Banur, August 30
School students from the tricity will volunteer as zoo guides at the MC Zoological Park at Chhat Bir. These volunteers assisted by the zoo staff would mingle with zoo visitors, especially on weekends, and take them for a guided tour of the place.

Dharminder Sharma, field director of the zoo, said the zoo guide project for schools would serve a dual purpose. “It would sensitise students about wildlife and environment, now an integral part of classroom teaching. Also, it would help visitors understand better what they see,” said Sharma.

Students would be told about various animals in the zoo, their eating habits, natural environs and changes in behavior when in captivity. “For this, we intend to take the students around the campus several times and give them interesting details about the animals. Very few visitors, for example, know that each tiger has a name. Visitors would be curious to know how old these animals are and what they eat,” said Sharma.

Today, 20 students from Vivek High School in Chandigarh were given orientation lessons on zoo guides. The students were taken to the feed store, animal kitchen and veterinary hospital. They were also taken to the dens of tigers at the back of the enclosures.

“When young people deal with animals at close quarters, it generates love for nature. Students can learn so much by just studying these animals here. We invite students from all schools in the tri-city to join us as zoo guides. It is a wonderful hobby for weekends,” said a visibly excited Sharma. 

Chandigarh, August 30
UT SSP Dinesh Bhatt today appeared before the Division Bench comprising Justice Uma Nath Singh and Justice Rajive Bhalla and sought more time to nab SI Narinder Singh, accused of beating a Colony No.4 youth to death while in custody.

“We are trying our best,” Bhatt squeamishly told the Bench, even as R.S. Cheema appeared on behalf of the UT today. Cheema, too, pleaded for more time and said the police was making every effort to nab the SI. Justice Bhalla quipped there was some sort of camaraderie between the accused and the police force, as found among thieves.

Bhatt informed the Bench that the National Human Rights Commission was already in the picture. “It is the mandatory duty of the police to inform a case of custodial death to the human rights panel,” Bhatt submitted. 

The police request for time has been granted umpteen times by the Bench. The police seems to be buying time and sources said there was no clue about the whereabouts of Narinder Singh. Justice Singh brought it to the notice of the SSP that already the police had taken more than 20 days and the outcome was not particularly impressive. 

The Bench observed that its observations were not final but only an effort to prod the police into action. The SSP was also questioned on the alleged discrepancies in his affidavit, especially those related to the whereabouts of Anil Kumar between 12.57 pm and 3pm on July 11. 

Chandigarh, August 30
Attendants of patients at the PGI had a harrowing time at counter No. 16 of Nehru Hospital when computers installed there went out of order at 11.30am.

The counter issues no-dues slips and discharge slips to indoor patients. The hospital has a capacity of 1,500 beds. It also receives admission fees. The hospital has a capacity of 1,500 beds.

People often face problems at this counter as personnel deputed there are ill-trained to handle computers. The employees deputed to receive money and operate the computer are mere clerks while a data entry operator and cashier are required to handle the job, said the sources.

Those asked to collect the discharge slips by doctors in the morning were disappointed when asked to wait along with those waiting to deposit fee for various purposes till the computers were repaired.

Shweta, an attendant, said her father had died in the hospital but the family could not take the body home as there was no arrangement for issuing the discharge slip at the counter. Another attendant from Mohali said he had been waiting at the counter for more than two hours.

Employees at the counter said overload was the reason why the computer system had collapsed. By 2 pm, only one computer had started functioning. A spokesperson of the PGI dismissed the matter, saying it was “ just a technical failure.”

Chandigarh, August 30
The city’s precious heritage is finding its way to junk dealers, courtesy petty thieves.Three months after a rickshaw-puller was caught carrying a stolen manhole cover designed by one of the key architects of City Beautiful, Pierre Jeanneret, the theft of an inauguration plaque in metal installed outside the Sector 16 Rose Garden has come to light.

Measuring 2x4 feet, it was installed at the entry of the Rose Garden from the Shanti Kunj side. The scratches on the wall indicate that the plaque, fitted in the wall with nuts and bolts, was removed by using pry bars.

The theft reportedly took place during the intervening night of August 19 and 20. The watchmen at the garden informed his superiors about the theft, who in turn lodged a complaint with the police. The police quizzed the watchmen, but failed to pick up any lead.

The authorities, concerned at the threat to other plaques put a fresh coat of cement to fix these properly.The police said Darbara Singh, section officer, horticulture department, in his complaint had mentioned that the stolen metal plaque had great heritage value.

The police registered a case under Section 379 of the IPC and sent two officials for spot inspection.

A police officer said the best the investigating officials could do was to carry out searches at shops of junk dealers in the city.

SHO Kulwant Singh Pannu said it appeared to be a handiwork of drug addicts.

Till date, the police has not been able to identify the women who stole the heritage manhole and handed it over to a rickshaw-puller to deliver the same to a junk dealer on June 2 this year. The rickshaw-puller was caught before he could finish his task.

Chandigarh, August 30
Until a year ago, 12-year-old Vikas Thakur was like any other child-full of dreams for his future. Today, he is just another name in the daily diary reports (DDRs) of the Chandigarh police department, which has more pressing tasks than locating missing children.

Vikas vanished from his Nayagaon residence on January 25 last. He never returned. After more than a year of agonising wait, his parents Rambaran Singh and Suman Devi reached Government Museum auditorium today with a query on their missing son.

The query became the first one from Chandigarh to be registered on www.missingchildsearch.net <http://www.missingchildsearch.net> (alternatively www.homelink.net <http://www.homelink.net>), a national web-based search application launched three years ago to trace missing children across India.

The network, which the administration today formally joined, is processing details of thousands of missing children. It was launched by UT Administrator Gen S.F. Rodrigues (Retd) and will be manned by Don Bosco, Navjeevan.

More than 25, 526 children went missing in India between January and July this year. Their queries have been registered on the website.The number was 67,000 last year. And this is just 40 per cent of the original cases that occur at the frequency of five every hour.

Chandu Naresh, national administrator of the Missing Child Search (MCS) Homelink network, said: “Of the 27,000 queries registered on out link this year, we managed to trace ,8808. They were sent back home. Ten per cent of the children, however, remain untraced. We now plan a hub for Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.”

Right now, the MCS has four national hubs at Howrah, Vijaywada, Bangalore and Coimbatore. These serve to centralise the data available on street and unaccompanied children. “Once a query is made, we look for missing children in our local and national data bank. If we don’t find a match, we register the child as a new case.”

Don Bosco is trying to institutionalise MCS by securing entry into the Eleventh Five-Year-Plan. The project is partially funded by Unicef and runs in 30 states and 63 cities of India. Chandigarh today became the 64th city to join the network.

All he had to say today was: “Our mission is to save children from the streets. It can’t get worse for them.”

Chandigarh, August 30
Prior to tomorrow’s general house meeting of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, the Congress-led opposition and the ruling BJP-SAD groups held their respective pre-house meeting today.

Sources in the Congress reveal that the opposition has decided to raise strong objection to the wasteful expenditure during the Teej celebrations at Shanti Kunj.

The mayor, Harjinder Kaur, would be asked to give details on the expenditure incurred in organising the show.

Congress councillors would seek reply from the mayor about the pending works which already stand approved. Changes in the dog bylaws would also be brought for discussion.

On the other hand, the ruling group is going to rake up the issue of commissioner not following the protocol during the Independence Day function.

The issue of sweeping machines is likely to be brought up in the form of a supplementary agenda.

The issue of selection of chief guest for the Teej festival is also likely to be discussed. 

Chandigarh, August 30
The demand of city residents to stop cutting of trees for widening of roads in Industrial Area seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

Since the drive started a week ago, 42 trees have been axed. A total of 230 trees have to be cut for the widening of two major roads in Industrial Area, Phase I, here.

The municipal corporation is felling of hundreds of trees by giving a goby to the rules that govern the provisions of roads, foot paths and open spaces in the union territory.

Mohali, August 30
In a campaign to curtail violation of traffic rules by the school bus drivers, the police here today challenged several such vehicles plying on the internal roads in the township.

At one place in Phase X a bus driver was found to be carrying no papers and started pleading with the policemen on duty to let him go. He even touched both his ears feeling sorry like a child for the way he was violating the rules.

Panchkula, August 30
An official ambassador car of chief town planner, HUDA was set on fire by unidentified miscreant(s) in the parking area of Estate office, Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) in the wee hours here today.

A chowkidar at the estate office said he saw the car on fire at about 2 am on Thursday. Soon after noticing the flames, the watchmen on duty ran towards it and put off the fire before the fire-brigade vehicle reached the spot.

Balwant Rai, SHO Sector 6 Police Station, “We got the complaint at 11 am and a case was registered. The case has been referred to the forensic team”.

Chandigarh, August 30
In response to Chandigarh Tribune’s survey of the redundant underground rainstorm water drain system for Sectors 2 to 10, the municipal corporation authorities today said that the drain was functioning satisfactorily.

The superintending engineer, who directed physical verification of the site following the news report, said that a small road gully cover, fixed to drain the water from a low-lying green belt at the rear of the Punjab CM residence, was partly broken, but had not caused any damage to the road gully.

He added that the pit in question (which is 8 feet deep and hazardous as mentioned in yesterday’s news report) “is a small pit caused due to scouring and it has caused no damage to the main rainstorm water drain laid in 2005 from Sector 2 to 10”. Never mind the recent case of the fall of a child into the pit. The child was saved by his father, who was accompanying him.

MC’s contentions apart, it’s noteworthy that at many places, the drain has sunk, leaving behind deep pits, which are now serving as dumping grounds for broken pots etc. (see picture)

Chandigarh, August 30
A house was burgled in Sector 41 here, while two vehicles were stolen from different parts of the city.

Nikunj Garg of Sector 41-D reported to the police that four gold bangles, four diamond rings, two gold chains, a pair of diamond tops, a gold medal, some ornaments and Rs 4000 were stolen from his residence on Wednesday evening. A case has been registered.

Vehicles stolen: Sushil Kumar Kad of Gurdaspur reported to the police that his motorcycle (PB-18-N-6002) was stolen from Sector 44 on August 21. In another incident, Pawan Kumar of Phase-II, Mohali, reported that his scooter (PB-65-A-9806) was stolen from Sector 40 on Wednesday. Two cases of theft have been registered.

Smack seized: The police arrested Ajay of Mauli Complex, Manimajra from near Mauli Jagran town on Wednesday while allegedly carrying 15 gm of smack. A case has been registered.

Accident: Sandeep Sharma of Sector 47 reported that a scooter (PB-32-A-0306) collided with his car near IT Park Chowk on Wednesday. The scooter riders snatched his mobile phone and ran away. The police said the accused, Arminder Singh of Nawan Shahr and his pillion rider Sandeep, alias Sunny of Hoshiarpur, were arrested after registering a case against them.