FARIDKOT
Road repair: The Punjab Government plans to spend Rs 540 crore for repairs and construction of new roads during the next financial year. This was stated by the Agriculture Minister, Mr Gurdev Singh Badal , at a rural conference at Dhurkot village, 15 km from here, on Saturday. He announced a grant of Rs 1 lakh for the development of the village.

FEROZEPORE
Robbers: Two persons Waran Singh, alias Babhu and Suhdev Singh, both residents of Makhu were arrested by the Zira police. They were allegedly involved in some robberies on the National Highway. The police had recovered a stolen truck from the two.

GURDASPUR
Solar energy: Mr Sewa Singh Sekhwan, State Minister for Public Relations, said Rs 5 lakh had been allocated to cover Kahnuwan under the solar energy scheme. The work on the scheme will start soon and be completed next year. He said filling of the Ranjit Sagar Dam reservoir would start on Monday and power generation would start by the mid-June.

JALANDHAR
Customer meet: A customer meet was held at Punjab National Bank, Rama Mandi branch, here on Saturday. Mr R.K. Sharma, Deputy General Manager, (Jalandhar region), presided. He listened to the grievances of the customers.

MOGA
Electrocuted: A resident of Manuke village, was electrocuted on Sunday when he accidentally touched a live wire at his house.

Milk dearer: Heavy demand of milk by the milk powder producing companies in the state has resulted in a steep hike in the prices of milk during the past few months. The price of milk which was around Rs 10 per litre only three months ago, has now touched Rs 14 to Rs 16 a litre.

PHAGWARA
One killed: A scooterist Sanjiv Kumar was killed and two pillion riders Narender Kumar and Paramjit were injured when their scooter was hit by a Tata Sumo near Bhullara colony on the Phagwara-Hoshiarpur road.

TARN TARAN
Scooterist killed: Mr Sardara Singh Chabal (45), a class IV employee posted in the office of the Civil Surgeon, Amritsar, was killed in a road accident here on Saturday while his wife Manjit Kaur was injured seriously. The accident occurred near the Goindwal bypass, when a car hit their scooter. A case under Sections 304-A, 427 and 338 of the IPC.

Awareness march: The Khalsa Vidhiac Chetna Manch will organise an awareness march from the Student Centre, Panjab University, to Gurdwara Kesgarh Sahib at Anandpur Sahib on February 18, a press note said here on Monday. The vehicular march, consisting of students, kirtani jathas, gathaka parties and Sikh intellectuals, will start on Thursday.

Lecture: Khushwant Singh, a renowned columnist, will deliver a lecture on “India: Challenges and Responses” at the English Auditorium, Panjab University, on Tuesday. Justice Jawaharlal Gupta of the Punjab and Haryana High Court will preside.

Dharna: Members of the Sector 15 Welfare Society will organise a dharna on Wednesday to highlight the problems of poor sanitation and stray cattle in the sector. Mr Sat Pal Sewak, President of the society, announced here on Monday.

Nominated: Mr Chander Mukhi Sharma, President of the Chandigarh Territorial Youth Congress Committee (CTYCC), has nominated the following as office-bearers of the Hallo Majra unit of the party: President — Mr Rajiv Ranjan Srivastava; Vice-Presidents — Mr Rajesh Kumar, Mr Sanjay Pandey, Mr Sanjay Dubey and Mr Vinender Kumar; General Secretaries — Mr Inderjit Singh, Mr Devinder Singh, Mr Naval Kishore Gupta and Mr Raju Patel; and Cashier — Mr Hari Chand.

BAMSEF: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Backward Classes (SC, ST, OBC) and Minority Samaj Employees Federation: President — Mr Waryam Singh; Vice-President — Mr N.S. Bangar; General Secretary — Mr Swaran Singh; and Cashier — Mr Pala Ram.

Sivananda Mission: Free books, note books and other items were distributed among poor and needy students by the Divya Anand Cultural Organisation at a function held at the Sivananda Mission here on Monday.

Smile Care Centre: A two-day Oral Rehabilitation programme will be organised by the College of Dentistry of NY University and Smile Care Centre here on February 20 and 21, Dr Birinder Sachdeva, programme Coordinator, announced here on Monday. More than 100 leading dentists from all over the country are expected to participate.

PCO applicants: The Department of Telecommunications, during a meeting of STD PCO allotment committee, has decided to clear all waiting lists of STD PCO applicants, except those in Mullanpur and Zirakpur, where the exchange capacity is not available. Allotment letters are being issued shortly. Applicants have been asked to complete all formalities within 30 days of the allotment letter.

Clarification: Apropos of the news item, “Religious fervour marks Shivaratri”, published in these columns on Monday, it was inadvertently reported that Shivaratri was the birthday of Lord Shiva. Mr D.R. Arora, former Deputy Director in the Ministry of Labour, has pointed out that it was the wedding day of Lord Shiva. The error is regretted.

Eye camp: An eye-screening camp was organised by the Servants of the People Society in Khuda Ali Sher village recently. Villagers were screened by eye experts from the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32.

School function:The annual prize distribution function of Government High School, Sector 38-B was held on Monday. Mr Ravider Pal Saini, president of the Parent Teacher Association, who was the chief guest, gave away prizes to meritorious students. Mr Karam Chand, Headmaster, read out the annual report.

Office-bearers: The following have been elected office-bearers of the All-India Valmiki Vigat Dharam Samaj Satsang Sabha: chairman — Mr Tara Chand Ridia; president — Mr Hari Ram Bidla; vice-president — Mr Mange Ram Jharotra; general secretary — Mr Inder Vohit; joint secretary — Mr Raj Kumar Vaid; office secretary — Mr Satish Kumar Chauhan; publicity secretary — Mr Satbir Bidla; and treasurer — Mr Mani Ram Vohit.

PANCHKULA
Cremation ground: The Citizens’ Welfare Association (UE) of Panchkula has urged the administration to open the cremation ground in Sector 20 for use. The cremation ground which had been completed a few months ago, had been awaiting its inauguration, said a spokesman of the association.

JIND
Lok adalat: Fiftyeighth lok adalat of this district was held under the chairmanship of Ms Kiran Anand Lal, District and Sessions Judge, here on Saturday. Ninetyone cases were settled at the lok adalat. A compensation of Rs 5.97 lakh was awarded by the lok adalat in eight accident claim cases.

SIRSA
Attempt to murder: Rajvinder Singh, a farmer of Dabwali village, 60 km from here, was arrested by the police on Saturday for an attempt to murder a person because of old enmity. The arrested had fired upon Bagwant Singh (50), with his licensed gun on February 7 injuring him seriously.

Power theft: A criminal case has been registered against Devraj under Section 39-A of the Indian Electricity Act and Section 379 of the IPC on the charge of power theft. In a complaint to the Sirsa police, Mr R.N. Jindal, Subdivisional Officer of the Haryana Vidyut Parsaran Nigam had alleged that the accused had broken seals of an electricity meter and had been indulging in the theft of power.

Case registered: The police has registered a case under Sections 498 A and 406 of the IPC, against Raj Kumar of Ellenabad and four of his family members for harassing and torturing his wife Santosh Kumari. She was turned out of the house twice by her in-laws for bringing insufficient dowry.

Three held: Harminder Kaur, Jagga Singh and Charanjit, all residents of Kamal village in the district were arrested on Saturday by Sadar police Mandi Dabwali. Mrs Davinder Kaur, alias Mottan, of Dabwali had lodged a complaint with the police that Charanjit Singh with the help of Jagga Singh had got her land decreed in his favour from the court by presenting Harinder Kaur in her place. The police has registered a criminal case against the accused under Sections 465, 467, 468, 506 and 34 of the IPC.

Detained: Three youths, Mahesh, Pawan and Virender, were detained by the police after a raid in Kirti Nagar on Saturday. They were living in a rented room and were accused of misbehaving with a girl of the area.

Child killed: Amita (5), of Khairpur, was run over and killed by a jeep at the Hisar road here on Saturday. The driver of jeep was reportedly absconding.

SONEPAT
Arrested: The anti-crime branch of the police arrested Om Parkash, alias Omi, for possessing 1 kg charas here on Saturday. The youth belonged to the Vikas Nagar area in the city. A case has been been registered.

Body found: The Railway police found the body of a 28-year-old youth, Jatinder, lying on the railway track near the railway station here on Saturday. The victim belonged to Sikka colony. He had reportedly committed suicide by jumping in front of a running train.

Free eye operation camp: The National Ex-servicemen Coordination Committee, in collaboration with the local Hindu Manch will organise a free eye operation camp at the Sanskrit High School on the GT Road at Bahalgarh on March 6. The indoor patients will be provided free board and lodging facilities by the organisations. Milk, food and fruits will also be distributed among them.

Road mishaps: One person was killed and another injured when a truck collided with the motor cycle on which they were going, on the Sonepat-Rohtak road near Rohat village, 8 km from here, on Saturday. The victim was identified as Vinod (22) of Jagdishpur village. According to another report, a 23-year-old youth Pawan Kumar of Bambhar village was killed on the spot when a car hit him on the GT Road near Larsauli village, 15 km from here, on Saturday.

Suicide: the body of a 28-year-old youth, Balwan, was found hanging from a tree on the outskirts of Mohana village, 19 km from here, on Saturday. The police believes it to be a case of suicide and the body has been sent for a post-mortem examination.

Found dead: A 25-year-old youth, Vas Dev, was found dead in a farm house near Khewra village, 13 km from here, on Saturday. According to the police, the victim was a TB patient and died of cold.

Case solved: With the arrest of one person on Sunday the Ganaur police claimed to have solved a case of murder of Mr Ram Chander, a resident of Rajpur village, whose body was recovered from a field in the same village about eight months ago. The arrested person has been identified as Ram Mehar, a cousin of the deceased. The culprit, according to the police had killed the deceased in a bid to take revenge and had confessed to his crime.

Condemned: The Sonepat block unit of the Sarva Karamchari Sangh condemned the HVP-BJP coalition government on Sunday for adopting an anti-employee, anti-poor and anti- worker attitude and trying to stifle the voice of the employees. The sangh urged the state government to order immediate reinstatement of all government employees who were either suspended or dismissed for taking part in the strike and to withdraw all false cases instituted against such employees.