Chandigarh, January 12
Less than a week after the 12-year-old daughter of a senior CBI officer went missing and was later found at Jaipur, four students of Guru Nanak Public School in Sector 36 left their homes last night only to be traced at the New Delhi railway station in the wee hours today.

Yuvraj of Class IX, Anmol of Class IX and Inderpreet and Gurmanjot of Class VIII told media-persons at the Sector 36 police station this morning that the fear of “humiliation” on account of poor academic performance had forced them to flee their homes. Ashamed at their result card, they were unable to face their parents.

DSP (south) K.I.P. Singh said soon after the matter was reported to the police, a team was constituted to trace the children. As one of the students had a mobile phone with him, the police took assistance from mobile phone service providers to track them and draw a route map.

Meanwhile, parents of the missing children sought help from their relatives in Delhi and Gurgaon. Gurmanjot’s relative Darshan Singh Sidhu contacted the railway police at the New Delhi station and learnt that the children had been spotted there. He reached the station and was able to find them at 3.20 am just as they were planning to depart for Mumbai.

They children had purchased tickets for their onward journey.

Gurmanjot told mediapersons that the four boys, afraid to face their parents after their poor showing at school, first went to the Sector 43 ISBT and then to the Sector 17 ISBT and boarded a bus for Ambala.

Yuvraj and Inderpreet skipped school yesterday. They went to the Ambala railway station in the evening to board a train for Mumbai.

They were told that the next train available would leave in the morning. They then boarded a bus for Delhi and reached the railway station at 10.30 pm. They had their meals and waited for the Mumbai train scheduled for 5 am.

SHO Devinder Sharma said the police team contacted the Murthal police, the Delhi Police control room, the Kashmiri Gate police station and the Delhi railway police and gave details about the missing children.

After they were traced, a police team accompanied by their parents got them back.The children were carrying Rs 2,500 with them. 

Chandigarh, January 12
Hopes of reviving the mass rapid transport system (MRTS)have were revived today with Haryana and Punjab agreeing to jointly work for the project.

At a meeting attended by the chief secretaries of Punjab and Haryana, secretary in the ministry of surface transport and senior officials of the Chandigarh administration, it was agreed that metro rail was the best option.

A committee of officials from Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh to work out modalities is expected to be announced soon.

Sources said the report of the 10-member committee submitted by K.C. Sivaramakrishnan, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, was discussed at the meeting. The officials will review the report in respect of population growth, transport needs for current and future populations and integrated traffic and transportation plans for Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali and other neighbouring towns.

In November last year, transport secretaries of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh were invited to a meeting of the special committee to recommend the best possible mass rapid transport system for the region. 

Chandigarh, January 12
Dr Farooq Abdullah, former chief minister, Jammu and Kashmir, today launched “Vision Millennium”, a think tank of city residents, that will work towards the revival of Kashmiri culture and ethos. A seminar was organised to mark the launch.

Delivering an emotionally-charged speech, Dr Abdullah pointed out the blunders committed by Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi over Kashmir. Lambasting the centre, he said he had faced “the wrath of Delhi” and he alone knew how he had suffered.

Condemning the government of India’s surrender during the Kandahar hijacking incident, Dr Abdullah said: “The centre chose to sacrifice India rather than 89 passengers.”

Addressing the gathering of Kashmiri Pandits, Dr Abdullah said not only were the Hindus but even the Muslims had left the state in fear.

“How can I ask you to come to Kashmir when I myself have to move around with hordes of gunmen,” he said.

Facing a barrage of questions from the audience, Dr Abdullah spoke to them in Kashmiri. “If the situation in Pakistan worsens, even I might have to leave Kashmir and settle elsewhere,” he joked.

Referring to the Simla Agreement and the Kargil war, he suggested that the Line of Control should be accepted as the permanent regular border between India and Pakistan.

Citing memoirs of P.N. Dhar, a close aide of Indira Gandhi, he pointed out that this was an unwritten secret understanding between Indira Gandhi and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto at Simla, which Pakistan had failed to honour.

Questioning a decision of the National Human Rights Commission of 1999, which had held that Kashmiri Pandits were not victims of genocide, Gupta made a strong plea for their return to the valley with equal rights, dignity and security.

Prof S.N. Pandita, a Jammu-based Kashmiri scholar, and Srinivas Joshi, a retired bureaucrat from Himachal Pradesh, read out academic papers expanding on various facets of the composite Kashmiri ethos.

Former UPSC chairman and ex-DGP J&K Gurbachan Jagat said the exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits was due to the failure of the state to maintain law and order.

Chandigarh, January 12
Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Maintenance Command, Air Marshal, Gautam Nayyar arrived on a two-day inspection visit to No. 3 Base Repair Depot (BRD) here today.

He is accompanied by his wife Rachita Nayyar, who is president Air Force Wives Welfare Association (Regional).

During his visit, he will review ongoing projects at 3 BRD and take stock of production targets and other activities. The depot is the IAF’s largest helicopter maintenance and repair facility.

He will be briefed about technical and administrative aspects pertaining to the depot by Air Officer Commanding 3 BRD Air Cmde S.C. Luthra.

Air Marshal Mayyar belongs to Chandigarh and started his career as an engineering officer at 3 BRD.

He has a vast experience in maintenance of various fighter aircraft of Russian and western origin.

As flight lieutenant, he got training in Spain in retarder bombs and underwent special weapons course in 1980.

On promotion to the rank of Air Marshal, he served as Air Officer-in-Charge Maintenance at Air HQ, where he was involved in implemented several measures to improve reliability and availability of various IAF weapon systems.

In mid-80s, he was associated with the induction of Mirage 2000 in the IAF.

As Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Engineering B) at Air HQ, he was responsible for maintenance of the entire Indo-Western fleets of the Air Force.

Chandigarh, January 12
The UT excise and taxation department has invited applications for renewal of all existing retail sale licences of country liquor and IMFL and for grant of new retail sale licences for 2008-09.

A spokesperson for the department said an individual or a company will be allotted a maximum of four licences — two licences of IMFL (L-2) and two of country liquor (L-14A).

In case of commonality among board of directors of two or more companies, it would be presumed to be one company for the purpose of renewal/grant of a liquor licence. The last date for renewal of applications was January 31.

The new licences of retail sale vends of both country liquor and IMFL would be granted on first-come-first-serve basis in the commercial areas of Sectors, Industrial Area and rehabilitation colonies and in already existing pucca structures in areas where such structures are allowed by the administration in the villages.

There would be no time limit and any eligible applicant could apply for grant of a licence within the commercial areas of Sectors, Industrial Areas and rehabilitation colonies and already existing pucca structures.

No new licence would be granted in temporary structure. The licence fee of both country liquor and IMFL had been fixed at Rs 25 lakh under a single category.

In case of renewal and grant of new licences to a company, the entire licence fee would be payable in lump sum within 24 hours from the grant/renewal of the licence.

The individual allottee of the vend would have to pay 50 per cent of the licence fee within 24 hours from the grant/renewal of licence and remaining 50 per cent by July 31.

Panchkula, January 12
Even as the National Highway Authority of India has started lifting the debris from Pinjore after its two-day mass anti-encroachment drive, the condition was same for the commuters on the route for the third consecutive day as the vehicular traffic could not be on its normal course on the national highway.

“It was a difficult time for the commuters on the highway here for the last three days during the clearance of encroachments, however, widening of roads would bring a big respite from the daily traffic jams on the road as the NHAI would get substantial space to lay the road on the busy route,” said Xen NHAI B.R. Kapoor.

”In fact we had started lifting the debris in the evening and the labour was put on job throughout the night and today again the whole day was devoted in clearing the debris from the area”, added Kapoor. “Still it would take us a couple of days to clear all the area from debris before the movement of traffic becomes normal”, he said.

Chandigarh, January 12
Punjab Governor and UT administrator Gen S.F. Rodrigues (retd) laid the foundation stone of a new tennis complex at CLTA, Sector 10, here today. The integrated sports complex will be constructed at a cost of Rs. 1.44 crores on an area of 20,000 square feet. Entire work will be completed within 9 months and the complex will be equipped with modern, state-of-the-art facilities.

Rajan Kashyap, Chairman Lawn Tennis Association, in his welcome address said: “This new complex has been designed keeping in mind the city’s environment and architecture. It will have facilities for yoga, aerobics and a gymnasium.”

Arrangements for lodging at least 100 trainees and guest rooms for specialists would be made.

Chandigarh has become the first smoke-free city of the country and now, the administration is planning to make it honk-free. These seem to be the publicity stunts and alibis to make one more visit to a country where honks have been banned. In my opinion, bans serve little purpose. Creating awareness among people is more important.

The UT’s smoke-free campaign is already dying. No one has left smoking and most people still smoke in public. Rather, the sale of smoking material has gone up. It is ridiculous that on the one hand, the administration is banning smoking in the city and on the other, it is increasing flow of liquor in all nooks and corners of the city.

R.K. Garg, Chandigarh

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Mohali, January 12
Thieves decamped with cash and electronic equipment, including mobile phones worth Rs 1.5 lakh from a showroom in Phase 11, here today. According to the police the incident took place last night.

When the owner of the shop, Surinderpal Singh, opened the shop this morning he saw that the locks of the shutters had been broken and the shop ransacked. He told the police that Nokia mobile sets of the ‘N’ and ‘E’ series were missing and many mobile phones that had come for repairs were also missing. Rs 13,000 cash was missing from the shop.

A cabin in the same showroom run by Manoj Kumar was also ransacked. Thieves had allegedly decamped with Rs 6,500 and computer spare parts from the cabin. The police has registered a case.

Chandigarh, January 12
A Ludhiana-based woman reported theft of her jewellery and other articles from a Sector 43-based hotel, here.

Baljit Kaur of Shere Punjab Colony, Ludhiana, reported that her purse containing Rs 20,000, four gold bangles, two diamond earrings, a gold set, a mobile phone, credit card and some documents was stolen from Hotel Western Court in Sector 43, last night.