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Residents of 15 villages block traffic
Chaos on P’kula-Paonta Sahib highway for 5 hrs
Garhi Kotahan (Panchkula), September 2
Hundreds of residents of 15 villages of Raipur Rani block today blocked the Panchkula-Paonta Sahib highway for almost five hours in protest against the erratic power and water supply to these villages.

Cops try to pacify angry villagers at Garhi Kotahan near Raipur Rani on Thursday. — Tribune photo by Pankaj Sharma

Old Age Home inmates put up with ‘unwelcome guests’
Cops temporarily lodge 13 beggars at home
Chandigarh, September 2
Beggars of the city have found a new residence in the Sector 15 Old Age Home being run under the aegis of the UT Social Welfare Department. Thanks to the massive crackdown recently launched on the beggars by UT police personnel, the Old Age Home is overflowing with “unwanted” inmates.

Beggars rounded up by the Chandigarh Police at the Old Age Home, Sector 15.
— Tribune photo by Pardeep Tiwari

Slapping of girl: father files case against school, cops
Chandigarh, September 2
In the case of a Class X girl student of Saraswati School, Dhanas, allegedly trying to commit suicide after being slapped by boys of her class at the instance of the school Principal, the girl’s father has filed a case in the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the school authorities, the police and the panchayat of the village.

Relief for original inhabitants of villages envisaged
Draft periphery policy
Mohali, September 2
Significant relief for original inhabitants of the periphery villages is envisaged in the draft periphery policy being considered by the Punjab Government at the highest political level. 

COMMUNITY

Governor opens e-governance project today
Chandigarh, September 2
Justice O.P. Verma (retd), Administrator, Union Territory, will inaugurate the Sampark e-governance project of the Administration tomorrow at 11.30 a.m. at Sampark Centre, Sector 43. The project has been launched in pursuance of the IT policy wherein single-window services are to be provided to the residents.

Kashmir blacklists NGOs
Chandigarh, September 2
The District Administration, Anantnag, Kashmir, has black-listed a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) of Punjab and Haryana which used to set up langars from Qazigund to the holy cave of Amarnath. In future these organisations will not be given permission to set up langars.

PUDA plans consultation centre for developers
Mohali, September 2
The Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority will set up a consultation centre to provide information and guidance to developers, urban planners, users, manufacturers and suppliers of building material. This was announced by Chief Administrator, A.S. Chhatwal here today. He said access to information was a fundamental right and correct information should flow through official channels, not through dealers or other unreliable sources.

Punjab seeks stay on sale of Punwire
Mohali, September 2
The Punjab Government today filed an application in the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking staying of the process of sale of Punjab Wireless Limited in Mohali. The application filed by the Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation was taken up for hearing by Mr Justice M.M. Kumar.

2 die as car falls into gorge
Panchkula, September 2
Two persons were killed and two others seriously injured when the car they were traveling in slipped down a 800-foot-deep gorge near Morni last night. According to the police, four persons — Rajinder from Kurukshetra, Gulzar Singh from Ambala, Sampooran Singh from Jangleri in Kurukshetra and Naranjan Ravi Das from Naya Gaon — had gone to Morni for a get-together. They were coming back from Morni, when the accident took place.

‘Car racing’ ends in a crash
Chandigarh, September 2
Three boys racing down in their Esteem car banged it into another car parked outside a house in Sector 10 here this evening. The boys, who were in a silver grey Maruti Esteem car (CH-03-M-0428), were racing with two other cars when the accident took place.

Resentment over DA merger
Mohali, September 2
Resentment prevails among employees of the local Municipal Council as the government order of merging 50 per cent of the dearness allowance with the basic pay is not being implemented in civic bodies.

Duped by uncle, renal patient in need of help
Chandigarh, September 2
Duped by his real maternal uncle of the money collected as Poor Patients Welfare Fund at the PGI, 21-year-old Abhishek Anand finds himself at the mercy of others once again. Suffering from a renal failure and having undergone 72 dialyses so far, Abhishek required nearly Rs 2 lakh for this kidney transplant surgery at the PGI.

Lions Club chief installed
Chandigarh, September 2
At the installation ceremony of the Lions Club Chandigarh Nightingale here this evening, Ms Kulwant Kaur was installed president of the club. Among others who attended the function were Mr K.S. Sohal and Mr Janak Gupta. Ms Renu Bali, who is the regional chairperson of the club, was the chief guest.

CRIME

Sarpanch booked under periphery Act
Chandigarh, September 2
A candidate for the Market Committee Chairman post for tomorrow's election and the Kishangarh village sarpanch, Mr Sita Ram, was today booked by the Mani Majra police for allegedly selling land in the village in violation of the Periphery Control Act.

Two car theft cases reported
Chandigarh, September 2
The Chandigarh Police has registered two cases of car theft during the past 24 hours. Kuldeep Singh, a resident of Sector 38, yesterday filed a complaint in Sector 39 police station that his Maruti car (CH-01-3883) had been stolen from Sector 38. The police has registered a case of theft under Section 379 of the IPC.

• One held

• Gambling

MLA’s driver booked
Chandigarh, September 2
The Traffic Police today booked the driver of a Punjab MLA’s Toyota Qualis for using a red light on the vehicle after the expiry of permission for the purpose. The sources, however, did not disclose the name and party of the MLA. At least 47 other persons were booked at a special picket set up near the Sector 16 General Hospital, sources said.

Rs 20 lakh foreign remittance detected
Chandigarh, September 2
The Crime Branch of the Chandigarh Police has detected foreign remittances to the tune of Rs 20 lakh from Canada in the accounts of the two accused who were illegally running a telephone exchange from Sector 34.

Distant relative rapes minor
Chandigarh, September 2
A 16-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a 35-year-old distant relative at Burail village here today. Shiv Karan, a Burail resident, was arrested after the girl disclosed to her parents that he raped her during the day while they had gone to attend their duties. The girl was in her jhuggi near a brick-kiln when Shiv Karan came there, the police said.

Man found dead outside Rose Garden
Chandigarh, September 2
An unidentified body of a middle-aged man was found outside Rose Garden, Sector 16, this morning. The body was taken to the morgue of General Hospital, Sector 16. The post-mortem examination would be conducted tomorrow.

3 hurt in accident
Panchkula, September 2
Three persons were injured when the car they were travelling in was hit by a tanker near the Pinjore Gardens today. Karnail Singh, Amandeep Singh his father were travelling in a car when a tanker (HR-58B-0439) hit it. The tanker driver ran away and the victims were rushed to a hospital.

• Theft

• Two arrested

• Knife seized

• Suicide bid

Liberal sops sought for small exporters
Mohali, September 2
The Centre for International Trade and Industry (CITI) has urged the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Mr Kamal Nath, to look into the problems being faced at the grassroots level and constraints being faced by small and medium-scale enterprises regarding export of their products.

Bungee jumping
Mohali, September 2
Spice Telecom, as part of its human resource initiative, organised bungee jumping for its employees at thier Mohali office today. Excited Spiceans embarked on the adventure of extreme sports and participated in bungee jumping, catapulting from a height of 140 ft.

EDUCATION

Students advised to be regular in studies
Kharar, September 2
A nation could progress fast only if every citizen remembered his duty towards the state while asking for his rights. These views were expressed by Mr Harpreet Singh Garcha, ADC, Development, Ropar, after inaugurating a meeting hall and a badminton hall at Arya College for Women here today.

Seminar for architects tomorrow
Chandigarh, September 2
The Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana chapers of Indian Institute of Architects will hold a one-day seminar on “Role of architects towards seismically safe built environment”. 

PEC to collaborate with IBM
Chandigarh, September 2
Punjab Engineering College (deemed university) is in the process of collaborating with IBM to set up an open source operating system Linux campus club.

Nursing institute in reptilian dilemma
Chandigarh, September 2
Snakes are causing all sorts of problems for students at the National Institute of Nursing Education (NINE), PGI, here. The institute’s staff is already fed up containing the ‘dangerous’ reptiles, which are spotted almost daily in the NINE premises. The Institute is looking for some expert to tackle the problem.

From University 
Manju Jaidka pulls out of Senate contest
Chandigarh, September 2
The Chairperson of the Department of English, Panjab University, Prof Manju Jaidka, bowed out of the Professors’ constituency of the Senate elections, here today. Since the last date of withdrawal for the election is over, Prof Jaidka, one of the three candidates from the Professors’ constituency (Arts stream), in a letter to her “colleagues”, has requested them not to vote for her.

• Migration

• Protest postponed

Student body’s memo to CM
Mohali, September 2
The Ropar unit of the Democratic Students Organisation presented a memorandum to the Chief Minister, Punjab, through the local SDM here today demanding strict action against private bus operators in Mansa, who allegedly indulged in hooliganism with students.

COURTS

10-yr RI for Nigerian
Panchkula, September 2
The Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mr J.R. Chauhan, today sentenced Nigerian national Tajudinn Adesullaha to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment in a case of drug trafficking.

High drama at District Courts
Chandigarh, September 2
It was high drama in front of the District Courts here when a police party of the Industrial Area police station arrested an accused, long after his bail was cancelled at 10:30 am.

Meeta Rajivlochan files reply to notice
Chandigarh, September 2
The Deputy Director (Administration), Ms Meeta Rajivlochan, today filed her reply to the show-cause notice served on her last week for issuing a "controversial" circular to her staff on August 24, according to sources.

CULTURE

New Releases
‘Rakht’ set to draw first blood 
ANOTHER top businessman Vijay Mallaya has entered Bollywood with his first venture — “Rakht” — jointly produced by Sunil Shetty’s Pop Corn Motion Pictures. The flick is Cine Blitz Productions’ debut Hindi supernatural thriller. “Rakht” has a galaxy of stars —Sanjay Dutt, Sunil Shetty, Dino Morea, Bipasha Basu, Amrita Arora, Neha Dhupia, Yana Gupta, Himanshu Malik, Payal Rohatgi and Rajat Bedi. The film opens today at Batra, Chandigarh and Fun Republic, Mani Majra.

LIFESTYLE

Style I
Clear the closet clutter
DOES every invitation to a party make you run to get a new outfit as you can’t find anything suitable to wear ? Or you face the classic dilemma of ‘not having anything to wear and not enough space in the wardrobe’ — if the answer to these questions is in the affirmative, it is time to organise and to do some weeding out in your wardrobe.

The melodious side of Finnish culture
THE Indo-Finnish festival held at the Makhan Shah Lobana auditorium, Sector 30, this evening offered glimpses of its culture. Rooted in their traditions, the artistes brought the history of their land alive by using music and dance as mediums for narrating tales. To start with, the six-member troupe presented a delightful historic piece drawn from the 2000-year-old Finnish Epic that tells the tale of its people, their struggles and triumphs.

Artistes from Finland perform during the Indo-Finnish (Finland) Cultural Festival organised by the ISCR at Makhan Shah Lobana Bhavan, Sector 30, Chandigarh, on Thursday. — A Tribune photograph

Rajvinder’s verses touch your heart
A dull evening can always hope for transition, at least so long as it has a rendezvous with poetry. This was another evening that stood transformed and enriched at the hands of heartfelt verse recited by Rajvinder Singh from Germany.

HEALTH

New technique offers better cure for arthritis
Chandigarh, September 2
A new advanced technique called unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UNI) has offered a new hope to patients of arthritis. "Arthritis is not a symptom of just getting old, it is an inflammatory or degenerative disease of the joints that is not necessarily a part of the ageing process", points out Dr Manuj Wadhwa, a leading joint replacement of the surgeon, in a talk with TNS today.

500 school kids attend health camp
Chandigarh, September 2
As many as 500 children up to the age to 10 of New Public School, Sector 18, were examined during a check-up camp organised here today as part of the Insurance Week celebrations.

SPORTS

IHF Secy-Gen visits Sec 42 stadium
Chandigarh, September 2
The Secretary-General of the Indian Hockey Federation, Mr K. Jyothikumaran, today paid a visit to the Sector 42 astro turf hockey stadium where the Indian hockey probables are attending the coaching camp in preparation for the forthcoming India-Pakistan hockey test series.

Jugraj Singh (left) during a practice session of Indian hockey team probables at the Hockey Stadium, Sector 42, Chandigarh, on Thursday. — Photo by Pardeep Tewari

CBSE sports meet a farce?
Chandigarh, September 2
Sportspersons from schools who take part in the annual sports meet organised by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) are at a loss when it comes to getting sports gradation certificates by the respective state Sports Departments.