BATHINDA
Ban on polythene: Mr S.R. Ladhar, District Magistrate, has changed the date of implementation of the ban on the use of polythene bags on the request of local traders. The ban imposed on the use of polythene bags would now come into effect on April 14 and would continue up to June 13.

Petroleum dealers body: The following have been elected office-bearers of the District Mansa Petroleum Dealers Association: president — Mr Krishan Kumar Jindal; vice-presidents — Mr Kishore Chand, Mr Ram Lal, Mr Sanjeev Singla and Mr Krishan Chand; General Secretary — Mr Amrit Lal Garg; and finance secretary — Mr Jagmohan Jindal.

Eye camp: As many as 105 cataract operations were performed at an eye camp organised by the Lions Club, (Heritage) at Maisarkhana from March 24 to 27. Mr S K Bhandari, project chairman, said here on Saturday that about 800 patients were examined at the camp and were given medicines free of cost.

Parshuram Jayanti: The Punjab Brahmin Sabha will organise a state-level function at Maisarkhana to celebrate Bhagwan Parshuram Jayanti on April 18. Dr Om Parkash Sharma, press secretary of the sabha, said that committees had been constituted for making arrangements for the function.

GURDASPUR
Sangat darshan: Most of the complaints reported at a Sangat Darshan held at Kaler Kalan, 18 km from here, on Friday were redressed on the spot and pending complaints were directed to be resolved by the respective departments within a week. More than 2000 persons of Kaler Kalan and its surrounding villages participated. Mr Sucha Singh Langah, State Minister of Industries, was the chief guest and Mr S.K. Sandhu, Deputy Commissioner, presided.

HOSHIARPUR
Convicted: Mr R.M. Gupta, District Sessions Judge, convicted Ajay Kumar, alias Babla, a resident of Muradpur Jattan village in the district, on Friday in a rape case. Mr Gupta has sentenced him to 7 years rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 under Section 376 of the IPC. He has further sentenced him to one year rigorous imprisonment and fine of Rs 500 under Section 342 of the IPC and two years rigorous imprisonment under Section 306 of the IPC.

JALANDHAR
Website: Bhagat Hansraj Ji dedicated the website of Sri Ram Sharnam, Gohana, here on Saturday. The site url's www: sri ramsharnam is meant to spread the teachings of Swami Satyanand Maharaj, founder of Sri Ram Sharnam and has amritvani path in Hindi and its English translation.

New exchanges: New digital electronic exchanges of 1000 line capacity have been installed at Bholath and Begowal towns in Kapurthala district. Mr Rajesh Wadhwa, General Manager (Telecom), said here on Saturday that these exchanges would cater to the demand for telephones in Bholath and Begowal and adjoining rural areas and with this the existing waiting list will be cleared in these areas.

MOGA
Chemists' plea: The local Chemist Dealers Association and many leaders of the town today urged the State Finance Minister, Mr Kanwaljit Singh, to immediately withdraw the proposed increase in tax on medicines from existing 6 per cent to 8 per cent.

Road completion: Residents of various villages in this district urged the state government on Sunday to complete 1 km stretch of road linking Baghapurana town with Kaleke village. Work on this stretch had been started several years ago by the Agriculture Minister Gurdev Singh Badal.

NAWANSHAHR
Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the District Ex-Servicemen Cell (PPCC): president — Mr Kewal Singh Badwal; vice-president — Mr Pritam Singh; general secretary — Mr Sansar Singh Dhak ; and secretary — Mr Satnam Singh.

Appointed: Mrs Kailash Saini has been appointed general secretary of the Punjab Pardesh Mahila Congress by Mrs Gurkanwal Kaur, president of the Mahila Congress.

PATIALA
Seminar: The Lions Club (Fort) in collaboration with Red Cross St John Ambulance organised a one-day special training seminar for traffic police and police officers at police lines here on Saturday regarding the handling of accident cases. Mr Devinder Singh, honorary secretary of the district Red Cross Society, inaugurated the seminar. A video film on first aid was screened and ways to conduct artificial respiration and cardiac pulmonary resuscitation were also demonstrated.

Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Earth Saver Mission Organisation here: chief patron — Mr Parampal Singh Sidhu; patron — Mr P D Bansal; president — Mr Sarabjit Singh; senior vice-presidents — Mr Sukhwinder Singh and Mr Gurdeep Singh Sandhu; vice-president — Mr Naveen Chopra ; general secretary — Mr Pawan Kumar; and treasurer — Mr Sanjeev Kumar.

PATHANKOT
Auction: The auction of octroi posts of the Municipal Council, which had been postponed earlier because of protest by the Pathankot Beopar Mandal, will now be held on March 30 at the swimming pool complex.

Stolen: A Maruti van has been stolen from the Jodhamal colony. According to the owner of the van Mr Sanjay the van was stolen from the garage. A complaint has been lodged with the police.

SANGRUR
Self employment: A one-day workshop to generate awareness in women of the district regarding the self employment ventures will be organised by the district authorities on April 6 at Barnala about 35 km from here. Stating this here on Sunday Mr Anirudh Tewari, Deputy Commissioner, said various government agencies which provide loans would take part in the workshop.

School function: The annual prize distribution function of the Sector 47-D Divya Public School was held at Lecma Theatre of Air Force Station on Sunday. Mr H.C. Sharma, Director of the State Institute of Education, gave away the prizes. Mr Rattan Singh, Principal of the school, read out the annual report. A cultural programme was organised by the students.

UT employees: The UT Class- IV Employees Union held its meeting at the Sector 26 Technical Teachers Training Institute to urge the Chandigarh Administration to release the bonus for 1997-98. The union also demanded regularisation of workcharged staff and confirmation of those employees who have put in three years of service.

Homoeopathy camp: The Maloya unit of the Democratic Youth Federation of India organised a free homoeopathy medical camp at Government Primary School, Maloya, where free medicines were given to patients by Dr Rajeshwar Singh and Dr Rama Sharma.

PANCHKULA
Annual mela: The annual two- day mela of Samlasan Durga to be held at Samlotha village in Morni would begin from Monday, said Mr Jagpal Chaudhary, a founder-trustee of Mata Samlasan Devi Public Religious and Charitable Trust which organises the mela .

Function: Shri Savatember Jain Sangthan is organising a function to highlight the preachings of Lord Mahavira at Jainendra Gurukul here on Monday.

BHIWANI
Power theft: In order to check the practice of power theft, 869 consumers and establishments have been detected for stealing power under a drive launched by the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN) in this district and FIRs have been lodged with the police in this connection. A spokesman of the administration said that 44,326 domestic and industrial units were inspected during the first fortnight of the current month and 775 domestic and 165 industrial units were detected for indulging in the theft of power. The nigam had imposed a fine of Rs 194.64 lakh on the offenders and had recovered over Rs 40 lakh till now.

Workshop: A workshop for rural women was organised a Charkhi Dadri, 28 km from here, on Friday to bring them in the mainstream. As many as 300 women social workers and volunteers of rural women organisations from Bhiwani, Rewari and Mohindergarh participated in the workshop.

SIRSA
Rearrested: Kala, alias Gulab a resident of Dharmpura village and an inmate of District Jail here was arrested when he made an unsuccessful attempt to escape from the jail on Saturday. The accused was immediately nabbed by jail authorities and a criminal case under Section 224 of the IPC has been registered against him.

Annual function: Mr M.L. Ranga, Vice-Chancellor of Kurukshetra University presided over annual prize distribution function and convocation at the local Government National Post Graduate College on Saturday. he said on the occasion that the proposed regional centre would be functional here from the next session and courses, including B.Ed and LLB would be started. Mr Ranga also distributed prizes among students on the occasion. A cultural programme was also presented by college students.

Sainik sammelan: A sainik sammelan was organised by the district police here on Thursday at the newly constructed community centre in the police lines. It was presided over by IG ( Police) John V. George. The DIG (Hisar range), Mr Parminder Rai, was also present on the occasion. Mr George also presided over a seminar on crime control in the office of the district police chief. He called upon the police officers to strengthen the social order and help common people.

Suicide: Shyam Lal Kindoi (28) a trader of Ellenabad, committed suicide by consuming poison at a hotel in Jaipur. It is believed that the deceased had staked several lakh rupees on bit on the result of the cricket test match played in Jaipur between Pakistan and India on Wednesday.

Dharna: Several members of the Haryana Government PWD Mechanical Workers Union under the leadership of the unit president, Mr Dharam Pal Saini, staged a dharna outside the office of the Executive Engineer in support of their demands which include payment of travel allowance and bonus. They also demanded payment of salaries to daily-wage workers according to increased rates.

Mass marriages: As many as 160 marriages were solemnised at a mass marriage function organised by district administration in collaboration with the District Red Cross Society, Nehru Yuva Kendra and other social organisation of city at the local Janta Bhavan here on Saturday. Mr Inder Singh, Sub Divisional Magistrate, Sirsa, was in charge of the function. Mr Om Parkash Mahajan, Excise and Taxation Minister, Prof Ganeshi Lal, Minister for Civil Supplies and Mr B.S. Sandhu, Senior Superintendent of Police, blessed the newly-wedded couples.

SONEPAT
Urged: The Deputy Commissioner, Mr P.K Mahapatra, has urged the bankers to take immediate and effective steps to disburse the loan amount among the educated jobless youths by March 31. Presiding over a meeting of the District Advisory Committee of the bankers here on Friday he said the District Task Force Committee, sponsored by the Industries Department had already forwarded the list of the beneficiaries to the banks for giving loans under various schemes of the state government.

Two arrested: The police has impounded a van (No. HR-07-1522) and arrested two persons — Ramchand, a resident of Pulachand (Bilaspur) and Amar Singh a resident of Massewal (Ropar) — for attempting to smuggle 10 logs of khair wood. The SP, Mr Anurag Garg, said here on Sunday that Head Constable Pradip Kumar intercepted the van on national highway, and nabbed the two.