Fire: Four acres of standing wheat crop has been burnt here. The cause of the fire is stated to be spark from a burning pyre from the Mahilpur cremation ground here.

Demand: Local brick kiln labourers, in a rally here, demanded strict action against a brick kiln owner who had beaten up a labourer. Leaders announced that they would remain on strike till their demands were conceded.

Nominated: Horticulturist Kulwant Singh of Ghaunni Kalan has been nominated Director Punjab State Agriculture Export Corporation. He has also been awarded 'Order of Khalsa' award on Baisakhi by the Panjab Government for his achievements in the field of horticulture.

Panchayati tubewells closed: Six panchayati tubewells of Maili and Suna villages have been closed which were being used for irrigation purposes. The Kandi Sangarash Samiti has demanded that these tubewells be started again without delay or else face agitation.

GURDASPUR
Dead: Paramjeet Kaur, a JBT teacher, and another unidentified person died in an accident near Nahra village, 3 km from here on Wednesday. According to the FIR, Paramjeet Kaur and her sister Balwinder Kaur, and their neighbour Baljinder Kaur, were walking when a tractor-trolly loaded with a thrasher hit them from behind. Paramjeet Kaur died on the spot. Another old man, who has not been identified and who was sitting on the tractor trolly also died. Balwinder Kaur has been rushed to Munilal Chopra Hospital Amritsar where her condition is still serious, while Baljinder Kaur has been admitted to the local Civil Hospital. The owner of the tractor trolly has absconded with the tractor, leaving the trolly and thrasher behind. According to police sources, the owner belongs to Uchi Bassi in Hoshiarpur District.

JALALABAD
Shot: Maan Singh has allegedly been shot dead by Bhagwan Singh at Noore ki village under Sadar police station, Jalandhar. A land dispute is stated to be the reason behind the crime. The Sadar police station has registered a case under Sections 302/148/149, IPC.

KAPURTHALA
BSP panel: Mr Tarsem Singh Deula, senior leader of the district unit of the Bahujan Samaj Party, has been appointed senior vice-president of district unit. His appointment was announced at a meeting of party workers held here on Wednesday by Mr Avtar Singh Karimpuri, general secretary of the state unit of the party. In the reconstituted district unit, Mr Surjit Singh Kahana Lattan was appointed vice-president, Mr Ravinder Singh Arora, advocate, organising secretary and Mr Sukhdev Babbi as secretary.

KHARAR
Alleged: Sarpanches of nearby Deh Kalan and Malikpur villages, in a press note issued here on Wednesday alleged that though a new telephone exchange started working in Batta village on March 31, but no connection had been given to the applicants. They said that about 10 villages had been connected with this exchange. A senior officer when contacted said that new telephones would be given only after six months, they added.

MOGA
Wheat burning: Burning of wheat straw by the farmers in their respective fields in this district for preparing the land for paddy cultivation has caused resentment among the villagers of these areas in the district. Villagers said here on Wednesday that the entire area was engulfed with thick clouds of smoke which caused respiratory problems. Local physicians also said that they had now started receiving complaints of eye diseases and also diseases like asthma and if no measures were taken immediately the diseases would spread. They further said that school-going children were the main sufferers.

Murder alleged: Jagroop Singh of Lopo villager under Baghapurana police station in the district, in a complaint lodged with the police on Tuesday, sought police intervention into the alleged murder of his married sister Gurdev Kaur, alias Mukhtiar Kaur, by three sons of Mela Singh, Gurdev Kaur's husband. She was married only two days back in Rode village of the district. Jagroop Singh said her body was disposed of without informing him and also his other relations.

Office-bearers: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Bharatiya Khadiya Karamchari sangh: President — Mr V.M Demodran; senior vice-presidents — Mr Anis and Mr Daulat Ram; vice-president — Mr S.P Sood; general secretary — Mr M.C Tyagi; and treasurer — Mr M.L Garg.

NAWANSHAHR
Dharna: On a call given by their state body the district unit of the Revenue Patwar Union held a dharna here today in front of the office of the Deputy Commissioner in support of their long pending genuine demands. The patwaris criticised the callous attitude of the state govt towards their demands.

Camp: The local Kothi Road Shopkeepers Association in collaboration with the Blood Donors Council, organised a blood donation camp here on Wednesday. Mr Kuldip Singh, DSP, inaugurated the camp. As many as 50 units of blood were collected.

Shortage of stamp papers: Residents here have been facing a lot of inconvenience due to the non-availability of stamp papers. They have to purchase the stamp papers from the nearby towns as the licences of the local stamp-paper vendors are yet to be renewed.

PATIALA
Advisory committee: Dr Joginder Singh Puar, Vice-Chancellor, Punjabi University, has constituted a university panel of NSS Advisory Committee. Dr Baltej Singh Mann, Programme Coordinator of NSS, Punjabi University, has said that this panel will give its recommendations regarding world's largest project of university talk aids (UTA), national integration, adult education, various seminars related to the tercentenary celebrations of the birth of Khalsa.

Blood donation camp: On the occasion of 53rd foundation day of All-India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), a blood donation camp was organised by the Punjab Bank Employees Federation here. The camp was inaugurated by Mr M Sita Rama Murthi, Chief General Manager, at State Bank of Patiala head office building. More than 100 employees donated blood. A press release of the federation said this here on Wednesday.

Protest: The Punjab Revenue Patwar Union, tehsil unit, on Wednesday held a protest dharna outside the office of the Deputy Commissioner to protest against non acceptance of their demands. Addressing the members, union president Satnam Singh and General Secretary Paramjit Jindal criticised the government for not looking into their demands, including giving patwaris a technical status.

ROPAR
Unemployment: As many as 3721 unemployed persons got their names registered at the local employment exchange during the previous financial year, increasing the total number of job seekers to 14797 here. Ms Arwinder Kaur, Employment officer (vocational guidance), said here on Thursday that 71 persons had got employment, through this employment exchange in the past one year.

Protest march: The local unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party will organise a protest march here on Friday against the Congress President, Ms Sonia Gandhi, and the AIADMK President, Ms Jayalalitha, for their alleged “betrayal” of the people of the country. Mr Dharam Paul Gupta, President of the local unit of the BJP, will lead the protest march.

Inauguration: The inauguration of paediatric surgical services and the new operation theatre complex at the Advanced Paediatric Centre, followed by a continuing medical education programme in paediatric surgery will be held on Sunday at the Advanced Paediatric Centre of the PGI. Dr K.L.N. Rao, Head of the Department of Paediatric Surgery of the PGI, announced this here on Thursday.

Delegation: A delegation of the UT Building Maintenance Workers Union met the Adviser to the Administrator on Thursday and apprised her of their long-standing demands. Mr Ramesh Kumar, President of the union, said that their demands included release of bonus, regularisation of daily wage workers, abolition of the contract system, release of DA instalment and enhancement of conveyance allowance.

Dairy owners: A delegation of the dairy owners from the recently-acquired areas of Burail, Nizampur and Jhumru met the Adviser to the Administrator on Thursday and demanded alternative sites for the affected persons who were running their business from the area. The delegations led by Mr B.S. Jhangra, a senior leader of the local unit of the BSP, were assured by the Adviser that their demands would be considered sympathetically and she would visit the areas shortly.

Bodies found: The police has found bodies of three unidentified persons, including of a woman, in Salhawas region of the Jhajjar district, about 50 km from here. According to sources while bodies of a man and a woman aged about 50 and 36 years, respectively, had been found wrapped in a gunny bag lying near a pumphouse near JLN Feeder, a few kilometres from Madanput Kheri village, near here, body of another unidentified person aged about 60 years was found floating in a pond near the village. It is suspected that some one might have murdered these persons before dumping their bodies in a such a manner. The police has sent these bodies for post-mortem.

Blockade: Residents of Kasani village in the Jhajjar district blocked traffic on the Jhajjar-Kosli road in protest against the non-repair of the road connecting the village to the main road. According to reports reaching here the blockage was led by the Sarpanch of the village, Mr Bhagwan Singh. It started at about 7 a.m. on Thursday and was continuing till the last reports came. Some officials of the district administration had reportedly reached to spot to clear the blockade and ensure movement of traffic on the road.

3 killed: Three youths were killed in two different road accidents in the district within the past 24 hours. The collision between a motor cycle and a tourist bus coming from Delhi at Ismaila Bridge, 20 km from here, on Wednesday evening resulted in the death of two persons. The deceased have been identified as Atul Kaushik and Rohit Kaushik, of Railway Road here. In a separate incident, a youth was killed on the spot when a jeep hit him on the Sampla, — Kharkhauda road on Thursday. The deceased has been identified as Ravindra of Atail village.

Robbed: Three unidentified motor cycle-borne youths robbed some Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN) employees of nearly Rs 80,000 near Bhalaut village on Sonepat road on Wednesday. According to reports, the HVPN employees were taking the money from Baliana village to Bhalaut Power Station in a jeep when the robbers intercepted their vehicle near Baliana and looted the amount at gunpoint. The Sampla police has registered a case.

SIRSA
Body found: The police found a decomposed body of a youth from Kaluwana Irrigation Cannal in Mandi Dabwali area in this district on Wednesday. The body has not been identified.

Gang busted: The police has busted a gang of robbers and arrested two of the gang members here on Wednesday. They were involved in snatching Rs 1.21 lakh from a cloth dealer Amanohar Lal on the night of April 12. The police has recovered Rs 26,000 a sword and a dattar used in robbery from the two apprehended accused. The arrested included Surjeet Kamboj of Kutabadh village and Kishori Rajpoot of J.J.Colony.

Life term awarded: Ms Nirmala Yadav, District and Sessions Judge, on Wednesday awarded life imprisonment to Shiv Bhagwan of Risalia Khera village in this district in a murder case. According to prosecution, Shiv Bhagwan, alias Pappu, and Balbir Singh were sons of the first wife of Nihal Singh and Subhash and Om Parkash were sons of second wife of Nihal Singh of Risalia Khera village. Om Parkash told the police that on night of August 20, 1997 Subhash was seriously injured with fire arms by Shiv Bhagwan, alias Pappu, when Subhash visited the house of accused and demanded some money. Subhash was shifted to the Civil Hospital Sirsa where he succumbed to his injuries.

SONEPAT
Arrested: The Baroda police has arrested three persons on a charge of illegal felling of trees worth Rs 15,000 between Julana road and Naultha bridge along Baroda Minor. Mr K. Selvraj, SSP said here on Wednesday that the arrested persons were Satyavan of Julana village, Jagdeep, alias Baxi of Ajaib village and Jagdish, alias Sitoo of Roop Garh village near here.

YAMUNANAGAR
Union: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Haryana State Electricity Board Union, Jagadhri for 1999-2001. president — Mr Ved Parkash Sharma; vice-president — Mr Balwant Singh; secretary — Mr Dinesh Rawat; joint secretary — Mr Suresh Pal; and treasurer — Mr Chander Mohan.

KANGRA
Armyman robbed: An Armyman was robbed of cash amounting to Rs 20,000 at the local bus stand on Tuesday, the police said here on Wednesday. Mr Vipin Kumar of Mumta village, near Samloti in this subdivision, was on his way back to home from Nagaland, where he is serving in Assam Rifles. As he was waiting for bus his suitcase carrying the amount and documents was stolen. He lodged a complaint with the police.

KULU
Foreigner held: One Italion national was arrested for possessing 300 gm of charas while travelling in private bus on Bhuntar-Manikaran road on Wednesday. The foreigner was identified as Sieman Santins. A case under Section 20 the NDPS Act has been registered.

Awards: Thakur Ved Ram Jayanti National awards for 1997-98 and 1998-99 were presented on Wednesday at Bhutti, Colony about 5 km from here, to distinguished persons in the field of journalism, health, handloom sector and literature. Dr Vidya Niwas Mishra, Padmashree, former Principal Editor, Nav Bharat Times, Mr G.C Pathania, Editor, All-India Radio, Shimla, Mr S. Sadosh, Feature Editor, Ajit Samachar, Dr Sunita Sharma, free lancer, New Delhi and Mr V.K Thukral were honoured in the field of journalism. Mr Purohit Chander Shekhar and Mr Molu Ram Thakur received the award in the field of literature and culture. Dr Jaidev Singh Ratola and Dr Sita Thakur were awarded for their services in the field of health. Mr Devi Prakash was awarded for his contribution in the handloom sector