NEIGHBOURHOOD

Non-payment of bills by council
PSEB disconnects power supply to streetlights, tube well
Surinder Bhardwaj

Fatehgarh Sahib, January 18
The Sirhind-Fatehgarh Sahib municipal council has gone into a development overdrive as it has floated tenders worth over Rs 1.5 crore even though it does not have enough cash.

The council had recently floated tenders of the said amount to undertake 45 development works in the town, including revamp of the local bus stand with Rs 15 lakh, development of a children's park for Rs 10 lakh and setting up of a slaughter house at the cost of Rs 8.5 lakh. Besides, the MC also intends to construct sheds at various places across the town.

Though, MC president Sher Singh maintains that the council had recently sold two pieces of prime property from where it would get around Rs 90 lakh, and the monthly income of the council was around Rs 35 lakh, which would be used to execute the development works, sources in the council stated that the as per rules, the MC could not use the money generated from sale of land directly for development projects.

Moreover, a major portion of the monthly income of the council is spent on salaries, payment of electricity bills and other expenditures after which the council is left with only Rs 10 lakh a month.

Sources in the council stated that the move was nothing but a political stunt by the Akalis to vow the electorate in view of the upcoming MC elections. The sources said most of the development works listed in the tenders were to be executed in those wards the councillors of which had supported Sher Singh in the presidential election.

However, the council president said the MC had not received any grant from the state government over the last couple of months, but claimed that financial constrains would not be allowed to hamper development works.

Bassi Pathana, January 18
The PNDT advisory committee, in its meeting held here yesterday, has decided to launch an awareness campaign against female foeticide in the area.

Addressing the meeting, Dr Bhupinder Singh, chairman of the committee, said female foeticide was not only a social evil but also affected nature’s equilibrium. Determination of sex was sheer misuse of technology. If this trend continued, there would be chaos in the society and the deteriorating sex ratio would lead to disorder and increase in atrocities on women, he said.

Dr Kuldeep Singh Kang, senior medical officer, Bassi Pathana civil hospital, said it was the need of the hour to launch a campaign in this regard by involving school and college students, social, political, religious and other organisations. He stressed that private nursing homes, medical practitioners, trained mid-wives should also be educated not to indulge in this social evil.

It was also decided that a chetna rally would be organise in this regard.

Ambala, January 18
Union minister and MP from Ambala parliamentary constituency Selja said the BSP had no place in Haryana as the people had realised the reality of its supremo Mayawati.

She was addressing a meeting of Congress workers of Ambala, Naraingarh and Sadhora at her residence in Ambala Cantonment today.

She said the way in which Mayawati celebrated her birthday recently was a disgraceful political drama. She alleged that the BSP was not the well wisher of Dalits and always used SC and BC electors for its political interest. She said Mayawati was loosing credibility in Uttar Pradesh and her social engineering formula had proved to be a major flop.

The minister said some political parties had disgraced the sanctity of the supreme national award 'Bharat Rattan' by demanding it for their party leaders. She said matters of national prestige should be kept away from politics.

Referring to Gujarat and Himchal Pardesh election, she said the results had not affected the credibility and popularity of the UPA government in any way as these Assembly elections were contested on local issues.

Refusing to comment on Haryana Janhit Congress, she said it was too early to say anything about it, as it was in the initial stages of its existence.

On power shortage in the state, she said the former government was answerable for it.

MLA from Naggal constituency Nirmal Singh, zila parishad chairman Brahm Pal Rana, senior youth Congress leader Himmat Singh and commissioner of Haryana Information Commission Ashok Mehta were also present.

GMSSS holds Twenty20 match for students
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 18
In a friendly Twenty20 match between teachers’ team and students’ team of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 32, the teachers lost to the students by four wickets at the school grounds here today.

The match was organised to improve the relations between the teachers and the students as well as to let the students relax before exams.

Batting first, the teachers’ team put on 106 for 2 in the allotted overs. Jai Kapila was the highest scorer with an unbeaten 46 off 39 while principal Anil Sharma made 40 runs in 45 balls.

The students’ team reached the target scoring 108. They lost six wickets.

Charanamrit chipped in with 29 runs while Bunty and Irfan Ali made 26 and 23 not out respectively.

Jai Kapila claimed four wickets while Anil Sharma took two wickets.

Jai Kapila was declared man of the match

Chandigarh, January 18
Seventeen-year-old Rahul Bakshi made his his entry into the amateur circuit with a bang making the last-four grade along with Manav Das of Ambala, Abhishek Jha of Bangalore and Mohammad Arie of Malaysia in the LG Indian Open Amateur Golf Championship on the par-72 greens of the Chandigarh Golf Club here today.

Rahul made the most of a rainy day to overcome 37th ranked Arshdeep Tiwana 2 and 1. Another Chandigarh golfer, H.S. Kang, who defeated eighth ranked Pawan Kumar with a birdie on the 18th hole, met his waterloo at the hands of Mohammad Arie (4 and 3) in the quarter-finals.

Abhishek Jha mixed luck with skill for an amazing win. After surving some torrid moments on the 18th, the 14th-seeded Abhishek pushed the match into extra holes and finally sealed the issue on the 20th hole with a birdie to oust sixth-seeded Vikram Rana. In another minor upset, Manav Das outplayed the LG Eastern India champion Mithun Perera of Sri Lanka 4 and 3.

Mithun, who is known for good match-play temperament, was off-colour in the quarter-final tie. Added to that Manav was in brilliant form as he made a solitary bogey against three birdies in 15 holes. Making birdies on the sixth and eighth, Manav went 3-up. The only hole which Mithun was able to win was the par-3 11th where he made a par against Manav's bogey. Manav, a three time winner on the LG Indian Amateur Golf Tour, played consistent golf to register four consecutive pars while Mithun faltered on the 14th an 15th to surrender the match to Manav.

Jha began with a bogey. But he birdied the next to restore parity. Rana won the sixth and seventh holes to go 2-up. Jha parred the eighth to reduce the lead. Then followed a stroke for stroke play till the 12th. Then Jha sank a birdie on the 13th to square the match and shot a 30-footer birdie on the par-4 15th to go into the lead for the first time in the match. Rana hit a brilliant approach shot on the 17th from where he made a birdie to level the scores.

The drama began on the finishing hole where Rana was placed perfectly in the centre of the fairway while Jha swerved on his drive and was in the jungle on the left. Trying to escape the bushes and be near the green, Jha hit the distance marker and the ball ricocheted on to the adjacent fairway. His approach shot left him staring at a 25-footer downhill putt to save par. Rana meanwhile stuck it to eight feet from the pin. Jha sank the unbelievable putt while Rana missed the birdie putt to take the match into extra holes. "It was unbelievable. Of all the things I hit the marker which was half an inch in thickness. From there I thought I will hit it as near to the pin as possible but the ball kicked a bit more than I expected," said the 21-year-old from Eagleton Golf Resort.

A similar story followed on the 19th hole but this time, Jha was able to roll the ball in between the trees onto to the green and make two putts for a par. Rana once again missed a birdie from 10 feet. However on the par-5 second (20th hole of the match), Jha made it to the green in two while Rana who in the jungle on the right was short of the green from where he failed to make a birdie leaving his chip far too right. Jha made two putts for a birdie and won the hole and the match.

"I am still not able to digest the victory. I was also lucky but I didn't leave it on luck alone," said Jha.

The results: Pre-Quarterfinals (Prefix indicate seeding): 32-Mohammad Arie (Malaysia) bt 18- Chie Hsien Hsieh (Taipei) 4 and 3; 24-HS Kang bt 8-Pawan Kumar 1-up; 4-Rahul Bakshi bt 20-Jasjeet Singh 4 and 3; 37-Arshdeep Tiwana bt 21-Navtez Singh 2 and 1; 15-Mithun Perera (SL) bt 31-Kanishk Madan 2 and 1; 42-Manav Das bt 39-Gagan Verma; 14-Abhishek Jha bt 62-Siddharth Seth 7 and 5; 6-Vikran Rana bt 11-Chandradasa (SL) 3 and 1

Quarterfinals: 32-Mohammad Arie (Malaysia) bt 24-HS Kang 4 & 3; 4-Rahul Bakshi bt 37-Arshdeep Tiwana 2 & 1; 42-Manav Das bt15-Mithun Perera (SL) 4 & 3; 14-Abhishek Jha bt 6-Vikram Rana 20th hole.

Seminfinal line-up for Saturday: 32-Mohd. Arie (Malaysia) Vs. 4-Rahul Bakshi 8 a.m.; 14-Abhishek Jha Vs. 42-Manav Das 8:10 am. 

Ambala, January 18
Springfield Public School, Ambala City, won eight gold, four silver and six bronze medals in the district-level karate championship that concluded yesterday.

The students who won the medals are Sandeep, Lovepreet, Askash, Amanjot, Parminder, Priya, Hement, Manininder, Samiksha, Kavya, Kajal, Nikhil, Aditi, Raj Munjal and Neeraj.

Director of the school Naresh Guglani said the school would organise a function to honour the karatekas soon.

Chandigarh, January 18
A Baddi-based corporate house has invested Rs 100 crore in Reliance Power IPO. This is the highest sum that an institution is allowed to invest in this IPO.

This corporate house, which also has its offices in Gurgaon and whose name has been withheld by the broker, is one of the 50,000 investors from the tricity who have put in their money in this scheme.

It is learnt that while this corporate house has invested Rs 10 crore through internal accruals, the remaining sum of Rs 90 crore has been raised through financial institutions.

An astounding Rs 1000 crore is believed to have been put in by denizens of this region for this IPO, the highest investment made for the IPO in North India.

The IPO, which finally closed today, saw a mad rush among investors for putting in their money. Other than regular investors, an estimated 15,000 persons opened their new demat accounts- especially to participate in this IPO, said R. Thirumal, CEO, Balaji Enterprises.

He said the overwhelming response to the IPO is in line with the response received across the country.

The IPO is oversubscribed by 35 times, while in the retail segment, it is oversubscribed by over 15 times.

V. Kumar, Director of Viksons, Sector 17, said they had seen the maximum-ever applications being put in for this IPO. Said Gurmeet Singh Chawla, director of Master Trust: almost 95 per cent investors in the IPO were retailers, though institutional investors, too, have participated.”

Interestingly, many brokers in the city have created a pool of investors and then put in money through a single application. It is learnt that regular and big investors in the stock market have pooled in Rs 5 lakh each with a trader and have put in a single application.

“One can be sure of returns and whatever shares are allotted, will be distributed equally amongst them. Since the applicants are assured that in case of allotment the prices would double, it is a wise investment option,” informs an investor.

Chandigarh, January 18
Naresh Jacob has regaled music lovers since 1988. He is now ready to recast himself - well, almost. A regular at hotel Mountview where he pioneered the tradition of restaurant singing (before him many singers tried this format but flopped), Jacob started out as a drummer.

But it was not here that his calling lay. Soon he took to light music and began training his voice for a special genre - restaurant concerts. He has been into this genre for 20 years now, that too at one hotel - Mountview. But tomorrow he will detour a little to enthrall his fans.

After seven years, Jacob will hold a music concert tomorrow at Punjab Kala Bhavan, Sector 16, at 6.30 pm. And his one will not be a routine event. An ardent Talat Mehmood fan, Jacob will dedicate tomorrow’s show to his idol.

“I used to always wonder why Talat despite his musical finesse vanished without a trace. He was no less than Rafi or Kishore but no one ever espoused his cause. I had to. Tomorrow’s show will be a tribute to Talat,” says Jacob on the eve of his concert.

But that’s not to say the singer has no other musical interests. He is ready to enter Bollywood. “I have seen the kind of songs doing rounds. I have much better ones and for every mood. I have composed 150 songs to date,” said the singer who is comfortable playing instruments as well. And that’s not all. Jacob has given many performances abroad - including one for the President of Nigeria.

Much of his musical training came closer home at Ludhiana where he learned under Pramod Rattan. But he picked up a lot along the way too - his best songs to date being “Jab koi baat” and “Kisi ki muskurahaton pe ho nisar…”

For now, it’s Talat on Jacob’s mind. Members of his band “Vibrations” will accompany him for tomorrow’s performance.