School renamed: The Government School at Chhina Bet will be renamed after Subedar Nirmal Singh who died fighting the Pakistani intruders in Kargil. Mr S.K Sandhu, Deputy Commissioner, announced this while paying tributes to the martyr at his bhog ceremony on Thursday. A memorial gate named after the martyr would also be raised at the entrance of the village. The Deputy Commissioner also presented a cheque for Rs 2 lakh to the widow of the martyr as ex-gratia grant on behalf of the Punjab Government.

LUDHIANA
Dearness allowance: Resentment prevails among thousands of pensioners over the non-payment of dearness allowance (DA) by Punjab National Bank and some other banks in the state. The Punjab Government, through a notification of June 4,1999, raised the DA from 22 per cent to 32 per cent, effective from January this year. Certain banks, however, are dilly-dallying in paying the enhanced DA, alleged Mr Yash Paul Ghai, Additional General Secretary of the Government Pensioners Association.

Condolence meeting: The staff and students of Punjab Agricultural University assembled in Pal auditorium here on Friday for a condolence meeting for the four postgraduate students - Mr Navtej Singh (Department of Soils), Mr Kamaljit Singh (Department of Extension Education), Mr Harpreet Singh (Department of Horticulture) and Mr Sukhraj Singh (Department of Processing and Agricultural Structures) - of the university who were killed in a road accident while returning from Hemkunt Sahib on July 13. A resolution was passed expressing shock at the untimely demise of the students.

Arrested: The police has arrested six proclaimed offenders from the Sadar police station area. They are Kartar Singh, Nand Lal, Sudagar Singh, and three persons bearing the name Kuldeep Singh.

NAWANSHAHR
Power cuts: Resentment prevails among residents here over the unannounced power cuts which, they allege, have become a routine affair. The power cuts are not only unscheduled but the authorities concerned do not give any information about the duration of the of the cuts or the nature of the fault, they say.

Licence fee: Mr Mohinder Pal Singh Khalsa, President, Doaba Agro Inputs Dealers' Association, Punjab, in a press note here on Friday criticised the government for increasing the licence fee for the sale of insecticides. Stating that it would adversely affect the farmers and agricultural production, he demanded the immediate withdrawal of the notification.

Sangat darshan: The district administration organised 'sangat darshan' programmes at Khandupur and Paniali Kalan villages in Balachaur subdivision of the district. The Deputy Commissioner, Dr Roshan Sunkaria, the SSP, Mr Surinder Singh Sodhi, Mr Nand Lal, MLA, Mr Pritam Singh Johal, SDM along with officials of various departments heard the grievances of people.

PATIALA
Condemned: Punjabi University Teachers Association President S.S Khaira said here on Friday that the association condemned the suspension of Dr R.K Sharma, senior Lecturer, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, here. He urged the authorities concerned to immediately revoke the suspension.

Research project: Dr Vijay K. Jain, Professor in the Department of Chemistry, M.M Modi College here, has been assigned a research project, "Enatioselective Synthesis of Biologically Active B-Lactams" by the University Grants Commission (UGC). Dr Jain said the research project was of two years' duration and had been granted to encourage research at the college level.

Distributed: Ms Kamla Sharma, Chairperson of the Chandigarh Social Welfare Advisory Board, on Saturday distributed certificates among candidates who had successfully undergone training in tailoring for the past six months at Khuda Jassu village. She proposed to hold a meeting of women panches and sarpanches and mahila mandal functionaries at UT Board Office, Sector 17, on Monday at 11 a.m. to discuss and plan future development programmes.

SAS NAGAR
Subject introduced: The local Government College has introduced home science as a subject in BA (I). According to Mr S.S. Gulati, Principal of the college, students desirous of taking admission to BSc (I) and (II) could do so without paying late fee upto July 27 and with a late fee of Rs 400 upto July 31.

SIRSA
2 Held: Karnail Singh of Dhani Baddi and Joginder Singh bajigar of Rafia town were arrested by the Odhan police on Friday. Mr Baljeet Singh Sandhu, SSP, said the police had seized 70 kg of poppy husk from a Maruti car on May 13, near Mihrai village of the district which was being carried by the accused. However, they had escaped at that time.

SONEPAT
Poisoned: Krishan Kumar (35) reportedly poisoned himself and his two daughters, Geeta (8) and Susa (6), to death in his house at Gopalpur village, 24 km from here on Friday. Extreme poverty is to said to have forced him to commit this act.

Water supply: Ms Veena Rani, President of the local Municipal Council and Mr Lalit Kumar, a member of the District Public Relations and Grievances Committee, on Saturday protested against the inadequate and erratic water supply in Sikka colony, Lajpat Camp and Hem Nagar and blamed officials of the Public Health Department for it. They said that these areas had remained without water for the past three days which had caused inconvenience to the residents.

KANGRA
Suicide: Reena Devi (25) of Kaptyali village, under Indora police station of the district, committed suicide on Friday by consuming poison. The cause of the suicide was not known.