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TOP STORIES

Panchkula police beefs up security
133 additional cops reach town; sketch of suspect released
Panchkula, February 13
The Panchkula police today released a sketch of one of the accused in the bank robbery at the State Bank of Patiala yesterday. The police is also screening 261 files of criminals from the region, including seven history-sheeters.

Medicity lands UT in Catch-22 situation
Chandigarh, February 13
The administration is caught in a Catch-22 situation on its ambitious state-of-the-art Medicity project yet again. Now, questions are being raised at the administration's decision to re-invite the expression of interest for the controversial project at a time when the project is under scanner of the Central Vigilance Commission.

City gives thumbs up to Nithari death penalty
Chandigarh, February 13
An uneasy calm prevailed at the Sector 27 residence of Moninder Singh Pandher toady after a special CBI court awarded the death sentence to him and his domestic help Surinder Koli for Nithari killings.

School board gets tough on staff
Mohali, February 13
To ensure attendance of its employees during the office hours, the Punjab School Education Board today locked the entry to the board premises here.

Weekly train for Dibrugarh
Chandigarh, February 13
Along with the 2 per cent reduction in the fares of second class and sleeper class of all trains, the Dibrugarh-Chandigarh Express, which had been a summer special train hitherto, has been converted into a weekly train. The Chandigarh-Jaipur Garib Rath, commencing from tomorrow , will also run thrice a week.

COMMUNITY

GMADA mulls ‘work-shop-play-live’ concept
Mohali, February 13
The Greater Mohali Area Development Authority is all set to unveil a new concept of “work-shop-play-live” in the commercial business district being developed in the Sector 62 City Centre in Mohali. Planned on the concept of free-flowing design, the plan of the business district is a shift from the concept of “work-n-shop” seen in Chandigarh’s commercial centres of Sectors 17 and 34.

A part of the concept plan for City Centre, Sector 62, Mohali.

Sampuran Singh gets his due, finally
HC directs allocation of land to freedom fighter’s son
Chandigarh, February 13
Sampuran Singh never got what was due to him, because of the state apathy. Only the late freedom fighter’s son got justice from the Punjab and Haryana High Court today.

Farmers must adopt soil-less cultivation technique: Expert
Mohali, February 13
Farmers in the northern region need to adopt soil-less cultivation technique to fetch good price for the off-season produce, said Rubizive, an Israel-based expert on soil-less cultivation.

Israeli expert Rubizive explains the concept of soil-less cultivation in Mohali on Friday. A Tribune photograph

7 Cavalry is 225 years old
Chandigarh, February 13
One of the Army’s oldest armoured regiments, 7 Cavalry, is observing its 225th Raising Day. A series of functions are being organised at the unit’s location in the Western Sector to commemorate the event over three days.

GMSSS-32 authorities accused of embezzlement
Chandigarh, February 13
The audit and inspection report of the Pupils funds of GMSSS, Sector 32, has found the school authorities guilty of inappropriate expenditure worth lakhs of rupees and bifurcation of purchases in many cases.

RED-LETTER DAY: City youth seem set to celebrate Valentine’s Day on Saturday. Tribune photo: Vicky Gharu

Dog menace hounds MC
Chandigarh, February 13
Despite tall claims of the Municipal Corporation to keep the stray dog population under control, the menace continues unabated. A testimony to this fact is the CITCO’s Stop n Stare, eating joint in Sector 10.

IT raid on Paras Group
Chandigarh, February 13
In a major inspection drive, the Income Tax Department has carried out a survey on the premises of various well-known business houses, including the Paras Group, having a shopping mall in Zirakpur, and the proprietor of the Raj Engineering Works and Erectors Pvt Limited, Chandigarh.

Recession hits sale season
Chandigarh, February 13
Global meltdown is clearly reflected in the Sector 17 sale season this year but mad rush in the plaza parking does not really give a correct picture of the story. A majority of people usually come to window shop and hang around and sales is not what they have been aimed at as compared to previous years during the sale season.

Cops on toes for Valentine’s Day
Chandigarh, February 13
The UT police has made elaborate security arrangements to capture hooligans, reckless drivers and speedsters on geri-route, gardens and near educational institutes on Valentine’s Day, here tomorrow.

Railway Budget
Residents happy over reduced fares
Chandigarh, February 13
Though the Railway Budget 2009 has educed a huge satisfaction among city residents over the reduced fares, it is yet to meet the expectations when it comes to ensuring quality service.

‘Mohan Das’ portrays villager’s hopes
Chandigarh, February 13
The elements of fact, fiction and fantasy form the social and intellectual content of the “Mohan Das”, presented by Suchetak Rang Manch on the second day of ongoing Katha Manchan--2009 at Randhawa auditorium.

Talk on police discipline, accountability
Chandigarh, February 13
This otherwise has all ingredients of a regular school lecture except the students are top police and administration officers.

Traffic chaos on Kalka-Zirakpur road
Zirakpur, February 13
Traffic on the Zirakpur-Kalka highway came to a standstill for over an hour on this morning due to the closure of railway crossing for repairing work. However, the traffic was diverted by the traffic police to leading roads and the vehicles moved at a snail’s pace.

PGI without power for over 4 hrs
Chandigarh, February 13
Patients and attendants were inconvenienced as power supply remained disrupted for over four hours in the PGI.

BSP campaign from tomorrow
Chandigarh, February 13
As the parliamentary elections draw near, political parties are busy in chalking out poll strategies and preparing for campaigning in a big way to woo maximum voters.

RBI staff wear protest badges
Chandigarh, February 13
The United Forum of Reserve Bank Officers and Employees today held a badge-wearing protest against long pending pension and superannuation-related issues in Chandigarh branch. The course of action was decided after the United Forum met on January 22 under the chairmanship of Sri Arun Samaddar, president, AIRBWF. The forum met the bank authorities where deputy governor, Dr Rakesh Mohan, ED, Sri V K Sharma and other senior officials, represented the bank’s side.

• Rodrigues gets DLitt

EDUCATION

Rose festival on campus
PU insensitive to students’ examinations
Chandigarh, February 13
It seems that the Panjab University authorities are least bothered about annual exams of the students, as they are busy in organizing cultural events and festival on the campus. Interestingly, the authorities organized events when the exams are hardly a month ago.

A mariground set up adjoining hostel number 3 in Panjab University for Rose Festival. A Tribune photograph

Theatre, music mark youth fest
Chandigarh, February 13
The second day of SYNERGY-2009 of 4th South Asian Universities Youth Festival was dedicated to theatre, fine arts, music and literary items.

Importance of literature highlighted
Chandigarh, February 13
The department of Hindi, Panjab University, organised a special lecture on Sahitya Se Dosti, here today. Literary activist Vikas Narayan Rai and additional director-general of police, Haryana, spoke on this occasion.

NEIGHBOURHOOD

Vikas Yatra: Badal doles out sops
Kurali/Chamkaur Sahib, February 13
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal flayed Congress for the Mumbai terror attacks during his vikas yatra held at Kurali and Chamkaur Sahib. While addressing the gathering, mainly comprising of SAD workers, Badal said the Congress had harmed the dignity of nation and failed to save hundreds of lives during the attack.

1,044 brushes made of mongoose hair seized
Rajpura, February 13
A resident of Rajpura has been arrested by the police with 1,044 paint brushes made of mongoose hair on Thursday. Volunteers of the People for Animal (PFA) got the accused arrested and help the police in recovering the brushes as well.

Nigerian PO held after 10 years
Rajpura, February 13
The Fatehgarh Sahib police today arrested a Nigerian, who was declared proclaimed offender around 10 years ago. The Khamano police had arrested Kayode Osa Tuyy, a resident of Lagos in Nigeria, along with his another friend Sam, in June 1998.

Punjab seeks Central forces for LS poll
Patiala, February 13
Punjab has sought 150 companies of Central forces for deployment in the state during the forthcoming Parliamentary elections, said Kusumjit Sidhu, chief electoral officer of Punjab, after presiding over a meeting of the electoral officers of Patiala division.

Symposium
‘Oceanic algae important for environment’
Patiala, February 13
A two-day symposium on “Phycology in India: Basic to Applied” is being organised by the department of Botany, Punjabi University, here yesterday.

Dacoits’ gang busted
Rajpura, February 13
The local police today busted a gang of dacoits involved in many thefts, robberies and other heinous crimes in Ambala and adjoining areas.

FCI official gets jail for bribe
Ambala, February 13
Special Judge, CBI Court, Haryana, A K Verma sentenced two-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 4,000 to an officer of the FCI under Section 13(1) (d) read with 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, here today.

Two women held for snatching
Fatehgarh Sahib, February 13
The local police today arrested two women involved in many snatching incidents during the past few months.

Chitkara students bring laurels
Rajpura, February 13
A team comprising four students of the Electronics and Communication Engineering department of Chitkara Institute of Engineering and Technology won second prize in Robotics competition in the recently concluded IIT Kharagpur Tech Fest (Kshitij-2009).

Train police to deal cyber crime: Ex-DGP
Fatehgarh Sahib, February 13
Lalit Bhatia, former DGP, PSEB vigilance, delivered a lecture on cyber crime at Mata Gujri College here today. A large number of students, teachers and others attended the lecture.

Rare surgery at Patiala hospital
Patiala, February 13
Specialist doctors at Gian Sagar Medical College and Hospital, near here, have successfully performed a rare surgery on a female patient who reported at the hospital with absence of uterus and vagina.

COURTS

Consumer Forum
HDFC Bank told to pay Rs 14,000
Chandigarh, February 13
District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has asked the HDFC Bank to pay Rs 14, 000 to the petitioner, Kanhaya Lal Kaul. The forum also asked the HDFC bank to pay a compensation of Rs 2,000. The amount includes the money that was drawn from the bank account when the card was stolen.

Electrician convicted in murder case
Chandigarh, February 13
Additional District and Sessions Judge R.K. Sondhi today convicted Puneet Kumar, an electrician, for murdering Brij Rani (72). The quantum of sentence will be pronounced on February 17.

Trial court to decide on ‘D5’ release
Chandigarh, February 13
Additional District and Sessions Judge S.K. Aggarwal has sent the case seeking stay on the release of movie “D5”, based on Nithari killings, to the trial court.

CRIME

2 women held for immoral trafficking
Chandigarh, February 13
The police arrested two women of Bihar and West Bengal, along with Mohammad Munazir of Bihar, who were reportedly involved in the immoral trafficking yesterday. The police said that a team led by DSP (East) PK Dhawan arrested the three accused red-handed from Mani Majra, while taking money.

Woman booked for fraud
Mohali, February 13
The police registered a case of fraud on the complaint of Ghasita Ram, a resident of Dashmesh Nagar, Kharar, against Sheefali, a resident of Ludhiana, here today.

SPORTS

Civil Services Golf Meet
76 to tee off in Panchkula today
Chandigarh, February 13
Civil servants from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal, Jammu and Kashmir, and Chandigarh will converge on the par-72 greens of the Panchkula Golf Club for the two-day North Zone Budget Signs Civil Services Golf Championship, which will start at 9 am tomorrow.

Rs 30 cr to be spent on sports
Patiala, February 13
Khalsa College, Patiala, celebrated its 47th annual sports day here yesterday. The animal husbandry, fisheries and dairy development minister, Punjab, Gulzar Singh Ranike, was the chief guest and said: “The Punjab government plans to spend Rs 30 crore in the next financial year for the development of sports in the state. The government has already spent Rs 20 crore this year.”

Trials for athletics meet
Chandigarh, February 13
The Chandigarh Masters Athletics Association is conducting trials for athletics meet on February 15 at sports complex, Sector 46.

Guru Nanak School emerge champions
Chandigarh, February 13
Guru Nanak Public School, Sector 36, emerged as winners beating DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8, in the 3rd Adviser Cup under-17 Cricket Tournament which concluded today at Cricket Stadium, Sector 16 here.


The jubilant team after winning the cricket tournament in Chandigarh on Friday. Tribune photo: Manoj Mahajan

Cricket trials on Feb 16
Mohali, February 13
Open trials for selecting budding cricketers for the Kings XI Punjab Academy will be conducted on February 16 and 17 at the PCA stadium.