FATEHGARH SAHIB
Credit plan: Mr T.R. Sarangal, Deputy Commissioner, on Tuesday launched the district credit plan for 1999-2000. He said bankers in this district had committed a loaning budget of Rs 202.57 crore as compared to Rs 159.45 crore during the current year by projecting a record growth of Rs 43.12 crore. A sum of Rs 152.75 crore for agriculture and allied sectors, Rs 37.72 crore for the SSI and Rs 12.10 crore for trade and services had been reserved.

FEROZEPORE
Guard mounting: Teams of Ferozepore, Moga and Muktsar stood first, second and third, respectively, in a guard mounting competition held by the Ferozepore police range here on Tuesday at the Police Lines. The DIG of the range, Mr Hardeep Singh Dhillon, gave away prizes to the winners.

GURDASPUR
Booked: The police has booked Bittu of Kaseetpura under the Mukerian police station in Hoshiarpur district and seized 116 kg of khairwood at Plah village from the house of his in-laws. The wood is a contraband item and has been smuggled from Jammu and Kashmir for sale in Punjab. The current cost of the seized khairwood amounts to Rs 4.5 lakh.
Fake registration: The police naka party at the drain bridge near Kotli Mughlan village in Pathankot subdivision arrested Parkash Singh, alias Lali, of Nasir Ke in this district and seized two registrations — one genuine and one fake — of the same truck from him.

JALANDHAR
Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Harmukh Kashmiri Welfare Samiti here: patron — Mr B.L. Handoo; president — Mr Rajinder Kaul; vice-president — Ms Kanta Kaul; general secretary — Mr U.K. Razdan; joint secretary — Mr Ramesh Warikoo and treasurer — Mr M.K. Kaul.

LUDHIANA
Awarded: Prof D.R.C. Bakhetia, a senior entomologist and former Head of the Entomology Department, PAU, Ludhiana, was conferred the Distinguished Achievements Award-1998 at a recently held international conference on pests and pesticide management for sustainable agriculture at Kanpur.
Lok adalat: A lok adalat was organised in Jagraon on Monday by the Additional Civil Judge, Senior Division, Jagraon, Mr Ashok Kumar, and the Chairman of the Legal Services Committee. Thirtyone cases came up for hearing at the lok adalat and 14 cases were dispensed with.
Pensioners’ support: The All-India Government Pensioners Association has said the government move to stop the pension of sacked Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat, is unjust. In a press note, Mr Yash Paul Ghai, general secretary of the association, extended the association’s support to Admiral Bhagwat and demanded a probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee into his sacking.

MOGA
Murdered: Krishan Kumar (42), a resident of Khundan, about 60 km from here, was allegedly murdered in broad daylight by Yadav of the same village on Monday . The deceased had gone on a stroll along with two of his friends when Yadav reportedly beat him up badly. He was rushed to the primary health centre where doctors declared him dead. The police has arrested Yadav and registered a case of murder against him.
DC forms panel: The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Kulbir Singh Kang, here on Wednesday constituted an apex body comprising three members to streamline the regular supply of cooking gas cylinders to consumers here. The committee has been constituted in view of large-scale black marketing of cooking gas cylinders at the hands of the agencies entrusted with the supply.

PATIALA
Seminar: The Citizens Council, Aman Vihar, here organised a seminar on Monday in memory of Shaheed Bhagat Singh. The seminar was presided over by Prof Sucha Singh Gill, Head, Department of Economics, Punjabi University. Other notable speakers were Prof Amarinder Pal Singh, Dr Rajinder Singh Atwal, Prof Kuldip Singh Bedi and Mr Gurbakhsh Singh Virk.
Charity show: A charity show, 'Mera Rang De Basanti Chola", was held in Central Library here to pay tributes to Shaheed Bhagat Singh. The local Indian Peoples Theatre Association (IPTA) organised the show. Anjan Srivastav, well-known film and television personality of "Wagle ke Duniya" fame, was the chief guest.
Club office-bearers: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Agrawal Intellectual Club here: president - Dr M.R. Garg; senior vice-president - Mr O.P. Goyal; vice-president -Dr Harcharan Dass and Prof Rajinder Gupta; general secretary - Prof S.K. Gupta; and finance secretary - Mr Karamvir Goyal.
Lecture delivered: A lecture under the Guru Tegh Bahadur memorial series organised by the Guru Granth Sahib Studies Department of Punjabi University was delivered here by Litterateur Dr Mohinder Pal Kohli. He said Guru Tegh Bahadur was instrumental in inspiring people to confront danger boldly.
Play presented: The North Zone Cultural Centre, Patiala, presented "Mahabhoj", a Dogri play adapted from Manu Bhandari’s original Hindi script and directed by Balwant Thakur for Natrang Jammu ( J and K) here on Monday evening. Mr S.K. Ahluwalia, Director, NZCC, presided.

PATHANKOT
Octroi posts: The octroi posts for 1999-2000 within the municipal limit of Pathankot were auctioned to a private contractor, Mr B Dass, on Tuesday. According to Mr S K Mittal, Executive Officer, the octroi posts were auctioned for Rs 4.93 crore

TARN TARAN
Grant to School: Mr Rajmohinder Singh, Rajya Sabha member from Amritsar, announced a grant of Rs 3 lakh for Sri Guru Harkrishan Public School, Naushehra Dhalla, while speaking at the annual prize distribution function of the school, which was held on Tuesday.

PANCHKULA
Donated: The employees of the Chandigarh branch of the Canara Bank donated stationery items to 22 children of Balsadan, a home for destitute children in Sector 4, here on Wednesday. The stationery was donated under a “tram campaign”, in which each employee contributes three rupees a month for different social welfare activities.
Programme: The Unnat Bharat Vikas organised a cultural programme in Azad Colony here on Wednesday to create awareness among slum-dwellers about population control, early marriage, education and women rights under a RCH project sponsored by the Swach Foundation.

SAS NAGAR
Camp: As many as 750 patients were examined for diabetes, blood pressure and other heart ailments during a camp organised by the Munshi Ram Memorial Charitable Trust Phase I here on Wednesday. As many as 150 persons underwent ECG and laboratory investigations of 350 persons were conducted free of cost during the camp.

SIRSA
Gamblers held: The district police chief said here on Tuesday five persons had been held for gambling and Rs 22,910, a car and a motor cycle recovered from them in raids in the district. Mahesh of Alikan village was arrested near a liquor shop in Baraguda. The other arrested were Vinod Kumar, Kalu Ram, Darshan Lal and Subhash Chander of the local Teher Mohalla.
Cop arrested: The Sirsa police has arrested a Head Constable of the railway police, Sher Singh, on the charge of murdering a sadhwi last Monday. He has been arrested on the basis of an inquiry conducted by the railway police DSP, Mr Rajgopal. The SSP, Mr B.S. Sandhu, said on Tuesday Sher Singh during interrogation said he was under the influence of liquor and did not remember anything.
Arrested: Budh Ram of Kirti Nagar here was arrested for supplying liquor in the jail, the police said on Tuesday. Budh Ram was alleged to have taken two bottles of liquor to his relatives in the jail. He was arrested under Section 42 of the Prisoners Act and Section 61 of the Excise Act.
Health camp: As many as 250 patients were examined at a free health check-up camp organised by the Naujawan Sabha at Khuian village in this district on Tuesday. Medicines free of cost were distributed among poor and needy patients.
Mahila mandal: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Sirsa Dukhi Mahila Mandal: secretary — Ms Rajrani Jindal; general secretary — Ms Manju Goel; treasurer — Ms Asha Rani; and propaganda secretary — Ms Rajrani Arora.

SONEPAT
Driving licences: In a bid to encourage blood donors, the SDM-cum-Licensing Authority issued driving licences on the spot after volunteers donated blood at a camp organised at Gohana, 35 km from here, on Tuesday. The blood donors were also given Rs 103 each.
Injured: Three persons, namely Balwan (32), Chet Ram (26) and Sunder Singh (23) sustained serious stab wounds when they were attacked by certain persons belonging to a rival group at Qumashpur village, about 15 km from here, on Tuesday. The injured persons were rushed to the local civil hospital. They were later referred to the Rohtak Medical College and Hospital.

CHAMBA
Timber seized: In a special drive launched to detect illicit felling and smuggling of forest produce, the police has seized 80 scants of deodar and kail trees in the Kihar area of Chamba district. In a press note issued here on Wednesday, the SP said the value of the seized timber had been assessed to be nearly Rs 1 lakh.
Medical camp: As many as 6,000 patients were examined and diagnosed at a medical camp which concluded at the local Dayanand Math on Tuesday. According to the Deputy Commissioner, 133 operations were carried out during the camp. These included 26 gall bladder operations.

HAMIRPUR
Found dead: An unemployed person, Devinderpal, alias Billa, was found dead under mysterious circumstances near Bhota Kaswa on Tuesday. The body was found badly mutilated and it looked as if the man had been crushed under some vehicle. An official spokesman said here on Wednesday the body had been brought to the district hospital here for a post-mortem examination. A case has been registered under Sections 279, 337 and 304-A of the IPC.

NAHAN
Exchange opens: A 3500-line C-DoT multi-base module (MBM) telephone exchange was inaugurated by Mr S.C. Chandhock, General Manager (Development), Himachal Pradesh telecom circle, here on Monday. Two old exchanges having capacity of 1,000 and 1,500 lines have been removed.

SUNDERNAGAR
Phone exchange: Mr Maheshwar Singh, MP from Mandi, inaugurated a 4000-line MBM C-DoT exchange here on Tuesday. He said in the Sundernagar area telephones would be provided on demand after June 1, 1999.