Inquiry sought: The Punjab Anti-corruption Forum has urged the Chief Minister to order a high-level probe into the burning of records of the District Transport Officer (DTO) allegedly in a bomb blast. Thakur Hari Singh, Chairman of the forum, has alleged that the hand of some officials of the DTO in the incident could not be ruled out.

FAZILKA
Died: Parveen (22), a resident of a slum locality here, sustained serious burn injuries on Monday while lighting a kerosene stove for preparing tea. She was rushed to the local Civil Hospital where she died. The deceased was married to Ashok Kumar, a labourer, about eight months back.

GARHSHANKAR
Punished: Residents here punished a couple on Monday for having illicit relations. Both of them are married and have children. They had eloped from the town. When they came back, they were beaten by relatives of the woman. People took them around the town shouting slogans against them.

HOSHIARPUR
Grant received: The local District Planning and Development Board has received Rs 1359.31 lakh for various developmental activities in the district for 1999-2000. This was stated by Mr Raghbir Singh, Transport Minister, Punjab, and Chairman of the board, in a monthly meeting here on Monday. He said out of this amount Rs 358.24 lakh would be spent in rural areas and Rs 73.94 lakh in urban areas of the district.

Cleanliness drive: Mr Abinash Rai Khanna, Secretary of the state unit of the BJP, along with hundreds of party workers, including the local Sarpanch, and other residents, started a cleanliness campaign at Palewal village on Monday. Mr Bhagwant Kishore, General Secretary of the district unit of the BJP, said in a press note that they cleaned drains and streets in the village.

LUDHIANA
Conference: A conference to discuss issues related to police training in the context of the prevailing social scenario and future challenges was held at the Punjab Police Academy on Monday. Senior police officers of the state participated in the conference which was presided over by the DGP, Punjab, Mr Sarabjit Singh.

Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Northern Railway Pensioners Welfare Association: President — Mr Sher Singh; Senior Vice-President — Mr Surinder Mohan; Vice-Presidents — Mr D.P. Bhatia and Mr Uttam Singh; and General Secretary — Mr Chitkara.

Summer courses: The College of Home Science, Punjab Agricultural University, has offered to conduct three one-week courses on "Beauty and Home", "Tie and Dye", and "Children's Clothing" during the summer vacations. This information was given by Dr S.K. Mann, Dean of the College, here on Monday.

Demanded: The legal cell of the Punjab Pradesh Youth Congress (PPYC) has demanded that a separate judicial court be allocated to deal specifically with traffic challans. This was stated here on Tuesday by Mr Harpreet Sandhu, General Secretary, of the cell, who presided over a meeting of the Youth Congress workers and certain professionals, where this demand was raised.

Ambulance service: An ambulance service of the local chapter of the People for Animals was started here on Sunday. The function was inaugurated by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Arun Goel. On the occasion, an exhibition was held and awards were presented to those policemen and citizens who had done exemplary work for the welfare of animals.

MOGA
Promoted: Mr Balwinder Singh Sekhon, posted at Zira in Ferozepore district, has been promoted out of turn to the rank of Inspector by the DGP, Punjab, for doing good work on the anti-terrorist front and in tackling anti-social elements. This was stated by the SSP here on Monday.

NAWANSHAHR
Blood donation camp: The local Blood Donors Council, in collaboration with the Rotary Club, Garhshankar, organised a blood donation camp at ITI, Garhshankar, about 10 km from here, on Monday. As many as 35 students donated blood at the camp, Mr Pushp Raj Kalia, Founder Secretary of the council, said in a press note.

PATIALA
Baazigars: Thirteen sub-castes of the Baazigar community are not benefitting from various welfare schemes launched by the state and the Central Governments for the development of Scheduled Castes and Tribes. Claiming this in a memorandum handed over to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal here on Monday, Mr Jagir Singh Khalsa, President, Baazigar Sudhar Sabha, said nearly 50 per cent of the children of the sub-castes were working as child labourers. He said literacy rate in the community was only 20 per cent and only 3 per cent have concrete houses to live in.

SAMRALA
Dharna: All revenue patwaris of the local tehsil sat on a dharna on Monday in front of the tehsil courts compound and observed a pen-down strike. They also held a rally which was addressed, among others, by Mr Paramjit Singh, tehsil President. Mr Paramjit Singh said they had started the strike from June 1 and it would continue till their demands were accepted.

New SDM: Mr Baldev Singh took over as Subdivisional Magistrate here on Monday. He replaced Mr Sanjay Popli, who has been transferred to Chandigarh in the office of DPI, Primary Schools. Mr Baldev Singh, earlier, was SDM, Patti.

SANGRUR
Sentenced: Mr J.P. Mehmi, Additional Sessions Judge, has sentenced four persons, including a woman, to rigorous imprisonment for life and imposed on them a fine of Rs 5,000 each. The Judge convicted them for the murder of Jasmeer Singh, alias Bhola, son of Mr Gurnam Singh, a resident of Dharamgarh village. The convicts are Mangat Singh, Kala Singh, Jarnail Singh and Balbir Kaur, all residents of Namol village.

Sangat darshan: A sangat darshan programme was held here on Monday, presided over by Mr Anirudh Tewari, Deputy Commissioner. Of the 74 complaints received on the occasion, as many as 58 were solved on the spot while heads of the departments concerned were directed to settle the remaining complaints within a fortnight.

Applications processed: The local Regional Passport Office has processed applications which were submitted until March 1 this year and were found complete in all respects. This was stated in the weekly report of the RPO on the status of applications for passports for the week ending May 28.

PANCHKULA
Office shifted: The local office of the Post and Telegraph Department, which had been operating from house number 106 in Sector 8, has been shifted to SCO 178 in Sector 5 with effect from Monday. This was stated in a press release of the Chandigarh Telecom centre issued on Tuesday.

Voters' cards: A spokesman of the District Election Office said on Tuesday that voters' I-cards of those voters, who had applied for inclusion of their names in the voters' list by May 20, would be given another chance. The voters' I-cards would be made from 9 a.m to 5 p.m on June 11.

ROHTAK
Murdered: Debi Singh, a resident of the nearby Gugaheri village, was allegedly murdered by Mahender of the same village with a sharp-edged weapon. According to the police, the accused allegedly hacked to death Debi Singh with an axe while the latter was working in the fields. He suspected illicit relations between the victim and his wife. The police has registered a case under Section 302 of the IPC.

SIRSA
Body found: The local police found a body near the ITI on Tuesday. As the unidentified corpse was being handed over to the Municipal Committee after the post-mortem, relatives of the deceased came to claim the body. The deceased is reported to have come to Dera Jagmalwali to attend a satsang.

Demanded: The Haryana Government Primary Teachers Sangh has demanded filling up of four vacancies of Block Education Officers so that teachers' problems are solved at the earliest. They have also demanded an increase in the HRA, medical allowance and casual leave and threatened to launch an agitation from August 5, if their demands are not met.

SONEPAT
Annual conference: A three-day annual conference of Arya Samaj concluded at Rohna village, about 16 km from here, on Sunday. A former Chief Minister of Delhi, Mr Sahib Singh Verma, the President of the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, Haryana, Swami Indervesh, and other Arya Samaj leaders addressed the conference and called upon the workers to spread the message of Swami Dayanand in urban and rural areas of the state.

Recovered: The Gohana police on Monday recovered a new stolen Mohindra jeep and arrested four persons in this connection. The Senior Superintendent of Police, Mr K. Selvraj, told reporters here that the arrested persons had been identified as Sanjeeta and Virender of Bhatgaon village and Hoshiar Singh and Balraj of Mohana village in this district.

Murdered: A labourer, Bao Ram (50), was allegedly killed by Sukh Nandan, a mason at Kanwali village, about 20 km from here, on Sunday. According to preliminary reports, the deceased belonged to Rath village in Mohawa district of UP. He allegedly had an altercation with Sukh Nandan after they had consumed liquor. The latter, in a fit of fury, reportedly murdered Bao Ram and escaped. The police has registered a case.

Open darbar: Mr P.K. Mahapatra, Deputy Commissioner, disposed off as many as 40 complaints at a one-day open darbar held by him at Kharkhauda town, 19 km from here, on Sunday. Most of the complaints related to non-supply of rationed commodities, erratic water and power supply, poor maintenance of roads and non-payment of old-age pension.

Appointed: Mr B.R. Rahi has been appointed the Chairman of the employees cell of the Congress in Himachal Pradesh.

UNA
Arrested: The local police on Monday arrested Ashok Kumar, Yash Pal, Ravinder Kumar, Madan Lal and Sanjiv Kumar, sons of Mr Dwarka Dass of Bahdala village, 8 km from here, under the Gambling Act. An amount of Rs 4,34,570 was recovered from their house.