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15 illegal structures removed
Chandigarh, July 2
A team of the Chandigarh Administration carried out a demolition drive in Hallo Majra village located on the Chandigarh - Ambala highway and removed about 15 illegal structures from where commercial activity was being carried out.

A demolition drive in progress at Hallo Majra, near Chandigarh, on Friday. — A Tribune photograph

Murder accused Kang escapes from police custody
Chandigarh, July 2
A group of youths tonight forcibly took a Youth Akali Dal leader, murder accused Kiranbir Singh Kang, away from the Punjab Police custody from the PGI despite shots being fired by the police team.

The arrested supporters of Kiranbir Singh Kang who allegedly helped him to escape from Punjab police custody in Chandigarh on Friday. — Tribune photo by Manoj Mahajan

A bizarre conspiracy
Sister’s kidnapping, rape faked to settle court case
Chandigarh , July 2
The “herb doctors” came up with a bizarre scheme to implicate a relative in a rape and kidnap case in the city today. And, interestingly, like the bank manager’s kidnapping case a few days back, this one, too, was staged in order to pressurise estranged relatives to withdraw court cases.

Vidhushi and Gurdeep Kaur at the ‘Sakaar’ painting exhibition at Government Museum and Art Gallery, Sector 10, Chandigarh on Friday. — A Tribune photograph

UT Administration may sign new pact on water
Chandigarh, July 2
Realising that scarce drinking water resources will not be adequate for the city in the next five years or so, the Chandigarh Administration is aiming to sign a fresh agreement for supply of water to the city.

Decision on repatriation
of FS today
Chandigarh, July 2
A final decision on timing of repatriation of UT Finance Secretary Karan Avtar Singh to his parent cadre of Punjab will be taken tomorrow.

Book to unravel family laws for NRIs
Chandigarh, July 2
Comprehending Indian statutes and laws about problems encountered by British-Asians, including divorce, adoption, child custody and property issues, was never easy.

COMMUNITY

Power supply remains erratic
Panchkula, July 2
Residents of the district were forced to bear the brunt of heat as power supply remained erratic for another day. System overload in the township again forced the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam officials to shut the supply to industrial feeders for three hours during the day.

Erratic power supply in Sector 35 commercial centre
Chandigarh, July 2
An entire row of shops and hotels in Sector 35-B is having a tough time on account of erratic power supply in the area. For the third day in this week a breakdown occurred today and power supply was restored after five hours.

New woman SP to be accessible Panchkula, July 2 Ms Mamta Singh, Superintendent of Police, Panchkula, says she will work to make Panchkula a crime free district and will be accessible to the public all the time. Ms Singh was talking to newsmen after she took charge as the Superintendent of Police here today. Ms Mamta Singh, who took over as Superintendent of Police, Panchkula on Friday. — A Tribune photograph

Aaina for Kennedy Space Centre Chandigarh, July 2 Come July 12, a former student of Sacred Heart, Aaina Jain, will fly to Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, as part of a 18-member team to participate in a contest to design a human settlement on the moon.

Drive against polythene bags: 4 traders challaned
Chandigarh, July 2
In a drive against the use of polythene bags which are below the prescribed thickness, a team of the enforcement wing today raided seven places in the city, challaned four shopkeepers and confiscated about 170 kg of bags, which were below the prescribed limits.

• Date for photo ID-cards extended

• Hundreds take part in prabhat pheri

CRIME

74 mobile phones stolen from shop
Chandigarh, July 2
As many as 74 mobile phone sets worth around Rs 6 lakh were today reported stolen from a shop in Sector 22 here. Jatinder Sehgal, owner of Jatinder Electronics, said the thieves removed an exhaust fan from the toilet of the shop to gain entry into the shop from the rear side.

Fraudulent purchase of bars: one held
Chandigarh, July 2
The crime branch of the Chandigarh Police has arrested Parveen Aggarwal of Phase XI, Mohali, in connection with purchase of Rs 9.5 lakh worth of cold twisted deformed bars through a fake draft from Dera Bassi.

BUSINESS

Target for farm loans enhanced
Mohali, July 2
The target for providing loans for the agriculture sector by various banks of the district under the annual district credit plan for the year 2004-05 has been enhanced to Rs 379.53 crore from Rs 316.70 crores fixed earlier.

• Shaving products launched

EDUCATION

Class XI admissions: 780 reserved seats filled
Chandigarh, July 2
On the first day of counselling for admission to class XI in local government schools, around 780 seats in the reserved categories could be filled against a quota of 1200 seats. Today, around 1000 candidates turned up for counselling.

Art college holds tests for general candidates
Chandigarh, July 2
Government College of Art in Sector 10 was the hub of activity today, with the authorities holding aptitude test for admission to various seats under the general pool. There is 60: 40 ratio of seats reserved for UT pool and general pool, respectively in four disciplines of the college.

Imbroglio over fees continues
Chandigarh, July 2
The imbroglio over the fee structure in Shri Dhanwantry Ayurvedic College, Sector 46, continued today as the college maintained a status quo over charging the enhanced fee of Rs 81,600 from students who have been given admission by the counselling committee at Government Medical College, Sector 32.

CULTURE

Banda Singh Bahadur’s era recreated Chandigarh, July 2 Historical plays are always the most difficult to handle. They pose a challenge not only in terms of reproduction of an era, but also in terms of juxtaposition of historical facts. A scene from the historical play, “Baba Banda Singh Bahadur”, staged at Tagore Theatre by Holy Theatre under the aegis of Punjabi Kala Kendra on Friday. — Photo by Malkiat Singh

Bhatti releases 3 music albums
Chandigarh, July 2
Jaspal Bhatti today released three music albums produced by Golden Ball Musico. Titled, “Tera Mera Pyar Amar”, “Abhi Na Jao Chodkar” and “Kahin Deep Jale Kahin Dil”, the three albums feature songs by city based singers Brijesh Ahuja, Ranjana, Meenu Palta, Ritu Sharma, Muktesh Diwan and Richa Sharma.

LIFESTYLE

A beauty with brains                          “It is easy to distinguish between right and wrong but it is difficult to detect a wrong which appears to be right,” believes budding model Kanika Ashok who has come to the city to try her luck. “I wanted to be a civil servant but God had decided something else. Modelling just happened to me and I accepted it with gratitude,” says Kanika. For her life is a learning process and her philosophy is to live and let live.                     Kanika Ashok MTV-Balaji hold final auditions The MTV-Balaji combine played the game of secrecy on Friday. After managing media attention for the first two days of the auditioning, that aims to pick talent for the new serial being made by Ekta Kapoor, both MTV and Balaji suddenly chose to withdraw today.

He wishes to set up magic academy “Magic is the most popular form of entertainment because it arouses curiosity. Punjabis exhibit a keen desire to learn this art”, says world famous magician, Jadugar Samarat Shankar, who recently returned from London after doing some shows there. He recently performed in Chandigarh, Ludhiana and Jalandhar where he got a good response. Healing through yoga   Here is a way to gain greater control on ourselves. Yoga, an ancient science with curative powers, is being marketed to heal us. This is a sermon on yoga from Priya Khetrapal who has come from the USA to hold yoga classes. “Through yoga we become more aware of our body and psychological state. By practicing it we can balance our thoughts and feelings.                                    Priya Khetrapal

SPORTS

St Stephen’s lads for Dhaka Chandigarh, July 2 Members of the St Stephen’s Soccer Academy left for Bangladesh today to participate in the BKSP (under-16) Football Tournament to be held in Bangladesh between July 5 to 12. The academy has been invited by the Bangladesh Institute of Sports, Dhaka.

Meghna, Arshdeep win TT titles
Chandigarh, July 2
Meghna Kakaria DAV Public School, Sector 8, and Arshdeep of Patiala won the cadet girls single and cadet boys singles titles at Sector 23 table tennis hall today. In the cadet girls singles final top seeded Meghna defeated her team mate Barbie Nagpal also of DAVP School Sector 8.

Anti-chess game introduced
Chandigarh, July 2
If you want to win you have to lose. This is the essence of a scheme jointly introduced by Ethos and Swatch to give a new experience to youth. They introduced an anti-chess game here today.