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No breakthrough in talks, students’ strike today
Chandigarh, September 24

Nothing conclusive emerged out of the many rounds of meetings held between the Principal, staff, parents and students at Government College for Girls, Sector 11, here today.
Parents and students raise slogans during a protest held outside the office of the Principal, Government College for Girls, Sector 11, Chandigarh, on Wednesday

City telephone numbers to change
Mohali, Panchkula to follow suit ...
Chandigarh, September 24
All telephone numbers in Chandigarh, Panchkula and SAS Nagar will change. Callers will have to prefix “2” with the existing telephone numbers of fixed line telephones of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).

Phone numbers to take ‘2’ as prefix

HC Addl Registrar’s house videotaped
Chandigarh, September 24
The police late last night conducted a search in the house of suspended Registrar (Additional) of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and seized some property-related documents and videographed his house even as he remained out of the reach of the police.

AXN’s ‘Hot and Wild’ couple in city Chandigarh, September 24 Nothing succeeds like success. For now, that seems to be the ultimate truth of life for Salil Acharya and Deepica, Delhi youngsters, who are all set to court bigger stars in times to come. Pushing to a corner over 198 finalists in the AXN’s “Hot and Wild Contest” held in Mumbai recently, the duo has walked into the league of celebrities. SOARING HIGH: Deepica and Salil, winners of AXN’s“Indian’ hottest couple” contest, who will cohost AXN’Xtreme Dhamaka show with celebrities Mike Whitney and Tania Zaetta,arrived in hotel Mountview on Wednesday. — A Tribune photograph

Celebrities set to challenge city

Law Dept students boycott classes
Chandigarh September 24
Students of the Law Department of Panjab University walked out of their classes today evening in protest against the “high-handedness of a criminal procedure code teacher.

PU supplementary exam from September 27
Chandigarh, September 24
The supplementary examinations of Panjab University for undergraduate as well as postgraduate classes will be held from September 27, an official press note said here today.

Bhaniarawala in PGI with stab injuries
Chandigarh, September 24
A year after Baba Piara Singh Bhaniarawala — accused of sacrilege — expressed apprehensions about his safety in a petition filed before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, he was wheeled into the PGI with stab injuries.

Army HQ takes up insurance cover case
Chandigarh, September 24
Reacting to reports that the insurance cover for Territorial Army (TA) jawans engaged in counter-insurgency duties was far less that that of regular Army personnel, Army Headquarters has taken up the matter with the TA Directorate.

Rs 10 lakh sanctioned for city celebrations
Chandigarh, September 24
The Finance and Contract Committee of the Municipal Corporation today took important decisions, including sanctioning of Rs 10 lakh for Golden Jubilee celebrations of the city. In this regard a celebration committee headed by Mayor, Mr Subhash Chawla, has been formed.

Cinema tickets to cost more from Friday
Chandigarh, September 24
The Chandigarh Administration today increased the rates of cinema tickets while imposing a few riders and asking the cinema hall owners to make available some facilities within the next three weeks.

COMMUNITY

Sharp fall in sex ratio in Punjab, Haryana, say experts

Chandigarh, September 24 The sex ratio in Haryana and Punjab has witnessed a sharp fall as compared to other parts of the country. As per an estimate, the ratio varies between 800 and 850 in several districts. It is much below the national sex ratio of 933 females against 1000 males. The Director-General, Health Services, Haryana, Dr Baljit Singh Dahiya, addresses a workshop on “Abolition of female foeticide ” in Chandigarh on Wednesday. — A Tribune photograph

Abolish caste-based promotion, says federation
Chandigarh, September 24
With demand to abolish the reservation policy based on caste in educational institutions, government services and caste-based promotion, the General Categories Welfare Federation, Punjab, held a protest rally and submitted a memorandum to the Punjab Chief Minister here yesterday.

RSS chief to address seminar
Chandigarh, September 24
Mr K.S. Sudershan, Sarsangh chalak of the Rashtriya Swamsewak Sangh (RSS), will be the main speaker at the concluding session of the two-day seminar on integrated management of national security being organised by the Forum on Integrated National Security on September 27 and 28.

CRIME

Robbery in Sec 20 wine shop
Chandigarh, September 24
Three youth of the Class IV Employees Colony in Sector 20 here robbed the English Wine Shop in the sector of more than Rs 10,000 and injured one of the salesmen in broad daylight today.

Amritsar resident found dead
Chandigarh, September 24
Rajan Sharma (27) of Nehru Colony, Amritsar, was found dead in mysterious circumstances in Sector 51 here today. There were no apparent marks of any external injury, said the police. The body appears to be about two days old.

BUSINESS

City to have state-of-the-art corporate offices
Chandigarh, September 24
Foreign-style corporate office complexes, which have become landmarks in Gurgaon and Delhi, will now be built in Chandigarh also. The DLF limited, the company behind the huge glass panelled and beautifully shaped buildings, is coming to the city in a joint venture with the Chandigarh Administration.

PEC student wins Maruti car Chandigarh, September 24 Mobile phone company Airtel today unveiled a list of 75 winners for two of its programmes, AirTel Ek Sawaal contest and AirTel In-Roamers Reward programme, held for its customers. Mr Mandeep Bhatia, Vice-President, Marketing and Sales, Bharti Mobile, hands over Maruti 800 to the winner of the Ek Sawal contest, Sumit Gupta of Bathinda, currently studying at Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh.

Puncom gets new Chairman
SAS Nagar, September 24
Mr Kulbir Singh Sidhu, a member of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, has been appointed the new Chairman of Punjab Communications Limited. Talking to mediapersons here today.

EDUCATION

Quality of education poor in India, says UNESCO official
Chandigarh, September 24
The quality of education is a big concern for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and there has been poor development in underdeveloped countries on this front. He was speaking in special reference to the Indian context. There has been negligible development on this front.

Board’s steps to check copying yield results
SAS Nagar, September 24
Parents and teachers play a big role in helping students indulge in copying in examination and the Punjab School Education Board has made efforts to curb this by sending its teams to check those examination centres whose image was reported to be poor in this respect.

Governor for quality education in rural areas
Chandigarh, September 24
Calling upon NGOs, educational societies and intellectuals to make individual and collective efforts to ensure quality education in the remote and neglected areas of Punjab, the Punjab Governor and UT Administrator, Justice OP Verma, lamented that quality education had remained confined to big cities.

Engineering students block traffic
SAS Nagar, September 24
Students of Chandigarh Engineering College, Landran, and the Shaheed Udham Singh College of Engineering and Technology, Tangori, blocked traffic on the Landran-Sohana road here today in protest against changes in rules and regulations of Punjab Technical University (PTU). The road blockage ended when the police reached the scene.

Cultural show in PU today
Chandigarh, September 24
The Panjab University Students Union(PUSU) will organise a cultural show at the Law Auditorium tomorrow evening, a press note said here today. “This will be a charity show for the benefit of the needy students of the PU”, the note added.

Sector 46 govt school declared best sanchayika school
Chandigarh, September 24
With collection of Rs 29.42 lakh, Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 46, was declared Overall Best Sanchayika School at a state-level Sanchayika Day function held at Government Model Senior Secondary, Sector 10, here today.

Psychology Dept holds freshers’ party
Chandigarh, September 24
Panjab University’s Psychology Department organised freshers party on the campus this evening. After a tough round of introductions, spanning name, educational qualifications and special skills of the freshers, the MA II students of the department selected six freshers for special titles. 

BRS institute youth festival
Kot-Billa (Panchkula), September 24
Performance by known Punjabi singer Gurdas Mann in a colourful star-night will mark the Youth Festival -2003 (Technical Zone) to be organised by BRS Institute of Medical Sciences, Dental College and Hospital, Kot-Billa, near here on Sunday.

Audio-visual show for students
Panchkula, September 24
An audio-visual show was organised to mark the centenary of Indian aviation in DAV Senior Public School, Surajpur, here today.

COURTS

Sidhu’s bail plea dismissed
Chandigarh, September 24
A bail application moved by former Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) Chairman Ravinder Pal Singh Sidhu under the Arms Act was today dismissed by the UT Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mr Balbir Singh.

Copies of cassettes given to Gupta’s counsel
Chandigarh, September 24
In a significant development in a corruption case involving two judicial officers, copies of audio cassettes containing conversation of two judicial officials, suspended Jalandhar’s District and Sessions Judge, Mr R.M. Gupta, and the UT Judicial Magistrate, Mr S.S. Bhardwaj, and the complainant G.S. Samra, were today handed over to Gupta’s counsel following court directions.

CULTURE

Writing rules of politics, the Chanakya way

Chandigarh, September 24 Another historical play unfolded on the stage of Tagore Theatre this evening. In lines with yesterday’s presentation “Zille Subhani”, today production titled “Chanakya Vishnugupta” went further to tell of wily tales that make and mar rulers in polity. A scene from Govind Purushottam Deshpande’s “Chanakya Vishnugupta”, which marked the conclusion of NSD Repertory Festival at Tagore Theatre in Chandigarh on Wednesday.

Ramlila begins in city
Chandigarh, September 24
Ramlila started at over 40 venues all over the city tonight, with residents thronging the venues in large numbers.

Gurdas Mann to perform
Kot-Billa (Panchkula), September 24
Punjabi singer Gurdas Mann will perform in the Youth Festival-2003 (technical zone) here on Sunday.

HEALTH

Demand for degree course in hospital engineering
Chandigarh, September 24
The Institute of Hospital Engineering today demanded that a degree course in hospital engineering should be introduced without delay.

PGI director proceeds on leave
Chandigarh, September 24
The Director of PGI, Prof S.K. Sharma, today proceeded on leave till October 15 and Prof R.J. Dash, Head of the Endocrinology Department, PGI, will be asked to take charge. The leave application of Prof Sharma has been accepted, well placed sources in the Union Health Ministry confirmed tonight while informing about the take over by Prof Dash.

425 units of blood donated
Chandigarh, September 24
As many as 425 units of blood were collected at a blood donation camp organised at the Punjab Engineering College, Sector 12, here today.

SPORTS

Kinshuk, Sanam register wins in AITA ranking meet

Chandigarh, September 24 Fifth seed Kinshuk Sharma and top seed Sanam K. Singh, both from Chandigarh, had no difficulty in ousting their respective opponents, Suyush Sharma of Madhya Pradesh and Ashwani Prakash of Uttar Pradesh, in straight sets to surge ahead in the second round of the under-19 section of the AITA Junior Ranking Tour Tennis Tournament at the Tennis Stadium, Sector 10. Jaswinder Kaur of Punjab in action during the AITA Talent Series Tournament being held at CLTA, Sector 10, Chandigarh, on Wednesday. — A Tribune photograph Inter-district cricket Nine-ball meet Table tennis Volleyball tourney

Admn hands over ‘wish list’ to BCCI
Chandigarh, September 24
The Chandigarh Administration has handed over a nearly Rs 2 crore “wish List” to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). This ‘list’ has been prepared after consultations with all concerned in Chandigarh and has been handed over to the apex body under the BCCI’s plan to develop the game in neglected areas to spot fresh talent.

ADMINISTRATION

UPSC asked to appoint Puranjit’s successor
Chandigarh, September 24
The Chandigarh Administration today formally asked the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to conduct a departmental promotion committee (DPC) meeting to appoint the Chief Engineer, who will replace Mr Puranjit Singh, who retires on September 30.