C H A N D I G A R H

This huge tree outside the UT Guest House in Sector 6 fell victim to the fury of the weather during the past few days. It could not take the onslaught of a squall followed by another thunderstorm and collapsed. Workers of the Horticulture Wing of the Engineering Department of the Municipal Corporation had a gigantic task of chopping off its huge branches to clear the road and footpath.— Tribune photograph by Parvesh Chauhan

PU official convicted of result tampering
CHANDIGARH, May 7 — Chinks in the examination system of Panjab University have been confirmed with conviction of an official in at least five different cases of result tampering.

Domicile-based reservation “unfortunate”
CHANDIGARH, May 7 — Resentment is brewing among parents of students who are ready for admission to professional colleges this year, over the issue of reservation of seats for those who have domiciles in various neighbouring states, including Punjab.

Polytechnic for rural women gets nod
CHANDIGARH, May 7 — The Department of Secondary Education and Higher Education of the Ministry of Human Resource Development has accepted a UT Administration proposal for setting up a community polytechnic for providing vocational education to rural women at their doorsteps.

Multi-level approach to primary education
CHANDIGARH, May 7 — With a view to improve the quality of education at the primary level, a new concept focused on ‘’child centred’’ approach instead of the conventional ‘’teacher-centred’’ one is being advocated.

COMMUNITY

Newspaper staff strike today
CHANDIGARH, May 7 — Employees of various newspapers, news agencies and hawkers of Chandigarh have unanimously decided to observe a complete strike tomorrow in protest against the delay in the implementation of the Manisana Singh Wage Board.

200 astrologers attend jyotish sammelan
CHANDIGARH, May 7 — Over 200 astrologers from different parts of the country attended the “jyotish sammelan” organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Saraswat Jyotish Manch in collaboration with the Indo-Global Astrologers Association in Sector 33 here today.

Najma, Vittal, Bedi to speak on corruption
CHANDIGARH, May 7 — What do the Deputy Chairperson of Rajya Sabha, Dr Najma Heptullah, the Chief Vigi-lance Commissioner, Mr N. Vittal, and former Indian skipper, Bishen Singh Bedi, have in common?

Journalism ‘reduced to vocation’
CHANDIGARH, May 7 — The Governor of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab-cum-Administrator of Chandigarh, Mr Vishnu Kant Shastri today expressed concern over the journalists’ diminishing sense of sacrifice and ability to lead.

Compassion and benevolence, Army style
PINJORE, May 7 — A tiny hamlet some six km away from Pinjore, Grinda Jattan, on the face of it, is no different from the picture a village conjures up — open fields, kutcha and pucca houses dotting the landscape and the musty smell of cowdung all around.

A nightmare for Sector 70 residents
SAS NAGAR, May 7 — Inhabitants of Sector 70 and the visitors to the sector had to bear the brunt of lack of preparedness of the local development agencies when a repaired portion of a road caved in after intermittent showers yesterday.

CRIME

Nigerian falls from roof, dies
CHANDIGARH, May 7 — A Nigerian national, Suzi, was seriously injured when he fell from the roof of a house in Colony number 5 last night.

Mani Majra resident faces cops’ wrath
CHANDIGARH, May 7 — A resident of the Modern Housing Complex, Mani Majra, had the first-hand experience of high-handed approach of the local police when he was allegedly assaulted by an ASI and two Cons-tables near the railway crossing traffic lights last evening.

• Residents on dharna

BUSINESS

Women trained in food preservation
CHANDIGARH, May 7 — In its endeavour to promote entrepreneurship among women, Canara Bank has organised a free workshop for 38 women of Dadu Majra Colony in Chandigarh. Officials of the Food and Nutrition Board imparted training to the women.

Coke fest ends today
CHANDIGARH, May 7 — “The Coke Fest-2000”, involving 2,000 students of 10 schools of Chandigarh, SAS Nagar and Panchkula in slogan writing, painting and games at the Coke bottling plant in Baddi, will conclude tomorrow.

EDUCATION

Kids steal hearts at annual day function
CHANDIGARH, May 7 — The annual day of the three branches of Air Force Regional School was celebrated at LECMA, 3 BRD, here today.

Motorists' response disappoints kids playing cop
PANCHKULA, May 7 — Though it was a great learning experience for the twenty girl students of Chaman Lal DAV School, Sector 11, who participated in the drive to educate the public about traffic rules here today, they were disappointed with the response of the motorists and admitted that being in the shoes of the police was a tough job.

Cultural programme by kids
CHANDIGARH, May 7 — A three hour cultural programme, organised by the local unit of Sri Sathya Sai Organisation, was presented by Bal Vikas children at Tagore Theatre here today.

800 students given books and stationery
PANCHKULA, May 7 — Over 800 students of 27 government schools in the district were given books and stationery at a function at Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 7, under Sahyog, an annual project of Bharat Vikas Parishad, here today.

Institute of creative learning inaugurated
CHANDIGARH, May 7 — Ed Venture, an institute of creative learning for young minds through multimedia, was inaugurated by two school-going kids here today. Ed Venture offers computer courses for children from 3 to 16 years to help them in their studies, said Manmeet Singh, CEO of the company.

SPORT

Sinha becomes sport hero in one hit
CHANDIGARH, May 7 — In the Budget for the year 2000-2001, the Finance Minister of India, Mr Yashwant Sinha, had decided to provide 100 per cent income tax exemption to the Indian Olympic Association.

City shuttler for all-India camp
CHANDIGARH, May 7 — Vivek Sharma, a regular trainee at the Panjab University coaching centre here, is the only one from the region to be selected for an all-India badminton coaching camp for boys under the age of 19.

Gurpreet wins Mr Panchkula title
PANCHKULA, May 7 — The sixth Capt Sunil Khokhar Memorial Body Building Championship organised by the Panchkula Amateur Body Building Association was held at a local health club here today.

Aman, Yadvinder help club win
CHANDIGARH, May 7 — Superb batting by Aman Kumar and Yadvinder helped Industrial Cricket Club beat Mohali Cricket Club by six wickets in the second Samsung Cash Prize Tournament here today.

CULTURE

Gursewak promises not to sing trash
CHANDIGARH, May 7 — When T-Series signed him up for its album Lara Lappa, the stakes were high and obviously so...for the amount of repute and buck involved.

Scholars rate Hundal’s work as social document
CHANDIGARH, May 7 — The Punjab Arts Council, Sector 16, today witnessed some meaningful discussion on the role of communalism in the coming times and also on the deteriorating culture of work in various spheres of the society.

Chinese Film Festival begins today
CHANDIGARH, May 7 — The next five days will transport cinema lovers into an entirely different world where the ethos is quite different to the one followed in the Indian theatre.