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Tribune Special
Driver in soup over faking entries
Chandigarh, May 19
Can anyone drive two vehicles at the same time on the same day and still cover hundreds of kilometers with each? If you thought it’s impossible, here’s some news for you.

Contempt notice to UT Adviser
Chandigarh, May 19
The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) today issued a contempt notice to the Adviser to the UT Administrator, Mr Lalit Sharma and the Director, Health Services, Chandigarh, C.P. Bansal in connection with a contempt case filed by a Medical Officer (Homoeopathy), Ms Rama Sharma.

Scorching sun forces a potter couple to take a break from their gruelling routine in Sector 29, Chandigarh, on Thursday afternoon. — Tribune photo by Karam Singh

Govt wakes up to ecological concerns

Quarrying in Ghaggar banned Panchkula, May 19 Protecting fragile ecology of the lower Shivalik region here finally seems to have found favour with the state government.  Deep pits have been dug in Ghaggar river by mining contractors, causing a threat to the fragile ecology of the area. — A Tribune photograph

City buildings flout fire safety norms
Chandigarh, May 19
A majority of the buildings in the city, particularly those located in the Industrial Area, are grossly violating the mandatory requirements of the fire safety norms. Recent fires in the city have once again proved the absence of fire safety gadgets in these places.

COMMUNITY

Power pilferage causes loss of Rs 5.6 lakh

Zirakpur, May 19 The Economic Offences wing of the Punjab Vigilance Bureau conducted a surprise raid at Gulmohar Trends, a housing colony located in Dhakauli village, and detected power pilferage which caused a loss of Rs 5.60 lakh to the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) by the builder. Sleuths of the Economic Offence wing of the Punjab Vigilance Bureau inspect a power generator set during a raid at Gulmohar Trends, a housing colony located in Dhakauli village, near Zirakpur on Thursday. — Tribune photo by Manoj Mahajan

Mohali to face less power cuts
Mohali, May 19
Mohali residents will face less power cuts this summer. While by this time last summers the city residents and villagers were facing three-hour-daily power cuts, the Punjab State Electricity Board has no plans to start cutting on electricity supply here till the second week of June.

Tubewell snag triggers water woes
Mohali, May 19
The Industrial Area Phase VIII here is facing an acute shortage of water as the tubewell in the area has become non-functional. The shortage of water has been going on for the past four days adversely affecting hundreds of workers in the area.

Thackarey remains Maratha leader only: Gupta
Panchkula, May 19
President of the Shiv Sena (Hindustan), Mr Pawan Kumar Gupta, says that Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackarey has failed to evolve as a national leader, this has forced Shiv Sainiks outside Maharashtra to reorganise themselves as Shiv Sena (Hindustan).

No respite from heat wave in sight
Chandigarh, May 19
The summer sun is not keeping the weathermen guessing too much. Predictable and punishing for about a week now, it continued to scorch the city today as well. With temperature soaring today the Met office recorded the second highest day temperatures this season. Not just that, today’s temperature also marked a plus three degree departure from normal, spelling a lot of heat and even more discomfort.

Workshop on e-filing of returns today
Chandigarh, May 19
The Finance Act (2), 2004, has made it mandatory for all government departments to file their TDS returns electronically. To help government departments to e-file their TDS returns, a workshop on e-filing of TDS returns is being organised at National Technical Teachers Training Institute, Sector-26, tomorrow from 10 am to 1 pm, said an official release.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar honoured
Chandigarh, May 19
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has been presented the “Global Humanitarian Award” by Governor of the state of Illinois Rob Blagojevich. The award was conferred on Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on May 14, 2005 for exemplifying the highest ideals of humanitarian service for his steadfast devotion to inspiring healthy living and fostering universal harmony, a press release note said.

Follow road safety concepts: SP
Panchkula, May 19
“Following an increase in vehicular traffic, especially high speed vehicles, road accidents have also increased. We need to organise ourselves to avoid accidents and everyone has to participate for ensuring road safety

CRIME

Ludhiana resident held for rape
Chandigarh, May 19
A 24-year-old Ludhiana resident was arrested by the local police from Ludhiana in the wee hours today on the charges of raping and threatening a 17-year-old girl, an Australian citizen living with her uncle in Sector 12, Panchkula. The girl alleged that the accused had raped her on the pretext of marrying her.

18-year-old girl kidnapped, robbed
Chandigarh, May 19
Despite the much publicised anti-snatching drive, launched by the police, a 18-year-old girl was forced to sit inside a Maruti van this morning and was dropped minutes later after the two occupants of the car had snatched her gold earrings and gold ring.

Sec 40 resident held for manhandling, locking cops
Chandigarh, May 19
A Sector 40 resident was today arrested for manhandling policemen and also locking one of them in his house for some time when the latter went to his residence for verification.

BUSINESS

3 small units get awards

Chandigarh, May 19 Three small-scale industrial units of the city were conferred awards for their performance and contributions in the field of promoting entrepreneurship at the State Award Function-2004, held at the UT Guest House, here today by the UT Department of Industries. Awardees of three small-scale industrial units with their trophies with the UT Home Secretary-cum-Secretary, Industries, in Chandigarh on Thursday. — A Tribune photograph.

NABARD gives Rs 3.45 cr for medicinal plants
Chandigarh, May 19
NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) regional office, Chandigarh, organised a state-level workshop today on the development of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) cultivation in Punjab and Haryana.

EDUCATION

Equipping teachers to fight learning disorders
Panchkula, May 19
‘‘Necessity is the mother of invention is indeed a veritable summation of my transformation from an ideal housewife to a crusader in optimizing development of education for the children with specific learning disabilities’’, says Ms Lalitha Ramanujam.

Teachers submit memo to Governor
Chandigarh, May 19
On the call given by the Punjab State Aided School Teachers and other employees union, its members here today held a demonstration here against the Punjab Government. Later, union leaders also submitted a memorandum to a senior staff officer of the Punjab Governor, Gen S.F. Rodrigues (retd), against the state government.

Computer lab inaugurated
Chandigarh, May 19
The Home-cum-Education Secretary, Chandigarh Administration, Mr Krishna Mohan, today inaugurated a computer lab and a pre-nursery room in the Government Model High School, Sector 20-D here.

Niharika first in St Xavier’s
Mohali, May 19
The Principal of St Xavier’s School, Sector 71, today clarified that Niharika stood first in the school by getting 91 per cent marks in all subjects and not the best five in the ICSE examination, the result of which was declared yesterday.

• BBA results declared

LEISURE

Children’s community theatre fest from today
Centre for Education and Voluntary Action (CEVA) has long been striving to do something exciting with theatre. For sometime now, volunteers associated with the organisation have used theatre as an exciting tool for school children, who have attended five community children’s theatre workshops which CEVA organised in five schools over the past year.

Carrying forward tradition of classical music
Aditya Sharma looks like any other college-going boy of his age – trendy clothes and even a trendier goatee to match the attitude of “Gen Me”. But as one strikes a conversation with him, one gets a glimpse of his conservative nature which is firmly rooted to classical music.

New Releases
‘Naina’ to ‘Nazar’, a date with paranormal
Thrillers have been a favourite with some producers because they are considered safe bets. So get ready for two supernatural thrillers: ‘Naina’ and ‘Nazar’ this week at your nearest theatres.

Screening of ‘Jo Bole...’ stopped
The management of Nirman cinema, in Sector 32 today decided to stop the screening of controversial film “Jo Bole So Nihal” starring Sunny Deol from tomorrow. However, officials in the Chandigarh Administration said no order to ban the film has been issued in Chandigarh.

HEALTH

International Nurses Week celebrated
Chandigarh, May 19
Celebrations of the International Nurses Week concluded at the PGI under the chairmanship of Dr Saroj Parwez, Chief Nursing Officer. The celebrations continued from May 12 to 18.

Talk on reproductive health
Chandigarh, May 19
Panjab University’s Centre for Adult, Continuing Education and Extension organised an orientation programme on “Reproductive Health” for girl students of Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 15. More than 100 students and teachers participated in the programme.

SPORTS

3 local players for Azlan Shah Cup

Chandigarh, May 19 Three local hockey players — Rajpal Singh, Inderjit Chadha and Jaswinder Singh — have made it to the Indian hockey team for the prestigious Sultan Azlan Shah Cup to be played in Kuala Lumpur from May 26. Local hockey players Jaswinder, Rajpal and Inderjeet Chadha all set to make their mark in the upcoming Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament.

Ajay Sharma ready to help youngsters
Chandigarh, May 19
Ajay Sharma, former Indian all rounder, is hopeful of getting justice from the courts in the match-fixing controversy, which ended his international cricket career in 2000 following a ban imposed on him by the BCCI.

Chandigarh to have own swimming team
Chandigarh, May 19
The recent decision of the Swimming Federation of India (SFI) to allow Chandigarh-based swimmers to have direct representation in the National Swimming Championships has been welcomed.

Simrat Bawa helps Chandigarh score 315
Chandigarh, May 19
Riding high on a superb knock of 91 by Simrat Bawa and a timely half century (54) by Sumit Dhiman, Chandigarh District scored 315 in its first innings against Patiala District in the final of the ML Markan trophy under-17 Inter-District Cricket Tournament at Punjab Cricket Association stadium here today.

• Mehak bags tennis title
• Cricket trials today