GURDASPUR
Arrested: The police has arrested Gurpreet, alias Sammi of Kaler under Dhariwal police station, and Balbir, alias Rinku of Dhariwal, on charges of snatching a gold chain at Pathankot on Saturday. According to Mr Varinder Kumar, SSP, a case under Sections 382, IPC, has been registered against the accused.

HOSHIARPUR
Resentment: Resentment prevails among residents of villages located on the Hoshiarpur-Phagwara road against the district authorities for not repairing the road which has developed unlimited pot-holes throughout its 32-km route. Mr Kuldip Nanda, General Secretary of the District Congress Committee, Hoshiarpur, in a press note here on Monday, urged upon the state PWD ( B & R) authorities to take immediate action.

LUDHIANA
Animal welfare camp: Dr Jaspinder Singh Kolar, Director of Extension Education, Punjab Agricultural University, presided over an animal welfare camp organised recently by Department of Veterinary and Animal Extension, PAU, at Samla village in Patiala district. A total of 173 cases were treated. Besides the treatment of sick animals, a seminar on animal welfare was also held.

Youth Congress: Mr Kasturilal 'Minto' has been appointed Vice-President of the Punjab Youth Congress by its President, Mr Davinder Singh "Babboo". Mr Nirdosh Kumar, former Joint Secretary of the Punjab Youth Congress, has hailed the appointment of Mr Minto.

MALERKOTLA
Power bills: Local residents were surprised to receive their electricity bills on the basis of average without mentioning new reading in the bills. When contacted an officer of the PSEB, Malerkotla, said they had received instructions from the board in this regard keeping in view the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. The residents fear that after elections they will get the electricity bills of huge amount which would be a financial burden on them. They appealed to the board authorities to issue bills on the basis of new reading and not on average.

NAWANSHAHR
Cheques given: A vikas samagam was organised here at Baradari on Monday to distribute cheques to panchayats for carrying out various development works. The Transport Minister, Mr Raghuvir Singh, was the chief guest and the Welfare Minister, Mr Sarwan Singh of Phillaur, presided over the function in which cheques worth Rs 30.65 lakh were given to 31 panchayats heads in the district. Besides cheques worth Rs 6 lakh were distributed to seven more panchayats. The Deputy Commissioner, Dr Roshan Sunkaria, said on the occasion, all 87 unanimously elected panchayats in the district had been given grant of Rs 1 lakh each.

PATHANKOT
Club: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Adarsh Kala Mandir Club, Sujanpur: President -- Mr Bharat Bhushan Sharma; Vice-President -- Mr Parshotam Sharma; General Secretary -- Mr Ashok Kumar; Joint Secretary -- Mr Munish Sehgal; Treasurer -- Mr Rajiv Soni; and patrons -- Dr Darshan Tripathi and Dr Lekh Raj.

SANGRUR
Darshan: A sangat darshan programme was held here on Monday. Mr Anirudh Tiwari, Deputy Commissioner, presided. Of the 20 complaints received, 10 were solved on the spot and the remaining were referred to the departments concerned for a speedy disposal.

Nominated: Dr Divaker Pathak, President of the Citizen's Welfare Society has nominated the following office-bearers of the body: Senior Vice-Presidents — Dr P.D. Pathak and Mr K.R. Malhotra; Vice-Presidents — Mr D.C. Luthra and Mr M.S. Gill; General Secretary — Mr S.K. Gupta; Secretary — Mr Manmohan Pathak; Finance Secretary — Mr Ajit Kumar Khaira; Organisation Secretaries — Mr Ashok Sharma and Mr Sunil Mahajan; and Advisers — Mr S.S. Dahiya, Mr H.R. Satija and Dr M.M. Goel.

Function: A function to release a commemorative postage stamp of Jija Bai, the mother of Shivaji, will be held at DAV College Hall, Sector 10, on Wednesday. the stamp will be released by Col Tilak Raj, Chief Postmaster General, Punjab Circle.

SAS NAGAR
Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Industries Association: President — Mr S.S. Sandhu; Vice-President — Mr B.S. Baidwan; General Secretary — Mr Gurmeet Singh; and Treasurer — Mr Subhash Mahajan.

Shifted: The office of Director, Quality Assurance, Chandigarh circle, has been shifted from SCO 5, Phase III-B-2, to 917, phase IV, according to a press note.

JIND
2 killed in mishap: Two persons were killed on the spot and five others were injured in a head-on collision between a jeep and a truck on the Jind-Narwana road near Safakheri village in this district on Monday. The dead have been identified as Pardeep Kumar of Kurar village and Murti Devi of Koth village. The injured include Sandeep Kumar, Bhola Ram, Zile Singh, Dharampal and Shishpal. Injured have been admitted to the General Hospital at Narwana. The police has registered a case against the truck driver. The truck driver fled after the accident.

KAITHAL
Inaugurated: The Deputy Commissioner, Ms Jaiwanti Sheokand, inaugurated the 21st branch of the Kaithal Central Cooperative Bank in the Mini Secretariat here on Monday. She lauded the role played by these banks in providing financial assistance to the rural artisans, small shopkeepers, ex-servicemen and others. At another function in the Koel tourist complex, Mr K. Diwedi, Assistant General Manager (AGM), State Bank of India, called upon bankers to advance credit to the agricultural sector on a priority basis. He was addressing a seminar of 40 branches of the bank of Monday.

SIRSA
Honoured: The Friendship Forum of India (Delhi) selected a renowned Sirsa-based writer S.S. Bhandari for conferring excellence award for 1999. Bhandari is being given this honour for his contribution to poetry, short story and drama for the past 35 years.

Open darbar: A weekly open darbar was held on Monday at the local Patwar Bhavan under the chairmanship of the Deputy Commissioner, Dr Avtar Singh. As many as 125 complaints were lodged and redressed in this meeting. Financial assistance was given in three different cases to Narayan of Ratta Khera village for the education of his five children, to Lal Chand of Chakka village for getting medical treatment and to Asha Rani of Odhan.

Cheating case: Surjan Singh of Rania town was awarded fine of Rs 1,000 by the Judicial Magistrate here on Monday on a charge of cheating. According to prosecution, Surjan Singh was travelling in a Haryana Roadways bus without ticket.The bus was going towards Dharampura village on March 11. He was caught by Mr Radhey Shyam Sharma, inspector, Haryana Roadways. Surjan Singh showed his identity card of a freedom fighter but during examination it was found that he was possessing a forged identity card. A criminal case under Sections 420/419, IPC, was registered against accused and he was arrested.

MC injured: Mrs Promila Rani, Municipal Commissioner, Mandi Dabwali, 60 km from here and another person received injuries in a scuffle with her neighbours on Monday. She was admitted to the Civil Hospital, Mandi Dabwali. Reason behind the assault was stated to be an old enmity. The alleged accused were absconding.

Power supply: Power supply to many localities of Mandi Dabwali was disrupted completely for the past three days. According to informed sources one transformer in town was damaged by a jeep driver when his jeep collided with it. Residents of Mandi Dabwali demanded that action be initiated against guilty driver and power supply be restored.

SONEPAT
Held for murder: The Kharkhauda police has arrested a woman Devi in connection with the alleged murder of her husband Raghbir (38) of Silana village in this district on the night of June 18. SSP K. Selvraj told mediapersons here on Tuesday that the police had also arrested Dev Dutt of Kakrola village (Delhi), brother of the accused Devi, on the same charge. The third accused, Rajhir, a close relative of Devi, is still at large. The SSP said domestic quarrel was the reason behind this murder.