Mohali, September 28
Prof Asit Kumar Chakraborti, Head, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), here, has been selected for the Ranbaxy Research Award 2004, in the field of pharmaceutical sciences.

The award will be presented to him by the Nobel Laureate, Prof R. Zinkernagel of the Institute of Experimental Immunology, Switzerland, at a special presentation function to be held on November 28, 2005, at ICGEB, New Delhi.

A double gold medalist from the University of Burdwan, West Bengal, Prof Chakraborti had his doctorate degree in Synthetic Organic Chemistry from Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata, in 1984, and proceeded for post-doctoral training at Clemson University and Purdue University in the USA.

After returning from the USA, Prof Chakraborti accepted a faculty position in the Department of Chemistry, University of Burdwan, in 1990. He joined NIPER in 1994 since its inception as a core faculty member. Prof Chakraborti had been intimately associated with the development of NIPER in various aspects.

He had been instrumental in the development of the Department of Medicinal Chemistry with the state-of-the-art facilities. Under his supervision, the Central Instrumentation Laboratories of NIPER have become well-recognised instrumentation facilities in the country.

Through his research works in the area of anti-asthma drug development, he has established a fruitful collaboration with premier pharmaceutical industry and has developed some new leads as drug candidates. Keeping in view that the major concern of modern chemical technology is the protection of environment from harmful waste, the professor has put his research efforts in this direction for the development of “sustainable chemistry.” He has developed various eco-friendly catalysts and processes that are useful for the synthesis of various cardiovascular drugs and their intermediates. Many other laboratories are actively pursuing some of the discoveries of Prof Chakraborti in their respective fields.

The Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, UK, has conferred upon Prof Chakraborti the Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) in recognition to his contribution in promoting research and teaching in Chemistry.

The Chemical Research Society of India (CRSI) has selected him for the CRSI Medal in recognition to his contribution to Chemistry. The medal will be awarded to the professor in the National Symposium of Chemistry to be held in February 2006 at the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai.

Chandigarh, September 28
Chandigarh Golf Course, which is on the national as well as international map as a challenging 18 hole course, has re-laid its 6th green as per the US Golf Association specifications. The newly-laid green was inaugurated by Mr G.S. Sandhu, president of the club, here, today.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Sandhu said, “The design and relaying has been carried out as per international specifications. A proper drainage system has been laid at the base, which allows good drainage during the monsoon period and hence, the green need not be closed at any time.”

Earlier, the green was clay based, but now it has become sand based. Tiff dwarf, the high quality grass has been used in relaying the green.

Mr Sandhu thanked the Bank of Punjab, which has come forward to sponsor the relaying of the green.

“Only three greens have been left and will be re-laid very soon,” said Mr S.M.S. Sandhu, captain of the course.

The club has produced many international golfers like Jeev Milkha Singh, Amandeep Johal, Harmeet Kahlon, Ajeetesh Sandu and Irina Brar.

Chandigarh, September 28
St Stephen's School, Sector 45, is the new holder of the St Stephen's Challenger trophy in the Chandigarh junior girls soccer meet that concluded here today.

The school team blanked Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, Sector 26, by five goals to nil. Half time score was 4-0. The goals were scored by Shikha Sharma, Prabhsimran Kaur, Nidhi Sharma, Jyotsna and Jaspreet. 

Chandigarh, September 28
Top seed Oscar Bansal justified his place in under-16 category when he claimed the boys under-16 singles title today in the Chandigarh State Open Badminton Championship organised by the Chandigarh Badminton Association at Sector 42 Badminton Hall here.

Oscar, ranked number one in India in the said category, was too good for Abhishek. A student of Vivek High School, Sector 38, Oscar also won the boys under-16 doubles title in partnership with Tushar, when they downed Abhishek Bhutt and Mohit Goel 21-11, 21-15 in the final.

Purnica got the better of second seed Monica in a well-contested girls under-19 final. Nisha, a trainee of the coaching centre at Government Model School, Sector 23, clinched the girls under-13 final. She pipped Chetna of Vivek High School to win with ease. Earlier, in semifinals Nisha had beaten Anita 21-11, 21-19 and Chetna prevailed over Japneet 23-21, 21-15.

Tarush outplayed Kanwar Cheema in the boys under-13 singles final by three closely contested games at 21-19, 21-13, 21-19.

Mehak Singh and Mehak Sood won the boys and girls under-10 singles title, respectively. Mehak beat Avinash 21-14 and Mehak Sood defeated Anandi 21-11.

Top seed in women section H.Sarda and second seed Isha Sharma will meet in the women’s singles final. While Sarda defeated Monica 11-1, 11-2, Isha beat Purnica 11-6, 11-5 in the semifinals. Nisha and Japneet carried the forte to win the under-13 doubles title played on a new format of scoring.

Chandigarh, September 28
Eves of Manav Mangal School, Sector 21, today emerged victorious in the under-19 category of the UT Inter-School Ball Badminton Tournament which was held at St Joseph's Senior Secondary school, Sector 44. The second place in this section went to Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 18, while IS Dev Samaj Girls Senior Secondary School, Sector 21, stood third.

Chandigarh, September 28
The Eco Club of Maharishi Dayanand Public School, Daria, celebrated “Green Consumer Day” in association the Environment Department of Chandigarh on the school premises today.

A run for junior and senior students was held on the occasion. About 100 students of the club participated in the run and spread the message of clean environment.

The Principal of DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8, Chandigarh, Mr Ravinder Talwar, was the chief guest. Mr Talwar, while speaking on the occasion, stressed on the importance of pollution-free environment and asked the students to plant saplings and protect trees.

Swami Sampurna Nand and Dr B. Kulwant, Regional Director of DAV institutions, presided over the function.

A skit was presented by Ganga Bahadur, Gautam, Mukesh, Ajay Rana, Ajay Narwal and Anshul highlighting the demerits of pollution. They threw light on the merits of pure and clean environment and conveyed the message of growing more plants.

The results are: junior category (boys) — Inderjit 1, Harjit Singh 2 and Nityanand 3; and junior category(girls) — Sunita 1, Amarjit Kaur 2 and Dixa Arora 3.

Senior category (boys) — Ajay Rana-1, Lucky 2 and Vishal 3; and senior category (girls) — Jyoti-1, Satinder Kaur 2 and Kalpana 3.

Chandigarh, September 28
Manjit was adjudged the winner today clocking 3:54:35 while Keshav stood second (4:17:89) in the boys under single scull category of the Chandigarh Water Sports Tournament (Men and Women) being held at Lake Sports Complex, here.

Other results:
Pairs (women): 1 Kiran (3:54:35), 2 Kunjeswari (7:29:45). Double scull (boys): 1 Jarman and Shokinder (3:39:68), 2 Kanav and Manjit (3:40:30). Lucky team get bye single scull (women): 1 Munshadi (4:09:04), 2 Mona (4:19:12). Pairs (boys): 1 Mangal and Minjeet (3:31:54), 2 Kamal and Manjit (3:42:10). Single scull ( Boys): Naveen (4: 00: 01) 1; Vikrant (4: 15: 69) 2. Double scull (women): 1 Tababi and Sunita (4:03:21), 2 Kiran and Ranjana (4:07:24). Lucky team get bye double scull (boys): 1 Kanav and Manjeet (3:31:28), 2 Jarman and Shokinder (3:36:68). Four (women): 1 Babita, Rameshwari, Ranjana and Monalisa (4:02:68), 2 Tababi, Sunita, Priya and Munshedi (4:07:42). Single scull (boys): 1 Kanav (3:42:22), 2 Manjit (3:42:82). Double scull (women): 1 Kiran and Ranjana (4:13:49), 2 Tababi and Sunita (4:17:34). Four (boys): 1 Kamal, Kanav, Shokinder and Jarman (3:20:66), 2 Mangal, Manjiit, Bitu and Robin (3:21:56).

Chandigarh, September 28
A multi-level parking in Sector 9 D may become a reality once the recommendations forwarded by the Chandigarh Police are accepted by the local Municipal Corporation and the state transport authorities.

In a communique, the Traffic Wing of the Chandigarh Police has reportedly asked the authorities concerned to give green signal to the construction of a multi-level parking lot in the green-belt area near the Bank of Punjab office.

The aim is to solve the parking problem in the area.

Giving details, sources in the police headquarters say one usually has to burn extra fuel, and energy, for locating a “comfortable” place to park their vehicles. In the absence of adequate parking space, a large number of motorists simply leave behind their vehicles by the roadside, leading to bottlenecks and traffic jams in the process.

The sources add that parking blues continue despite the introduction of “paid-parking system” in the Sector. Even challaning and towing away of wrongly parked vehicles by the Traffic Police hasn’t helped much, they admit.

Quoting rough figures, the sources say over one lakh offenders had been challaned by the Traffic Police for violating the rules last year. Out of the total, four per cent motorists were fined for wrong parking after a major campaign was launched all over the city against the menace.

Among them were motorists responsible for leaving behind their vehicles in no-parking zones in the Sector 9 commercial complex.

The sources add that the decision to recommend the setting up of the multi-level parking in the area was taken during a meeting of the Road Safety Planning Committee held recently.

During the meeting, attended by senior Chandigarh Police officers, it was also decided to extend the parking space in front of the bank after clearing the encroachments existing in the area.

Besides this, another decision regarding “proper” development of parking lot behind Grewal Eye-Institute in the same Sector was taken by the committee members during the meeting.

Confirming the receipt of the recommendations, a senior Municipal Corporation officer says that they are currently working out the modalities for setting up a multi-level parking lot. A final decision in this regard is likely to be taken soon in consultation with the state transport authority, the officer adds.

Chandigarh, September 28
The draw of lots for allotment of day market booths in Sector 18 will be held on October 7 at the Sector 8 Community Centre here.

After the verification of eligible persons, including those whose shops were gutted in a fire that broke out in the market on February 28 last, the date for the draw of lots has been announced. The verification exercise was carried out with the help of revenue officials and the police.

The Deputy Commissioner, Mr R.K. Rao, said the process of allotment of booths to rehri licence holders had been undertaken under the “Allotment/Transfer of Built-up Booths in Any Sector on Lease/Hire Purchase Basis in Chandigarh, Rules, 1991”.

Around 35 structures were burnt in the incident. The Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) was engaged by the Administration to construct 108 booths for the rehabilitation of the victims and other licence holders in the rehri market. The issuing of licence for the day market booths was subject to certain conditions.

It may be mentioned that the owners of booths in the Sector 18 rehri market have been seeking immediate allotment of booths in the market adjoining the current site.

“The structures were ready for possession, yet the allotment had not been made for a fairly long time now. The loss in the fire could have been prevented if we had the new booths in time. The booths were ready when the fire broke out in February last”, said one of the shopkeepers.

Chandigarh, September 28
The Income Tax Department organised a prize distribution function in connection with the Hindi month celebrations here yesterday.

According to a press note, Mr Dinesh Gautam and Mr Satish Kumar were given prizes in Hindi work and Hindi typing by Ms SK Aulakh, Chief Commissioner, Income Tax, North Western Region. Mr Vinod Sharma and Mr Trilok Singh Rawat bagged prizes in noting/drafting and essay writing competitions.

While Ms P. Sahi won the prize in getting maximum work done among the Income Tax Commissionerates, Mr BK Singh was awarded in the income tax range category. Mr VP Kalia, Mr Dinesh Gautam, Ms Parveen Bala and Mr KK Mahajan won trophies for getting maximum work done in Hindi in their respective offices.