NEIGHBOURHOOD

Woman burnt to death for dowry
Husband, mother-in-law held 
Tribune News Service

Patiala, July 4
The merger of associate banks is the most debated topic now days among bank employees. All-India Bank of Patiala Employees Confederation leaders here today said the merger of the associates banks was beneficial for both employees and customers.

Convener of this confederation K K Sehgal and other leaders said the National Confederation of Bank Employees, which represents about 2 lakh employees, were in favour of merger of the associates banks.

He said the State Bank of Saurashtra was merged with State Bank of India in 2008. Now in June, 2009, the Board of Directors of State Bank of India and State Bank of Indore had given the approval of the merger.

Besides this allowances and medical facilities, the union demanded the merger of State Bank of Patiala with State Bank of India the benefits should be given on the pattern of employees of State Bank of Saurashtra.

They said customers would also be benefited after the merger because they would have to assess the large schemes available to the customers in State Bank of India. In the present world banking scenario, it is felt that Indian banks needs global status and need consolidation to compete with global banks.

Asha Rani, Sushma Gupta, Sunil Sharma, Pritpal Singh and Darshan Singh, office-bearers of the union, were present on the occasion.

Fatehgarh Sahib, July 4
Unidentified miscreants today looted Rs 10 lakh from Mandi Gobindgarh industrialists around 10 am today. The victims, both brothers and owners of Shiv Shankar Steel Mukesh Arora and Parveen Arora, were on their way on a scooter after taking Rs 10 lakh from another industrialist, Makhan Lal Vinod Kumar at Amloh Road. As soon as they reached near Airy Mill Road, two unidentified boys with their faces and head covered stopped their scooter and threw red chilies in their eyes.

When the duo regained their sight, the accused had fled from the spot after taking away the bag full of money.

Senior police officials reached the spot. They said various nakas had been laid to nab the culprits. The police officials said they had already urged the industrialists of Mandi Gobindgarh not to carry such a huge amount on vehicles, especially on the two wheelers.

The businessmen have been told to transact either through the cheques or drafts, said the police officials. They said efforts were being made to nab the culprits after registering a case in this connection.

Fatehgarh Sahib/Khamano, July 4
Before laying your hands on fruits in the market, just take a peek beneath those sheets where fruits are kept. Chances are that you’ll find chemical laid in baskets storing banana, mango, and sapota to ripen them early.

Green grocers continue using harmful chemicals to ripen fruits and veggies overnight in their bid to make quick buck. Even the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act has done little to curtail this practice as the authorities never bother to check quality of fruits and vegetables supplied in market.

These eatables are already saturated with excessive pesticides put to use during its growing period and are ripened using even deadlier chemicals.

Posing as a customer, this correspondent approached a fruit seller. When he tried to eat a sapota (chikoo), the vendor said these should not be eaten without washing. “We ripen them using carbide and its very harmful chemical,” he warned.

Health authorities reveal that incidents of throat infection are common these days. “Mangoes are a rage in summer and it’s the same fruit that is ripened overnight with chemicals. These chemicals cause irritation in throat and excessive intake causes internal rashes,” warn medicos at Khanna.

This practice is banned under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act and violators are liable to undergo six-month imprisonment and pay a fine of Rs 1,000.

However, one is yet to find even a single example of vendors or wholesalers being punished for poisoning food and compromising on its nutrition value.

Fruits commonly ripened using chemicals are bananas, mangoes, papayas and sapota. Vegetables include tomatoes, brinjal and pumpkin.

Beside use of chemicals, sellers also use oxytocin injections for lettuce, bottle gourds, ridge gourd, cucumber, and striped pear gourd (parwal).

Also, many farmers depend heavily on sewerage water to irrigate cauliflower, ridge gourd and bottle gourd. “In order to increase volume of fruits, injections are used and for early ripening of fruits chemicals are used,” said officials of health department at Mandi Gobindgarh.

Health officials claimed to have conducted raids and destroyed fruits and veggetables where use of chemicals was detected.

Beside, there is a prevalent practice of dipping green vegetables in chemicals to brighten their colour. Vegetables like bitter gourd, green peas, pumpkin and ladyfinger are dipped in chemical concoction.

These chemicals are easily available at various chemical shops in different urban and rural areas without any check on their sale.

District health officer Jagpal Singh said use of chemicals in veggies and fruits was alarming but all authorities could do was destroy them.

“Though we have conducted raids in different places of Fatehgarh Sahib, very few cases have been detected where chemicals are used for ripening. If there is a written compliant we will take action,”  he added.

He added that fruits and veggies be washed with salt and lemon water before consuming.

Kalka, July 4
The two-day Mango Mela, organised jointly by the tourism and horticulture departments of the state, was opened today at Yadavindra Gardens, Pinjore. Harmohinder Singh Chatha, Haryana Agriculture Minister, and Kiran Choudhry, Haryana Minister of State for Tourism, jointly inaugurated the Mango Mela at Yadavindra Gardens.

Rajasthani girls perform folk dance during the 18th Mango Mela at Pinjore on Saturday. Tribune photo: Manoj Mahajan

The chief guest said the main motive of the mela was to bring the best varieties of mango under one roof. It was a unique opportunity for the people of the area to see and taste varieties of mango and mango products.

The mela has always been a much awaited activity for the residents of Pinjore, Panchkula, Chandigarh, Mohali and other adjoining areas.

Considering the overwhelming response in the past, efforts were put in to widen the domain of the mela this year. Special efforts were made to provide marketing forum for self-help groups.

As many as 2,835 entries of mangoes from all across the northern part of India, including Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chandigarh and Uttranchal were displayed.

The highlight of the display section this year was the presence of rare varieties of 285 mangoes, which includes best specimens of well-known commercial varieties, like dushehri, langra, chausa, alphonso, ratol, malda, amarpali malika, ramkali and totapari. The display also had a range of 191 entries of mango products.

The seven-step gardens wore a festive look with excellent illumination and the glitter was so fascinating. Various kinds of activities such as rangoli competition, face-painting competition, tambola and various street dance and cultural events, like Haryanvi dance, Kalbelia Sapera dance, and Beensapera remained the main attraction of the day.

A street bazaar was set up with tented pavillion and a special cluster of food stalls and an ampli theatre for evening culture performances. A variety of cultural programmes were being planned for both the days, where renowned artists of the country will perform.

The results of the various competitions organised during the day were announced, wherein 24 participants participated in face-painting competition. As many as 101 participants participated in rangoli competition and 16 participants participated in mehndi competition.

Results of face-painting competition:

Boys:

1st -Munish and Tanvi

2nd- Saurav and Nidhi

3rd- Yash and Kriti Sharma

Girls:

1st- Shareen Jacob and Justin

2nd- Jyoti, Komal and Komal Sain

Results of mehndi competition:

1st- Paramjit, GSSS, Kalka

2nd-Kamaldeep, GSGS, Karampur

3rd-Monika, GSSS, Kalka

Result of rangoli competition (group category):

Ist — Sarthak, Govt Model Sr Sec School, Sector 12-A , Panchkula;

Nikita, Akash, Anchal Kamboj, Anchal Batra and Arti.

2nd — Govt Model School, Sector 20, Panchkula; Kalpna, Shweta, Tanu, Pooja and Komal.

3rd — Govt Senior Secondary School, Sector 6, Panchkula; Anjali, Pooja, Vinod, Tarkeshwar and Sushil.

Individual Category:

Ist — Sunny Khowal, JP Gurukul High School, Pinjore.

Zirakpur, July 4
A six-year-old boy who was injured after a gazebo tent collapsed on his head at a wedding function succumbed to his injuries at Panchkula-based hospital here yesterday.

Partish Garg had come to attend a marriage function along with his family members on June 29. The police said Vishal Garg, a resident of Sector 21, Chandigarh, had reported to the police that he had come to the resort to attend a marriage ceremony along with his son. When they were sitting under a gazebo tent and talking with relatives, a power breakdown had occurred and the tent collapsed. He alleged that the tent iron rods were not fixed properly and fell down on the head of the injured causing serious injuries. The injured was immediately rushed to Panchkula-based hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

Earlier, the police booked the management of AKM resorts for negligence but later the case was converted under Section 304-A, the police said.

Suicide

Baltana: A 15-year-old youth allegedly committed suicide after hanging from the ceiling fan at Saini Vihar, Phase III, Baltana.

According to police, Sukhdeep, a Class X student of Kendriya Vidyalaya-29 was found hanged by his mother and sister in afternoon when they returned home from the market.

The police said the deceased’s mother, along with sister, brought down the hanging body. No suicide note was found from the house. The deceased is survived by mother and two elder sisters.

The body has been kept in the mortuary at Civil Hospital, Dera Bassi, and a post-mortem would be conducted tomorrow. Inquest proceedings have been started, the police added.

Theft

Dera Bassi: In less than 24 hours, around nine thefts were reported in different parts of Dera Bassi and Zirakpur. The miscreants decamped with cash and valuables items worth thousands after breaking into eight shops at Dera Bassi and a house in Zirakpur. According to police, thefts were reported at two shops in Akali market from where thieves decamped with Rs 7,000.

Other six theft incidents were reported on Barwala road where thieves decamped with Rs 10,200 along with a motorcycle and sanitary items.

Meanwhile, thieves decamped with jewellery worth lakhs and cash after breaking into a house at Preet Colony in Zirakpur.

Avtar Singh, a resident of Preet Colony alleged that he went to Manikaran along with his family on June 25. When he returned on June 28 and found the house was ransacked, gold jewellery worth lakhs and Rs 12,000 were missing.

Chandigarh, July 4
The anti-corruption branch of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a chargesheet against officials of the Estate Office, Chandigarh, and office-bearers of the Progressive Cooperative Group Housing Society for violation of building bylaws and issuance of occupation certificates by ignoring non-compoundable violations and also not imposition composition fee for compoundable violations.

The chargesheet has been filed against T.P. Singh, SDO (Building), Estate Office, Brij Mohan, AE, Bipin Kumar, Ram Kumar, Rakesh Kumar, JEs, Vinod Kumar, draftsman, U.K.Batra, Architect, Sh.Kuldeep Bhat, Daljeet Arora and Sukhdev Sharma, all office-bearers of the Progressive House Building Society.

The case was registered in February 2007. During investigation, it was found that the Progressive Group Housing Society constructed flats in violation of the approved building plan and the relevant rules.

The CBI found that excess areas had been covered in the kitchen and bedroom, the height of headway of staircase is less and there are additional/excess projections of balconies on the front and rear. Before the grant of occupation certificate, the building has to be inspected by the officials of Estate Office to ensure that the same confirms to the approved building plan. It was found that the officials of the Estate Office in connivance with the office-bearers of the society did not bring on record certain violations, which attracted composition/compoundable fee.

Further, the construction was also made in violation of the zonal plan and was required to be demolished in case of certain flats as the same non-compoundable. 

Chandigarh, July 4
Thirty probabels have been selected for the Chandigarh district team for the Haryana Inter-District Cricket Tournament for Patoudy Trophy.

These include Amardeep Sonkar, Rajesh Patha, Rocky Ratta, Arjun Puri, Amay Soman, Guntashveer, Gurvivek, Sandeep Bhattacharya, Rohit Singh, Ashish Kukreti, Inderjeet, Vijay Kumar, Ravi Kumar, Harsh Ahlawat, Geetanshu Trehan, Munish Nain, Harmandeep, Rakesh Kumar, Jajwinder Chahal, Rajesh Bedi, Naresh Kumar, Naval Sood, Kishore, Munish, Vivek Mehta, Manjit, Sandeep Singh, Amandeep and Vikramjeet.

The selected players will have to report at Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 19, on July 5 at 6 am for training session. 

Mohali, July 4
About 200 participants from all over India are participating in the Manav Mangal AITA Total Tennis Talent Series that started here today on the school premises.

The boys’ under-12 and boys’ under-14 first-round qualifying rounds were played today. The boys’ under-12 and under-14 second rounds, followed by the final-round qualifying rounds, will be played tomorrow from 7.30 am. The sign in for the girls’ and boys’ under-12 and under-14 will be held from 12 noon to 2 pm.

Results: Boys’ under-12 qualifying first round: Robbin Kapur (Pb) bt Adeesh Bansal (Chd) 6-2; Aditya Malik(Hr) bt Abbhas Singla (Pb) 6-0; Durvesh (Dli) bt Parth Agarwal (Dli) 6-5 (7-4); Akshay Bajaj (Dli) bt Harshdeep Singh (Chd) 6-3; Armaandeep Singh (Pb) bt Jaskaran Garcha (Pb) 6-1; Ankit Malhotra(Chd) bt Anumanit S Bains (Pb) 6-4; Abhinav Mahajan (Pb) bt Sidharth Anand (Dli) 6-1; Sidharth Kapoor (Chd) bt Lakshay Wassan (Chd) 6-0; Ankrish Khanna (Chd) bt Atishay Jain (UK) 6-1; Adhyan (Chd) bt Parmeet Deol (Chd) 6-0; Viresh Yadav (Dli) bt Rishabh Khanna (Chd) 6-0; Bhuven Mittal (Pb) bt Aman Grewal (Chd) 6-0; Chinmay Chauhan (Dli) bt Gurjot Singh (Pb) 6-4.

Boys’ U-14 qualifying first round: Rishabh Sharda (Chd) bt Gurkanwal Makkar (Pb) 6-3; Ankush Arora(Pb) bt Shravan Vij (Dli) 6-5 (7-3); Paras Mittal (Chd) bt Arnav Bhardwaj(Hr) 6-2; Chinmay (Dli) bt Aditya Singla (Chd) 6-0; Yuvtesh Dhaliwal (Pb) bt Ratik Khanna (Pb) 6-5 (7-3); Rahul Agarwal (Chd) bt Sachit Setia (Raj) 4-1concd; Shrey Gupta (Hr) bt Chitranthan KS (Kar) 6-3; Shivam Malhotra (Dli) bt Prashant Singla (Pb) 6-1; Lakshay Sofat (Chd) bt Rupesh Khokar (Hr) 6-3; Raghav Talwar (Chd) bt Mishal Bhatti (Pb) 6-2; Jaiman Sharma(Pb) bt Mrityunjay Baddola (UK) 6-0; Robbin Kapur (Pb) bt Armaandeep Singh (Pb) 6-4; Dhruv Puniani (Chd) bt Sameer Vats (Chd) 6-0; Nikhil Kaswan(Chd) bt Utkarsh Bhardwaj (UK) 6-3; Karandeep Singh (Pb) bt Vikrant Singh (Chd) 6-0; Paramveer Bajwa (Pb) bt Sidharth Anand (Dli) 6-0; Atishay Jain (UK) bt Shonit Pahuja (Chd) 6-3; Andrew Pardeep (Chd) bt Adnan Sharda (Pb) 6-4; Akhil Bansal (Pb) bt Adhyan(Chd) 6-3; Aditya Malik (Hr) bt Mayuk Rawat (UK) 6-4; Divyansh Pandey (Pb) bt Yogesh Dahiya (Chd) 6-4; Arush Goyal (UK) bt Anish Goel (Chd) 6-4; Dhruv Gupta (Chd) bt Akshay Singh (Pb) 6-0; Shivian Shorya (Chd) bt Anchit Gupta (Mah) 6-3; Rahul Seth (Chd) bt Chinmay Chauhan (Dli) 6-2; Abhishek Verma (Pb) bt Ishan Kakkar (Pb) 6-4; Kanwalpreet Bhatti (Hr) bt Barun Gill (Chd) 6-4; Aseem Goyal (Pb) bt Manav Garg (Pb) 6-2; Bhuvan Mittal (Pb) bt Vaibhav Pahwa (USA) 6-0.

Chandigarh, July 4
Skipper of the Indian hockey team Sandeep Singh was appointed as a DSP in the Haryana Police by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda during a felicitation function organised by the Haryana Sports and Youth Affairs Department to honour 13 outstanding sportspersons of the state here today.

These players included seven members of the Indian women hockey team, which won gold medal at the recently held Champions Challenge Tournament at Kazan in Russia.

The seven players of the Indian hockey team, hailing from Haryana, who were honoured today, include Jasdeep Kaur, Jeodeep Kaur, Rani Devi, Ritu, Surender Kaur, Mamta Kharab and Savita. They were presented with a cash award of Rs 1 lakh each and a memento.

The other six players of boxing included Jai Bhagwan, who won silver medal at the Senior Asian Boxing Championship. He was presented with cash award of Rs 75,000 and a memento.

Four other boxers -Vijender Singh, Dinesh Kumar, Jitender Kumar and Paramjit - were presented a cash reward of Rs 50,000 each for winning bronze medal in the Senior Asian Boxing Championship.

Sandeep, who won bronze medal at the Sub-Junior World Boxing Championship, was honoured with a cash award of Rs 1 lakh and a memento.

Hooda also honoured hockey coach M.K. Kaushik and Deputy Director (Hockey) of the Haryana Sports and Youth Affairs Department Baldev Singh. 

Chandigarh, July 4
APJ Kharar lifted the Ind-Swift Cup by surpassing MCA with a margin of 102 runs in the final here today at St. Stephen’s School, Sector 45.

Put into bat first, APJ mustered a big total of 304 for 9. Harman Harry played a quickfire knock 92 runs off 63 balls. Kanwarpal Singh (58) and Anmol Singh (58) were the other principal scorers. For MCA, Manish Srivastav and Jasinder Singh picked three wickets each.

Replying, MCA got all out on 202. Kinderpreet (40), Shine Sharma (31) and Mehanzpreet (30) were the main scorers for them.

APJ: 304 for 9 (Harman Harry 92, 63b, 13x4, 3x6, Kanwarpal Singh 58, 16b, 7x6,3x4, Anmol Singh 58, 56b, 4x4, Manish Srivastav 3 for 52, Jasinder Singh 3 for 57).

MCA: 202 all out (Kinderpreet 40, Shine Sharma 31, Mehanzpreet 30, Karanveer 4 for 29, Tushar 2 for 29)

Best batsman: Harman Harry (APJ), Bowler (Amritpal Suingh (MCA), All-rounder: Gaurav Singh (DP Azad), player of the tournament Kinderpreet (MCA), most promising youngster: Arjun Aggarwal, special awards: Jasinder Singh (MCA leg spinner) and Sahil (APJ) .