29092026-CT-01.qxd 9/29/2026 12:39 AM Page 1 c m y b Chandigarh tribune FANS THRONG MULLANPUR STADIUM FOR ODI TICKETS NOTICE TO UT OVER HANDLING OF UNIDENTIFIED BODIES VIKRANT MASSEY TO OPEN MUSAFIR CAFÉ IN HILLS Fans will see star players Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in action in the ODI at Mullanpur. Page 3 Petition seeks a quicker process for identifying unclaimed bodies, completing their last rites. Page 3 Actor Vikrant Massey is working on two cafés with artist residencies planned in Dharamsala and Uttarakhand. P4 » » AIR QUALITY INDEX CHANDIGARH 27 PANCHKULA TRIBUNEPHOTO:RAVIKUMAR 52 401-500 301-400 201-300 101-200 51-100 0-50 SEVERE VERY POOR POOR MODERATE SATISFACTORY GOOD Tribune News Service CHANDIGARH Sports for Swachhata: Mayor Saurabh Joshi to flag off the event; 11.15 am; Sports Complex, Sector 7 APNI MANDI Chandigarh: Sectors 29 and 56, & Dhanas Mohali: Sec 68, 71 Please send information about events in tricity at: whatson@tribunemail.com POWER SHUTDOWN CHANDIGARH 10 am to 2 pm: Parts of Sectors 22, 35, 36, 37, 41, 50, 49, Hallomajra village, Behlana, ITBP campus, Badheri, Buterla, Manimajra 2 pm to 5.30 pm: Sectors 22, 35, 36, 37 Punjabi singer Kanwar Grewal performs at the inauguration of the Namo Cricket League at Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Panchkula. PAGE 2 15 elected to PU Senate after 37 rounds of counting Tribune News Service Chandigarh, September 28 As many as 15 candidates were elected to the Panjab University Senate from the Registered Graduate Constituency after 37 rounds of counting concluded today. The counting of votes began on September 23. The university authorities will now await the list of 36 nominated members to complete the quorum of 91 ordinary fellows of the university’s governing body. From Chandigarh, Jodh Singh secured 2,980 votes, followed by Ashok Goyal, alias Ashok Kumar, with 2,775 votes and Amarendra Mann with 2,727 votes. From Punjab, Sandeep Singh secured 3,044 votes, followed by Sukhdev Singh Sirsa with 2,985 votes, Kapil Sharma with 2,392 votes, Mehar Singh with 2,375 votes and Naresh Gaur with 2,061 votes. From the “Any Other Area” category, Mukesh Kumar Arora secured 3,424 votes, followed by Simranjit Singh Dhillon with 3,374 votes, Dr Shanker Choudhary with 3,380 votes, Varinder Singh with 3,040 votes, Lajwant Singh Virk with 2,517 votes and Gurraj Singh with 2,415 votes. A total of 60,044 votes were polled, of which 53,969 were declared valid and 6,075 invalid. The quota was fixed at 3,374 votes. Amandeep Singh, Ravinder Singh, Jagwant Singh and Anil Dhall were eliminated during the final stages of counting. Earlier this month, eight candidates each from the affiliated arts college constituency and the associate professor and assistant professor of affiliated arts college constituency were elected to the Senate. From the heads of affiliated arts colleges constituency, Ajay Sharma was elected from Chandigarh, while NR Sharma, Neena Seth Pajni, Rajinder Kaur, Sandeep Kataria, Kirandeep Kaur, Rakesh Kumar Mahajan and continued on page 2 Sharp dip in mercury as rain lashes Tricity at 22.1°C and Mohali at 22.7°C. The minimum temperature was down 1.1°C in Chandigarh, 0.3°C in Mohali and 0.1°C in Panchkula from the previous day. Panchkula received the highest rainfall in the Tricity at 15.5 mm between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm, followed by 9.4 mm in Chandigarh and 7.5 mm in Mohali. The IMD classifies rainfall between 2.5 mm and 15.5 mm as light rainfall, with Panchkula’s 15.5 mm at the upper limit of the category. Tribune News Service 48-hour shutdown of Kajauli pipeline to hit water supply Tribune News Service Chandigarh, September 28 The city will witness regulated water supply on September 30 and October 1 due to a 48-hour shutdown for replacement of a pipeline at Jhungian and Jandpur villages. During the shutdown, pumping of water from Phase III of Kajauli waterworks to the Sector 39 facility will remain affected. The water supply timings across Chandigarh will be regulated during the two days. Morning supply: 3.30 am to 9 am — full pressure Evening supply: 6 pm to 8 pm — low pressure Chandigarh, September 28 Light to moderate rain lashed Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula on Monday, bringing another sharp swing in Tricity temperatures. The showers began around 9 am after an overcast start and cool breeze, continuing intermittently through the day. The India Meteorological Department (IMD), which had no warning in force for Monday in its previous forecast, issued a yellow warning during the day for heavy rain, thunderstorm and gusty winds at isolated places. The rain brought a pronounced fall in daytime temperatures, with Panchkula recording 24.2°C, down 5.5°C from the previous day, the sharpest decline among the three cities and the lowest maximum in both the Tricity and the Punjab-Haryana region. Mohali also recorded a 5.5°C Pedestrians protect themselves with a polythene sheet amid rain in Zirakpur on Monday. TRIBUNE PHOTO: RAVI KUMAR fall, with the maximum settling at 25.4°C, while Chandigarh’s maximum fell 5.1°C to 25.4°C. The Chandigarh and Mohali readings were 7.2°C below normal, while Panchkula’s maximum was 8.4°C below normal. The sharp fall followed the hot and dry spell of the pre- ceding days as the Southwest Monsoon withdrawal phase gave way to renewed rain activity over the region. Night temperatures also dipped, though much less sharply than daytime mercury. Panchkula recorded the coolest night in the Tricity at 21.8°C, followed by Chandigarh RAINFALL DEFICIT NARROWS Chandigarh’s seasonal rainfall stood at 701.4 mm at 8.30 am, with a 17% deficit. The additional 9.4 mm received during the day raised the seasonal accumulation to 710.8 mm by 5.30 pm. Thus, despite Monday’s rain, the city continued to face a substantial seasonal rainfall deficit as the Southwest continued on page 2 Chandigarh, September 28 Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari has flagged discrepancies between the Part-wise (booth-wise) details in the final electoral rolls-2026 and the ward boundaries notified by the Municipal Corporation for the December civic body elections, seeking an official reconciliation from the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO). The voter list for the December election was published on September 22. Every voter is counted under a Part, or polling booth, and every Part is supposed to fall neatly inside one of the corporation’s 35 wards. It is this booth-to-ward link that MP Manish Tewari says does not add up in several places. In a letter to Chief Electoral Officer Prerna Puri, Tewari said that when he checked which ward each Part had been placed under against the corporation’s own wardwise list, the two did not always match — the same locality appeared to be in one ward on the electoral rolls and in a different ward in the corporation’s records. He has asked the CEO’s office to reconcile the two and confirm which mapping is final, since Tribune News Service Students of Chitkara University leave for home on Monday. PHOTO: VICKY Mohali, September 28 A day after Chitkara University suspended classes for a week following protests by students over the alleged death of a fresher, students began leaving for their homes today, with many still seeking clarification from the authorities. A large number of parents and local guardians were seen outside the main gate to pick up their wards following the announcement made by the university yesterday evening. The police continued to maintain a heavy presence inside and outside the campus, while security arrangements at the main gate were also strengthened. University authorities said an investigation was under way to identify those who allegedly spread the rumour on the campus and determine who was involved in the protests. They also said a few outsiders had joined the protest a day earlier, raising the possibility of an element of sabotage. The university said students had been asked to leave the campus to allay their parents’ concerns about their safety. In a message to students, the authorities said classes would remain suspended from September 28 to October 4. Placement programmes, however, would continue as scheduled, while regular classes would resume on October 5. Students, however, alleged that the decision to suspend classes was aimed at bringing the protest to an end and said no clear reason had been given to them for the week-long suspension. c m y b “No reason for the suspension of classes was given to us and we were abruptly told to leave the campus. The hostel mess has also been closed. The authorities seem to be in a hurry to vacate the hostels,” said an MBA student while leaving the university campus on the Banur-Rajpura Road. Several students told The Tribune that they believed the suspension was intended to quell the protest. “The authorities have been completely evasive. When we ask specific questions, there is no reply from their side. Different officials are giving different statements. The CCTV footage of the spot has not been shown to anyone so far. The room where the incident is said to have occurred has been locked,” said another student, requesting anonymity. Seeks booth-to-ward mapping of all 575 ‘Parts’; cites discrepancies in Mari Wala Town, Sector 38-West it will decide which voter casts his ballot for which ward. Mari Wala Town is his lead example. The corporation’s list places it in Ward 6, but Part Nos. 384, 385 and 386 — which also cover Mari Wala Town — mention Ward 5 (with 17, 728 voters) on the first page of the respective electoral rolls. He said he had found a similar mismatch with regard to Sector 38-West. “I have written a letter to the Chief Electoral Officer, Chandigarh, pointing out the discrepancy between polling booths mentioned in the revised electoral rolls and the ones notified ward-wise by the notification to conduct the upcoming Municipal Corporation elections scheduled for December 2026,” Tewari told The Tribune. The MP has sought four sets of information from the CEO’s office — the official Part-to-Ward mapping of all 575 rationalised parts/booths under the final electoral rolls2026; the ward-wise elector count based on that mapping; confirmation whether the ward numbers printed on the electoral-roll Parts reflect the final corporation ward boundaries; and details of any subsequent revision to the Part-to-Ward mapping. The demand assumes significance as the final electoral rolls have become the basis for the coming civic elections. The ward-wise final roll also shows considerable variation in elector strength, with Ward 28 having the highest electorate at 27,281 and Ward 13 the lowest at 5,297. Tewari has separately questioned the Election Commission over the fall in Chandigarh’s electorate from 6,59,805 at the time of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to 4,60,209 in the final 2026 rolls, a difference of 1,99,596 electors, or 30.26 per cent. The final roll published on September 22 put Chandigarh’s electorate at 4,60,209, a net increase of 9,927 over the draft rolls’ 4,50,282. He has sought booth-wise details of each deleted elector and the specific reason for the deletion. The latest demand puts the focus on another aspect of the final rolls — whether the boothwise electoral data and the corporation’s ward structure are correctly aligned before the December civic elections. ED raids TDI office in Sector 119 Tribune News Service Mohali, September 28 Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials today raided the office of real estate firm TDI House in Sector 119 here. The raid began around 11 am, with a team of about 15 officials accompanied by CRPF personnel. The officials scrutinised documents, computers and other electronic devices at the office. They also took the mobile phones of TDI officials and employees present at the premises and began examining the records. After a preliminary inquiry, the mobile phones of some employees were returned. ED officials remained tightlipped about the case being investigated. Sources said the probe was related to land compensation. The ED is learnt to have received a complaint against TDI in recent weeks regarding alleged irregularities continued on page 2 Chitkaravarsitystudentsleaveforhome as classes suspended for a week Gaurav Kanthwal FACEBOOK/CHANDIGARHTRIBUNE MP flags gaps in booth-wise details in final electoral rolls, civic body’s info on wards Nitin Jain WHAT’S ON MAX 29°C | MIN 24°C YESTERDAY MAX 25.4°C | MIN 22.1°C SUNRISE WEDNESDAY 6:15 AM /THETRIBUNECHD Cricket league kicks off PARTLY CLOUDY SUNSET TUESDAY 6.11 PM » TUESDAY | 29 SEPTEMBER 2026 | CHANDIGARH FORECAST Chitkara University spokesperson Dinesh Bali said, “The police are investigating who spread the rumour on the campus and other aspects related to it. No death has taken place on the campus. The university authorities and the police have said this repeatedly, so there is no question of an investigation into the death of a student,” he said. Bali said classes had been suspended to enable the authorities to get to the bottom of the matter without any disturbance on the campus. “Every explanation will be given to the students once they rejoin classes. It is also being probed why such an incident took place at two private universities within a very short duration. The element of sabotage is also being investigated,” he said. The cremation ground in Sector 25, Chandigarh. FILE MC proposes ~54-cr projects to improve air quality in Chandigarh Ramkrishan Upadhyay Tribune News Service Chandigarh, September 28 The Municipal Corporation has prepared projects with a cost of over Rs 54 crore under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) for improving air quality in the city. The projects have been submitted to the Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee (CPCC), which will forward the proposal to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for the release of funds. Among the major projects is the proposed upgrade of the cremation ground in Sector 25 at an estimated cost of over Rs 23 crore. Under the project, an openpyre emission control system will be installed. Emissions from the pyres will be drawn into specialised retractable, refractory-lined hoods and routed through a heavy-duty ducting network. The emissions will then be treated through a central wet scrubber before being discharged into the atmosphere through a specially designed 15-metre stack. The installation of an electric crematorium at the cremation ground in Industrial Area, Phase I, has been proposed at Plans ~23-crore upgrade of Sector 25 cremation ground, proposals sent to committee e-CREMATORIUM PLANNED AT INDUSTRIAL AREA ■ Sector 25 cremation ground: Upgrade plan includes an openpyre emission control system with retractable hoods, ducting, wet scrubber and 15-metre stack ■ Electric crematoriums: ~3.57 crore for a new facility at Industrial Area, Phase I; ~2.73 crore to convert an LPG-based crematorium to electric ■ Air purifiers: Proposed at cremation grounds and other locations ■ Dust-control equipment: Three truck-mounted jetting machines (~1.51 crore), self-propelled road sweeper (~3.40 crore), small ride-on sweepers for the multi-level parking facility and Sector 17 Plaza (~40 lakh) ■ Intelligent traffic system: ~2 crore+ proposed to help manage traffic and pollution a cost of Rs 3.57 crore. Another project, involving the conversion of an LPG-based crematorium system into an electric crematorium, is estimated to cost Rs 2.73 crore. Air purifiers will also be installed at the cremation ground and at various continued on page 2