C H A N D I G A R H

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TOP STORIES

114 naka points earmarked
Chandigarh Police tests ‘City Sealing Plan’
Chandigarh, January 23
To eliminate the chances of criminals escaping from the city after a strike, the Chandigarh Police today put to test a ‘City Sealing Plan’.

Police officials search vehicles at a surprise naka set up in Industrial Area, Phase II, as part of sealing plan for the city on Thursday night. —  Photo Parvesh Chauhan

Chd-Ludhiana rail link by year-end
Booking of tickets through Internet opened
Chandigarh, January 23
The Chandigarh-Ludhiana railway link would be made operational by the end of December, this year. Besides this, the proposal to extend three trains from South India to Chandigarh is also under consideration.

Strict UT orders on blood storage, transfusion
Chandigarh, January 23
With serious irregularities in the storage and transfusion of blood by nursing homes and private clinics in the city coming to light, the UT Health authorities have decided to act tough by ordering strict compliance of the guidelines in this regard, to ensure safe blood transfusion.

COMMUNITY

Jacob visits Botanical Garden
Chandigarh, January 23
During last monsoon over 25,000 saplings, mostly of medicinal plants, after being procured from Dehra Dun and other parts of the country, were planted in the botanical garden here, have started to grow. This includes 62 species of medicinal plants and 35 species of medicinal shrubs.

Sunshine brings cheer
Chandigarh, January 23
Bright sunshine at many places in the region for the second day today provided much-needed relief to the people, but mercury in the minimum continued to hover a few degrees below normal, making nights quite cold.

Notes that carry a premium Chandigarh, January 23 You may reject them as fake currency notes only to repent later as these are documents of RBI’s rarely failed strict multi-point currency print error checking mechanism and carry a premium in the market. “These currency notes are not fake and are acceptable but people do not bring them to the RBI as they seem to carry a premium,” an RBI official told The Tribune. Amidst reports of fake currency notes being in circulation or ISI pushing fake notes in the country to destroy its economy, the presence of such notes in the market may shake the confidence of common men. These are “freak” not fake currency notes.  — A Tribune photograph

Physically challenged persons ‘harassed’
Chandigarh, January 23
Physically challenged persons were put to unwarranted harassment this morning. The employment exchange provided them with a list of interviews being conducted by the Director NCC located on the campus of the Central Polytechnic in Sector 26.

Pb communication staff reject VRS
SAS Nagar, January 23
Rejecting the VRS policy being offered by the government, the Punjab Communications Employees Union has demanded that the disinvestment process be started all over again by maintaining transparency in the system.

Netaji remembered
Chandigarh, January 23
The local unit of the Nationalist Congress Party here today remembered Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on his birth anniversary.

• Woollens given to 45 children

• Amritsar now kidney mandi!

CRIME

4 held for immoral trafficking
Zirakpur, January 23
Continuing with its drive against immoral trafficking, the Dera Bassi police arrested four persons, including a teenage girl, from a hotel on the Ambala-Chandigarh highway, near Bhabhat village, here last night.

Woman held for snatching money
Chandigarh, January 23
A woman Reshma of Bassi Pathana, was today arrested affter she was trying to run away after stealing money from the purse of an NRIwoman, Mrs Prem Hawa. The NRI had gone to a chemist shop in Sector 22 when three women came near her and one of them snatched money from her purse. When the NRI woman raised alarm, some passerby caught the women. The other two women have been booked for loitering.

Two arrested
Chandigarh, January 23
The Chandigarh Police today caught red handed two employees of a Sector 35 gas agency while filling empty LPG cylinder illegally in Sector 44 here. The employees of Vijay Gas Agency were filling the LPG with the help of a nozzle.

BUSINESS

Confusion over new tariff plan
Slashing of rates by cell operators
Chandigarh, January 23
The cellular operators’ decision to increase monthly rental by Rs 49 in the name of providing free incoming calls originating from GSM mobile-to-mobile, while imposing incoming airtime charges up to Rs 2 per minute for incoming calls originating from BSNL, MTNL and Reliance mobile phones and fixed line phones have created a confusion among subscribers about any benefit.

WORLD CUP BONANZA Videocon offers Rs 90 crore Chandigarh, January 23 Taking an initiative to cash the mega event of the Cricket World Cup, the Rs 5,500-crore consumer durables major Videocon International Ltd., has launched a scheme ‘Videocon Khel Ke Dekho’ offer for its customers. It expects to sell 4.5 to 5 lakh TV sets during this period worth Rs 450 to Rs 500 crore and will offer Rs 90 crore prizes to customers. Mr Sunil Mehta, GM, Sales, Videocon, at the launch of ‘Khel Ke Dekho’ Rs 90 crore World Cup bonanza in SAS Nagar on Thursday. — A Tribune photograph

EDUCATION

TRIBUNE IMPACT
Authorities begin repair work in govt schools

Chandigarh, January 23 Barely 48 hours after Chandigarh Tribune brought to light the “indifferent attitude” of the authorities concerned towards the plight of poor students in government schools, the Engineering Department officials today ensured complete replacement of broken windowpanes in most of the institutes mentioned in these columns. Staff members of the maintenance wing replace windowpanes in a government school in Chandigarh on Thursday. — A Tribune photograph

‘Indian tribals, aborigines similar’
Chandigarh, January 23
The morphological similarities among the tribal Indians and aboriginal populations in Australia are amazing. Detailed studies based on skeletal anatomy and genetics can provide some vital clues. These are the first set of findings being worked upon by Dr P. Raghavan, a Panjab University alumni working as a senior scientist with the Australian Research Council stationed at the School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University at Canberra.

COURTS

Jain files bail plea
Chandigarh, January 23
The former UT Home Secretary and senior Haryana bureaucrat, N.K Jain, today filed a bail plea in the rape case of a Shimla-based girl in a local court. The bail plea moved by N.K. Jain will come up for hearing before the UT Additional District and Sessions Judge on January 28.

HIGH COURT
Quashing of FIR ‘to be done sparingly’
Chandigarh, January 23
Quashing of criminal proceedings has to be done sparingly and with circumspection — the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled in a significant judgement.

• Plea allowed

HC allows dog show at Leisure Valley
Chandigarh, January 23
Pet lovers in the city will now be able watch their canine friends in action during the annual dog show at Sector 10, Leisure Valley. The hurdles in the way of organising the show were cleared today after the Punjab and Haryana High Court modified its earlier order to the extent of allowing the Chandigarh Kennel Club to hold the event at Leisure Valley.

HC dismisses petition
Chandigarh, January 23
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has dismissed a petition filed by a Jalandhar resident against the Senior Scientific Officer with the National Institute of Sports, Dr Ashok Ahuja.

CULTURE

NEW RELEASES
THREE weeks of January are over and the Bollywood is still looking for a hit film. Balaji’s latest offering “Kuchh To Hai” and Morani and Neelam Bunty Soorma’s “Dum” are the two films being released this week. Experts in Bollywood expect both films to be the winner. “Kuchh To Hai” was earlier titled “Kya Pyar Karoge Mujhse’. This film is Ekta Kapoor’s second venture as producer after ‘Kyunki Mein Jhooth Nahin Bolta.

HEALTH

Waiting hall opened at GH-16

Chandigarh, January 23 The Punjab Governor and UT Administrator, Lieut-Gen J.F.R. Jacob, (retd.), today inaugurated a waiting hall, constructed at a cost of Rs 11 lakh in the Gyanaecology Department of the General Hospital, Sector 16. Lieut-Gen J.F.R. Jacob (retd) inaugurates the waiting hall of the gynae section in General Hospital, Sector-16, Chandigarh, on Thursday. — A Tribune photograph

SPORTS

Green Field School enter final
Chandigarh, January 23
In the Third SAS Nagar Inter-School Cricket Tournament for Sardar MS Majithia Memorial Trophy, Green Field Public School will take on Paragon Senior Secondary School, SAS Nagar, in the finals on January 25. The meet is being organised by the Mohali Cricket Association. In the semi-finals played today, Green Field Public School beat Gem Public School by 44 runs.

ADMINISTRATION

SSP rank for SP
Chandigarh, January 23
The Chandigarh Administration has designated the Superintendent of Police (Traffic and Security) as Senior Superintendent of Police (Traffic and Security) after giving the 1991-batch IPS officer a local rank.

PUDA suspends JE
SAS Nagar, January 23
Sukhpal Singh, a Junior Engineer, working in the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA) office here was suspended on orders from the PUDA Headquarters today.