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TOP STORIES

Free-for-all at Bansal’s padyatra
BSP, Congress supporters clash
Chandigarh, March 31
A minor altercation between CTYC president HS Lucky and some BSP activists at Mauli Jagran during the padyatra of MP Pawan Kumar Bansal this morning has snowballed into a major controversy with all other political parties joining hands and demanding the former’s arrest.

Supporters of the BSP try to barge into the police post at Mauli Jagran, Chandigarh, on Tuesday. A Tribune photograph

Class VIII Results
Girls outdo boys yet again
Chandigarh, March 31
Girls outshine boys in the UT education department Class VIII results declared today. Securing nine out of top 12 positions, the girls have broken all precedents. Anshu Thakur of Shishu Niketan School, Sector 22, topped city by securing 97.4 per cent. Yamini Jassal of the same school stood second with 97.1 per cent and Harshita Aggarwal stood third with 96.8 per cent.
Toppers of Shishu Niketan School-22 in a jubilant mood in Chandigarh on Tuesday. Tribune photo: Manoj Mahajan

Scooterist knocked down by truck, dies
Chandigarh, March 31
Sangeeta Ashri, a statistical assistant with the Haryana women and child welfare department and in her mid-40s, was killed after a truck knocked down her scooter near Hallo Majra Chowk here this afternoon. The truck driver sped away from the spot.

Budget Allocation
Rs 2,149 cr in UT kitty
Chandigarh, March 31
The Centre has allocated Rs 300.35 crore under the plan Budget and Rs 1,849 crore for the non-Plan Budget for the city for 2009-10, a spokesperson for the Chandigarh administration said here today.

COMMUNITY

PGI exhausts grants
Poor patients forced to fend for themselves
Chandigarh, March 31
Central government grants under the Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN) scheme meant to provide assistance to chronically ill poor (BPL) patients, have been exhausted at the PGI, forcing many such patients to raise funds on their own or seek help from the hospital’s poor patient welfare fund (PPWF).

Kidwai for better trade ties between India, Kazakhstan
Chandigarh, March 31
Stressing upon the need to restore India’s age-old social, cultural and trade relations with Central Asia, Haryana Governor Dr AR Kidwai today said there was immense scope for cooperation between India and Kazakhstan in the fields of science and technology as well as agriculture.

Generate Pan-Asiatic solidarity for energy security: Expert
Chandigarh, March 31
While energy security is central to nurturing India-Kazakhstan strategic partnership and India’s geo-political equation with Asian countries, lack of common borders between India and Central Asia, Russia and Iran, hinders the delivery of petroleum and gas from these countries.

Bhatti uses satire to expose system
Chandigarh, March 31
No one knows who was pulling whose leg, but “Recession Party” president Jaspal Bhatti today tried to make a case for satire, asking the Punjab Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) to clarify whether his party could be hauled up for using satire in its election campaign.

Straw Burning
Punjab, Haryana formulate plans
Chandigarh, March 31
Punjab and Haryana are all set to douse the smoldering problem of wheat straw burning. From holding district and village-level awareness programmes to monitoring the quality of air, it’s all chalked out.

Minor fire in Sec 43
Chandigarh, March 31
A minor fire broke out in the open area of Sector 43 here today. The incident happened when dry leaves caught fire and it quickly spread into the area, having makeshift tents of CRPF security nearby.

Firemen try to douse the flames in Sector 43, Chandigarh, on Tuesday. Tribune photo: Pradeep Tewari

Parking contractors fined
Chandigarh, March 31 MC officials conducted surprise check at three parking lots in Sector 17 today. The check was conducted at Empire Store and Gurudev Studio parking lots besides Sahib Singh parking lot.

Anandpur Sahib Tragedy
Apathy aggravates victims’ misery
Chandigarh, March 31
Lack of coordination between the Government Multi-Specialty Hospital-16 and the PGI turned out to be a major source of harassment for accident victims of Anandpur Sahib mishap today. The victims were brought here for treatment.

Decks cleared for purchase of 100 buses
Chandigarh, March 31
Decks have been cleared for the purchase of 100 new buses, including 40 air-conditioned buses, by the Chandigarh Administration with the Election Commission (EC) okaying the administration’s proposal.

Supply of manpower to MOH office
No extension to firms: MC
Chandigarh, March 31
The municipal corporation has decided not to give extension to the firms that supply manpower to the medical office of health (MOH), MC, from today.

Affordable housing Bansal’s Achilles’ heel
Chandigarh, March 31
Affordable housing for the city continues to be the Achilles’ heel for sitting MP and minister of state for finance Pawan Bansal, aspiring for a hat-trick from the Chandigarh parliamentary seat.

Casteist Remark
Parties team up against Lucky
Chandigarh, March 31
Several parties have joined hands and threatened to launch agitation if the Chandigarh police fails to arrest CTYC president HS Lucky for allegedly passing casteist remarks against a BSP activist.

BSP looks to replicate social engg in city
To organise Brahmin sammelan on April 12
Chandigarh, March 31
In a desperate bid to replicate the success of BSP supremo and UP Chief Minister Mayawati’s social engineering formula in Chandigarh, the party has decided to woo upper caste voters in the city in the run-up to May-13 election to the Chandigarh parliamentary seat.

Girls perform sami dance during the heritage festival at Sector 17 in Chandigarh on Tuesday. Tribune photo: Manoj Mahajan

Nano on display from today
Chandigarh, March 31
The common man’s car, Tata Nano, will be on display in the city from tomorrow. The car will be dispayed at all dealerships of Tata Motors. The car is available in three variants - a base model and two upper-tier models that will have air-conditioning and power windows, among others.

Speed governors in school buses
Admn extends deadline yet again
Chandigarh, March 31
The failure of the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) to install speed governors in its buses on time has forced the Chandigarh administration to forego the “deadline” for the third time to install the equipment in school buses.

NCB to shift office from Sector 2
Chandigarh, March 31
In response to the notice served by the UT estate office, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has submitted that it will shift its office from Sector 2 soon.

Firm fined Rs 1 lakh for not depositing PF
Chandigarh, March 31
The Consumer Disputes Rederssal Forum has directed Peregrine Security to pay a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to Ravinder Singh and others for not depositing the provident fund of the employees on time.

Fiza to file fresh complaint
Mohali, March 31
Fiza, alias Anuradha Bali, second wife of the former Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Chander Mohan, alias Chand Mohammad, today announced that she was filing a fresh complaint to the Director General of Police, Punjab, as the Mohali police had failed to take any action on her earlier compliant.

Spoof of Hamlet staged
Chandigarh, March 31
In an endeavour to bring diverse genres of performing and visual arts in the ongoing Art and Heritage Fest, the administration presented an English play “Hamlet - The Clown Prince” at the Tagore theatre here yesterday. Interestingly, theatre buffs were surprised as it turned out to be a spoof of the original play. But the 100- minute drama that was an ideal mix of visual imagination and intellectual depth for the audience.

GCG-42 principal retires
Chandigarh, March 31
Having served the college for 18 months, the principal of Government College for Girls, Sector 42 Chandigarh, Shashi Malik retired on Tuesday.

Elected
Chandigarh, March 31
The meeting of the annual general body elected the PUSC executive committee for the next session here yesterday.

Charge taken
Chandigarh, March 31
Prof Kalpana K Mahajan today took the charge of the chairperson of the department of statistics, Panjab University. She will be heading the department for the second time. Earlier, in 1991, she created a record by becoming the youngest head of the department in the university.

EDUCATION

Class VIII Results
Pass percentage up by 10 pc
Chandigarh, March 31
The UT education department Class VIII results witnessed a whooping rise of about 10 per cent in the overall pass percentage as compared to last year.

139 engg students make it to IAF
Mohali, March 31
As many as 139 students were selected out of the total 614 of 2009 batch, who appeared for the fast track selection process, conducted by Indian Air Force (IAF) at Chandigarh Engineering College, Landran.

NEIGHBOURHOOD

PRTC to induct 205 buses
Patiala, March 31
To provide better and convenient travel to commuters the Pepsu Road Transport Corporation is all set to induct 205 new buses in its fleet. The corporation already has 1,008 buses in its existing fleet.

Cold storage owner fined Rs 21 lakh
Rajpura, March 31
The Rajpura police imposed a fine of Rs 21.76 lakh on the owner of a cold storage today and also registered a case against him at the PSEB police station at Patiala.

Councillors donate salary
Bassi Pathana, March 31
In a noble gesture ten councillors out of 13 led by council president Kulbhushan Malhotra donated their salary to the council and purchased electric goods, CFL tubes, wires, bulbs, street lights and other related goods. The electric goods were installed in the different wards of the town.

Elected
Patiala March 31
Amar Singh, general secretary of the Associate Banks Officers’ Association (ABOA), a unit of State Bank of Patiala, has been unanimously elected president of the association at a meeting held at Bangalore.

Rachpal chief of Hry Teachers’ Union
Ambala, March 31
Rachpal Singh was elected the president of Ambala region of the Haryana College Teachers’ Union.

COURTS

Fraud
Kalpana Chawla Society gets clean chit
Chandigarh, March 31
Giving a clean chit to the governing body of the Kalpana Chawla Memorial Educational Society reportedly led by Vipin Kaushal against cheating, forgery, misrepresentation of facts, the Court of Additional Civil Judge, Mohali, denied the stay order to ex-chairman SC Gupta, Rajni Gupta and Subhash Gupta as sought by them.

CRIME

One stabbed in group clash
Chandigarh, March 31
A Naya Gaon resident was stabbed in a group clash that took place at Sector 23 market here today. The victim, Mohinder Singh, was taken to GMSH-16, where he received 21 stitches, said the police sources.

SPORTS

Learn golf basics at junior camp
Chandigarh, March 31
Around 10 children in the 8-18 age-group have converged on the Chandigarh Golf Club greens to learn the basics of the golf swing at a three-month EGTF Junior Golf Programme which got underway recently.

Handball Championship
GMSSS-19 emerge champions
Chandigarh, March 31
Hosts Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 19, thrashed Coaching Centre, Sector 42, by 15-7 in the girls final of the 22nd Junior State Handball Championship here today.

Elated players after winning the handball championship in Chandigarh on Tuesday. A Tribune photograph

DP Azad Academy reign supreme
Chandigarh, March 31
Desh Prem Azad Cricket Academy registered a two-wicket victory over Bharti Vij Academy with 11 balls to spare in a league match of the Under-16 Inter-Academy Cricket Tournament for APJ Trophy being organised by the Chandigarh Cricket Association on the St Stephen’s School grounds here today.