Corruption case against HCS officer
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 30 — The police has registered a case of corruption against a Haryana Civil Services (HCS) officer for cheating a Sangrur resident of Rs 2.3 lakh.

According to police sources, Mr Naranjan Singh of Bhutan Kalan was in search of a job for his son. He came into contact with Chaman Lal Sankhala, a HCS officer, who assured him that he could arrange a job. This happened on February 2, 1991.

A deal was struck for Rs 2.3 lakh and the amount was paid by the complainant in a guest house in Sector 36.

Despite numerous reminders, nothing happened after this. Every time Mr Niranjan Singh was sent home by the officer, saying something would be done in a couple of months. This carried on for many years.

Unable to take it any more, Mr Niranjan Singh informed the police and the case was investigated by Mr Avtar Singh, DSP, Vigilance, Haryana. He recomended that it was a fit case for prosecution.

Since the money was paid in Sector 36, a case under Section 7/13(1) and (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered at the Sector 36 police station. The case will be investigated by Mr B.D. Bector, DSP, South. Sankhala is posted at Hissar.

Whisky seized: The police has arrested Raj Kumar of Ram Darbar and recovered 12 bottles of whisky from him. A case under Section 61-1-14 of the Excise Act has been registered at the Industrial Area police station.

Car stolen: Mr Harish Chander of Sector 15 has reported that his car (CH-O1-X-7844) has been stolen from his house. A case under Section 379 of the IPC has been registered at the police station west.

Judicial remand: The two Nigerian nationals, Vincent and Henry, who were arrested yesterday for selling smack in Sector 22, have been remanded in judicial custody till November 13.

Musical evening with upcoming artistes

CHANDIGARH: The first day of the Chandigarh Sangeet Sammelan introduced three upcoming artistes to music lovers. The first item for the Friday evening was a flute recital by Nityanand Haldipur.

Nityanand began the evening with subtle notes of raga Des on his flute. After a brief alap, his elaboration of the raga in "vilambit" and "drut laya" brought out the serene aspect of the raga. Playing the flute in "gayaki ang", his frequent use of the combination of note "ga, ni, sa" and "ma, re, pa" added to the flavour of the raga and "aandolan" given to different notes accentuated its beauty.

This was followed by a recital in Peelu, a raga of emotional exuberance of "shringar rasa" often used in thumris and dadras. Nityanand’s flute poignantly expressed the yearnings of a tormented soul through the soft notes of "dha, ni and ga". Though a lesser known artiste, his subdued excellence spoke volumes for the great traditions of gurus like Pt Panna Lal Ghosh and Annapurna Devi under whose tutelage he has groomed his art. Adding to the aesthetics of the performance was Anuradha Pal, accompanist on the tabla. Her immaculate sense of timing and spontaneity earned instant applause from the audience.

The second item for the evening was an improvisation between the percussion instrument duo Pt Suresh Talwalkar and his son Satyajit Talwalkar and the vocalists. The father and son duo presented an exquisite "tal mala" where the vocalist would repeat refrains leaving space for ornamentations like "tan and alaap" to be filled instead by rhythmic patterns on the tabla. In the given space, the duo would create intricate rhythmic patterns to come back to a "sam" from where the vocalist would pick his refrain. The item enjoyed a lot of public appeal though it was a bit loud.

The third and the final item for the evening was a vocal recital by Shaunak Abhisheki. Shaunak began his rendering in raga Chandni Kedar in a deep sonorous vice. The vilambit khayal in jhoomra "Chandni raat mora jiya chahe..." expressed a lot of emphasis on the purity of "naad" in big gayaki. The rendering of tarana in ektal brought forth deft handling of "tan" in "drut laya". The artiste was accompanied on the harmonium by Parasann Rajwade and on the tabla by Pt Pawan Kumar Verma.

But for the mishandling of the sound equipment that caused irritation to the artistes as well as the audience, the evening was pleasantly musical — Vandana Shukla

Pak singer enthralls
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 30 — It was an evening with a difference. Young maestro Ustad Shafqat Ali Khan had the holiday Plaza crowd absorbed with his some pure folk set in typical Punjabi beat this evening.

This Lahore born young folk singer, now settled in the United States, had the audience spellbound with his songs "Sun, vekhe na" and "Bijli da Chira". He rendered original folk songs. The beat of each song was vibrant to be typical of Punjabi music.

Shafqat Ali Khan also sang some of his popular numbers from his other album, Ishq Diwana, besides those from "Surma". Accompanying him in the performance was young Jatinder Singh Dogra who also had some popular Punjabi folk numbers.

Those in the audience had a pleasant surprise as some audio cassettes of Shafqat Ali Khan were distributed free.

Other attractions of the Plaza Carnival today were demonstration of the art of painting by Mr Prem Singh and Mr R.C. Singla while Mr Rana did some sculpturing.

Exhibition inspired by Kargil
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 30 — With the media bringing the Kargil issue right into our drawing rooms, it would take a long time for the euphoria and sentimentality over this issue to die down. And so the city gets to see another exhibition “inspired” by this issue — “Kashmir — Past and Present” — by a young city-based artist, Priya Singh. The exhibition of oil paintings is being held at Government Museum and Art gallery, Sector 10.

With a total of 16 works, the exhibition fails to inspire or stimulate in any manner at all. Some of the artist's works, inspired from nature in which she has used both brush and knife, do have the quality to appeal, though the amateur strokes are easily perceptible. A product of Government College of Arts, Sector 10, Priya Singh had specialised in oil painting on canvas and oil-sheet.

About her present exhibition, she says that since the subject of Kargil had touched her heart and thus she had tried to show the contrast between “past and present Kashmir, between war and peace, and between God and guns.” But the exhibition of her does not seem to touch the hearts of the viewers.

Mr Venod Sharma, a former Union Minister of State, inaugurated the exhibition on October 29. The exhibition will be on view till October 30.

Ginger, garlic prices fall
Tribune News Service

PANCHKULA, Oct 30 — The prices of certain vegetables have come down to nearly half in comparison to last week's prices in the local markets. Ginger and garlic, the most expensive vegetables last week at Rs 60 a kg, could be bought for Rs 30 and Rs 40 a kg, respectively, in the Sector 7 and Sector 8 markets. However, vegetable vendors were selling both these vegetables for Rs 40 a kg. The prices of peas also dipped to Rs 25 a kg from last week's Rs 50 a kg and the vegetable was available in abundance in the markets.

The price of a kg of beans was on par with the rates of the vegetable prevailing in Chandigarh. Available for Rs 20 a kg in Sector 8, there was a marked difference of Rs 5 in the price of the vegetable being sold by the vendors. In Sector 7 and 9, a kg of the vegetable could be had for Rs 21 and Rs 22, respectively.

The price of a kg of lemon marginally declined from Rs 32 to Rs 30 a kg in Sectors 6,7 and 8 markets. Also, the price of cauliflower and cabbage showed the same trend and came down to Rs 14 and Rs 12 a kg, respectively, in most markets against last week's price of Rs 15 a kg.

A kg of fenugreek was available for Rs 10 a kg while the same quantity of turnip could be bought for Rs 12 in the Sector 8 and 9 markets of the city. Lady's finger continued to be available at last week's price of Rs 20 a kg in the city. The price of a kg of pumpkin came down to Rs 8 from Rs 10 a kg last week. Radish was priced at Rs 6 a kg, spinach at Rs 5 a kg and `saag' at Rs 5 a kg while the price of a kg of gourd came down to Rs 10 a kg.

The price of capsicum went up considerably this week. While the vegetable was available for Rs 28 a kg last week, it was available for Rs 40 a kg this week. The price of cucumber also went up from Rs 12 to Rs 16 a kg this week.

Tomatoes also showed a slight rise in prices going up by Rs 2, available for Rs 12 a kg in Sector 8. The price of a kg of potatoes varied considerably from the price in Chandigarh. A kg of the vegetable could be had for Rs 10 in the city against Rs 5 a kg in Chandigarh while onions could be had for Rs 12 a kg.

St John's win final
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Oct 30 — Asim Ali Gupta's fine knock of 64 runs helped hosts St John's High School, Sector 26, beat St Xavier's Senior Secondary School, Sector 44, by four wickets in the final of the under-16 section of the Blessed Edmund Rice Cricket Tournament here today.

Earlier, St Xavier's School won the toss and elected to bat first. Bhupinder and Joseph consolidated St Xavier's batting by scoring 52 and 39 runs, respectively. The team piled up 210 runs for the loss of nine wickets in the stipulated 30 overs.

In reply, St john's batsmen had a slow start. However, a sensible batting by Asim Ali who scored 64 runs in just 56 balls, a hard hitting 26 unbeaten runs in 17 balls by Jasraj Bhatti and 21 unbeaten runs in 15 balls by Hiteshwar helped St John's achieve the target with only two balls remaining.

Based on the performance in the semi-finals, Sumit Salgotra of St Xavier's School was adjudged the best allrounder, Rahul Kumar of Bhavan Vidyalaya the best batsman and Abhay Mohan Singh of St John's the best bowler in the under-14 age group. Mr D.P. Azad gave away the prizes.

Brief scores: St Xavier's-44 — 210 runs for nine in 30 overs (Bhupinder 52, Joseph 39, Sumit 24, Udai 19, Asim Ali 2 for 41, Abay Mohan 2 for 25, Nischay 2 for 37); St John's — 211 for six in 29.5 overs (Asim Ali 64, Jasraj Bhatti 26 n.o., Hiteshwar 21 n.o., Rajat 18, Varun 17).

Bank sport: The 18th Inter-Region Sport Competition of Punjab National Bank began here today at DAV College in Sector 10 with 182 participants drawn from 10 regions of North Zone, comprising Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, besides Chandigarh, taking part in it.

Mr A.K. Bhargava, General Manager of the North Zone of Punjab National Bank, declared the meet open.