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3 killed as shell explodes in Panchkula
12 hurt as 2 teenagers try to extract metal from unexploded bomb; most injured are kids
Panchkula, September 13
Two boys and a youth were killed, while 12 others, including two women, injured seriously in an explosion at Ambedkar Colony, a slum in Sector 21, here today. The police said the tragedy struck the area when two children were trying to extract metal from an unexploded bombshell before selling it to junk dealer.

Belongings of the blast victims; and (right) a view of the grocery shop where the blast took place. Tribune photos: S Chandan

They put lives at risk for little money
Panchkula, September 13
Though the panic gripped the area following the blast of unexploded bomb, leading to three casualties and injuries to 12 of Ambedkar Colony, such incidents were not new to the people here in the district.

The injured in emergency ward of General Hospital, Sector 6. Tribune photo: S. Chandan

Rule of dominance
Bureaucrats encroach upon footpaths to extend lawns, accommodate security staff
Chandigarh, September 13
Even as the Chandigarh administration has mooted a proposal to allow road berms to be used for parking purpose, bureaucrats have encroached upon these berms adjoining their official houses for personal lawns or accommodating their security staff.

The boundary wall of house No. 909 in Sector 7-B that has been extended up to the road making it a blind curve. Tribune photos: Pradeep Tewari	A road berm adjoining the official residence of former UT Home Secretary Krishan Mohan in Sector 7-B, which has been occupied by his security staff.

5 armed youths nabbed
Zirakpur, September 13
The CIA wing of the district police today claimed to have arrested five armed youths, who were planning a robbery, from their rented accommodation in Sharma Enclave, Sigma City, Zirakpur. Two revolvers and eight live cartridges have been recovered from the youths.

Indians hold key positions in Australian varsities
Chandigarh, September 13
Students from India dominate Australian educational institutions, including universities and academics of Indian origin occupy key positions there. Even the strategic South Asia desk in Australian International Education is handled by a bureaucrat of Indian origin, Vipan Mahajan, who has roots in Panchkula.

COMMUNITY

SMOKY ROUTE: A man tries to evade poisonous fumes emanating from a truck in Mohali on Sunday. Tribune photo: Vicky Gharu MIRROR IMAGE: Youngsters walk on the pavement as the road at the Sukhna Lake is waterlogged following heavy rains during the past few days. Tribune photo: Nitin Mittal

25,000 flats to make city slum-free
11,000 units to be handed over to slum dwellers by the end of 2010; project to cost of Rs 1,115 crore
Chandigarh, September 13
The administration has decided to provide social infrastructure such as schools, crèches, dispensaries, anganwaris and shops in the settlement areas where one-room tenements are being built to house slum dwellers.

UT admn to get new look
Brijendra Singh joins as DC today
Chandigarh, September 13
A new-looking UT administration is on the cards in the weeks to come. With the ministry of home affairs (MHA) deciding that after November 16, Chandigarh would revert back under the Chief Commissioner system of governance, a large-scale administration changes are set to take place.

Workshop on transfusion medicine
Chandigarh, September 13
A two-day National Continuous Medical Education (CME) programme-cum-workshop on transfusion medicine concluded today at the PGI. The workshop was organised by the department of transfusion medicine.

Indo-Kazak team scales Central Asian peak
Chandigarh, September 13
A joint mountaineering team comprising six members from the Indian Army and eight from the Kazakhstan Army has returned after successfully scaling Marble Wall Peak, a technically challenging and difficult feature in Kazakhstan.

Mind your language
Mohali, September 13
Punjabi may be the official language of the state, yet various government departments seem to be careless in spelling it right. A case in point was today’s official function of the Rural Development Panchayats Department here in which bloomers were noticed on the backdrop of the stage.

Jasraj wins bronze in film making
Chandigarh, September 13
Young film maker Jasraj Singh Bhatti has won a bronze medal in the individual documentary production category while representing India at the very prestigious 3rd Delphic Games in South Korea.

Jet spreads wings today
Chandigarh, September 13
Relief is set to arrive for air passengers as Jet Airway flights from the city are all set to be “on-air” from tomorrow. The flights, 9W 733 (Delhi-Chandigarh-Delhi) and 9W 318 (Mumbai-Chandigarh-Mumbai), will resume regular functioning tomorrow with the five-day Jet Airway strike coming to an end, confirmed Jet Airway Officials at the Chandigarh Airport.

NAP TIME: Virbhadra Singh, Minister of Steel, (extreme left) and Prof RC Sobti, VC, PU (centre) take a nap during a cultural function held at Law Auditorium, organised by the HPSU on Sunday. A Tribune photograph

Special train for festival season
Chandigarh, September 13
Considering the increased passenger traffic during this time of the year, Northern Railways has introduced super fast Puja/Diwali Allahabad- Chandigarh Express (No.483).

CityScope
The winds of change
Raveen Thukral
For a city like Chandigarh, the week gone by was quite an eventful one, in fact, in journalists' lingo, a newsy one. Monday morning broke with newspapers carrying stories about the teachers' recruitment scam in the Education Department.

CityScope Letters
Pelf and arrogance reign society
This has reference to the CityScope “Money and arrogance” by Raveen Thukral on September 7. I think our system stinks of favouritism towards the rich and influential. In China, there is misuse of power as well but if someone is found guilty, he is punished by the authorities even if he is well-connected.

Eye operation camp held
Chandigarh, September 13
The UT Health Department, in collaboration with local NGOs, organised an eye operation camp at Satsang Bhawan, Sector 26, here today. This camp was a step forward in the efforts of the administration to garner the support of NGOs for its motive to have cataract-free Chandigarh.

Doc suspected of swine flu
Chandigarh, September 13
A doctor at Government Multi-Specialty Hospital, Sector 16, was sent on leave today after he showed symptoms of swine flu. The UT nodal officer for swine flu H.C. Gera said, samples had been sent to the PGI lab for the tests. “The doctor was treating swine flu patients.

Ruby Lions Club distt president
Chandigarh, September 13
L Ruby Rikhy was appointed district president of the Lions Club (Nightingale) by district governor MK Kaushal here last night. At a function here, 10 wheel chairs and 10 sewing machines were distributed to needy persons.

EDUCATION

PU all set to launch radio channel
Chandigarh, September 13
Following nod from the Centre, Panjab University is all set to launch its community-based radio channel. The venture, which will be manned by youth from nearly 178 affiliated colleges and co-ordinated by the chairperson of the School of Communication Studies (SCS), PU, will cater to Mohali, Panchkula, Chandigarh and periphery villages.

NEIGHBOURHOOD

Railway Link
Ropar distt starts land acquisition
Ropar, September 13
Ropar district administration has initiated the land acquisition process from Bhanupali on the Sirhind-Nangal dam section of the Ambala division of Northern Railways to Bilaspur-Bairi broad gauge railway line link.

Painting, quiz contests at de-addiction camp
Bassi Pathana, September 13
The Gurmat Parchar Front, Punjab, in collaboration with the police today organised a seminar-cum-de-addiction camp at Bajidpur Mairan villages. Rajwant Singh Sohal, DSP, inaugurated the camp and was the key speaker at seminar, while Kulwinder Singh, president, Gurmat Parchar, presided over.

A patient being examined at a camp organised by Giants Group of Rajpura on Sunday. A Tribune photograph

Woman, son set ablaze
Kharar, September 13
A 24-year-old woman was allegedly set on fire, along with her one and half years old son, in Popnia village near here. While the toddler had succumbed to his burns, his mother is stated to be in a critical condition in the PGI, Chandigarh.

Two booked for fraud
Mohali, September 13
The Economic Offence wing of the Mohali police has booked Tegbant Singh, a resident of Bathinda, and Gurbhagat Singh Gill, a resident of Sector 68, for allegedly cheating a Phase IX resident on the pretext of selling his property to Varinder Pal Singh.

Teachers unpaid for six months
Fatehgarh Sahib, September 13
A meeting of the District Government Teachers Union was held under the presidentship of district president Ravinder Kumar Joshi, wherein issues pertaining to the teacher community were discussed.

Kalka ignored by state govt: Cong leader
Kalka, September 13
Due to the partial attitude of the state government and political difference, Kalka constituency has been deprived of many mega development projects in the last couple of years.

Landslide near Mallah bridge
Repair work disrupts traffic for second day
Kalka, September 13
Traffic could not be resumed on the Pinjore - Sarahan road on the second consecutive day, which connects Pinjore with more than forty villages of the Raitan area. Subsequently, hundreds of daily commuters had to face much inconvenience, as they had to use Amaravati Enclave road to reach their destinations.

Demand to shift returning officer’s office
Ambala, September 13
The Vikas Parishad has requested for shifting of the returning officer’s office from Ambala City to Ambala Cantonment. At present the nominations for the Ambala Cantt constituency are filed with the returning officer in Ambala City.

PNB gives loans to 242 farmers
Kharar, September 13
Eight branches of Punjab National Bank, covering Ropar and Fatehgarh Sahib districts, organised an agricultural credit disbursal function at Bungia village in Morinda.

CRIME

CCTV camera exposes bribery at railway station
Two GRP ASIs held
Chandigarh, September 13
A CCTV camera footage at the Chandigarh Railway station has brought to the fore an alarming instance of two Government Railway Police (GRP) assistant sub-inspectors harassing a 16-year-old passenger late last night.

Raids on to nab Babla
Chandigarh, September 13
The police today raided the house of Devinder Singh Babla, municipal councillor and former chairman of the market committee, who was booked on August 19, on the charges of cheating and criminal conspiracy for allegedly allotting auction platforms in the Grain Market to 10 ineligible persons.

8 arrested for trespass, assault
Chandigarh, September 13
Bharat Bhushan, a resident of Sector 44, alleged to the police that eight persons, including Manjit of Mohali, Pawan of Karnal, Narinder of Yamunanagar, Sucha Singh of Jalandhar, Karambir, Pawan Kumar, Sandeep and Sonu of Sonipat, tried to forcibly possess his plot at the industrial area and beaten him, yesterday.

Bank manager accuses cops of inaction
Chandigarh, September 13
Rakesh Verma, chief manager of the State Bank of India, Panchkula, has accused the police of inaction. In a letter to the UT Senior Superintendent of Police, Verma said the police has not dealt fairly with the case of alleged assault of his son by his neighbours in Mani Majra, in August this year.

Smack, ganja seized; 2 held
Chandigarh, September 13
The police has arrested Bablu from near the cremation ground, Sector 25, for possessing 1.2 kg of ganja yesterday. A case under Section 20 of the NDPS Act has been registered at the Sector 11 police station.

Man found dead
Chandigarh, September 13
A man in his mid fifties was found dead near Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 25, here today. The police said nobody was aware about his permanent address.

SPORTS

Kishan Lal Memorial TT
Dev bags youth boys title
Chandigarh, September 13
Dev Saini of New Public School, Sector 18, clinched youth boys’ title of Kishan Lal Memorial Invitational Table Tennis Tournament, played at table tennis hall, Sector 23, here today.

Ball Badminton SGGS College clinch title Chandigarh, September 13 SGGS College, Sector 26, clinched the title of Panjab University Inter-College Ball Badminton (Men) Championship, held at Gymnasium Hall, Panjab University, here today. Winners of the Panjab University Inter-College Ball Badminton Championship in a joyous mood in Chandigarh on Sunday. Tribune photo: Pradeep Tewari

DAVSSS-8 shine in Mahatma Hansraj tourney
Chandigarh, September 13
On the second day of the ongoing All-India Mahatma Hansraj Aryan Tournament being organised at DAVSSS-8, the hosts won three games, handball, basketball and lawn tennis, here today.

Formula fun race from Sept 25
Chandigarh, September 13
The Chandigarh Motor Sports Association in collaboration with Play Sports will organise a formula fun race for both four-wheelers and two-wheelers on September 25 and 26, here.