Cultural feast: A cultural feast, "Spandan", was organised by the Youth Welfare Department of BBK DAV College for Women here on Wednesday. The chief guest, Mr P.C. Mehra, said it was a matter of pride for the youth to have been born in Punjab.

BATALA
Eve teasing: Mr Jagdish Sawhney, the local BJP MLA, said on Mr Jagdish Sawhney, the local BJP MLA, Thursday that he had asked the chief of Batala police district to start mobile police patrolling to catch in the city and the surrounding areas culprits and other bad elements. Incidents of eve-teasing are on the rise in the district.

Stabbed: Seema (14), a student of Class VII at Government Girls Senior Secondary School here was seriously injured when she was stabbed by Happy Masih on Wednesday. She was admitted to the local Civil Hospital and was declared to be out of danger.

BATHINDA
Cultural show: Ms Gurbans Kaur Gill, Punjabi poetess and Justice of Peace, London, who presided over a cultural show, 'Aye Watan Tere Liye', organised by the volunteers of the NSS wing of SSD Girls' College here to honour the Kargil martyrs, said women should work hard to gain economic independence. She said the condition of women all over the world was the same as they were suppressed everywhere. Mr S.R. Ladhar, Deputy Commissioner, was also present.

FEROZEPORE
Elected: Mr Jatinder Singh Thakur and Mr Yogesh Kumar have been elected President and General Secretary, respectively, of the Ferozepore Cantonment Board Employees Union, according to information received here on Thursday.

KAPURTHALA
Representations: The gram panchayat of Khangah village has sent representations to the Union Communications Minister bringing to his notice the delay caused by the local telephone authorities in releasing a telephone connection to the gram panchayat.

Seized: The police has seized 5 kg of opium from Baldev Singh, alias Kaku, riding a scooter, during a special nakabandi held at Mundi Rod chowk on the Kapurthala-Goindwal Sahib road on Wednesday, according to Mr Iqbal Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police.

LUDHIANA
Arrested: The police has arrested Amarjit Singh, a resident of Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar, for stealing a Maruti car from outside Welcome Palace here on September 19. The stolen car has been recovered from his possession. In another case, the police has arrested Sukhwinder Kaur for allegedly forging power of attorney and taking forcible possession of her husband's grandfather's house after she, along with her husband, had obtained the thumb impression of the complainant on a blank stamp paper.

Lecture: Stress should be laid on monitoring the micronutrient content of the soil and plants through indexing work. This will help in understanding the impending micronutrient deficiencies which can limit crop growth and fertilisers' efficacy, particularly under intensive cropping system, which is prevalent in Punjab. This was stated by Dr G.S. Kalkat, Vice-Chancellor, PAU, while delivering the presidential address at the third Dr B.V. Mehta Memorial Lecture under the auspices of the local chapter of the Indian Society of Soil Sciences.

NAWANSHAHR
Imposter held: Mr R.P. Meena, SSP, in a press note issued here on Wednesday, said the police on Tuesday had arrested an imposter, Ranjit Singh, alias Bittu, son of Sohan Singh of Chak Mehra village in Hoshiarpur, who had robbed Mr Kehar Singh, Sarpanch of Poonia village of Rs 18,000 by posing as an official from the Deputy Commissioner's office. Ranjit Singh admitted during interrogation that he had robbed the sarpanches of several villages by adopting this modus operandi.

PHAGWARA
Killed: A school teacher, Jatinder Kaur, died on the spot when a moped on which she was riding pillion was hit by a bus on the Phagwara-Hoshiarpur road here on Wednesday. Another school teacher, Minu, who was riding the moped was seriously injured and was hospitalised.

ROPAR
Protest: On a call given by the Ropar Thermal Plant (RTP) Employees Union, the employees blocked the three gates, including the main gate, of the plant from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Wednesday in protest against the non-payment of generation incentive for August and salaries for September to the employees. During this period, the employees of the plant, including officers and engineers did not enter the plant.

SAMRALA
Condemned: At a meeting of the PCMSA of the local block on Thursday, its President, Dr Manjit Singh Dhaliwal, strongly condemned the Punjab Government's policy of checking the presence of doctors and paramedical staff at the sarpanches level. Dr Dhaliwal said only supervisors, civil surgeons or superiors could perform this task. The doctors, he said, would be compelled to start an agitation, if the government did not withdraw the order.

Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Balmeek Sabha, Machhiwara: President — Mr Prem Sagar; Vice-President — Mr Hans Raj; and Secretary — Mr Paramveer.

Kala Sangam: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Kalgidhar Kala Sangam: President — Bhai Himmat Singh (Mangat Ghulal); Vice-President — Bibi Manjit Kaur Sandhu (Machhiwara); General Secretary — Parkash Singh Mehta (Bijlipur); and Treasurer — Gurdev Singh Komal (Sandhuan).

TARN TARAN
Rally: The local unit of the PSEB Council of Junior Engineers organised a 'chetna rally' here on Wednesday to press for the implementation of their accepted demands by the management of the PSEB. Mr Hardyal Singh, President of the unit, demanded that the initial pay scale of JEs be raised from Rs 7,225 to Rs 7,775.

Arrested: The police has arrested two gangsters responsible for stealing motorcycles. A case under Sections 379 and 411, IPC, has been registered against them. They have been identified as Palwinder Singh, alias Nikka, a resident of Musse, and Sukhwinder Singh, alias Sukha, a resident of Poohla. A Yamaha motorcycle, a 12 bore pistol and three cartridges have been seized from them. In another incident, the Khemkaran police on Tuesday recovered 800 gm of opium milk from Manjit Kaur and Iqbal Singh, residents of Chohla Sahib village. A case under Sections 18, 61 and 85 of the NDPS, Act has been registered against the accused.

Tributes paid: Lance Naik Balwinder Singh, who sacrificed his life in the Kargil sector was paid rich tributes at his native Malmohri village on Wednesday. Mr Anurag Verma, ADC (Development), Amritsar, presented a cheque for Rs 2 lakh to Ms Baljit Kaur, the widow of the martyr, on behalf of the Punjab Government.

Folk dances: The Punjab Sangeet Natak Akademi, in collaboration with the North Zone Cultural Centre (NZCC), on Thursday evening organised a programme of Indian folk dances at the Punjab Kala Bhawan, Rose Garden, Sector 16. The vibrant folk and tribal dance sequence included bihu dance from West Bengal, Panthi from Madhya Pradesh, Kargam from Tamil Nadu and Chakri from Rajasthan.

KAITHAL
Recovered: A team of the District Forest Department has seized stolen sheesham worth Rs 1.50 lakh from a gang of thieves. This was stated by Mr Navdeep Hood, District Forest Officer, here on Wednesday. He said the thieves cut sheesham trees from Fatehpur forest. The Range Forest Officer, Pundri, Mr Ved Parkash, identified the accused as Suresh Balmiki of Mehmoodpur Gohana and others. The police has registered a case at Pundri.

'Dhan mela': Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University's Krishi Vigyan Kendra here will organise a state-level 'dhan mela' at the Rice Research Station, Kaul, on September 25. Releasing a press note, Dr S.S. Dahiya, chief scientist-cum-head of the kendra, said the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Mr Vinay Kumar, will be the chief guest at the mela.

SONEPAT
Patrol duty: The District Magistrate, Mr Anil Kumar, has enforced the Punjab Village and Small Towns Patrol Act, 1918, making it obligatory for all able-bodied adult male inhabitants of all villages in the district to perform patrol duty round-the-clock and ensure the safety of railway stations, railway bridges and tracks, telephone and telegraph lines, bus stands, canal bridges and culverts, waterworks and government buildings and other vital installations. The order which comes into effect immediately will continue until October 20.

Girl attacked: A young girl was seriously injured when she was allegedly attacked and stabbed on Wednesday by her paramour at Mohana village, 19 km from here. According to a report, Omvir, a hawker, had developed illicit relations with the girl. Another youth, after being spurned by the girl to have relations with him, stabbed her. The girl was admitted to the Civil Hospital here. The alleged assailant surrendered himself at Mohana police station.

Power breakdown: Several parts of the city remained without power for more than 10 hours at a stretch on Wednesday following a collapse of the power supply system on account of the burning of a cable box at 132 KV grid power sub-station, Fazilpur, near here. The power breakdown occurred around 10 a.m. and the supply was restored around 8.30 p.m. As a result, normal life and business activity came to a standstill. Drinking water supply and hospital services were the worst-hit.