Ludhiana, November 29
The tall claims of the Punjab Pollution Control Board to close down 35 polluting dyeing units fell flat today when a team of the Punjab State Electricity Board that had gone to disconnect power connections beat a retreat following protests by BJP councillors and dyeing unit owners.

A squad of 25 to 30 officials, led by XEN Yogesh Tandon came back empty, handed when dyers and councillors at Geeta nagar and Mahavir Complex on the Tajpur road started protesting against the move. They blocked the bridges on the Budda Nullah and did not allow officials of the PSEB to cross these.

The agitators included BJP councillor, Ruchi Jain's husband, Santosh Kalra's son, Rajeev Kalra, Subhash Dawar. Prem Sharma's son did not allow the squad to move ahead. They raised slogans and even talked in requesting tone, asking the officials to spare them.

The protests continued for quite some time when the team returned. Deputy chief engineer, PSEB, H.S. Randhawa said they had to come back today as they were not accompanied by the police.

He said when they saw the situation getting out of their hands, they preferred to come back. Otherwise it would have been a law and order problem. ‘‘We told them that these were the orders of the government and we had to follow these. If we will disconnect power supply, we would reconnect it also. But we had to come back, ’’ said Randhawa.

He added they had written to the police chief asking for security. The operation would be completed on Monday, he added.

It is not for the first time that the orders on disconnection have fizzled out. Earlier also announcements are made but the enforcement agencies buckle under pressure from several quarters.

Earlier in the day, the federation of dyeing unit owners led by T.R. Mishra and V.K. Goyal said the dyeing units were being victimised. They said they would take up the matter with the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal but would not allow the board to close down their units that meant bread and butter for thousands of people. 

Ludhiana, November 29
Four members of a family were allegedly drugged and looted of cash and gold worth Rs 10 lakh in Rupa Mistri Gali near Sanglan Wala Shivala here this morning.

Sunil Aggarwal (28), his wife Jyoti (26), parents K.L. Aggarwal (58) and Pushpa (55) were reportedly given a sedative by unidentified thieves, who took away 800 gm of gold and cash worth Rs 15,000 while they were asleep at night.

According to Sunil, the family went to sleep before midnight. He woke up in the morning, but his wife, mother and father remained unconscious till the afternoon. Sunil found the jewellery and cash kept in an almirah missing. He tried to wake up his family, but whenever they opened their eyes, they started vomiting, he added.

His two children, who were also in the house, were not drugged.

The police has registered a case under Sections 457, 380, 328 of the IPC.

Sub inspector, division number 3, Mohan Lal said they were investigating the matter though they had registered the case against unidentified persons. He said the police was not convinced with the story narrated by the house owner.

The police is yet to record the statement of the three unconscious members. It was waiting for them to regain consciousness.

Meanwhile, the incident has left many questions unanswered. Sunil's family lives in the two-room apartment on the first floor of the house, while his brother, Sandeep, lives on the groundfloor. Sandeep woke him up in only in the morning and did not hear any noises at night.

According to them, the main gate of the house was locked from inside. The doors of two rooms on the first floor were open. The thieves may have entered the house from the roof, claimed Sunil.

Interestingly, the house has high walls and none of its portion is connected to any other house in the neighbourhood. The house, too, was not ransacked. The almirah also had well-folded clothes. It seemed the thieves exactly knew where the money and gold was kept in the almirah.

The family does not have a domestic servant. The food they all ate was cooked by Jyoti last night. Had a sedating air spray been sprayed, it would have affected the children and even Sunil, who works as a loan agent with a bank. Sunil said the sedative did not hit him, as he was a regular drinker.

Forensic experts could not collect any fingerprints. Dog squad too could not be of any help.

SI Mohan Lal said they did not know about the kind of sedative. ‘‘We do not know who were the doctors called by the family. We are investigating everybody's role, ’’ he said.

Ludhiana, November 29
The re-carpeting of roads, which has already been going at snail's pace in the city, is suffering more these days due to shortage of bitumen.

The bitumen, to most of the contractors in the city, is supplied from the Indian Oil Refinery, Panipat, and the crisis has occurred due to some problem at the plant.

Talking to The Tribune, contractors admitted the shortage of bitumen, and said: "While we were getting four trucks of bitumen per day on average, the availability is just one these days." They added that the present rate of the bitumen was around Rs 35 per kg.

The major works, which got a setback due to the shortage, include re-carpeting of Gill road and Hambran road. The work has been stalled for the past two days on these places. The dearth is also affecting the work at Chandigarh road.

Interestingly, the re-carpeting work on these three roads, which has been going on since May, has been always suffering due to one reason or another. The sources said the time limit for work on these three roads had expired twice, and the municipal corporation had been extending the time citing weather conditions as the reason.

Though the municipal corporation has been claiming that the work of re-carpeting on these three major roads will be completed by December, the circumstances are not signing to the same direction.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, November 29
Failing to persuade his father to transfer his share in parental property in his name, a farmer of Lohatbaddi village in Ludhiana district has urged the administration that he, along with his wife and two children, should be allowed to commit suicide in case their right is not given to them by end of this month.

Threatening to sit on a dharna in his fields on December 1, the farmer held that his father, step-mother and three step-brothers would be responsible for any harm caused to them.

SSP Ludhiana (rural) Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, meanwhile, said he had directed the circle officer to maintain a vigil on the situation and take preventive action to avoid any unsavoury situation.

Inder Jit Singh, a farmer of Lohatbaddi village, has urged the authorities to allow him, his wife and two children to commit suicide in case his father is not made to transfer his share in property in his name by the last day of this month.

"I am so upset that I can take any extreme step. Either I, along with my wife and two children should be allowed to commit suicide or my father should be made to transfer my share in my name immediately," reads a communiqué addressed to the higher authorities, including SSP Ludhiana (rural), SDM Raekot and sarpanch of the village.

Investigations revealed that Inderjit's mother had died when he was a child. His father Jagjit Singh had remarried later. Three sons were born from the second marriage.

As Inderjit is the only issue from the first marriage of Jagjit Singh, he expected that he would get half of the parental property. However, he failed to persuade his father to transfer his share.

"While my father has transferred 8 bighas of prime land to each of my step-brothers, he is not ready to give me my share. I have not been given my share out of the income earned from the land for over 15 years," alleged Inderjit, claiming that he had been managing his family by borrowing money from his relatives as he was unemployed also.

Raikot, November 29
About 60 families are here to face the threat of abandoning their households for the expansion of grain market. The Punjab Mandikaran board has acquired nearly 10 acres near the existing grain market for the purpose.

The board is all set to acquire the land at a nominal price, which perhaps may not be enough for the owners to settle elsewhere. This acquisition is being done for a grain market, which is not fully developed yet. One can see a number of vacant plots in the market area.

The Bajigar colony on the Tajpur Road will be levelled after a week. Bhaka Ram of Bajigar Basti said he is being paid Rs 1.2 lakh for 200 sq. yds plot, whose market price today is more than Rs 10 lakh. Manu Ram said the houses and shops of their four brothers are build on 750 sq. yds. He said they have spent Rs 10 lakh each on their houses, but they are being paid only Rs 4 lakh for their whole property. He said the market committee officials were threatening them to either accept the money or face the consequences.

He said they are being threatened to deposit the amount in the treasury and occupy and demolish the properties forcibly. Other resident of the area also have the same story to tell.

The Mandi board has acquired 10 acres, 2 Kanals and13 Marla for the expansion of the grain market. Some part of the acquired land is a residential area. There are FCI godowns and a rice sheller, too, owned by a senior Congress leader. No notice has been served to them till date.

Raikot secretary of the grain market, Nachhater Singh, said the acquisition process was going on for the past 15 years. He further said they had played no role in it.

Finance commissioner, agriculture department, and colonisation department, Punjab, gave the notice thrice and then a publication was done on April 21, 2007, regarding this acquisition, but nobody objected to it at that time. Answering to the question of low compensation prices, he said during the process, the owners were asked about the market prices of their lands.

It is pertinent to mention here that in 2002, the then Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and revenue minister Sewa Singh Sekhawan laid the foundation of the Focal Point area, measuring 105 acres of municipal council, Raikot, on the request of Jagdev Singh Talwandi. But no development was made in the Focal Point area.

The victims of land acquisition have appealed to the Chief Minister and Punjab Mandikaran chairman, Ajmer Singh Lakhowal, to consider the interests of farmers and residents of the area and they have requested the grain market to be shifted to the vacant 105 acres of Focal Point.

Ludhiana, November 29
Various political parties and social organisations paid tributes to the victims and officials, who sacrificed their lives for saving people, in Mumbai terror attacks.

Congress leader Sarabjit Singh Bunty said the stand taken by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has helped the nation to win over the terrorist attack. Similarly, Samajwadi Party activists, along with other political leaders, lighted up candles under the leadership of Mohammad Naseem Ansari to pray for peace.

They paid tributes to the officials and jawans of ATS and NSG, who laid their lives to counter terrorists.

Bahujan Samaj Party's state general secretary Ramajit Lali condemned the Mumbai attacks and said the motives of the terrorists would not be met by targeting innocent citizens. He criticised the Maharashtra and the Central government for the failure of intelligence services.

Garib Nawaz Muslim Council Committee convened a meeting to condemn the terrorist attacks and pay tributes to the martyrs.

The meeting was held under the leadership of committee president Shamsher Aalam.

Jagraon, November 29
The Punjab government is leaving no stone unturned to promote alternative farming in Punjab. Chief secretary of Punjab Ramesh Inder Singh while addressing farmers at Kular village said youths and farmers had no other option than to switch to alternate farming as diary farming, fruits and vegetables cultivation, floriculture, fish farming, poultry farming, etc.

He was here on a visit to a banana farm, a joint effort of PAU technology and Mewa Singh of the village, associate member of the Punjab State Farmers Commission and general secretary of the innovative farmers group. He had developed the Grand Naine variety of banana in 2.5 acres of land. He was accompanied by G.M. Kalkat, chairman, Punjab State Farmers Commission, Inderjit Singh, director, Dairy Development Commission, Punjab, Sumer Singh Gurjar, DC, Ludhiana,

The chief secretary earlier had gone to Sadarpura village near Sidhwan Bet in the afternoon and visited the Gill Dairy Farm of Daljit Singh Cheema, president of the innovative farmers association. He flagged off a help van of the association for the benefits of farmers of the Punjab. The van has veterinary doctor, scanning machine, medicine, computerised camera and essential equipments.

He said about 4,000 dairy farmers would be trained in various courses in eight training centres of Punjab and be provided with a loan of Rs 5 lakh from which 1.5 lakh would be subsidy.

Dr H.S. Dhaliwal, senior horticulturist and Dr M.I.S. Gill, horticulturist from PAU, advised the techniques of banana cultivations and importance of tissue culture raised plants to the farmers. Baldev Singh Sebia, chief agriculture officer, Ludhiana, Sukhpal Singh, agriculture officer, Jagraon, Gurnam Singh, agriculture development officer, Pabbian, Gurinder Singh, state awardee in vegetable cultivation, Meharban Singh, state awardee in horticulture and many innovative farmers were present there.

Ludhiana, November 29
The parliamentary standing committee of the ministry of commerce, headed by former textile minister Kanshi Ram Rana, today visited the city to discuss the problems of the industry, particularly the exporters, in view of the present global economic meltdown.

The other members and officials of the committee included MPs T. G. B. Pillai, N. Ravighavardhan, Nikhla Nandan Sar, civil secretariat officials S. K. Watts, S. G. Sood, J. S. Radure, income tax chief commissioner M. S. Rai, central excise commissioner A. K. Mehra, and ADC (development) Priyank Bharti.

In the meeting, the committee gave a hearing to the problems and suggestions from various sections of the industry.

Addressing the industrialists, Kanshi Ram Rana said the committee had visited the city to review the implementation of the Export Excellence Town Scheme of the Union government and to identify the genuine problems and difficulties of various industries. He said after visiting important industrial towns of the country, the committee would submit a detailed report to the Parliament. He added that the committee's main focus would be on suggestions for bringing about required changes for the promotion of exporters to the Union government.

In the meeting, representatives of the state government and various industries apprised the committee about the problems being faced by them due to the unfavourable industrial policies of the Union government Satish Dhanda, chairman, medium industry board, Punjab, said the state government had already discussed the problems of the industry and was finalising its new industrial policy.

Onkar Singh Pahwa, on behalf of the cycle industry, Mridula Jain and M.G.B. Singh, from garments and shawls, and other industrialists highlighted the problems being faced by the industry.

The industrialists focused on the need to enhance credit, reduce interest rates, expedite VAT refund cases and to control steel prices etc. They also demanded special incentive package, keeping in view the global meltdown.

The committee visited Oswal Woollen Mills and Hero Cycles unit, and discussed the problems relating to woollen garments and cycles manufacturing sectors. Jawahar Oswal, chairman, Oswal Group, apprised the committee about the major problems caused due to the steep enhancement in the MSP of the cotton by the Government of India, which had raised cotton prices in the state as compared to the global market.

Ludhiana, November 29
The Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) has declared that board examinations of Class V will be held in the second week of February.

Consequently, all government primary schools, which have been concentrating so far on ‘Padho Punjab’ were finding themselves in a tight corner as teaching of other regular subjects was suffering. Now the PSEB has exempted Class V students from the ‘Padho Punjab’ project in order to prepare them for the board examinations. Teachers have been asked to concentrate on all regular subjects and to finish the syllabus in time.

“Padho Punjab” had been introduced in September and because of the concentration on only two subjects, namely Punjabi and mathematics the teaching of other subjects had been neglected. Besides, the teachers were compelled to attend the seminars.

The teachers who are going to participate in the seminars are of the viewpoint that they will be simply wasting time for 20 days.

A cross section of the teachers were censorious of the much-hyped government schemes like Padho Punjab, Radio Programme and Mid-day meals, which are being carried out at the cost of regular studies.

The teachers felt that the exemption from “Padho Punjab” would help them in completing the syllabus. Amarjit Kaur, DEO (primary) was not available for the comments. 

Ludhiana, November 29
Present educational scenario has witnessed a tremendous change. With the coming of globalisation and liberalisation, the MNCs have changed the mind set of the students. Most of the students have started opting for commerce and business management.

A random survey conducted by this reporter shows that humanities are losing their sheen and overwhelming the majority of students of 10+1 are opting for commerce and non-medical. Even medical stream is also being relegated.

Some of the schools have not started humanities stream and the number of schools of commerce and non-medical streams have more than two sections. Each section comprises from 45 to 50 students.

Sacred Heart Convent School, Sarabha Nagar, has one section of humanities with 48 students, and two sections each of commerce and non-medical streams. Jalnidh Kaur, who is among the toppers of 10+1 student at this school, has opted for humanities.

When asked about future course of studies, she said: "I don't like following trends. I don't want to join the rat race. The subjects of humanities are very interesting. I want to serve in the United Nations."

Paramjit Kaur, principal, BCM Arya Model Senior Secondary School, told this reporter that the school had three sections each of commerce and non-medical and one section each of humanities, medical and financial market management. She said the students were opting professional courses so that they could be self-supporting.

Arshpreet Kaur, a 10+1 student of BCM school has opted for commerce stream and has an ambition to do MBA.

Rajesh Rudra, director, Greenland Senior Secondary Public School, said the school had only one section of humanities, while the other streams had much number of students.

He warned if the present declining trend of humanities continued, the teachers in this stream would not be available.

Delhi Public School, DAV Public School and Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, BRS Nagar, do not have any section of humanities in 10+1.

DAV Public School has two sections each of commerce and medical and one section of non-medical. Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School has two sections each of commerce and non-medical, respectively.

At Government Model Senior Secondary School, PAU campus, there are 846 students in 10+1 and 10+2 classes.

The school has 220 students in humanities, while 105 in commerce.

Most of the students belong to the lower-middle class.

This indicates that generally upper-middle class students opt for other streams because they can afford to pay hefty fee in the public schools.

Prof Prthipal Singh Kapoor, former pro vice-chancellor, Guru Nanak Dev University, said the declining trend of social sciences did not augur well for the society at large. The knowledge of social values was very important to become a good citizen.

Ludhiana, November 29
Coaching institute STEPS, a division of Top Careers & You, would organise a mock test for CBSE class X students in mathematics on its premises in Sarabha Nagar at 2.30 pm here on Sunday. The centre head Viji Raj disclosed that the annual event would help the students to have an online analysis of their performance. He said more than 2.6 lakh students had registered to the web-portal of the institute where hundreds of free practice tests were available.

He added that the mock test would help the first-timers to be familiar with the real exam situation and shoot away their examination blues. He said the participation fee for the exam was Rs 50 and seats were limited due to organisational constraints. 

Ludhiana, November 29
Sportking Institute of Fashion Technology conducted its first convocation with great gusto and celebrations here today. As many as 85 students of apparel marketing and merchandising, garment manufacturing and technology, fashion designing and knitwear designing were awarded diplomas on the occasion.

All graduates were awarded diplomas by Dr S.M. Kant, director, the youth welfare department, Panjab University, Chandigarh. Sunil Puri, former director SIFT along with all faculty and members of the managing committee accorded a rousing welcome to Dr S.M. Kant.

Dr Surabhi Mahajan, registrar SIFT welcomed the chief guest and introduced him as a great scholar of rare achievements and distinctions. "Dr Kant revolutionised his department with his visionary intelligence and has made an immense contribution to all-round and harmonious development of the Panjab University students,” she said.

Dr Kant awarded the diplomas to the students and congratulated them on their grand success in the academic spheres and expressed his confidence that they would achieve excellence and distinction in their career. He told them about the vast opportunities they had in the field of fashion industry and advised them that they could achieve greater heights in their careers by imbibing qualities like discipline, devotion, dedication and determination.

Anjali Avasthi, president SIFT said convocation was a proud and memorable moment for all graduating students and the entire faculty of the institute as well, since they had made an immense contribution in their achievement on this day.

Ludhiana, November 29
College of Veterinary Science, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU), organised the annual convention of the veterinary alumni association today at Pal Auditorium of PAU.

In the welcome address, Dr Simrat Sagar Singh, president of the alumni association and dean, College of Veterinary Science, GADVASU, revealed that the veterinary alumni association came into existence in the year 1987 with the aim to bring the professional colleagues from different walks of life at one platform.

Till now, members of the association have crossed the figures of 1,200, including international members, and are increasing every year. The newly admitted students of the college were also enrolled as the member of the association. Dr V. K. Taneja VC GADVASU was the chief guest and Dr S. S. Grewal, retired deputy director, animal husbandry, Punjab, and an alumnus of Lahore Veterinary College, Panjab University, was the guest of honour.

Dr Taneja while speaking on the occasion appreciated the work of the alumni association and hoped that it will further extend its arena for the betterment of veterinarians. He highlighted the strides made by GADVASU in livestock health and production. The latest edition of “Vet alumnus” and address-cum-telephonic directory of the faculty of College of Veterinary Science was released by the chief guest. As many as 16 eminent veterinarians were honoured with the "outstanding vet alumni" award and all retired faculty members from GADVASU were also honoured for their meritorious contributions for the profession.

Dr P. D. Juyal, secretary, the alumni association and head, the department of veterinary parasitology told that the association was regularly publishing the bi-annual news letter “Vet alumnus” for updating the technical information of the veterinarians and preparing practical manuals in all subjects according to the Veterinary Council of India (VCI) curriculum for the undergraduate students of the college. He further revealed that next year the college was completing 40 years and the alumni day will be celebrated with great enthusiasm.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, November 29
Having achieved third prize in the Punjabi cultural heritage competition, “Dhee Punjab Dee”, organised by National Youth Welfare Club at Faridkot recently in her maiden attempt, Kiranjit Kaur of Jhamatt village aspires to continue her pursuit under the guidance of some organised institute.

She has urged the authorities at the youth welfare department of Panjab University, Chandigarh, to consider private students for participation in the functions being organised by the university.

Hailing from middle-class agrarian family, Kiranjit Kaur is pursuing her post graduation privately, after doing B Ed, as her parents could not afford her regular admission.

An old student of local Guru Nanak Kanya Mahavidyalya and Guru Har Krishan College for Women, Phallewal, Kiran received inspiration from Gagan Deep Kaur of Lehra, who was declared “Dhee Punjab Dee” last year.

Ludhiana, November 29
The department of economics of SDP College for Women organised a two-day UGC-sponsored national seminar on socio-economic implications of land acquisition for special economic zones in India here recently at the seminar hall of the college.

Dr S. S. Bari, registrar, Panjab University, Chandigarh, was chief guest. Dr V. N. Atri, professor, department of economics, Kurukshetra University, was keynote speaker first technical session.

Dr Prem Kumar, principal, Aurobindo College of Commerce, inaugurated the seminar by lighting the traditional lamp.

Dr Atri highlighted some contradictions among the four leading classes--industrialists, agriculturists, bureaucrats and politicians — and exhorted that public interest should be kept in mind while formulating policies like SEZs. He said the labour-intensive technologies should be adopted by countries like India, where labour is available in abundance and economic gains must accrue to the common masses. He added that acceptability and implementation matters the most in the policies.

Amloh, November 29
Modern banking facilities, kissan gold card, kissan credit card on low interest rate of 7 per cent, dairy and poultry farm loans, besides many other loans would be provided to customers, said assistant general manager on the inaugural function of the new branch of the State Bank of India (SBI) in Amloh on Friday. Over 11,000 branches of the bank are functioning across the country while Amloh is the fourth branch in Fatehgarh Sahib district, he asserted.

Branch manager J. S. Cheema welcomed the chief guest and others. He spoke in detail about various loan schemes for industrial and other traders. Arhatia association chief Jewan Kumar Puri, sheller association chief Randhir Singh Gill, press secretary Rakesh Kumar, public notary Kewal Krishan Garg and Vijay Kumar Gupta were also present on the occasion.

Ludhiana, November 29
A male calf of a neelgai died in Transport Nagar after straying from its natural habitat in Mattewara forests here today morning.

The calf fell in a nullah in Transport Nagar. Residents tried to rescue the calf but he made the rescue operations difficult, as he got scared from rescuers and started moving in the opposite direction.

By the time the residents informed wildlife officials, the calf had died due to drowning. The body was sent to Haibowal Veterinary Hospital for a postmortem.

It was buried at Tiger Safari in the presence of forest officials. Dr Sandeep Jain, wildlife warden, said during winters these wild animals strayed into human habitations and usually got killed. 

Ludhiana, November 29
On directions from the director general school education, Punjab, the district education authorities have started the exercise of data capture format (DCF). This exercise known as mapping provisions in recognised, secondary and higher secondary schools, intermediate, junior and degree colleges at the behest of the ministry of human resource development, the Government of India, is being carried out throughout the country for preparing the state/UT-wise baseline status reports.

These reports will serve as an important database for effecting planning and implementation of various reform programmes and also for formulating the district-level secondary education development plans. The long-term objective of this exercise is to institutionalise the secondary education management information system for maintaining a district-level database for the secondary and higher secondary education in the country.

Sudesh Bajaj, district education officer (secondary) today convened a meeting of the heads of the schools affiliated with the PSEB, CBSE, ICSE and recognised/unaided schools to apprise them of the details of the scheme and to collect the required information. However, Bajaj was disappointed with the response particularly from the CBSE affiliated schools. Action would be taken against the defaulters. 

India has been facing terrorism for the past several years. In this country of Guru Nanak and Gandhi, there is no space for violence in any form. Our great gurus have taught us the lessons of universal brotherhood.

But the current terrorist attacks in Mumbai have highly shocked all of us wherein several innocent lives were lost.

Seeing this unexpected incident, it is felt strongly that the time of leniency and non-violence has been covered. Lot of time has been wasted in useless peaceful talks.

Now it’s time for the Central Government to follow the principle of tenth sikh guru, Gobind Singh Ji that when all peaceful methods fail, it is justified to put hands on sword to mend the brutals and to save our principles.

Now this is not the time to blame or criticise each other. Let all the political parties unite themselves to face this terrible situation and lets be one for the integrity of our country.

Kuldip Singh Kreer, Dugri, Ludhiana

Readers are invited to mail letters (not more than 200 words) at "ludhiana@tribunemail.com" or post the same to The Tribune, 1, 2 Improvement Trust Building, Badaur House, Clock Tower, Ludhiana.

Ludhiana, November 29
A 17-year-old girl of Mundian village has levelled rape charges against an orchestra owner.

The girl alleged that the man, Jaspal Singh, father of four children, allegedly kept on raping her for four months. He kept on promising her that he would marry her.

Some days ago, she found that he was married and had children. She filed a complaint with the police. A case of rape has been registered.

Ludhiana, November 29
Shah Satnamji Girls Public School, Sirsa, drubbed Maheshwari Girls Public School, Jaipur, 16-3, while Raj Mata Krishna Kumari School, Jodhpur, outnumbered MGN School, Jalandhar, 17-7 in the semifinals to secure berths in the final (girls’ u-19) in the CBSE National Handball Tournament being played on the Nankana Sahib Public School grounds, the Gill road, here today.

In the girls’ semifinals (u-14), Janandeepa School (Karnataka) scored an easy 5-0 win over Maharaja Agarsen School, Delhi, while Bel School, Vishakhapatnam had to toil hard to outplay Dehradun Public School, Ghaziabad, 10-7 to set up the title clash match.

In the semi-final (boys’ u-14), Police DAV School, Jalandhar, and Guru Ram Dass School, Ferozepur, overpowered their respective opponents to advance into the final. Police DAV School got the better of Jaypee Vidya Mandir, Bulandshahar, 21-16 while Guru Ram Dass School outplayed Bel School, Vishakhapatnam, 16-7.

Police DAV School, Jalandhar, routed Dehradun Public School, Ghaziabad, 31-17 while BSF Senior Secondary School, Gwalior, managed to scrape past MDN School, Kaithal, 25-24 to storm into the final in the boys’ u-19 section. 

Khanna, November 29
Jaspreet Singh of DAV Public Senior Secondary School won racing events held on the school premises on Thursday. A large number of students from various classes participated in the competitions.

Manya, Sahil and Mansi of LKG bagged first, second and third positions. Students were distributed prizes after the competitions.