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No new MC tax this time
Chandigarh, February 27
The city residents have much to cheer about as no new tax will be imposed on them in the coming financial year. A no-deficit budget of Rs 368.76 crore was presented by Mr Surinder Singh, Mayor, MCC, in the House today. It showed a surplus of Rs 117 crore.

Residents expect tax relief in Budget
Chandigarh, February 27
City residents are confident that the Budget to be tabled in Parliament tomorrow by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram will be very well thought-out and will contain several beneficiary announcements for the ordinary man as well as the economy of the country with special emphasis on rural and infrastructure development. Most people are hopeful that the Budget will be people-oriented and it will have tax concessions and lowering of custom duties and tariffs on items of use by the common man.

Police yet to find triple-murder weapon
Chandigarh, February 27
The failure to recover the country-made pistol used in the Sector 34 triple-murder case continues to give sleepless nights to the Chandigarh Police. Three massive search operations were undertaken in areas near Ambala, where the suspects have said to have thrown the weapon, but to no avail. Without the seizure of the weapon of murder, conviction may become difficult, experts maintain.

Chaos marks test for teachers Chandigarh, February 27 Confusion prevailed at the Government Girls Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 21, today over the eligibility criteria for selecting nursery teachers under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan. Candidates for the post of nursery teachers protest at GGMSSS, Sector 21, Chandigarh, following the rejection of their applications on Monday.

25 per cent officers in JAG Branch to be women
Chandigarh, February 27
Women officers in the Army's Judge Advocate General's (JAG) Department would soon comprise 25 per cent of its strength. A policy decision to this effect was taken by Army Headquarters recently, it is learnt.

CHANDIGARH CALLING With the FM Radio boom hitting the new cities, voice culture is the new mantra for the wanna-be radio jockeys(RJs). And to cater to the emerging demands of the RJs, another institute has come up in the city.The Voice and Vision Media Academy, a venture of the Safal Production, announced its launch by organisinhg a free voice culture workshop the other day.

COMMUNITY

Ecstatic Mohali to celebrate today
Mohali, February 27
Grand celebrations have been planned by Mohali residents for tomorrow when the Chief Minister, Captain Amarinder Singh, is expected to formally announce the formation of a new district in the state that would include Mohali, Dera Bassi and Kharar tehsils.

Police picks up 4 youths, villagers block traffic

Mullanpur Garibdass, February 27 Hundreds of residents of Mullanpur Garibdass village today blocked traffic on the Chandigarh-Mullanpur road here this morning protesting against the Ropar police. Irate residents alleged that the CIA staff of the Ropar police had picked up four youths of the village for no reason at all. Mullanpur Garibdass residents block the traffic as they protest against the Punjab Police on Monday. — Tribune Photo by Pradeep Tiwari

Admn should ask villagers: Aiyar
Move to merge villages in MCC
Chandigarh, February 27
The Chandigarh Administration should get a feedback from the rural population as to whether they want to be a part of the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC) before initiating any action to this direction, said Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar, Union Minister for Panchayati Raj, while addressing a press conference at the UT Guest House here this evening.

Zirakpur booming at residents’ expense
Zirakpur, February 27
This small township, which exhibits the state-of-the-art apartments, shopping malls and multiplexes, presents a picture of neglect on the basic amenities front. While private builders promise prospective buyers the moon, residents continue to be at the receiving end so far as basic amenities are concerned.

Demand for uniform amenities in tricity
Panchkula, February 27
The Citizens Welfare Association has sought Punjab and Haryana to honour the Reorganisation of States Act, 1966 by providing all civic amenities and facilities to Mohali and Panchkula on a par with Chandigarh.

Waste blocks water for land
Chandigarh: The recharging of groundwater in the city is declining fast due to shrinking of permeable surface and to make the matter worse, the Administration is converting low-lying areas into “malba” dumping sites.

SMS vote costly
Chandigarh, February 27 Are you often swayed by promotional SMS from various media, urging you to vote for your favourite singer, idol or for participation in a game show? If yes, do not blame the cell phone operator the next time your bill hits the roof.

Fauji Beat
Army, too, contributed to its neglect
In our column : "Background to Army's neglect" (February 21) we had brought out how sidelining of the Army started from Nehru's time. But to say that the Army did not contribute to its neglect, will be wrong.

Gen J.J. Singh coming today
Chandigarh, February 27
Chief of the Army Staff, Gen J.J. Singh, will be arriving at Headquarters Western Command, Chandimandir, tomorrow to review a major war game. This is his first official here since he relinquished charge as the GOC-in-C, Western Command, a year ago to take over as the Army Chief.

Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar (extreme right), Union Minister of Panchayati Raj, looks at exhibits at Khuda Lahora village in Chandigarh on Monday. The village is being developed by the UT as a centre for rural tourism.  — A Tribune photograph

Renal patient seeks help
Chandigarh, February 27
At a time when he should be sharing some of the financial burden of his family, 24-year-old Sanjay Khataniyar feels guilty of adding to the family woes because of his illness.

Press Club poll on March 26
Chandigarh, February 27
The annual general body of Chandigarh Press Club, which met on Sunday, has fixed March 26 as the polling date to elect the Governing Council for 2006-07. The House approved the appointment of Surinder Singh, Chief Sub-Editor, Punjabi Tribune, as the Returning Officer for the elections. He has been authorised to appoint two assistant returning officers for the poll.

CRIME

Youths shatter ATM screen
Chandigarh, February 27
An unsuccessful attempt was made to steal money from an automated teller machine (ATM) of Bank of India in Sector 17 in the wee hours of Saturday. According to the police, two car-borne youths came around 2:30 am at the ATM and tried to draw money out of it. After failing to do so, they caused damaged to the machine by breaking the glass of its touchscreen with a brick.

Accident leads to traffic jam
Dera Bassi, February 27
The death of a 55-year-old woman in a road accident at Bhankharpur village near here resulted in the disruption of traffic on the busy Chandigarh-Ambala highway.

Student duped of scooter
Chandigarh, February 27
A con man duped a city resident of his scooter from Sector 35, besides two motor cycles were also stolen from here today. Sources in the Sector 36 police station said a student of class 11th, Utkarsh Goel, reported to the police that he was going on his LML Vespa scooter (PB-19-B-6313) and was signalled by a man to stop. The man urged to drop him at a house in Sector 36 as he wanted to pick a cylinder.

Realtor’s office burgled
Zirakpur, February 27
Burglars broke into the office of a prominent property consultant here last night. According to information, the burglars broke into the rear end of the office of Baldev Goel, Managing Director of the Goel Builders and Property Consultants, after breaking open the locks.

BUSINESS

Industry hopeful of sops
Mohali, February 27
Members of the Mohali Industries Association today expressed hopes from the Budget for 2006-07 to be presented by the Union Finance Minister tomorrow.

EDUCATION

Students of Tender Heart School, Sector 33, Chandigarh, at a fancy dress competition on Monday. — A Tribune photograph

From PU
Seminar on spectroscopy
Chandigarh, February 27
The Sophisticated Analytical Instrumentation Facility (SAIF), Panjab University, organised a one-day workshop on NMR Spectroscopy here today. As many as 32 participants from various industries, research and development and academic institutions of the region took part in the workshop. Addressing the inaugural session, SAIF Director Prof Subhash Bedi highlighted the achievements of the centre, including installation of new instruments and the pipeline projects.

PU Jhankar begins today

Chandigarh, February 27 All is set for the three-day cultural extravaganza Jhankaar that begins at the Panjab University here tomorrow. Students of Panjab University, Chandigarh, take out the traditional Jaago procession on Monday to mark the beginning of the three-day cultural festival Jhankaar to be inaugurated on Tuesday in Law Auditorium of the university. — Tribune photo by Manoj Mahajan

Dikshant school annual day
Chandigarh, February 27
The fourth annual day and prize distribution function of Dikshant International School, near Zirakpur, was held at Yavanika, Sector 5, Panchkula, recently. Capt Kanwaljit Singh, former Finance Minister, Punjab, was the chief guest.

COURTS

Case against Bhatti withdrawn
Chandigarh, February 27
The VHP has withdrawn a case against comedian Jaspal Bhatti for hurting the sentiments of Hindus. According to information, the case was withdrawn from a local court following an "out-of-court settlement" between the two parties. Bhatti apologised to the VHP following which the case was withdrawn.

HEALTH

Training for AIDS counsellors begins
Chandigarh, February 27
A four-day training programme for HIV/AIDS counsellors began at School of Public Health, PGIMER, here today. The programme was inaugurated by Dr Sonia Trikha, Project Director, State AIDS Control Society , UT, while Prof Rajesh Kumar, Head of Department, School of Public Health, Department of Community Medicine, welcomed delegates.

SPORTS

Ashwani enters boxing finals

Chandigarh, February 27 Ashwani Sharma of Punjab ensured his place in the finals of 13th All-India Invitation AK Misra Memorial Boxing Championship being held at the Sector 10 skating rink here. He thrashed Sanjay Kotle of the Army Sports Institute, Pune, 34-24 in a semifinal of the flyweight category today. A bout in progress between Balbir Singh (red) and Suranjay (blue) during the 13th All-India Invitation AK Misra Memorial Boxing Championship at Sector 10 skating rink in Chandigarh on Monday. — A Tribune photograph

Cricket fans queue up for tickets

Mohali, February 27 The cricket fever has started gripping the city people again with the commencement of sale of tickets for the forthcoming Test match between India and England at the Punjab Cricket Association stadium here. The second Test of three-match Indo-England series will be held from March 9 to 13. Cricket fans queue up in front of a ticket sale counter at the PCA stadium, Mohali, on Monday. — Photo by Vicky Gharu

Shuttle King to train UT players
Chandigarh, February 27
Wing Commander Satish Bhatia, former national badminton champion, who created a flutter with his spin service, almost demolishing eight-time world champion, Rudy Hartono of Indonesia, will coach budding shuttlers at the Sector 42 badminton stadium. He has been appointed the badminton coach by the Chandigarh Sports Council.

Lalli beats Kakria in snooker
Chandigarh, February 27
H. S. Lalli got the better of Vikas Kakria by 2-1 in the first round (best of 3 frame) of the ongoing 10th Billiards and Snooker Championship at Chandigarh Club here today.

Sports meet at Saupin’s
Chandigarh, February 27
Saupin’s School, Sector 32, organised its cultural and sports meet for pre-primary classes today. All students of pre-primary classes participated in the meet. The major events of the day included a western dance, and a popcorn dance by the students. The students also participated in vegetable race, bride and bridegroom race, bindi race and courier race.