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Commuters left stranded
Haryana Roadways staff decline entry to CTU buses into Panchkula
Panchkula, January 31
Thousands of passengers commuting between Chandigarh and Panchkula faced a lot of inconvenience today, when employees of Haryana Roadways refused to allow any bus of the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) inside the township.

School students from Panchkula being forced to leave buses near the Chandigarh-Panchkula boundary after Haryana Roadways employees refused to allow entry to CTU buses into Panchkula on Tuesday. — A Tribune photograph

Beware men! finding marriageable women gets tough
Chandigarh, January 31
Issuing a virtual warning, the Directorate of Census Operations, Chandigarh, today pointed out that city men are going to face an acute shortage of women to marry in the coming years due to the skewed sex ratio.

A lone cyclist having finished his day's work pedals his way back to home on a bright sunny day in Chandigarh on Tuesday. — Tribune photo by Vinay Malik

MC to take over 4 villages in first phase
Chandigarh, January 31
The Chandigarh Municipal Corporation in its house meeting today decided to take over the villages as proposed by the UT Administration, but in a phased manner. It was also decided to formulate a seven-member committee to look into the finer details of laying pre-conditions for taking over the villages and then discussing them with the administration. The house was unanimous in seeking clarifications from the administration that how much grant would be given to them for developing these villages and also for how long will the grant be given.

Punjab students win space instrument design contest

Mohali, January 31 Bringing laurels to the state, a brilliant group of four students from various engineering colleges of Punjab has won a coveted space instrument design contest held in IIT, Bombay at Powai last week. The international competition held during IIT Bombay’s annual tech fest attracted entries from over 60 student teams worldwide.  Kanwalpreet (left) and Daljit with ‘Punjabi Hummer’ in Mohali. — A Tribune photograph

Passing Thru

COMMUNITY

No breakthrough in infant mauling case
Panchkula, January 31
The Panchkula police continue to grope in dark, clueless about the identity of the person who dumped a new-born infant near a water tank in Sector 12 yesterday morning. The body was cremated at Rohtak after a post-mortem examination was conducted at the PGI there this morning. The hospital has not given out any report on the sex of the child yet.

Man under heavy debt dies on way to hospital
Chandigarh, January 31
A 35-year-old married man died on way to the Sector 16 General Hospital after he was reportedly found lying unconscious under mysterious circumstances in bathroom at his in-laws’ house in Sector 15 here this morning. The doctors at the hospital declared the victim, Inderpreet Singh, brought dead on arrival.

Army officer in dock for posting sensitive info on web
Chandigarh, January 31
An Army officer is in the dock for reportedly posting military-related information on a private website on the Internet. This is the stated to be the first case of its kind and has raised concerns over information security. It is learnt that the officer has been issued a show-cause notice. The instance came to light after Military Intelligence (MI) officers at Chandimandir came across the website while monitoring the Internet a few days ago.

Rodrigues lays stone of EWS houses
Chandigarh, January 31
Gen S.F. Rodrigues, UT Administrator, laid the foundation stone of 688 dwelling units for economically weaker section (EWS) in Sector 38 (West) here today. He also formally launched three other housing schemes in Sector 49.

2 ex-servicemen in search of justice
Chandigarh, January 31
Mr Baljit Singh and Mr Harnek Singh, two former defence personnel, are a harassed lot. Almost 15 years after they purchased plots from Kharar-based colonisers at Daon village in Chandigarh’s periphery, they are running from pillar to post to get the possession of the land.

Jhuggi dwellers hold protest
Chandigarh, January 31
Members of the Jan Jagriti Sangathan today staged a dharna outside the office of the Deputy Commissioner against the alleged delay on the part of the officials of the Estate Office in issuing allotment letters to jhuggi dwellers of Kumar Colony and Janta Colony in Sector 25.

Oil conservation fortnight held

Chandigarh, January 31 The valedictory function of Oil and Gas Conservation Fortnight was organised today at Police Auditorium, Sector 29. Mr Surinder Singh, Mayor, Municipal Corporation, was the chief guest on the occasion. While welcoming him, Mr V.K.Yadav, State Level Coordinator (Oil Industry) and Senior Regional Manager, Hindustan Petroleum, spoke on the importance of conservation of oil and gas.

Winners of various competitions pose for a picture at the valedictory function of Oil and Gas Conservation Fortnight 2006 in Sector 29, Chandigarh, on Tuesday. — A Tribune photograph

Warmest day
Chandigarh, January 31
The last day of the month turned out to be the warmest with the city recording a maximum temperature of 25.4 degrees centigrade. A minimum temperature of 8.8 degrees was recorded today.

Admn defends revised power charges
Chandigarh, January 31
Chandigarh Administration has defended the revised electricity charges in the city following a “number of representations from consumers and associations saying the tariff was irrational”

Dr Zakir felicitated
Panchkula, January 31
Litterateurs, critics, admirers and local citizens converged on the Haryana Urdu Akademy hall in Panchkula where Dr K.L. Zakir was felicitated for the Padma Shri honour conferred upon him for his contribution in the realm of literature and education.

CRIME

30 kg charas seized; two held
Chandigarh, January 31
The Chandigarh Zonal Unit of the Narcotic Control Bureau (NCB) has a major breakthrough when its sleuths arrested two persons from Ludhiana railway station in a late last night operation and claimed to have recovered 30 kg of charas from their possession.

Cyclist robbed of mobile phone
Chandigarh, January 31
A cyclist Ballu Ram, was robbed of his mobile phone and Rs 400 by an unidentified scooterist. In another incident, a Manimajra resident was caught red-handed while stealing a mobile phone. Besides, the thieves decamped with a safe from a shop in Sector 26 and a theft of a car was also reported.

Mumbai police in city to find locker holder
Chandigarh ,January 31
A team of Mumbai Police already in city, today, visited several banks in order to investigate about the person, who had a locker containing a big haul of explosives and weapons in the Bandra branch of the State Bank of India.

Academy booked for cheating students
Chandigarh, January 31
The police has booked a Sector 17-based private institute on the allegations of duping a large number of students, who had deposited about Rs 6,000 each to get themselves enrolled in a Bhopal-based open university. The students alleged that the university had not got them enrolled as the institute was not recognised by it.

Chemist shops raided in Nayagaon
Mohali, January 31
Several habit-forming drugs were seized from three chemist shops in Nayagaon and Kansal villages during raids conducted by officials today. The raids were conducted by a three-member team, comprising Mr Ajay Singla, Assistant Drug Controller, Mr Pardeep Kumar, Drug Inspector, Ropar, and Dr Surinder Bhagat, Medical Officer at the local Civil Hospital.

EDUCATION

PEC joins national computing grid Garuda
Chandigarh, January 31
The Punjab Engineering College (PEC) here has joined the group of 32 institutes across the country associated with Garuda- the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC), national grid computing initiative. PEC is the second institute from the city to have joined in. The Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH) here is already working with Garuda.

Students of DAV Model School, Sector 15, Chandigarh, take part in modelling on the occasion of farewell part of class XII on Tuesday. — Tribune photo by Pradeep Tewari Students of Rossel Public School perform at the annual day function of the school in Zirakpur on Monday.

Winners of ‘Panorama 2006’
Chandigarh, January 31
Jasjot Singh Bains from AKSIPS won the ‘Spell Down’ contest organised during ‘Panorama 2006’ organised by Les Amis, a student organisation of Punjab Engineering College here today. Anshul Kadian and Anuraag Verma, both from Hansraj Public School, were second and third respectively. Out of 12 teams, the team of Razak Gupta and Kabir Lata from St Stephen’s was adjudged the best in the Entrevista. The team of Karun, Siddharth and Sanchit from Bhavan Vidyalaya was first in the quiz contest while the team of St Stephens comprising Abhishek, Avijeet and Jaskaran was second.

Incentives for NCC cadets, officers
Chandigarh, January 31
Cadets of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh NCC Directorate who had attended the Republic Day camp were honoured by the Haryana and Punjab governments here today. As many as 126 cadets had been selected for the prestigious camp.

Placement drive in SD College
Chandigarh, January 31
Various companies like DELL, MAX Insurance Converges etc will be visiting the S.D. College, Sector 32, campus in the first week of February for placement of students. Principal Dr A.C. Vaid congratulated the placement cell in its endeavour and expressed his desire that in the subsequent session every student of the final year should have an appointment letter.

COURTS

Candidates promise proper facilities for lawyers
Chandigarh, January 31
In the run up to the District Bar Association elections, which are scheduled for February 3, promises of proper facilities and more space for lawyers’ chambers have taken the centre stage.

District Courts
Woman gets 7-year term for killing newborn
Chandigarh, January 31
The District and Sessions Judge, Mr M.M.S. Bedi, today sentenced Geeta Rani to seven years of imprisonment for murdering her newborn baby girl at the PGI on January 17, 2004. The woman was arrested after she had strangulated her baby.

HEALTH

Exercise to reduce menopause effects: expert
Chandigarh, January 31
Depression, bone loss, instability, insomnia, hot flushes and night sweats - menopause comes with all this and loads of other related problems. The answer to these ills lies in exercise coupled with a proper diet and if advisable, hormone therapy. These can help prevent or minimise many of the problems associated with menopause, says Ms Nirja Chawla, Organising Secretary, IMS.

Doctor retires

SPORTS

Reena sweeps athletics titles
Chandigarh, January 31
Reena of Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Sector 20 stood first in long jump, 100 metres race and 200 metres race events, under 19 category, at the Inter-School Athletic Meet held at Sports Complex, Sector 46 here today.

Shika-Shelly duo win TT title
Chandigarh, January 31
Shika Ghai and Shally Dhawan of Punjab thrashed S.Jhansi Rani and B.Devi of Tamil Nadu in a one sided affair tie in women’s doubles 11-3, 11-7, 13-11, during the All-India BSNL Table Tennis Tournament held at Sector 23 Table Tennis Hall, here, today. In the mixed doubles event, Pankaj P. Chutia and Sanjukta Gogoi of Assam beat D Samson Selwakumar and Jaansi Rani of Tamil Nadu 4-11,11-6,11-6,11-8.