12032026-CT-01.qxd 3/12/2026 12:45 AM Page 1 c m y b Chandigarh tribune EMPLOYEES, PENSIONERS’ PROTEST ENTERS DAY 4 PUNJAB KINGS TO PLAY 4 IPL HOME GAMES AT MULLANPUR ALANKRITA COLLABORATES WITH KARAN AUJLA FOR SONG Protesting corporate culture, unions of various Punjab departments continue to hold a dharna in Mohali. P2 Punjab Kings will play four home games at the Mullanpur stadium in the 19th IPL edition starting March 28. P3 Actress Alankrita Sahai will be seen opposite Punjabi music sensation Karan Aujla in his new song 5-7. P4 » » AIR QUALITY INDEX CHANDIGARH 120 PANCHKULA 66 401-500 301-400 201-300 101-200 51-100 0-50 SEVERE VERY POOR POOR MODERATE SATISFACTORY GOOD UT Admn warns against hoarding |Commercial gas supply hit Aanavi Singh Arya WHAT’S ON APNI MANDI Chandigarh: Sectors 34, 56 and Ram Darbar Panchkula: Sector 5 Mohali: Sec 88 and Phase 8 Please send information about events in tricity at: whatson@tribunemail.com INBRIEF CRACKDOWN ON ILLEGAL MINING Panchkula: The police seized a tractor-trailer loaded with illegally mined material during a special drive against illegal mining in the Raipur Rani area, said DCP Panchkula Srishti Gupta. TNS Chandigarh, March 11 With consumers rushing to gas agencies and godowns amid a supply crunch, the UT Administration has decided to deploy police personnel at LPG outlets to ensure orderly distribution and prevent any untoward situation. To ensure smooth supply, teams under the district food & supply officers have also been constituted to visit LPG agencies and assess the realtime stock position of LPG across Chandigarh, said Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav after a meeting with key stakeholders to deliberate on preventive measures against hoarding and to ensure the availability of essential commodities in view of the recent geopolitical disturbances in West Asian countries. With the Centre invoking the Essential Commodities Act to prioritise domestic LPG supply over commercial use, the ground reality remained stark. At Indian Oil’s Shivalik Agencies in FACEBOOK/CHANDIGARHTRIBUNE ~116-crscam:Copsprobe role of MC, bank officials Ramkrishan Upadhyay Tribune News Service Chandigarh, March 11 As the city police started probing the alleged scam of over Rs 116 crore that surfaced in the Municipal Corporation Chandigarh, the role of several officers working in Chandigarh Smart City Ltd (CSCL), the MC and IDFC First Bank has come under the scanner. The internal inquiry of the MC conducted so far has revealed large-scale fudging and discrepancies in the records submitted to the MC related to the Rs 116 crore amount MAX 32.4°C |MIN 15.8°C YESTERDAY MAX 33.2°C |MIN 19.3°C SUNRISE FRIDAY 6.38 AM /THETRIBUNECHD Cops to guard LPG outlets as supply plunges sharply PARTLY CLOUDY SUNSET THURSDAY 6.28 PM » THURSDAY | 12 MARCH 2026 | CHANDIGARH FORECAST deposited in IDFC First Bank. The police have started preparing a list of officials of the CSCL and the MC who were posted at the time the suspected transactions were made. The MC authorities have also not ruled out involvement of certain officials in the case. The police have sought information from the bank regarding further transactions of the amount. They suspect that the amount was transferred to multiple accounts by the accused. The FIR against the MC employee and bank officer continued on page 2 Peddler held with ~52-lakh heroin panchkula, March 11 The city police arrested a suspected drug trafficker and recovered 260 grams of heroin worth about Rs 52 lakh from his possession. The accused, identified as Tajinder Singh alias Tanu, a 20-year-old resident of Amritsar, was apprehended near a junction in Sector 21 following a tip-off. Police said he had been living in a rented accommodation in the Budhanpur area. Arvind Kamboj, ACP Crime, said the contraband was allegedly brought from Amritsar and supplied in the Tricity region. — TNS Pay hefty penalty or clean streets, MC gives litterbugs tough choice Tribune News Service Residents queue up outside an LPG godown in Manimajra on Wednesday. Sector 26, sales manager Amandeep Kanoujiya confirmed that stocks had plummeted by 50 per cent, pushing delivery wait time to five days. A server outage had further crippled online bookings, leaving residents unable to place orders, he said. At a Hindustan Petroleum gas agency in Sector 8C, a representative, Abdul Rashid, informed that the supply had gone down by 40 per cent and said they had been forced to stop commercial sales to protect domestic users. A high-level committee comprising K Sailendra (IOCL), TV Pandiyan (BPCL), and Dhruv Kapil (HPCL) has been formed to review emergency supply requests for essential services such as hospitals. For now, officials have continued on page 2 c m y b ~1,700 for a refill on ‘black market’ zirakpur: Outside an Indane gas agency in Zirakpur, long queues of consumers were seen on Wednesday as many complained of the unavailability of domestic LPG cylinders. They alleged that refills were not readily available and that Rs 1,700 was being charged. “Pay money continued on page 2 Chandigarh, March 11 In a bid to blend enforcement with civic responsibility, the Municipal Corporation Chandigarh has rolled out a first-of-its-kind initiative allowing violators of the Solid Waste Management (SWM) Bylaws, 2018, to either pay hefty fines for littering or step forward and clean the city themselves. Turning penalties into participation, the MC says the initiative aims at making A resident cleans a green area in Sector 25, Chandigarh. offenders experience the effort that goes into keeping the city clean. Under the new system, offenders who approach the Municipal Corporation citing genuine financial or personal constraints may apply for relaxation or compounding of their challans by undertaking community sanitation work. Applicants are required to submit a written undertaking committing to perform the assigned sanitation duties sincerely under the supervision of the Medical Officer of Health (MOH) continued on page 2