C H A N D I G A R H

Top stories | Community | Education

Neighbourhood | Courts | Crime | Sports

TOP STORIES

Kalagram Spat
NZCC, Home Secy patch up
Chandigarh, October 29
After the war of words during the past few days which cast its shadow on the ongoing first Chandigarh Crafts Fair, the UT administration and the North Zone Cultural Centre appear to have buried the hatchet on setting up the ‘shilpgram’ on the lines of New Delhi’s ‘Dilli Haat’.

Artistes perform a dance during the National Crafts Mela at Kalagram in Chandigarh on Thursday. Tribune photo: Nitin Mittal

UT gives fire safety norms the go-by
Chandigarh, October 29
Visitors to the ongoing crafts mela at Kalagram should be prepared to enter the site at their own risk as there is gross violation of fire safety norms where it is being organized by the Chandigarh administration.

A water tanker blocks access to Kalagram during crafts mela in Chandigarh. A Tribune photograph

5 more down with swine flu
Chandigarh, October 29
With five more people including two infants testing positive for the H1N1 virus, the total number of confirmed swine flu cases in the city has gone up to 56. "The test results of five suspected swine flu cases tested positive today. Of the total positive cases one is admitted at PGI with the rest undergoing treatment at their homes where they have been quarantined,” UT nodal officer for swine flu HC Gera said.

Bungling
Scanner on school principal
Chandigarh, October 29
UT home cum education secretary has marked a vigilance inquiry against the authorities of Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 45, for indulging in financial irregularities including overcharging students for the school diaries and identity cards provided to them.

Mohali set to expand limit
CM orders feasibility study for including 28 villages
Mohali, October 29
Within three years of being carved out of the Ropar, Patiala and Fatehgarh districts, the jurisdiction of Mohali district is likely to widen with the inclusion of several more villages of Patiala district.

COMMUNITY

Fiza to enter national politics Mohali, October 29 Unveiling her plans of entering national politics, Fiza a.k.a. Anuradha Bali today said she had decided to start her political career from Uttar Pradesh. She was in contact with many national and state political parties in this regard, she added. Addressing a press conference at her residence here, Fiza, who married former Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Chander Mohan in December, which led to several controversies, said though she had had offers to join parties since the very beginning, she had been looking for an appropriate time. Fiza addresses mediapersons after lighting earthen lamps to celebrate the debacle of the HJC in Haryana Assembly elections in Mohali on Thursday. Tribune photo: Vicky Gharu

BKU (Ekta) chief, gen secy turn in

Chandigarh, October 29 Two senior leaders of the Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta) today surrendered before the police at Sector 17 police station in connection with attempt to murder, rioting and looting cases registered against them following violence and rampage during the September 8 farmers rally. The president and the general secretary of the BKU (Ekta), flanked by their advocates, enter the Sector 17 police station in Chandigarh on Thursday. Tribune photo: Pardeep Tewari

Epilepsy syndromes among kids highlighted Chandigarh, October 29 Three pre-conference workshops on the “International Paediatrics Neurology and Epilepsy Conference” were held today at the PGI. The first workshop on “Paediatric Epilepsy and Electroencephalography” was conducted by Dr A Prasad from Canada. A pre-conference workshop on ECG and epilepsy being organised at PGI on Thursday. A Tribune photograph

1 lakh kids given polio drops
Chandigarh, October 29
As many as 1,01,558 children below the age of five years, including newborns, were administered polio drops at various centres across the city in pulse polio immunization campaign carried out for three days by house-to-house coverage in rural/slums/colonies and other high-risk areas like construction sites.

Satellite imaging for rail navigation soon
Chandigarh, October 29
The state-of-the-art satellite imaging for rail navigation (SIMRAN) is to be developed by the Railway Design Standard Organisation (RDSO), in association with IIT Kanpur, which will not only help in locating the train and its speed, but also in its smoothing running in foggy conditions.

A girl walks the ramp during kids’ fashion show at The British School in Chandigarh on Thursday. Tribune photo: Pradeep Tewari A play ‘Mitti Da Bawa’ being staged during the Youth and Heritage Festival at GGDSD College, Sector 32, in Chandigarh on Thursday. Tribune photo: Nitin Mittal

Dog bites five Punjab sectt staffers
Chandigarh, October 29
A dog created panic in the Punjab Mini Secretariat at Sector 9 today when it bit five employees, including Punjab under secretary Som Singh, and also attacked other stray dogs.

Khadya Nigam staff hold protest
Chandigarh, October 29
Following the call for a protest by the national committee of the Bhartiya Khadya Nigam Karamchari Sangh (BKNKS), union members from the Punjab region held a demonstration outside the Sector 31 office of the Food Corp of India general manager.

DM orders on engaging labour
Chandigarh, October 29
District Magistrate Brijendra Singh, as an emergency measure, has directed employers and other residents of Chandigarh, who engage contract labour on daily wages for petty services, to provide their details to the SHOs concerned.

Implementation of policy for elderly reviewed
Chandigarh, October 29
A seminar to review the implementation of the national policy for senior citizens was organised at Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration by Help Age, an NGO, in collaboration with the Centre for Participatory Management and Voluntary Organisation, Chandigarh, and Federation of Senior Citizens’ Associations, Punjab.

Nominations invited for women award
Chandigarh, October 29
The Ministry of Women and Child Development has invited nominations for "Stree Shakti Puraskar 2008 and 2009" to recognize the achievements of individual women in the field of social development.

Mayor dumps plan to buy trucks
Chandigarh, October 29
Heated arguments were exchanged between Mayor Kamlesh and Commissioner P K Sharma on various agenda points tabled for the approval in the Finance and Contract Committee meeting held here today.

EDUCATION

Science conference from today
Chandigarh, October 29
A three-day international conference on optics and photonics is being organised by the Central Scientific Instruments Organisation from October 30 to mark the golden jubilee celebrations of the institute’s laboratory.

Half-working day in schools
Chandigarh, October 29
All government and aided schools will observe holiday for the 2nd half on October 31, for participating in Nagar Kirtan on the eve of birthday of Guru Nanak Dev.

NEIGHBOURHOOD

Empowerment camp for farmers
Ambala, October 29
A farmer empowerment camp was organised to impart training and knowledge in improving crop yield and quality of the produce at Mithapur village today. The camp targeted 100-150 farmers of the village. Technical resource support was imparted by scientists on four crops — wheat, gram, mustard and tomato.

Judgement In Triple Murder Case
No one has gained, feel victims’ kin
Takipur (Kurali), October 29
Amarjeet Kaur can finally sleep, three years after her three sons were brutally murdered at the village. The two convicted in the triple murder case yesterday were sentenced to death and life imprisonment, respectively, by a Ropar court today.

Round-the-clock medical store opened
Fatehgarh Sahib, October 29
A Jan Aushadhi medical store was opened at the local civil hospital here today. Medicines at economical prices would be provided to needy patients at the store round the clock.

Punjabi varsity bags overall trophy
Patiala, October 29
Hosts Punjabi University campus emerged overall champions during the Punjabi University Inter-Zonal Youth Festival, which concluded at the Guru Tegh Bahadur Hall of the university here today.

A star-studded affair
Patiala, October 29
The three-day inter-zonal youth festival at Punjabi University, Patiala, was a huge affair with various Punjabi stars coming to the city as special guests for the festival. Satwinder Bitti, also known as the Lata Mangeshkar of Punjab, was one among them.

Pay Scale
Dharna by non-teaching staff
Patiala, October 29
On the call given by Punjab and Chandigarh private-aided colleges, non-teaching unions of Khalsa College, Patiala, and MM Modi College, Patiala, staged dharnas in their respective colleges, demanding implementation of new-scales as per the UGC guidelines to non-teaching staff.

Taxi operators stage dharna
Fatehgarh Sahib, October 29
Members of the Punjab Taxi Union Sangharsh Committee staged a dharna against the alleged highhandedness of the police here today. They alleged that policemen deployed at busy intersections and main roads of the state had been harassing them over one pretext or the other and demanding money from drivers.

Tribune Impact
Fire Extinguishers
PSHRC seeks report from DC
Fatehgarh Sahib, October 29
The Punjab State Human Rights Commission (PSHRC) has taken suo motu notice of a report published in these columns today highlighting the apathy of authorities over the use of fire extinguishers in government schools.

One gets death, another life for killing 3 brothers
Ropar, October 29
One of the two suspects in the infamous triple murder in 2006 in Takipur village in Kurali was awarded the death sentence while another was sentenced to life imprisonment by a local court here.

Car accessories dealer held
Patiala, October 29
The Kotwali police today arrested Baldev Singh, a dealer in car accessories and owner of a shop on the Lower Mall, for selling duplicate car accessories of branded products.

5 held for robberies
Fatehgarh Sahib, October 29
The local police today arrested five persons for robberies at various places in and around Fatehgarh Sahib. In-charge of the local police station Devinder Attri said the accused had robbed people at various places in the district, including a couple near Fatehgarh Sahib.

PCMS Medical Officer
Health dept to fill all posts
Patiala, October 29
The department of health and family welfare, Punjab, has decided to fill all 106 posts of medical officer (general) for PCMS grade-1 general category. The department had earlier announced that 68 posts had been filled and 38 had been kept unfilled.

Students donate blood
Kharar, October 29
Rayat and Bahra College of Engineering and Biotechnology for Women, organised a blood donation camp. Gurvinder Singh Bahra, vice-chairman Rayat and Bahara Group of Institutions, inaugurated the camp.

800 students for Aranya fest
Patiala, October 29
Aranya ’09, techno-management festival, of Thapar University, Patiala, began on the university campus here today. The entire campus was abuzz with students gearing up for their respective events.

Media centre launched
Zirakpur, October 29
A hi-tech media centre was inaugurated by Punjab Forest Minister Tikshan Sud at Dikshant International School, Zirakpur, here yesterday. The media centre houses over 10,000 volumes, an electronic reference centre, online subscribed resources.

Tribune Impact
Locked toilets opened
Zirakpur, October 29
The students finally had access to the four toilets, kept under lock and key, a day after a report highlighting the issue was published in these columns today. The authorities concerned opened the washrooms and locked the toilet that was in bad shape.

9 hurt in Parwanoo factory fire
Kalka, October 29
Nine persons sustained burn injuries after a major fire broke out in a factory at Parwanoo here today. According to sources, fire broke out in unit-1 of Ind-Swift factory in Sector 2 around 5 pm, resulting in burn injuries to nine persons.

Rickshaw-puller found murdered
Ambala, October 29
The body of a rickshaw-puller was found in a room near Prem Nagar at Ambala City this morning. The victim has been identified as Ram Lal. According to sources, Ram Lal was living alone. The neighbours noticed the body in the room this morning and informed the police.

COURTS

7-yr-jail for raping personal secy
Chandigarh, October 29
A local court today sentenced Anurag Aggarwal (30), owner of a Sector 22 loan facilitator company Action Group, to seven years of rigorous punishment in addition to paying a compensation of Rs 50,000 for raping his personal secretary.

High Court notice to Home Secy
Chandigarh, October 29
Taking cognisance of a petition for initiating contempt proceedings against Union Home Secretary Gopal Krishna Pillai and others, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued notices for November 26 on a petition filed by six Punjab IPS officers presently holding DIG rank.

Realtor Murder Case
HC stays arrest of 3 suspects till Nov 23
Panchkula, October 29
In a major setback to the Panchkula police, probing the alleged murder of realtor Deepak Rai Sagar, Punjab and Haryana High Court has granted stay on the arrest of three suspects till November 23.

CRIME

2 of gang involved in robbery bid at school held
Chandigarh, October 29
The Chandigarh police said it had arrested two members of a gang of robbers in connection with the armed robbery attempt made at Sacred Heart School a couple of weeks ago. The Sector 26 police station SHO said acting on a tipoff the cops apprehended one Ramji of Sector 56 two days ago.

Motorcyclist held for displaying fake number plates
Chandigarh, October 29
The police arrested a Mohali resident for allegedly displaying a fake registration number on his motorcycle. It said James of Nayagaon was apprehended near Khuda Lahora on Wednesday while he was riding the motorbike with a fake number plate. After verifying the documents a police team found the registration number had been originally allotted to a Maruti Alto car. A case has been registered.

Caterer accused of failing to pay dues
Chandigarh, October 29
Employees of an events management company filed a police complaint against the owner of a catering contractor, Commando Caterers for not paying his dues. In his complaint, Saurabh Aggarwal of Invincible Event Management Co alleged that Kanwaljit Walia, owner of Commando Caterers, had hired 20 girls, ten boys and five supervisors for promotions and for several events including folk dance and reception of foreign delegates.

Car Thefts
3 of well-off families held
Panchkula, October 29
The local police has arrested three youths belonging to well-off families for their alleged involvement in theft of cars in the town. In-charge of police post, Sector 10, Surjeet Singh said the three — Aditya, a resident of Sector 10, his cousins Sumit and Gautam — were planning to steal a car when a police team caught them near a temple in Sector 7 here.

SPORTS

Stephen’s, John’s in soccer meet final
Chandigarh, October 29
St Stephen’s School, Sector 45, and St John’s School, Sector 26, stormed into final of the Chandigarh Football Association Coca Cola Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy for U-15 Boys Football Tournament. The final match will be played at the Sector 17 Football Stadium tomorrow.

Table Tennis
Aditya makes it to semis
Mohali, October 29
Top seed and Chandigarh ranked number one Aditya Pandey of Manav Mangal High School, Sector 21, steered into the semifinal after defeating Haryana number three Kartikay of Gurgaon by 11-5, 13-11 and 11-9 in the boys Under-14 quarterfinal of the Seventh Manav Mangal Open Table Tennis at Manav Mangal Smart School, Sector 64, here today.

SGGS College record win Chandigarh, October 29 SGGS College, Chandigarh, thrashed LLR Government College, Dhudike, by 8-1 in the Panjab University Inter-College Hockey A Division Tournament (men) being played at the Hockey Stadium, Sector 42, here today. A match in progress at the Hockey Stadium, Sector 42, Chandigarh. Tribune photo: Vinay Malik

Nandani emerges winner
Chandigarh, October 29
Nandani Sharma of St Anne’s School, Sector 32, did proud to Chandigarh by winning the girls doubles final in the AITA Championship being played in Dehradun. Talented Nandani, partnering Shristi Dhanda of Haryana, defeated Karman Kaur of Delhi and Harsimran Kaur of Haryana by 5-3, 2-4 and 10-7 in the girls’ under-12 doubles final.