Ludhiana, February 14
The District Health Department and the local Municipal Corporation have locked horns over the claims by the former that unhygienic water was the cause of outbreak of gastric diseases in Karamsar and Santar colony a few days ago.

While Civil Surgeon, Dr Rajinder Kaur had declared three days ago that all five samples taken from Karamsar Colony had failed the tests conducted by Microbiology Department of Punjab Agricultural University, (PAU), the MC officials today announced that they do not accept the report that the water was fit for drinking and they were testing the chlorine content for the last many days. The MC took time to respond after getting an official copy of the water sampling results.

On the directions of Mr S.K. Sharma, Municipal Commissioner, the Joint Commissioner, MC, Dr Jaswant Singh led a team of MC staff to get the samples filled and tested again. Talking to the Tribune , Dr Jaswant Singh said that he was getting the samples filled in his presence. He added that a team of doctors from Health Department was taking the samples.

The Joint Commissioner further said that the MC was not satisfied with the test reports and it suspected that the equipment used for sampling was at a fault. He said that the chlorination was the only way to treat water in the district and as per their reports the amount of chlorine found in samples was upto the satisfying mark.

The report of PAU has put the MC also in spot as on the day of outbreak it had claimed that there was no problem with the potable water being supplied in the area. Mr Jaswant Singh had said then that the MC had tested 20 water samples during a door to door survey in the presence of the area residents and found that adequate quantity of chlorine was found in the samples.

The water samples by the Health Department were taken from a sweet shop, from Karamvir Singh’s house in street number 4, Ravi Dutt’s house in street number 7, all from Karamsar colony and two samples from Simranjit Singh Nagar and Santar Nagar areas on February 10.

As many as 240 residents of these three colonies had fallen sick due to diarrhoea and jaundice. No casualty was however reported.

Ludhiana, February 14
Antarpreet Singh breezed through Amit Bhasin to win the title in the boys singles (U-10 years) on the penultimate day of the Ludhiana District Sub Junior Badminton Championship being held at the Shastri Hall, near Guru Nanak Sports Complex here today. In the final, Amit Bhasin failed to match with his opponent, Antarpreet Singh. Antarpreet Singh, student of class V of Sacred Heart Convent School, Sarabha Nagar, won the verdict quite easily in straight sets 15-2 and 15-4.

In the boy’s singles (U-13 years), Anand Tiwari and Pranav Chopra outnumbered their rivals to secure berths in the final. In the first semifinal, Anand Tiwari overwhelmed Gaurish Singla 15-1 and 15-1 while the second semifinal, played between Pranav Chopra and Bhavya Dawar, too ended in a similar fashion with the former romped home victorious 15-1 and 15-1.

In the boy’s doubles semifinal (u-10 years), pair of Antarpreet Singh and Puneetinder Singh registered an easy victory over Guranjan Singh and Mohanjot Singh 15-4, 15-2. However, in the second semifinal, Parth Gupta and Kshitij gave some anxious moments to Amit Bhasin and Sanil Gupta, before making an exit 10-15 and 6-15.

Bhavya Dawar and Gaurish Singla will take on Antarpreet Singh and Amit Bhasin in the final of the boys doubles (u-13 years). In the semifinals, Bhavya Dawar and Gaurish showed the door to Shubham and Nishant 15-2 and 15-7 while Antarpreet Singh and Amit Bhasin outplayed Abhishek and Puneetinder 15-7 and 15-2.

Ludhiana, February 14
The 39th annual athletic meet of the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, will be held on February 17 on the university premises, according to Dr Darshan Singh, Director, Students Welfare, PAU.

Mr Chander Shekhar, IPS, Additional Director General Police, Punjab and Director, Police Academy, Phillaur will inaugurate the meet while Dr Kirpal Singh Aulakh, Vice-Chancellor of PAU will preside over the function and distribute the prizes to the winners.