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Traders divided over course of
action on VAT
Mixed response to bandh call
Chandigarh, March 30
Peaceful protests by traders of the city today marked the first day of protests against the implementation of VAT from April 1. Dharnas were held though shops remained open in most markets.

Shopkeepers burn an effigy of VAT in Sector 7, Chandigarh, on Wednesday. — A Tribune photograph

Waiting for a theft to take place Many govt houses sans boundary walls Chandigarh, March 30 It may come as a surprise but close to half of the 15,921 government houses in the city do not have basic facilities like boundary walls or entrance gates leaving the occupants under a perpetual fear of theft and sense of insecurity. Interestingly,when a person is building his house he cannot even get a completion certificate from the Estate Office.

Government houses in various sectors of the city do not have boundary walls and the UT Administration is now planning to provide the same. — A Tribune photograph

Eateries allowed to use open spaces at night
Chandigarh, March 30
Markets in the city are all set to adorn a new look in the evenings. Marked as an attempt to make markets more lively, the Municipal Corporation has decided to allow eating joints to use the open space in front of their shops for making seating arrangements in the evenings.

• Festivals, exhibitions allowed in city’s open spaces

CAT stays order on KV Principals
Chandigarh, March 30
The move by the Central Government to revert the Principals of the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan has once again been delayed with CAT staying the operation of any such order for at least two weeks.

British Police, Punjab Police join hands on forced NRI marriages
Chandigarh, March 30
With around 250 cases of forced and forged marriages involving NRIs, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis surfacing in Britain, the British Police and the Punjab Police have decided to jointly deal with menace through social awareness campaigns and legal means.

• Passing Thru

COMMUNITY

Raingods can end your water woes
Chandigarh, March 30
According to the runoff calculator on rainwater harvesting, a 50 sq mt rooftop in Chandigarh can yield 24,680 litres of water annually. This quantity is adequate to meet the drinking water needs of a family of four for nearly two years.

SDM office staff asked to vacate building
Mohali, March 30
Officials of the enforcement wing of the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority today visited the SDM office here and asked employees to vacate the building.

Pak Communists oppose sale of F-16s
Chandigarh, March 30
Echoing the sentiments of their Indian counterparts, Pakistan Communists from today opposed the US offer to sell F-16s to India and Pakistan saying this would intensify arms race in South Asia.

Exhibition on revolutionary movements
Chandigarh, March 30
It is an exhibition with a difference. Organised as part of the 19th congress of the CPI at the Kisan Bhavan, the exhibition offers a peep into the revolutionary movements and struggles that culminated into the present-day Communist movement.

Councillors join hands for removal of MC chief
Panchkula, March 30
A meeting to decide the course of action for removal of Ms Seema Chaudhary as President of the Municipal Council was held at Yadvindra Garden, Pinjore, here today.

Life ragged him to death
Chandigarh, March 30
In a cranny near the door lies a stack of rotis, uneaten. The room inside is forlorn, a grandfather clock lying on its back, with its hands frozen at 10:40 pm. This is the home of Amar Singh, the rag-picker who died on Holi leaving behind his four young children, Harvinder Kaur, Ravneet Kaur, Navjot and Navdeep, in Maloya Colony in the city.

Need to amend law on homosexuality: expert
Chandigarh, March 30
The homosexual population in India is no longer small. It is growing rapidly with more and more ‘couples’ coming out of the closet. According to data collated by an NGO, Family Planning Association of India, Panchkula branch, more than 500 couples are officially reported every year in the country.

Chairmen of three akademis nominated
Chandigarh, March 30
Dr Naresh, Kamal Tewari and Aditya Prakash, eminent personalities in their respective fields, have been nominated as Chairmen of the Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi, Chandigarh Sangeet Natak Akademi and Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi, respectively.

Rs 11 cr to be spent on recarpeting of roads
Chandigarh, March 30
Happy with the over double grant for city roads this year, the municipal corporation today announced its programme to recarpet all roads constructed in 1999 and before.

Proposed hike in water, sewerage rates flayed
Mohali, March 30
The consumers Protection Forum today condemned the government proposal to hike water and sewerage rates in the town.

Residents decry poor water supply
Chandigarh, March 30
The Residents Welfare Association of the CHB Complex (category II), Sector 51, in a press note here today have deplored the supply of water in the area.

Registration of labour made mandatory
Chandigarh, March 30
District Magistrate Arun Kumar today made it mandatory for employers and other residents of the city, who engage contract labour or labourers on daily wages for petty services, to provide details of the labourers to the Station House Officer of the police station under whose jurisdiction they are situated.

• Socio-spiritual camp at Panchkula
• Seminar on Islam and peace
• Encroachments removed
• Housing society to hold draw on April 16

CRIME

Woman commits suicide, cremated
Mohali, March 30
The body of a woman, who allegedly committed suicide by jumping in front of a running train at Sirhind yesterday, was cremated by members of her family here today. The body of Arvinder Kaur was brought to her parents house in Phase III-A late in the afternoon.

Financier duped of loan money
Chandigarh, March 30
A city resident has reportedly duped a financier of loan money taken for a car, which he sold to another person by preparing forged documents. Mr Vishal Sharma, financier of Ashoka Leyland Finance Company, lodged a complaint with the police alleging that one Balwinder Singh of Sector 38 had taken a loan of Rs 4.5 lakh for buying a Ford Ikon car on July 1, 2004.

Two boys arrested for duping woman
Chandigarh, March 30
The police had arrested two minor boys for duping a woman of her gold chain in Sector 20. Harmeet Kaur, a resident of Bita Passi village in Hoshiarpur district reported to the police that two minor boys of Saharanpur in UP had duped her of gold chain weighing 40 grams on the pretext of cleaning it, last evening.

Thief caught while breaking into house
Chandigarh, March 30
The police today arrested a thief while he was breaking into a house and another one person accused of carrying 75 grams of charas from Sector 21, today. According to the police the accused, Mohammad Naeen, who originally hailed from Muzafarpur in UP was caught red-handed by the public and beat staff in Sector 7.

Chain snatched
Mohali, March 30
A woman was injured when she resisted the attempt of two snatchers to take her gold chain away in broad daylight in Phase III B-1 here today. Mrs Sandeep Kaur was returning from rehri market in the area around 4 pm and saw two youths following her on a motor cycle.

EDUCATION

719 students awarded degrees Chandigarh, March 30 As many as 719 students received degrees on 35th annual convocation of Sri Guru Gobind Singh College, Sector 26, today. Mr Gurdev Singh Brar, president, SES, and Mr Bharpur Singh, secretary, SES, welcomed the chief guest, Dr J.S. Grewal, chairman, IIAS, Shimla. Students of Sri Guru Gobind Singh College, Sector 26, in a jubilant mood after receiving their degrees on Wednesday. — A Tribune photograph

Memorial lecture organised at PU
Chandigarh, March 30
The India-China Friendship Association organised a memorial lecture today at Panjab University to observe the 23rd death anniversary of late Tara Chand Gupta. Dr H.S. Sidhu, Chairman, Punjab School Education Board, presided over the function.

Chairmen of three akademis nominated
Chandigarh, March 30
Dr Naresh, Kamal Tewari and Aditya Prakash, eminent personalities in their respective fields, have been nominated as Chairmen of the Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi, Chandigarh Sangeet Natak Akademi and Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi, respectively.

Stress laid on car spares’ quality
Dera Bassi, March 30
A workshop on “Modern Trends in Automobile Industry” was organised by the student chapter of the Society of Automotive Engineers of Sri Sukhmani Institute of Engineering and Technology, Dera Bassi, here yesterday.

Workshop on spoken English ends
Chandigarh, March 30
The one month-long workshop on ‘Spoken English and Personality Development” organised by the Centre for Adult, Continuing Education & Extension, Panjab University concluded today.

SSC exam on June 25
Chandigarh, March 30
The Staff Selection Commission will hold an open competitive examination for the recruitment of Sub-Inspectors in the central police Organisations - the Border Security Force, the Central Industrial Security Force, the Central Reserve Police Force, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and the Special Service Bureau on June 26.

Class VIII results tomorrow
Chandigarh, March 30
The UT Education Department will declare the result of Class VIII of all government schools on April 1 at 10 am. Students can check their scores at the respective schools.

COURTS

high court
Judgement reserved in Bhardwaj case
Chandigarh, March 30
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today reserved its judgement on the petition filed by former Chandigarh CJM S.S. Bhardwaj seeking quashing of the FIR registered by the CBI against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

LEISURE

Koser award conferred on Sitara Devi, Mani Lal Nag The Tagore theatre had a date with the confluence of the living legends with panorama of achievements in the realm of aesthetic arts and the sparkling young prodigious talents at the award ceremony of the’ Guru ML Koser and Guru Shobha Koser awards held today amidst an overwhelming applause for the first ever award worth Rs 1 lakh instituted by Pracheen Kala Kendra.

The Haryana Governor, Dr A.R. Kidwai, gives Koser award to Mani Lal Nag at the Tagore Theatre on Wednesday. Sitara Devi another awardee is also seen in the picture. — A Tribune photograph

MTV chatterbox in city                             “If a female newcomer gets a good break in Bollywood that doesn’t mean that she made a compromise or slept with the producer or director”, says Anusha Dandekar, the chatterbox of MTV. She was in Chandigarh in connection with the launch of a summer spring collection of a fashion brand. Anusha Dandeka Sculptors’ camp concludes at Kalagram Sculpting their dreams by infusing life into marble, the foursome artists reflected a new dimension in art at the open sculptor studio at the Kalagram during the 15-day camp that concluded today. The series of such camps will continue during the year.

Steps to check water-borne diseases
Panchkula, March 30
With the onset of summer, the Haryana Government is taking all measures to prevent the outbreak of any epidemic of water-borne diseases like diarrhoea, gastroenteritis and jaundice and vector-borne diseases like malaria, dengue and Japanese encephalitis.

Programme on certification of death cause
Chandigarh, March 30
A training programme on medical certification of cause of death’ was organised by the Department of Biostatistics in collaboration with the Department of Community Medicine for the resident doctors at the PGI here today.

Workshop on female foeticide held
Panchkula, March 30
The Director Health Services (Laboratory), Dr N.K. Sharma, has called upon the people to change their outlook towards the girl child and work for female literacy.

Jean Rodrigues distributes artificial limbs
Chandigarh, March 30
Jean Rodrigues, wife of the Punjab Governor, distributed artificial limbs and other ambulatory aids to 157 physically challenged persons at a function organised by the Health Care India Disability Centre at Colony No 5 here today.

SPORTS

Preetinder leads in Ladies Golf Chandigarh, March 30 Young Preetinder Kaur played a steady 10-over to surge into the lead on the second day of the Chandigarh Ladies Open Amateur Golf Championship on the lush course of the Chandigarh Golf Club here today. Preetinder Kaur attempts a bunker shot on 18th hole during 13th Chandigarh Open Ladies Amateur golf championship at the Chandigarh Golf Club on Wednesday. — Tribune photo by Pradeep Tewari

New sports facilities at CRB Public School Chandigarh, March 30 Indoor sports facilities in carrom, chess, table soccer were inaugurated today by Mr Navin Mittal, Director, CRB Public School, Sector 7. Children look at new indoor sports facilities at CRB Public School, Sector 7, Chandigarh, on Wednesday. — Tribune photo by Malkiat Singh

All set for kabaddi meet
Chandigarh, March 30
The city is all set to hold the 17th Senior National Circle Style Kabaddi Championship for men and women at Football Stadium, Sector 17, from April 1 to 3. The matches will be played on league-cum-knockout basis.

23 selected for athletics camp
Panchkula, March 30
The Athletic Federation of India has selected 23 junior athletes of Haryana for the Junior National Coaching Camp to be held at JRD Tata Sports Complex, Jamshedpur from April 10.

Honour for city tennis umpire
Chandigarh, March 30
Birbal Wadehra, a well-known tennis umpire from Chandigarh has been selected to umpire in the Wimbledon Championship in London, from June 13 to 17. Birbal is one of the few Indian umpires selected for this honorable international assignment.