NEIGHBOURHOOD

Staff brought in to cover up shortage
Attar Singh
Tribune News Service

Patiala, April 4
Khalsa College, Patiala, today organised its annual convocation function in which 150 students were awarded degrees. Former president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee Prof Kirpal Singh Badungar was the chief guest. Badungar said for the development of education, the SGPC had set up the Directorate of Education and was in the process of setting up the World Sikh University. He also announced a Rs 5-lakh grant for the institution. Dr Pritpal Singh Kapoor, former vice-chancellor of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, delivered the convocation address. College principal Dr Dharminder Singh Ubha welcomed the guests and presented the annual report of the college.

Mohali

PLACEMENT DRIVE: A joint campus placement drive was organised by the NSPL for MBA students, which was held at Indo-Global College of Engineering. As many as 465 students of MBA 2008/2009 batch from 17 engineering/MBA colleges participated in the exercise, which included pre-placement talk by the HR head of the company Harmanpreet Randhawa. Finally, 27 students were selected. Indo-Global Group Colleges’ chairman Sukhdev Kumar Singla informed that the ongoing placement drive aimed at giving the students an opportunity to find well-deserved meaningful placement with excellent packages.

CAMPUS PLACEMENT: Swami Vivekanand Institute of Engineering and Technology organised a campus placement for its management (MBA) wing where TradeIndia.com group company of Infocom Network Ltd. visited the campus. The company selected 10 executives out of 60 students with a gross pay package Rs 20,000 per month.

ORIENTATION: To familiarise the parents with the functioning of the school, teaching methodology and their role, along with teachers, to mould children into global citizens, Manav Mangal Smart School, Mohali, organised a parent orientation programme here today. The keynote address was delivered by Dr N.K. Grover, who is a parents’ counselling expert from Canada. He re-established the fact that both, the parents as well as the teachers, needed to contribute towards a child's future. Director of the school Sanjay Sardana exhorted the parents to be equal partners with teachers in the child's education.

Bassi Pathana, April 4
Resentment prevails among the residents of the town, due to shifting of the electricity bill depositing-cum-complaint centre from the town to a nearby village, Rasulpur, in main grid, 2 km from here. Earlier, the office was situated in the main bazaar of the town near post office and the electricity bills as well as the complaints regarding electricity were lodged here.

Now the authorities have shifted this office to Rasulpur village in main grid of the department. The residents of the town are facing great difficulty while depositing the electricity bills as well as lodging the complaint.

No bus service, three wheelers or rickshaw is available on this route, the worst affected are the old and retired people they have to cover 2 km distance on foot.

When contacted Shiv Dyal Singh SDO (Urban), he said as the bill collection work has been computerised, due to power cuts, it was not possible to keep the computers operational to get the bills deposited. The consumers had to face difficulty, so keeping this in mind the office has been shifted to grid itself. He said as the situation of power would improve, the office would be shifted back.

Rajeshpal Singh Lalli, senior SAD (B) leader, B.B. Verma, Amardeep Singh Dharni, Kulbhushan Malhotra and Ashok Tulani, social workers, have demanded immediate shifting of the office for the convenience of the residents and to make arrangement for power backup system.

Chandigarh, April 4
The duo of Rohan Mankad and Rupesh Roy lifted the doubles title in the $10,000 India F5 Futures ITF Men's Circuit at the Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association courts, Sector 10, here today.

The final, which lasted for 68 minutes, was an all-India affair as the winners stunned another third seed Indian duo Rohan Gajjar and Purav Raja in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 to clinch the top honours.

In the singles semifinal, top seed Rohan Bopanna maintained his winning spree and secured berth in the final of the tourney by defeating another Indian player Divij Sharan 6-4, 7-5 in the 118-minute match.

Though Divij lost to the top player, yet he managed to put up a good fight.

In the first set, Bopanna broke Divij in the third game but Divij equalled the score two-all by breaking Bopanna in the next game. In the eighth game, Bopanna forced 5-3 lead before clinching the set at 6-4.

The second set started with a positive note for Bopanna, who broke his rival in the first game. But showing guts, Divij came back in the game with the 5-4 lead by breaking Bopanna in the seventh, eighth and ninth games. But after that, the top seed did not give any chance to Divij as he won all games on the trot to outclass his rival.

During the match, Divij committed nine double faults while Bopanna committed only four.

In another 160-minute long marathon semifinal, Wild Card Harsh Mankad of India registered victory over third seed Korean Hyun-Woo Nam 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.

Hyun-Woo Nam rode high on the double fault, being committed by his Indian counterpart, in the ninth game to get the 5-4 lead. The Korean then did not make any mistake and won the first set at 6-4.

In the second set, it was the same story but this time, it was Mankad, who broke Nam in the 10th game to gain the 5-4 lead. He levelled the score by winning the second set.

Mankad reached the final by breaking Nam in the sixth and 12th games of the deciding set.

Tomorrow, Mankad will take on Bopanna in the title clash.

Results: Singles (semifinals): Rohan Bopanna (Ind) b Divij Sharan (Ind) 6-4, 7-5; Harsh Mankad (Ind) b Hyun-Woo Nam (Korea) 6-4, 4-6, 5-7; doubles (final): Harsh Mankad and Rupesh Roy (Ind) b Rohan Gajjar and Purav Raja (Ind) 6-3, 6-4.

Chandigarh, April 4
More than 80 golfers from all over the country and abroad are expected to participate in the third Chandigarh Golfing Tour to be held on the greens of Chandigarh and Panchkula from April 11 to 13.

With the earlier two editions being a success, Chandigarh has come to stay as a golf tourism destination. An open-invitation event, the Chandigarh Golfing Tour has already been flooded with entries, including six from the Canadian Embassy and one from Finland.

According to J.S. Cheema, organising secretary of the tournament, the tournament would be teed-off on the par-72 greens of the Chandigarh Golf Club on April 11 at 11.30 am. The golfers would then shift to the greens of the Panchkula Golf Club for a gun-shot start on April 12 at 9 am. The third and final day will see the golfers in a pitch and putt competition at the Chandigarh Golf Range on April 13 at 9 am.

The organisers have tried to attract the families of the golfers during the three-day competition with the idea of promoting tourism through golf.

Organised by the Chandigarh Golf Association, the golfing tour will be conducted in association with the tourism departments of Chandigarh and Haryana, Hotel and Restaurant Association of Chandigarh, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) and Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) with the support of the tourism department of India.

With so many tourism promotion agenciesinvolved, the organisers hope to rope in the best to promote tourism golf.

There will be separate prizes for gross and nett score for men and lady golfers on all three days besides the overall prizes based on the aggregate score of the three days. There will be separate prizes for the nearest to the pin and the longest drives.

Chandigarh, April 4
Cricket Stadium Academy, Sector 16, stormed into the final by beating CCA-Guru Nanak Public School Academy, Sector 36, by five wickets in the semifinal match of the Chandigarh Under-13 Inter-Academy Cricket Tournament at the St Stephen's School ground, Sector 45, here today.

GNPS set 125-run target for the Sector-16 team, which the former overhauled in just 28 overs, losing five wickets in the course.

Batting first, GNPS posted 124 for 7 in the allotted 30 overs. Openers Arjit Singh (34) and Shivam Bhambri (30) provided a good start by putting on 55-run partnership.

For the stadium team, Yash Kapil took 4 for 20 while Chetan snapped two wickets conceding 33 runs.

In reply, the stadium team achieved their target by scoring 125 for the loss of five wickets with two overs to spare. Kuljinder played a vital role by hitting 41-run knock. Parnav and Saurabh remained not out on 13 and 21 runs, respectively. Arpit claimed 2 for 21.

Brief scores

CCA-GNPS Academy, Sector 36: 124 for 7 in 30 overs (Arjit Singh 34, Shivam Bhambri 30, Arpit 14, Yash Kapil 4 for 20, Chetan 2 for 33).

Cricket Stadium Academy, Sector 16: 125 for 5 in 28 overs (Kuljinder Singh 41, Parnav 13 n o, Saurabh 21 n o, Arpit 2 for 21).

Tomorrow's fixture (semifinal): Desh Prem Cricket Academy-45 vs Mohali Cricket Academy at 1.30 pm at St Stephen's School in Sector 45.

Chandigarh, April 4
Local rider Zoravar Singh Thiara brought laurels to the city by clinching gold medal in the hacks (under-13) event during Delhi Horse Show, the national-level equestrian show, held recently at Army Polo and Riding Club. In the dressage event, he secured the fourth position.

This is not the first time that the 10-year-old prodigy bagged the top honours. Last year at Chandigarh Horse Show, organised by the Chandigarh administration and New Delhi Equestrian Promoters, he was declared the best child rider as he won two gold medals in the dressage and hacks events.

In 2006, he emerged the winner in show jumping and hacks events.

Nurturing a dream to represent the country in big events like Asian Games, The World Cup and Olympics, this young rider has been getting training from Delhi-based coach Major J.S. Ahluwalia.

“I have been practising for over four hours daily as I want to win medals for the country at the international level,” said Zoravar. 

Chandigarh, April 4
Exhorting Punjabi youth to refrain from using drugs, world-renowned wrestler Tiger Jeet Singh said healthy lifestyle was the key to success.

“As drugs have been spoiling the lives of our youth, I have decided to start a campaign against the drug menace by opening ‘akharas’ and health-gyms, especially in the rural areas,” said the professional wrestler at the Chandigarh Press Club here today.

Claiming that he was still emotionally attached to his roots, Tiger added that so far, he along with his associates, had opened three gyms at Sujapur village, Sangrur and Ludhiana. Opening of more gyms at various places is on the cards.

Rating the rural ‘dangals’ and ‘akharas’ (wrestling bouts) much higher than the professional wrestling, Tiger Jeet said our grapplers were more talented and powerful than the foreign professional grapplers. The only drawback was that they had no opportunities here, he added.

Criticising the professional wrestling like WWE, Tiger said: “Those bouts are completely artificial and just a show business. Most of these wrestlers have developed their muscles by using drugs. I suggest the youth not to imitate them blindly.” Even their bouts, being shown on many sports channels, were just a drama, nothing else, he added.

Tiger also served as international ambassador for the WWE. Going down the memory lane, the stout wrestler, who is also former United Nation’s NGO member, said he was empty-pocketed when he left for Canada. “I had to work very hard and take up professional wrestling there to earn my livelihood. Besides earning honours in many countries, I earned heaps of money through the sport,” said Tiger.

Answering the question that why did he not take up amateur wrestling, he was honest enough to say: “One can not fight empty-stomached. Barring some renowned wrestlers, most of the grapplers here cannot make the both ends meet.

Praising Indian wrestler Khali, Tiger said, “He has been making the country proud. But I am sorry for him as he is not a literate which is very necessary to protect one’s interests.” 

Chandigarh, April 4
Medical representatives will be on strike on April 24. The decision was taken during the 14th conference of Punjab and Chandigarh Medical and Sales Representatives Union (PCMSRU), held at Lions club recently.

Tikshan Sud, labour minister, Punjab, inaugurated the conference. A charter of demand was submitted to the minister by PCMSRU. The demands include raising the demands of revision of work category of medical representatives to highly skilled and amendment in section 2(S) of Industrial Dispute Act to cover the sales promotion employees of the state.

A. Sawhney, state general secretary and Inderjit Singh, state president of PCMSRU, also addressed the conference. Both the leaders said sale and profitability of pharmaceutical companies are growing well but the condition of medical representatives is pathetic, as majority of the companies are neither paying the minimum wages nor implementing the Sales Promotion Employee Act, 1976.

They also condemned the health and drug policy of the UPA government, as it is not in the favour of the common man. They alleged that on one side government is promoting immunization programmes for children to eradicate small pox, chicken pox and other infectious diseases and on the other hand there is a shortage of these vaccines.

The demand to reduce excise duty on medicines to four per cent was also raised. During the conference A. Sawhney was unanimously elected as president, Shiv Awasthi as secretary and Sanjeev Sharma as treasurer of the Union. Eleven working committee members were also elected.

Chandigarh, April 4
After serving the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Science Education and Research and heading various departments for a long time, Prof H.S. Chawla, (oral health sciences), Prof J.D. Wig, (general surgery) and Prof Anil Narang (paediatrics) superannuated on March 31. Prof Madhur Gupta, head of department of anatomy also retired on the same day.

Prof Rajinder Singh, department of general surgery; Prof Sunit Singhi, department of paediatrics and Dr Daisy Sahni, additional Prof, department of anatomy have been appointed as heads in their respective departments. Prof A.K. Utreja will head the department of oral health sciences.

Chandigarh, April 4
In the backdrop of Canada attaching importance on further developing bilateral relations with India, experts discussed prospects of developing Canada-India strategic partnership at a roundtable organised at the Center for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID), in association with the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada, Vancouver, here today.

Chairman of the Executive Committee, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, Professor Paul Evans, said India had assumed priority in Canada’s foreign relations, given the emergence of India and China in Asia.

He added that Canada was paying special attention to the two countries under the Asia Pacific Gateway Project. He saw the development of India-Canada ties in the context of the new international architecture, which was being developed.

He saw the strengthening of bilateral relationship through educational exchanges and development of personal skills. He said he would like to see India and Canada developing a comprehensive relationship, though a strategic partnership may not be feasible at this stage, as it raised many expectations, which may not be fulfilled.

Former ambassador Paramjit Sahai stressed upon the need of India setting up a Canada-India Organisation on the lines of the Two Punjabs Centre, which could become a catalyst in providing connectivity between the two countries.

He added that Canada was planning to get seriously involved in the development of skills in Punjab, which are most needed in Canada, so as to facilitate smooth flow of migration.

Dr Ryan Touhey said India-Canada relations were at the height in the 1950s and had become frozen because Canada felt that India had not fulfilled its obligation when it tested a nuclear device in 1978.

Professor Sanjay Chaturvedi from Panjab University said India and Canada could cooperate in the areas of Antarctic Bioprospecting and this would become a new area for India-Canada Cooperation. He stressed the need for joining research and collaboration between institutions of India and Canada.

Chandigarh, April 4
Pragati Trikha, a student of Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, Sector 26, has added another feather to her cap. The child artiste is now a part of the Bollywood flick ‘Sadiaan’, which is being directed by producer-director Raj Kanwar.

The film, which is currently being shot in Chandigarh’s periphery areas, has Luv Sinha, son of Shatrugan Sinha, in the lead role. The other cast includes Rekha, Hema Malini and Rishi Kapoor.

Pragati, who already has several films including ‘Veer Zaara’, ‘Dosti’, ‘Singh is King’ and ‘Mummyji’ to her credit, plays the role of a student in ‘Sadiaan’.