JALANDHAR
Urged: The Government School Lecturers Union, Punjab, has urged the Accountant-General, (Punjab-Chandigarh) to issue drawing and disbursing officers (DDO) powers to all heads of high and senior secondary schools at the earliest so that they could submit bills for the month of March and onwards under the head "2202-General Education" for all schemes — permanent, non-plan temporary and plan scheme. Mr Jiwan Parkash Sharma, senior vice-president of the union, said here on Friday that the State government should ensure that each employee got his monthly salary without delay.

Bribery: The Vigilance Bureau arrested Rajesh Kumar Bhalla, Junior Engineer (B and R) Municipal Corporation here on Thursday for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 from Mr Gurbaksh Singh, resident of new Gopal Nagar here. A case has been registered.

KAPURTHALA
Office-bearers: The following have been elected office-bearers of local Model Town Welfare Society: senior vice-president — Mr Ajit Singh; general secretary — Mr Joga Singh; cashier — Mr Jaswant Singh Padda; Secretary — Mr Makhan Lal; and press secretary — Mr Gurdip Singh.

KHARAR
Demanded: About 45 persons having houses near old octroi post on the Landran Road have demanded that proper arrangement for the disposal of rainy water should be made before the start of rainy season. They put forth their demand in a letter to the Municipal Committee on Saturday. They have also urged the committee to make proper arrangements for the supply of drinking water to them as water of handpumps had become unfit for human consumption.

Employee's union: The following have been elected office-bearers of the National Textile Corporation Employees Union here: chairman — Mr A.D.Nagpal; president — Mr Kuldeep Singh; senior vice-president — Mr Baij Nath; vice-president — Mr Nasib Singh; secretary — Mr Tarsem Singh; and cashier — Mr Rajinder Kumar.

LUDHIANA
Jaspinder Narula Nite: The Sutlej Club is organising a "Jaspinder Narula Nite" here on April 9, according to the treasurer of the club. Jaspinder, who recently bagged the Screen Videocon Award for the best female singer, will perform in the city for the first time.

Meeting: The General body meeting of the Resident Welfare Association of 504 MIG flats of Sector 61 here will be held on Sunday in the central park of the complex.

Welfare society: The general-body meeting of the Resident Welfare Society of Sector 7 Central Government Employees General Pool will be held in a park near the CPWD guest house on Sunday.

Mourned: Brig Ramesh Chander and all officers of the Chandigarh Eagles mourned the death of Major K.B.S. Sethi EME (retd) and offered their sympathies to the bereaved family.

KAITHAL
Sarv Karamchari Sangh : The following have been elected office-bearers of the Sarv Karamchari Sangh, district Kaithal : president — Mr Ramesh Harit; senior vice-president — Mr Ashok Sharma; vice-presidents — Mr Ram Niwas Sharma and Mr Maavir Rana; secretary — Mr Jai Parkash Shastri; joint secretary — Ms Surjeet Kaur; Treasurer — Mr Sukh Ram; and propaganda secretary — Mr Om Parkash Chauhan.

Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the District Bar Association: president — Mr J.C.Gupta; vice-president — Mr B.R. Gupta; general secretary — Mr O.P. Arora; and finance secretary — Mr Arun Gupta.

KARNAL
Inaugurated : The Institution of Engineers, upgraded its local centre as Haryana State Centre on Thursday. With this the number of state centres in the country has gone up to 18. Mr P. S. Rawat, chairman of the state centre, inaugurated the centre. The centre will provide latest engineering information to engineers and engineering students, spread new development techniques, products and processes through technical activities.

PANIPAT
Prohibitory orders: The District Magistrate, Mr Anurag Rastogi, through an order has promulgated Section 144 within the 200 metre radius of the examination centres in the district in view of annual examination for undergraduate courses of Kurukshetra University. The assembly of five or more persons and carrying of weapons within the said area has been banned. The order will remain in force till May 30.

Girls recovered: The Madaluda police has recovered two girls, Phool Kumari and Birmati from the railway station here. The girls had allegedly been abducted from Thermal Colony here. Mr Manoj Yadav, district police chief, said on Thursday that a complaint had been registered by Mr Inderjit, father of Phool Kumari of Sutana village in this regard. The girls were recovered by the police from two persons Mukesh and Jai Bhagwan. A case under Section 363 and 366 of the IPC has been registered against the accused and they have been sent to prison on court orders. The girls have been handed over to their parents.

ROHTAK
Section 144: The District Magistrate, Mr Anil Kumar, has issued prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC in the school and college premises and the area of 400 metres in the periphery of the examination centres in the district from April 1 to 15. The step has been taken in view of the under graduate annual examinations of Maharshi Dayanand University being conducted during the period.

SIRSA
Assault: Malkiet Singh along with his father Mara Singh and Chirra Singh of Ghukanwali village in the district were arrested on Thursday in a criminal case registered against them under Section 323, 324 and 34 of the IPC on a complaint of Mrs Gurdev Kaur. According to the police the three accused, under the influence of liquor, had assaulted Mrs Gurdev Kaur's son and had also injured her when she tried to save her son.

Seized: The police seized 9 kg of poppy husk from Tikku Singh on Friday. The culprit was arrested near Mandi Dabwali in the district. The police also seized 4 kg of poppy husk from Major Singh and 3 kg from Satpal Singh of Sukhchain village on Friday.

1 held: Ami Lal Bishnoi, a resident of Savant Khera village in the district, was arrested by Mandi Dabwali police in connection with a criminal case registered against him under Sections 294 and 506 of the IPC. Ms Tej Kaur of the same village had alleged in a complaint that the accused entered her house and molested her.

Case registered: A criminal case under Sections 17,18,61 and 85 of the NDPS Act was registered at Ding police station on Friday against Bagar Singh, a farmer of Moriwala village in the district. Mr B.S Sandhu, SSP, said that the accused was cultivating opium in his fields.

Dharna: Members of the Haryana PWD Mechanical Workers Union, staged a dharna in front of the office of executive engineer here on Friday in support of their demands. Mr Sohan Singh Randhawa, vice-president of the union, alleged that resentment and anger was increasing among the workers due to alleged dictatorial and neglective attitude of the senior officers of department. It was also alleged that necessary material was not being supplied to workers in fields, which had created problems for them.

Top position: The Haryana Women Development Corporation (HWDC), Sirsa, has bagged first position in state for achieving its given targets during 1998-99. Mr Avtar Singh, Deputy Commissioner, said the HWDC had provided loans worth Rs 25.25 lakh to 137 women, against the given targets of 135 women, under special component scheme which included a subsidy of Rs 2.43 lakh and a margin money.

Arrested: According to the police Gurjant Singh and his wife Amarjeet Kaur, booked in the case of murder of Bhola Singh, were arrested on March 27 in Alikan village of the Dabwali subdivision of the district. The two had killed Bhola Singh, Gurjant's brother, with an axe over a land dispute.

SONEPAT
Financial assistance: The District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) had given the financial assistance to the tune of Rs 58.62 lakh to 1,005 beneficiaries under the Integrated Rural Development Programme ( IRDP) in the district during the 1998-99 financial year. Mr P.K. Mahapatra, Deputy Commissioner, told mediapersons here on Friday that the beneficiaries included 536 persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes and 519 women. He said a sum of Rs 2.89 lakh had also been given to the educated jobless youths under the TRYSEM for launching self-employment ventures.

Stolen vehicles: The police here has succeeded in recovering three vehicles, which were stolen from different places in the district during the past few days. The SP, Mr Anurag Garg, said here on Friday that a police party led by Mr Deshraj, ASI of Namhole police station, had recovered a truck (No. HP-11-1326) which was reportedly stolen by the cleaner of the truck, from Naraingarh. A Maruti car ( No BL-3-CA-8308) which was stolen from main bus stand at Naina Devi, was recovered by the police with the help of Punjab Police from Garhshankar. A Maruti van stolen from the Naina Devi area was also recovered from Phagwara.

NAHAN
Appointed: Mr Roshan Lal Mishra, a senior Congress leader of Paonta has been appointed president of the Paonta Block Congress Committee. The block Congress Committee and over a dozen other organisations have hailed the appointment.

Voters list: The electoral rolls of five Vidhan Sabha constituencies of this district were being revised with January 1 as qualifying date. Mr Rakesh Kaushal, Deputy Commissioner and District Election Officer, said here on Friday that the electoral rolls would be available to the general public from April 10 to May 10 at the respective subdivisional offices, tehsils, sub-tehsils and at polling stations. Eligible voters who could not enrol their names in the voters list can submit their claims to officers concerned.

Rain shelter: Mr Parmanand Verma, Municipal Councillor, has provided financial help of Rs 20,000 to construct a rain shelter near Government Primary School at Nahan Cantonment for the benefit of the schoolchildren. He had earlier donated same amount to the Government Girls Senior Secondary School here for poor students.

Annual plan: Mr Rakesh Kaushal, Deputy Commissioner, Sirmaur, launched Rs 32.66 crore annual plan for the district here on Thursday for the current financial year. He said Rs 30.17 crore would be spent to provide financial assistance to poor and needy persons. Giving blockwise allocation of these funds, he also urged officers and bankers to visit far-flung areas of the district and make people aware of various welfare schemes.

SHIMLA
Agitation: The state Patwari and Kanungo Union has threatened to intensify its agitation if the government failed to accept its demands. The association is demanding creation of 155 posts of kanungo and 452 posts of the patwari to fulfil the norm of one patwari for 4,400 khasra numbers. The union members lamented that the government was reluctant to enforce the norms for efficient revenue administration.