C H A N D I G A R H

Frolicking four: Black bucks in a playful mood at the Mini Zoo in Chandigarh as Tribune photographer Karam Singh clicks the animals.

New grenades for infantry
CHANDIGARH, Jan 31 — Infantry units will soon be replacing their obsolete hand grenades with indigenously developed ones. Designed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation , the grenades are reported to be in the final test phase.

Administration, MCC on collision course over illegal structures
CHANDIGARH, Jan 31 — The Chandigarh Administration and the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh are on a collision course again. This time over the regularisation of the illegal structures in Mani Majra.

‘Master concrete’ for intersections
CHANDIGARH, Jan 31 — The Chandigarh Administration has decided to go for “master concrete” at all heavy and busy road intersections. A special type of concrete pre-mix is used as top layer at the intersections where heavy vehicles, including buses, trucks and other load carrying vehicles, ply.

Villagers oppose Anandgarh project
KHARAR, Jan 31 — Mr G.S. Grewal, Deputy Commissioner, Ropar, today visited Kharar to interact with the sarpanches and nambardars of 28 villages of Kharar subdivision where the Punjab Government has proposed to set up a new city Anandgarh.

‘Jamboree’ trip of scouts, guides cancelled
CHANDIGARH, Jan 31 — A total of 100 scouts and guides of the city who prepared for days together to participate in a six-day national event called the ‘Jamboree’ at Chennai, starting on January 26, had to have their trip cancelled at the last moment, reportedly for want of funds.

Strong winds lash region
CHANDIGARH, Jan 31 — The city and adjoining areas of Haryana and Punjab were hit by dust storms, at times with a speed of 40 km per hour, while forward areas in Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir experienced fresh spells of snowfall today.

COMMUNITY

The Punjab Governor, Lieut-Gen J.F.R. Jacob (retd), with NCC cadets at a function organised at Raj Bhavan to honour the cadets who had attended the Republic Day parade in New Delhi, in Chandigarh on Monday. — Tribune photo by Manoj Mahajan

Make NCC training compulsory, says Jacob CHANDIGARH, Jan 31 — The Punjab Governor, Lieut-Gen J.F.R. Jacob (retd), today suggested that NCC training should be made mandatory for every student in Punjab and Chandigarh. No funds, no GPO, poor facilities PANCHKULA, Jan 31 — The Office of the Superintendent of Post Offices, Ambala, under whose jurisdiction the Panchkula Postal Division falls, has sought re-allotment of the site for a General Post Office with revised rates, to be set up in the township, though the Postal Department is facing paucity of funds.

Candidate's cavalcade blocks traffic
PANCHKULA, Jan 31 — In a frenzy of enthusiasm, supporters of Mr Chander Mohan, the Congress candidate from the Kalka Assembly seat, accompanied him in a procession which went through the township to the office of the Returning Officer in Sector 1 where he filed his nomination papers today.

BJP starts recruitment drive
CHANDIGARH, Jan 31 — The local unit of the BJP has started its enrolment campaign. The unit has already appointed a number of people as mandals in charge to oversee the recruitment drive, according to Mr Narinder Dev Sharma, Chief of membership campaign of the unit.

CRIME

Boy commits suicide
CHANDIGARH, Jan 31 — The fear of a thrashing at home led a 14-year-old resident of Maloya Colony to reportedly commit suicide by consuming an insecticide here today.

One held with cartridges
CHANDIGARH, Jan 31 — The police has arrested Jugal Kishore, alias Billu, a resident of Sector 37, from near the GSSS, Sector 40, and recovered 76 cartridges of a .32 revolver from his possession.

Conman continues to escape police net
CHANDIGARH, Jan 31 — The long arm of the law seems to have eluded a city resident who was declared a proclaimed offender in 1989 and has reportedly continued conning people over the years.

BUSINESS

Barriers pose traffic hazard
CHANDIGARH, Jan 31 — The Information Collection Centre barriers established by the State Excise and Taxation Department for the convenience of the traders, industrialists and truck operators carrying freight to and from Punjab are increasingly becoming a traffic hazard.

A miracle: tomatoes on potato plant!
ZIRAKPUR, Jan 31 — It's a miracle: Tomatoes on a potato plant! This unusual phenomenon was noticed by Mr Daljit Singh while he was spraying pesticides in his father Thakur Singh's potato fields at Gajipur village, near here.

Seminar on housing cooperatives
CHANDIGARH, Jan 31 — The National Housing Bank and the National Cooperative Housing Federation of India will organise a seminar on housing cooperatives in the city on February 5.

EDUCATION

Computers for technology education
CHANDIGARH, Jan 31 —An order for more than 350 computers has already been placed by the UT Education Department for the government schools starting with the Information Technology education in the next school session.

Noisy scenes in PU Syndicate meeting
CHANDIGARH, Jan 31 — The Panjab University Syndicate meeting today witnessed noisy scenes and members staged walk-out twice, expressing their resentment against the proceedings.

Homoeo students flay college management
CHANDIGARH, Jan 31 — Homoeopathic Medical College students and their parents today criticised the college management for not following the directions given by the inquiry committee which was constituted by the Council of the Homoeopathic Systems of Medicine, Chandigarh

COURTS

Arrest warrant for retired cop
CHANDIGARH, Jan 31 — Issuing warrants of arrest against a retired Punjab police Assistant Sub Inspector, Chahan Singh, in the Kulwinder Singh Kid murder case, the UT Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr Sant Parkash, today said the accused, it appeared, had “tried to mislead the court by getting a false report of his death”.

HUDA told to refund cost of plot
CHANDIGARH, Jan 31 — The UT District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-II has directed the Chief Administrator of the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), Chandigarh, and the Estate Officer, HUDA, Jind, to refund Rs 20,721 to a resident of Sector 22 for deficiency in service on its part.

Judge dismisses application
CHANDIGARH, Jan 31 — The UT Civil Judge (Junior Division), Mr Pushvinder Singh, has dismissed an application filed by the Sector 52 petrol station allottee for restraining the defendants from "interfering in the peaceful functioning of the pump".

Sentenced for receiving stolen property
CHANDIGARH, Jan 31 — Convicting a Kurukshetra resident, accused of dishonestly receiving stolen property, UT Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Baljinder Singh has sentenced him to imprisonment for one year, besides imposing a fine of Rs. 1000.

CULTURE

A rare treat by Punjabi poets
CHANDIGARH, Jan 31 — The annual kavi darbar organised by the Panjab University Campus Students Council here today was a rare treat featuring leading poets of Punjabi.

SPORT

Sunil's job is tough: Nandan
CHANDIGARH, Jan 31 — ''Ideally, men should be six-foot tall while women five-feet-six-inch, if they play competitive tennis," said Nandan Bal, a former national tennis champion. Nandan is now the Head of the Deccan Gymkhana Club at Pune.

7,000 to run in marathon
CHANDIGARH, Jan 31 — Lieut-Gen (retd) JFR Jacob, Administrator of Chandigarh, will flag off the first Servo Chandigarh Marathon which will be organised by the National Adventure Club of India in collaboration with the Indian Oil Corporation on February 6, at Cricket Stadium in Sector 16.

ADMINISTRATION

Encroachments outside hotels removed
CHANDIGARH, Jan 31 — The enforcement staff of the Municipal Corporation removed encroachments from outside three hotels — Sunbeam, Piccadilly and Pankaj — in Sector 22 here today.

ASI to take up temple repair
CHANDIGARH, Jan 31 — Repair and conservation work at the Patiala Temple, adjoining the Mansa Devi shrine, is being resumed by the Archaeological Survey of India. The work, which began in October last year, had been suspended after the funds ran out.

SDM assumes additional charge
SAS NAGAR, Jan 31 — The Sub-divisional Magistrate, Mr O.P. Popli, today assumed the additional charge of the Administrator of the local municipal council after the Punjab Government amended its earlier notification through which it had appointed the Deputy Director (regional), Local Government Department, Ludhiana, Dr Karamjit Singh Sra.

HUDA Estate Officer takes charge
PANCHKULA, Jan 31 — Mr S.K. Sharma, who took charge as the Estate Officer at the office of the Haryana Urban Development Authority here today, said that he sees no problem in handling the issues of completion of houses and litigation.

Pensionary benefits on retirement day
CHANDIGARH, Jan 31 — All retiring employees of the Chandigarh police will be handed over their pensionary benefits on the day of retirement.