Minor girl abducted
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 4 — A minor girl was allegedly abducted from Colony No. 4 here yesterday.

According to the police, Abida Begum, a resident of the colony, has alleged that her minor daughter, Sahina, was abducted by one Alamgir of the same locality. A case under Sections 363 and 366 of the IPC has been registered.

Family attacked: Mr Kanwar Lal, a resident of Sector 37, has alleged that he and his family were attacked with sharp-edged weapons by two persons, resulting in injuries to them. A case has been registered.

Bootleggers held: The local police has arrested Jasbir Singh, a resident of Gangoli Ferozepur village, and Ramesh Kumar of Kumhar Colony, Sector 25, for possessing 24 bottles and 100 pouches of liqour, respectively. A case under the Excise Act has been registered against the accused.

One arrested: The local police has arrested Ashok Kumar, a Sector 38 resident, for possessing 150 kg of crackers without any permission. A case under the Explosives Act has been registered.

Car stolen: Pankaj Sharma, a Sector 36 resident, has reported that his car has been stolen from outside his house. A case has been registered.

PANCHKULA

Thieves caught: The city police today arrested four persons — Manoj Kumar, Suresh Kumar, Mani Lal and Shambhu Kumar in connection with the theft at the residence of Mr Subhash Chopra, a property dealer. They were sent in police custody till November 10, after they were produced in the District Court, here today.

The police has recovered two pieces of blood-stained clothes from their possession which were used by them to cover their faces while committing the crime.

PU teachers take out procession
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 4 — More than 200 teachers took out a procession in Panjab University today as part of the nationwide protest against the government circular on restriction on publication and broadcast of letters, articles and books.

The rally started from Gandhi Bhavan and concluded in front of the Vice- Chancellor's office.The rally was addressed, among others, by Dr P.P. Arya, President of the Panjab University Teachers Association, Dr Harjinder Singh, President of the All-India Federation of University Teachers Associations, and Dr Satya P. Gautam , Secretary of the AIFUTA.

Speakers demanded withdrawal of the circular regarding restrictions on publications and broadcast of letters and other literary material. This is a measure that will inhibit academic growth of the institutions and will generate an environment full of fear.

Speakers pointed out that the move would restrict teachers growth and the move was a violation of human right and democratic values.

Speakers sought the implementation of a viable pension scheme with April 1, 1998, as the cut-off date. They asked for funds from the government in case the cut-off date was to be rolled back.

The federation also demanded enhancement of representation of university teachers in the university Senate as almost 90 per cent items in a meeting pertained to them, speakers said.

The PUTA strongly condemned the non-implementation of the new pay scales in many colleges and universities of the region. The demand for immediate implementation of the career advancement schemes and feeder grades as per UGC norms was also taken up. The PUTA will hold a seminar on November 22 on "state negligence of its responsibility towards education".

Department students reject panel decision
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 4 — The decision of a panel of PU’s Physics Department to impose a fine of Rs 500 each on students to resolve the issue was not accepted by students today.

Rajeev Thakur, the department representative, said the decision of the committee was biased.

The girls’ version maintained that the outsiders on the freshers party were known to Rajeev Thakur, while he denied this. However, associates who hurt Rajeev on the following day were known to the girl, students maintained.

The committee had yesterday imposed fine on the boy and the girl. Both parties were asked to withdraw their FIRs. However, Rajeev Thakur said this was unacceptable to him because he was innocent.

Professor Govil said he could not change the recommendations independently. The department had made an effort to resolve the issue amicably so that studies could go on normally. He said he could constitute another committee to review the recommendations of the committee.

Amarjot, student of the same department who has affiliation with the ABVP, was cleared by the committee of any involvement in the incident. He said a review would again mean that his name would be dragged ‘unnecesarily’ in the controversy. His effort was to save any untoward incident.

The Chairman said that students should accept the recommendations of the committee because it was not a one-sided decision. There were 15 members. Yet, it could be reconstituted.

Thakur said the committee should first establish who the outsiders were using its own independent means before studying the case.

'Gur' sweets stable
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 4 — As Divali is round the corner, the sale of 'gachchak', 'batashas', 'murmuras' and other items prepared with 'gur' is gaining momentum in the city and surrounding areas.

There has been almost no fluctuation in the prices of these commodities during the past one year. Though people have started making purchases of these items, their number was not much, leaving shopkeepers to believe that sales would go up during the last two days.

If one could purchase a kg of 'batashas' for Rs 25 last year, it was available at the same price today, with increase in their size. There was no change in the price of 'khillan', made of roasted rice grains, as these could be had for Rs 25 a kg in the Sector 26 market.

Same was the case with sweet 'murmuras', a form of 'gachchak' made of 'gur' and roasted rice. 'Gur' and 'shakkar' were available for Rs 15 a kg in most of city markets as there was no change in their prices during this period.

Groundnut was priced at between Rs 25 and Rs 30 a kg. According to traders, demand of Nalagarh groundnut was the most as it was crispy and full of nuts. Due to that it was commanding a high price. 'Til' and groundnut 'gachchaks' were priced at between Rs 30 and Rs 40 a kg, while 'chalai laddoos' were priced at Rs 25 a kg. Walnut was priced at between Rs 70 and Rs 80 a kg in the retail market.

Bindra makes it to Sydney
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Nov 4 — Abhinav Bindra, the ace Indian shooter of Chandigarh, who hit the headlines by excelling in the last Commonwealth Games and the Asiad-98, was the youngest member in the 20-member Indian shooting squad which left today for Sydney (Australia) to take part in the Oceanic Shooting Championship. The Indian team is accompanied by the national coach, Sunny Thomas, and a foreign coach, Mr Lazlo.

In this meet, top-level shooters from Europe, North America, Latin America and other Asian countries will take part.

At Sydney, the preparation for a shooting range were in full swing and the Olympic Games ranges are to be inaugurated on November 6.

The other Indian shooters who have left for Sydney along with Abhinav include Jaspal Rana, Anjali Ved Pathak, Vivek Singh, Shilpi Singh and Chetan Deshmukh among others.

After the meet, the Indian team will travel to New Zealand to participate in the third Commonwealth Shooting Championship to be held at Auckland from November 16 to 26. This tournament also assumes importance as top-level shooters, drawn from all commonwealth countries will fight for honours. Abhinav Bindra is also a favourite to win gold in these championships.

UT skipper: Ramanpreet Singh Pahwa of Shishu Niketan Senior Secondary School, Sector 22, who was the captain of the UT team in the 27th Sub-Junior National and Inter-State Carrom Championship which concluded at Thiruvanthapuram (Kerala) on October 29. He got the fifth place in this meet in the boys' singles event.

Mr Mahesh Sekhri, Secretary of the Chandigarh Carrom Association and Joint Secretary of the All-India Carrom Federation, said it motivated the city carrom players as Ramanpreet became the first UT player to reach the singles' quarterfinals in any such national championship.

He defeated the players of Kerala, Orissa, and Vidharba before losing to K. Balakrishnan of Tamil Nadu in the quarterfinals, 16-25, 25-14, 20-25, in a well-fought match.

Ramanpreet and Sumit Chakarvorty of Mount Carmel School, Sector 46, also reached the boys' doubles quarterfinals where they lost to S. Ramesh and Surya Prakash of Hyderabad, 16-25, 12-25.

Another notable contribution of Ramanpreet came in the team championship the team reached the last eight stage. Chandigarh boys defeated Bihar and Kerala before losing to Tamil Nadu in quarterfinals.

In the VIIth Federation Cup also held at the same venue thereafter, Ramanpreet upseted the LIC-ranked player V.D. Naraynan in three games before losing to E. Dohling of Meghalaya in the next round.

City soccer: In the UT Inter-School Football Championship for under-19 players being held here, Sanjay Public School, Sector 44, beat Government Model School, Sector 15, 5-0. Harish scored three goals, while Kalarjit and Narender Awasthi scored one goal each. In another match of the day, Shivalik Public School, Sector 41, also defeated Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 33, 5-0.

Cricket tourney: The Sector 42 team won the Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial Cricket Tournament for under-17 boys being held here. It defeated a team of Sector 36 by 41 runs. The Sector 42 team made 99 runs and was all out, whereas, the Sector 36 team could make only 58 runs.