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PU to show answersheets to candidates
UGC wants transparency in exam system
Chandigarh, February 26
In a laudable move, Panjab University has decided to show the answersheets to candidates wishing to see their copies of the final examination to be satisfied with the marking in case of any doubt. Initially, the scheme is envisaged to be launched for the B.Sc (honours) classes only.

• PU meetings postponed

Incentives to staff on plague duty
PGI Director for creating special fund
Chandigarh, February 26
Appreciating the yeoman role the PGI staff is playing in taking care of the six patients suffering from plague at the hospital, the PGI Director, has stated that he was seriously considering giving special incentives to those staff members who were risking their lives working day and night for these patients. Talking to The Tribune, the Director also stated that the modalities of creating a special fund for the purpose needed to be worked out.

‘Untouchables’ overnight, with filth as companion
Kansal’s woes pile up

Kansal, February 26 “Clean up our village and stop treating us like untouchables,” say all villagers of Kansal, who have been living under the shadow of “plague” for the past five days. Garbage and stench continue to be their constant companions. Filth continues to be all over Kansal village, in spite of the plague alert. — Photo Parvesh Chauhan

Panic buying of antibiotics
SAS Nagar, February 26
Even as health authorities of Chandigarh and its neighbouring states are taking joint measures to combat plague, the sale of antibiotics at some medical stores here has increased in the past few days.

• Kharar hospital gears up to tackle plague

• PGI holds lecture on plague

• MCC employs 50 daily-wagers for sanitation

3.5 cr unearthed from Customs officials
Chandigarh, February 26
In the biggest-ever recovery by the CBI’s Chandigarh Branch, sleuths today claimed to have unearthed illegal assets and cash totalling Rs 3.5 crore from two officials of the Customs and Central Excise Department who had been arrested by the bureau last week.

PARKING LOT OR BOAT DOCK? A parking lot in front of Arts Block-I, Panjab University, Chandigarh, inundated with rainwater on Tuesday. — Photo Pradeep Tewari

RUN-UP TO THE BUDGET
Encourage R&D, private sector in healthcare
Chandigarh, February 26
Encouragement to private participation and rationalisation of duty structure is what the government needs to do in the Union Budget 2002, to help improve the healthcare sector, especially pharmaceutical industry, which has the potential to expand worldwide, opine experts.

City gets Jana Shatabdi
Chandigarh, February 26
‘Jana Shatabdi’ a new train for the budget travellers on the Chandigarh-Delhi route and the extension of the Lucknow-Saharanpur Express up to Chandigarh were important developments for the city residents in Railway Budget-2002 announced by the Union Railway Minister, Mr Nitish Kumar, today.

‘Miracle drugs’ from hell
Panchkula, February 26
Simran (not her real name), 22, had always been troubled by excessive flab on her body. To lose weight, she tried every trick in the book — from long walks to aerobics. Still unable to attain that perfect-10 figure, she was disappointed and, then, she saw an advertisement for a body oil that “absorbed the fat cells in the body within 40 minutes of application and showed rapid weight loss”.

COMMUNITY

Chaos at Punjab Congress Bhavan

Chandigarh, February 26 Unprecedented scenes of chaos were witnessed at the Punjab Congress Bhavan in Sector 15 this morning when Capt Amarinder Singh was declared leader of Punjab Congress Legislature Party at a meeting of the newly elected party MLAs. Supporters of Capt Amarinder Singh wave to welcome his election as leader of the Punjab Congress Legislative Party at Congress Bhavan in Chandigarh on Tuesday. — Photo Manoj Mahajan

Crusading against female foeticide
Chandigarh, February 26
A panel discussion and a play on “female foeticide’’ was organised by the Youth and Police Club, Mohali, in collaboration with Rotary Club, SAS Nagar, at Shivalik Public School, Sector 41, here today as part of a month-long crusade against foeticide.

Bridge repair work hits business
Dera Bassi, February 26

Filling stations and dhabas along the busy Chandigarh-Ambala national highway, between Zirakpur and Bhankharpur, doing a roaring business till last week, did not get any customers, thanks to repair on the Ghaggar bridge. A dhaba worker plays with his pet as there is no customer due to the closure of the Zirakpur-Dera Bassi stretch of the busy Chandigarh-Ambala highway for repair of the Ghaggar bridge near Bhankharpur. A filling station (in background) also wears a deserted look. — Photo Pankaj Sharma

HUDA identifies garbage dump area
Panchkula, February 26
The Haryana Urban Development Authority has identified 12 acres of land near Ramgarh for converting this into a garbage dump in order to do away with the problem of garbage disposal. A solid waste management treatment plant will also be set up here.

He sells solution “saamagri”
Chandigarh, February 26
A shop that sells “upaayas” (solutions) to every problem appears to be a tale straight out of a story book. A place where those afflicted with problems would love to travel long distances. The first destination of such people of course are the astrologers, palmists, pandits et al.

Living life — the Vedanta way
Chandigarh, February 26
Vedanta is a system of thought which makes human uplift its basis and while doing so strikes a balance between what the soul searches for and what the senses desire.

Opposition demands withdrawal of parking fee
Chandigarh, February 26
The BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today demanded withdrawal of parking fee and the property tax proposal and accused the Congress of forming house committees without consulting the Leader of the Opposition, Ms Kamla Sharma.

Cops get lead in kidnapping case
Panchkula, February 26
The local police is learnt to have got a lead in the case of kidnapping of Arsh Deep, a three-year-old girl, from her grandmother’s house here yesterday. The police said it suspected a man called Lalit, a close relative of the child’s maternal uncle, to be behind the kidnapping.

Defaulters face action
Panchkula, February 26
Taking serious note of the defacement of public property in Panchkula, the local Municipal Council has threatened to get all defaulters booked under the West Bengal Defacement of Properties Act, 1974 .

Antecedents of watchmen to be verified
Chandigarh, February 26
The local police has decided to launch a drive to ensure that antecedents of night watchmen employed by various residents’ welfare associations are verified and their particulars are forwarded to the police station concerned.

‘Funnel funds to the poor’
Chandigarh, February 26
Despite there being a number of development programmes for the economically and socially-weaker sections of society, negligible benefits reach them. This was pointed out by Prof H.K. Puri, Guru Nanak Dev University, in his keynote address at the seminar on “Dr Ambedkar: freedom from socio-cultural and economic injustice” being organised by the Department of Political Science, Panjab University, here today.

READERS WRITE
Save us from plague
THE unauthorised Jhote Kut Colony settlement in Mohali is full of filth, garbage, cattle waste and rats. This is a potential invitation to plague and other dangerous diseases. The residents of Sector 71 are worst affected. Col U S Brar, a retired senior doctor, who resides next to this colony and filth, has expressed serious concern over the condition of this settlement and sought remedial measures to prevent plague in the area.

• Journalist dead

• Punjabi Tribune  scribe dead

• Pavement size reduced

• Special drive on seat belts

CRIME

Two killed in road mishaps
Chandigarh, February 26
A pedestrian, Hira Lal, a resident of Sector 27, was killed after he was knocked down by an Ambassador car on the Sectors 28-30 dividing road. He was rushed to the Sector 32 government hospital where doctors declared him brought dead.

Robbers injure jeweller, son
Mani Majra, February 26
Masked robbers, armed with iron rods and hammers, injured a jeweller and his son here this evening while they were returning home after closing their shop. According to sources, the robbers injured 18-year-old Neeraj and his father, Mr N.R. Chauhan, who is running a jewellery shop in an NAC showroom, near the Dhillon theatre.

EDUCATION

It is study time as board exams approach
Chandigarh, February 26
The D-day for students appearing for the CBSE Board examinations for Class X and XII draws closer with the examinations slated to begin on March 1, the students have already received their roll numbers and datesheets. Neck-deep in their studies, it is sleepless nights and revisions for students living through the nightmare called ``Board examination fever’’.

Seminar on role of religion in nation building
Chandigarh, February 26
The Panjab University Campus Students Council in collaboration with the Yuva Sankalp Sangathan organised a seminar on ‘Role of religion in nation building’ at Gandhi Bhavan, Panjab University, here yesterday.

Prize distribution function at GCG-11

Chandigarh, February 26 As many as 320 students were awarded prizes for excelling in academics and other activities at the 45th annual prize distribution function of Government College for Girls, Sector 11, held here today. Some of the prize winners of the Government College for Girls, Sector 11, Chandigarh, after the annual prize distribution on Tuesday. — A Tribune photograph

Urban literacy workshop
Chandigarh, February 26
A two-day workshop on “Urban literacy and development” conducted by the Regional Resource Centre for Adult and Continuing Education, Panjab University, concluded here today.

COURTS

HIGH COURT
‘Inquiry report must be placed on record’
Chandigarh, February 26
The Punjab and Haryana High Court, in a significant judgement, today ruled that memorandum of relevant facts, prepared during inspection by a Magistrate for proper appreciation of facts in an inquiry, had to be placed on record.

SC notice to Punjab
SAS Nagar, February 26
Acting on a special leave petition filed by daily wage employees of the Punjab School Education Board, who were terminated from service, the Supreme Court has issued notice to the Punjab Government and other respondents.

48 fined for creating unhygienic conditions
Chandigarh, February 26
A local court here today slapped fines between Rs 50 and Rs 300 on 48 people who were found guilty of creating unhygienic conditions in the city. The Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr C.L. Mohal, imposed fines on the people in their presence in the court.

7-yr RI for culpable homicide
Chandigarh, February 26
Five persons were sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment under charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder by a local court today. The accused —Parmod Kumar Sharma, Ashok Kumar, Sundrika Parshad, Sangeshwar Parshad and Hori Lal— were also fined Rs 1,500 each by the UT Additional and Sessions Judge, Mr R.C. Godara.

Avtar Singh murder case
Relatives demand speedy trial
Chandigarh, February 26
Coming out of a local court, more than 30 relatives of the deceased, Avtar Singh, today raised slogans against an Inspector of Punjab Police, Gurmeet Singh “Pinky” who was allegedly involved in Avtar’s murder. They were later directed to leave the court premises by the security personnel deployed there.

Customs official remanded
Chandigarh, February 26
Arun Kumar Singla, Customs Inspector who has been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) in a corruption case, was today remanded in judicial custody till March 11 by the UT Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr C.L Mohal.

Hepatitis-B second dose vaccination drive
Chandigarh, February 26
The Indian Medical Association and Shantha Biotechnics will hold the second dose Hepatitis-B vaccination camps in Chandigarh and its periphery from March 1 to 4. Dr G.S. Kochhar, President, Indian Medical Association, Chandigarh branch, said about 5,000 persons were vaccinated in the first phase of the vaccination drive held from January 30 to February 4.

Workshop on orientation of medical officers
Chandigarh, February 26
The three-day workshop on the orientation of medical officers of the city in disability management being held at the Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, concluded here today. This is the fourth such workshop in the line of six which are to be organised by the State Implementation Committee.

AIDS awareness camps
Chandigarh, February 26
The State AIDS Control Society, UT, organised three camps in persuance of the Swasth Yauvan Mela at Bapu Dham colony, Raipur Kalan, and Maloya. The camp at Bapu Dham colony was held at Government Primary School as an AIDS awareness-cum-medical camp while the other two were AIDS awareness camps.