Around Town

Plantation drive held in city
As part of the My Earth My Duty campaign,involving NSS volunteers by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in collaboration with Zee News,a tree plantation drive was organised in several schools and colleges in the city on Wednesday. NSS volunteers actively participated in the event. Various events,including essay writing competition,poster-making,slogan writing,fancy dress and plays based on the theme were also held to mark the day. The schools included Pandit Mohan Lal S D Public School,Sector 32,Banyan Tree School,Kendriya Vidyalaya Sector 47,DAV Model School,Sector 15 and Mount Carmel School,Sector 47,Chandigarh. The colleges where the plantation drive was organised under the campaign included Government Polytechnic for Women,Sector 10,DAV College,Sector 10,Post-Graduate College for Girls,Sector-11 and MCM DAV College for Women,Sector 36.

Retired Punjab government official passes away
Retired Deputy Controller (Finance),Government of Punjab,S J Tewari passed away on August 19,after brief illness. He is survived by his wife and sons — Rajiv and Sandip. The kirya will be held at Sanatan Dharm Temple,Sector 23 on August 28,from 2 to 3 pm.

‘Challan not issued to Hotel Himani’
In wake of the raids and checks conducted by the team of officials of Health Department and Municipal Corporation in the city on Monday,Ankit Gupta,owner of Hotel Himani,Sector 35,today clarified that the though the officials had inspected Hotel Himani,they did not find anything objectionable and no challan was issued to the hotel. Officials said they would re-check the facts. Several restaurants and sweet shops in the city were raided by the team of officials during the daylong special drive and several were challaned for unhygienic conditions or keeping stale food.

DPS wins qawwali competition
Delhi Public School,Sector 40,won the qawwali competition in the Fanta Fiesta 2010 competition. A total of 15 teams from Chandigarh participated in the competition.

Two dead in road mishap
Ambala: A man and his daughter died when their motorcycle was hit by a truck near the Markanda bridge on the Ambala-Dehradun National Highway today. Manjit Singh,a resident of village Boh in Ambala,was going to MM College Hospital in Mullana with daughter Parminder for her medical examination. But when they reached Markanda Bridge,a truck hit their vehicle injuring them seriously. They were rushed to a hospital where they were declared dead on arrival. The police have registered a case.

Nagendra Singh is SJOBA president
The St Johns Old Boys Association (SJOBA) announced Nagendra Singh as the president of the Association for the year 2010-11. SJOBA,one of the active alumni associations selects its president every year by a collegium consisting of former presidents of the association.The other office-bearers include vice presidents Shivneet Singh,Vishal Sharma and Tarun Aggarwal; treasurer Rajesh Bansal; secretary Prithpal Singh; joint secretaries Dr Rahul Datta and Vaibhav Mehan. They are supported by a team of 18 executive committee members.

Commenting on his selection as president,Singh,“This is a great responsibility and my team and I will make sure that we keep the SJOBA flag flying high and live up to the aspirations of our highly dedicated members.”

Alleging exploitation by top cop,woman reaches Ambala on foot
Ambala: Advocate Arvinder Kaur,who has undertaken padyatra from her native town Yamunanagar to Chandigarh,reached Ambala Cantonment today. She will meet Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to press her demand for taking action against former IG M S Ahlawat,who had committed atrocities on her during his tenure as SP Yamunanagar with ill intention of sexploitation. She narrated her story while talking to media during her stay at Gobindnagar gurdwara today. She said the main objective her padyatra was to bring to the notice of the CM,the misdeeds of IG Ahlawat. She said after a long struggle case was registered against the former IG but his accomplices who associated him in harassing her had not been booked. She further said that she would press the CM to register case against them to bring to book. She however,feared that she might not be kidnapped by these people.

Bank staff to observe strike on Sept 7
Patiala: Members of the Punjab Bank Employees Federation,affiliated with the All India Bank Employees Association,organised a rally in front of the State Bank of Patiala Head Office on Wednesday. While addressing the rally,Bank Employees Federation General Secretary N K Gaur and the AIBEA vice-president said that the National Convention of Trade Unions held in Delhi on July 15 by INTUC-AITUC-HMS-CITU-AIUTUC-AICCU-TUCC-LPF,has given joint call for the strike on September 7.