16062026-CT-01.qxd 6/16/2026 1:00 AM Page 1 c m y b Chandigarh tribune CITY'S JUDOKA EYES MEDAL AT COMMONWEALTH GAMES COUNCILLORS CRY FOUL OVER DELAY IN HOLDING MC MEET SONGS THAT BECAME SOUL OF THE SUNNY DEOL-STARRER Ishroop becomes first from city to book spot for quadrennial event’s judo competition. P2 A General House meeting was fixed for the last week of May, but it was postponed. P3 Twenty-five years after Gadar: Ek Prem Kathastormedtheatres,itsmusicstillholds a special place in hearts of fans.P4 » » CHANDIGARH 74 PANCHKULA 74 401-500 301-400 201-300 101-200 51-100 0-50 SEVERE VERY POOR POOR MODERATE SATISFACTORY GOOD WHAT’S ON APNI MANDI Chandigarh: Sectors 29 and 56, & Dhanas Mohali: Sec 68, 71 Please send information about events in tricity at: whatson@tribunemail.com Direct Chd-Noida flight from July 1 Tribune News Service Mohali, June 15 A direct flight between Chandigarh and Noida International Airport will start on July 1, cutting travel time to one hour for passengers heading to DelhiNCR and western Uttar Pradesh. The flight will depart from Chandigarh at 7.30am and arrive at Noida International Airport at 8:35am. It will depart from Noida International Airport at 6.10 am and arrive at Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport in Mohali at 7.10 am. Airfare is expected to be around Rs 3,850. Official said from July 13, an additional flight would operate twice a week. This flight will depart from Noida at 9.55 am and arrive at Chandigarh at 10. 55 am. It will depart from Chandigarh at 12. 20pm and arrive at Noida at 1. 35 pm. At present, passengers traveling to Noida and adjoining areas must reach Delhi and then continue their journey by road. The new service is expected to cut the travel time by two hours. MAX 37°C | MIN 24°C YESTERDAY MAX 37°C | MIN 25°C SUNRISE THURSDAY 5:19 AM /THETRIBUNECHD FACEBOOK/CHANDIGARHTRIBUNE Police identify trio behind chemist shop killing, multi-state hunt on to nab them Kalka-Chd-Sahnewal railway route to get Kavach safety system Two belong to Rajouri in J&K |Cops raid parts of Punjab, Delhi Traders meet Tribune News Service Tribune News Service Chandigarh June 15 The Chandigarh Police have identified the three accused who shot dead a chemist shop employee in Sector 11 two days ago. Two of them are residents of Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir, according to sources. They, however, did not disclose the identity of the third accused. Meanwhile, the city police raided parts of Punjab and Delhi to arrest them. Teams of the Crime Branch, District Crime Cell (DCC) and the Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF) have been tasked with carrying out the raids. ‘Three more receive threat’ Meanwhile, the sources claimed that two more chemist shop owners in Sector 11 and one businessman in Sector 19 have received threats. However, the police did not confirm it. The accused were last traced to Khajeri village in Chandigarh. The police had also rounded up an autorickshaw driver and a gar- FILE PHOTO AIR QUALITY INDEX PARTLY CLOUDY SUNSET WEDNESDAY 7:28 PM » TUESDAY | 16 JUNE 2026 | CHANDIGARH FORECAST PASSED THROUGH SEVERAL PB CITIES After committing the crime, the accused fled Chandigarh, passing through several cities of Punjab before heading towards Delhi. Police teams are raiding multiple locations to trace them. ment shop owner for questioning as they both had come into contact with the accused. The auto-rickshaw driver allegedly took the suspects to Kajheri village, where they bought some clothes from a shop. The sources said the accused were regular visitors to the city. The police are also investigating whether they had some local contacts. The police also reconstructed their escape route. Left bike outside Sec 3 park After committing the crime, the accused fled on a bike, which was stolen from Tarn Taran. They fled to a Sector 3 park and abandoned the bike in the parking area. The bike was recovered by the city police. The accused then took an auto-rickshaw for Khajeri village. They stayed in the area for a few hours before escaping to a neighbouring state. The accused also bought some clothes before leaving the city on a bus. They had fired 13 rounds at Shri Kumar Medical Hall cashier Janki Das, a native of Shimla’s Rohru. The crime took place a few metres from a check-post set up by the Chandigarh Police. ‘Motive still unclear’ The sources said the motive behind the attack was still unclear. The police suspect that their handlers wanted to instil fear among city traders so that they could extort money easily from them in future. However, the police have not confirmed it. On Sunday, the Goldy Dhillon gang released an audio message on social media, warning of consequences of supporting the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. Beating the heat DGP Hooda over security Chandigarh, June 15 A delegation of the Chandigarh Beopar Mandal on Monday met DGP Sagar Preet Hooda. The delegation expressed concern over the law and order situation in city markets. The delegation included Chandigarh Beopar Mandal president Sanjeev Chadha and chairman Charanjeev Singh. Chadha submitted a memorandum on behalf of city traders, seeking immediate steps to instil a sense of security among shopkeepers. The DGP urged the delegation to ensure that all market welfare associations deploy their own security personnel at entry and exit points of each market. Hooda said the murder case was being pursued with utmost seriousness. A delegation of the Chandigarh Chemists Association also met the DGP and submitted a representation. The delegation urged the DGP to ensure the immediate arrest of the accused, strengthen security measures for chemists and traders. — TNS Chandigarh, June 15 Train travel on the KalkaChandigarh-New MorindaSahnewal route, one of the busiest rail corridors serving the region, is set to become significantly safer with the Centre approving a Rs 201-crore project to install the indigenous Kavach Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system across the Ambala Division of the Northern Railway. The Ambala Division covers parts of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chandigarh. The Ministry of Railways on Monday announced that it had sanctioned the installation of Kavach on the remaining broad gauge sections of the Ambala Division, covering 811 route kilometres at a cost of Rs 201 crore. Besides the Kalka-Chandigarh-New Morinda-Sahnewal section, the sanctioned work will cover the Ambala Cantonment-Ludhiana, SirhindDaulatpur Chowk, RajpuraBathinda-Shri Ganganagar and Ludhiana-Dhuri-Jakhal sections — key corridors connecting Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the decision reflected the government’s commitment to making rail travel safer for the common man. “Kavach is a major leap in railway safety technology developed entirely in India. Extending it to the Ambala Division will directly benefit lakhs of daily passengers travelling on routes serving Chandigarh, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh,” he said. Minister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu termed the approval a significant gain for the region. “This project will bring one of the most modern train protection systems to routes connecting Chandigarh, Mohali and other parts of Punjab with the rest of the country. It is a significant step towards eliminating accidents caused by human error,” he said. Kavach is designed to prevent signal passed at danger (SPAD) incidents, automatically apply brakes to avert unsafe situations, control train speed on critical stretches, and reduce the risk of collisions. Centre approves ~201-cr plan for Ambala Division Bangladeshi national arrested for bomb threats to city schools Tribune News Service Chandigarh, June 15 The Chandigarh Police have cracked two hoax bomb threat cases that had triggered panic in city schools and the Punjab Civil Secretariat earlier this year, with the arrest of Saurav Biswas (30), a Bangladeshi national who had allegedly entered India illegally and was living in West Bengal. Biswas, a tech-savvy freelance web designer and animator, was arrested on June 2 after a production warrant was obtained from Ahmedabad in Gujarat, where he was already in the custody of a cyber crime police station for a similar offence. He has since been remanded in the custody of the Sector 3 and 17 police stations for further questioning. Children cool off under water leaking from a pipeline along Dakshin Marg between the Industrial Area, Phases I and II, as the temperature soars in Chandigarh on Monday. TRIBUNE PHOTO: RAVI KUMAR According to the police, threat emails were sent to Tender Heart School and Government Model Senior Secondary Schools in Sectors 16, 35 and 19 on January 28. Following this, an FIR was registered under Sections 113(3), 62 and 351(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 66(F) of the IT Act at the Sector 17 police station. A day later, on January 29, a similar email targeted the Punjab Civil Secretariat, leading to another FIR under Section 351(4) the BNS and Section 66(F) the IT Act at the Sector 3 police station. A technical analysis of the emails in both cases led investigators to Biswas. The police said he ran an online business, buying and selling Gmail accounts through Facebook pages, having procured around 300 such accounts, 219 of which were sold to an individual based in Bangladesh. Investigators are now probing whether these accounts were used to send the threats and are working to establish further links in the chain. The police said Biswas was no stranger to such cases, with multiple FIRs registered against him at police stations in Delhi. Chandigarh DGP Sagar Preet Hooda told The Tribune that they followed a zero-tolerance approach towards such people. “Anyone attempting to take the law into their own hands or spread panic through such cowardly acts will be brought to book and given the strictest possible punishment,” he said. MC earmarks eight feeding points for stray dogs at Sukhna Outsiders account for 6 in 10 deliveries at city govt hospitals Ramkrishan Upadhyay Tribune News Service Tribune News Service Chandigarh, June 15 The Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (MC) has identified eight feeding points for stray dogs at Sukhna Lake. The feeding points have been identified in compliance with the Supreme Court directions. Civic body officials said they had invited objections from local residents regarding the proposal through a public notice issued on May 19. Residents were given 15 days to submit their objections. “No objection or suggestion was received during the period,” an official said. Officials said people would only be allowed to feed stray Littering at designated spots to attract ~10,000 fine dogs at the designated spots. Visitors found littering at the feeding points would be fined Rs 10, 000. Boards will be installed at every feeding point, displaying rules and regulations to be followed. The MC’s move follows the Supreme Court directions in this regard. The MC has also identified a two-acre plot at Sector 25 in Chandigarh for the development of a dog shelter. The MC had earlier identified feeding points at more than 200 places. THE TRIBUNE SPECIAL Nitin Jain Chandigarh, June 15 More than half of the deliveries recorded at Chandigarh’s major public health facilities in 2025-26 were for patients from outside the city. Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar together account for the bulk of the non-resident caseload. Of the 21,728 deliveries recorded across seven major public health institutions in Chandigarh, 13,064 — or nearly 60.1 per cent — were for residents from outside the UT, against just 8,664 deliveries (39.9 per cent) for Chandigarh residents. This was revealed in data placed before the Executive Committee of the State Health Society, NHM, Chandigarh. The meeting was chaired by Secretary (Health) Mandip Singh Brar. The data was accessed exclusively by The Tribune. The most striking numbers emerge from the PGIMER, a premier central institute. Of its 5,209 deliveries in 2025-26, a staggering 4,395 — or 84.4 per cent — were for patients from outside Chandigarh. The GMCH-32 followed suit. Of its 4,211 deliveries, 3,566 — a remarkable 84.7 per cent — were for nonChandigarh patients. The GMSH-16, the UT’s multi-speciality hospital, handled the highest absolute volume — 7,988 deliveries — with 3,971 from outside Chandigarh (49.7 per cent). Across all seven reporting centres — GMSH-16, UCHC22, SDH Manimajra, UCHC- c m y b TOTAL DELIVERY SPLIT CITY RESIDENTS 8,664 OUTSIDE PATIENTS TOTAL 21,728 13,064 45, GMCH-32, PGIMER, and ESI-Ramdarbar — the combined tally for 2025-26 showed 21,728 deliveries. While 8,664 deliveries were for city residents, 13,064 were for nonChandigarh residents. PUNJAB LEADS For the fourth quarter of 2025-26 (January to March 2026), 5,169 deliveries were recorded, of which 3,103 were for patients from outside Chandigarh. CASE COUNT HOSPITAL GMCH-32 PGIMER ESI-Ramdarbar GMSH-16 UCHC-22 SDH Manimajra UCHC-45 TOTAL OUTSIDERS % OUTSIDE 4,211 3,566 84.7% 5,209 4,395 84.4% 44 7 15.9% 7,988 3,971 49.7% 2,725 609 22.3% 1,153 400 34.7% 398 116 29.1% Punjab accounted for the highest number of deliveries at 873, followed by UP (442), Haryana (300), Bihar (142), and other states (272). The grand total for Q4 outof-UT deliveries stood at 3,103, yielding 3,067 live births. Within Chandigarh, Q4 saw 2,066 deliveries. Speaking to The Tribune, Punjab Governor and Chandigarh Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria said, “These figures reflect the deep trust that people from across the region repose in Chandigarh’s public health institutions.” “The PGIMER and the GMCH-32 are national institutions of excellence, and it is a matter of pride that mothers from Punjab, Haryana, UP and Bihar choose to deliver here. At the same time, this places a significant responsibility on us to continually expand capacity and infrastructure so that the quality of care for Chandigarh’s own residents does not get diluted,” he added. Secretary (Health) Mandip Singh Brar, who chaired Thursday’s review meeting, said, “The data confirms what our hospitals have been experiencing on the ground — a very high proportion of beneficiaries are from outside UT. We have now directed that this out-of-UT data be disaggregated district-wise and state-wise so we can map the exact referral catchment areas and coordinate proactively with the concerned state governments.” “The objective is to ensure that planning for beds, staff, equipment, and consumables is responsive to the actual patient load, not just the resident population,” he added.