LUDHIANA
Refrigerated van: A refrigerated van to carry vaccines was flagged off at the Punjab Veterinary vaccine institute here on Wednesday by Dr Baljit Singh Sidhu, Deputy Director, Animal Husbandry, Punjab Veterinary vaccine institute. Vaccines at the required temperature were supplied on Wednesday to Faridkot, Moga and at Ludhiana.

NANGAL
Murder case: Body of Menakshi Devi, wife of an SYL employee, Mr Kulwinder Bedi, who drowned in the SYL feeder canal under suspicious circumstances, has been retrieved from Ganguwal after eight days. The parents of the deceased have filed a complaint in the local police station alleging that their daughter had been killed by her husband. They have alleged that Mr Kulwinder Bedi used to beat her for dowry. The postmortem conducted at the local BBMB Canal Hospital has also indicated that the deceased might have been killed due to strangulation. The police has registered a case under Section 304-B of IPC against Mr Kulwinder Bedi, who has absconded since the incident.

Meeting: The Assembly committee to assess the implementation of welfare schemes, launched under the special component plan of the Social Welfare Department, Punjab, held a meeting here on Wednesday. The committee, comprising 13 MLAs under the chairmanship of Mr Shittal Singh, an MLA from Dharampur, held the meeting with officers of various departments in Ropar district and analysed the progress in implementation of various welfare schemes launched by the Punjab government.

Artificial limbs given: Nangal unit of the Bharat Vikas Parishad distributed artificial limbs among 30 handicapped persons of the area. Mrs Pushpa Chawla, president of the Bharat Vikas Parishad said that an effort was being made to identify all handicapped people in the Anandpur tehsil and to provide them with limbs.

NAWANSHAHR
Development projects: Mr Raghubir Singh, Transport Minister and Chairman of the District Development and Planning Board, while presiding over a meeting of the board here on Tuesday, said that Rs 468.31 lakh had been allocated for various development and welfare projects in the district. Out of it, Rs 312.49 lakh and Rs 155.82 lakh had been earmarked for the old-age pension scheme and united funds, respectively. The minister said Rs 7.5 crore had already been released for repairing 221 km of link roads in the district.

Rally: The ex-servicemen cell (Congress) will organise a state-level rally of ex-servicemen here on June 13 in front of the Deputy Commissioner's office in support of their demands which include implementation of the one-rank one-pension scheme, freedom fighter status for World War II veterans and pension and other facilities to the war widows. This was stated by Mr Kewal Singh Badwal, President of the district unit of the cell, in a press note here on Thursday.

PATIALA
Sirki Band Sabha: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Sirki Band Sabha, Punjab: Patron — Mr Sardara Singh Kauli; President — Mr Amrik Singh; Senior-Vice-President — Mr Jodh Singh Kauli; Vice-President — Mr Punjab Singh Gopalpur, Secretary — Mr Jeet Singh.

Artistes honoured: Guru Harkishan Public School group educational institutions honoured Pran Sabharwal, a theatre personality, for his services to Punjabi theatre at a function at the institute. Mr Gurdev, Director-Principal of Sri Guru Harkishan Public School, lauded Mr Sabharwal and his wife Sunita Sabharwal for, their service to Punjabi theatre.

SAMANA
Elected: Mr Shamlal Garg, President of the local BJP Mandal, was elected Vice-President of the nagar council on Thursday. He got 11 votes out of 18. The meeting was presided over by Mr Tarsem Singla, President of the nagar council, and the SDM was the observer.

SANGRUR
Old-age pension: Rs 1.47 crore will be distributed in the district during the current financial year under the old-age pension scheme. This was stated here on Thursday by Mr Anirudh Tewari, Deputy Commissioner.

Link roads: A stretch of 200 km-long new link roads would be constructed in the district during the current financial year to facilitate the flow of traffic in the rural areas, said Mr Nirudh Tiwari, Deputy Commissioner, here on Wednesday.

Elected: The following have been elected the office-bearers of the Sector 22-A Mohalla Sudhar Samiti: President — Mr Balwant Singh; Vice-President — Mr Kultar Chand; Secretary — Mr Major Singh Guleria; and Cashier — Mr Jagmohan Vaid.

Indefinite fast: The indefinite fast by employees of the Punjab Khadi and Village Industries Board entered its second day today. According to Mr R.S. Dhaliwal, President of the board's employee union, their major demands include payment of bonus and arrears, promotions as per seniority and revival of the recovery cell.

PANCHKULA
Defence Day: The Democratic Defence Day was organised here by the Women Front of the BJP. On this occasion, a massive rally was organised which was attended by more than 200 workers of the BJP. The rally was inaugurated by Ms Subdhra Roch and Ms Neelam Soni, President and General Secretary of the front, respectively. The workers expressed their support to the BJP government and stressed on the increasing role of women in political and social fields.

SAS NAGAR
Lions Club: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Lions Club: President — Mr P.S. Khera; Secretary — Mr J.S. Rahi; Joint Secretary — Mr Apjinder S. Cheema; Treasurer — Mr D.S. Chandok; and PRO — Mr Manjeet Singh.

Ban: The District Magistrate, here, has prohibited the sale of uncovered sweets, meat and cakes etc. They should be freshly prepared and properly covered with gauge suitable to protect completely against dust, flies, unclean hands or contamination. The order has also prohibited the sale of ice candies, kulfies, etc manufactured from water not certified as fit for human consumption.

Ban flouted: Permit holder cooperative societies bus owners resent the plying of unauthorised bus services on various routes despite a ban by the court. The bus owners of Bhiwani to Dadri via Nangal Manheru, Hindol Sanwad and Bhiwani to Madhumadhavi via Nangal-Manheru routes had filed a writ petition in the local court to ban the plying of unauthorised vehicles, constituted a local commission to ascertain the facts and ordered for immediate functioning on the above routes by these buses on the basis of a report. A spokesman of the society alleged here on Wednesday that the plying of such unauthorised buses was still going on despite the ban orders.

Meeting: Mr Aman Kumar Nagra, state President, BSP, would address a party workers' meeting at local Ravidas Mandir on June 17. The Convener of the area, Mr Chand Ram, said the state General Secretary Pradeep Chaudhary, Mandal President Sukhdev Igra would also address.

SIRSA
Criminal case: Nand Lal of Panjuwana village in the district was arrested by the local police on Wednesday in a criminal case registered against him on a charge of cheating and forgery. Giving this information, Mr B.S. Sandhu, SSP, said on Thursday that in a complaint to the police, Mr Sukhbir Singh, son-in-law of Ram Singh, had alleged that agricultural land measuring 24 kanal in Taruwana village in the district was transferred in the name of his wife, Ms Surjeet Kaur, by Ram Singh, before his death in September, 1991. But the accused got this land decreed in his name by producing a fake person in the place of Ram Singh.

Eye camp: A free eye operation camp is being organised here by the local Hanuman Foundation on June 13. A spokesman for the foundation said on Thursday that food and medicines free of cost would be provided to the patients in the camp.

Arrested: Raja Ram of Desumalkana village in the district was arrested by the Kalanwali police on Wednesday for possessing 10 kg of poppy husk. A spokesman for the police said on Thursday that the police also arrested Mohan Lal, Diwan Chand and Chinda Ram of Mandi Kalanwali under the Gambling Act and recovered Rs 1,300 from them.

Recovered: Stolen property, including gold ornaments worth Rs 1.40 lakh and cash amounting to Rs 35,000, belonging to the sarpanch of Jhorkaian village, was recovered by the police from Nathore village in the district on Tuesday. Mr B.S. Sandhu, Senior Superintendent of Police, said here on Wednesday that Mr Nathuram, the sarpanch, had alleged that about 330 gm of gold ornaments and Rs 80,000 were stolen from his house on June 1.

Died: Badri Prasad, a freedom fighter of Gusaina village in the district, died after a brief illness on Wednesday. Dr Avtar Singh, Deputy Commissioner, Mr Pralad Singh Gillankhera, district chief of the Haryana Vikas Party, and other leaders of various parties visited the village to condole his death.

Contaminated water: Strong resentment prevails among residents of the local Agarsain colony against the Public Health authorities as they (the residents) were being forced to consume contaminated drinking water. It has been alleged that the tubewell installed in the area was supplying water mixed with sand due to some technical fault. Repeated complaints have drawn no response from the authorities.

Poppy husk seized: The Kalanwali police recovered 150 kg of poppy husk from the house of Joginder Singh of Hassu village in this district on Wednesday. Mr B.S.Sabdhu, Senior Superintendent of Police, Sirsa said here on Wednesday that a case under Sections 15/16/61/85 of the NDPS Act has been registered against the accused. He added a raid on the house of Mohinder Singh of Hebuna village in this district led to recovery of 40 kg of poppy husk.

Case registered: A case U/S 380 of the IPC has been registered against Kuldeep of Jodhkian village in the district for making away with cash and jewellery worth Rs 2 lakh from his own house. According to the police on Wednesday on the complaint of sarpanch Nathu Ram against his nephew, Kuldeep a case has been registered. The police raided the residence of Kuldeep's maternal aunt in Nathore village in the district and recovered jewellery and part of the stolen amount.

Woman set on fire: Geeta (32) married in this district was admitted to the Civil Hospital with 90 per cent burns. According to the information received on Wednesday she was set on fire while sleeping allegedly by her in-laws. As per Mr Jaisal Ram father of Geeta, his daughter was harassed for dowry. Mr Jaisal Ram has alleged that his daughter was beaten up and set on fire by her in-laws.

Booked for fraud: Nand Lal of Panjuana village was arrested by the police on Wednesday in a case of land grab. Sukhbeer Singh, husband of the daughter of late Ram Singh, real owner of the land in Taruana village which was willed by him in the name of Sukhbeer's wife in March 91. But Nand Lal playing a fraud in the court produced some other person as Ram Singh in the court and got a decree in his name Nand Lal was booked under Sections 419/420/465/468/466 of the IPC.

Two arrested : Harjinder Singh and Arjun Singh of Bathinda were arrested by the local police on Wednesday in a criminal case registered against them under Section 380 of the IPC. The police recovered two watches from their possession which they had stolen from the local Bishnoi market on June 4, according to the SSP, Mr B.S. Sandhu.

Gang busted : The Dabwali police busted an inter-state gang of robbers from Mandi Dabwali, 60 km from here, on Wednesday by arresting Bagwant Singh of Pariakhui village in Sangrur district. During the investigation, the arrested revealed that the gang was involved in snatching gold chains and other ornaments in this town. The police recovered a gold chain worth Rs 12,000 from him which he had snatched from Ms Lajjo Devi Grover of Mandi Dabwali in a satsang.

Sabha: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Sirsa Sanatan Dharam Sabha: President — Mr Ram Savroop Bansal; Vice-Presidents — Mr Om Parkash Gupta and Mr Hira Lal Sharma; General Secretary; — Mr Krishan Kumar Sharma; Treasurer — Mr Atama Ram Saraf; and Propaganda Secretary — Mr Laladhar Shastari.

Cheating case: A criminal case under Sections 406, 420, IPC, on charges of cheating was registered against Sunita Rani and her husband Dharmsheel of Sirsa at city police station here on Tuesday on a complaint, lodged by Anil Kumar of Old Housing Board Colony here in which he alleged that he was cheated by the accused of Rs 40,000. It has also been alleged that five other local persons have also been cheated by accused of about Rs 2 lakh. The accused have absconded.

Metalling of roads: Himachal Public Works and Excise and Taxation Minister Mohinder Singh has said that the Himachal Government has prepared a comprehensive and systematic plan for metalling its 12000-km-long kutcha roads to provide road link to far flung villages of state in an attempt to bring economic boom in all areas. Laying the foundation stone of Rs 1.2 crore Seer khud bridge at Matyar village, 45 km from here on Monday, Mr Mohinder Singh said that construction of this bridge would start soon and it would reduce distance by 25 to 30 km from Hamirpur to Ghumarwin and Bilaspur.

CHAMBA
Market Committee: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Market Committee, Chamba: Chairman — Mr Sat Pal Mehra, Vice-Chairman — Mr Manoj Singh.