FAZILKA
Plots for homeless: The Minister of State for Panchayati Raj, Mr Subhash Mehria, distributed allotment papers of 125 plots to homeless persons at Kolar village, 40 km from on Thursday. The plots were allotted under the Punjab Government scheme for the benefits of the homeless villagers. The Minister said the scheme was unique as all types of facilities like veterinary hospital, civil dispensary, school, post office, petrol pump would be provided to the villagers.

PYC Gen Secy: Mr Arvind Sharma, a local resident and senior Youth Congress leader, has been appointed General Secretary of the Punjab Youth Congress by Mr Manish Tiwari, President, All-India Youth Congress. The decision was taken at the national executive meeting held in Delhi on November 19.

JALANDHAR
Crafts bazar: The office of the Development Commissioner (Handicrafts), Government of India, Minister of Textiles, has organised a 10-day "crafts bazar-99" for the second consecutive time in the Punjab. It has been set up at Guru Gobind Singh stadium, here and will remain open for general public till December 5. Mr A.R. Choudhary, Director, office of Development Commissioner, northern region (Handicrafts) said 47 marketing and service exhibition centres from all over the country were participating in it.

LUDHIANA
Ambulance donated: Punjab National Bank donated an ambulance van to Krishna Charitable Society (regd), Model Town, here on Friday. Mr S.K. Chawla, G.M., Punjab zone handed over the keys of the van to Mr G.L. Pahwa, president of the society. The ambulance would be used by the patients belonging to weaker sections of the society.

MOGA
Inquiry demanded: Residents of Charik village under the Baghapurana police station have demanded an inquiry into the circumstances under which Pritam Singh, son of Gajjan Singh had died a few days ago at the village. The residents suspect foul play in the death of Pritam Singh.

1 killed: Jagdev Singh a resident of Shakoor village under the Baghapurana police station was killed on Thursday and his scooter damaged when he along with his scooter fell into a drain near Rode village.

NAWANSHAHR
Assault condemned: The local Press Club at a meeting held here on Friday condemned the manhandling of Jalandhar based journalists of The Tribune by the police. The Press Club has urged the CM to take an immediate action against the erring police official.

PATIALA
Gang busted: The district police claimed to have busted an inter-state gang of robbers involved in nearly 20 robberies. Mr Harpreet Singh Sidhu, SSP, said here on Friday that five-members of the gang had been arrested while a few others were still at large. He said the gang had committed robberies in Fatehgarh Sahib, Ludhiana, Patiala, Sangrur district and in Kaithal, Shahbad and Naraingarh cities of Haryana. The gang decamped with goods worth Rs 3.5 lakh after committing a robbery at Titan Motors near Zirakpur. They had even rented a truck on Rs 2,000 per day to transport the stolen goods.

PATHANKOT
Station's renaming: The Citizen’s Council has demanded that the Chakki Bank Railway Station should be renamed to Pathankot cantonment railway station. Mr Raj Kumar Khosla, general secretary, of the council, said as the railway station was near the military cantonment the council had suggested that the railway authorities and the Central Government should rename station.

Memorandum: The Residents Welfare Association has sent a memorandum to the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala and demanded a probe into the working of the Pollution Control Board in district here on Friday. The memorandum also listed the grievances of the people and demanded immediate suspension of the authorities.

PHAGWARA
Check-up camp: The Manav Seva Sangh organised the 24th annual free eye check-up camp here on Wednesday. As many as 560 patients were examined and 60 persons operated upon.

TARN TARAN
Rally: An ex-servicemen’s rally was organised here on Friday. The rally was addressed by Brig (retd) Kuldeep Singh Kahlon and the SDM, Dr Gurinder Pal Singh, Sahota.Those attending the rally were assured of all possible help.

Case registered: A case under Section 307 of the IPC has been registered against Gurinder Pal Singh and Balraj Singh, both residents of Kulla village, for firing at and injuring Mr Sukhdev Singh a son of Harnam Singh, of the same village.

Successful candidates: As many as 529 candidates cleared the physical measurement test for recruitment to the post of constable on Friday. According to a statement issued by the SSP, nine counters had been set up, each headed by an officer of the rank of DSP.

Camp: The Lions and Lioness clubs of Panchkula Central, jointly with the Istri Satsang, Guru Nanak Devji Gurdwara, Manchester, organised a free eye camp at the Gurdwara Gursagar Sahib, Sukhna Lake, on Saturday. Over 450 patients were examined and free medicines were distributed.

Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Diploma Engineers Association, Chandigarh Zone: President — Mr K.S. Garg; Vice-President — Mr Beant Singh; General Secretary — Mr S.S. Sodhi; and Press Secretary — Mr Subash Chander.

Seminar: A bicentenary seminar on A.S. Pushkin, a Russian poet, writer and dramatist, was held at the Department of Russian, Panjab University, on Friday. It was attended by scholars of various language departments of the university and of the universities of Kyrghystan and Ukraine.

Blood donation: Mr Rakesh Gupta and the Thalassaemic Children Welfare Society Association, Sector 20, organised a blood donation camp on Saturday. More than 175 persons donated blood.

Eye operations: The Lions Club Chandigarh Greater organised a free eye operation camp at Karsan village on Saturday. A total of 524 patients were examined and given free medicines.

PANCHKULA
Lok Adalat: A total of 435 cases were disposed of on the spot at the Lok Adalat held at the district courts on Saturday. Civil cases pending for over seven years were settled and Rs 44,800 was collected from 348 motor vehicle and 72 excise cases.

SONEPAT
Accident averted: Due to alertness of the driver, a train accident was averted when the engine of the Jammu Tawi bound Malwa Express derailed at the Diwana Railway Station, 40 km from here on Friday. However, there was no report of any casualty.

Demand: The President of the Teachers Cell of the HPCC, Mr Rampal Dahiya, urged the state government to regularise the services of the adhoc and the daily wage teachers appointed by the successive government in the state. He also demanded immediate acceptance of the demands of the employees of the HVPN.

KULU
Charas recovered: A 1.5 kg of charas was recovered from two foreign nationals, Baruch Hasan, an Israeli and Miss Rei Nishioka, a Japanese, at Kasol near Manikaran, 35 km from here. Mr Anurag Garg, SP, said here on Friday that police had raided a resort and arrested them. A case under Section 20 of the NDPS Act has been registered and the accused have been arrested.

SHIMLA
Eco-tourism: The Himachal Pradesh Forest Minister, Mr Roop Singh, has stressed on the need to reforms the Forest Department. Presiding over a meeting of the forest officers here on Friday, he stressed on the need for encouraging "eco-tourism" in the state by proper upkeep of the forest rest houses and the inspection huts.

Health care facility: The Himachal Pradesh Government is committed to achieve the twin objectives of providing qualitative health care facilities and welfare of the doctors, the state Health Minister, Mr J.P. Nadda, said here on Friday. Launching the "quality assurance programme" at Indira Gandhi Medical College, he said time-bound promotions would be assured to the doctors and efforts would be made to improve the health care services.