Arrested: Jai Singh, a resident of Panniwala Mahla village in Abohar sub-division, was arrested on Wednesday for killing his first wife Radha Devi at her parents' house in Sadhuwali village near the Punjab-Rajasthan border. The body was hanged by a cot to feign suicide.

Teachers’ strike: Non-teaching employees of the three DAV Colleges here on Thursday observed a strike in support of their demands. They held a gate rally and resolved to observe strike on April 3,6 and 7 and reiterated threat to boycott university examinations.

AMRITSAR
Forum's demand: The Punjab Anti-Corruption Forum has urged the state government to fill the vacant post of the Presiding Officer in Labour Court. In a press note issued here on Friday Thakur Hari Singh, Chairman of the forum, alleged that the cases of workers were not being disposed of.

Deputation meets Badal: A deputation of the OCM Mills Workers Action Committee led by social activist Satya Pal Dang, Mr Hardev Arshi, MLA, and Mr Amarjit Singh Asal, Secretary, PTUC, met Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister, at Chandigarh and requested him to intervene personally to solve the labour dispute in the mills. Mr Badal gave a hearing to the deputation, it is learnt.

FEROZEPORE
Rally: A district-level rally of the Private College Non-Teaching Employees Union was held here on Thursday. It started from RSD College and culminated at Shaheed Udham Singh Chowk. The protesting employees also struck work.

Blood donation: The Ferozepore District Joint Action Christian Youth Forum on Wednesday held a blood donation camp at Francis Newton Hospital here. According to the Forum District Secretary, Mr Shamlal, as many 20 units of blood were donated. The camp was inaugurated by the Hospital's Medical Superintendent, Dr Richard David.

Excise official held: Vigilance Bureau staff arrested an Excise Department official at Zira on Thursday under the Prevention of Corruption Act, the Ferozepore Range, Vigilance Bureau, Superintendent of Police, Mr Hardyal Singh, said Darshan Singh, a Havildar in the Excise Department, Zira, was caught by the DSP, Mr Mahal Singh, while accepting a bribe of Rs 1500 from Mr Malkiat Singh, a resident of Santuwala village for returning the confiscated countrymade liquor to him. The SP added that a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act had been registered against the suspect.

HOSHIARPUR
Water shortage: Residents of Guru Nanak Nagar Avenue and the Fatehgarh road are facing an acute shortage of drinking water. This created resentment among the residents. Mr Prem Kumar Nazar, a resident of Guru Nanak Nagar Avenue, said here on Friday that the residents approached the Municipal Councillor in this regard but the showed his inability. Meanwhile, the Municipal Department on Friday made arrangements through tankers.

Office-bearers: The following have been elected office-bearers of the District Bar Association, Hoshiarpur: President — Mr R.P. Dhir, Vice-President — Mr A.K. Bali, Secretary — Mr V.K. Menon; Joint Secretary — Mrs Vandhana Rana; and Cashier — Mr V.M. Kaushal.

KAPURTHALA
Liquor shop shifted: Residents of Lahori Gate on Thursday came out in the open against the opening of a liquor shop in the locality. The residents, a majority of whom were women, staged a dharna in front of the liquor shop and forced the servants of the shop to close it. On Mr N.S. Beath, Sub-Divisional Magistrate's assurance that the liquor shop would be shifted the dharna was lifted.

KHARAR
Tailoring centre: A tailoring and cutting centre for poor girls was inaugurated at the Municipal Council office here yesterday by Mr Ranbir Singh Kala, and Mr Lachman Singh, President and Executive Officer of the council respectively. Mr Lachman Singh said this centre had been set up under the Swarn Jyanti Rojgar Yojna and as many as 25 girls would be given the two-month training.

Land encroachment: Reacting promptly on a news item published in The Tribune on March 31 about land encroachment at Chappar Chirri Kalan village Mr Ranjit Singh Block and Development Officer, Kharar, yesterday wrote to the Tehsildar, Kharar, not to register any sale deed or agreement about common land of the village without hearing the version of panchayat and BDO office concerned.

LUDHIANA
Railway pensioners demand: The Northern Railway Pensioners Welfare Association (NRPWA) has urged the Railway Ministry to grant medical allowance to them at the earliest. In a press note issued, on Thursday Mr Sher Singh, President, NRPWA, has also demanded that the pensioners', attendants should also be allowed to travel in the first class on paying 50 per cent less attendant fare (Sleeper Class).

Radio lectures: All India Radio, Jalandhar, in collaboration with Punjab Agricultural University yesterday started a radio school on animal husbandry. The school will be run up to September, 1999. As many 26 lectures would be broadcast every Monday during 'Dehati Programme" at 6.15 p.m.

NAWANSHAHR
Strike: Non-teaching employees of private colleges here on Thursday observed dharnas and gate rallies in their respective colleges in protest against the non-implementation of their demands. Mr Ashok Sharma, district President, Private College Non-Teaching Employees Union, threatened to intensify the stir if their demands were not accepted. He said a rally would be held on April 7 in front of the Deputy Commissioner's office.

PATIALA
Teachers’ strike: On a call given by the Private College Non-Teaching Employees Union, Punjab, staff of Modi College here observed a stay-in strike and a dharna. Mr Joginder Singh Bajwa, President of the Modi College Union, said all private colleges in the state would observe strike on April 3 in protest against the non-implementation of the revised pay scales.

Invited: Dr Chanchal Singh Kamboij, Head of the Department, Anthropological Linguistics, Punjabi University, Patiala, has been invited to present his two papers at the 20th International Conference on South Asian Languages and Linguistics to be held on July 9, 1999, at the University of Illionois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. Dr Kamboj will present his papers: "Dynamics of Negation in Punjabi and "Functional View of Vibhaktis in Punjabi".

PHAGWARA
Employees’ stir: Non-teaching and teaching staff of private colleges of Kapurthala district held rally at Ramgarhia College on Thursday in protest against the non-implementation their demands. Mr G.P. Chaddha, district President, Non-Teaching Employees Union, and Prof Roop Kumar, a leader of the PCCTU, addressed rally among others.

SANGRUR
Ban: The District Magistrate, Mr Anirudh Tewari, has banned the sale of all kinds of cut fruits, eatables and contaminated food items. Similarly the manufacture of ice and soda water has been prohibited unless certified by the bacteriologist that the water used for the same is fit for human consumption.

PANCHKULA
Parishad: The local unit of the Bharat Vikas Parishad will celebrate its annual function at its bhavan in Sector 12-A here on Monday. The State Industry Minister, Mr Shashipal Mehta, will be the chief guest.

Elected: In a general body meeting of the Haryana Government Retired Officers Welfare Association, following have been elected the office-bearers: President — Mr T.R. Tulli, Senior Vice-President — Mr Ram Prakash, Vice-President — Mr S.P. Grover, General Secretary — Mr Ram Narain, Secretary — Mr C.L. Malhotra, Organising Secretary — Mr O.D. Sharma; and Finance Secretary — Mr K.C. Jain.

SAS NAGAR
Annual function: Prizes were distributed among the students at the annual function of Freedom Fighter Daya Singh Public School, Manauli village near SAS Nagar. The chief guest, Mr Hari Charan Vashisht announced a grant for the school. A cultural programme was presented by the students on the occasion. The school administration also announced plans for the new academic session.

ZIRAKPUR
Office-bearers: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Punjab State Electricity Board Employees Federation , Ropar circle: President — Mr Ram Kumar; Senior Vice-President — Mr Harjinder Singh; Vice-Presidents — Mr Hari Chand and Mr Jagdish Kumar; Secretary — Mr Kuldeep Singh; Joint Secretary — Mr Radhey Sham; Treasurer — Mr Narinder Kumar and executive members — Mr Madan Gopal and Mr Amarjit Singh.

SHAHABAD
Grants announced: Mrs Kailasho Devi Saini, MP, toured about three dozen villages in the Shahabad Vidhan Sabha constituency last week and announced grants amounting to Rs 30 lakh for various development works in these villages out of the MP quota.

REWARI
Aid: Nineteen handicapped persons engaged in agriculture were given financial assistance worth Rs 3.42 lakh by Mr Ved Parkash, Chairman Haryana Marketing Agricultural Board, at a function held in the market committee complex here on Wednesday.

SHIMLA
Ministers' assets: The Himachal Pradesh unit of the Samajwadi Janata Party (SJP) has expressed concern over the failure of the ministers of the BJP-HVC combine to declare their assets. A meeting of the SJP office-bearers held here on Wednesday noted that nothing had been done in this direction, although the government had completed one year in office.

Phones on demand: Telephones have become available on demand in the Rampur area with the commissioning of a 2,000 line telephone exchange on Wednesday, by Mr Maheshwar Singh, MP. The entire waiting list has been cleared. The Chief General Manager, Telecom Circle, Mr R. Madhavan, said a new technology switch-point to multi-point (PMP), will be experimented at Kandaghai near Ani to provide a more reliable link. Mr B.R.Kashyap, General Manager, Telecom, Shimla, said the microwave link between here and Rampur has been upgraded from 120 to 480 channels.