Garbage piling up, complain residents
Chandigarh, May 30
Heaps of rubbish can be seen strewn over roads and streets in the city Sectors making it impossible for residents to move about in the absence of garbage-collection vans. This is not all. Doctors do not rule out the possibility of some disease breaking out in the city due to the unhygenic conditions.

Mai lived up to his image
Savita, alias Mai Ambedkar, the second wife of Baba Saheb Bharat Ratna, Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar, is no more. I had the good fortune of meeting her twice in Delhi— once during a national seminar on April 15, 1991, to commemorate the birth centenary celebrations of Dr Ambedkar and again at the Ambedkar Foundation in New Delhi.

‘Electronic meters inflating bills’
SAS Nagar, May 30
Residents of Phase VII here have expressed resentment over the installation of electronic meters in place of mechanical meters, saying that the electricity bills have gone up by over 10 per cent following this change.

READERS WRITE
India is a nation on holiday
CHUTTIYAN hi chuttiyan! In India there is a plethora of holidays, so much so that India is dubbed as a nation on a holiday. Presently, there are 26 national holidays (gazetted & restricted); 104 Sundays & Saturdays; numerous regional and local holidays in the name of small gods and goddesses, self styled satgurus, babas and maharajs. To this add the sick leave (30 days on half pay), casual leave (12 days) and annual earned leave (30 days) and, of course, maternity leave. In addition sudden holidays are announced on the demise of VIPs. 

Involve residents city’s beautification: Verma
Chandigarh, May 30
The UT Administrator, Justice O.P. Verma (retd), today underlined the need for involving residents in maintaining the beauty of the city. Expressing concern over loads of ‘malba’ thrown by residents here and there, he suggested to the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, to evolve a scheme to lift ‘malba’ on a ‘no profit no loss basis’, even if the quantity is less than 25 per cent of a truckload.

Shramdaan begins at Sukhna
Chandigarh, May 30
The annual Shramdaan — voluntary manual desilting of Sukhna Lake — began today with the usual fanfare as the UT Administrator, Justice O.P. Verma, led city residents to desilt Sukhna Lake by formally inaugurating Shramdaan-2003 at the regulator end.

We will desilt it: A group of children dig at Sukhna Lake at the start of shramdaan
on Friday. — photo Manoj Mahajan

• Directions to staff on Sukhna ‘shramdan’

Re-open super bazars: JD-U
Chandigarh, May 30
The local unit of the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) has urged the Administrator, Justice O.P. Verma, to immediately re-open super bazars closed for liquidation and revoke the termination of 204 of its employees to honour a court order.

3 physically challenged youths find guardian in cops
Chandigarh, May 30
Hope and faith sustained them at a time when the going was tough and their world was inhabited by insensitive souls mocking at their disability. Three physically challenged youths have finally found their guardian angels from the most unexpected quarters — the UT Traffic Police.

Physically challenged Rajinder Kumar at a pre-paid booth for autos outside the PGI in Chandigarh on Friday. 
— A Tribune photograph

Busy day for Fire Dept
SAS Nagar, May 30
It was one of the busiest day of the season for the Fire Department here. Having averted three major tragedies today, the evening ended with the fire officers saving the life of a five-year-old child at a Phase X house.

Splash, but with caution
Chandigarh, May 30
Take care before you leap — that is the advice doctors all over the city are offering to the swimmers plunging in the pools, besides nearby streams and rivers, for beating the summer heat.

Solar eclipse today
Chandigarh, May 30
There will be a solar eclipse tomorrow. The eclipse will be partial and non-central. The eclipse will begin at 7.33 a.m. local time. Its impact will be greatest at 8:07 a.m. The eclipse will end at 8:43 a.m.

Police files challan in spying case
Chandigarh, May 30
The UT police today filed challan against three persons, including a Pakistan national, who were arrested on spying charges. The challan against Abid Mehmood, Abdul Wahid and Mohammad Arif was filed under the provisions of the Official Secrets Act and Foreign Act.

Vehicles stolen
Chandigarh, May 30
Two vehicles were stolen in two different incidents in the city. Dinesh Pal, a resident of Sector 22, complained that his car (CH 01D 5772) was stolen from outside his house on the night intervening May 27 and May 28. 

BUSINESS

CII’s seminars draw good response
Chandigarh, May 30
Alternatives 2003, CII's career and education fair, is hosting interactive seminars for students and career aspirants on opportunities in areas such as advertising, retailing, hospitality, fashion designing, new emerging career trends, armed forces, education options and careers abroad, IT-enabled services, banking, finance and insurance, entertainment and employment market dynamics. 

‘Bring transparency in sale, purchase of property’
Chandigarh, May 30
A deputation of the Chandigarh Nagrik Sabha today met the adviser to the Administrator of Chandigarh, Mr Varinder Singh, and submitted a memorandum calling for immediate steps to bring about the transparency in the administration of property in the UT by introducing changes in the bylaws governing the sale and purchase of property.

Entrepreneurs for setting up call centres
Chandigarh, May 30
Entrepreneurs of the region have shown keen interest in setting up call centres in Chandigarh and SAS Nagar. 

CET results declared
Chandigarh, May 30
Panjab University today declared the results of the combined entrance test conducted earlier this month. The university has released the list of five toppers, each, in the PCM (physics, chemistry, mathematics group) and the PCB (physics, chemistry, biology group).

PU results
Chandigarh, May 30
Panjab University has declared the results of BBA II conducted in April, an official press note said here today.

Student in a fix over delayed result
Chandigarh, May 30
Delay in declaring the result of a candidate by Panjab University has put him in a fix over how to go about applying for re-evaluation. The problem was highlighted by Jarnail Singh, a Fellow of the university Senate, who said if this was happening to a candidate whose case was being perused by a Senator, one could imagine the plight of other candidates.

‘Re-institute running trophy’
Chandigarh, May 30
Young Narinder Goyal was killed in a bus accident on May 21, 1991, while he, along with other students of Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 35-D, was going to participate in ‘Shramdaan’ — voluntary effort to manually desilt Sukhna Lake.

Seminar on management education opens
Chandigarh, May 30
Being a part of the ‘global linkage’ following the WTO agreement, India is becoming a technology-driven society. This was said by Prof C.P. Thakur, a former Dean of the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University, in his keynote address at the inauguration of a two-day seminar on ‘Quality of management education in India: the challenge of change’ at the ICSSR Complex, Panjab University, here today. 

Teachers oppose classes during vacations
Chandigarh, May 30
Irked over the decision of the UT Education Department to hold summer workshops during the month-long vacation, teachers of government schools lodged a protest at an in-house meeting in Sector 20 here today.

Rs 10 lakh grant of DAV College library
Chandigarh, May 28
The Lalchand Research Library of DAV College here has received a grant of Rs 10 lakh from the Ministry of Human Resource Development under the Scientific Preservation and Restoration of old Sanskrit Manuscripts Scheme.

COURTS

HIGH COURT
Notice issued
Chandigarh, May 30
Taking up a public interest litigation seeking directions to the Union of India against the denial of freedom fighter status to Kama Gata Maru revolutionists, a Division Bench of the High Court has issued notice of motion for July 23. Copies of newspaper reports published in The Tribune in 1914 were also annexed along with the petition.

Gupta’s judicial remand extended
Chandigarh, May 30
The judicial remand of suspended Jalandhar’s District and Sessions Judge, R.M. Gupta was further extended till June 10 today by a local court in a corruption case registered against him by the CBI. Gupta was produced in the court of the UT CBI Special Judge, Mr Balbir Singh, in the afternoon.

CULTURE

Armaan is in a different genre
Armaan is a movie sans any violence or nudity and that alone puts it in a different slot amongst the movies being churned out now-a-days. Then there are no high-pitched dialogue deliveries, no mouthing of obscenities and no ear splitting music. It reminds you of the genre of old movies of the era of Rajinder Kumar and Raj Kumar.

Holiday time for doctors, patients suffer
Chandigarh, May 30
As half the doctors at the PGI and Government Medical College and Hospital, enjoy their summer vacations, it is the patients who are facing inconvenience, especially those who have been anxiously waiting for their operation dates.

Admn approaches ministry on GMCH Director issue
Chandigarh, May 30
The Chandigarh Administration has sought the intervention of the Union Health Ministry to sort out the issue of selecting the new Director Principal of Government Medical College Hospital, Sector 32. 

Rare spine surgery
Chandigarh, May 30
A rare keyhole surgery of the spine was performed at the Mukat Hospital and Heart Institute with the help of the latest technique called endoscopic micro discectomy, for the first time in the region.

Evening OPDs discontinued
Chandigarh, May 30
The evening OPD services at the PGI will now be history. Much to the relief of PGI doctors, the evening OPD services, started in December last year, have finally been done away with.

Health camps from June 2
Chandigarh, May 30
The UT Health Department will hold medical and health awareness camps in slum areas of the city from June 2. Medical specialists from the Sector 16 General Hospital will examine patients in slum colonies under family welfare programmes. 

A therapy sans medicines
Chandigarh, May 30
In today’s tension-ridden world, where a majority of the people suffer from various ailments, the Su Jok therapy has come as a panacea. This therapy teaches one to remain healthy without taking medicines. (Su means hands and Jok refers to feet).

Isha in girls’ under-18 final
Arjun powers way into boys’ under-18 final
Chandigarh, May 30
Isha Toor and Arjun Talwar entered the finals of the under-18 girls’ and boys’ sections of the AITA junior tour ranking tennis tournament at Tennis Stadium, Sector 10, here today.

Mini-secretariat to house SDM office
SAS Nagar, May 30
The Ropar administration has asked the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority for a specific location within the township for the construction of a mini-secretariat. This was stated by the Deputy Commissioner, Ropar, Ms Seema Jain, at a meet-the-Press organised by the Press Club, Mohali, here today.

Admn rejects MC resolution on cattle
Chandigarh, May 30
The Chandigarh Administration has rejected a resolution of the Municipal Corporation seeking a stop on impounding of cattle in five villages falling under the area of the MC. A formal order will be passed tomorrow and conveyed to the MC, sources said.

Warm send-off for Ramsekhar
Chandigarh, May 30
Mr M Ramsekhar, who was relieved of his charge as Deputy Commissioner yesterday, was given a formal farewell at the UT Secretariat today. The UT Administrator, Justice O.P. Verma, hosted a tea party for him.