TOP STORIES

GHAZIABAD
Stamp duty evasion: Builders in the dock
Ghaziabad, December 29
Taking a rigid stand against revenue stamp duty defaulters, the district administration has arrested the Chief Manager of Ansal Housing Construction Co, Mr A.K.Aggarwal, for evading duty on stamps worth Rs 1.72 crore. Besides, the offices of six builders have been sealed by the district administration here for duty default.

INDUSTRY RESPONSE
Bawana estate: Too little, too late
New Delhi, December 29
Then: The Government of NCT of Delhi barely escapes the wrath of the Supreme Court for dragging its feet over converting buses and autorickshaws to CNG fuel.

Swirling artistes of Urvashi Dance and Music Art & Cultural Society during a ballet presentation in the Capital on Saturday. — Tribune Photo Mukesh Aggarwal

Down with handicap, bulldozed by MCD
New Delhi, December 29
The High Court has asked the MCD to allot a commercially viable site to a polio-afflicted man, whose PCO booth was demolished earlier this year.

Delimitation plan costs Bhiwani a segment
Bhiwani, December 29
The Bhiwani Assembly segments are being reduced from seven to six as the Delimitation Commission has approved the proposal in toto forwarded by the state government. The delimitation of parliamentary and assembly constituencies is likely to be completed in the state by next July.

Faridabad civic body
No dearth of funds for New Year greetings
Faridabad, December 29
The Municipal Corporation Faridabad (MCF), which often remains in the news for the wrong reasons, especially its financial crunch, sheds its frugal image when it comes to greeting the people on occasions like the New Year. Such greetings generally come on big banners and hoardings put up at vantage points in the city.

29 gangs smashed, 100 nabbed, what more
does Rohtak want?
Rohtak, December 29
The district police claimed to have busted 29 gangs engaged in various underhand activities during the year. They have arrested nearly 100 suspects and recovered stolen property worth Rs 1.43 crore from them.

COMMUNITY

One killed, 11 hurt as trucks collide
Faridabad, December 29
One person was killed and 11 others were injured when two dumper trucks collided on the Pali-Sohna road here this morning.

• Four held for dowry harassment
• Cong leader slams Kelkar panel

Rs 41-lakh plan to beautify Bhiwani
Bhiwani, December 29
The local Improvement Trust has evolved an ambitious scheme to beautify the town. The chairman of the trust, Mr Verender Bhoruka, told this correspondent yesterday that a sum of Rs 41 lakh would be spent on construction of dividers and to implement various schemes as part of the beautification.

Cong a divided house: HVP 
Sonepat, December 29
Mr Surinder Singh, a former MP and the secretary-general of the Haryana Vikas Party (HVP), said that the Congress in Haryana was a divided house and had failed to come up to the expectations of the people in the state.

Rally of backward sections against NDA decisions on Jan 19
New Delhi, December 29
A mahapanchayat of organisations working for the protection of interests of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, backward classes and minorities today decided to organise a rally on January 19 in Sultanpuri.

Special Focus on Sonepat
Amenities in this industrial city beg attention
Sonepat, December 29
Sonepat is a fast growing industrial city in Haryana with a large number of big, medium and small-scale industries employing more than two lakh people. It appeared on the country’s industrial map in 1951 after the setting up of Atlas Cycle Industries Limited, which is the largest bicycle manufacturing concern.

No canal water to tail-end villages
Sonepat, December 29
Representatives of various farmers’ organisations have sent a joint memorandum to the state government demanding immediate suspension of the officials of the Gohana Water Service Division who are allegedly responsible for the canal water shortage in the subdivision.

EDUCATION

Nationwide Ignou induction plan
New Delhi, December 29
The Indira Gandhi National Open University (Ignou) will hold a nationwide induction programme for the new academic session in the Capital. The two-day session will begin on January 11, 2003.

‘Surplus’ schoolteachers take out rally
Sonepat, December 29
A large number of government schoolteachers, declared as surplus, by the Haryana Primary Education Department, took out a huge procession here last evening to register their protest against the rationalisation policy of the state government.

SCHOOL BUZZ
Down the Independence memory lane
Heritage School, Vasant Kunj, celebrated their annual day ‘Spandan – the sensation’, at the Siri Fort Auditorium. The two-hour cultural programme showcased a charged performance by about 700 students.

Martial arts exponents in action at Sadhu Vaswani School ground.

PRINCIPALSPEAK
Your small gestures mean a lot to others
Thank the Lord for the wonderful year that has been and now let your every act be an invocation and a prayer in the New Year that is to come. We know the simple principle in life - what we give is what we receive from life.

COURTS

Judges, lawyers spar on the fairness of strike
New Delhi, December 29
Lawyers and judges crossed swords over the motive of the lawyers’ strike. Justice Kuldip Singh, former judge of the Supreme Court and the Chairman of the Delimitation Commission, said that the lawyers have no right to go on strike. Striking lawyers must understand the sufferings caused to their clients.

HEALTH

Total knee replacement to become a reality
New Delhi, December 29
A two-day international symposium on Mobile Bearing Total Knee Anthroplasty (TKA) or knee replacement, the first of its kind in north India, began at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital here today.