Protest against ISI activities
CHANDIGARH, Dec 29 — The local unit of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha today burnt an effigy of Pakistan-based ISI for its involvement in the recent attacks on Indians in Nepal.

Bansal’s plea for another train
CHANDIGARH, Dec 29 — The local MP, Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal, today urged the Centre to introduce another train like the Himalayan Queen between Chandigarh and New Delhi.

PANCHKULA ROUND-UP
Tough year for wildlife dept
PANCHKULA, Dec 29 — Redressal of public greivances remained under the spotlight all the year through in the district administration, the Haryana Urban Development Authority, the police and the health departments though the year proved a tumultuous for the wildlife department.

SAS Nagar heads for dull New Year’s Eve
SAS NAGAR, Dec 29 — There is hardly any enthusiasm among most hotel and restaurant owners here to make big preparations for the New Year’s Eve bash and it will be like any other day for them.

Driving blindfolded on the highway!
DERA BASSI, Dec 29 — When magician Shankar drove a motorcycle amid heavy traffic on the busy Chandigarh - Ambala highway with his eyes blindfolded here today, the spectators could not but help being awed. 

Renowned magician Shankar rides a motor cycle blindfolded on the busy Chandigarh-Ambala highway at Dera Bassi on Friday. — Tribune photo by Pankaj Sharma

Wheel of bus comes off, hits car
SAS NAGAR, Dec 29 — How safe are passengers in PRTC buses can be judged from an incident near Landran today when one of the front wheels of a corporation bus bound for Nabha from Chandigarh came off and hit an oncoming car. 

Man dies of cold
CHANDIGARH, Dec 29 — The cold reportedly claimed its second victim today. A rickshawpuller was found dead outside a showroom in sector 22 in the morning. The death, senior police officials maintained, was due to natural reasons.

Scooterist succumbs to injuries
CHANDIGARH, Dec 29 — A city resident, injured after the scooter he was riding skidded in the wee hours, succumbed to his injuries at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research. His friend, sitting on the pillion, also sustained injuries.

Nominations invited from mediapersons
CHANDIGARH, Dec 29 — The S. Mehar Singh Rawel Memorial Charitable Society has invited nominations from journalists, editors, correspondents, and writers connected with Punjabi language media for participation in the first competition being held to award the S. Mehar Singh Rawel Memorial Award for the best journalist in Punjabi.

City discos a preferred destination for partying
CHANDIGARH, Dec 29 — If discotheque owners and the police are to be believed, hundreds of youngsters from outside Chandigarh are once again planning their New Year bash at discotheques in the city. 

Youngsters dance in a Chandigarh discotheque.
  — Tribune photo by Pradeep Tewari

Long dry spell in city
CHANDIGARH, Dec 29 — For the second year in succession there has been no rain during the months of November and December in the city and its surrounding areas. The situation in other parts in Haryana and Punjab is also the same and no rain has been reported. 

A clarification
CHANDIGARH, Dec 29 — The name of the department of Dr B.B. Goyal, indicted in an examination fraud case has been wrongly published as public administration in a report in these columns on December 27.

90 rounded up from colonies
CHANDIGARH, Dec 29 — Following intelligence reports regarding the presence of miscreants in the city, a massive combing operation was carried out by the Chandigarh Police in various colonies today. The operation which started at 4 a.m. lasted for three hours.

CBI probe sought into land scandal
KHARAR, Dec 29 — Mr Shamsher Singh Dullo, Member of the Lok Sabha from Ropar constituency, has urged the Union Home Minister, Mr Lal Krishan Advani, to order a CBI inquiry into the alleged land scandal of Khanpur village, in which the gau charand of the village was allegedly allotted to some influential persons during the past four decades.

Tota Singh’s plea to teachers
SAS NAGAR, Dec 29 — Mr Tota Singh, Education Minister, Punjab, has appealed to the school teachers in the state to pay full attention to the studies of students so that the latter do not suffer in the present day competitive world.

Warm send-off to PEC principal
CHANDIGARH, Dec 29 — The Principal of Punjab Engineering College, Prof Rajnish Prakash, was given a warm send-off by officers technical staff and students here today. Dr R.S. Gupta of the Mechanical Engineering Department, who takes over as the new Principal, spoke about noticeable developments on the campus during the tenure of Professor Prakash.

COURTS

Forum tells firm to pay compensation
CHANDIGARH, Dec 29 — The UT District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum has directed SM Finance Limited to pay compensation to Ms Jamuna Devi in nine different cases. The forum also directed the firm to pay costs of Rs 550 to her and directed the finance limited to refund the deposits made by the complainant in accordance with the schedule formulated by the Company Law Board.

Murder accused sent to judicial remand
PANCHKULA, Dec 29 — A Panchkula Duty Magistrate today sent Rahul, an accused in the Gopal murder case, to judicial remand till January 12. The accused had surrendered before the Pinjore police yesterday evening and is allegedly responsible for the death of 11-year-old Gopal, a domestic helper of Mr A.K. Malhotra, Joint General Manager, HMT, Pinjore.

Health round-up
Health sector dogged by wrangles
CHANDIGARH, Dec 29 — Looking back at the year, doctors, and health experts have little to cheer as controversies dogged the health sector. But on the positive side, groundwork has begun on six super-speciality state-of-the-art advanced centres at the PGI.

OPD awaits inauguration by PM
CHANDIGARH, Dec 29 — The Nehru Hospital in the PGI was inaugurated by Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru and the research blocks by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. A reason enough for the institute authorities to wish that the Rs 20-crore new state-of-the-art OPD, which celebrated its first year of formal completion this month, is inaugurated by the Prim Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Title for St. John’s
CHANDIGARH, Dec 29 — A superb knock of 40 runs by Karan Dhanoa enabled the hosts bag the St John’s Challenger Trophy today. In the final of the under-12 section played today, St John’s Sector 26, overpowered YPS SAS Nagar by three wickets. In under-16 match, DAV Senior Secondary school, Sector 8, outplayed Hansraj Public School, Sector 6, Panchkula.

A tennis star in the making
CHANDIGARH, Dec 29 — Meet the new tennis prodigy of Chandigarh, 16-year-old Saurabh Singh, who has the potential of becoming a national star. Saurabh began playing tennis only four years ago when he returned from a school in Ajmer. 

ADMINISTRATION

Additional charge for Chandersekhar
CHANDIGARH, Dec 29 — The Chandigarh Administration today handed over the work of Joint Secretary, Technical Education, to Mr Chandersekhar, who is Director Technical Education. 

K.M. Sahni new UT Adviser likely
CHANDIGARH, Dec 29 — Mr K.M. Sahni, a 1969 batch IAS officer of the UT cadre, presently posted with the Delhi Administration, is likely to be the new Adviser to the UT Administrator.