HOSHIARPUR
Seized: The police seized 96 bottles of English wine from a car belonging to Dharma Raj of Ward No 8 of Garhshankar, according to a press note issued here on Thursday. It also seized 5250 ml of illicit liquor from Joginder Singh of Simbli, 3550 ml from Rakesh Kumar of Raipur, 3750 ml from Hukma of Dhamai, 9000 ml English wine from Ranjit Singh of Panderi Bibi and 10 kg poppy husk from Vijay Kumar of Chotala.

KAPURTHALA
Bereaved: Tara Singh (72), a retired judicial officer and father of Mr Balbir Singh, Judicial Magistrate, Kapurthala, expired on Wednesday. His funeral was largely attended by judicial officers and lawyers.

LUDHIANA
Arrested: The CIA staff has arrested Santokh Singh and Bhula Ram who were allegedly involved in spate of thefts since 1994.

MALERKOTLA
Theft in temple: Resentment prevails among members of the Jain community here against a theft in a Jain temple on Tuesday night. According to a report, the thieves stole Rs 7,000 and the eyes made of gold of an idol in the temple.

PATIALA
Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Punjab SAS Association here: President — Mr C.L. Goel; Vice-President — Mr S.D. Sharma; General Secretary — Mr Preet Pal Singh Bawa; Organising Secretary — Mr Radhe Shyam Hasija; and Finance Secretary — Mr S.S. Lamba.

Eye operation camp: As many as 457 patients were examined and 78 operations performed by a team of doctors led by Dr R S Gill from Rajendra Hospital at a four-day free eye operation camp which was organised by the local Lions Club (Central) in collaboration with the Zind Baba Charitable Trust at Shahtala.

Association: The following have been elected office-bearers of the PSEB Officers (Accounts) Association here: President — Mr Jaswinder Singh Kalsi; Senior Vice-President Mr Vijay Swatantra Singh; Vice-Presidents — Mr N.R. Sharma, Mr Varinder Goyal; General Secretary — Mr J.P. Makol and Finance Secretary — Mr S.P. Mehta.

ROPAR
Urged: The district unit of the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) Staff Welfare Association, Punjab, has urged the state government to absorb all employees of district rural development agencies of the state in the Punjab Rural Development Department. Mr Darshan Kumar, General Secretary of the district unit, said the demands of the DRDA employees had been pending since long and these included the removal of anomalies in service rules, salary from the non-Plan budget, regularisation of the services of additional gram sewikas and craft teachers and clearing of pending promotions of employees.

SAMRALA
Sanctioned: A sum of Rs 1.52 crore has been sanctioned by the state government for the construction of a new courts complex, compound and residential accommodation for the SDM, Tehsildar and Treasury Office at Khamanon, near here, according to Mr Dilip Kumar, SDM, here on Wednesday. He said Rs 50 lakh had already been received for this purpose from the government as the first instalment.

TARN TARAN
Computer centres: Dr S S Pawar, Honorary Secretary of the Promotion of Rural Education Programme (PREP) Council, Ludhiana, said here on Wednesday that the council had decided to set up two computer centres at Sarhali village to provide modern education facilities to villagers. Dr Pawar said one centre would be set up at Government Girls High School in the village and the other rural computer centre would be set up for the public.

Assaulted: Mr Neeraj Kumar and Mr Rajiv Kumar were assaulted in two separate cases. Mr Rajiv is stated to be serious and has been admitted to the PGI, Chandigarh.

Link roads: The Haryana Agricultural Marketing Board will construct five link roads in the district. Mr K.S. Yadav, Deputy Commissioner, said here on Thursday that Rs 59 lakh would be spent on these roads. He said work on link roads in Bhiwani and Charkhi Dadri was in progress and Rs 27 lakh would be spent on it. Repair of cemented platforms in vegetable and foodgrain markets would cost about Rs 26 lakh.

Staff shortage: The Treasury Office at Charkhi Dadri is facing staff shortage which is hampering the distribution of pension to ex-servicemen and retired government officials.

Medical camp: The District Ayurveda Department organised a free medical camp at the local Bal Seva Ashram on Thursday in which medicines were given free of cost. An exhibition of herbal medicines was also held on the occasion. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr K.S. Yadav, who was the chief guest, distributed woollen clothes among children.

Polio immunisation: The district unit of the Indian Medical Association will set up five booths at various places under the polio immunisation programme on Sunday. Dr K. Punia, president of the district unit, said here on Thursday that the booths would be set up at Prakash Hospital, Khasa Child Hospital, Agarwal Children Hospital, Bhisham Nursing Home and Vandana Heart Hospital, to administer polio drops to children up to five years.

ROHTAK
Oldest ex-serviceman: Captain Molar Singh (retd), the oldest ex-serviceman and pensioner in Jhajjar and Rohtak districts, died at his native, Dhaur village in Jhajjar district on Tuesday. He was 104. He joined the Army in 1918 and took part in World War II. He retired in 1945.

Mechanical Workers Union: Mr Ram Prakash Sutwal was elected President of the district unit of the Haryana Government PWD Mechanical Workers Union on Tuesday. The union is affiliated with the Haryana Sarv Karamchari Sangh. Mr Satbir Singh Hooda and Mr Karan Singh Lamba were elected Secretary and Treasurer of the union respectively. The union leaders demanded inclusion of work charge service in the regular service, framing of service rules, strict transfer policy, bonus and conformation of ad hoc employees.

Rural development scheme: Nearly Rs 3.67 crore would be spent on the construction of roads, retaining walls, water tanks, chaupals and rooms in various schools under the Haryana rural development scheme in Jhajjar district by the end of this year. Stating this here on Wednesday, Mr Arun Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, said an amount of Rs 5 lakh had been spent in Bahadurgah, Rs 3 lakh in Salhawas, Rs 4.5 lakh in Matanweil, Rs 8.5 lakh in Beri and Rs 12.5 lakh in Jhajjar, on the construction of Dalit backward chaupals.

SONEPAT
Gang busted: The CIA staff has busted an inter-state gang of highway robbers operating in Haryana and the neighbouring states and arrested two persons. The SP, Mr K Selvraj, told mediapersons on Tuesday that the arrested had been identified as Parveen, alias Nitoo and Deepak, both residents of Barwasni village in the district. The police also recovered a loaded pistol from Parveen. With the arrests, the police solved two cases of robbery and recovered a stolen car and a van from the arrested youths.

Sarvjatiya Vikas Manch: The following have been elected office- bearers of the Sarvjatiya Vikas Manch, Haryana: President — Mr Surinder Kumar Sharma; Vice-Presidents — Mr Ram Lal Batra, Mr Satya Parkash Kaushik and Mr Howa Singh Bohat; General Secretary — Mr Anand Tur; and Treasurer — Mr Rajinder Gautam.

Unsatisfactory work: Several government departments came under fire for unsatisfactory work at the monthly meeting of the District Public Relations and Grievances Committee held here on Wednesday. Mr P. K. Mahapatra, Deputy Commissioner, presided over the meeting.

Prisoner dies: Pokhar (50), a prisoner, died of heart attack in District jail here on Wednesday. According to the police, the prisoner belonged to Jagsi village in this district.

Two arrested: The police has arrested Kale Khan, a former Director of the Cooperative Societies, Sonepat, and Maha Singh, Managing Director of the Cooperative bank, on a charge of corruption and misappropriation of public funds, Mr K. Selvraj, SP, said here on Thursday. He said they were arrested on an FIR lodged by the Deputy Superintendent of Police (Vigilance) of the Cooperative Societies, Haryana.

YAMUNANAGAR
Teachers' association: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Haryana Retired College Teachers' Association here: President – Mr K C Thakur; Vice-President — Mr A.P. Goel; General Secretary — Mr S.P. Rana and Finance Secretary — Mr B.M.S. Anand.

House gutted: A PWD residential quarter at Koti, 25 km from here, was damaged in a fire that broke out on Wednesday. A case has been registered.