Two-hour wonder: This rare cactus in a house in Sector 15, Chandigarh, blooms for a few hours every season. — Tribune photo by Vinay Malik

Yet another suicide by woman at Sukhna
Chandigarh, July 18
About one-and-a-half month after the alleged Chandni Bansal suicide case, another young woman drowned herself in the Sukhna Lake this evening. The police is yet to identify the victim.

When death chased him
Panchkula, July 18
Destiny could not have been more cruel to 35-year-old Prashant. He fell off the roof of his house, got electrocuted after being entangled in electric cables and as he touched the ground he was run over by a bus.

Hawara, aides confess to killing doctor
Chandigarh, July 18
The local police today claimed that Babbar Khalsa International chief Jagtar Singh Hawara and his two other accomplices, Jogadass, alias Joga, and Samir alias Toni, had confessed to the killing of a Fatehgarh Sahib-based doctor for allegedly passing information regarding their activities to the police.

Civil aviation directive on air safety Chandigarh, July 18 The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has directed all owners and operators of private aircraft to ensure that aircraft or helicopters in their possession are not used for hire, reward or any kind of remuneration. NIFD to showcase designs in Vancouver  Chandigarh, July 18                                                        The National Institute of Fashion Design designers are all set to showcase their designs along with top designers of the world at the Vancouver Fashion Week 2005 to be held in Canada. NIFD has acquired the distinctive honour of being the only design institute of the country to have been invited to showcase their students design collections at the prestigious fifth Annual Vancouver Fashion Week. A file photo of a funky design of a NIFD student. Passing Thru

CHANDIGARH CALLING Monsoons have brought a world of relief to the city residents, but not so much to Met Department people. Continuously hounded by media persons eager to know reasons behind rapid weather variations, Met officers can’t but look for riders like “but this is normal”, “but this is insignificant”, “no changes from yesterday please”, “but you called earlier also” and many more.

COMMUNITY

HUDA acquires land in Ghaggar
Administrator asked to conduct probe
Panchkula, July 18
In a major faux pas, the Haryana Urban Development Authority acquired 402.75 acres of land falling in the Ghaggar river for floating residential plots. As a result, the entire expenditure of Rs 23.36 crore paid as compensation to landowners, was rendered wasteful.

Cop thrashes three college students Placed under suspension Panchkula, July 18 A constable of the Haryana Police, accompanied by his colleagues, thrashed three college students in the premises of Government Degree College, Panchkula, this afternoon. Bomb hoax in Mani Majra                 Chandigarh, July 18 Panic gripped residents of Mani Majra this morning following a bomb hoax. Life returned back to normal only after the area was cordoned off and inspected by sniffer dogs only to find a bomb shell. A policeman holds a shell found in Mani Majra, Chandigarh, on Monday. — A Tribune photograph

Repatriated staff without work
Chandigarh, July 18
As many as 108 employees of the Municipal Corporation who have been repatriated to the UT Administration since July 1 following a CAT order are still without work. The workers fear that no official record has been moved to assure them that they will get their salaries for the month.

Awareness drive on safe water to be stepped up
Mohali, July 18
A meeting of State Task Force regarding water-borne diseases was held at the Directorate of Health and Family Welfare, Punjab, under the chairmanship of Mr D.S. Guru, Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Punjab.

Drainage system gives relief to residents
Mohali, July 18
Almost three years after a group of residents of Phase V here filed a public interest litigation in the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the Punjab Government to provide proper rainwater drainage system for their houses, their wish has been fulfilled.

Complaint against diagnostic centre
Chandigarh, July 18
Mr Balwant Singh, a resident of Mani Majra, has complained to the UT, Director, Health Services, against the poor services by a diagnostic centre run by the Panchkula Welfare Trust.

100 and still raring to go Mohali, July 18 The long years have folded into wrinkles…her eyes have dulled the vision of reality, the ears have turned traitors and the once graceful gait has been reduced to a hunched totter.   Parmeshwar Kaur Tohar celebrates her 100th birthday with her family in Mohali on Monday. — Tribune photo by Manoj Mahajan

Fauji Beat Armymen need better package FOR more than a decade now, the Army has been continuing to be short of officers. Despite a host of measures having been adopted to combat the shortage, no dent has been made in it. No doubt, improving the terms and conditions of service, the disadvantages such as not allowing the bulk of defence personnel to earn 50 per cent of their pay as pension, retiring them at a young age, etc have made the Army unattractive.

Patients at the Chandigarh polyclinic reception.

Readers write
Power problems galore in Panchkula
I am a seventy-five-year-old resident of Sector 4 in Panchkula. I am a heart patient and I have not spent a single day without suffering due to erratic power supply in the area.

DGP intervenes to clear traffic
Panchkula, July 18
It is not everyday that the Director-General of Police, Haryana, gets to do what he probably did during his days of training . The DGP, Mr Nirmal Singh, today got down from his car and facilitated the clearing of a traffic jam on National Highway-73, near Ramgarh village.

Fresh tender allotted for Beant memorial
Chandigarh, July 18
The UT Administration allotted a fresh tender to a company for construction at the Beant Singh Memorial in Sector 42, reliable sources said here today.

CRIME

It took cops 5 years to arrest Yadav
Chandigarh, July 18
It took Chandigarh Police nearly five years to arrest the prime accused in the Sector 24 wineshop double murder and robbery case. Though Lachman Yadav was declared a proclaimed offender in the case by a local court, along with another accused Mewa Lal, soon after the incident, the police could not lay its hands on the duo for all these years.

Undertrial in murder case escapes
Chandigarh, July 18
Throwing dust in the eyes of the Chandigarh Police, an undertrial in a murder case being taken to Batala for a court date escaped from custody. Following the incident, a case under Sections 223 and 224 of the Indian Penal Code has been registered against an Assistant Sub-Inspector, besides two Head Constables and as many constables.

3 held for killing cow
Panchkula, July 18
Tension prevailed at Rajiv Colony here today when five persons of the colony reportedly killed a cow by strangulating it. At least 400 members of the Shiv Sena (Hindustan) gathered outside the colony in protest and gheraoed the police post.

BUSINESS

Bank to introduce saving schemes
Chandigarh, July 18
For the convenience of the high-end customers, the Bank of India will introduce two banking products — diamond saving deposits and diamond current deposits — the Chairman and Managing Director of the bank, Mr M Balachandran, said here.

Punjab Khadi Board to evolve common policy
Chandigarh, July 18
The Punjab Khadi and Village Industries Board has decided to evolve a common policy to coordinate the activities of khadi boards. A meeting in this regard is scheduled for July 20 under the chairmanship of Mr Charanjit Singh Walia, Chairman of the board, here.

EDUCATION

Nominations sought from teachers for awards
Chandigarh, July 18
The Jan Seva Trust has invited nominations for the fourth Tara Chand Saboo Excellence Awards in School Teaching 2005 from teachers in Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali.

ME students blame PEC for incomplete theses
College denies
Chandigarh, July 18
Eleven research scholars (2001 batch) of Punjab Engineering College have not been able to complete their masters in engineering reportedly due to the uncooperative attitude of the authorities concerned which have not cleared their theses work.

Hamara School Providing quality education Ambala Public School is set up with the aim of becoming a torchbearer in the field of education. It was established in 1995 with just 95 students and now it has a strength of 900 students. Principalspeak

A view of Ambala Puplic School

SC, BC youths complete driving course
Chandigarh, July 18
The first batch of SCs and BCs youth completed their training under a driving course of Maruti Driving School today. Certificates were distributed among the trainees by Mr R. R. Gill, Non-Official Director, Chandigarh SCs, BCs Minorities and Financial Development Corporation.

Students appear for Tata Consultancy test
Chandigarh, July 18
As many as 200 students of Punjab Engineering College appeared for the online test today conducted by Tata Consultancy Services. The result of 140 students has been declared and 90 students have been selected for the interview.

Education Secretaries to meet in Aug
Chandigarh, July 18
The Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, Lucknow, plans to a meeting of Education Secretaries of states of North India at the Regional Institute of English, Sector 32.

• PU admissions

COURTS

Next hearing in MDC plots case on Aug 1
Panchkula, July 18
The apex court has fixed August 1 as the next date of hearing in the case pertaining to draw of lots for residential plots in Sector 2 and 6 of Mansa Devi Complex. The case was listed before the apex court for today.

LEISURE

Perfect bharatnatyam, salsa fusion Fusion rocks and if it is the fusion of tradition and modernity then it rocks all the more, so says 19-year-old Anandita Singh, a city-based budding bharatnatyam dancer. And she proves it through her own example. Bubbly and with stars of ambition twinkling in her eyes Anandita is a perfect representative of Gen X with her love for jazz, hip-hop, salsa, Tom Cruise and Saif. Anandita Singh Astrology gaining ground globally Astrology is going to be more research oriented. It will be more technical in times to come and also specific in its approach. This was viewed by Mr Anil Aggarwal, consultant, astrology and alternative therapies.

Kalka lyricist makes it big in Mumbai Young lyricist KD Mann from the tiny town of Kalka has made a place in the glamorous tinsel town of Mumbai. Mann have scripted eight soulful songs which have been recorded in the mellifluous voice of acclaimed playback singer Anuradha Paudwal and the invincible Suresh Wadekar. Vinay Chaudhary (left) and K.D. Maan (right) with Suresh Wadekar (middle).

DCI team visits hospital
Chandigarh, July 18
The two members of the Dental Council of India, Mr S Jagdish from Bangalore and Dr Neelam Andrade, visited Dr Harvansh Singh Judge Dental College, Sector 25, for inspection today.