C H A N D I G A R H   S T O R I E S


NEIGHBOURHOOD

Nursing students’ demands accepted
Gurdeep Singh Mann
Tribune News Service

Rajpura, January 7
The three-day agitation by nursing students ended with the Punjab Government today accepting their demands amid high drama. All through the day, the police as well as political leaders had threatened agitating students with lathi-charge and water cannons in their bid to make students give up their agitation.

In the evening, the matter was settled when Akali leader Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra’s supporters told agitating students that their demands had been accepted. They were assured of being given a communiqué from the Chief Minister’s office. Later in the evening, the students lifted their dharna.

Students were told that the government had accepted their demand to give Rs 4,000 as stipend during the six months of internship.

The students will meet the Chief Minister in Chandigarh tomorrow evening in this regard. The students, from nursing colleges in Patiala, Faridkot and Amritsar, had also demanded recognition to their colleges by the state government.

High drama unfolded when Prof Chandumajra, SAD candidate for Lok Sabha elections from Patiala seat, reached the scene to pacify agitating students around 1.30 pm.

For around three hours, he tried to act as mediator between students and the government. However, protesting students shouted back at the leader.

Starting from Rs 1,000, Chandumajra finally agreed that the government would give Rs 3,500 as stipend to students. However, before the matter could be resolved, Patiala MP Preneet Kaur arrived at the scene. Instead of solving the issue, the leaders started arguing with each other.

Things turned ugly when supporters of the SAD and the Congress hurled allegations and counter-allegations at one another. The situation normalised only after Preneet Kaur left the scene.

The police remained busy threatening students with a lathi-charge and water cannons. It also resorted to a mild use of force to disperse students using water cannons, which only intensified the rage amongst protesters. At this, the police stopped the use of force.

Two girls fell unconscious, while another got injured during the scuffle with the police. Some protesters complained of fatigue and burning sensation in eyes due to sleep depravation as they had been on protest for over 36 hours.

Last night, a student, Davinder Kaur, was injured during a scuffle with the police. The police had allegedly tried to snatch away quilts given to the agitating students by nearby villagers.

Back

 

36-hr-long blockade, a nightmare for commuters

The 36-hour-long blockade of Delhi-Amritsar national highway was like a nightmare for the commuters, shopkeepers and truckers.

Not only the commuters remained stranded, others too had to walk for several kilometres to reach their destination.

The traffic remained disrupted on Ambala, Patiala, Sirhind and Zirakpur roads with serpentine queues of vehicles.

Many people took the Banur road in order to circumvent the problematic area, Gagan Chowk, and reach Rajpura. Few minor incidents were also reported on the stretch.

The truckers carrying perishable items got stuck up on Sirhind, Patiala, Banur and on the Ambala highway. They alleged cops of unnecessarily harassing them and cursed protesting students for causing losses worth lakhs by damaging fruits and vegetables loaded in trucks. The commuters were also seen entering in heated arguments with the police. “ The situation went out of control, near Banur, when some cops abused and tried to thrash us,” said Harmeet Singh, a resident of Jalandhar.

Senior police officials, including Rajpura SHO, said the police came from nearby districts and they were unaware of any such behaviour of the police. Meanwhile, long queues were witnessed till late evexning in Rajpura, Sirhind, Banur and other adjoining areas due to the blockade by nursing students.

Back

 

Fake Encounter Case
Eight cops get bail
Tribune News Service

Patiala, January 7
Eight police personnel, charged with involvement in a fake encounter case, were granted bail by Sessions Judge Inderjit Singh Walia here today. A total of 25 police personal have been accused of their involvement in the case.

On December 8, another accused, DSP Ram Singh, posted at PAP, Jalandhar, had surrendered in the court of Additional Session Judge Sukhwinder Kaur.

He was accompanied by a team of doctors during his surrender in the court as he was suffering from a heart ailment.

The CBI had filed a case in 1997 against 25 policemen for their alleged involvement in a fake encounter and Ram Singh was one of them.

The case was registered by the CBI under Sections 302, 364 and 120B, IPC, against the accused. It may be recalled that a bomb blast had occurred in Jalandhar a few years ago and one of the accused, Vijay Pal Singh, a terrorist who was in the custody of the Delhi police, had named three policemen — Baljit Singh, Rajwinder Singh and Mukhtiar Singh — in the incident.

The following day, Baljit Singh was allegedly killed while the whereabouts of the other two were not known yet.

Joga Singh, father of Baljit Singh, later filed a writ petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court following which the court directed the CBI to inquire into the incident.

The next date of hearing in the case is January 16.

Meanwhile in another case, CDs pertaining to SAD (A) leader Simranjit Singh Mann’s fiery speeches were produced in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate.

A case had been registered against the SAD leader at the Kotwali police station on December 4, 2007. The next hearing in the case will be on January 27. Mann’s counsel said the court found no objectionable material in the CD.

Back

 

Industrialists misusing media: Damdami
Tribune News Service

Patiala, January 7
The Punjabi department of Punjabi University organised a seminar here today. Vice-Chancellor Jaspal Singh presided over the seminar. Punjabi Tribune Editor Sidhu Damdami gave inaugural address and Punjabi writer and critic Amarjit Singh Grewal presented the keynote address.

Speaking on this occasion, the VC said Punjabi university was committed to promote Punjabi language and culture.

He said the university would introduce vocational courses in Punjabi language from the next academic session. The university will organise second all-India Punjabi conference on May 30. The VC said that the works to digitalise 850 rare manuscripts had already been started by the university. This project would be completed in a year, he added.

In his inaugural address, Damdami said the creative work done by the writers and the historians was highjacked by the multimedia. He further said that the industrialist were entering the field of media whose aim was to earn money and getting political mileage from the media.

Punjabi critic Amarjit Grewal said in his key note address, “If we want to save Punjabi and our culture it was necessary to understand media ecology.” There was a dire need to make Punjabi media a tool to promote our real culture and language, he added.

Back

 

Two arrested with medicines
Tribune News Service

Kharar, January 7
Two people were arrested with medicines that are abused as drugs. The CIA police arrested Gagan Sharma, a resident of Kurali, and Jaswinder Singh, a resident of Malakpur, with 4,900 capsules of sinotil, 200 capsules of paronespas, 12 bottles of cough syrups etc. The accused told the police that they used to supply these intoxicants to school students in and around Kharar.

The police claimed that the duo was arrested from near Chando village. Meanwhile, some people claimed that they had seen a police vehicle chasing the accused near Desu Majra government school. They claimed to have heard air shots and the accused who were travelling in Indica car were caught by the police.

However, the Kharar police officials said there was no air shot, but a tyre had busted in the vicinity.

Back

 

Smugglers get 10-year jail
Our Correspondent

Ambala, January 7
Additional Session Judge, R N Bharti, sentenced ten-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1 lakh to 6 persons, including a resident of Italy involved in charas smuggling.

The smugglers, who were convicted are Chaman Lal, Gautam Chand, Meene Ram, Bhumi Chand, Dev Raj and Frenko Terzi.

According to prosecution, the CIA staff of Ambala Cantt had nabbed 4 persons Chaman Lal, Gautam Chand, Meene Ram and Bhumi Chand near Ambala Cantt railway station on April 29, 2007, on a tip off that they had been carrying charas in a large quantity.

The police had seized 7 kg charas from their possession that costed around Rs 7 crores in the international market.

Later, it was revealed the convicts belonged to Himachal Pardesh and were involved in the smuggling there. The police had also arrested Dev Raj, an owner of a hotel in Kulu, who disclosed that an international smuggler Frenko Terzi was the mastermind behind this deal.

He also disclosed Frenko had recently come from Italy and was residing in Goa these days.

The police succeeded in nabbing Frenko from Goa.

Back

 

3 booked for firing

Ambala, January 7
The Ambala Sadar police booked Gurdarshan Singh and others on the complaint of Karamjit Singh for firing three shots. The incident took place at Dhanora village this afternoon. According to Karamjit, he and his nephew were working on their land, which is in dispute with Gurdarshan. At 1 pm, Gurdarshan arrived at the scene and intimidated them to vacate the land. An alteration ensued and Gurdarshan fired shots from a country-made weapon. — TNS

Back

 

Three hurt in accident

Lalru, January 7
Three youths were injured in a road accident on the Ambala-Chandigarh highway on this evening.

According to the police, the accident took place near ITI roundabout. The youths were standing on the roadside when a speeding bus coming from Ambala hit them.

Three of them were inured seriously and rushed to GMCH-32, where conditions of the injured were said to be stable. The injured were identified as Parveen, Jaspal Singh and Raman Kumar. The police has registered a case against the unidentified bus driver. — TNS

Back

 

Honour for PSEB member
Tribune News Service

Patiala, January 7
SC Sabharwal, member transmission Punjab State Electricity Board, has been conferred with Bharat Gaurav Award by Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dixit, on the eve of Global Friendship Day on January 2.

Sabharwal has been chosen for the award for his achievements in the field of transmission as well as construction, upgradation and augmentation of grid sub-stations.

As per sources under his leadership 708 circuit kilometers of 66/132/220 KW transmission lines were added in 2007-08, which is 18 per cent more than the previous year.

Sabharwal has already been bestowed with Bharat Jyoti Award and certificate of excellence in the year 2008.

Back

 

Suspension of Sentence
Sum up conviction period: Court
Saurabh Malik
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 7
The Punjab and Haryana High Court believes it is unfair to make convicts languish behind bars for a “certain minimum period” before suspending their sentence, when as undertrials they have spent long time in custody.

A Division Bench of the high court is also of the opinion the period spent by a convict behind bars as an undertrial should to be added to the post-conviction period, while calculating the minimum period. It has called for reconsideration by a larger Bench the two judgments on the aspect.

In a ruling, the Bench of Justice KS Garewal and Justice Jitendra Chauhan have asserted: “We feel that in cases where accused spend long time in custody as undertrials, it would be unfair to require them to again spend certain fixed period post conviction before the sentence can be suspended”.

In a detailed seven-page order, the Bench ruled: As regards the benefit given to appellants of suspension of sentence on account of long period spent in custody, this court is consistently following the judgments in Dharam Pal versus State of Haryana and Daler Singh versus State of Punjab.

“However, both in Dharam Pal and Daler Singh’s cases, the appellants are required to complete a certain minimum period post conviction before sentence can be suspended. In Dharam Pal’s case, the appellant is required to complete three years post conviction and total period of five years in custody.

“In Daler Singh’s case, the appellant is required to complete period varying from 12 to 15 months post conviction, and total sentence varying from two to six years….

“Under Section 428 CrPC, the period of detention undergone by the accused is set off against the sentence of imprisonment. Therefore, we feel that the undertrial period should be added to the post conviction period, and an appellant who has completed five years in all should be entitled to suspension of sentence automatically”.

The Bench also took note of the fact that “there may be many cases where accused languish in prison as undertrials and are deprived of suspension of sentence because their conviction is comparatively recent.

“When the under-trial period is also counted towards sentence, it should not make any difference if the appellant has or has not done three years after conviction. We are of the view that on the aspect, the Division Bench judgments in Dharam Pal and Daler Singh cases require to be reconsidered”. The Bench has referred the matter to the Full Bench.

Back

 

Consumer Forum
Tata insurance to pay Rs 20,000 compensation
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 7
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed the Tata AIG General Insurance Company Ltd to pay a compensation of Rs 20,000 to a professor of Punjab Engineering College (PEC) for deficiency in services.

The petitioner, Prof Arun K Lall, had got enrolled for an accidental insurance, issued by the insurance company on December 13, 2007, with the assurance that he could discontinue it later after reviewing the policy documents without any financial implication. Under the scheme, Rs 10 per month was to be deducted for first two months, and later, for continuation, Rs 329 per month were to be charged as premium from HSBC credit card account after confirmation for the continuation.

The complainant, through an e-mail on March 3, 2008, confirmed that he was not interested in the policy, which was confirmed by the insurance company on March 5, 2008. Later on, the company again contacted the complainant for the review of another health plan, and only after the repeated assurance from the top officials of the company, he permitted HSBC to go ahead for crediting the premium, and all this happened through tele-conferencing with the complainant. However, on March 3, 2008, the complainant, through e-mail, confirmed that he was not interested in the policy and, therefore, premium should not be debited.

According to the complainant, for the insurance policy, a premium of Rs 329 per month has still been debited to his credit card, and another, against policy premium of Rs 13,107, was discontinued from March 19, 2008, against the request made on March 5, 2008.

However, a cheque of Rs 9,830 was received on May 1, 2008, after deducting 25 per cent of the premium money of Rs 34,356 was submitted against one of the insurance policy that was discontinued from February 28, 2008, for which cancellation request was made on March 18, 2008, and Rs 34,257 were credited to HSBC on May 20, 2008, after deducting Rs 99.

The insurance company admitted that the complainant took the three insurance policies, which were later on, cancelled, and the premium amount was refunded as per terms and conditions of the policy, and the amounts had been credited to the complainant’s credit card.

The company stated that the same was informed to the complainant through a letter dated September 18, 2008, and with the said letter, the complainant also offered to arrange for reversal of the interest and late-payment charges, levied by the bank. However, the complainant was required to pay Rs 9,830 that was not deposited by him.

The forum held: “The insurance company has not produced any document to prove if any such instructions had been given by the complainant to them. In its absence, it was an unfair trade policy adopted by the insurance company to debit the amount to his credit card where the non-payment entails a higher rate of interest and late payment charges, besides any other penalty which may be imposed by the bank.”

Back

 

Consumer Forum
Perfetti India asked to pay Rs 3 lakh
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 7
Denial of a trip as prize by Perfetti India, as promised on the wrapper of a Big Babool chewing gum, manufactured by Perfetti India, has cost the company dear as the UT Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has asked them to pay a compensation of Rs 3 lakh, which includes Rs 1 lakh for punitive damages.

Upholding the order of the Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum in Ludhiana that had directed the company in 2002 to pay a compensation of Rs 2 lakh. Challenging the orders of the forum the company had filed an appeal in the commission.

The respondent, Jeevan Kumar, stated in the petition that he had purchased one bubble gum of Big Babool brand. When the respondent opened the wrapper, wherein a prize coupon with figures 6,2,2,1, which summed up to 11 was found. According to a scheme floated by the company, Jeevan Kumar became entitled to a trip for two to America.

Thereafter, the respondent informed the company through a fax message on February 12, 2001. Replying to the fax, the company stated that the wrapper that appeared on the fax message seemed to be tampered. As the prize was declined Jeevan filed a complaint in the consumer forum in Ludhiana. However, the secretary of the company, Harish Arora, had put objections on the prize money and stated that the wrapper had been tampered with and it was not the prize-winning wrapper.

The company stated that the entire scheme was valid up to eight weeks, wherein, there were eight different number combinations totalling 11 and each combination was valid for one week and the same was to be faxed within two weeks from the date of declaration.

Pronouncing the orders, the commission headed by Justice KC Gupta observed, “No reason had been mentioned as to how the wrapper has been tampered with. The appellant had not produced on file any specimen of the genuine wrapper.”

Back

 

Doc acquitted as complainant turns hostile
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 7
Additional District and Sessions Judge SK Aggarwal today acquitted Chitranjan Kumar Kaushal on charges of medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) after the complainant turned hostile.

According to the prosecution, the police had registered a case on the complaint of Shiv Shanker, a resident of Khajeri, on October 13, 2007. He stated that his wife Kiran, who was three months pregnant, suffered from stomach ache and was rushed to Aman Nursing Home where Dr Kaushal provided her the treatment. An ultrasound was conducted following which Dr Kaushal gave some medicine to Kiran after which her condition deteriorated. On January 17 last year the complainant shifted Kiran to Government Hospital, Sector 16, after which she was transferred to the PGI where it was found that the uterus of his wife Kiran was damaged and had to be removed due to negligence of Dr Kaushal. Complainant Shiv Shanker and victim Kiran turned hostile during the trial.

Back

 

Two caught stealing BSNL cables
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 7
Workers employed by a contractor of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) caught two persons red-handed while they were trying to steal underground cables in Sector-34, early today morning. The suspects were, later on, handed over to the police.

BSNL officials alleged that despite several incidents of the underground cable thefts in the area during the past week, the police has miserably failed to curb such incidents. The officials suspect the handiwork of some organised gang, as reports of thefts of cables are coming from Mohali and Panchkula also.

The suspects have been identified as Rohit Kumar, a resident of Sector-51 and Raj Lohar of Colony Number 5. A case has been registered against the suspects.

Narrating the sequence of events leading to the arrest of the suspects, BSNL executive engineer NK Bedi told TNS that after rising incidents of thefts the employees decided to act on their own and deployed staff at various places where the work of laying underground cables were in progress. Last night while workers of BSNL contractor, Surinder Kumar, were laying cables in Sector-51 they spotted three persons near the distiches dug for laying cables.

After sometime these men went to a nearby forest area and lit a bonfire. At this, the workers got suspicious that the men were burning cable for removing the plastic coating for procuring the metal. They informed their contractor who in turn called Bedi. They managed to catch one of the suspects while the police later caught his accomplice. Their third accomplice is absconding.

The employees alleged that the suspects had brought a tractor-trolley for pulling the underground cables.

According to Bedi, thieves had, stolen cables catering to 1,200 connections from near a drain in Sector-5, on January 2. This had rendered 500 connections in the area "dead". The BSNL lodged a complaint with the police and a case was registered in this regard. On January 4 they began the work of laying new cables in the area and dug up earth along the drain. During the night of January 5, when the work was in progress, the thieves decamped with 40 metres of new cables bring laid there. The BSNL employees enquired from the liquor vend employees and other people of the area and learnt that a few persons were seen in the area on the tractor-trolley.

Back

 

Major scam involving GPA uncovered
False addresses used for registration

Rajmeet Singh
Tribune News Service

Mohali, January 7
A major scam involving the registration of general power of attorneys (GPA) of Chandigarh properties on the basis of false local address has rocked the city. Sellers of flats, booths and houses in the UT’s rehabilitation colonies furnished “identical” false residence proof of Mohali to get their property transactions registered in the past two years.

In what appears to be a well-organised nexus between certain officials and middlemen, the attorneys were registered by the sub-registrar’s office without verifying the identity of witnesses and documents of local address furnished by the applicants.

Though the responsibility of registering the GPA lies with the sub-registrar, most of the attorneys registered pertain to direct or indirect sale of Chandigarh properties. Registration of certain category of attorneys of properties is banned in Chandigarh.

Since the attorney involved property transactions, running into several lakhs, evasion of fee of the Chandigarh administration was done. Due to high rates of plotted houses or land, a property generally changes several hands on the basis of power of attorney or sub-power of attorney. In each transaction, government loses several lakhs in form of stamp duty.

Sources did not rule out GPAs being executed for “benami” and unauthorised property transactions undertaken by speculators.

A scrutiny of the record reveals that while registering the attorneys, different applicants have furnished the same addresses and the anomaly does not catch the attention of the officials concerned.

For instance, H No. 831, Phase 4, has been mentioned as the local address in 10 different attorneys. Similarly, H No. 783, Phase 4, has been mentioned as local address in at least 14 different GPAs.

This means 14 different persons gave the Phase 4 house as their local address. Also, H No. 36, Phase 9, finds mention as local address a number of times.

Acting on reports that property buyers were furnishing false address to get their GPA registered, the district administration has now made it mandatory for applicants to produce documents in support of their residence proof.

The deputy commissioner (registry), Mohali, has categorically told sub-registrars at Mohali, Kharar, Dera Bassi and Majri to see the documents of residence proof before registering a power of attorney.

Back

 

Six-yr-old raped
Our Correspondent

Mohali, January 7
A six-year-old girl was allegedly raped by unidentified persons in the Industrial Area, Phase VIII, here yesterday.

According to the police, the child was playing with her brother when two persons on a bicycle approached them and took the girl away. Her were not home at the time of the incident.

The girl’s father, Pardesi, who is a chowkidar, had gone to a bank while her mother was out for some work.

They kept looking for the child, and later, complained to the police.

However, the girl was dropped near her residence in the evening.

She was taken to the ESI hospital today, where the doctors confirmed that the girl was allegedly raped.

A case has been registered under Section 376 of the IPC in this regard.

Back

 

Man held with smack
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 7
The police arrested Ravi, a resident of Sector 56, from the rotary of grain market, Sector 39, and seized 8 gram smack from his possession yesterday. A case has been registered at the Sector 39 police station.

Two cars stolen

Laxmi Narain, a resident of Sector 28, filed a complaint with the police, alleging that his Indica (CH-03-X-1350) was stolen from his residence, on the night of January 5. A case has been registered at Sector 26 police station in this regard.

In yet another incident, a resident of Badheri Nirmal Singh lodged an FIR alleging that his Innova (CH-02-2545) was stolen from his residence yesterday. A case has been registered at Sector 39 police station.

Back

 

‘Kidnapped’ boy returns home
Tribune News Service

Panchkula, January 7
A Sector 4 family had great relief when their 9-year-old child missing since evening returned home safely after four hours at 10 pm here today. Meanwhile the family reported the matter to police following which the police was alerted and the borders were sealed while Superintendent of police Sandip Khirwar and other police officials reached the house of family to investigate the matter.

The family said child (name retained) left the home around 6 pm to buy pop corns from the market. She lost the way while returning and then she rang the bell of some house telling the occupants that she could not find her home. It was then that the child was restored to the family, said the family members.

Back

 

Kazakhstan’s Valentina enters semis
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 7
Sixth seed Valentina Starkova of Kazaksthan toppled top seed Indian Rashmi Teltumbde in straight sets 6-3, 7-5 in the girls singles quarter-final encounter to register semifinal berth in the ITF Junior Tennis Tournament (Grade 3) for Under-18 boys and girls being conducted by the Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association, here today. In another girls singles quarter-final match, Aishwarya Agarwal prevailed over mighty Nova Patel in three sets 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. While third seed Sachie Ishizu of Japan did not face any tough resistance from seventh seed Rishika Sunkara of India, as she won by 6-4, 6-1.

Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association trainee Digvijay Singh Mehta though lost his quarter-final match, but was not distracted in the boys singles competition. Digvijay extended top seed and hot favourite Kaza Vinayak Sharma to three sets before going down fighting at 6-1, 2-6, 7-6 (4).

Kaza Sharma is now pitted against unseeded Laurent-Olivier of Belgium in the semifinal. The Belgium player ended the challenge of Sumeet Shinde of India in straight sets 6-4, 6-3.

Results: Boys singles (Q-finals): 1-Kaza Vinayak Sharma (Ind) bt Digvijay Singh Mehta (Ind) 6-1, 2-6, 7-6 (4), Laurent-Olivier (Bel) bt Sumeet Shinde (Ind) 6-4, 6-3,Venkat Iyer (Ind) bt Vaidik Munshaw (Ind) 6-4, 6-4, Yoannis Hilelis (Fra) bt Alexander Igoshin (Rus) 6-2, 6-1.

Girls singles (Q-finals): 6-Valentina Starkova (Kaz) bt 1-Rashmi Teltumbde (Ind) 6-3, 7-5, Aishwarya Agarwal (Ind) bt Nova Patel (Ind) 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 3-Sachie Ishizu (Japan) bt 7-Rishika Sunkara (Ind) 6-4, 6-1, 2-Kyra Shroff (Ind) bt Ratnika Batra (Ind) 6-0, 6-1.

Boys doubles (2nd round): Jeroen Claeys (Bel) and Jeroen Benard (Ned) bt Muddappa Appanervanda and Venkat Iyer 6-2, 4-6, 11-9, Christopher Marquis and Saurbh Singh bt Kaza Vinayak Sharma and Kartik N. Sai 6-0, 6-2, Alexander Igoshin (Rus) and Mikhail Titov (Rus) bt Yoanis Hillelis (Fra) and Laurent Oliver Daxhelet (Bel) 6-3, 6-4, Lakshit Sood and Chandril Sood bt Sumeet Shinde and Shahbaaz Khan 6-2, 7-5.

Girls doubles (Q-finals): Kyra Shroff and Rashmi Teltumbde bt Ankita Raina and Natasha Palha 5-7, 6-3, 12-10, Alena Gerasimova (Blr) and Vladislava Kuzmenkova bt Parminder Kaur and Jeni Patel 6-4, 7-5, Prarthana Thombare and Ikttesh Chahal bt Mnimisha Mohan and Sharmada Balu 6-2, 4-6, 12-10, Melis Sezer (Tkm) and Sachie Ishizu (Jan) bt Ravnoor Kaur and Mehak 6-0, 6-4.

Back

 

Ashbeer slips to overall third spot
Maintains big lead in Category B

Donald Banerjee

Chandigarh, January 7
Ashbeer Singh Saini fell two strokes behind the leader as Bangalore’s Chikkarangappa carded a one under 69 to take the overall lead at one under 139 at the midway stage of the Lalit Suri Eastern India Junior Golf Championship on the par-70 greens of the Tollygunge Golf Club in Kolkata today.

The 15-year-old Kapurthala lad could muster a four over 74 to occupy the third slot, one stroke behind Rashid Khan. Ajeet Kumar was the only other player to card an under par round.

Despite a poor round, Ashbeer maintained his lead in the under-15 category with a comfortable cushion of eight strokes over his nearest rivals, Sayed Saqib Ahmed and Ankur Chadha. Tarundeep S Chadha of Chandigarh was placed fourth at 151.

But, all is not lost for the Kapurthala boy as he would be keen to get a win in the overall category after having come close in his last few attempts.

Honey Baisoya opened up a five-stroke lead in Category C (under-12) after Viraj Madappa, who was tied for the lead after the completion of the first round in this group, struggled to a seven over 77 to fall behind. Patiala’s Shubhankar Sharma was placed third at 151.

The players in the under-10 group started their tournament today, and the leaderboard in this category wore an interesting look with a three-way tie for the lead. Deepak Sharma, Prakhar Awasa and Piyush Sangwan shot a round of one over 71 to take top honours. With two rounds left and the next best player eight strokes behind, the winner in Category D is likely to emerge from one of these three.

Chikka, who started from the 10th, got off to a promising start with a birdie on his first hole. He failed to find his rhythm after that and a double bogey on the 16th was followed by a bogey on the 17th, resulting in him making the turn at two over par. He steadied his game and sank a hat-trick of birdie putts ont he third, fourth and fifth to complete the front-nine with a blemish free three under 31, which allowed him to finish one under par for the round.

The top three players, Chikka, Rashid and Ashbeer, are separated by just two strokes and it promises to be a gripping contest in the next two rounds with India’s most talented golfers trying to outdo each other to assert their supremacy as the best junior player in the country.

Scores: Overall (Category A and B): 139 Chikkarangappa (70-69); 140 Rashid Khan (68-72); 141 Ashbeer Singh Saini (67-74); 144 Ajeet Kumar (75-69); 146 Khalin H. Joshi (72-74).

Category A (under-18): 139 Chikkarangappa (70-69); 140 Rashid Khan (68-72); 144 Ajeet Kumar (75-69); 146 Khalin H. Joshi (72-74); 149 Udayan Mane (74-75) and Arjun Sharma (74-75).

Category B (under-15): 141 Ashbeer Singh Saini (67-74);149 Syed Saqib Ahmed (75-74) and Ankur Chadha (74-75); 151 Tarundeep S.Chadha (76-75); 153 K. Anirudh (76-77).

Category C (under-12): 145 Honey Baisoya (73-72); 150 VirajMadappa (73-77); 151 Shubhankar Sharma (77-74); 153 Vidit Singh (77-76); 157 Tinku Halder (79-78).

Category D (under-10): 71 Deepak Sharma, Piyush Sangwan and Prakhar Asawa; 79 Ridhima Dilawari; 81 Aditi Ashok and Udayajit Bhalotia.

Back

 

Handball
To some, selection still unfair
Sumedha Sharma
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 7
Despite the administration’s belated attempt to lend credence to its teams’ selection process, the controversy regarding the same refuses to die down.

Following The Tribune’s report about the alleged inclusion of “not so deserving” candidates in the handball camp, the administration had formed a three-member selection committee and issued directives to ensure that the selection was fair. However, yesterday again fingers were raised at the inclusion of the son of SAI basketball coach who allegedly is a basketball player and not a handball player.

“I have been playing since three years and have an excellent record. I was part of the team that won a silver medal last year, but I was not taken in the team while they took Manish who is the son of an SAI coach,” alleged a player in a written representation to The Tribune.

KS Bharti, assistant sports director (education) and a member of the selection committee, rubbished the claims and he said the complainant had also been selected.

“We have selected this boy and if he feels left out because he was not among the first seven, then he should know that which seven will play first is decided by the coach most of the times on the field itself. The other boy was a basketball player, but had participated in handball tournaments,” he said.

A similar controversy had brewed during the skating selections, as a parent had protested against the inclusion of a boy in the team who had not been in the camp. However, Bharti claimed that it was in accordance with rules and blamed the parent for creating issues unnecessarily.

Rules say if any player has not been in a camp, but excels and has a good record, he could be included.

“The boy had won two gold medals in inter-school while their own son was not even present at the trials as according to them, he was busy attending tuitions,” he explained.

Sources revealed that this parent was Balwinder Singh, the gunman of Krishan Mohan, home secretary, Haryana.

Back

 

Kho-Kho Championship
Sant Hari college emerge winners
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 7
Sant Hari Singh Memorial College for Women, Chella, Makhsuspur, got the better of MLBG Girls Government College, Tapprian Khurd (Hoshiarpur), by 10 points and one inning in the final match to lift the Panjab University Inter-College Kho-Kho (Women) B-Division Championship for the session 2008-09, here today.

Earlier, the winning team had beat MBBGGRGC, College, Mansowal, by four points and 1 inning while MLBG Girls Government College, Tapprian Khurd (Hsp.), outplayed SMS Karmajot College for Womem, Miani, by 22 points.

In the last match of the day, MLBG Girls Government College, Tapprian Khurd (Hoshiarpur), drubbed GN College, Narangwal, by 15 points.

Back

 

Kabaddi Championship
Punjab team bag gold
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 7
Indian Punjab team of Kabaddi won the gold medal in the 1st International Inter-City Championship, which was organised by the Kabaddi Association of Kualalumpur in Malaysia from December 26 to 28.

The team includes NS Rana (captain), Vijay Kumar, Guljar Singh, Darshan Singh, Gurdeep Singh, Amritpal Singh, Jagtar Singh, Raman Kumar, Jajit Singh and Jaswidner Pal Singh.

Girls’ team includes Parveen Kaur (captain), Paramjit Kaur, Mandep Kaur, Kamalpreet Kaur, Parjinder Kaur, Ramandeep Kaur, Ranjit Kaur, Sukhwinder Kaur, Naveet Kaur and Harjit Kaur.

Back

 

Sports meet from January 9
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 7
More than 1500 students from 75 schools have confirmed their names for the State Level Sports Tournament ‘Ranbhoomi-09’ being organised by Swami Vivekananda Group of Institutes (SVIET) at its north campus from January 9 to 12.

Various events, including athletics, basketball, volleyball and lawn tennis will be played in the championship. Ninth to 12th class students of the government and private schools can participate in the tournament with no admission fee and the last date for sending the entry is January 8.

Back

 


HOME PAGE | Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Opinions |
| Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi |
| Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail |