HOSHIARPUR
Competitions: The Youth Services Department, Punjab, organised competitions in recitation, declamation, folk songs, shabad singing, monoacting and painting for students at the local Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Railway Mandi, here on Wednesday. The competitions were held to commemorate the tercentenary celebrations of the Khalsa Panth.

JALANDHAR
Passports despatched: The passport applications received at the local passport office up to serial number 402/94610/98 till October 30,1998, have been processed. Passports have been despatched to those whose applications were complete in all respects during the week ending February 8,1999.

Recruitment rally: The Army will hold a recruitment rally from February 20 to 28 at the Guru Nanak Dev Stadium, Kapurthala, and the Jyoti Stadium, Ferozepore Cantonment, for domiciles of Punjab. The recruitment is exclusively for Sikh, Majhabi Sikh, Ramdasia, Valmiki, Adharmi and Dogra candidates.

LUDHIANA
Strike call: The Private Colleges Non-Teaching Employees Union, Punjab and Chandigarh, has given a call to the non-teaching staff of colleges affiliated to Panjab University, Chandigarh and Punjabi University, Patiala, to observe a strike on Friday in protest against the "step-motherly" treatment of the state government towards their demands. The decision was taken at a meeting of the union leaders held at Phagwara on Tuesday.

MOGA
Cooking gas cylinders: The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Kulbir Singh Kanga, constituted an apex body of three members here on Thursday to streamline the supply of cooking gas cylinders to consumers. The committee has been constituted in view of the large-scale selling of cooking gas cylinders on the black market by gas agencies.

Suicide: A local youth allegedly committed suicide on Wednesday by consuming poison, according to reports. A family feud is stated to be the cause of the suicide.

Welfare association: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation Subdivisional Engineers' Welfare Association: President — Mr Rajinder Singh; Vice-President — Mr Kuldip Singh; General Secretary — Mr Mohinder Bikram and Treasurer — Mr S.K. Aggarwal.

Memorandum given: A deputation of the Association of Anganwadi Workers and Helpers met the Adviser to the Administrator and submitted a memorandum of their demands to him. Mrs Rashpal Kaur, president of the association, said their main demands are enhancement in their honorarium and payment of extra duty allowance of Rs 200 a day.

Employees union: Punjab State Warehousing Corporation Employees Union (HO): President — Mr Sohan Lal; General Secretary — Mr H.R. Gabha; Senior Vice-President — Mr Harsh Nath Singh; Vice-President — Mr Amar Nath; Joint Secretary — Mr Inderbir Singh; Treasurer — Mr Pawan Kishore.

Elected:The following have been elected office-bearers of the Education Department Class IV Workers Union: chairman-Mr Rajinder Prasad; vice-chairman- Mr Kalu Ram; chief adviser- Mr B.P.Gour; senior vice- president -Mr Sant Ram; general secretary- Mr Kishan Pal; and treasurer -Mr Chunni Lal.

Eye camp: As many as 252 patients were examined in an eye camp organised jointly by the Lions Club Chandigarh Shivalik and the UT Health Department at Palsora village on Thursday. As many as 15 patients were identified for operation at General Hospital, Sector 16.

PANCHKULA
Welfare body: The following have been elected office-bearers of the House Owners Welfare Association of Sector 4: Chairman — Mr J.S. Sangari; President — Mr C.L. Salwan; Senior Vice-Presidents — Mr O.P. Taneja and Mr B.L.Tandon; Vice-Presidents — Mr K.K. Makkar, Dr D.C. Verma and Mr H.L. Gulati; General Secretary — Mr Chander Shekher; Finance Secretary — Mr D.P. Chatrath; Joint Secretary — Mr R.R. Vata and Organising Secretary — Mr N.K. Sachdeva.

Demand: The Panchkula Owners Welfare Federation has urged the Union Railway Minister, Mr Nitish Kumar, to direct officials concerned to speed up work on the road connecting Panchkula to the Chandigarh Railway station.

Ghoomer Academy: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Ghoomer Academy of Arts and Culture: President — Mr R.D.Garg; Senior Vice-President — Mr Randhir Singh; Vice-Presidents — Mr H.S.Shinder and Mr K.P.Singh; General Secretary — Ms Suneeta Dhariwal; and Treasurer — Mr Sanjay Vashist.

FATEHABAD
Darbar held: An open darbar was held here on Wednesday in which complaints regarding the lists comprising names of those living below poverty line were received. Mr V. Raja Sekhar, Deputy Commissioner presided. He referred the complaints to the departments concerned.

Social organisations: The Additional Deputy Commissioner, Mr Vineet Garg, has said social organisations can play a vital role in bringing a change in the general perception of the people regarding their duties towards the society and the country as a whole. He was speaking at the installation ceremony of the local Rotary Club on Wednesday.

GURGAON
2 killed: Kamal and Rajiv were killed on the spot when their motor cycle was hit by a bus near the premises of the Maruti Udyog Ltd here on Wednesday. A case of negligent driving has been registered against the driver who has been arrested.

Bribery case: The police here has registered a case against an Assistant Sub-Inspector Ajmer Singh, for demanding Rs 3000, from Mr Abhay Jain, an English national daily correspondent, for getting the plot of his relative vacated. The DSP and the naib tehsildar conducted a raid on Mr Jain's complaint.

Sarpanch suspended: The Deputy Commissioner has suspended the sarpanch, Raj Singh of Teekli village and handed over the charge to the deputy sarpanch. Villagers alleged that the sarpanch did not take any action against the land grabbers of the panchayat's land.

Protest: Staff of the Carrier Aircon Ltd blocked the national highway on Tuesday in protest against the termination of the services of its 175 employees by the management due to a slump in the market.

PANIPAT
Open darbar: The district administration organised a block-level open darbar at Bapoli village, 18 km from here, on Wednesday. Mr Anurag Rastogi, Deputy Commissioner, presided. As many as 70 complaints were received.

Eye check-up camp: The district Red Cross Society and the Health Department organised an eye check-up and operation camp at the primary health centre, Samalkha, 20 km from here, on Tuesday. It was inaugurated by Mr Anurag Rastogi, Deputy Commissioner. Nearly 375 patients were examined and medicines free of cost were given.

Theft cases: The local police claimed to have solved cases of thefts by arresting three youths from different parts of the city on Tuesday. The district police chief, Mr Manoj Yadav, said the arrested persons have been identified as Phool Singh, Jaipal and Kirpal, all of Jind disitrict. A gun and other goods were recovered from them.

Demonstration: The local unit of the Haryana Bank Employees Federation held a demonstration in front of the office of the State Bank of India, GT Road, on Wednesday in support of their demands.

SIRSA
Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Haryana Medical and Sales Representatives Association here: President — Mr Vinay Sharma; Vice-President — Mr Pradeep Chikara; Secretary — Mr Rajesh Dhar; Joint Secretary — Mr Jitender Sharma; and Treasurer — Mr Ravi Chopra.

Eye operation camp: A free eye operation camp will be organised at Ding town by the Adarsh Yuva Club, 20 km from here, on February 14. Mr Brij Lal Soni, President of the club, said here on Wednesday that medicines and spectacles would be given free of cost to patients.

Cleanliness camp: A rural cleanliness awakening camp for the district was organised by the State Community Development Training Centre, Nilokehri at the local Panchayat Bhavan on Wednesday. The Deputy Commissioner Mr Avtar Singh, presided.

Arrested: Joginder, alias Paramjeet, of the local mela ground, was arrested by the CIA on Wednesday in a case registered against him under Sections 457 and 380, IPC. The police recovered one electric motor from his possession.

Seminar: The District and Sessions Judge, Ms Nirmala Yadav, said here on Wednesday that a seminar and a legal awareness camp will be held by the District Legal Aid Authority here on February 27. These will be addressed by Mr Justice V.K. Bali and Mr Justice N.C. Kheechi of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

House collapse: Mr Rattan Sharma and his wife received serious injuries while their daughter, Pinki (5), died on the spot when the roof of their house collapsed at Nathusari Kalan village in the district on Wednesday. According to informed sources, waterlogging in the area was the reason behind the mishap.

Salaries not paid: Employees of the Municipal Committee, Mandi Dabwali, on Wednesday protested against the Haryana Government for not giving their salaries for the past four months. They threatened to boycott their duties in case they were not given their salaries.

Camp held: A two-day camp on legal awareness was organised recently by SETU and Nirjharni, two local organisations. The Additional District Sessions Judge, Mr K.K. Chopra presided.

Stabbed: Sewa Singh, an ex-Municipal Corporator, was stabbed by Kalu Mehta, Janaka and Bichhu Ram at Tehar Mohalla. According to the victim, he was attacked by the three persons because he had tried to stop them from involving themselves in illegal activities.

SONEPAT
Inter-college competitions: Teams from 23 colleges participated in inter-college competitions on "Woman-Know Thyself" organised by the women cell of GVM Girls College here on Tuesday. Dr Sumedha, Managing Director of the local cooperative sugar mill, presided.

SBI branch sought: The district Kisan and Bagwaani Association has sought a branch of the State Bank of India at Ghumarwin town, 30 km from here, to cope with the great rush of consumers. This was stated by the General Secretary, Mr B.D. Sharma, here on Wednesday.

SHIMLA
Office-bearers: The following have been elected office-bearers of the state Panchayati Raj Department Employees Union: President — Mr Prem Tanta; Senior Vice-President — Mr Rajinder Kumar; Vice-Presidents — Mr Ramesh, Mr Prem Singh, Mr Rattan and Ms Vimla; General Secretary — Mr Joginder Sharma.

Book on Pangwals: Ms Meenakshi Chaudhary, author of the book, "Exploring Pangi Himalaya-A World Beyond Civilisation", said she had no intention to hurt the feelings of anyone. In a statement issued here on Wednesday, Ms Chaudhary said she was deeply hurt by the burning of her book and the demand for a ban on it made by the Pangi Students Welfare Association.

SOLAN
Protest rally: Teachers of Parmar University wore black badges and held a rally in front of the Vice-Chancellor's office at Nauni on Wednesday in protest against the non-implementation of the revised UGC scales. Mr K.S. Thakur, Secretary of the association, said teachers would boycott teaching on February 16 on a call given by the All-India Federation of University Teachers Association.