Woman succumbs to burn injuries
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 3 — A woman who was seriously burnt last night succumbed to her injuries here this morning after levelling allegations of harassment and dowry against her in-laws in a declaration to a city magistrate.

Police sources said, in her declaration, 24-year-old Asha said she was married to Rajinder Singh, a resident of Mohalla Khatika in Mani Majra, in February and that she had been harassed and ill-treated for bringing inadequate dowry ever since.

She alleged that her in-laws poured kerosene on her and set her ablaze. Besides her husband, she named Savitri, her mother-in-law, and Ranjni and Manju, her sisters-in-law.

The former was also admitted to the PGI with minor burn injuries. Initially the family had said that she had caught fire while attempting to douse the fire to a fridge as a result of a short-circuit.

A case under section 307/498-A/ 34, 302, IPC, has been registered at the Mani Majra police station.

Killed: Mrs Padma, a resident of Sector 12-A, was killed when she was hit by a truck near the railway bridge. According to her husband, Mr Prabhu Dutt, they were going on a scooter when a truck, UTX 7695, hit them. While he received injuries, his wife died on the spot.

The driver, Kabul Singh, a resident of Saharanpur, has been arrested. A case under sections 279/337/304-A, IPC, has been registered at the Mani Majra police station.

Trespass case: Mrs Indu, a resident of Hallo Majra, reported that Naval Kishore, a resident of the same village had trespassed in to her house and had tried to outrage her modesty.

A case under Section 354, IPC, has been registered at the Sector 31 police station.

Whisky seized: The police has arrested Lakhwinder Singh, a resident of Dhanas Milk Colony, and seized 200 pouches of whisky from him . A case under Section 61/1/14, Excise Act, has been registered at the West Police Station.

Buffalo stolen: Mr Ram Sapat, a resident of Dhanas, reported that his buffalo had been stolen by a Ropar resident Bhagat Singh. A case under Section 380, IPC, has been registered at the West Police Station.

SAS NAGAR

Three booked: Three persons have been booked by the Sohana police for allegedly beating up the owner of a flour mill at Bhabat village here on Thursday.

According to information available, Amrik Singh was at his flour mill when Darbara Singh, Kulwant Singh and Bachitar Singh attacked him with sticks. A case under Sections 307, 324, 452 and 34 of the IPC has been registered. No arrests have been made so far.

Theft: Ram Sewak, a resident of Colony No. 5 in Chandigarh, in his complaint to the police said that his bicycle was stolen from here on Thursday.

Human resource development ‘vital’
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 3 — The importance of human resource development was highlighted at a one-day seminar on Indian Business Environment on the eve of the new millennium organised by the University Business School here today.

Prof R.P. Gupta, Chairman of the School, in his welcome address highlighted emerging threats and priority areas. Mr RVS Minhas, Director and Chief Executive Officer of Synset Global technologies, inaugurated the seminar. Dr Manoj K. Sharma, Organising Secretary, in key note address concentrated on the role of bureaucracy and changing political scenario on the development of economy and business environment in the country.

Mr Anil Munjal (Hero Cycles), Mr KS Chahal (Medilink), Mr R.K. Khanna (HMT, Pinjore) and Mr P.K. Verma (Punjab Tractors) were among those who presented key note papers.

Personal contact programme : A personal contact programme for B.Com I students of Correspondence Studies will be held at Chandigarh from December 6 to 11. It will be for students with enrolment No 5001 to 5750 while for rest of students classes will be from December 20 to 25. At Ludhiana, the personal contact programme will be held from December 6 to 11.

Nominated : Dr C.L. Narang, Programme Coordinator, NSS, Panjab University, has been nominated a member of the NSS State Advisory Committee of the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

Impressive display of collages
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 3 — Some amazingly picturesque works of Ashok K. Sarin are on display in his exhibition of collages at the Alliance Francaise Gallery, Sector 36, here.

A town planner by profession, the 30 works exhibited by Sarin have engineered frames with a deep sense of graphic and illustrative texture. It is interesting to note his conservative and ‘Indian’ thought in works titled Mrig Trishna and Promiscuity. Without appearing to be traditionally archaic, these collages of his seem to be a mosaic of his sensitive self.

The minute details in the frame of Unpardonable Sin and the romantic and lyrical works of Lust-I and Lust-II are quite engaging. The concept of space and colour is well brought out in most of Sarin’s works, and could also be attributed to his profession and his dabbling in mixed media and even sculptures.

Sarin, who is deeply influenced by Le Corbusier, has been participating in group art shows since 1983 and was awarded by the Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi in 1986 and 1987.

The exhibition, which was inaugurated today, will remain open till December 14.

Notification for Mayor's poll next week
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 3 — The notification for the conduct of elections of the Mayor, the Senior Deputy Mayor and the Deputy Mayor is likely to be issued next week.

The Secretary of the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC), Mr H.K. Nagpal, has written to the Deputy Commissioner in this connection, who is the prescribed authority for the conduct of elections. The Deputy Commissioner will issue the notification on the elections to be held on December 23.

According to the letter, every candidate for the election as Mayor shall be nominated form I, which shall be signed by the candidate and two members of the corporation as proposer and seconder and delivered to the Secretary between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. at least three days before the date of the meeting at which the election is be held.

Therefore, the last date for the receipt of the nomination papers will be December 17 and notice of the meeting is to reach the members of the corporation by December 9 on the last year pattern.

This will be the fourth year of the corporation and the office of the Mayor shall be reserved in favour of a member who is a woman as per sub-section (1) of Section 38 of the Punjab Municipal Corporation Law (Extension to Chandigarh) Act, 1994, the letter adds.

Water problem: Scores of residents of Sector 7 (A and C) were put to inconvenience as there was no evening water supply to their houses today.

The residents alleged that water supply, which was normal in the morning, was disrupted without any prior notice by the civic body. Since they had not stored water, they had to face a lot of problems, alleged Mr Sanjay Sharma, a resident of Sector 7-A.

Chrysanthemum show: The civic body will organise a two-day chrysanthemum show at the Terraced Garden, Sector 33, from December 11.

There will be competitions in 12 categories, including one in the group category on December 10, according to sources.

It may be recalled that the civic body had cancelled the show last year at the last moment resulting in resentment among the chrysanthemum lovers.

Demanded: The Sweepers Union has demanded financial assistance for the treatment of the four employees of the office of the Medical Officer who were injured in an accident while rounding up stray cattle on November 27.

In a representation to the Deputy Commissioner, the union said since they were too poor to meet medical expenses, they should be paid Rs 10,000 each from the Red Cross Relief Fund for treatment.

Dish out more for pulses
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 3 — It is a challenge of every home cook to produce tasty and economical meals for the family, since grocery bills are getting bigger and bigger. Pulses, a major source of our diet in a country as vegetarian as ours, have become more expensive since the first of December.

The price increase has been from Rs 3 to Rs 5 in the whole grain segment with ma saabt selling for Rs 30 a kg, saabt moong again for Rs 30 a kg and chick peas (black) for Rs 20 a kg at the grocery shops.

The polished pulses have become dearer and the home cook will have to dish out more money this month since moong dhuli is selling today at Rs 34 a kg, a price hike of Rs 4 since last four days. Black masur is also more expensive than last week. It is selling today at Rs 29 a kg, while urad dhuli has touched all-time high of Rs 38 a kg. The last month of the millennium has seen a sharp hike in all the pulses, whole grain or polished, and the thrifty entertainer will have to find recipes which do not scream of economy food. The red kidney beans, white kidney beans and soya beans are priced Rs 30, Rs 38 and Rs 36 respectively.

Spices closely associated with Indian cooking have also shown a rise in their prices. Garam masala is selling for Rs 200 a kg, while 100 gm packets are being sold at Rs 20 each. Turmeric is stable at Rs 100 a kg. Red chilly powder, however, is more expensive by Rs 10 a kg. It is selling at Rs 130 today. Mango dry powder is going for Rs 160 a kg. Wonderful spices like cloves cardamoms, cinnamon, nut mug mace all spice and pepper are, however, not showing any variance in their price graph.

Flour prices of various varieties are also stable in the market. Wheat flour is selling for Rs 9 a kg with maize flour going for Rs 10 a kg. In the rice segment, rice is available from Rs 10, while A grade Basmati is selling at Rs 45 a kg. The cooking mediums are also maintaining their prices with mustard oil selling for Rs 40 a litre, Dhara is also selling at the same price. The only ingredient, which is part of every recipe, salt, has not become expensive as it is selling at Rs 6 a kg since the last one year.

Sport festival from December 16
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Dec 3 — The newly-elected members of the Haryana Olympic Association led by its President, Mr Abhey Singh Chautala and Secretary, Mr M.S. Malik, have been felicitated by the Indian Olympic Association on their taking over the body, past month.

The Executive Committee has taken many decisions for encouraging sport in the state. The Haryana Sport Festival will be held from December 16 to 19 at Bhiwani after a gap of nearly five years. Mr Abhey Chautala said the state government had set up an advisory committee to frame a new sport policy. He urged the government to allow 50 per cent concession by Haryana Roadways to the teams taking part in the various state-level meets. He said sport should be adopted by profit making institutions of Haryana. Another suggestion was to revive the College of Sport under the CCSHAU, Hisar, so that regular graduate and postgraduate courses could be introduced.

The recommendation made by the committee also called for setting up of sport acedemies in the state with the assistance of the corporate sector. The committee also said there was a need to develop sport infrastructure at the district-level.

It said there should be a 3 per cent job quota for outstanding sportspersons in various corporations and boards.

The expenses of the teams participating in national meets should be borne by the Sport Department. It should also bear at least 75 per cent expenses of the national and international meets if these are held in Haryana.

It also advocated holding state and national-level meets in rural areas of the state. The disciplines identified to be given priority included, athletics, basketball, hockey, kabaddi, table tennis, volleyball, wrestling, judo and boxing.

Taekwondo meet: The third Punjab State Colour Belt Senior, Junior and Sub-Juniors (men and women) Taekwondo meet will begin tomorrow at Government College, Ropar. According to Mr Satpal S. Rehal, Secretary of the Punjab Taekwondo Association, the players selected during the meet will take part in the 19th Men's and 17th Women's National Seniors Taekwondo Championship to be held at Ajmer (Rajasthan) from December 17 to 19. The National Junior Taekwondo Meet will be held at Hyderabad from January 21 to 23 next year.

Weightlifting tourney: The 15th Senior and 8th Junior Men's Weightlifting Championships, besides 10th Senior, first Junior and third Women's Chandigarh Weightlifting Championships will begin here tomorrow at Panjab University Gymnasium Hall. Nirmaljit Singh, an international powerlifter, will inaugurate the meed, while Mr O.P. Popli, SDM of SAS Nagar, will be the chief guest on December 5.

Annual athletics: The annual athletic meet of St John's High School, Sector 26, will be held tomorrow on the school premises. The meet will also include a drill display. The other events for tomorrow include 100 m race, groundsmen race, tug-of-war and various relay races. Brother Mark da Costa, Chairman of the Managing Committee of the school, will preside over the meet.