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RAIN TOLL
2 children die in shed collapse
Abandoned shelter succumbs to rain
Chandigarh, June 2
Tragedy struck the Colony No 5 as two children were killed and 10 others injured when a shed collapsed after rain accompanied by strong winds lashed the city this evening.

• Sharp showers lash city
  
  

NEAR-MIRACLE Repeat of Upahar averted Property worth lakhs destroyed in Piccadily Chandigarh, June 2 Alarm saved over 200 cine-goers from the fire that broke out in the Sector 34 Piccadily Cinema during the matinee show of Govinda’s ‘Albela’ here today.

A fireman douses the flames and the embers at the Sector 34 Piccadily cinema after a major fire broke out, following a short-circuit, in Chandigarh on Saturday afternoon. — Photo Manoj Mahajan

JUSTICE
Move to rehabilitate villagers
Residents of 11 rural pockets to benefit
Chandigarh, June 2
Villagers who were ousted 30 years ago to develop the second phase (Sectors 31 to 47), Industrial Area and expand the airport in city, can at last hope to get justice. The Chandigarh Administration is working on a policy to rehabilitate these families in a fully developed planned in one of the villages in the Union Territory.

Forum on civil aviation and tourism
Chandigarh, June 2
The Union Ministry for Civil Aviation has joined hands with the ministries concerned in North Indian states to launch a forum to promote aviation and tourism in this part of the country.

‘Tibet achieving new heights’
SAS Nagar, June 2
“Since ancient times, Tibet has been an inalienable part of China and, now favourable conditions exist for the development of the area,” said. Mr Zheng Qingdian, Political Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in India, here today.

COMMUNITY

REMINISCENCES
From modesty to ostentation
Chandigarh
Cutting through a jostling crowd, economist Achal Kumar Anand enters the Sector 17 Coffee House only to find a group of college student screaming, shouting and back-slapping one another.

Ex-servicemen to hold rally
Chandigarh, June 2
To protest against the “negative” attitude of the government towards the problems of ex-servicemen, members of the Indian Ex-Services League (IESL) will hold a rally in Delhi soon.

Board blamed for water shortage
Kharar, June 2
While the area is facing a shortage of drinking water, the ruling group of the local Municipal Committee has alleged that officials of the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board are responsible for this.

Slum children offer shramdan
Chandigarh, June 2
Several officers of the Chandigarh Administration, including the Adviser to the UT Administrator, Ms Neeru Nanda, participated in the “shramdan” at the Regulator End of the Sukhna Lake here this morning.

Workshop on beauty culture concludes
Chandigarh, June 2
The three-week workshop on Beauty Culture organised by Centre for Development for Women, Canara Bank, Sector 34, at Kajheri village concluded yesterday.

One killed, 8 hurt in mishap
Lalru, June 2
One person was killed and eight were injured in a head-on collision between a tanker and a car on the Chandigarh-Ambala highway, near here, this morning.

Nirjala Ekadashi in city Chandigarh, June 2 On Nirjala Ekadashi today, a large number of ‘chhabils’ were organised in the city. Volunteers offered sweetened water and ‘prasad’ to commuters on roads. Sweetened water being distributed at a chhabil on the occasion of Nirjala Ekadashi in Chandigarh on Saturday. — Photo: Karam Singh

Power department blames citizens
Chandigarh, June 2
Unscheduled power cuts in Sector 37 during the past four days have forced the residents to spend sleepless nights. Today around 9 p.m. harassed residents of Sector 37D rang up the Tribune Office to narrate their woes.

PRTC clerk falls and dies
Chandigarh, June 2
The city police found the body of a Kurali resident named Dharma Pal (52 years) from near the Piccadilly Chowk, in Sector 34 here yesterday. The deceased was a clerk in the Punjab Roadways Transport Corporation.

FENG SHUI TIPS
Beams in houses and offices
Beams are seen in every home, office and shops. These are something impossible to avoid in a structure. Exposed beams are not lucky according to Feng Shui. Beams cause a great deal of problems such as stress and bad luck.

CRIME

Boy, girl abducted
Chandigarh, June 2
A Mauli Jagran resident has alleged that his minor son was abducted by a couple of Bhagat Singh Colony on Thursday. According to the local police, Mr Sehdev reported that Dukh Sahai and his wife, Reena kidnapped his son while he was on his way to home from Bapu Dham Colony.

Loaded pistol missing
Chandigarh, June 2
A 9 mm loaded pistol has been missing from the tent of security guards of a former Punjab Superintendent of Police, Mr Gurcharan Singh, for the past four days. Interestingly, two AK 47 rifles were also lying along the pistol but they were left untouched. A case of theft was registered at the Sector 17 police station, here today.

Rape accused surrender
Chandigarh, June 2
The two persons, who had raped a 17-year-old girl in a dharamsala at Kalka on Tuesday last, surrendered before the police here today. The duo had abducted the girl from Dadumajra.

BUSINESS

Chandigarh Beopar Mandal meeting today
Chandigarh, June 2
Fixing the date for the election to the post of the president of the Chandigarh Beopar Mandal (CBM) and certain amendments to the constitution will figure prominently at the general body meeting of the mandal to be held here tomorrow.

ROADSIDE ENTREPRENEUR
Small profit, big hazard
Chandigarh
The roadside cigarette-bidi sellers in the city are earning their livelihood under the constant fear of the Estate Office. The Estate Office staff often swoops down on them and impounds their goods. They have to pay a fine of Rs 500 to reclaim their belongings.

Bhattacharya is SBI’s Chief GM

EDUCATION

Early results good sign for PU
Chandigarh, June 2
If the early declaration of results of its annual examinations is any indication, Panjab University may indeed achieve its target of 194 teaching days in the coming academic session.

Witness turns hostile in Bhatnagar case
Chandigarh, June 2
The prosecution today sought to declare one of its witnesses as hostile after he deposed in favour of Maj Maneesh Bhatnagar before the general court martial trying him on charges of dereliction of duty.

897 cases settled by Lok Adalat Chandigarh, June 2 “Lok Adalat has provided convenient, inexpensive and litigant-friendly alternative forum for redressal of disputes. More and more people want to avail of this forum for its benefits of quick and hassles free justice” said Mr Justice, N.K Sodhi, Executive Chairman, State Legal Services Authority while talking to Chandigarh Tribune in a special Lok Adalat, held here today. As many as 897 cases were settled and a sum of Rs 71 lakh were granted as compensation in motor accidents and Rs 41,330 were recovered as fines for traffic challans.

Mr Justice N.K. Sodhi, Executive Chairman, UT State Legal Services Authority, Mr H.S. Bhalla, Judge of the Permanent Lok Adalat, and Dr B.B. Parsoon, Member, Permanent Lok Adalat, dispose of cases at a special Lok Adalat held at the District Courts on Saturday. —  A Tribune photograph

JVG chief refused bail
Chandigarh, June 2
The anticipatory bail plea moved by the chairman-cum-director of the JVG group of companies, Mr Vijay Kumar Sharma, was dismissed at the weekend by a local court.

Case of cheating false: advocate
SAS Nagar, June 2
An advocate of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Mr Hari Singh, against whom the Kharar police registered a case of cheating earlier this week, stated that it was a false case registered at the instance of senior district police officials.

CULTURE

Singing contest on June 23, 24
Chandigarh, June 2
The Yaadgar-e-Rafi Society will hold the first round of its singing competition for men and women on June 23 and 24 at Mini Auditorium of DAV College, Sector 10.

OFF-BEAT PROFESSIONS
With passion for music
Chandigarh
No party is complete without music, and if hiring a band is too much of a hassle, a good DJ with a powerful music system is the answer to your problem.

Unique honour for city dancer
Chandigarh, June 2
Performing arts is not a new medium of expression for the city-based artiste Avtar Singh Chana. He has been appearing on the dance circuit for quite some time now, and after a 15-year-long romance with the folk dance forms of Punjab, Avtar Singh today has a new achievement to his credit, besides many others — that of being the only Indian dancer who was invited by the prestigious Laban Dance Centre of London to participate in its contemporary dance programme held towards the end of March.

HEALTH

Need for AIDS policy stressed
Chandigarh, June 2
“India requires a basic policy on sex education for children to effectively deal with the growing menace of AIDS”, said Dr David Miller, the United Nations Country Programme Adviser on AIDS.

GMCH works hard for blood society
Chandigarh, June 2
The Government Medical College Hospital, Department of Microbiology, which has recently received recognition from the Government of India as a voluntary blood testing and surveillance centre for HIV, has got two Elisa readers.

SPORTS

Fine knock by Puneet, Karan
Chandigarh, June 2
Satluj Public School, Panchkula, lifted the Panchkula District Schools Championship Trophy for under-16 by ousting St Xavier’s School, Panchkula, by seven wickets in the final match played here today at the Sector 5 cricket grounds, Panchkula. Puneet Sharma and Karan Sharma were the star performers for their team.

Gold medallists of Major P.P.S. Sandhu Memorial Swimming Invitation Championship 2001 in Sector 23, Chandigarh, on Saturday. — A Tribune photograph

Swimming meet concludes Chandigarh, June 2 The second and final day of the open swimming meet organised by the Chandigarh Swimming Parents Association at the Government Yoga Centre swimming pool in Sector 23, here today, Yadvindra Singh and Harpreet Singh among the boys’ section and Sukhman Ghuman, Himanshi Bakshi among the girls’ section emerged winners. The other winners of the day included: Gagandeep Singh, Amandeep Singh, Parminder Singh, Kamaladeep Singh, Pankaj Chauhan, Ankit Kalia in the boys’ section.

RLA to issue international driving licences
Chandigarh, June 2
The Chandigarh Administration has empowered the Registering and Licensing Authority to issue international driving licences. The applicants would be required to have a valid driving licence, a valid travel ticket, a passport and visa. A fee of Rs 200 would be charged for this purpose which would have to be deposited in the bank under the relevant head of accounts.

Haryana small savings winners announced
Panchkula, June 2
The Haryana Small Savings Department held a draw of the ‘‘Haryana New Millennium Small Savings Prizes Scheme’’ for the investments made under various schemes between October 1, 2000 and March 31, 2001, in Sector 6, here today.

Anti-encroachment drive continues
Chandigarh, June 2
The Municipal Corporation has once again targeted the encroachments in the residential area in Sector 15-A as part of the ongoing encroachments drive. The staff of the enforcement wing and roads wing removed encroachments in the form of hedges, iron fences, fancy grills, low walls etc from outside 200 houses.

94 challans issued
Chandigarh, June 2
The enforcement staff of the Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh, has issued 94 challans to rehri and phari vendors and other shopkeepers encroaching upon public corridors and MC land in Mani Majra and a few northern and southern sectors.