TOP STORIES

End of the road for holders of 
multiple driving licences
HC for national vehicle licensing body
New Delhi, February 20
The Delhi High Court has asked the Centre to explore the feasibility of creating a national motor vehicle licensing authority to check a person from acquiring more than one licence from different states.

KILLER ROADS
Pupil dies as DTC bus hits Army school vehicle
New Delhi, February 20
A girl student was killed and four others of the Army Public School were injured today afternoon when the school bus in which they were travelling was hit by a Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) bus on Kotwali road in the Delhi Cantonment Area in South-West district.

The Army Public School vehicle which was involved in a mishap with a DTC bus. — Tribune Photo

RULE OF LAW
Habitual absence from duty can lead to dismissal: SC
New Delhi, February 20
Taking a stern view of employees taking leave without sanction, the Supreme court has ruled that habitual absence from duty for long periods on several occasions could lead to dismissal from service.

Amar Upadhyay and Aditi Gowitrikar at a press briefing on their forthcoming film Dhund-The Fog. — Tribune Photo Mukesh Aggarwal

Primary schools: Headache for govt
Meerut, February 20
The government-run primary schools in Meerut, which are mostly operating on rented premises, are closing down one by one. Yet, the state education department, oblivious of their status, is shelling out lakhs in rent and salary dues. The buildings of six schools collapsed in the recent downpour, resulting in their closure. 

Conserve power or squirm in summer
New Delhi, February 20
Conserve power if another summer of discontent is to be avoided is the Government of NCT of Delhi’s terse message to consumers. Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today made it known that conservation would constitute second generation of power reforms after the Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) was unbundled last year.

Man robbed, pushed out of running train
Sonepat: An unidentified passenger was robbed of cash and other valuables and pushed out of a Delhi-bound train near Khera Kalan railway station, about 25 km from here, by some miscreants last evening. According to a report, a police patrolling party, which spotted him near the railway tracks, took him in a jeep to a hospital in Delhi. When the passenger gained consciousness, he narrated his harrowing experience.

Modi Tyre property auctioned
Ghaziabad, February 20
With Modi Tyre defaulting on payment of Rs 93 lakh in dues to its workers, the district administration auctioned its property worth over Rs 36 lakh today. The auction was held under the supervision of Naib Tehsildar Vishwanath Singh.

POLITICS

Bansi bristles at Devi Lal’s statues in Haryana
Jhajjar, February 20
Former Chief Minister and Haryana Vikas Party chief Bansi Lal vowed to extirpate all statues of late Devi Lal, father of Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala from the state if he was voted to power by the people in the next assembly elections.

COMMUNITY

Post-privatisation, people still hit by power cuts
Faridabad, February 20
Although the state government is pumping crores of rupees to improve the power supply and the attendant infrastructure in the district each year any remarkable impact is yet to be noticed. This impact includes the overall supply position, reduction in power theft, corruption, management and overall satisfaction level among consumers.

School-chartered service keeps DTC coffers jingling
New Delhi, February 20
With the schools opting for the CNG bus service of the DTC to ferry their students, the loss-making state-run corporation has begun earning close to Rs 12.5 lakh per day out of the school-chartered service.

NCR BRIEFS
TB cases on the rise
Sonepat, February 20
Despite all efforts made by the health authorities, the number of tuberculosis (TB) cases in Ganaur subdivision has gone up to 392, according to the Senior Medical officer, Dr J. P. Aggarwal.

Worker burnt in boiler fire Cane growers to be paid in 14 days Suicide victim was in debt 4 booked for dowry death Booked for negligent driving

MDU to conduct entrance tests in Haryana BKU men block roads Dowry death

DELHI DIGEST Soft drinks vendor killed New Delhi, February 20 Rakesh (25), a resident of Jahangirpuri, was reportedly killed by a few unidentified youths last night. The deceased was a soft drinks vendor. The suspects took cold drink bottles from Rakesh and did not pay for that. He had an argument with the suspects when they refused to pay.

BUSINESS

Industry pleads for easing of pollution board consent
Gurgaon, February 20
The Gurgaon Industrial Association (GIA) yesterday made a plea to the Haryana Government for an amendment to the state’s 1999 industrial policy to exempt more units from the rigours of obtaining “consent” from the Pollution Control Board.

EDUCATION

SPECIAL FOCUS ON ROHTAK
MDU Law Dept has distinguished profs & eminent alumni 
Rohtak, February 20
The presentations made by individual departments of Maharshi Dayanand University before the NAAC team have brought into light the impressive achievements of the respective departments. Take the case of the Department of Law, which was established in 1978 for imparting education for a three-year LLB course. In 1982 the LLM and PhD courses were also introduced. In 1983 the Department of Law became a pioneer by introducing the integrated five-year law course in India.

DU announces award in slain teacher’s memory
New Delhi, February 20
Delhi University has announced the institution of an award in the memory of the slain teacher, Dr M. N. Singh. The announcement came here today after the Academic Council and the Executive Council approved of the same at meetings held earlier this month.

CULTURE

ARTSCAPE
A treasure trove of objets d’art in Dhokra Museum
The Nistads Dhokra Museum was inaugurated by the Vice- President of India, Mr Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, in the Capital recently. Dhokra art of metal casting using lost-wax process is practised over the whole of mineral-rich central Indian tribal belt covering Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and parts of Andhra Pradesh as well as in the adjoining alluvial districts in the westernmost part of Bengal. Dhokra represents an unbroken tradition, an early example of which is the famous

Mesmerising sitar recital

Discovering Indian art

SPORTS

Jalandhar College lift hockey title
New Delhi, February 20
DAV College, Jalandhar produced stunning hockey to give a lop-sided finish to the title contest when they drubbed another Punjab outfit, Brijindra College of Faridkot, 6-1 in the 10th Nehru Champion Colleges Hockey Tournament at the Shivaji Stadium on Thursday.

Bright Club shock Shastri, enter semis
New Delhi, February 20
Fine performances by Akash Malhotra (3 for 37 and 69) and Nishant Sharma (63) helped Bright Club shock defending champions Shastri Club by three wickets and entered the semi-final of the third Rajdhani Sports Cricket Tournament at the Kalindi College ground.

Morepan down C R Infotech Hero Honda move up

B L Kashyap beat Airport Authority

Doordarshan Club beat Lanka New Delhi, February 20 A devastating 5 for 8 bowling performance by Rahul Sharma and a strokeful 46 (5x4, 54b) by Praveen helped Doordarshan Cricket Club defeat Sri Lankan High Commission by five wickets in a league match of the second Commonwealth Cricket Tournament at the Dhyanchand National Stadium.

Grey Worldwide, ESPN and Star TV advance
New Delhi, February 20
Grey Worldwide, ESPN Software, Star TV and Enterprise won the preliminary round matches of the third edition of the ESPN Star Sports Corporate Challenger Cricket Cup at the Bhagat Singh College ground.

Army Red win, Royal Kashmir lose
New Delhi, February 20
Army Red edged past Teachers 5-4, Royal Kashmir lost to Sahgal Stud 7-8 and McDowell’s Signature defeated Zara 6-5 on day one of the Maharaja Jiwaji Rao Scindia Gold Cup Polo Tournament at the Jaipur Polo ground.

Paras ‘Cheers to Cricket’

Sachin stars for Malviya Club

Kookie Jar moves scoreboard New Delhi, February 20 Kookie Jar flagged off four mobile scoreboards to celebrate the World Cup Cricket on the day of the India-Australia match by former Bengal captain and Indian selector Sambaran Banerjee from Kolkata. World Cup updates obtained from radio commentary will be written on lightweight, colourful and attractive scoredboards during all India matches.