The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Tuesday, July 29, 2003, Chandigarh, India

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DIG’s car hits Army truck carrying schoolchildren
Chandigarh, July 28
Twentyone schoolchildren were injured when an Ambassador car being driven by a Deputy Inspector-General of Police reportedly jumped the Sectors 27 and 28 traffic lights and rammed into an Army truck carrying schoolchildren at 6.30 am today. However, the police maintains the lights were not functional at that time.

A Punjab DIG’s car (left) that rammed into an Army truck carrying schoolchildren at the Sectors 27 and 28 traffic lights on Monday morning in Chandigarh. The truck later hit a CTU bus.
— Tribune photos Manoj Mahajan

REGIONAL BRIEFS

EARLIER STORIES

	Aided colleges in a spot July 28, 2003
	PSEB detects 100 cases of power theft July 27, 2003
	Dacoits strike at Palheri village, three injured July 26, 2003
	Robbers club father, son to death July 25, 2003
	Jagraon SSP’s security guard rains bullets at car July 24, 2003
	35 shops gutted in fire July 23, 2003
	Kidnapped boy returns July 22, 2003
	Decomposed body of missing boy found July 21, 2003
	11-yr-old boy abducted July 20, 2003
	UT curtails security for Judges July 19, 2003
	Sec 22 girl murdered in her house July 18, 2003
	29 Dalits restrained from joining UT police July 17, 2003

The setting sun casts an ethereal glow through rain clouds after the city was lashed by sharp showers on Monday. — Photo Karam Singh

Sukhna Lake is filling up quickly, thanks to the bountiful rainfall which Chandigarh has been receiving over the past few weeks. — A Tribune photograph

Allotment of sites to schools delayed
Chandigarh, July 28
The shifting out of schools from residential areas is unlikely even in the next academic session with letters of allotment of school sites elusive and a mud-slinging match of sorts on at the Estate Office.

Three more doctors resign
Chandigarh, July 28
The Chandigarh Administration is likely to ask doctors who have resigned to deposit three months’ of wages, as per the rules, before accepting their resignations.

TRIBUNE IMPACT
College to release wages
Chandigarh, July 28
The management of Guru Gobind Singh College, Sector 26, will release the salaries of the teaching and non-teaching staff tomorrow. The decision was conveyed to the Principal, Mr P.S. Sangha, after the management had met with the faculty and Principal.

Now, permanent Provident Fund cards
Chandigarh, July 28
The Regional Provident Fund Commissioner here will issue a permanent number on the pattern of the Permanent Account Number (PAN) by the Income Tax Department. It is a national-level project to be implemented in phases throughout the country.

Police fails to trace computer trader
Chandigarh, July 28
The UT police has not been able to trace the whereabouts of Mr Jordan Loyal, a local computer trader who had allegedly duped many computer hardware dealers of the city of lakhs of rupees and later shut his business.

Ad hocism bane of UT Administration
Chandigarh, July 28
Ad hocism which has come to dominate the functioning of the UT Administration has once again been highlighted by the judgement of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Sukhna Lake, which has brought a quick end to its attempts to find quickfix solutions to longterm problems of the City Beautiful.

Army plan on study centre gathers dust
Chandigarh, July 28
About four years after the Army mooted a proposal to establish a centre for strategic studies at Panchkula, the file continues to gather dust in the offices of the Haryana Government as no progress has reportedly been made in this direction.

COMMUNITY

Mayors’ conference stresses on right to information
Chandigarh, July 28
The South Asia Mayors’ conference has committed its members to promote citizens’ right to information on matters relating to local governance.

South Asia Conference for extending Mayor’s term
Chandigarh, July 28
The extension of the Mayor’s term from one year to five years has been approved by the South Asia Mayors Conference that concluded yesterday at Indore.

Mayor orders probe into cow row
Chandigarh, July 28
Mayor Subhash Chawla today asked Municipal Commissioner M. P. Singh to order an inquiry into report of cows captured from the city being thrown into a gorge in Poanta Sahib.

Haphazard planning, casualty roads
Chandigarh, July 28
Lakhs of rupees spent on recarpeting and relaying roads in the city have virtually gone down the drain. Two important roads have caved in, one of which is the newly built road dividing Sectors 48 and 49. At several other places, potholes about two-foot deep and six-foot wide, are posing risk to two-wheeler riders and cyclists.

Estate Officer keeps property owners waiting
SAS Nagar, July 28
For over 70 owners of residential property in SAS Nagar a meeting scheduled for today with the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority’s Estate Officer, Mr T.K. Goel, came as a rude shock when after having called them for ‘personal hearing’, the officer himself was found absent from the office.

School in midst of housing area sparks protest
SAS Nagar, July 28
Residents of Phase 10 here staged a demonstration against the construction of a school in the middle of a residential complex here this morning.

A view of the site where residents protested against the construction of a school in SAS Nagar on Monday. — Photo Pankaj Sharma

Joint police action suggested for curbing crime
Chandigarh, July 28
Mr R.P. Malhotra, President of Samadhaan, a pressure group for social justice, today made a series of suggestions to check the rising crime graph in and around Chandigarh.

Ensure patrolling, villagers told

FAUJI BEAT
Lessons to be learnt from Akhnoor incident
IS this the way you protect your Army Commander? What has gone wrong with the Army? These two questions need to be answered dispassionately by the senior as well as junior officers. The very fact that such incidents can happen and the third terrorist, hiding in the camp, remained undetected puts a question mark on the security aspect.

Lower salary ceiling, say ex-servicemen
Chandigarh, July 28
The Ex-Servicemen's Grievances Cell has urged the Army Headquarters to lower the salary ceiling for personnel below officer rank and ex-servicemen other than officers desiring to buy a car through CSD canteens.

Harassed husbands for change in laws
Chandigarh, July 28
In contrast to the image of men as oppressors of women, they were seen helpless victims, pleading for being rescued from their wives and amendment in the dowry laws at a meeting organised by the Nari Jagriti Manch (NJM) here.

Foundation to help students
Panchkula, July 28
The Shivalik Foundation, Panchkula, a charitable society, has decided to spend Rs 2.50 lakh on various activities, including financial help to the poor and needy students during the current year.

CPI workers protest ‘anti-people’ policies
Chandigarh, July 28
In protest against the visit of a World Bank team, which held talks with the top brass of the Punjab Government here today and “anti-people” policies of the state government, a large number of CPI activists from all over Punjab, held a dharna and a rally at Matka Chowk here today.

Honour for city lensman
Chandigarh, July 28
Subhash Sapru, a city-based lensman, has been awarded the associateship by the India International Photographic Council (IIPC) for his outstanding work in the field of photojournalism, according to a notification published by the IIPC in its official journal of July, 2003.

Jogpal for state funding of elections
Chandigarh, July 28
The Haryana State Election Commissioner (SEC), Mr T.D. Jogpal, here yesterday stressed upon the need to prescribe minimum qualification for candidates to Parliament and assemblies.

Villager commits suicide
Lalru, July 28
A 50-year-old resident of Ber Majra village, Bhoora Ram, committed suicide by touching the high-tension power cable after climbing up an electricity transformer in paddy fields near here this afternoon.

Rain brings down day temperature
Chandigarh, July 28
An hour-long downpour in the city and its surrounding areas brought down day temperature much to the relief of city residents who had been facing hot and humid conditions for the past few days.

Blocking roads with impunity
SAS Nagar, July 28
Flouting rules laid down by the Department of Local Government, Punjab, owners of residential and commercial properties in the township are dumping construction material on roads and parks in the vicinity while constructing shops and houses.

Virbhadra undergoes medical tests
Chandigarh, July 28
Setting aside speculations about the falling health of the Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, doctors at the Batra Hospital and Medical Research Centre at Panchkula today said he was in excellent condition.

Accident victim succumbs to injuries
Zirakpur, July 28
Tarsem Lal, a resident of Mani Majra, who was seriously injured in an accident involving a truck and a horse-cart on the Chandigarh-Patiala highway near here yesterday, succumbed to his injuries at Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, in Chandigarh, today.

Former Mayor Harjinder Kaur bereaved
Chandigarh, July 28
Former Mayor Ms Harjinder Kaur’s father-in-law, Prof Gurcharan Singh, died here after a prolonged illness. He was 77.

Supplementary phone directory
Chandigarh, July 28
The Chandigarh telecom district will distribute supplementary telephone directories at the following centres from 11 am to 4 pm on all working days: telephone exchange building, Sector 17, Chandigarh; customer service centre, telephone exchange, Sector 34, Chandigarh; Commercial Officer, SCO 69-69, Sector 8, Chandigarh; telephone exchange, Sector 5, Panchkula; telephone exchange, Phase 4, SAS Nagar; and telephone exchange, Kharar.

ISKCON to organise ‘Teej mela’
Chandigarh, July 28
The local chapter of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) will organise a three-day “Teej mela” starting from August 1 at Hare Krishna Dham, Sector 36 B, said Bhakti Vinod Dasa Prabhu, the president of the local unit.

EDUCATION

Second counselling from Aug 1
Chandigarh, July 28
The second counselling for admissions against vacant seats, to the first year of various disciplines of Bachelor of Engineering in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Technology and University Institute of Engineering and Technology, B.Sc, (Honours School) and B. Pharmacy, Panjab University, will commence at the Panjab University Auditorium from August 1.

School’s stop-gap steps to tackle staff shortage
SAS Nagar, July 28
Studies are suffering in the only Government Senior Secondary School here due to the indifferent attitude of the higher authorities to the problem of staff shortage. The school has been compelled to make stop-gap arrangements to keep the classes on.

Education system dubbed rejectionist

SAS Nagar, July 28
‘‘The destiny of India does not lie in the use of information and communication technology (ICT) as a tool, but in its integration with governance and economy,’’ Prof Rajesh Kochhar, Director, National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies, New Delhi, said here today.

A section of freshers attend a function on the first day of the academic session at NIEPER, SAS Nagar, on Monday. — A Tribune photograph

SAS NAGAR DIARY
Fancy dress contest for kids organised
SAS Nagar, July 28
A fancy dress competition was organised by Saint Soldiers International Convent School here today. The theme of the competition was ‘messengers of freedom’ and it was organised to commemorate the Matyrdom Day of Shahid Udham Singh which falls on July 31.

COURTS

High Court
Hearing in Golden Forests case on Aug 14
Chandigarh, July 28
The issue pertaining to the production of R.K. Syal, the Chairman of Golden Forests, before the Provisional Liquidator came up for consideration before Mr Justice Hemant Gupta of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

District Courts
2 denied bail in HSBC cheating case
Chandigarh, July 28
The bail application of Varun Sharma, manager of Star Consultancy, and Rajesh Kumar, another employee, who were arrested by the UT police for allegedly defrauding a local branch of the Hongkong Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) of Rs 20 lakh, has been dismissed by a local court.

Views sought on national judicial commission
Chandigarh, July 28
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs has invited written suggestions, views and comments on a Bill for amending the Constitution of India to set up a national judicial commission.