IN brief

Car stolen from Sector-17 parking lot
Chandigarh: An Indica car was reportedly stolen from the Sector 17-C parking on Wednesday. Babaya Sharma said she had parked her car (CH 04 H 0283) near SCO number 154-155 and found her car missing upon return. She has complained against the contractor of the parking lot,who has been booked for criminal breach of trust under Section 406 of the IPC.

Electronics shop gutted
Ambala: An electronics shop in Rai Market,Ambala Cantonment,was gutted on Wednesday. The owner of shop said he suffered a loss of Rs 5-6 lakh. The fire was caused due to a short circuit.

Two vehicles carrying liquor impounded
Chandigarh: The police impounded two vehicles and recovered about 830 cartons of liquor from Manimajra late on Tuesday night. Drivers of both the vehicles were arrested and booked under relevant sections of the Excise Act,the police said.

Three sent to juvenile home
Chandigarh: Three students were sent to a juvenile home for beating up a fellow student at a school in Sector 32. Pawan Kumar said Ashwani,Ashish and Nony beat him up on October 26 during school hours. The police have booked the accused under Sections 323 and 506 of the IPC.

500 students attend environment seminar
KHARAR: As many as 500 students from various schools of the area participated in an environment protection seminar organised at Khalsa Senior Secondary School on Monday. S S Ladhar,joint director,Punjab State Council for Science and Technology,inaugurated the camp. In his inaugural address,Ladhar said environmental pollution would be a major challenge for the country in the coming times and it would have adverse effects on health and economic growth. Principal Avtar Singh Gill highlighted the efforts made by the school management,faculty and students for the protection of environment. Later,Ladhar also inaugurated a special herbal garden created in the school and donated 100 herbal saplings for it.

Group from Netherlands seeks tie-ups
CHANDIGARH: PUM Netherlands Senior Experts programme,which provides support to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) ,are inviting partners for supporting projects in the fields of managing domestic waste and industrial waste,drinking water,bio technology and energy conservation. PUM has around 4,000 experts and supports 114 programmes in India. Company representative K R Jain said they are looking at tie-ups with small and medium sized enterprises,government and non-government organisations and service clubs such as Rotary and Lions to help with their endeavours. He added that the programme has been started by the Netherlands government to reduce poverty in developing countries. The services by experts are provided free of cost.

Gaudiya Math workshop concludes
CHANDIGARH: The Chandigarh chapter of All India Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya Math organised a month-long workshop on the practices of attainment of the highest objective of human life. The concluding session will be held at the Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya Math,Sector 20 B,on Thursday. Renowned Vaishnav preachers and scholars will be attending the seminar. Scholars from across the country as well as Slovenia,United Kingdom,US,Germany and Russia are attending the meet.

PU youth fest on in full swing
CHANDIGARH: Colour and vigour marked the second day of the Panjab University Zonal Youth and Heritage Festival being hosted by GGDSD College in Sector 32-C. Students of the 15 participating teams of the city competed in a range of literary contests,music items and dramatics. The highlight of the day was an inspiring speech by Ram Niwas,Home-cum-Education Secretary. “Participation in the youth festival does not end with merely sitting and clapping at performances. Real participation implies becoming proactive and taking back home a positive thinking,” he said.

Court dismisses bail plea of gangrape accused
Chandigarh: A lower court on Wednesday dismissed the bail application of an accused in a gangrape case registered earlier this month. A resident of Mohali had alleged that she was gangraped by three persons,including her lover.
The court of District and Sessions Judge Kewal Krishna Garg dismissed the bail application of Jaswinder Singh alias Jassi,observing that the name of the accused had cropped up during interrogation of the other two accused in the case.
The court also said that the accused had been identified by the victim and considering the gravity of the case,there were no grounds for him to be granted bail.
The accused in the case are taxi driver Pankaj Thakur,who allegedly raped the victim on the pretext of marrying her,and his friends Sandeep Gupta and Jassi of Sector 44-C.

GMCH-32 patients test negative for swine flu,but still on ventilator
CHANDIGARH: The three patients admitted at GMCH-32 on Tuesday with suspected swine flu have tested negative for the H1N1 virus. They,however,continue to remain on ventilator as doctors say they are suffering from severe upper respiratory infection and require monitoring. The reports of two other persons admitted at PGI with flu-like symptoms have also ruled out swine flu. Meanwhile,four new suspected cases were reported in the city on Wednesday and their throat swab samples have been collected and sent for tests at the PGI laboratory.

Conference at PGI tomorrow
CHANDIGARH: The Advanced Paediatric Centre at PGI will host a three-day International Paediatric Neurology and Epilepsy Conference from October 30. The meet is expected to see participation of more than 50 faculty members and 300 delegates from ten countries.