02032026-CT-01.qxd 3/2/2026 12:43 AM Page 1 c m y b Chandigarh tribune FUTURE THERAPIES IN FOCUS AT PGI PAEDIATRICS CME SARGON, DEEPAK WIN BADMINTON TITLES VIOLA DAVIS CALLS LIFE A ‘HERO’S JOURNEY’ The two-day annual PGI Paediatrics Update 2026, themed ‘Basics to Breakthroughs’, concludes. P3 Sargon R Arora wins women's singles 60+ event, Deepak Dhiman men's singles 60+ event title. P3 Viola Davis delivered one of the night’s most resonant speeches at the 57th NAACP Image Awards. P4 » » AIR QUALITY INDEX CHANDIGARH 401-500 301-400 201-300 101-200 51-100 0-50 97 SEVERE VERY POOR POOR MODERATE SATISFACTORY GOOD 2,700-plus field staff to fan out across 35 wards, residents can enumerate themselves online Nitin Jain Tribune News Service WHAT’S ON APNI MANDI Chandigarh: Sectors 43 & 45 Mohali: Sectors 70, 78 & Phase 5 Panchkula: MDC, Sector 5 Please send information about events in tricity at: whatson@tribunemail.com INBRIEF YOUTH ARRESTED ON THEFT CHARGE Chandigarh: A youth has been arrested for allegedly stealing copper pipes from air conditioners at the Tennis Club in Sector 26. The suspect was identified as Yasin of Sector 26. According to the police, the case was registered on a complaint of Neeraj Kumar of Pipliwala Town, Manimajra, who alleged that the suspect was caught while allegedly removing copper pipes from three AC units at the Sector 26 club on February 28. A case under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was registered at the Sector 26 police station. TNS Bike rams into parked tipper, rider dies Our Correspondent Fatehgarh Sahib, March 1 A 28-year-old man was killed after his motorcycle rammed into a tipper parked in the middle of the Chunni-Morinda road here in the wee hours of Sunday. The deceased has been identified as Ravi Kumar of Peer Jain village. According to the police, the accident took place around 1 am when Ravi was returning to his village on his motorcycle (PB-32U0968) from the Kharar side. In a complaint lodged with the police, the victim’s brother Yograj Singh alleged that a tipper (PB11DA-9021) was stationed in the middle of the road near a liquor vend without flashing hazard lights or warning sign. Owing to poor visibility, the motorcycle rammed into its rear, causing Ravi to fall on the road. He died on the spot. The tipper driver reportedly fled the scene taking advantage of the darkness. A case has been registered against the unidentified driver of the tipper at the Badali Ala Singh police station. The police said efforts were on to trace him. The body was handed over to the victim’s family after conducting a post-mortem examination. Chandigarh, March 1 The countdown to India’s first Census since 2011 has formally begun in the Union Territory of Chandigarh. The Chandigarh Administration has officially notified the schedule for the Census 2027 house listing operations, setting in motion an elaborate groundlevel machinery that will fan out across all 35 wards of the city in the coming weeks. According to the gazette notification issued by the UT Administration, residents will be able to enumerate themselves online from April 16 to April 30 — a firstof-its-kind digital option introduced in this census. This will be followed by the traditional house listing operations from May 1 to May 30. Deputy Commissioner and Principal Census Officer (PCO) Nishant Kumar Yadav, who shared details of the preparedness plan with The Tribune, said the groundwork was already well advanced. “We have divided the entire UT into 10 census charges, each headed by a senior offi- HOUSE LISTING OPS TO BEGIN ON MAY 1 ■ Residents will be able to enumerate themselves online from April 16 to April 30 — a first-of-its-kind digital option introduced in this census ■ Traditional house listing operations will take place from May 1 to May 30 ■ The questionnaire will capture details on housing conditions, household composition, access to drinking water, sanitation, cooking fuel and digital assets, including Internet access, smartphones and computers ■ It will also record what cereal a family primarily consumes. ■ Over 2,700 enumerators and supervisors will collect data on 33 parameters cer drawn from the DANICS, HCS and PCS cadres,” he said, adding, “A detailed briefing for all charge officers was conducted on February 19. The next round of training is scheduled for March 5 and 6.” Across its 35 wards, Chandigarh will be carved into approximately 2,125 house listing blocks (HLBs) — compact geographical units of 180 to 200 census houses each, demarcated digitally through a webmapping application. A total of around 2,341 enumerators and 392 supervisors, drawn from the teaching and government service community, will be deployed for the house listing phase. Every six enumerators will report to one supervisor, forming a supervisory circle. The 10 charges have been assigned to senior officers spanning the SDM (Central), SDM (East), SDM (South), Director Social Welfare, Director Information Technology, Director Public Relations, Director CTU, District Food and Supply Officer, and both Joint Commissioners of the Municipal Corporation. Enumerators and supervisors will collect data on 33 parameters using dedicated mobile applications available in Hindi and English on both Android and iOS platforms — replacing paper forms used in earlier censuses. The questionnaire, notified through a separate gazette notification, will capture details on housing conditions, household composition, access to drinking water, sanitation, cooking fuel and digital assets, including internet access, smartphones and computers. It will also record what cereal a family primarily consumes. Yadav described the exercise as a logistical challenge of considerable scale requiring coordination across multiple departments. “The Revenue Department will assist with boundary demarcation, the Education Department will provide training venues and a bulk of the field staff, the police will ensure law and order and the Department of Posts will handle logistics,” he said. “A 24x7 district control room and dedicated WhatsApp groups will be active during operations for realtime coordination and issue resolution,” said the DC. The entire census chain runs from four Master Trainers at the UT level down through 36 field trainers to over 2,700 enumerators and supervisors. All expenditure incurred will be reimbursed by the Central Government as grant-in-aid. Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria has called on all Chandigarh residents to cooperate with census officials. “The census is the foundation on which national policy and public welfare programmes are built. Every household in Chandigarh must participate fully and honestly — the more accurate our count, the better the planning for our people,” he said. Yadav echoed the appeal, underscoring the significance of the long-delayed exercise. “This census will capture who we are as a city in 2026 — our families, our homes, our assets and our needs,” he said. “I urge every resident to open their doors to enumerators and, if they choose, take advantage of the self-enumeration window in April. No one should be left out of the count.” The self-enumeration portal, a national first, allows residents to fill in their own details digitally before the enumerator visits — reducing fieldwork burden and giving households greater control over their own data. FACEBOOK/CHANDIGARHTRIBUNE P’kula cops to seize assets of 2 brothers facing drug cases Tribune News Service Panchkula, March 1 The district police have initiated proceedings to attach and confiscate properties of two brothers, which were allegedly acquired through heroin trafficking. The action is being taken against Darpan and Karan, both residents of Khadak Mangoli, under Section 68F(1) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. After completion of legal formalities, the assets will be formally seized. DCP Crime and Traffic Manpreet Singh Sudan said Darpan and Karan were involved in heroin smuggling and already facing at least three cases under the NDPS Act. Investigations revealed that they allegedly procured heroin from Delhi and supplied it across the Tricity region, using private vehicles for transportation. As part of the ongoing attachment process, a car and a motorcycle, together valued at approximately Rs 7 lakh, are being seized. Darpan was arrested on October 1, 2022, by a team of Chandigarh’s maiden international marathon a huge draw Nearly 3,500 runners take part in four events; Ethiopians walk away with Full Marathon top honours Deepankar Sharda SIDELIGHTS Tribune News Service Chandigarh, March 1 The 1st Chandigarh International Marathon, organised by the Sports Department and the UT Administration, witnessed an overwhelming response with nearly 3,500 participants from India and abroad competing across multiple categories. The marathon featured four races — 5 km, 10km, 21km (Half Marathon) and 42 km (Full Marathon). From a nine-month-old youngest registered participant to the 80-year-old oldest, the 5km and 10km runs were enjoyed by one and all. The youngest participant’s mother carried her in a shoulder baby carrier. The fun and motivational runs were participated by the city’s top brass and politicians besides UT Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria and his wife Anita Kataria, with a fleet of protocol vehicles and security moving behind them. “All events witnessed a huge response. I congratulate the winners. The Administration will try to conduct more such events. To start with, we can organise a cycling marathon,” said Kataria, who claimed to have taken an hour to complete the 5km stretch. Earlier, Kataria flagged off the marathon in the presence of Rajya Sabha MP Satnam Singh Sandhu, DGP Dr Sagar Preet Hooda, DC Nishant Kumar Yadav, SSP Kanwardeep Kaur, UT Sports Director Sorabh Kumar Arora and Joint Director Mahender Singh. The races started from a junction near the Chandigarh Club and passed through various junctions before ending at the same spot. “It’s a great initiative by the UT Administration. City residents are generally running freaks and such events should be organised once in a while,” said Suman Chaudhary, a sci- ■ The full marathons were flagged Participants of the 1st Chandigarh International Marathon on Sunday. TRIBUNE PHOTOS: PARDEEP TEWARI MAX 30°C | MIN 13°C YESTERDAY MAX 29.1°C | MIN 12.1°C SUNRISE TUESDAY 6.48 AM /THETRIBUNECHD After 16-year wait, countdown begins for Census 2027 in UT MAINLY CLEAR SKY SUNSET MONDAY 6.22 PM » MONDAY | 2 MARCH 2026 | CHANDIGARH FORECAST off at 4 am. However, the traffic restrictions started troubling commuters as the day progressed. Commuters bound for Sukhna Lake, Nayagoan and other areas faced inconvenience till 11 am ■ One of the participants ran away when called for a surprise dope test ■ Participants in wheelchairs, representing Chandigarh Rehabilitation Centre, drew attention ■ A medical emergency was reported during the 10km race at one of the junctions; it was attended smoothly ■ Ambulances heading towards the GMSH-16 and the PGIMER faced a little hassle due to oneway traffic restriction ■ All the winners and participants were awarded with certificates the Crime Branch Sector 26 from the Sector 31 area with 100 grams of heroin. Karan was arrested on April 11, 2022, by the Detective Staff near Chownki village under the Chandimandir police station area with 6 grams of heroin. Confirming the action, Police Commissioner (ADGP) Sibash Kabiraj stated that all properties generated through illegal drug trade would be identified and confiscated. A proposal for attachment had already been forwarded to the competent authority under the NDPS Act, and the assets would be legally seized upon approval. The Commissioner directed all district police units to identify active drug traffickers, trace their illegal assets and take stringent legal action, including demolition of unlawful structures if required. He added that the Panchkula police were going beyond arrests, with three special teams formed to conduct antidrug awareness campaigns, educate young people and facilitate rehabilitation and medical assistance for victims of drug abuse. Key road not built, residents to take to streets Tribune News Service Mohali, March 1 Awaiting construction of the 200-ft PR-6 road between Sectors 117 and 74, 116 and 92, and 118 and 119, residents have decided to hold a protest on March 7 in front of TDI office in Sector 119. During a meeting of the Committee of Resident Welfare Associations & Societies (CoRWAS), Mohali, on February 28, held under the presidentship of Rajwinder Singh Sarao, it was unanimously resolved to hold a protest for the construction of PR-6. The meeting was attended by office-bearers of resident welfare associations and societies of different sectors, including TDI117, CR74, Ansal-114, Ansal-116 and Sunny Basant. The builder had earlier availed benefits under the 2015 compensation policy and extensively marketed the project showcasing PR-6 as the main connectivity backbone. Despite deriving commercial benefits, the construction of this vital public utility road has been stalled, causing severe hardship to thousands of residents including traffic congestion, water logging, poor emergency access and transport difficulties. UT Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria, along with Rajya Sabha MP Satnam Singh Sandhu and BJP leader Sanjay Tandon, takes part in a 5km event; and (left) the winners of Full Marathon events. entist by profession, who carried her daughter in the run. “The finishing and starting points should have been separate. In some races, runners were about to end their event even as the participants of fun races were lined up for beginning of their events. The entry of VIP vehicles near the starting and finishing point should have been restricted,” said Prityush, a participant. Ethiopia’s Meskerem Tesfaye Fikadu clocked 2:31:14 to win the women’s full marathon, followed by Ruth Chelangat Wakabu (2:31:15) and Rita Jelagat (2:33:57). The Ethiopian runners claimed the top honours in the men’s event as well. Olbana Negasa Yadate clocked 2:17:41 to win the top position, while Aggrey Kiprotich Rono (2:17:41) and Sylas Chebii (2:17:42) claimed the second and third positions, respectively. “I landed in India five days c m y b ago, and it was my first race. I am happy to have finished the race under my target timing. I will be participating in more international events in the coming weeks,” said Yadate. “The race was quite easy, as the route was at the same level,” said Meskerem. The women’s half marathon was won by Tsehay Desalegn in 1:14:38, while Iveen Chepkemoi finished second with 1:15:29 and Munni Devi third by clocking 1:15:42. In the men’s event, Harmanjot Singh (1:02:04), Panchanan Bera (1:02:09) and Kemboi Kevin Kiprono (1:02:14) won the top three positions. In the women’s 10km event, Soniya (00:34:35) won the top position, followed by Senayit Ayele (00:34:38) and Anjali (00:38:46). In the men’s event, Sahil Kapoor, Gaurav Kasana and Sawan bagged the top three posi- tions, respectively. The winners of the full marathon received a prize of Rs 7 lakh, Rs 5 lakh and Rs 3 lakh each, respectively, in both the categories, while the half marathon top-three position holders bagged Rs 4 lakh, Rs 3 lakh and Rs 1.5 lakh, respectively, in both the categories. The winners of 10km runs won Rs 2 lakh, Rs 1.50 lakh and Rs 1 lakh, respectively. Ram Darbar youth held in arms case Chandigarh, March 1 The police have arrested a youth in an arms case. The suspect, Nikhil, alias Panda (20), a resident of Ram Darbar Phase 2, was found carrying a foldable knife near the Ram Darbar bus stand on February 28. A case under the Arms Act was registered. — TNS