C H A N D I G A R H

Top stories | Community | Education

Neighbourhood | Crime | Sports

TOP STORIES

City shivers at 7.6°C
Records coldest day of the season;
rail, air, road traffic hit
Chandigarh, December 30
Chandigarh today experienced the coldest day of the season with maximum temperature touching 16 degrees Celsius and minimum dropping to 7.6 as cold winds blew throughout the day. According to the Met department, the temperature will further fall in the next few days, as there are chances of rainfall in the city.

‘CHILL OUT’: City residents gather around a bonfire to keep themselves warm, with region shivering from fog and chilly weather. Tribune photo: Parvesh Chauhan

Bansal guns for Rodrigues
Seeks review of controversial mega projects
Chandigarh, December 30
Breaking his silence on the “pet but controversial mega projects” of UT Administrator S.F. Rodrigues, Minister of State for Finance Pawan Bansal today sought the review of the mega projects for their alleged lopsided model of revenue sharing “heavily loaded against the administration”.

Worn-out buses to run on city roads
Admn asks STA to pass 16 old CTU buses that have outlived
Chandigarh, December 30
The Chandigarh Administration today set a new precedent by giving a go ahead to the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) buses that already had outlived their time span.

Education dept under scanner
Appoints retired employee as consultant
Chandigarh, December 30
The appointments at the UT Education Department have come under a scanner once again as the department has allegedly accommodated one of it’s retired employees, Govardhan Das, as consultant (private schools) for a period of three months.

COMMUNITY

MC Elections
BSP not to support Cong, BJP candidates
Chandigarh, December 30
To drive wedge between the BJP-SAD alliances in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation's mayoral elections, the BSP party today announced to support only Gurnam Singh, a SAD candidate, for the post of senior deputy mayor in the coming elections.

Councillors object to MLA running proceedings
Mohali, December 30
Certain councillors belonging to the opposition group objected to Kharar MLA Balbir Singh Sidhu trying to run proceedings of the General House at a meeting held today instead of the council president Rajinder Singh Rana.

Mock evacuation drill at RBI office

Chandigarh, December 30 Tense situation prevailed in and around the building of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) at Sector 17 as the joint mock evacuation drill commenced here this evening as a cavalcade of police and fire-brigade vehicles, blowing sirens, rushed towards the building. Anxious onlookers watch the rescue operation during a mock drill conducted at the Reserve Bank of India office in Sector 17, Chandigarh, on Tuesday. Tribune photo: Manoj Mahajan

Markets wear deserted look
Blame it on recession, cold weather, terror attacks
Chandigarh, December 30
As the city prepares to step into the New Year, shoppers are not thronging the city markets. Already hit by a global meltdown, shopkeepers are finding it hard to sell their stocks as the number of shoppers and tourists frequenting the commercial markets has gone down.

New Year celebrations likely to be sombre, subdued
Chandigarh, December 30
Not withstanding the “Star studded night 2009” in the Taj, it is otherwise going to be sombre and subdued New Year celebrations in the city this year. Though the New Year is round the corner but the excitement of celebrations amongst people is much less, which is evident from the absence of any hype and hoopla in public places as compared to the previous years.

Playtime

Children make merry as the sun shines in Sector 17, Chandigarh. Tribune photo: Manoj Mahajan

New Year Celebrations
Police set to deal with violators strictly
Chandigarh, December 30
To make the New Year celebrations safe, the local police is taking hard steps to control the traffic and security arrangements. More than 1,800 cops have been deployed for the purpose, and special nakas will be laid down in various parts of the city.

No party beyond 12.30 am on New Year eve
Mohali, December 30
The district administration is set to play spoilsport for the new-year revellers, who have made grand plans to dance their way in to the new year. The District Magistrate, Mohali, in prohibitory orders, has banned opening of hotels, restaurants, marriage palaces and clubs beyond 12.30 am on the eve of the New Year.

Bridge rural-urban divide: Ansari Chandigarh, December 30 To provide good and effective governance, we need to have cooperative interaction between different social circles of society. The rural and urban strata should be brought together for promoting holistic knowledge through inter-disciplinary research”, opined Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Mohammed Hamid Ansari.
Vice-President Mohammed Hamid Ansari (extreme left) receives a memento during the inauguration of a new block at the Institute for Development and Communication, Sector 38, Chandigarh, on Monday. Tribune photo: S. Chandan

‘Chronic sinusitis may be cancerous’
Chandigarh, December 30
“It is advisable to get sinusitis properly diagnosed and treated by a specialist doctor at an early stage as it could be a cancerous tumor in some cases,” states Dr Parul Goyal, director rhinology and sinus surgery, SUNY Upstate University, New York. He was speaking at a CME programme organised by Fortis, Mohali at the hospital auditorium.

Cold response to auction of ‘fancy’ numbers
0025 goes for just Rs 45,000
Mohali, December 30
Cash-rich farmers of villages in the periphery of Mohali are holding back their money while bidding for fancy vehicle registration numbers in the district. This cold response of the owners of newly purchased vehicles was visible in the auction of fancy vehicle numbers (PB 65 H series) at the office of the district transport officer here today.

Students and staff members of the Touchstone Group at a condolence meeting to pay homage to the martyrs and victims of the Mumbai tragedy, in Sector 17, Chandigarh, on Tuesday. Tribune photo: Parvesh Chauhan Without caring for the law, shopkeepers in Phase X, Mohali, have heavily pruned trees. The custodian of the trees in the parking areas is the Mohali Municipal Council. Tribune photo: Vicky Gharu

Civic Amenities
Shalimar Enclave residents get relief
Zirkapur, December 30
The harassed residents and plot-holders of the Shalimar Enclave in Dhakola village area here have heaved a sigh of relief following the undertaking given by the GMADA before the Punjab and Haryana High Court to make efforts to provide the promised basic civic amenities within six months.

Seminar on Josh Malihabadi ends
Chandigarh, December 30
The propagation of rich Urdu literature among the masses in a phased manner in general and revival of the legendary Urdu poet, Josh Malihabadi remained on the top agenda at a two-day seminar, which concluded here today.

Applications invited for general pool houses
Chandigarh, December 30
The House Allotment Committee, Chandigarh Administration, has invited applications for allotment of various categories of general pool houses in Chandigarh for the year 2009-10.

‘Misuse’ of car fuel
Mayor gets admn letter
Chandigarh, December 29
The UT administration is reportedly tightening its noose around officials over the misuse of official allowances. According to sources, the administration has not even spared Mayor Pradeep Chabbra in this regard.

Beating by ASP
Pandey moves NHRC, seeks security
Chandigarh, December 30
A city-based human rights organisation took up the issue of the alleged thrashing of Arvind Kumar Pandey by ASP (Central) and his gunmen with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). It also sought security for Pandey.

EDUCATION

CHEMCON-2008 ends at PU
Chandigarh, December 30
The four-day annual conference of the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers (IIChE), CHEMCON-2008, concluded today at the department of chemical engineering and technology, Panjab University.

NEIGHBOURHOOD

Pinjore MC elections conclude
Jagmohan Dhiman gets highest 826 votes
Kalka, December 30
The third election of the Municipal Committee, Pinjore, concluded today peacefully. Although the voting started at 8 am yet the voters started to throng the polling booths from 7.30 am onwards. Long queues of the voters to cast the votes were witnessed throughout the day.

Children warm their hands on a chilly and foggy morning in Ambala on Tuesday. Tribune photo: Kamal Sachar

Youth’s Murder
One held, three accused still at large
Kharar, December 30
Kharar police has arrested Ranjit Singh alias Rana, a resident of Landran road, for allegedly murdering 20-year-old youth Sandeep Singh. The accused was arrested today evening from Kharar. Ranjit's son Tony, who is main accused in the case, and Kirpal Singh alias Pal Singh and his son Sunny are still absconding.

3 die of asphyxiation
Bassi Pathana, December 30
Three labourers died due to asphyxia at nearby Dhunda village while they were asleep last night. One of the labourers was admitted to a hospital in unconscious state. DSP, Bassi Pathana, Rajwinder Singh Sohal said that four labourers burnt charcoal in a room to keep themselves warm.

CRIME

3 snatching incidents reported Chandigarh, December 30 A resident of Sector 42 here Renu Bala lodged an FIR alleging that an unknown person snatched her purse containing Rs 4,000, mobile phone, ATM card, gold bangle and some documents from Sector 17 on December 28. Stolen articles worth Rs 2 lakh recovered Chandigarh, December 30 The Chandigarh Police today claimed to have recovered stolen articles, including 1.75 kg of silver worth about Rs 2 lakh, from three burglars. The accused being taken for medical examination in Chandigarh on Tuesday. A Tribune photograph

SPORTS

Baseball Tourney Panjab varsity annex title Chandigarh, December 30 Panjab University who dominated the whole tournament, sneaked past Kurukshetra University 11-1 home runs today to lift the All-India Inter-University Baseball (women) Championship for the session 2008-09 here on PU ground. A baseball match in progress between Panjab University and Kurukshetra University during the All-India Inter-University Baseball (women) Championship in Chandigarh on Tuesday. A Tribune photograph

Manav Mangal girls fashion Haryana win
Panchkula, December 30
Manav Mangal School girls’ helped Haryana to win a bronze medal for the first time at the 3rd SAI National Tournament (Under-16 for boys and girls), which was held at Gurdaspur (Punjab).

Cricket Gold Cup Rajat leads Sec-16 academy to win Chandigarh, December 30 The Sector-16 Cricket Academy got the better of Bharti Vij's St S Academy by 5 wickets during the 1st CCA-GNPS Cricket Gold Cup that held at the Sector-16 cricket stadium here today. Players in action during a cricket match between Sector-16 Cricket Academy and St S Academy in Chandigarh on Tuesday. A Tribune photograph

Inter-Media Cricket Tournament
Indian Express outclass HT
Chandigarh, December 30
The Indian Express outclassed the Hindustan Times by 68 runs in the final of the ongoing Inter-Media Cricket Tournament organised by Chandigarh Press Club, here today at DAV School, Sector 8.