school premises on Wednesday. It was presided over by Mr Chanbel Singh Dhiman, the Principal. Hundreds of villagers also participated in the celebration.
Freedom fighter dead: Premlal Gupta (74), popularly known as Premlal "Sarang", a veteran freedom fighter of the Praja Mandal Movement, died here on Thursday. His funeral was attended by eminent citizens.
Grievances redressed: A "Shikayat Nivaran Shivir" was held at Kot Khas on Wednesday. Fourteen out of 50 cases were settled on the spot while the remaining cases were referred to the departments concerned for further action.

CHIRGAON

Promotions: Mr K.C. Khirta, president of the H.P. Vidyut Board Karamchari Sangh, has requested the Chief Minister and Chairman of the Electricity Board, to grant time-scale promotions to the employees working in the field. He said some employees such as fitters and painters had been working on the same post for the past 20 years and they should be given promotion.

SHIMLA

Office-bearers: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Technical Staff Association of the Labour Bureau: President — Mr Darshan Lal; Vice-President — Mr R.K. Thakur; Joint Secretary — Mr V.K. Sood; General Secretary — Mr R.S. Pundir; and Treasurer — Mr Rup Singh.
Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Him Lok Sampark Field Staff Association: President — Mr K.K. Chauhan; Senior Vice-President — Mr Baldev Dass Sharma; Vice-President — Mr Mohinder Singh; General Secretary — Mr H.K. Gupta; and Finance Secretary — Mr Mann Singh.