C H A N D I G A R H

As the Sydney Olympics are drawing near, the national rowing team seems to be perfecting the art at the Sukhna Lake in Chandigarh on Wednesday. — Tribune photo by Pankaj Sharma

CHB cancels flat allotment to Puri and forfeits the deposited amount
CHANDIGARH, April 26 — The Chandigarh Housing Board has cancelled the allotment of a dwelling unit to Prof Madan Mohan Puri, Vice-Chancellor, Panjab University, besides forfeiting the entire amount deposited by him till date for “having concealed the material facts and for making false statement by way of declaration of affidavit in order to secure the allotment of the flat fraudulently.”

Cars, scooters to cost more as UT plans to raise ST to 12 per cent
CHANDIGARH, April 26 — Prices of cars, trucks, two-wheelers and other automobiles, will go up in the city as the Chandigarh Administration is about to follow the Union Finance Ministry’s directions on the minimum floor rates of sales tax by which ST on automobiles will go up from the present 4.4 per cent of the cost of the vehicle to 12 per cent.

COMMUNITY

Journalists' rally tomorrow
CHANDIGARH, April 26 — The Chandigarh Union of Journalists affiliated to the IUJ has decided to hold a rally on April 28 at the Sector 17 Piazza at 11 a.m., according to Mr Vinod Kohli, President of the union.

Works on the Khalsa analysed at seminar
CHANDIGARH, April 26 — ‘’ To have a better understanding of the Sikh tradition, this workshop is an attempt to analyse works on the Punjabi tradition over the past few centuries,” said Mrs Indu Banga at a seminar organised by the ICHR on ‘Near contemporary and later perspectives on the Khalsa’, here today.

Soldiers, war widows honoured at rally
CHANDIGARH, April 26 — War widows, dependants of martyrs and veteran soldiers from Patiala, Roopnagar, Fatehgarh Sahib, Hoshiarpur and Sangrur districts of Punjab were honoured on the concluding day of the ex-servicemen's rally here today.

Bal Sadan kids taken for ride
PANCHKULA, April 26 — The children of Bal Sadan, a home for destitute children in Sector 4, came in the eye of the storm yet again this morning with the office-bearers of the association taking a unanimous decision to shift residence of the inmates from the present place in Haripur to a house in Sector 21 without prior information to them or to the two housekeepers.

World YWCA Day celebrated
CHANDIGARH, April 26 — As many as twentysix children from thirteen schools participated in the final round of children’s competitions held yesterday to celebrate the World YWCA Day.

Avoid sun to prevent heat exhaustion
CHANDIGARH, April 26 — With the maximum day temperature hovering around 40°Celsius during the last week, cases of heat exhaustion and other related injuries are being reported in city hospitals. The incidence of these injuries is expected to go up with a further rise in temperature.

CRIME

Man falls to death
CHANDIGARH, April 26 — In a tragic incident, an electric chargeman was killed after he fell into a pit well while repairing an elevator at the UT Secretariat here this afternoon.

Peddler held with charas
CHANDIGARH, April 26 — The Crime Branch of the police today arrested a Mani Majra resident and seized 2.5 kg of charas, valued at over Rs 25 lakh in the international market, from him.

Held for luring minor girl
LALRU, April 26 — The police has arrested Mahanvir for luring a minor girl from Dheha Jhugian village near here and recovered the girl.

BUSINESS

Cable has major role in IT boom
CHANDIGARH, April 26 — The two-day mega event on cable and satellite TV and information technology concluded at the CII building here today.

Kharar MC to install two more tubewells
KHARAR, April 26 — The local municipal committee at its meeting held here today decided to install two more tubewells in Kharar after obtaining a loan of Rs 30 lakh from the bank.

EDUCATION

PU scraps BBA, BCA entrance tests
CHANDIGARH, April 26 — Panjab University has decided to do away with entrance examination for the Bachelor of Business Administration and Bachelor of Computer Application courses in colleges from the forthcoming session.

Collect marks cards, schools told
CHANDIGARH, April 26 — The UT Education Department has asked all schools to collect the detailed marks cards of the students who appeared for the Middle Standard Examination.

COURTS

Telecom Dept told to pay Rs 25,000 for harassing consumer
CHANDIGARH, April 26 — The State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission here has dismissed the appeal of the General Manager and Vigilance Officer of the Department of Telecom against an earlier order of the UT District Forum II, which directed the aforesaid to pay consolidated damages of Rs 25,000 to a complainant who was deprived of the use of his telephone for a period of five years.

Accused allowed to go abroad for check-up
CHANDIGARH, April 26 — The Punjab and Haryana High Court today permitted contractor Yash Pal Saggi, booked in a corruption case registered by the UT Vigilance Department, to leave the country for six months to get himself medically examined.

CULTURE

Frames that speak
Photography is fast prospering as an art. Thanks to the people who shoot not only for personal pleasure but also to compete and participate in exhibitions, this art form has become acclaimed. Had it not been for competitions and exhibitions photography would have still been struggling for recognition.

Artistes trained about rural schemes CHANDIGARH, April 26 — A two-day workshop on rural development, organised by the Song and Drama Division, began here today. Healing wounds through melody and rhythm CHANDIGARH, April 26 — The music of silence is amazing. And that of the chords struck by the great maestro Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma is all the more amazing. It transports the listener to a world which is beyond the limits of time and space.

Pandit Sharma and Ustaad Shafaat performed Raag Maru Vihaar on Wednesday evening. They were here on an invitation from the city chapter of SPICMACAY. They were accompanied by Dr Kanwar Mohan on the tanpura.

SPORT

Neha, Simmer enter semis
CHANDIGARH, April 26 — Neha Singh, Yuvraj Chowdhry, Harneet Singh and Simmer of Chandigarh entered the last four in their respective events in the All-India Ranking Juniors tennis tournament at Amritsar today.

Maldives has upcoming shuttlers: Puri
CHANDIGARH, April 26 — Mr T.P.S. Puri, a former national badminton coach who is now on the expert panel of the International Badminton Federation, has returned to the city after a three-week Olympic solidarity course in badminton at Male in Maldives.

ADMINISTRATION

New HUDA tubewell to pump out one million litres of water a day
PANCHKULA, April 26—The second of the eight tubewells planned by the Haryana Urban Development Authority to ease the water pressure in the township was inaugurated at the Sector 16 by the Administrator (Headquarters), HUDA, Mr Anurag Aggarwal, here today.

Station masters hold meeting
CHANDIGARH, April 26 — The All-India Station Masters Association (Ambala Division) held its annual general meeting at Ambala yesterday.

Vigilance Officers discuss corruption
CHANDIGARH, April 26 — Corruption has vitiated various systems in society and brought contempt for the law. This observation was made at a meeting of the Vigilance Officers of the Chandigarh Administration held here today.

Neeru Nanda new head of CHB
CHANDIGARH, April 26 — Ms Neeru Nanda, an IAS officer of the AGMU (UT) cadre, belonging to the 1971 batch, will be the new Chairperson of the Chandigarh Housing Board. She will relieve Mr Rakesh Singh, Finance Secretary, of the additional charge.