3 PU students arrested on ragging charge
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 24 — The police has arrested three senior students of the Department of Chemical Engineering, Panjab University, on the charges of ragging.

According to police sources, Gaurav Daga, a student of the department and residing in room 58 of Hostel No 3, was reportedly asked to do something indecent by his seniors. He refused to do so and was taken to another room in the same hostel and beaten up.

The police has registered a case under Sections 342 and 323, IPC, against Vijay Thakur, Yogesh Thakur, Yogeshwar and Ramesh Thakur. With the exception of Ramesh, all the accused have been arrested.

Pedestrian hurt: Mr S.K. Bansal, a pedestrian and resident of Saharanpur (UP), was hit and injured by a scooterist, Santokh Singh, in Sector 26. The accused has been arrested while the injured admitted to the hospital.

A case under Sections 279 and 337 of the IPC has been registered.

Theft case: Mr Babu Lal, a resident of Sector 22, reported that his TV set, tape-recorder, utensils and other household items and clothes have been stolen from his house.

A case under Section 380 of the IPC has been registered at the Sector 17 police station.

Offences: As many as 13 persons have been arrested in the city for committing various offences.

Seven persons have been arrested for creating nuisance at a public place while under the influence of liquor.

Four persons have been arrested under preventive action.

Two persons have been arrested for roaming about under suspicious circumstances.

Two held: The police has arrested Navjit Singh, alias Malhu, a resident of Sector 38, and Navin Chander, a resident of Sector 35, who were wanted in a case registered under Sections 147, 149, 148, 323 and 506 of the IPC at the Sector 39 police station.

SAS NAGAR

Police inaction: Strange are the ways of functioning of the local police. Even after two days of being informed about a case of theft in a medicine shop in Phase VII here, the police is yet to register a first information report (FIR).

According to the information available, burglars broke into the shop, Kathuria Medical Agency, and decamped with a computer system, cordless telephone set, a fax machine, a calculator, some medicines and Rs 5,000 cash. The stolen goods are valued at Rs 1 lakh.

When the owner of the shop, Mr Paramjeet Singh, opened the shop on Monday morning he found that office furniture had been ransacked. A drawer of a table, which contained Rs 5,000 cash, had been broken. The office record was found littered.

A written complaint in this regard was made to the Phase VIII police station. Some policemen also visited the place but nothing happened after that.

Police officials said the market did not have any watchman. No reasons were given for not registering an FIR.

Suicide case: The police has initiated inquest proceedings under Section 174 of the CrPC into the case of alleged suicide of a woman of Phase IX.

The Superintendent of Police, SAS Nagar, Mr B.S. Randhawa, said the deceased had consumed an overdose of some medicine which led to her death. The statements of relatives of the victim had been recorded by the police.

Mr Randhawa ruled out the involvement of the husband of the victim in the death.

PANCHKULA

Case registered: The police has registered a case of negligent driving and causing the death of a scooterist against Ram Rattan, driver of a truck (HYE-0491), under Sections 279 and 304- A, IPC.

The police has also registered a case against Pradeep Kumar for causing injuries to Manjeet Kaur at Rampur village.

200 PU students donate blood
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 24 — A blood donation camp was organised by the Panjab University Students Union at Students' Centre here today. The camp was inaugurated by the Vice-Chancellor of the university. The camp was dedicated to the Kargil war heroes.

More then 200 students donated blood on the occasion.

NRI quota: The NRI quota in the Department of Zoology for B.Sc and M.Sc classes is lying vacant, an official press note said here today.

The last date for admission to these courses under this quota is August 27.

Office-bearers: The following have been elected the office-bearers of the Panjab University branch of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parshad: President — Surat Negi; Secretary — Harinder; Vice-Presidents — Amarjot, Kapil Dev Sharma, Sunil and Vishal; and Joint Secretaries — Jagtar Singh, Rajiv Rana, Dharampal S. Poonia and Madhur.

Result cards: Candidates who have not received their result cards for the B.Ed Entrance Examination-1999 can collect these from CET Cell in the administrative block of Panjab University on or before August 26.

Undelivered result cards could also be personally collected from the local Dev Samaj College of Education, an official press note said here today.

Results declared: Panjab University has declared results of M.Sc (second year annual system) bio-technology (second year) and MA I (defence studies) courses, according to an official press note issued here today.

Also, the results of BE (electronic and electrical communication, eighth semester) and MA I (physical education) courses would be declared on Wednesday, the press note added. Copies of the gazette will be available at the new enquiry counter.

Candidates called: All interviewed candidates in the first counselling session and late applicants have been called to appear before the faculty in the Department of Biochemistry on August 27. There are 95 vacant seats in B.Sc I (honours) and B.Sc I (pharmacy) courses.

Seats vacant: As many as 10 seats were lying vacant in the Department of Punajbi (part I) under the NRI reserved category, an official press note said here today. The last date for admission to this course was August 30, the note said.

Workshop on story-telling
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 24 — The Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA), Chandigarh, will organise a three-day workshop on story-telling, starting from August 27, according to the Chairman of the SNA, Mr G S Chani, here today.

The idea of this workshop, according to Mr Chani, emerged from the fact that the art of story-telling was dying not only in our daily lives but also in schools. The Secretary of the SNA, Mr Munna, added: "Our main aim is to make the participants open to this art, so that while communicating with children, whether as teachers or parents, they can make the child interested in whatever they are saying".

This workshop, aimed primarily at teachers and other such resource persons, would be conducted by Mr Devendra Raj Ankur, a Professor at the National School of Drama (NSD), New Delhi. Professor Ankur, an eminent director of Indian theatre, is known to have pioneered a totally new genre in the modern Indian theatre called the 'Kahani Ka Rangmanch'. Professor Ankur has been using this 'Rangmanch' to present short stories, novels and other mediums of literature on their original form on stage.

Till date Ankur has 'produced' 175 stories and 15 novels on stage. At the NSD, Professor Ankur has executed various extension programmes like the intensive theatre workshops, subject oriented workshops and children theatre workshops.

The story-telling workshop in the city, spread over three days, would include oral exercises on different styles of story-telling available both in our traditions and our day-to-day life. The second day would include exercises on the written texts from school story books and different magazines or journals. Professor Ankur plans to culminate the workshop in a kind of rehearsal demonstration of the work done on the previous two days.

The Akademi has plans to hold a 'follow-up' workshop on the same subject, with the same participants. Last month, the Akademi had organized a puppet-theatre workshop with puppeteer Varun Narain, and the Akademi also plans to hold another workshop with puppets.

Interestingly, with these kinds of opportunities available in the City Beautiful, which aims largely at children, very few takers from the field of education have shown interest in participating in these workshops.

Those who are interested in the story-telling workshop, which will be conducted for different groups in the morning and evening sessions, can contact Mr Chani at room No. 5/6 at the Karuna Sadan building, Sector 11. The registration fee for the three-day workshop is Rs 150.

Sisters prefer simple ‘rakhis’
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 24 — Even as simple ''dhagas'' are being preferred by people for the forthcoming ''rakhi'' festival, high prices are keeping away the customers this time from fancy varieties in the local market.

During a survey of the market, it was found that though there were only two days left for the festival, yet there were little number of customers at ''rakhi'' stalls in different parts of the city.

According to traders, the hike in different varieties of ''rakhi'' was between 20 and 40 per cent this time as compared to last year.

''In the past there has been never such a rise in the prices. This has definitely hit our business as we hardly find a customer," said a Sector 20 stall owner. He added that though he had invested Rs 10,000, the total daily business done by him never exceeded Rs 100 to Rs 120 so far. "This year I fear that I will not be able to recover the amount spent by me for setting up the stall," said Mr Ramesh Kumar, a Sector 20 trader.

He said though the market was flooded with an array of new items, people seemed to be preferring the simplest forms of ''rakhi'' like ''resham dhaga'' and there were hardly any takers for heavy or costly varieties. The new entrants this year are priced in the range of Rs 10 to Rs 12. While in the upper end, it was ''magic rakhi'' and ''musical rakhi'' available at Rs 35 to Rs 40 and Rs 75 to Rs 80, respectively. While one could enjoy a musical tune by buying a ''musical rakhi'', one could enjoy a number of tunes while opening the small box containing the variety.

Another new variety was a packet containing all of ''rakhi'' items like rice and ''sindhoor'' priced at Rs 20.

In the children's segment one could find dolls and teddy bears, priced at between Rs 15 and Rs 25.

According to Mr Sonu Grover, a trader, the most sought-after varieties of ''rakhi'' were ''resham dhaga'', ''moti dhaga'' and simple ''dhaga'', priced at between Rs 2 and Rs 15. Then there was ''chandan dhaga'', available at Rs 20, but the beads on the ''rakhi'' were not the genuine and had only scent sprinkled on ordinary wooden beads.

Petition of MBBS candidate allowed
By Our Legal Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, Aug 24 — Mr Justice V.S. Aggarwal of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today allowed the writ petition of Ms Upasna, a candidate for admission to MBBS course in Govt Medical College, Chandigarh, who had challenged the action of Panjab University, which delayed in sending her result card of common entrance test taken by her. As a result, she failed to apply for admission to MBBS course in time.

The judge directed that the petitioner shall be considered for admission to MBBS course in the Govt Medical College as per marks secured by her. The judge further directed that if no seat is available, an additional seat be created to adjust the petitioner.

The petitioner took the common entrance examination held on May 22 and 23. The respondent authorities declared result on June 18,1999. She came to know from newspapers about her having cleared the examination but her result card was not issued which was necessary for applying for admission to MBBS. The card was received by the petitioner on June 24,1999.

The petitioner alleged the respondent authority intentionally withheld her result card to mar her career. The petitioner approached the authorities on June 25 who reportedly did not show any sympathy towards her.

The respondents contested the petitioner’s allegation.

Warrants issued: Mr Justice R.S.Mongia issued bailable warrants in the sum of Rs 5,000 for securing the presence of Surjit Singh DSP and Prem Chand Sub-Inspector, Chandigarh Police, who are witnesses in a case pending before the high court. The witnesses failed to appear despite summons by the court.

A writ petition filed by Mr Sukhdev Raj Gupta, a resident of Chandigarh, against the Chandigarh Housing Board is pending in the court. A criminal complaint came to be recorded against one of the parties and investigation was allegedly conducted by the police.

The court had summoned some witnesses to record evidence but some of the witnesses did not appear on medical grounds but the two police officials failed to appear despite service.

Bail refused: Mr Justice Chalapathi today dismissed a plea for anticipatory bail of Mr Jai Narain of Delhi, accused of misapproriating a consignment of 480 bags of basmati. An FIR was registered against him at police station ‘B’ Division, Amritsar.

The consignment was allegedly handed to Amrit Cargo for delivery of rice to Capital Trading Co at Delhi.

St Stephen's, Mt Carmel in semis
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Aug 24 — St Stephen's School, Sector 45; Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 35; Mount Carmel School, Sector 46; and Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 32; entered the last four stage of the under-17 boys' section in the Chandigarh Schools Carrom Tournament which began here today.

In the under-19 boys' section, GMSS-32, Shishu Niketan-22, Shivalik Public School and SD Public School-32 also reached the semi-finals.

Mount Carmel School; Sanjay Public School, Sector 44; AKS International Public School, Sector 41; and GMSSS-40 also advanced into the semi-finals of the under-14 boys' event.

The results are as follows: Under-14 (quarterfinals) — GMSSS-44 b SPS 3-0; AKS-41 b GMSSS-23, 3-0; Sanjay Public School b GMSSS-32, 2-1; Mt Carmel b Shishu Niketan, 3-0.

Under-17 — GMSSS-32 b GMSSS- 22 (A), 3-0; St Stephen's-45 b Shishu Niketan, 2-1; GMSSS-35 b SPS-41, 2-1; Mt Carmel b SGGS-35, 3-0; Under-19 — GMSSS-32 b SGGSSS-35 2-1; SPS-41 b M. Carmel 2-1; SD Public School-32 b GMSSS-20, 3-0.

Swimming tourney: Harsimran Brar in the under-19 section, Arvind Sehdev in the under-17 section and Abhimanyu Tiwari and Pankaj Chauhan in the under-14 section bagged two gold medals each in the swimming competition for Chandigarh schools here at the Sector 23 swimming pool today. Swimmers of St Stephen's School dominated the proceedings on the first day of the tournament.

In the boxing matches for schools, Ashish and Mukesh of Sharda Sarvihitkari Senior Secondary School, Sector 40, surged ahead in the tournament by winning their bouts.

Swimming (under-14 100 m free style — Abhimanyu Tiwari (St Stephen's) 1, Sajal Sharma (BNSS-37) 2, Kanav Dosaj (St Stephen's) 3; 100 m backstroke — A. Tiwari (St Stephen's) 1, Sajjal (BNSS-37) 2, Sidhharth Sehdev (St stephen's) 3; 100 m breaststroke — Pankaj Chauhan ( St Stephen's) 1, Sumit Heer (Shishu Niketan-22) 2, Sajal (BNSS-37) 3.

200 m individual medley — Pankaj (St Stephen's) 1, Ankit Kalia (DAV-8) 2, Sidharth (St Stephen's) 3; 100 m butterfly — Ankit Kalia (DAV-8) 1, Sidharth (Stephen's) 2, Gaganpreet Singh (St Stephen's) 3.

Under-17 100 m free style — Arvind Sehdev (St Stephen's) 1, Vishal Pratap (St John's) 2, Munish (SN-22) 3; 100 m backstroke; Arvind Sehdev (St Stephen's) 1, Karanpreet Singh (St John's-26) 2, Rohit Kaushal (GHMSSS-16) 3; 100 m breaststroke — Gurbir Singh Gill (Manav Mangal-21) 1, Karanpreet Singh (St John's) 2, Hemant Verma (St Stephen's) 3.

Under-19 — Harsimran Singh Brar (GMSSS-16) 1, Vivek Kapoor (SDP-32) 2, Dilpreet Singh (GMSSS-19) 3; 100 m free style — Vivek Kapoor (SDP-32) 1, Avinash Mishra (GMSSS-23) 2, Rohin Kataria (SDP-32); 100 m breaststroke — Puneet Rana (GMSSS-16) 1, Kamaldeep (GMSSS-35) 2, Avinash Mishra (GMSSS-23) 3.

100 m backstroke — Harsimran S. Brar (GMSSS-16) 1, Sandeep Kapoor (GMSSS-46) 2, Dilpreet Singh (GMSSS-19) 3.

The boxing results (semifinals) are as follows: Under-14 — Pushpinder (GMS-32) b Karan (Sharda Sarvhitkari-40); Mukesh (GMS-38) b Dharamvir (GHS-38); Sandeep (Sharda Sarvhitkari-40) b Abhinav (Sharda Sarvhitkari-40); Ashish (Sharda Sarvhitkari-40) b Sandeep (GMS-38); Sumit (Sharda Sarvhitkari-40) b Deepak (SDP-32).

Under-17 — Vivek (GMS-22) b Paramjeet (Sharda Sarvhitkari-40); Vijender (GMS-38) b Navneet (GHS-30); Ajay (GHS-27) b Jaspal Singh (GMS-37); Parveen (GMSSS-20) b Gaurav (GMSSS-19)

Under-19 — Sandeep Yadav (Sharda Sarvhitkari-40) b Deepak (GMSSS-27); Paramjeet (GMS-23) b Ajit (GHS-27); Mandeep (SDP -32) b Virender (GMS-20); Vijay Khan (Sharda Sarvhitkari-20) b Satish (GHS-23); Aviraj (GSSS-27) b Manoj Kumar (SDP-32); Sohan (Sharda Sarvhitkari-40) b Rakesh (GMSSS-20).

League soccer: City Corps Club and Sanjay Club defeated their respective rivals, Khalsa Club, 2-1, and Tribune Club, 3-0, on the fifth day of the Chandigarh Senior Football League being played here at DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8, today.

In the first match between City Corps and Khalsa Club, it was the former who scored the first goal when in the 15th minute of the match, right striker Kuldeep Singh kicked home the ball. City Corps' right striker, Munish, in the 45th minute of the game, kicked a powerful shot into the goal and got lead of 2-0 for his team.

Spirited Khalsa Club players were able to reduce the margin to 1-2 when in the 48th minute, right striker Chetan scored a goal.

In the second league match played between Tribune Club and Sanjay Club, the latter blanked the former, 5-0, Ashish Jain scored the first goal in the 3rd minute, followed by Pardeep Thapa in the 10th minute. At half time, the score was 2-0.

In the second half, Narinder Awasthi and Kalarjit added two and one goal, respectively, to the tally of Sanjay Club.