Thief arrested with stolen car
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, Dec 17 — The police has arrested a car thief who was driving a vehicle after stealing it from Sector 22.

According to police sources, Lalit Kumar, a resident of Saharanpur, who was working at the Sector 44 filling station, was arrested from Sector 44 while he was driving the stolen vehicle (PB-08-P-0071).

A case has been registered.

2 landlords held
Two persons were arrested for not supplying the particulars of their tenants to the police during a search operation conducted here this morning.

According to sources, a large number of personnel led by Mr Vijay Pal Singh, DSP, East, drawn from the local police, the IRB and the Home Guards cordoned off Bapu Dham and rounded up 50 persons for verification. It was found that two persons, Chottey Lal and Hari Lal, had rented out portions of their houses but had not supply the information to the police.

A case under Section 188, IPC, has been registered against them. The others were, however, let off after verification.

PO nabbed
The police has arrested a proclaimed offender (PO) who was wanted in a case of burglary registered in 1977.

Dharam Pal (50), a resident of Saharanpur, was in his 20s and was reportedly a known burglar and was wanted in many cases. He was arrested in one case but he jumped bail and had been on the POs' list of the police ever since.

He was arrested from the labour chowk and produced in a city court. He was remanded in judicial custody till December 30.

Vehicle not returned
Mr Satbir Singh, a resident of Baltana, who runs a shop at Faidan village, reported to the police that his motor cycle (CHOI-F-3024) was taken away by Balbir Singh, a resident of Bassi Pathanan, on December 24 and had not been returned so far. A case under Section 406, IPC, has been registered.

PANCHKULA

One injured
Sushil Kumar, a resident of Solan, reported that the driver of a bus (HR-37-8300) hit and injured Vinod Kumar, a resident of Shimla, near Pinjore. A case under Sections 279 and 337, IPC, has been registered.

Agaaz welcomes freshers
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 17 —A cultural programme Agaaz marked the welcome function for freshers in Panjab University at the gymnasium hall here today.

The afternoon show began with a vandana by Sulakshna.This was followed by a Punjabi solo Munda sohna by Vidya, which was well appreciated by the audience.

The crowd kept the show alive with instant response to the performance — good or bad. Hava ke saath saath received instant appreciation while giddha team received catcalls.

One of the solo performers was hooted out to the extent where the compere had to request him to leave the stage.Upcoming singer Jagjit Singh performed one of the songs from his latest release.

Dr Surinder Sharma, known stage and screen actor, in his comic performance received crowd appreciation. A mock rock was another feature which stood out separately. Another star was Rachhpal with his mimicry item.

The function was inaugurated by Jagmeet Singh Brar, Member of Parliament, who said he would try to shift Rs 5 lakh from the expenditure for his constituency to the university for welfare and development.He said that India did not face any threat from western culture in the long run.

Mr Dayal Pratap Singh Randhawa, president of the student council, welcomed the guests. The Vice Chancellor, Prof M.M. Puri was also present on the occasion.

A feast for the eyes
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 17 — Gayatri Mantra, a hymn from the Hindu scriptures, that is all about life, light and creation, and which has been one of the epitomes of the Indian tradition, was brought alive to the stage today by a powerful and an intense dance performance titled Gayatri at the Punjab Kala Bhawan, Sector 16 this evening. The dance presentation by a four-member team was choreographed by Janak Khendry, a Canada-based Bharat-natyam dancer of international repute.

The picturesque dance performance today beautifully played up the various incantations of the Gayatri Mantra with some highly lyrical movements, even though the bad sound system did seem to mar the show at times.

In fact the ambience created by ‘Gayatri’ and all the four dancers was such that one could forget the cold dreary evening of the cold winter month and instead almost feel as if the rays of the early morning would descend on to the ill-lit stage.

This dance performance, organised as one of the regular Thursday evening programmes by the Punjab Sangeet Natak Akademi, however, was designed in as casual a manner as most of the Thursday evenings, and often mediocre programmes are.

Earlier, while talking to TNS, the dancers expressed their shock at performing on a stage which was “not even a proper stage” and where no proper sound or light system existed.

Nevertheless this amazingly stirring and elegant dance recital, that lasted for almost an hour, had the audience spellbound. But one did wish that this unique dance form, translating the profound and transcendental concept of the mantra, had been performed on a stage which would have provided more movement to the dancers, and would also have been able to amplify their spirit and animation.

Janak Khendry, who has also been trained in Kathak and Manipuri was performing in the city after almost 45 years. Recognised as a sculptor as well, Khendry has been trained in Bharatnatyam by Swami Mutu-kumar Pillai, Guru Kittapa, Mrs U S Krishna Rao and Mrs Kalanidi Narayam.

The other accompanying artistes, included Sathyanarayana Raju,one of the leading male dancers of Bangalore; Dr Seshadri Iyengar, who comes from the Vazhuvoor School of Bharatnatyam; and Uday Kumar Shetty, a disciple of Guru Kelucharan Mahapatra and also Protima Bedi.

Special drive against rickshawpullers
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 17 — The enforcement staff of the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC) last night launched a special drive against rickshawpullers, who had encroached upon corridors and municipal land in Sector 17 here.

According to sources, the staff, with the help of the the police, took a round of the sector after 10.30 p.m. till well past 2 a.m. and asked over 300 rickshawpullers, who were sleeping in the corridors and open spaces to sleep in proper places like rain baseras. The exercise was repeated in the early morning and those bathing in the open were asked to leave.

The drive, which is part of the corporation's plan to make the sector encroachment-free, will continue tonight and in the days to come.

Meanwhile, over 67 encroachments were removed by the staff in Sector 29-B in an anti-encroachment drive here today.

Hedges and barbed wires, which had virtually extended up to the road berms were removed in the operation which started at 9.30 a.m. and concluded at about 3.30 p.m.

‘Skating fascinates me’
By Arvind Katyal
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 17 — “It is the magnetic pull of skating which keeps us nearer to this wonderful game”, said Chandni Patwa, the skater from Gujarat who was the only Indian to have secured a bronze medal in 1995 in figure skating event at Nagano. Chandni has come as a technical official for the artistic event at the 37th national skating championship, which concludes tomorrow at skating rink in Sector 10 here.

She took part in three Asian skating meets at South Korea (1987), China (1989) and at Nagano (1995) in Japan where she got bronze medal.

Born in 1975, the architect from Ahmedabad took to the sport in 1982 at the age 7.

In 1984 she went to participate in the national championship in artistic (pair event). Since then there was no stopping for this skater who surprised all with her magnificent performance in artistic and speed events and won Gujarat many championships.

When asked why skaters from Gujarat are doing well in artistic and speed events, Chandni gave full credit to late Jaspal Singh, who revolutionised the game of skating in Gujarat.

Today Gujarat has also produced an Arjuna awardee Naman Parekh and lots of youngsters have been winning gold medals in the present national meet.

She left the game in 1995 while she was only 20. Chandni said as she was pursuing architecture course so it became difficult for her to do daily practice.

On the poor performance of skaters of northern region in speed and artistic events, Chandni said earlier when she competed, there used to be good competition from J&K and Chandigarh skaters. May be, lack of proper coaching could have resulted in the disastrous performance.

She said roller hockey also remained the domain of northern skaters but gradually states like Maharashtra and MP were making their presence felt. Another skater who excelled for Gujarat and is doing the duty of technical official is Sapna Desai among others.

Chandni is happy the way the Roller Skating Federation of India (RSFI) is making efforts in the promotion of skating. She said next year’s world skating championships at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh would give real exposure to young Indian skaters.

Sports day held
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Dec 17 — The annual sports day of Government High School, Sector 40-A, was held today. The winners of various races were; Sobit 100 m and 400 m-boys), Kiran Negi (100 m 200 m-girls), Nitesh in 200 m boys and Tarsem Singh in slow cycling.

Football final

The Punjab Police, Patiala, and Gurkha Training Centre, Subathu, will meet in the final of the 2nd Vijay Rana Memorial Football tournament, being held at HMT Pinjore sports complex, Pinjore.

In the semi final, GTC, Subathu, defeated Gurkha Rifles, Dagshai, by 2-0, while in the second semi final, Punjab Police, Patiala, got the better of Youngsters Club, Chandigarh by 3-1.

Basketball probables

The Chandigarh Basketball Association has selected the following probables for the senior national basketball championship to be held in January next year.

The cagers are: men: Nipinderjit Singh, Pradeep Singh, Amanpreet, Praveen Kumar, Harkanwal Singh, Amandeep Singh, Jaspreet Singh, Dinesh Kumar, Vikas Rawat, Sushil Kumar, Amrit Kumar, Harjit Singh and Bhupinder Singh.

Women: Kamaldeep Kaur, Nivedita, Jaspreet, Amandeep Kaur, Manjula, Suvita, Sarita, Ranjeeta, Saloni, Simrandeep Kaur, Gurvinder Kaur, Chinku Sharma, Sukhdeep Kaur and Aanchal.