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Rape In Security Zone
No PCR vehicle at Raj Bhawan chowk, admits police
Chandigarh, February 25
The rape of a 40-year-old woman by security guards of Haryana Raj Bhawan in the wee hours of February 21 has brought the security of the Haryana Governor under cloud.

Treated water for irrigation
MC moots Rs 37-cr project
Chandigarh, February 25
Irrigation of gardens, parks, greenbelts and houses measuring one kanal and above is set to change in the city. In an eco-friendly decision aimed at conserving water, the Municipal Corporation (MC) has proposed an ambitious Rs 37 crore project for the treatment of sewage effluent with a view to converting it into tertiary treated irrigation water.

Man, his mother get life term
Panchkula, February 25
Additional district and sessions judge Shiva Sharma today sentenced a man and his mother to life imprisonment in a dowry death case. Pronouncing the judgement, he asked the guilty to deposit a fine of Rs 50,000.

‘My focus is on comedy’
Chandigarh, February 25
He has portrayed the good and ugly with equal ease. His villainous roles have won him accolades, as have the comic ones. Funny or evil, Shakti Kapoor has held the audience in rapt attention. The actor was in city for a short stopover.

Major to be court martialled
Charges framed under Army, Arms Acts
Chandigarh, February 25
The Army has ordered trial by general court martial of a Major from the Military Intelligence (MI), who was reportedly caught in the company of two Ethiopian girls at his New Delhi residence.

Chandigarh, February 25 In an effort to take the Indo-British cooperation to the next level, the city of Gloucester has mooted the “friendship link” with Chandigarh for cooperation in art, culture, politics, industry and civic affairs. SHARING THE GARLAND OF GLORY: Gloucester mayor Harjit Gill (left) puts his official necklace around the neck of Chandigarh mayor Pardeep Chhabra in Chandigarh on Monday. — Tribune photo by  Manoj Mahajan

COMMUNITY

REMAINS OF THE DAY: The Rose Garden littered with rubbish a day after the Rose Festival came to an end in Chandigarh on Monday. — Tribune photo by Manoj Mahajan

Walking zone or parking zone?
Chandigarh, February 25
The area behind the commercial complex (showrooms) of Sector 9 is being used for parking of vehicles by the people. To evade the parking fee, the newly constructed footpath, which is meant for the pedestrian to walk, are being used as the parking of vehicles.

Four centres for special kids
Chandigarh, February 25
The UT education department is going to establish four resource centres, which will exclusively cater to children with special needs. The centres are being set up in four government schools with the sole motive of making life easy for the physically challenged kids and also for the visually impaired and deaf and dumb.

French multinational sponsors local chess progidy
Chandigarh, February 25
His big achievements at a young age caught the fancy of a French multi-national company. To support seven-year-old Anubhav Tuknayat, Velcan, a green energy producer of Europe, took this little champ under its wings.


Chess prodigy Anubhav Tuknayat makes a move. — Tribune photo by Parvesh Chauhan

Building plans to be okayed online
Estate Office, PEC to ink pact soon
Chandigarh, February 25
The UT Estate Office is going tech savvy. After computerisation of the records of the Estate Office, it is soon going to introduce a system of online sanctioning of building plans. To be developed by the centre for computational engineering, Punjab Engineering College (PEC), the system will include plan approval tracking and management facility in the building branch. The estate office will pay around Rs 9 lakh to PEC to instal the facility.

Consumer Courts
Vodafone to pay Rs 5,000 for incorrect bill
Chandigarh, February 25
Taking note of an incorrect bill charged by Vodafone Essar South Limited from a Mohali resident, the Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-I has directed them to pay Rs 5,000 as compensation.

Childrens’ Kidnapping
Cops shielding accused: Woman
Chandigarh, February 25
Accusing the Chandigarh Police of dragging its feet on proceedings against five persons accused of kidnapping and assaulting her sons, a woman of Sector 44 has alleged that investigating officials are shielding the accused.

RTI Act
DAV colleges disregard directions
Chandigarh, February 25
The MCM and DAV Colleges, Chandigarh, have failed to provide information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, within 10 days to applicants R.P. Singh, Arun Kumar Aggarwal and Avanindra Chopra.

Villagers, leaders rally behind sarpanch
Chandigarh, February 25
Residents of Khudda Ali Sher village yesterday held a protest in their village and raised slogans accusing the Chandigarh Police of acting biased and wrongly booking the village sarpanch.

Role of Media Lab appreciated
Chandigarh, February 25
A two-day workshop on use of information and communication technology organised by the National Institute of Paramedical Sciences concluded at the PGI here yesterday.

Demand to raise education loan limit up to 6 lakh
Chandigarh, February 25
The government should initiate steps to extend the limit of security-free education loan from Rs 4 lakh to Rs 6 lakh. This was stated by Anshu Kataria, chairman, Aryans Business School (ABS), here today.

250 examined at eye camp
Chandigarh, February 25
A free eye check-up camp was organised at Sri Sanatan Dharam Mandir, Sector 45, by the Lions Club, Chandigarh, in association with Loins Club Woolwich and Greenwich of London.

Councillors demand elections for vacant posts
Mohali, February 25
Eight municipal councillors of the ruling group have given a requisition to the president of the Municipal Council, Rajinder Singh Rana, here today, to get elections for the posts of senior vice-president and vice-president held at the earliest.

Incomplete forms delay pension
Mohali, February 25
Cases relating to release of pensions got delayed as these reached Accountant General’s office late and some were found incomplete.

Rs 74 cr sanctioned for houses for poor
Panchkula, February 25
An amount of Rs 74 crore has been sanctioned under the Jawahar Lal Nehru Urban Renewable Mission to construct 7,574 houses and rehabilitate poor people in the district.

Public suffers as HUDA staff is overburdened
Panchkula, February 25
Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) dreams big on the real estate scenario but HUDA’s headquarter here is suffering from an acute staff crunch resulting in harassment to the general public. Interestingly, the staff has decreased during the past 30 years, while the work has increased manifold with the development of the city.
Files piling up at the HUDA office due to shortage of staff in Panchkula on Monday. — Tribune photo by Manoj Mahajan

Bio-diversity pond inaugurated
Mohali, February 25
A bio-diversity pond was inaugurated by the president of the Chandigarh unit of the Environment Society of India, S.K. Sharma, by planting a yellow water lily here today.

• Housing plan extended
• Letters

EDUCATION

PU Notes
PU organises mega dance competition
Chandigarh, February 25
‘Hip Hop Hustle’, a mega dance competition, was organised today at the Panjab University campus. Dance groups and students from the tri-city battled it out to emerge winners.

From Schools & Colleges
Students donate Rs 70,000 to save child
Chandigarh, February 25
Sankalp, a charity organisation of the students of DAV College, Sector 10, donated a sum of Rs 70,000 for the treatment of a critically ill child Zubair Ahmad Baht from Jammu and Kashmir. His parents, both daily wage earners, had lost all hopes when they could not find a way out to raise money refigured for their son’s treatment of a congenital heart disease.

Young graduates of Govt. Home Science College, Chandigarh, at the 40th Annual Convocation on Monday. — A Tribune photograph

85 students participate in bar-tending workshop
Mohali, February 25
‘Flamboyance’, a three-day workshop on the latest trends in bar-tending, organised by Rayat and Bahra Institute of Hotel Management, Sahauran, concluded here today. The first of its kind workshop on bar-tending saw as many as 85 students from eight hotel management institutions and colleges participating in a range of events and competitions.

COURTS

CHB to extend scheme
Chandigarh, February 25
Assailed from different quarters for coming out with an arbitrary housing scheme, the Chandigarh Housing Board today said it would extend it by 15 days. As the matter came up for hearing before a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, counsel appearing for the housing board made a statement to this effect.

Gupta back as senior standing counsel
Chandigarh, February 25
Seven months after he was asked to resign, leading city lawyer Anupam Gupta was today re-appointed as the senior standing counsel for Chandigarh. Gupta was asked to resign in July last year for participating in a demonstration against the orders of a High Court judge.

Driver acquitted of theft
Chandigarh, February 25
A local court today acquitted Gurpreet Singh in a theft case. The accused was a driver of a school bus. A complaint was registered against him that he had stolen the music system of the bus on August 12, 2006. 

Jai Veer Yadav bar panel chief
Chandigarh, February 25
Jai Veer Yadav was elected the chairman of the Punjab and Haryana Bar Council while Vajinder Singh Ahlawat was elected the vice-chairman and Harpreet Singh Brar was elected the secretary of the body.

ADMINISTRATION

National Awards
Admin to recommend only UT-cadre employees
Chandigarh, February 25
The Chandigarh administration has decided that in future recommendations for national awards will be made only for UT-cadre employees.

NEIGHBOURHOOD

Jagriti yatra marks Guru Granth Sahib’s anniversary
Ambala, February 25
On the 300th anniversary of Guru Granth Sahib, a ‘jagriti yatra’ started, from Nander Sahib reached here today. MLA Venod Sharma and a large number of Sikhs welcomed the yatra. The yatra started from Panjokhra Sahib Gurdwara in the morning and passed through Baldev Nagar, Model Town, Prem Nagar, Urban Estate and New Grain Market.



Devotees receive the golden palki on the occasion of Shri Guru Granth Sahib’s 300th anniversary in Ambala. — Tribune photo by Kamal Sachar

‘Include Bassi Pathana in central scheme’
Bassi Pathana, February 25
The councillors of Municipal Council unanimously passed a resolution urging the Punjab Government to recommend Bassi Pathana Council to be included in the list of the IDSMT (Integrated Development of Small and Medium Towns) scheme sponsored by the Central Government, meant for the overall development of small and medium towns, at the last meeting of their tenure held here today. A ray of hope has kindled for the residents of this town.

Girls attend a farewell party at Veer Haqueeqat Rai School in Patiala on Monday. — Tribune photo by Rajesh Sachar

INLD protests against LPG shortage
Ambala, February 25
Members of the Indian National Lok Dal staged a protest in Shah block today. They protested against the shortage of domestic LPG and its availability in the black market for double the rate. They also highlighted the problem of power supply.

National workshop for librarians
Patiala, February 25
The department of library and information science, Punjabi University, will organise a national workshop on ‘Quality indicators and best practices for academic libraries’ on the university campus from March 4 to 6.

Patiala archers in Indian team
Patiala, February 25
Two young archers from the city have been selected in the Indian team which will take part in the inaugural Asian grand prix archery championship slated to be held at Bangkok from February 26 to March 1.

SPORTS

Irina all set for Indian Women’s Open
Chandigarh, February 25
City golf icon Irina Brar, who reigned as the amateur golf queen of the country from 1999 to 2006 barring a lay off in 2003 because of a lower back recurring pain, is all set to capture the greens in the $ 1,50,000 DLF Indian Women’s Open to be played on the DLF Golf and Country Club in New Delhi next month.

PU dept of evening studies basketball champs
Chandigarh, February 25
Host Department of Evening Studies, Panjab University, emerged champions in the Panjab University Basketball (Evening and Educational Colleges) Championship (men) held on the campus ground here today.

Dev Samaj lift badminton trophy
Chandigarh, February 25
The local Dev Samaj College of Education, Sector 36, lifted the trophy beating MBBGRGC Girls College, Mansowal, by 2-1 in Panjab University Inter-College Badminton B Division (Women) Championship 2007-08 that concluded at the PU gymnasium hall here today.

Trials for weightlifting on March 1
Chandigarh, February 25
The Chandigarh Sports Department will conduct selection trials to choose Chandigarh civil services weightlifting and best physique team on March 1 at 9 am at the Multipurpose Hall of the Sector 42 Sports Complex.

Amit to lead Haryana Ranji team
Chandigarh, February 25
Amit Mishra will lead the Haryana Ranji team (one-day) as announced by the Haryana Cricket Association here today.

‘CLTA needs better coaches’
Chandigarh, February 25
Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association (CLTA) needs coaches with better qualification, felt Doug MacCurdy, a professional sports consultant on the CLTA premises, here yesterday.

YPS annual athletics meet opens
Chandigarh, February 25
The 29th Annual Athletics Meet 2008 was held at Yadavindra Public School, S.A.S. Nagar, today. The ceremony was started with the march past by the contingents of five houses-Patiala, Aitchison, Nalagarh, Ranjit and Tagore. The sports captain, Mohammed Wasim, took the oath on behalf of all the students.

A player in action during the 29th Annual Athletics Meet in Chandigarh, on Monday. — Tribune photo by Pradeep Tewari

Punjab, Haryana lift baseball trophies
Chandigarh, February 25
Punjab (women) clinched the trophy beating Haryana by 6-1 in the finals of the baseball nationals organised by the Baseball Federation of India (BFI) and Women Baseball Federation of India (WBFI) and being played at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 23, here today.

Players clash during baseball match
Chandigarh, February 25
Heated argument was witnessed during the ongoing national baseball tournament being played at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 23, yesterday. The match was played between Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh. The shuffle started during the time when the batter of Himachal Pradesh incidentally pushed a fielder of the Famous Club.

Vishal Sharma of Chandigarh in action during the baseball national at Sector-23, Chandigarh, on Monday. — Tribune photo by 
Pradeep Tewari

CRIME

Two cars, bike stolen
Chandigarh, February 25
Four vehicles, including two cars, were stolen from the city. A.D. Arora of Sector 15-D reported to the police alleging that his car (PB-31-1200) was stolen from the PGI on February 22.

CULTURE

Play on kidney racket sale staged
Chandigarh, February 25
The Theatre Arts group presented a short play “Gurda Bikta hai” in nukkad natak form at the plaza here today. Written by Ashwini- Mukesh, the play juxtaposed the heinous kidney racket sale run by some notorious doctors who were engaged in spoiling the reputation of this noble profession.