TOP STORIES

Four die in Sarojini Nagar fire

New Delhi, March 21 Four persons, including two women and a two-year-old child, were killed in a fire which devastated a dozen shops in the Sarojini Nagar main market in South Delhi this morning.

Firemen in a shop, which was gutted in Sarojini Nagar in the Capital on Thursday. —Tribune Photo Mukesh Aggarwal

• They perished in bid to save father-in-law

The ‘wedding’ was not her cup of tea
Rohtak, March 21
The Additional Sessions Judge, Mr Shiva Sharma, has granted bail to Ms Poonam, mother of Sumit Parkash, who has been charged with forging the documents of his marriage with Ruby Gupta, a law student of Maharshi Dayanand University.

Four persons who interacted with Natasha identified
New Delhi, March 21
The police today claimed to have identified at least four persons, two of them employees of the hotel, who were perhaps the last few to have interacted with Natasha Singh before she met her death in the early hours of Sunday morning on the first floor terrace garden of the Hyatt Regency hotel here.

Panipat
Building by-law violators to be let off the hook
Panipat, March 21
There is good news for hundreds of violators of building bye-laws here. The Municipal Council of Panipat is all set to regularize the “illegal constructions” in the city. In yet another populist decision, it has decided to withdraw court cases against 300 violators and give them another chance to get their building maps endorsed.

Mass copying in Faridabad
Faridabad, March 21
The first day of the matriculation and intermediate examination of the Haryana Board witnessed ‘copying’ on a large-scale in the district. While over 50 students were booked, the police arrested several anti-social elements engaged in helping the examines.

Gurgaon decides to get its sex ratio right
Gurgaon, March 21
The local Health Department has decided to give more teeth to its measures for enforcing the Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act,1994. The head of the crack team, constituted by the Health Department, Dr Vishesh Kumar, a child specialist, lamented that the public was not forthcoming in its drive against pre-natal sex tests and other violations of the Act. 

• Body of abducted youth found

COMMUNITY

MCD to shift to accrual method of accounting
Signs MoU with ICAI-ARF to move away from cash-based system
New Delhi, March 21
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India – Accounting Research Foundation (ICAI-ARF) to shift the present cash-based accounting method to the modern accrual system of accounting which contributes to good governance and better financial management.

Activists of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Punjab) holding a demonstration outside the Supreme Court demanding that the court must hear their views in the Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal issue.—Tribune photo Mukesh Aggarwal

MCD ELECTION
BJP, Cong steady their sails
New Delhi, March 21
As campaigning enters the closing stages ahead of Sunday’s poll, both parties have got down to assessing the “feedback” and are working out “course corrections” in wards, where necessary.

IN PARLIAMENT
More women in Delhi Police soon
New Delhi, March 21
On the basis of the recommendations of the Bureau of Police Research and Development, the government had decided in principle to suitably increase the number of women police personnel in a phased manner, the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Mr Vidyasagar Rao, informed the Rajya Sabha today.

Train passengers going through hellish experience
Sonepat, March 21
A large number of passengers, mostly office-goers and schoolteachers, have been facing hardships for the last three years owing to the change of racks of 1 DPM and 4 DPM passenger trains by the Railways.

Sarpanches lining their pockets via grain-for-work scheme
Jhajjar, March 21
The Kam Ke Badle Anaj (grain for work) scheme to give grain to the labourers in villages in exchange for work has proved to be a boon for the corrupt sarpanches and officials concerned.

JD(U) flays hike in MLAs’ allowances
Faridabad, March 21
The Haryana unit of the Janata Dal (United) has criticised the hike in allowances of the ministers and the MLAs. The party chief, Mr Ved Prakash Vidrohi, in a statement today described the hike as “unwarranted” and only a burden on the state exchequer.

UK police donate Rs 1.75 lakh to Prayas
New Delhi, March 21
The South Yorkshire police of the United Kingdom, which is at present in the Capital to attend an Indo-British police conference, donated 2,500 pounds (Rs 1,75,000) to Prayas, an NGO (jointly run by Delhi Police) for street and slum children.

NCR BRIEFS
Farmer electrocuted in Rohtak
Rohtak, March 21
A farmer was electrocuted at Kasar village today. According to information, Rameshwar (65) had gone to the field to harvest mustard crop. He touched the barbed-wire fencing around the field in which electric current was flowing. He died on the spot.

Girl missing Auto spares stolen Clerk remanded Scribes angry

Body found Student assaulted Chautala’s visit

• New timings for sweeping  welcomed

CRIME

Boy stabs mother for having illicit ties
Sonepat, March 21
A woman, Harsi (45), was allegedly stabbed to death by her son, Saket Ali, in their house in Idgah Colony here on Wednesday night. According to a report, the alleged culprit had a quarrel with the mother about her illicit relations with another man and thereafter he assaulted her with a knife and inflicted multiple stab wounds. These resulted in her death.

Racket in forging postal franking marks unearthed 
New Delhi, March 21
With the arrest of Gajender Kumar Sharma, Y. K. Sharma and Dinesh Sharma who have allegedly caused loss of lakhs of rupees to the Postal Department, the CBI today claimed to have unearthed a racket in forging franking marks on envelopes and parcels.

Two RPF cops die in mishap
New Delhi, March 21
Two cops of the Railway Protection Force reportedly died on Wednesday night when their scooter was hit by a Honda City car from behind in Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg area.

• Vehicle thieves at it in Faridabad 

EDUCATION

Ignou to have six TV channels
New Delhi, March 21
The Minister of Human Resources Development, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, announced that the Indira Gandhi National Open University (Ignou) would have six television channels within the next one year.

COURTS

Lawyers’ strike hits HC work
New Delhi, March 21
The call for a one-day token strike by the Delhi Bar Association affected the functioning of the Delhi High Court today. The bar association called for a strike in protest against the recent Delhi Government notification enhancing the court’s pecuniary jurisdiction of the original side from Rs 8 lakh to Rs 20 lakh.

CULTURE

ART SCAPE
Durga is benign and Luv Kush, a symbol of force
If you ask Anand Panchal, a Maharashtra-born painter and a first class graduate from JJ School of Arts, Mumbai, why does he paint goddess Durga, the symbol of energy, as a calm, serene and cool divine entity, instead of portraying her in a powerful mould, he would smile and say, “because she is also a mother.” Anand’s paintings are on show at Gallery Om with the joint effort of Mumbai’s Gallery Beyond from March 22nd till April 5, 2002.

• Documentary on temple oracles

MUSIC ZONE

Reviving Hindustani classical music Most of us know Punjab as the land of five rivers. Others associate it with the thrilling Bhangras and Giddha dance that is often seen as one of its most important cultural heritage. But there is a lot more about the land of ‘sarson ka saag’ that we ought to know—- most importantly, its traditional music. Ghulam Sabir feels that redefining ragas will add to its popularity, but will lose its classic touch.

• Making music for the masses

SPORTS

Dinesh Rawat, Shilpi Samyar corner glory
New Delhi, March 21
Dinesh Rawat of Central Electricity Authority (CEA) and Shilpi Samyar of National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) were declared the best athletes in the men’s and women’s section respectively in the two-day fifth Inter-Power Sector Athletic Meet organised by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

SRF format to be changed
New Delhi, March 21
The 27-year-old SRF Open Golf Tournament, which was all through played as a 72-hole strokeplay event, will be changed to a matchplay format from this year. The name of the tournament will also change from SRF Open to SRF All-India Matchplay.

Rajat, Beena Maan emerge best athletes
New Delhi, March 21
Polytechnic Institute of Nilokheri and Polytechnic Institute of Khanpur Kala annexed the athletics titles in the boys and girls section respectively in the 28th Inter-Polytechnic Athletic meet held at Nilokheri.

Chand Khanna enter local club quarter- finals
New Delhi, March 21
A fine knock of 43 by Delhi Ranji Trophy player Varun Kumar helped Chand Khanna Club beat Lal Bahadur Shastri Club by 14 runs and enter the quarter-final of the third Shetal Prasad Jain Memorial Cricket Tournament organised by Subhania Club at Mohan Nagar.

Gaurav stars Agarsen Cricket Coaching camp

Cricket trials Sports Festival

NIIT shock Railway Officers’ Association
New Delhi, March 21
Kapil Gupta played a brilliant all round game (2 for 19 and 43) as NIIT upset Railway Officers’ Cricket Association by three wickets to enter the quarter-final of the ninth Teri Cup Cricket Tournament at the Teri Oval. Kapil Gupta was declared the man of the match.

Youngsters rout GG Dutt in DDCA League
New Delhi, March 21
Youngsters Club beat Goswami Ganesh Dutt Club by eight wickets in an A-I Division match of the DDCA League at the Kotla ground.