The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Sonia’s gesture applauded
Chandigarh, May 19
Several senior Congress leaders of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh have applauded the decision of Congress president, Sonia Gandhi to renounce the office of the Prime Minister inspite of unanimous support of more than 300 members of Parliament.

Mahila Cong activists burn effigies of Sushma, Uma Bharti

NDTV, Sony go off the air
Chandigarh, May 19
In the past two days, city residents were deprived off watching the news channel, NDTV, which is not being telecast by the local cable operators while Sony remained off the air from this morning to evening.

Shot fired at chemist’s shop
A policeman inspects the place where a bullet was fired at a chemist's shop in Sector 46 Chandigarh, May 19
A shot was fired at Sector 46 medical store from a distance today. Nobody was injured. The bullet pierced a glass and a box of medicines in the shop. The incident happened in the presence of the two gunmen provided for security of the shop after an earlier attempt and threatening letters to the shopkeeper.

A policeman inspects the place where a bullet was fired at a chemist's shop in Sector 46, Chandigarh, on Wednesday. — A Tribune photograph

Physically challenged man booked for cheating, abduction
Chandigarh, May 19
A physically challenged person has lured several persons, including a few women in Amritsar, with an offer to get them a housing loan here and has taken away a 16-year-old sister of one of them, apart from Rs 5,640.

COMMUNITY

Gurdwara’s cemented platforms demolished
Mohali, May 19
The one-year controversy over cemented platforms for sitting at Sacha Dhan Gurdwara, Phase 3 B1, here ended today, with former president of the gurdwara committee Balwinder Singh getting the platforms demolished.

Machine to accept bill payments
Mohali, May 19
The Punjab State Electricity Board will soon introduce round-the-clock payment of power bills here through an ATM-like machine to be installed at its Industrial Area office. The size and operation of the machine is quite like the ATM and the board authorities have already constructed a room for installing this machine.

Killer father never ‘cared’ for family
Chandigarh, May 19
Rajesh Kumar, who killed his two-year-old son, shirked responsibility of his two surviving children and wife during the past 13 years to lose them all. His addiction to liquor and irresponsibility made his wife, Ms Chandrakanta, to take to begging for the survival of her children. Ms Chandrakanta developed tuberculosis(TB) before she was driven mad by the situation, her neighbours and family members told Chandigarh Tribune here today.

Lieut-Col Savant gets trophy
Chandigarh, May 19
Lieut-Col S.P. Savant (right) of the 661 Army Aviation Squadron receives the Flight Safety Trophy from the GOC-in-C, Western Command, Lieut-Gen J.J. Singh, at Chandi Mandir on Wednesday. The 14 Reconnaissance and Observation Flight has been adjudged the best flying unit in the Western Command zone for 2003-04. The Flight Safety trophy was received by Lieut-Col S.P. Savant from the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command, Lieut-Gen J.J. Singh, at Chandi Mandir today.

Lieut-Col S.P. Savant (right) of the 661 Army Aviation Squadron receives the Flight Safety Trophy from the GOC-in-C, Western Command, Lieut-Gen J.J. Singh, at Chandi Mandir on Wednesday.

Plea to cut congress grass
Mohali, May 19
Six municipal councillors have demanded that the congress grass that had grown in vacant plots, parks, road berms and other vacant spaces should be cut at the earliest so that it did not create health problems for residents of the town.

Models arrive for Anukama-2004
Mohali, May 19
Models arrived in Mohali today for Anukama-2004, the annual fashion design show of students of the Northern India Institute of Fashion Technology to be held in Chandigarh on May 21.

Those who couldn’t vote — 9th list

CRIME

Couple booked for Rs 6 lakh fraud
Panchkula, May 19
The police today booked a couple of Sector 15 on the charges of defrauding the Sector 6 branch of the State Bank of India to the tune of Rs 6 lakh. According to information, Manohar Lal Gupta and his wife, Neelam, took a loan of Rs 6 lakh from the bank on July 23, 2002.

Former Youth Cong leader held
Mohali, May 19
Mr Y.P. Malik, a former vice-president of the Ropar District Youth Congress, was arrested by the police here today on charges of forging signatures of a former president of the Punjab State Congress Youth President, Mr Devinder Singh Babbu.

BUSINESS

Traders’ mobile squads in offing
Panchkula, May 19
With a view to check the exploitation of traders and entrepreneurs by government departments, the Akhil Bharatiya Udyog Beopar Mandal has decided to constitute trader mobile squads.

EDUCATION

145 engg graduates get degrees
Mohali, May 19
Punjab Technical University Vice-Chancellor Dr S.K Salwan exhorted young engineers to concentrate on their profession to achieve excellence in their field and to meet global challenges.

Georgian Day at CIIS
Chandigarh, May 19
The Canadian Institute for International Studies, extension campus of Georgian College, Canada celebrated Georgian Day, Founders’ Day of Georgian College at Forest Hill Resort & Country Club today.

M.Sc (II) students seek re-exam
Chandigarh, May 19
Alleging that 80 per cent of their paper of differential geometry, M.Sc II, was out of the syllabus, affected students met the Dean University Instruction, Prof S.K. Sharma, here today and sought a re-exam in the subject.

Hamara School
Education revolution at academy
AKAL Academy, Reeth-Kheri, established by The Kalgidhar Trust Baru Sahib, in 1997 with just 36 students on its rolls has come a long way. Today it has nearly 700 students to get education blended with spiritual and worldly education.

The building of Akal Academy, Reeth-Kheri.

Principal Speak
Stress on education along with moral values
Kushpinder Kaur Children along with formal education must infuse in themselves a sense of discipline, moral values, spirit of truthfulness, fearfulness, trust in God and love for humanity. Education should result in growth of body, mind and heart in a balanced manner. The school is a place where teacher and student experience life together and develop a relationship. We should provide an atmosphere of love, trust and joy.

CULTURE

Pracheen Kala Kendra sets up 3 offices abroad
Chandigarh, May 19
Back home after a 45-day tour abroad, M.L. Koser and Shobha Koser, founders of the Pracheen Kala Kendra, announced the establishment of three new offices. These offices of the kendra have come up in California, New York and Canada.

LIFESTYLE

Eating Out
Verka shakes, mocktails, sundaes will beat the heat out of you
It’s scorching hot with the mercury hovering around the sweltering 45°C mark. Any talk of going out is acceptable only if there’s some ice cream to cool your senses. Well, there’s a brand new ice-cream parlour in your city. And it’s very Punjabi. The big name of Punjab in the milk and milk products sector, Verka, has come up with a new concept for the first time in a joint venture with Mr Harvinder Singh.

Chewing alternative, minus the harm
Chabaaza, claimed to be the first “paan”-flavoured gumlet, designed to replace the ‘paan’, has been launched by Dalmia Consumer Care in Chandigarh. It is a new chewing practice that delivers the satisfaction without any adverse effect. It contains no supari (arecanut) or other harmful ingredients like gambier, magnesium carbonate, etc, known to cause oral cancer.

From dialogue to direction
Girish Dhamija’s journey to stardom began in 1994, when he gave up his teaching assignment at the National School of Drama to pursue his passion for dialogue writing. Unlike fledglings who have to wade their way through the troubled waters of Bollywood, Girish found the sailing smooth. His first break as dialogue writer came in “Dushman”, which had Tanuja Chandra and camp swearing by him.

HEALTH

Health Dept gears up to face outbreak of water-borne diseases
Chandigarh, May 19
The UT Health Department is gearing up to tackle any outbreak of water-borne diseases, especially diarrhoea and cholera, in the city. A meeting of the senior health functionaries of the UT held here today under the chairmanship of the Director, Health Services, Dr C. P. Bansal, decided to divide the city into four zones and appoint zonal officers in each zone.

SPORTS

City to play host to hockey camp
Chandigarh, May 19
The city is all set to play host to the Indian Senior men's hockey camp beginning at the newly-laid Sector 42 Astro Turf Hockey stadium from May 27. As many as 28 senior hockey probables have been selected by the Indian Hockey Federation who will attend the camp here.

Football tourney
Kho-kho selections
Ball badminton

Rowing championship on May 23
Chandigarh, May 19
The Chandigarh State Rowing Championship for Men and Women will be held at the Lake Club on May 23 at 5 P.M. The following events will be conducted in the Championship: single scull, double scull, coxlessed pairs and coxed four.

Tennis tourney
Chandigarh, May 19
The Chandigarh State Tennis Championship will be held at the CLTA Tennis Stadium, Sector 10, Chandigarh, from May 29 to June 2. The five-day meet will be organised by the Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association.

ADMINISTRATION

50 hordings removed in Sector 17
Chandigarh, May 19
Coming down heavily upon the display of huge and small signboards and glowsigns displayed by different companies in Sector 17-C and 17-D here in violation of the Chandigarh Advertisement Control Order, the enforcement wing of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation today removed 50 hoardings.