TOP STORIES

No docs, no drugs, just a cover-up
Brain fever toll rises to 200
Meerut, December 5
Brain fever has tragically snuffed out the lives of more than 200 children with the deaths rocking both Houses of Parliament. Yet, the government machinery remains apathetic with senior officials of the Health Department busying themselves in effecting a cover-up.

BORDER CLASHES
Haryana farmers in the grip of fear
Panipat, December 5
Panic has gripped the Haryana farmers on the Haryana-UP border following the injuring of three farmers of Tamsabad (Haryana) allegedly by farmers of Ramra Par (UP) over the ownership of the “disputed land” and the subsequent kidnapping of four other farmers yesterday. The kidnapped persons were freed from the clutches of UP farmers by the Kairana police of Muzaffarnagar district late last night.

Government agencies flout HC order in HAU centre
Gurgaon, December 5
The government machinery has flouted an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court with regard to the status of the local Krishi Vigyan Kendra (Agriculture Science Centre) of the Chaudhary Charan Singh Agriculture University (HAU), Hisar.

Delhi University students protesting against communalism on the eve of the anniversary of Babri Masjid demolition in the Capital on Thursday. — Tribune Photo Mukesh Aggarwal

CRIME AGAINST WOMEN
Cousin rapes, murders seven-yr-old
New Delhi, December 5
Even as the Delhi Police today claimed to have dismissed a constable posted in the third battalion for allegedly raping a 20-year-old girl along with another person, a seven-year-old girl’s rape-cum-murder by the victim’s cousin sent shock waves in New Ashok Nagar in East district.

MDU V-C may get second term
Rohtak, December 5
As usual, Maharshi Dayanand University is going to create history. This time, history would be created when the Vice Chancellor, Maj-Gen (Retd) B. S. Suhag, would be given a second term.

Illegal arms making grows thick in Western UP fields
Ghaziabad, December 5
Illegal arms manufacturing, it is learnt, is openly flourishing in many places in Western Uttar Pradesh. These weapons are being smuggled into Delhi, Noida and neighbouring states like Rajasthan and Haryana.

With no one to open server, BSNL services hit
Faridabad, December 5
Counter services, like submission of telephone bills, at all six customer service centres of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) here remained paralysed for about two hours this morning following failure of the nigam authorities to open the server of the computer network.

COMMUNITY

SPECIAL FOCUS ROHTAK
Police claim crimes against women declining 
Rohtak, December 5
Crimes against women appear to be on the decline if the figures provided by the Superintendent of Police are any indication. The figures reveal that the incidents of rape and molestation have registered a sharp decline till November 30 this year as compared to the corresponding period last year.

IN PARLIAMENT
CNG infrastructure being improved in phases
New Delhi, December 5
There are 100 CNG outlets being operated in the Capital presently by the Indraprastha Gas Ltd and the infrastructure is being increased in a phased manner to meet the growing demands, the Lok Sabha was informed today.

MCF AE leaves post due to inept juniors 
Faridabad, December 5
Allegations of nepotism and official collusion over unauthorised constructions and encroachments continue to rock the district. While the Chief Minister, who heads the monthly grievances committee meeting, keeps reiterating that encroachments would not be tolerated, there are certain officials for whom such announcements hardly matter.

MCD goes soft, appeals to SC on demolitions
New Delhi, December 5
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has decided to file a writ petition in the Supreme Court in a bid to appeal to the apex court to review its directive about the demolition of shops in Chandni Chowk. This decision was taken by the Municipal Commissioner, Mr Rakesh Mehta, at a meeting attended by senior officers of the corporation, councillors and traders.

DELHI DIGEST
Statehood Bill still possible: Khurana
New Delhi, December 5
The Delhi BJP president, Mr Madan Lal Khurana, on Thursday said the Bill for granting statehood to NCT of Delhi could still be introduced in Parliament if the BJP and the Congress could evolve a consensus on amendments to a 1998 legislation.

Makan to open chrysanthemum show at Dilli Haat

New Delhi, December 5 The Delhi Tourism and Chrysanthemum Society of India are organising their 17th annual show on December 7 and 8 at Dilli Haat in the Capital. Earlier, the venue for this popular show was Purana Quila. But, for the first time, the show will be held at Dilli Haat, where the national award-winning craftsmen will display their creations. The chrysanthemum show will be inaugurated by the Delhi Tourism Minister, Mr Ajay Makan, on December 7 in Dilli Haat at 11.30 am.

GDA to cough up Rs 4.50 cr on stillborn project
Ghaziabad, December 5
The Ghaziabad Development Authority has to shell out Rs 4.50 crore as interest on a loan taken for developing Transport Nagar in Ghaziabad. The GDA project for Transport Nagar was started years ago but it remained buried in files only. 

NCR BRIEFS
Five cheat bank
Noida: Five persons have been booked for selling property bought with a loan from the State Bank of India before repaying the loan amount. According to Mr Ajay Kumar, inspector at the Dadri Kotwali police station, Sanjay Kumar, Farman Ali, Ghanishyam Shara, Ajit Singh and Rattan Kumar had taken a loan for lakhs of rupees from the State Bank of India in 1995 to buy a property. Without returning the bank loan, they allegedly disposed of the property.

• Rail traffic disrupted

CRIME

Money squabble leads to murder 
New Delhi, December 5
With the arrest of one person, the South district police today claimed to have solved a blind murder of one Bohdev (45) on April 27 this year. Bohdev was shot at point-blank range by his friend Prakash as the deceased was asking the accused to pay back Rs 10,000 that he had borrowed.

Marriage party robbed while sipping tea
Ghaziabad, December 5
Armed miscreants robbed eight members of a marriage party at a hotel at Sikandrabad. The marriage party was on its way back from Ghaziabad. One of the robbers was in police uniform. The desperadoes robbed valuables worth Rs 1 lakh from them.

BUSINESS

Oriental Bank of Commerce issues 240 Green Cards
Rohtak, December 5
The Oriental Bank of Commerce has issued 240 Green Cards amounting to Rs. 274 lakh to the farmers during the current financial year. The bank has three branches in the rural areas of district Rohtak at Brahmanwas, Seeman and Maina. Seventy-one farmers were issued credit cards at these branches on Wednesday.

EDUCATION

Students of Meerut institute live in terror 
Meerut, December 5
More than 1,000 students of MBA, MCA, BCA, and management courses of the International institute of Management and Technology, Ganga Nagar, here have been living in great terror due to the alleged dictatorial attitude of the management. The management has reportedly imposed fines and punishments on students in the name of maintaining discipline. And the discipline includes not speaking Hindi on the campus.

Education board directive for fresh certificates
Bhiwani, December 5
The Haryana School Education Board has asked the candidates who have appeared in the Matriculation and Senior Secondary Supplementary Examination - 2002 for improvement to submit their old certificates through the schools/institutions concerned so that fresh certificates could be issued to them.

Rewari bal vigyaniks for national congress
Rewari, December 5
The RBS Model Public School, Rewari, has notched a superb achievement. Its two state-honoured bal vigyaniks — Aditi Sinha and Savita Saini – along with 14 other selected bal vigyaniks will represent Haryana at the National Bal Vigyan Congress to be inaugurated by President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam in Mysore on December 27, 2002.

Refresher course at MDU from Dec 8
Rohtak, December 5
The UGC sponsored inter-disciplinary refresher course in social sciences will be organised from December 8 to 28 by the History department of the Maharshi Dayanand University.

CULTURE

ARTSSCAPE

Uninhibited display of feelings on canvas Asit Kumar Patnaik has unveiled his new set of paintings under the title ‘Feelings’ at Krishna’s Collection Art Gallery, on display till December 18. A gold medallist MFA in painting from BHU, Varanasi, Asit Kumar is an emotionally sensitive person and his paintings reflect his personality. His works present a phenomenal depth in characters despite the ordinary situations. He believes that the true depth of feeling emerges in emotionally poignant circumstances and not necessarily in trying situations. A winner of many awards, he has participated in numerous exhibitions all over the country. An active participant in numerous solo as well as group shows, his works adorn galleries of many art lovers both in India and abroad. The workmanship of Asit Kumar Patnaik.

Paeans of joy Shruti 2002

Vandana Rakesh

HEALTH

Students get primary education on AIDS, cancer
Bhiwani, December 5
“AIDS can be contracted by a healthy person through sexual contact with an HIV positive person anytime but its symptoms might appear after six or seven months. In that condition, whether it could be cured or not remains undetermined. So, one should be careful and avoid sexual contact with such a person”.

62 centres to take up free breast cancer detection
New Delhi, December 5
Rising incidences of cancer among women has prompted the medical fraternity to take on the onerous task of creating awareness about the disease, its detection and cure. Breast and cervical cancer alone account for 50 per cent of all cancer cases in the Capital.

SPORTS

Pavneet Kaur sets new record
New Delhi, December 5
The Inter-College Athletic Meet was considered as a prestigious event in the sports calendar of Delhi University once upon a time. Many of the talented youngsters of yore hit the spotlight through the inter-college meet. But now, the Inter-College Meet has become an apology of a competition, a ritual, which is gone through mechanically without achieving any tangible result.

Shastri Club annex M S Trophy

New Delhi, December 5 Lal Bahadur Shastri Club trounced Sonnet Club by eight wickets to annex the seventh M S Trophy Triveni Devi Memorial Cricket Tournament at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground. Former India player Yashpal Sharma presenting the M S Trophy to the Lal Bahadur Shastri Club captain.

Scindia golf tourney  at Classic course
New Delhi, December 5
The inaugural Madhavrao Scindia Golf Tournament will be held at the Classic Golf Resort course in Gurgaon on Friday. The tournament will be held under aegis of the Madhavrao Scindia Foundation.

The Delhi Police team, which won seven gold, eight silver and eight bronze medals in the recent All India Police Equestrian Meet held in Shillong, being felicitated in the Capital on Thursday. — Tribune Photo

Mayank stars for Gyan Bharti
New Delhi, December 5
A devastating bowling performance of 5 for 18 by Mayank Sethi and a rapid-fire knock of 69 by Karan Seth helped Gyan Bharti South Delhi Academy beat Plumption Inn by three wickets in their Australian tour match. In another match, Gyan Bharti lost to Southern District Cricket Club by 82 runs.

• Young Friend beat St Giri

City Club down Garhwal Heroes
New Delhi, December 5
Former league champions City Club defeated Garhwal Heroes 2-0 in a Group B preliminary league match of the Delhi Soccer Association (DSA)-SAIL Open Clubs Senior Division Football League Championship at the Ambedkar Stadium on Thursday. Both the goals came in the first half.

• Priyank, Prem Prateek shine

An evening with cricket stars 
New Delhi, December 5
The Former Cricketer Association (FCA), an association of ex-international and other prominent cricketers and selectors, will organise an “Evening with the Cricket Stars” at the Hotel Taj Man Singh, New Delhi on December 8.

Oriental Craft beat HDFC Coca-Cola win in Luminous Cup

Daksh advance in Eventus Cup