Youth commits suicide
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 22 — A youth from Buteralla village, Sanjeev Dogra, allegedly committed suicide by jumping before a running train in Mani Majra this morning.

Dogra, who is around 22 years of age, was working as class IV employee in a private company. His head had been crushed badly.

Bag stolen: A non-resident Indian (NRI) returning from Muscat to his home in Sector 40 here had his bag stolen between Panipat and Chandigarh this morning. The bag contained his labour cards issued by the government of Oman, bank credit cards, bank drafts worth Rs 3 lakh and a digital diary.

Mr S.K. Sood, employed with Essar Oil in Muscat, was on his way back home. After embarking from his flight he opted to take a bus to Chandigarh. He boarded a de luxe bus of Punjab Roadways. On reaching Chandigarh he found that zipper of his bag had been torn open by someone and the black-coloured leather bag carrying the documents was missing.

He lodged a complaint with the police requesting that the bag, if found, be returned at his local address, (2564, Sector 40).

Car theft : A car (CH-01-0019) owned by Harpreet Singh of Sector 15 was stolen from the parking lot outside the district courts in Sector 17. Two cycles have been stolen from Sector 17 in separate incidents. The cycles owned by Mewa Lal, a labourer in Sector 26, and Paras Ram Pandey, working as a peon in the Animal Husbandry Department, were stolen.

Pedestrian hurt : A pedestrian, Rajesh Kumar of Sector 47, was injured when he was hit by a car on the road dividing Sectors 46 and 47. Rajesh was admitted to the GMCH, Sector 32.

Gold chain snatched: Two unidentified scooterists snatched the gold chain worn by Mrs Naresh Saini while she was travelling on a rickshaw with a family member in Sector 33 last evening. The number of the scooter could not be noted down.

PANCHKULA

Burglary bid: A burglary attempt was made at the house of Mr R.P. Malhotra in Sector 8 here this morning.

According to information available, thieves broke into the house while the members of the family were asleep.

While the thieves were searching through the household items the daughter of Mr Malhotra woke up and raised the alarm, forcing the burglars to flee.

A complaint in this regard had been lodged with the police.

Recarpet road, says Mayor
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 22 — The Mayor, Mr Kewal Krishan Addiwal, accompanied by Mr Raghbir Lal Arora, leader of the House-cum-Chairman, Road Committee, and Mrs Kamla Sharma, a former Mayor of the city, visited Sectors 24 and 41 and Badheri village to oversee work on recarpeting of roads.

Mr S.K. Chaddha, Executive Engineer (Roads), was also with them.

The visiting corporation officials found that recarpeting of road in Sector 24 near cheap houses was not up to the mark and was ordered to be recarpeted again.

Directions were issued that recarpeting should be done satisfactorily and expeditiously. The MC officials maintained that they would continue to monitor the work on road carpeting regularly.

Mango bonanza in city
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 22—The city has virtually been flooded with mangoes during the past three days owing to good arrivals, mainly from the southern part of the country which is said to have witnessed a bumper crop this year.

Interestingly, the sudden rich arrivals have resulted in the crashing of the price of the fruit, which is available in the market at much lower prices compared to the corresponding period last year.

The juicy fruit has made its presence felt in City Beautiful with such a bang that during the past three days, many roads of the city have been dotted with make-shift mango shops,particularly roads leading to the outer Dakshin Marg and along Madhya Marg.

Varieties which have come so far are 'safeda', 'sandhuri', and 'totapari' .The quantity of the fruit arriving so far is double compared to last year. The market was receiving only one to two truckloads per day during the corresponding period last year,while the daily arrivals of the fruit these days are five to seven trucks," said Pawan Kumar, a Sector 27 fruit market wholesaler. The arrivals are likely to pick up in the coming fortnight as there was 'exceptionally' good crop in the mango producing belt of Maharashtra, Chennai, Madurai, Bangalore and Vijaywada and Uttar Pradesh.

According to sources in the market, the fruit this year is small-sized due to lack of rain in the mango producing areas of the country. "The fruit bears sweetness and its actual size only after it gets two to three mild rains, but this time there has not been even a single rain so far," said a wholesaler.

The retailers, particularly 'rehriwallahs', are preferring to sell mango to other fruits due to a high profit margin and due to more shelf life of the fruit. . "At present, there is no fruit than mango which is in a position to give a profit of Rs 5 per kg. Moreover, we can store it for as long as three to four days," said Ram Kishan, a rehriwallah in Sector 20.

There is a big difference between the current mango prices and those of the last year. A kg of 'safeda' variety of the fruit which was priced at Rs 30-35 during the corresponding period last year, is currently available in the market between Rs 20 and Rs 25. Similarly, the wholesale price of the fruit has also decreased from Rs 220 to Rs 180 per 16-17 kg pack.

Likewise, a kg of 'Sandhuri' variety, which was priced between Rs 30-35 per kg last year, is available today for Rs 20 a kg.

There is, however , no difference in the price of ' totapari' variety of the fruit which is still priced between Rs 15 and Rs 20 per kg.