HOSHIARPUR
Appointed: Mr Devinder Singh Babbu, President, Punjab Youth Congress (PYC), has appointed Mr Sandeep Singh Bajwa, an advocate, as Secretary of the PYC. This was stated by the spokesman of the party here on Monday.

Public meeting: The district unit of the Janata Dal has decided to hold conventions of party workers and public meetings at villages throughout the district. At a meeting of the district executive here on Monday, members resolved to protect the interests of farmers, labourers, Dalits and cottage industries from the "wrong policies" of the BJP-led government.

DRDA association: The following have been elected office-bearers of the district unit of the All-India DRDA Staff Welfare Association: president — Mr S.K. Ranchal; vice-president — Mr K.K. Dhir; general secretary — Mr Surjit Singh; and treasurer — Mr Balbir Singh.

Honoured: Residents of ward no. 3 have honoured Mr Tikshan Sud, MLA, Mr Sat Pal Sareen, president of the Municipal Council, and Mr Kamaljit Satia, councillor, for their contribution to the development of the ward at a special function organised recently.

Association: The following have been elected office-bearers of the district unit of the Punjab Education Department Ministerial Staff Association: president — Mr Mohan Singh Marwana; and general secretary — Mr Mukand Singh Gill.

LUDHIANA
Flesh racket busted: A flesh-trade racket was busted with the arrest of two girls, Payal (16) and Pooja (24), along with three clients — Rakesh Kumar (38), Narinder Kumar (37) and Yudhishtar Kumar (40), all traders from Zira, the police said on Monday Roma of Chandan Nagar, Haibowal, was allegedly running the racket by luring girls into prostitution.

NAWANSHAHR
Dharna staged: Employees of the local municipal council on Monday staged a dharna in front of the office of the council in support of their demands. Mr Jagdish Bali, president of the Municipal Subordinate Employees Union, said resentment & prevailed among the employees as Rs 45 lakh deducted from their salaries for provident fund had not been deposited in the PF accounts.

PATIALA
Women's meeting: The Dedicated Brothers Group organised a special meeting of women at Sidhuwal village on Saturday. Dr Rakesh Vermi, founder President of the group, presided. Dr Sudesh Goyal, a gynaecologist, also attended and delivered a lecture on health.

Computerised: The State Bank of India has fully computerised its Rajpura branch which was inaugurated by the Subdivisional Magistrate, Mr Vivek Partap Singh. The branch will now provide customer service from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m on week days and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays. The bank's newly introduced customer friendly multi-option deposit scheme will now be available.

Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Punjab Library Association: President — Dr Jasmer Singh; Senior Vice-President — Mr Prem Singh Khalsa; General Secretary — Mr Kuldip Singh Dhillon; Joint Secretary — Dr R.R. Gupta; and Treasurer — Mr Nirmal Chand Verma.

Office-bearers: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Patiala Central Cooperative Bank Ltd Employees Union: President — Mr Ravinderjit Singh Sahi; General Secretary — Mr Harbans Singh Ganda; Vice-President — Mr Gurmail Singh Chandumajra; and Treasurer — Mr Nazar Khan.

Kala manch committee: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Rashtriya Jyoti Kala Manch Committee: Patron — Mr Rulda Singh; Chairman — Mr Jagjit Singh Harika; President — Mr Rakesh Sharma; Vice-President — Mr Rohit Sood; General Secretary — Mr Harsh Sethi; Secretary — Mr Rajesh Anand; and Treasurer — Mr Rajesh Kumar.

Samana
Youth festival: A three-day zonal youth festival of Punjabi University, Patiala, was inaugurated on Monday at the local Public College. Mr R S Chalia, IGP, presided. Dr Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia, Vice-Chancellor, Punjabi University, who was the chief guest, inaugurated the function.

TARN TARAN
Conference: KRIBHCO and the Agriculture Department organised a cooperative conference on Monday at Padhri Kalan village, which has been adopted under the Integrated Rural Development and Self-Employment Scheme. About 250 employees and officials of the cooperative, agriculture and other departments concerned participated. Mr Baldev Singh Pawar, Deputy Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Amritsar, presided.

Money sanctioned: HUDCO has sanctioned Rs 3.95 crore to the Punjab Police Housing Corporation for the construction of 157 houses for police personnel at the local Police Lines. Official sources said the release of funds had been held up because the government guarantee had not been received and the executing agency had not signed the loan agreement.

Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Panjab University Library Staff Association (PULSA): President — Mr M.S. Deogan; Vice-President — Dr S.S. Pawar; General Secretary — Mr G.S. Thakar; Joint Secretary — Mrs Vinod Kanwar; and Treasurer — Mrs Navjeet Kaur.

SAS NAGAR
Condemned: Mr Harvinder Singh Sidhu, Vice-President of the Punjab Pardesh Youth Congress, has criticised the role of the Ropar district administration for cane charging the protesting students of the District Institute of Education and Training at Ropar. The student had gathered to give their representation to the Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, who was visiting Gurdwara Bhatha Sahib to attend the Shaheedi Jor Mela.

ROHTAK
Women stage dharna: Members of the Mahila Sanskritik Sanghathan staged a dharna in front of the mini secretariat here on Monday in protest against the alleged failure of the government on some issues. A spokesperson of the sanghathan said crime against women had increased and the authorities had failed to check it.

SIRSA
Sewerage: Resentment prevails among residents of the local Maharaja Agarsain Colony and its adjoining areas against the alleged failure of the authorities to repair the sewerage which, they say, has been out of order for the past several months. The president of the Dukhi Mahila Sangh, Ms Raj Rani Jindal, said here on Tuesday that despite repeated complaints to the Public Health Department nothing had been done so far.

Name included: The name of Sukhchain Singh Bhandari's, a writer form Haryana, has been included in the Asia-Pacific "Whose Who" book published recently by Rifacimento International, Delhi, for his contribution to Hindi and Punjabi literature. The book contains 1,500 profiles of personalities from Asia and the Pacific.

SONEPAT
Resource mobilisation: The local municipal council has taken a series of measures for mobilising resources to increase its income for giving salary to its employees and undertaking development works in this city. Mrs Veena Rani, chairperson of the council, told mediapersons here on Tuesday that these measures were necessitated after the abolishing of octroi duty by the state government.

Collision: About 12 vehicles, including trucks and cars, collided with each other because of a thick fog on the G. T. Road near Murthal Chowk, 8 km from here, on Monday. However, there was no casualty.

Arrested: The SSP, Mr K.P. Singh, told mediapersons here on Tuesday that the police raided a house near drain no. 6 and arrested two women and two men. A case under the Flesh Trade Act has been registered.

1 killed: One person was killed and nine others injured, including two children, in two road accidents in the district on Monday. According to the police, a jeep carrying employees of the Jai Power Project skidded off the road and rolled down leaving one dead and two injured. In another incident, seven persons were injured in a head-on collision between a taxi and a scooter at Dard village near Chamunda.

SHIMLA
Telecom officers association: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Junior Telecom Officers Association of Shimla Telecom District: President — Mr Naresh Sharma; Vice-President — Mr Ravinder Gupta; District Secretary — Mr Naresh Chauhan; Assistant District Secretaries — Mr Dinesh Sharma and Mr Rajinder Singh; and Treasurer — Mr V.K. Anand.

SOLAN
Laghu udyogpati mahasangh: The Himachal Pradesh Laghu Udyogpati Mahasangh held its executive committee meeting here on Sunday. The mahasangh president, Mr Prakash Chand Thakur, told media persons that resolutions passed included a demand for appointing its representative on the Sample Passing Technical Committee of the Industries Department, uniform sales tax on old and new units and streamlining of the purchase procedures adopted by the Controller of Stores.

Injured: One person was seriously injured in a clash between members of two truck unions on Monday at Parwanoo. According to the police, Raj Kumar of Daghiar, near Parwanoo, was beaten up by members of a cooperative society after a verbal duel relating to loading and unloading of trucks took place. A case has been registered.