NEIGHBOURHOOD

Dead tubewells fail to interest MC contractors
Tribune News Service

Patiala, April 7
Work to install at least a dozen tubewells to meet the drinking water needs of residents here has hit a road block, with the local municipal corporation (MC) contractors not showing any interest in filling up tenders for them.

Patiala mayor Ajit Pal Singh Kohli today confirmed that little or no interest was shown by the contractors to fix these tubewells and the MC had now re-tendered the entire process. Sources revealed that there are 95 tubewells across the city and now with the onset of summer season, water needs of people is bound to increase.

Many of the tubewells are not working while others are on the verge of getting defunct due to the depleting water table. It was decided at a recent meeting of the MC that immediate steps should be taken to make the tubewells work to their optimum efficiency.

Earlier, the mayor and the commissioner had held a meeting where it was decided to constitute a team of corporation officials which would select locations for the installation of new tubewells. The team has been asked to submit its report as soon as possible so that the digging process could be started.

A top MC official disclosed that there were around 50 colonies located within the jurisdiction of the MC where acute scarcity of water was there.

Amarjit Singh, a resident of B-tank area, said “We are waiting for MC officials to take action otherwise life will become miserable for us in the coming summer season. Morever, there is very less pressure of water in the pipes and we have now decided to approach the commissioner and mayor for immediate remedial action.”

The corporation officials, fearing the worse, have also decided to start an awareness campaign to educate people on how to use water properly and not waste it.

Bassi Pathana, April 7
After publication of the news item in The Tribune regarding shifting of PSEB bill collection centre and lack of streetlights in the town, deputy commissioner Ashok Singla has directed SDM Fatehgarh Sahib, who is also holding charge of MC Bassi Pathana, to take up the matter with PSEB officials.

The local Punjab State Electricity Board officials today made the streetlights operational by connecting the power connection as well as decided to shift the electricity bill collection centre to its erstwhile place.

SDM Gurpal Singh Chahal said they have issued a cheque of Rs 70,000 to PSEB officials and directed them to reconnect the streetlights immediately. He said that the power connection to the water tubewell would also be connected. He added that PSEB officials have also been directed to shift back the bills collection centre.

SDO Bassi Pathana Shiv Dyal Singh confirmed that power connection of the street lights has been restored. However, he urged the local social organisations to provide a suitable site to the department for bill collection and complaint centre as the prevailing site is not safe for the staff.

Ropar, April 7
Five people, including the sarpanch of village Bawani Kalan, have been booked for murdering 25-year-old Gurcharan Singh alias Kala. His body was found on the road leading from Panjaula village to Bawani on Sunday night. A motorcycle (PB 65 D 9694) was also found at the place. Kala was attacked on the head with sharp-edged weapons.

The sarpanch of Bawani Kalan village Sewa Singh and his four nephews, Dharminder Singh, Varinder Singh, Kulwinder Singh and Jagir Singh, have been booked on the complaint of the deceased’s uncle Kanwaljit Singh. He alleged that Kala was murdered due to an old enmity between the two factions. Kala had recently returned home after serving a four-year sentence in a murder case.

Earlier, Sewa Singh had lodged a complaint against Kala at Ropar Sadar police station alleging attempt to murder. Kala’s parents had died few years ago and his brother lives abroad. He lived in the village with his uncle Kanwaljit. No arrests have been made so far.

Fatehgarh Sahib, April 7
Dr Neelu Arora, a woman doctor posted at the Bassi Pathana civil hospital, has accused her superiors of subjecting her to harassment and mental agony.

Dr Arora, who is a qualified anaesthetist holding a masters degree in hospital administration, has alleged that she is being forced to work in slave-like conditions at the hospital.

The doctor, who has not been paid her salary for the past six months, said she had signed a bond with the state health department pledging to render services to the department for five years. She said because of this, she was not in a position to leave the job despite that fact that she was undergoing severe mental torture at the hands of her superiors.

Dr Arora said her salary was being held back on one pretext or the other. Despite this, the department had recently issued her a letter accusing her of concealing her income, for which she had to file a detailed explanation that had been demanded by the department.

She said though she was working 24-hour a day twice a week and doing night duties without raising any objections, she had failed to “please” her superiors who continued to trouble her. The doctor stated that during night duties, there was no security for a woman doctor in the hospital, yet she never complained.

When a rape case was reported in the town recently, a large number of villagers and policemen assembled in the hospital during the night when she alone was on duty. She said she called up the senior medical officer requesting him to send some more staff to handle the situation, but her appeals were turned down.

Later, she was issued a letter seeking an explanation as to why she could not handle the situation on her own.

Her perturbed father Prof Beant Singh, senior lecturer in a Patiala college, said his daughter had been seeking a transfer from her present place of posting but the department had failed to act. He said his daughter had a six-year-old son and her family was in Mohali.

He said though he had spoken to the health minister and senior functionaries of the department, but nothing had worked. He said now they were planning to seek legal remedy and if required, they would move the court. Prof Singh said when he personally spoke to the senior medical officer, he was told that Dr Arora was not “mixing with other faculty members at the hospital for which she had to face the trouble.”

Refuting the allegations, civil surgeon Dr S.M.S. Sidhu said the allegations were baseless. He said the doctor was not regular and hence, the department had held back her salary.

He said recently she had completed all formalities regarding the leaves that she had availed and her case had been sent to the deputy director for approval, after which her salary would be released. He said the doctor was unnecessarily creating problems for the department.

Chandigarh, April 7
Dhanbir Singh Bains, who was elected president of the Chandigarh Golf Club today, promised to make the par-72 Chandigarh greens the best in the country.

"My focus will be on a complete revamp of the fairways and the greens for which the club will go in for a full-time professional course manager,” said Bains who defeated Birinder Singh Gill (Gilly) by 90 votes.

He was critical of the manner in which the greens and fairways had been neglected. Elaborating, the new president said, "The greens had been hit by fungus during harsh winters and the fairways were infested by crab weeds. To set things right, we urgently require the services of a full-time course manager.”

Bains said the club would advertise for a full-time professional course manager and see to it that the course regained its lost glory.

He was also critical of the high prices of food items served in the club. He said, "The prices should be so reasonable that any member should be able to eat at the club three times a week. Only then will it be a members' club.”

Criticising the upkeep of the greens, Bains had a word of praise for the previous committee's handling of the affairs with the administration. He promised to maintain continuity on this front.

He charged that rules were bent by the previous committee on expenses and said the Hura Committee report that had gone into the whole affair had pointed out certain lacunae.

He said the general body meeting a day before the elections had set up a committee under General Harwant Singh to study the Hura Committee report and give its findings. "It is for the general body to discuss the two reports and reach a decision,” he added.

Regarding the new course captain, he said the best talent would be selected after the full executive committee results were declared.

As Bains talked of his dream green course, his mobile phone kept ringing with friends and family members congratulating him on his victory. His parting words were, "Every member is welcome to give suggestions for improving the club.”

Bear hugs and bonhomie took over as the new president opened a bottle of champagne to raise a toast for the success of the new team.

Chandigarh, April 7
Horse riding is in his blood. Taking initial lessons of the sport from his mother, maternal uncle and cousins, who all are very good equestrians, 10-year-old Govind Singh Sandhu has started making waves at the top level.

The lean Govind has attracted attention with his talent of controlling the horse during the recently held Delhi Horse Show (DHS) at Army Polo and Riding Club, New Delhi, where he won three medals - a gold, a silver and a bronze.

“I am very satisfied with my performance at the show as I won top honours in trotting race, a silver medal in stick and ball event and a bronze in hacks,” said the elated youngster.

For Govind, who started horse riding four years back, this was his third-time participation in the national-level show.

“Earlier, I won a silver medal in the last edition of the DHS in 2006 whereas in the Chandigarh Horse Show in 2004, I finished mere as a participant,” said Class VI student Govind, who also won a gold and silver during Inter-School Horse Show at St John’s High School, Sector 26, here.

Govind is so passionate about the game that his first request to the principal of Lawrence School, Sanawar, where he is studying, was to start horse riding in the school.

“I want to be the world’s best rider. If the sport is not available in my school, I will take on it after completing my studies there to attain my objective,” said the boy confidently.

Chandigarh, April 7
Top seed Surya Tejaswani got the better of Harikirat Bains 6-1, 6-2 in the girls’ under-14 singles first round of AITA Super Series being played at the Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association courts here today.

Displaying skillful game and good show of serves and volleys, Surya dominated throughout the match and secured her berth in the next round with ease.

In boys’ under 16 singles, top seed Rupam Gogoi of Assam lost to local lad Gurinder Singh 6(6)-7, 0-6. Gurinder has been training in the CLTA High Performance Programme.

Other results:

Boys under-14 singles (1st round): Vishal Passi b Shailendra Bonafice 6-1, 6-4: Aniruddh Darp b Subhash Kaushik 6-3, 6-2; Digvijay Naruka b Ranjeet Singh 6-0, 6-2: Kamal Maderana b Dhruv Agarwal 6-2, 7-5: Surya Pavan b Vilas Khate 6-2, 7-5: Jatinder Singh b Rohan Punj 6-1, 6-2: Ajay Yadav b Kuwar Tater 6-2, 6-0: Arjun Khade b Ayush Mintri 6-4, 6-2: Sushanta Mohanty b Madhurjya Dtta 6-1, 6-1: Arunansu Borthakur b Abhinansu Borthakur 6-3, 6-4: R. Ramkumar b Udai Mann 6-1, 6-1, Manav Chakma b Amit Bzad 6-0, 6-0: Anshu Bhuyan b Yash Deshpande 6-1, 6-2: Karn Patel b Nikhit Prasad 6-3, 6-4: Rajanvir Singh b Sanjiv Fernando 6-2, 6-1.

Girls under-14 singles (1st round): Tarranum Handa b Nikita 6-0, 6-3: Anushka Rajkumar b Charvi Saxena 6-4, 1-6, 6-4: Sukhmani Wadha b Akshaya Chandiran 6-2, 6-3: Samitha b T. Vignyata Reddy 6-2, 6-3: Surya Tejaswani b Harikirat Bains 6-1, 6-2: Vaishnavi b Medha Toor 6-2, 6-3: Tahira Bhatti b Ayna Arora 6-0, 6-1: Likhita Shetty b Pooja Shetty 6-2, 6-1: Saranya Verma b Shreys Pasricha 6-4, 6-2: Vibhuti Khullar b Shubh Gulati 6-1, 6-3: Zainab Ali Sajjad b Hassan Abdaal 6-1, 6-0: Samithi b Madhusani 6-4, 7-6 (10): Teertha Iska b Sabatini Ankaraju 6-2, 6-1: Rimpledeep Kaur b Swetha Sreehari 6-2, 6-3: Parminder Kaur b Bhavika Wadhawan 6-4, 6-3.

Boys under-16 (Ist round): R. Ramkumar b Kamal Maderana 6-1, 6-1: Navneet Kumar b Om Dalvi 7-5, 6-1: Gurinder Singh b Rupam Gogoi 7-6 (6) 6-0: Bhavneet Singh b Pradeep Deswal 6-0, 7-5: Vishal Passi b Arjun Khade 7-6 (2) 6-2: Surya Sirasala b Karn Patel 7-5, 6-0.

Seedings:

Boys under-14: 1 Surya Pavan, 2 R. Ramkumar, 3 Arjun Khade, 4 Manab Kr Chakma, 5 Vishal Passi, 6 Ajay Yadav, 7 Aniruddh Darp, 8 Anshu Bhuyan.

Boys under-16: 1 Rupam Gogoi, 2 Surya Pavan, 3 Navneet Kumar, 4 Suraj Konwar, 5 Arjun Khade, 6 R. Ramkumar, 7 Surya Sirasala, 8 Manab Kr Chakma.

Girls under-14: 1 Surya Tejaswani, 2 Teertha Iska, 3 Parminder Kaur, 4 Tarranum Handa, 5 Likhita Shetty, 6 M. Saranya Verma, 7 Zainab Ali Sajjad, 8 C. Sai Samitha

Girls under-16: 1 Jaanesh Kaur, 2 Teertha Iska, 3 Pooja Narayan, 4 Saadgi Rajani, 5 Surya Tejaswani, 6 M. Saranya Verma, 7 Harnoor Kaur, 8 Shilpa Naruka.

Chandigarh, April 7
An accountant of a firm was duped of Rs 2,50,000 after a stranger distracted his attention when he went to deposit money in Union Bank of India in Sector 17 here this afternoon.

The incident took place when Hitesh Sharma went to deposit the money.

Hitesh was standing, waiting for his turn when suddenly a miscreant distracted his attention saying that his money has fallen from his bag.

The moment Hitesh looked down, the stranger took his bag and ran away within no time.

Hitesh immediately called the PCR and reported the matter. According to the SHO, Sector 17, Kulwant Singh, the police has registered a case on Hitesh statement.

A case under Section 379 and 380 of the IPC has been registered.

Chandigarh, April 7
A reckless car driver today not only hit a traffic policeman but also drove him on his bonnet to a distance, when he signalled him to stop near the Aroma light in Sector 22 here this afternoon.

The police said the incident took place at 3.30 pm when homeguard Satnam Singh, who were on traffic regulating duty, signalled a Santro car (PB-03-C-5600) to stop. The driver instead of stopping his car hit constable Satnam Singh. The constable fell on the bonnet of the car and the driver did not stop his car and drove toward the small rotary near the health centre.

The police arrested the accused, Gaurav, a student of SD College and Vikas, student of correspondent studies and residents of Moga who are staying here on the charges of attempt to murder, causing injuries and obstructing a servant from discharging his duty under various provisions of the IPC.

Chandigarh, April 7
A French theatre group Fourth Way staged poetry with an art of Indian dance postures to give a glimpse of French literature on Indian stage for the first time. A theatre group presented works of a French poet Arthur Rimbaud’s poetry ‘Hell and Illuminating’ here on Monday.

Interestingly, the group presented the whole poetry with postures of Bharat Natyam and Kathak Kali subtitled in English. The whole performance was a visual and sonorous creation and was composed of a Choir and one actor. The show wavers between dreams and reality; everything is suspended; and recounts three periods of the life of this poet: youth (early genius), adolescence (Paris, the travels) and the African period. It uses the poems of his youth, some texts from A Season in Hell, some from The Illuminations and some letters.

The actor goes with the poet on the path of memory lane till his deathbed in Marseille. The show is made of shadows and lights, candles, three spotlights, and a screen on which is projected in English the journeys and the rhymes of the poet.

While talking to The Tribune one of the artist Elias Tabet, who is also the director of the play, stated that the group is doing an experiment of presenting the French literature on Indian stage and in September they propose to stage a similar programme in Paris on the poetry of Rabindernath tagore. The group will perform the play in the church.

He said India always inspired him to experiment with the art and get something new out of it. He said India was having a rich cultural heritage and it had its impact on the world map just because of it. He remarked that if the culture of the country fades away the country would be at a great loss. He said through this performance they wanted to connect the spectators and actor to feel the depth of the writings of the author.

Tabet revealed that this performance is a step towards interchanging the art of both the countries through this theatre group.