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TOP STORIES

Security stepped up at vital installations
Chandigarh, March 2
As a precautionary measure in the wake of rising communal tensions in several parts of the country, the local police has beefed up security at vital installations and communally sensitive places in the city.

Mohali MC to clip budget size
SAS Nagar, March 2
A new proposal on setting up subcommittees for considering issues concerning the town is likely to be cleared at the budget meeting of the Municipal Council scheduled for March 7. The four panels — on works, sanitation, education and finance — will discuss relevant issues before these are taken up at council meetings. 

Bikramjit gets bail
Chandigarh, March 2
Bikramjit Singh, Principal Secretary of Punjab, was granted bail here today by a local court in a case registered against him by the CBI under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The UT Special Judge of the CBI, Mr Justice Lakhbir Singh, gave him bail on furnishing a Rs 50,000 bond and a surety.

PU scholar yields fuel from polythene Chandigarh, March 2 A Panjab University scholar has successfully been able to convert polythene into fuel, which can be used for burning in industrial units and can also be used in place of kerosene used at home.

12 cops get show-cause notices
Chandigarh, March 2
Show-cause notices have been served on 12 policemen for ignoring orders to report any arrest to the Superintendent of Police (Headquarters) within an hour of it. The SSP, Mr Parag Jain, had issued the orders in after reports of the torture of two persons in the police custody last month.

Goodbye chits, hello mobile

Chandigarh, March 2 They perch where carrier pigeons do not dare to nest. Hurdled between two bricks in the dingy lavatories, safely hidden from the glaring stares of the indifferent creation, agile mobile phones silently wait for their moment of glory, for being pressed to the bosom, chucked under the screen, fondled by fair hands before being used for receiving chemistry formulas in the middle of the examinations.

NOT JUST FOR COMMUNICATION: Cell phones are now being used for cheating in examinations. — A Tribune photograph

First bio-chemical DNA lab
Chandigarh, March 2
Indigenous electronic devices based on bio-molecular technology are set to bring about a significant upheaval in the electronics sector. A bio-chemical DNA laboratory, claimed to be the first in the country, is being established at the Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIO) here. 

• Rain lowers day temperature

COMMUNITY

Rain plays spoilsport in Spring Fest

Panchkula, March 2 The heavy downpour since last evening ensured that the 16th Spring Fest Flower Festival , that was inaugurated here today, turned out to be a damp squib. Bad weather kept crowds away on the first day of this two-day festival. The festival is being organised in the open in Town Park. Flowers on display at Spring Fest that began in Yavnika, Panchkula, on Saturday. — A Tribune photograph

PARKING BLUES-III
Where parking is a driver’s nightmare
Chandigarh, March 2
Dinesh Sharma’s brand new car, purchased after his father sold a plot in Gurgaon, got badly scratched by a cycle-rickshaw carrying sanitaryware the last time he went to the Sector 26 market on Madhya Marg. His case, unfortunately, is not an isolated one. Every day scores of resident visiting

Shopkeepers complain of blocked sewerage
SAS Nagar, March 2
Shopkeepers of Phase VII here complained today that the sewer system in the area was blocked and the authorities had failed to redress their grievance. Shopkeepers of SCF number 10 to 43, nearby booths and bay shops said sewer behind the market had been overflowing for about 10 days and there was a smell all around.

Hunt on for Pak spy’s accomplice
Chandigarh, March 2
Special teams of the Chandigarh Police carried out raids at several places tonight to nab an inspector of the UT Food Supplies Department, Madan, who is reported to be an accomplice of the arrested Pakistani Spy Mohamad Riaz.

FLAVOUR OF THE WEEK
The world comes to city
Chandigarh, March 2
The past few days have been full of spice and Chandigarh seems to be a happening place. There are stars all around, with each having a distinct sparkle. Three films — two in Punjabi and one in Hindi, English and Punjabi — are being shot here and nearby. The interest shown in the city and its aesthetics by 20th Century Fox Productions of Priya Singh Paul is surprising.

READERS WRITE
For uniform rates
THERE is an urgent need for suitable government control over cable operators so that uniform rates are charged from consumers as against the different rates being charged in Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula, a practice which defies one’s comprehension.

• Reduce tariff

• Of guest houses

• Faulty cylinder

CRIME

Girl commits suicide
Chandigarh, March 2
A 17-year-old girl reportedly committed suicide in Sector 40 here today by hanging herself with a water hosepipe this evening. The deceased has been identified as Roshni. She was working as a maid servant. According to police sources, no suicide note has been recovered.

3 booked for abetting suicide
Panchkula, March 2
The police has booked three persons on charges of abetting a local youth for suicide. A case under Section 306 of the IPC has been registered against Surmukh Singh, Bhagwanti and Premo.

2 killed in accidents
SAS Nagar, March 2
A resident of Sector 70 here, Mr Pradeep Kumar, was killed on the spot when his scooter was hit by a private tourist bus near the PCA stadium in Phase IX last night. The police has registered a case under Sections 279 and 304A of the IPC.

EDUCATION

Class X exams begin on a sour note
Chandigarh, March 2
The CBSE Class X examinations which began today frustrated the tension-ridden students as they were forced to take their examinations sans electricity in dingy classrooms even as dark clouds descended on the city.

275 students get degrees
Chandigarh, March 2
Degrees were conferred on 275 graduate and postgraduate students while 305 students were awarded prizes on the 33rd convocation and annual prize distribution function of Sri Guru Gobind Singh College, Sector 26, here today.

511 students get degrees
Chandigarh, March 2
Five hundred eleven students were conferred degrees at the XVI annual convocation of the Government College for Girls, Sector 42, here today. This included 380 arts graduates, 52 science graduates, 59 commerce graduates and 20 BBA graduates.

‘Link education to life, not heavy syllabi’
SAS Nagar, March 2
Education needs to be linked to life instead of heavy syllabi and schoolbags, former chief of Western Command, Lt-Gen B.S. Malik, said here today. General Malik, who was speaking on the concluding day of a three-day seminar on framing a policy on the introduction of a national-level syllabi in Punjab, said what was happening in Gujarat today could be attributed to those aspects of education which laid stress on bookish knowledge rather than love for humanity.

Map-reading contest
Chandigarh, March 2
Saint Kabir Public School, Sector 26, won the map quiz and map-reading prizes given by the Survey of India, North-western circle, as part of the three-day National Science Day celebrations.

Book on Service Law released Chandigarh, March 2 Prof K.N. Pathak, Vice-Chancellor of Panjab University, released a book ‘Practical Aspects of Service Law’ by H.C. Arora, senior counsel of the Central Government, in the Sector 18 Rotary Club here today. Prof K.N. Pathak, Vice-Chancellor of Panjab University, releases a book ‘Practical Aspects of Service Law’ by H.C. Arora, in the Rotary Club, Sector 18, Chandigarh, on Saturday.

American firm lends ‘flow cytometer’ to PU
Chandigarh, March 2
Thanks to an American company (NPE Systems) which participated in the recently concluded ‘Indo-US workshop on Flow Cytometry’, Panjab University has been lent a flow cytometer to help advanced research for at least a year.

A view of the garden of Hansraj Public School in Panchkula that has won the prize for the best-maintained campus in Spring Fest. — A Tribune photograph

Impressive show by students
Dera Bassi, March 2
An impressive cultural programme organised by students and the staff marked the annual function of the Sri Sukhmani Institute of Engineering and Technology here today.

Satluj Jr holds annual function
Panchkula, March 2
The Junior wing of Satluj Public School celebrated its annual prize distribution function today.

Annual function of school
Chandigarh, March 2
The annual prize distribution function of Shemrock Fort was held here today, with Mr. D.V. Sharma, Secretary of Council of Boards of School Education of India as the chief guest.

COURTS

DISTRICT COURTS
Four-yr RI for attempt to murder
Chandigarh, March 2
A local court today sentenced the accused, Karam Singh, a resident of Hallo Majra to four years rigorous imprisonment in a case of attempt to murder. The accused was also directed to pay a fine of Rs 1,000. In case of default, he would have to undergo six more months of rigorous imprisonment.

CULTURE

An evening of melancholy tunes
Chandigarh, March 2
Melodies that filled the ambience of Punjab Kala Bhavan, Sector 16, today were just in consonance with the languid day and its languid moods. Melancholy was the theme of ghazals that formed a part of the Sham-e-Ghazal programme organised by the Chandni Arts in collaboration with the Punjab Arts Council and the Punjab Sangeet Natak Akademi.

Seminar on reducing stress after mishaps
Chandigarh, March 2
A seminar on ‘Roadside accidents and trauma: role of the medical profession and police’ was held at the IMA complex here today.

Plague patients show improvement
Chandigarh, March 2
All five plague patients admitted to the PGI isolation ward are showing improvement. No new patient has been admitted to the PGI with similar symptoms.

PGI employees form new body
Chandigarh, March 2
The Group B, C and D employees of the PGI have formed the PGI Staff Welfare Association for Justice to voice their demands.

• PGI interviews postponed