BATHINDA
Cultural mela: The third Baba Haji Rattan Yadgari Cultural Mela will be organised by the district administration and the Baba Haji Rattan Yadgari Sabhyacharak Manch from March 26 to 28. This was stated by Mr S.R. Ladhar, Deputy Commissioner, here on Saturday.

FATEHGARH SAHIB
Annual plan: The Punjab Government has increased the annual plan of developmental works from Rs 15,000 crore to Rs 26,000 crore and a ban has been imposed on unnecessary expenditure in every department to strengthen the economy of the state. This was stated by Capt Kanwaljit Singh, Finance Minister, while addressing a gathering at a public darbar being organised at Jakhwali village, 15km from here, on Saturday.

Daily-wagers: Mr Hari Singh Tohra, President, Punjab State Karamchari Dal, has sought the regularisation of the services of about 1000 daily-wagers working at the SYL canal. Their salary which had not been given to them for the past three months should be released along with other allowances he added.

FEROZEPORE
Library: Maj-Gen K.C. Padha, General Officer Commanding of the Golden Arrow Division, on Saturday inaugurated a hi-tech environment friendly Dronacharya Library here . It has over 20,000 books, videogames, computer-based games and studies and internet facility.

JALANDHAR
Bar Association: The following have been elected office-bearers of the district Bar Association: President — Mr G.K. Agnihotri; Senior Vice-President — Mr Madan Lal; Junior Vice-President — Mr G.S. Kahlon; Secretary — Mr Raj Kumar Bhalla; and Joint Secretary — Mr Jatinder Kumar.

Two dead: Amarjit Singh (45) of Garden Colony was killed when he was hit by a four-wheeler near Ruby Palace in the city on Saturday on his way to the office, police sources said. In another incident a scooterist, Harjinder Singh (19), died when he was hit by a Maruti car near Chuharwali village on Jalandhar-Adampur road on the same day.

KAONKE KALAN
Inaugurated: Jathedar Tota Singh, Education Minister, Punjab, inaugurated the building of a government primary school here on Friday. He said big villages in the state would soon have separate school for girls and only female staff would be recruited.

KHARAR
DCC secretary: Mr Anil Kaushik, Advocate, here has been appointed as Secretary of the District Congress Committee, Ropar, according to a letter issued here on Friday.

LUDHIANA
Symposium: The SC and ST Employees Welfare Association of Food Corporation of India organised a delegates' symposium here on Saturday. Mr Satnam Singh Kainth, member of Parliament, was the chief guest.

MOGA
Committee: The following have been elected office-bearers of the newly formed Court Complex Committee of Baghapurana town: President — Mr Balwant Singh Brar; Vice-President — Mr Avtar Singh Sangha; General Secretaries — Mr Kulwant Singh Rakhra and Mr Jagsir Paul Bansal; and Treasurer — Mr Vinod Kumar.

STD, PCO units: Almost all STD and PCO units of the town have been lying idle for the past two days, according to reports available here on Saturday. There was a mechanical trouble in the machinery set up causing great inconvenience to the local people.

PATIALA
Shradhanjali: The National Language Institution, Uttar Pradesh, has decided to publish a book "Shradhanjali" to commemorate the life and works of late Manju Dwivedi, a writer, columnist and convener of the state unit of the National Language Parishad, who died on January 25. This was stated by Mr Suraj Bhan, Governor, Uttar Pradesh.

Telecom union: The following have been elected office-bearers of the All-India Telecom Employees Union Class-III (Punjab circle): President — Mr Hans Raj; Vice-Presidents — Mr Baldev Singh, Mr Amrik Singh, Mr Charanjit Singh Grewal, Ms Harbir Kaur, Mr Lalit Prashad and Mr Nachhattar Singh Kheeva; Circle Secretary — Mr Manohar Lal Sharma; and Circle Treasurer — Mr Nirmal Prashad.

PHAGWARA
Arrested: The police here has arrested Vijay Kumar, Kamal Kishore, Devinder Kumar and Mohinder Singh and recovered two Maruti cars, one scooter, three pistols and six cartridges from them. A case under Sections 379 and 411, IPC, has been registered.

Office-bearers: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Lions Club Chandigarh Central: President — Mr M.P.S Arora, Secretary — Mr Sanjay Sardana, Treasurer — Mr Vineet Oswal; and PRO — Mr Vinod Choudhery.

Elected: Mr Sushil Goyal has been elected President of the Lions Club Chandigarh Plaza for the year 1999-2000, a press note issued by the club said.

Numbers changed: Following the decision of the Department of Telecommunications to change 5-level telephone numbers, Yuvsatta has changed the number of Dost, its counselling service for drug abuse, alcoholism and smoking to 744722. the counsellors will be available from Monday to Friday between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.

PANCHKULA
Admission process: A new admission process based on psychology has been introduced by St Soldier Divine Public School in Sector 16 here. The Principal of the school, Mr H.S. Majhail, said the process was a natural method to test the abilities of a child.

Shobha yatra: The local Shri Sanatan Dharam Kendriya Parishad organised a shobha yatra on the occasion of Ram Navami here on Sunday. The yatra started from Radha Madhav Mandir in Sector 4 and passed through Sectors 8, 9, 10, 11, 16 and 17 before terminating in Sector 15 here.

Medical camp: A medical and dental camp will be organised at Sanatan Dharm Sabha in Sector 11 here on Monday. Dr Shobit Ghai, Dr Pankaj Shourie and Dr Neelam Sengar will hold the camp.

Satsang: A three-day satsang will be held at the Manav Kendra of Ruhani Satsang near Bhainsa Tibba village from March 24.

Two killed: Dinesh of Lalru village was killed when his scooter was hit by a jeep near Panjokhra village on Friday. A case has been registered against the driver, Mohammad Irshad. In another accident, Gulshan Kumar of Baldev Nagar was killed when he was hit by a vehicle on the same day. A case has been registered.

BHIWANI
Annual function: Mr Surender Singh, MP, conferred the "Roll of Honour" on 30 students and college colour on 49 students of the local Government College at the annual function here on Saturday. He also gave prizes to students attaining excellence in education, sport, NSS and NCC.

Dharamshala: The Minister of State for Home, Mr Ram Bhajan Agarwal, inaugurated the newly constructed dharamshala built at a cost of Rs 1 lakh at Bawri gate here on Saturday. Mr R.B. Langyan, Additional Deputy Commissioner, and Ms Meena Arora, President Municipal Council, were also present.

Visit: Mr Justice H.S.Bedi of the Punjab and Haryana High Court paid a visit and inspected the local courts at the court complex here on Saturday. He also met the local judges and lawyers. He will inspect the courts of Siwani, Charkhi Dadri, Loharu, besides the District Jail.

Bihar violence: A Sarvjatiya Dal on behalf of the Jan Adhikar Kartavya Samiti has proceeded to Bihar to urge the warring groups to end violence. This was stated by Mr Bir Singh, President of the samiti, here on Saturday.

Kerosene rates: The District Collector, Mr. K.S.Yadav, has fixed the wholesale and retail rates for kerosene in urban and rural areas to be supplied through the public distribution system. This was stated in an order issued here recently.

KAITHAL
Eye check-up camp: The Siwan Welfare Society organised a free eye check-up camp at the local Rama Ashram. About 413 patients were examined and medicines free of cost were distributed.

SIRSA
Polluted water supply: Residents of Lohia Basti and nearby areas blocked the traffic for nearly five hours on Begu Road in the city on Saturday to protest against the polluted water supply in the area. When Public Health officials arrived there the agitators threw polluted water on them.

Suicide: Sukhdev Singh (18), RMP doctor, allegedly committed suicide by consuming poison on Friday. He belonged to Mangala village and ran a shop at Nanakpura village. He was reportedly under some stress.

Misbehaving: Two persons were arrested for interrupting the official work at the Deputy Commissioner's office on Saturday. Jai Chand and Prabhu Dayal of Suchan Kotli village of the district came to the DC's office and asked the clerks to show them certain official documents. On being refused they had a scuffle with the clerks. When the City Magistrate intervened the two misbehaved with him also.

Suicide: Dalal Krishan Vishvas of West Bengal, who was working at the local Air Force station here, allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in his rented room here on Friday. According to informed sources, he had been married four years back and had no child. A case under Sections 363 and 366, IPC, has been registered against Amit Kumar with whom the victim's wife had alleged illicit relations.

Sentenced: Three persons were sentenced to life imprisonment and fined Rs 200 each in a murder case by Sessions Judge Nirmala Yadav on Saturday. Jasbir Jora Singh, Mohana Singh and Balli Singh armed with weapons, had come to Mithu Singh's house on August 26 and started firing after a verbal duel. Mithu Singh's maternal aunt was killed in the firing.

YAMUNANAGAR
Donor prizes: Dr K.K.Sachdeva, a physician in Punjab, distributed blood donation prizes to 101 donors of the district at a function held at the local Mukand Lal National College on Friday.

KANGRA
Seminar: Itihas Sankalan Yojna will hold a three-day national seminar at Kangra Fort from March 27. This was stated by Dr Bunesh Gupta, organiser of the seminar. He added that 18 research papers on "Trigarth Through Ages" would be read out by historians on the occasion. Mr P.K. Dhumal, Chief Minister, would inaugurate the seminar.

NURPUR
Protest: The Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Employees Union held a dharna here on Saturday in protest against the state government's decision to form a state electricity regulatory commission to replace the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB).

SHIMLA
Elected: Mr Waryam Singh Bains, a Congress-supported candidate for university court, won the elections on Saturday defeating his nearest rival, Mr Vijay Kumar, supported by the CPM, by a margin of eight votes.