The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Saturday, April 5, 2003, Chandigarh, India

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

C H A N D I G A R H

Top stories | Community | Crime | Business | Education

Courts | Culture | Health | Sports | Administration

TOP STORIES

Several CBSE-prescribed textbooks not available
Chandigarh, April 4
As the new academic sessions get underway in city schools, textbooks prescribed by the Central Board for Secondary Education for several subjects are still not available, which is likely to affect teaching work.

Retrenchment process begins?
Admn seeks option from 6,700 MC employees
Chandigarh, April 4
The Chandigarh Administration has set in motion what employees of the Municipal Corporation perceive as a process for retrenchment of more than 2,200 of its transferred MC employees.

High velocity winds sweep city

As the weather gods decided to send rain to the city, the sky was suddenly overcast with hues of fire

As the weather gods decided to send rain to the city, the sky was suddenly overcast with hues of fire that brightened up the dull evening. — photo Karam Singh

REGIONAL BRIEFS

EARLIER STORIES

	City declared threatened zone for malaria, dengue April 4, 2003
	MC razes furnace of master potter April 3, 2003
	Man sets himself on fire, dies April 2, 2003
	Class XI student commits suicide April 1, 2003
	Areas near slum colonies to be developed March 31, 2003
	Sukhna level raise can ‘cause’ flood March 30, 2003
	Sushma opens building with cracks March 29, 2003
	Jerath’s response to fresh FIR March 28, 2003
	Powermen strike work March 27, 2003
	Liquor trade goes high March 26, 2003
	Cong men ‘assault’ SAD supporters March 25, 2003
	It was utterly, bitterly disappointing March 24, 2003

Another city-Mohali road link ready
Chandigarh, April 4
Another road link between the city and its neighbouring township of SAS Nagar is ready for opening. Running south of Sector 48 and 49 the new road will join the road dividing phase X and XI of SAS Nagar.

70 jhuggis razed in Sector 57
SAS Nagar, April 4
In a major operation by the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority, an illegal colony in Sector 57 was razed to the ground here today amidst residents throwing stones at a team of the PUDA enforcement wing. A PUDA SDO and a junior engineer suffered minor injuries.

Mayor orders inquiry into parking fee issue
Chandigarh, April 4
Acting on the report published in Chandigarh Tribune yesterday, the Mayor, Mr Subhash Chawla, today sought an inquiry into the matter of overcharging of parking fee by contractors of pass parking lots in Sector 17.

Juvenile boards yet to be set up
Chandigarh, April 4
Incredible, but true. Two years have lapsed since the Juvenile Justice (Care and Prevention) Act came into force, but Juvenile Welfare Boards are yet to be constituted in the states of Punjab and Haryana, besides the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

Admn gets tough against vendors
Chandigarh, April 4
Residents look out. If you are manufacturing or selling food stuff in hotels, dhabas, bakery, or on hand carts, just go and get a licence. Otherwise, you find yourself in trouble soon after the expiry of the deadline set by the Health Department of the Chandigarh Administration.

COMMUNITY

Panel to go into recovery from Gupta
Chandigarh, April 4
The Congress-controlled Finance and Contract Committee of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation today set up a five-member committee to go into the recovery of more than Rs 24 lakh from former BJP Mayor Gian Chand Gupta to attract an allegation of indulging in an “eyewash” from Congress councillor Chandermukhi Sharma.

Cable operators short-change Central Excise Dept
Panchkula, April 4
Cable subscribers in the township are allegedly being cheated by the “cable syndicate,” which is collecting service tax from them but depositing it for less than one tenth of the total consumers.

Public toilets: MC move hanging fire
Chandigarh, April 4
The proposal for awarding maintenance and operation work of public toilets and mobile toilets to private agencies by the local Municipal Corporation has been hanging fire for the past one year.

Settle untraced cases early, SHOs told
Chandigarh, April 4
Suffering for kith and kin of those who die an unnatural death does not end. Their suffering continues as the police investigations in such untraced cases lingers on for long.

2 new 66 KV substations to be set up
Chandigarh, April 4
In a bid to stabilise power supply in the city ahead of the summer season, the administration has embarked on a spree to upgrade. The first in the line of major projects is to have two new 66 KV substation in the city.

READERS WRITE
Sector 17 hassles... easily avoidable
THERE was a time, not many years ago, when we used to look forward to our visits to the Sector 17 market of Chandigarh, especially during our school and college days. In fact Sector 17 has always been a shopper’s paradise, a comfort and entertainment zone for youngsters, an attractive and interesting place for tourists and also, an area full of commercial establishment and government departments Therefore, no doubt, as compared to other sectors, some extra regulations and guidelines have been introduced of late by the authorities concerned, in order to maintain law and order in the area: Their efforts are appreciable.

Muslims burn Bush effigy
Chandigarh, April 4
The local Muslim community today burnt an effigy of Mr George W. Bush, President of the USA, and Mr Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the UK, in protest against an attack on Iraq by allied forces.

First phase of Beant memorial to be ready by December
Chandigarh, April 4
After much delay, the Beant Singh memorial project in Sector 42 is on its final run towards completion. The first phase will be complete in the next nine months. A subcommittee of the project held talks with the builder and the architect today and told them that the library, auditorium and the parking areas, which formed the first phase of the project, should be completed within the next nine months.

Goods worth lakhs destroyed
Dera Bassi, April 4
Goods worth lakhs of rupees were gutted in a fire that broke out in a thread manufacturing factory, located along the Dera Bassi-Barwala road, about 1 km from here, this morning.

Firemen at work trying to extinguish a fire that broke out in a thread manufacturing unit near Dera Bassi on Friday. — A Tribune photograph

CRIME

Businessman house under surveillance
Panchkula, April 4
The police today started surveillance around the Sector-17 house of a local businessman, whose 18 -year-old son was kidnapped on Wednesday. Though the boy was freed by kidnappers late last night, the family has refused to get an FIR registered in this regard.

2 ex-terrorists booked for murder
Panchkula, April 4
Two former terrorists of Punjab, Waryam Singh and Avtar Singh Taari, have been booked on charges of murder and disposing of the body of their victim with an intention of concealing evidence.

14.5 gram of smack seized
Chandigarh, April 4
The local police today seized at least 14.5 gram of smack in three different cases in the city. According to the information, Balbir Singh, a resident of Palsora, was arrested with 3.5 gram of smack near the Maloya anaj mandi.

Two booked
Chandigarh, April 4
The local police has registered a case of forgery and distortion of facts against two persons namely G.S. Nagi and T.R. Verma on charges of tampering with the minutes of the board meeting of Directors of Usha Communication.

BUSINESS

North Zone Trade Fair begins
Chandigarh, April 4
The weather god played moody today, leaving the organisers of North Zone Trade Fair and Kids Carnival in confusion as whether to go ahead with the host of activities planned for the inaugural day, visitors played it safe by postponing their visit to the venue for a brighter day.

EDUCATION

A student of final year graphics with her installation at an exhibition entitled “Kalaswar-2003 being held at Government College of Art, Sector-10, in Chandigarh on Friday.

Students of Punjab Engineering College pose for a photograph after their annual prize distribution function on the college campus in Chandigarh on Friday. — A Tribune photographs

All set for master’s course in chip designing
SAS Nagar, April 4
Slated to be Silicon city of North India, SAS Nagar will now also be the hub of education and training in the highly-specialised field of chip designing in the region. Supplementing the coveted diploma courses in chip designing being offered by Semi Conductors Limited here, the Centre for Design and Advanced Technology is all set to introduce a full-fledged degree course in chip designing from this session.

Misuse of attendance norms in colleges
Chandigarh, April 4
How serious is Panjab University as regards implementation of the condition of 75 per cent classroom attendance for allowing students to appear in the annual examination from the current session onwards?

Excellence awards for teachers
Chandigarh, April 4
Tara Chand Saboo Excellence Awards in the field of school teaching, instituted last year by the Jan Seva Trust of Saboo family, has invited entries from school teachers in the city. The aim is to honour outstanding teachers, and also to inspire others into joining and excelling in the profession.

Application dismissed
Chandigarh, April 4
Dismissing an application challenging the appointment and continuation of Dr S.B.S. Mann as the Director-cum-Principal of Sector 32 Government Medical College and Hospital, the Central Administrative Tribunal has observed that the same, outcome of litigative zeal, was misconceived.

Fee hike unjustified, say students
Chandigarh, April 4
The Panjab University Campus Students Council in a press note here today said the hike in fee by the university a few days back was unjustified. Earlier the fee for examinations in economics, education, fine arts, geography, music, psychology, public administration and physical education was Rs 670. Now students will have to pay Rs 1500.

Teachers attend workshop
Chandigarh, April 4
A workshop on techniques for evaluating examination answersheets was organised by the Central Board of Secondary Education here today. Thirty-three teachers from Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh attended the workshop.

Hansraj school tops
Panchkula, April 4
Hansraj Public School has topped amongst the schools during the results of the middle standard examination conducted by the DAV Education Board, New Delhi, which were declared last evening.

Rare experience for Dikshant school kids
Chandigarh, April 4
It was altogether a rare experience for the students of Dikshant International School in Panchkula as they participated in ‘’best out of waste’’ creative workshop at Rock Garden today. Rock Garden Director Nek Chand helped the children to make useful items out of waste material.

COURTS

Koser chief of DBA
Chandigarh, April 4
Mr Sajal Koser has been elected president of the District Bar Association by defeating Mr Rajinder Mahajan by 641 votes in the elections held on the District Courts complex, here today. Mr Vijay Sharma has been elected vice-president by defeating Mr Vinod Verma by 54 votes and Mr Satish Bhardwaj has been elected secretary by defeating Mr K.S. Lamba by 476 votes.

CULTURE

Tributes paid to K.L. Saigal
Chandigarh, April 4
The Kala Darpan and the Environment Society of India celebrated the 99th birth anniversary of legendary singer K.L. Saigal at Kumari Vidula H S Dilgir Library Complex, Nadiali, here today.

HEALTH

Undue haste costs PGI dear
Chandigarh, April 4
Undue haste shown by the PGI authorities in trying to avoid lapse of grant money meant for construction of a trauma centre has not just resulted in a loss of Rs 95 lakh by way of interest but a sum of Rs 5.33 crore given to Central Public Works Department, has also not been refunded.

Clarification

SPORTS

Need to improve sports standard in schools
Chandigarh, April 4
Sports activity at the school level is the stepping stone to groom oneself in sports at a later stage of one’s sports career. At school level, up to the age of 19, a sportsperson indulges in active sports activity and this is the age when his talent and skills get honed irrespective of the sport discipline.

Unseeded player shocks third seed
Chandigarh, April 4
Unseeded Gursimran Brar created a flutter this evening when he defeated third seed Vikas Doshi to move into the last fours of the under 18 section of the Total Tennis circuit for juniors played here at St Soldier’s Total Tennis Academy, Sector 16, Panchkula. In under 10 section final, it will be a clash between Samin Bharghav and Jaivardhan Gupta.

ADMINISTRATION

SDM (South) office to be shifted
Chandigarh, April 4
The office of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (South) will be shifted to the Sports Complex, Sector 42, on April 9. At present, the office is located in the DC office, Sector 17. This is part of the Chandigarh Administration’s move to have offices of the SDMs in their respective areas of operations.