TOP STORIES

Industrial tag for 24 residential pockets
Ministry has given consent to proposal: Khurana
New Delhi, January 28
The Union Ministry of Urban Development will in February notify 24 residential areas with 70 or more per cent of industries as Small Scale Industrial Areas.

POLL PANGS
BJP killing several birds with one stone
New Delhi, January 28
If the buzz in the corridors of Nirman Bhawan is to be believed Ananth Kumar appears to have handed over the reins of the Union Ministry of Urban Development to Madan Lal Khurana.

A member of an Indian Army Band assists his colleague in tying his turban during the rehearsal for 'Beating the Retreat' ceremony in New Delhi on Tuesday. Reuters

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee wearing a Himachali cap presented to him by folk artists during a photo session in New Delhi on Monday. —  PTI photo

Akali parking lot woes persist
New Delhi, January 28
The construction of the New Delhi Municipal Council parking lot opposite Gurdwara Bangla Sahib has sparked off a row between Akali factions with the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee president, Mr Paramjit Singh Sarna, today demanding the resignation of the Union Minister and Secretary-General of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal), Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, for misleading the community.

CRIME SPIRAL
Gangraped girl’s body found in field
Meerut, January 28
A teenaged girl was murdered by certain unidentified youths after a gangrape. Her body was found in a sugarcane field in the afternoon several hours after she left home. The girl’s uncle has lodged an FIR with the Kharkhauda police against some unidentified youths.

UNENDING SEASON OF AGITATIONS
Relocation of dairies in Faridabad turns violent
Faridabad, January 28
The campaign to shift dairies out of the municipal limits has gone awry. Over a dozen persons, including some policemen and women, were injured at Trikha colony here yesterday when the authorities tried to pull down some makeshift dairies. The police and the local residents clashed, forcing the former to burst tear-gas shells and fire in the air.

Tikait supporters block main arteries
Noida/Ghaziabad, January 28
In protest against the lathi-charge on Bhartya Kisan Union leader Chaudhry Mahendra Singh Tikait in Muzzafarnagar, farmers of Western UP spilled into the streets today, blocking the Ghaziabad-Loni and the Ghaziabad-Dadri roads and also attempted to stop the trains near Banthala village.

Constables take on inspector over laddoos
Meerut, January 28
The distribution of innocuous laddoos on the occasion of Republic Day has got embroiled in an unsavoury controversy in the Civil Lines police station here. In fact, all the constables of the thana went on a wild cat strike, in protest against their ‘despotic’ officer in-charge who insisted that some of the laddoos be diverted to his residence.

Supplies to 9 fair price shops stopped
Sonepat, January 28
The Food and Supplies Department has suspended the supply of rationed commodities, including levy sugar and kerosene oil, to nine fair price shops with immediate effect, following the detection of irregularities in the distribution of rationed articles to families living below the poverty line (BPL).

COMMUNITY

Revenue Dept figures manipulated: HVP
Sonepat, January 28
Mr Rajiv Jain, Haryana Vikas Party (HVP) general secretary, has criticised the state government for not giving adequate compensation to the drought-hit farmers in Sonepat district and elsewhere in the state.

BJP has destroyed country’s secular ethos: JD(U)
Sonepat, January 28
The Haryana Pradesh Janata Dal (U) president, Mr Ved Prakash Vidrohi, has criticised the BJP for its intention to raise the issues of scrapping of Article 370 of the Constitution, implementation of a uniform civil code and the construction of Shri Ram Temple at Ayodhya in the forthcoming assembly elections in various states of the country. 

Cable monopoly ends, viewers expect better, cheaper fare
Panipat, January 28
A cable network war is in the offing in this handloom city with another provider launching its service recently. Thus, the long-standing demand of lakhs of television viewers in the city for quality reception and more channels at a reasonable cost may soon turn into reality.

Bhiwani MC may move court for house tax recovery
Bhiwani, January 28
The local municipal council has begun the process of recovering house tax, which had been earlier discontinued due to a stay order. According to information, the council has served notices to at least 5,000 defaulters after vacation of the stay order last week.

Cops’ misbehaviour: Cong to approach women panel
Faridabad, January 28
The District Mahila Congress president, Ms Sharda Rathaur, has announced that she would lead a delegation of women, mostly the residents of Trikha Colony of Ballabgarh, to meet the president of the National Commission of Women (NCW) and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on the issue of beating up several women residents of the colony by policemen on Monday.

New STD code for Panipat
Panipat, January 28
Panipat has the new STD code. The existing code, 01742, has been replaced by 0180. Similarly, persons intending to dial Panipat numbers will have to prefix 2 to the existing six-digit numbers. The new arrangement was supposed to come into effect with effect from January 31 but for the reasons best known to the BSNL authorities, it had come into effect a couple of days earlier.

Gas leakage causes panic
Sonepat, January 28
Hundreds of residents rushed out from their houses in panic when they noticed the leakage of gas from an ice factory at Ganaur town, 16 km from here last night. According to a report, the ammonia gas started leaking around 9.30 pm and the people of the area felt it when their eyes started having a burning feeling.

Honoured for saving wildlife
Gurgaon, January 28
Mr Naresh Kumar Kadyan, chairman of People for Animals, Haryana, was honoured by the district administration on the Republic Day for his services to protect wildlife. Mr Kadyan, Gurgaon district officer of Haryana Khadi and village Industries Board, has always remained on the forefront in social work.

CRIME

Kidnapped child rescued from Etah

New Delhi, January 28 South-West district police today claimed to have rescued a 12-year-old child from Etah in Uttar Pradesh who had been kidnapped for ransom in the second week of this month from near his house in Naraina. The suspect is still absconding. The victim, Lalit, was kidnapped on January 13 just after he had come out of his house to play with his friends. Lalit, a 12-year-old child, rescued from UP.

Gang of auto-lifters smashed
Gurgaon, January 28
The district police claimed to have busted a gang of auto-lifters and recovered six vehicles. According to the Senior Superintendent of Police, Mr Kuldeep Singh Siag, acting on a tip-off, Ferozpur Jhirka police station arrested Shahun, a resident of Alwar district, Rajasthan while he was transporting beef on a motorcycle, registration No. HR-29 F 0239. 

BUSINESS

SPECIAL FOCUS ON GURGAON
Swish mall culture catching on in Gurgaon

Gurgaon, January 28 The modernisation of a city is known by the wealth of its denizens and the level of consumerism prevalent among them. To that extent, this city appears to be galloping. Shopping malls having exotic looks, bringing with them virtually airbus full of international brands, are coming up in the city. With a slew of malls already in place on more than four-km stretch from the IFCO crossing towards Gurgaon-Mehrauli Road, many are tempted to call it the ‘Mall Road’. Glitzy and ritzy mall.

PNB offers loan scheme to doctors
Gurgaon, January 28
In a display of killer’s instinct in a market place, the Punjab National Bank, representing the service sector, has entered the scene to cash in on the growing consumerism, and thereby increase its clientele among the medicos in the city.

EDUCATION

Heritage Group to begin its chapter here
Gurgaon, January 28
The city’s first day boarding school will be opened here from this academic session by the famous Heritage School Group which runs its school in Vasant Kunj, Delhi. The students of this boarding school would leave in the evening and keep their bags in the school itself, informed Mr Manit Jain, proprietor of the school to the mediapersons here today.

CBSE marking scheme put out

Court order upheld: Duo convicted of making false statement
Rohtak, January 28
Holding Amrik Singh and Rajwant Singh of Bohra village in Ratia tehsil guilty of making false statement in judicial proceedings, the Additional Session Judge, Dr Shiva Sharma, has confirmed the sentence awarded to them by the Chief Judicial Magistrate on February 5, 2001.

Cousins get life term for murder
Rohtak, January 28
The Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mr Vinod Jain, sentenced two cousins of Bohar village to undergo life imprisonment for murdering a youth of the same village in July last year.

CULTURE

An exhibition that promotes designer handicrafts
New Delhi, January 28
The Council of Handicrafts Development Corporation (COHANDS) in association with the Development Commissioner (Handicrafts), Ministry of Textiles, has come up with a unique exhibition, ‘Siddha Hasta,’ of designer handicrafts, including innovative cane and bamboo products, at India Habitat Centre.

GLITZ & GLAMOUR
The ‘revivalist’ whose art leaves an indelible impression 

The exquisite work of etching on gold is a tale of workmanship. Painstaking as it is, the task like other art forms is a manifestation of man’s creative genius, struggling to create the spectacular. Naqaashi is the age-old Mughal art form of etching on gold. What with the focus now shifting on the old and the antique, Naqaashi too has found its patrons. Roopa Vohra, a designer, sought to bring Naqaashi from beneath the folds of a forgotten art to its present day avtaar. What began with Thewa six years ago is Naqaashi today. Together with Timsy Anand, Roopa gave Delhiites three days of visual appeal. The crafted jewels were on display in the Capital’s Maurya Sheraton from January 23. Naqaashi work uses stones like rubies, pearls, sapphires  and topaz to create an extraordinary appeal.

Artz Unlimited Wrangler look

Fashion Awards Womenwear at Pink Pearls

SPORTS

City Club drub Tarun Sangha
New Delhi, January 28
City Club scored once in each half to drub Tarun Sangha in a Pool A match of the Delhi Soccer Association (DSA)-SAIL Super League at the Ambedkar Stadium on Tuesday.

IG Stadium lift Shakuntala Devi title
New Delhi, January 28
Indira Gandhi Stadium Cricket Coaching Centre defeated East Point Sumeet Dogra Cricket Academy by 22 runs to lift the third Shakuntala Devi Memorial Cricket Tournament Trophy at the East Point School ground.

Najafgarh residents felicitate Sehwag

New Delhi, January 28 Cricket star Virender Sehwag was felicitated by the residents of Najafgarh, under the leadership of Dr Shiv Raj, head of the Gobhania Nirog Dham. The residents of this urban village on the outskirts of Delhi prayed for the success of Sehwag in the World Cup Cricket Championship in South Africa. Cricket hero Virender Sehwag being felicitated by Dr Shiv Raj, head of the Gobhania Nirog Dham.

Puneet stars for R P Academy
New Delhi, January 28
A brilliant all-round performance by ten-year-old Puneet Walia (5 for 19 and 31) helped R P Academy defeat Frank Anthony School by six wickets in a league match of the first Chetan Sharma Academy Under-12 Cricket Tournament at the S S Khalsa School ground.

PBL beat Sapient Corporation

Rushil Bhaskar deadly

RCF, ICF enter hockey semi-finals New Delhi, January 28 Rail Coach Factory (RCF), Kapurthala and Integral Coach Factory, Chennai completed the semi-final line-ups when they beat South Central Railway 5-3 and North Eastern Railway 5-2 via tie-breakers in the PNB-All India Railway Hockey Tournament at the Shivaji Stadium on Tuesday.

Tarun Makar stars for Hughes
New Delhi, January 28
An impressive all-round performance by Tarun Makar, who scored 83 runs and then claimed two wickets for 16 runs helped Hughes Software defeat Oks Team by 100 runs in the Champions Trophy Cricket Tournament at the Palam ground. Tarun was named the man of the match.

Abbas Raza shines
New Delhi, January 28
A strokeful 87 by Abbas Raza helped Railway Officers defeat Orient Craft by 152 runs in a league match of the tenth Teri Cup Cricket Tournament at the Central Secretariat ground. Abbas Raza was named the man of the match.