Rajpura, April 29
Agitated by the erratic power supply over the last couple of days, residents from a number of villagers today organised a dharna outside the office of the Xen to register their protest.

The villagers raised anti-establishment slogans against the power authorities and the state government. The villagers stated that unscheduled cuts had made their lives miserable. They said they had been living in the dark without any supply of power and this had even affected the supply of water in their villages.

They alleged that the state government had failed to provide power to the residents, which had now become a basic necessity. They said the government had proved to be a complete failure as far as power supply was concerned.

The protestors said that they would continue with their agitation till the power authorities initiated some concrete measures.

Rajpura, April 29
Dhian Singh, a non-resident Indian from Germany, who had come here to visit his ailing brother died in a road accident here last night.

According to the police, Dhian Singh, a resident of Saifdipur village in the Rajpura segment, died when his motorcycle got out of control and hit a wall on the outskirts of his native village. Dhian Singh was returning home from Rajpura town when the accident took place.

The body of the deceased was later shifted to the mortuary of a local civil hospital for postmortem and later, it was handed over to his relatives. Dhian Singh had come here to take care of his ailing brother Bhagwan Singh.

Chandigarh, April 29
Jashanpreet was the star performer of the day after he pumped in three goals (in 40th, 42nd and 50th minutes) for New Public School Football Club (NPSFC), Sector 18, which outclassed United Football Club of Sector 47 by 7-0 in a Group-B fixture.

The match was part of the Chandigarh Senior State Football Championship for the Sher-e-Punjab Trophy. The tournament is being organised by the Chandigarh Football Association at the Sector 17 football stadium here.

NPSFC got the lead in the 13th minute as Milan Sharma of United FC scored a 'self' goal. NPSFC dominated the proceedings and Harmanpreet scored a brace of goals in the 47th and 56th minutes. Simran contributed a goal in the 45th minute.

In another Group-B match, down by an early goal, Youth Club of Sector 30 rallied smartly to down Maruti Football Club 'B’ by 3-1. The Maruti FC players took the lead in the fourth minute. Following a throw from the right flank, Ankur trapped the ball and scored a fine goal. Youth Football Club reorganised their game and 12 minutes later, they neutralised the lead when Navi banged home a pass from Golu.

Maintaining their pressure, Youth Club struck again in the 19th minute. Golu stopped Maruti FC goalkeeper's kick and gave a forward pass to S.S. Rawat to do the rest for his team's second goal. A solo effort by Pankaj culminated into the third goal for Youth Club in the 40th minute.

Meanwhile, Deepak Hooda struck a brace as Chandigarh Football Club defeated Blue Star Football Club by 4-0 in a Group-C match. Aneesh put them ahead with a goal in the third minute. Two minutes later, Deepak Hooda doubled the score. In the 32nd minute, Hooda scored another goal and took the score to 3-0. Amit Kapoor rounded up the winners' tally in the 42nd minute.

Uttaranchal Football Club (Group C) and Youth Club, Sector 30 (Group B) began their crusade with victories. Uttaranchal Football Club prevailed over Dream United of Sector 38 (5-4) in the sudden death tie-breaker session after the teams were locked goalless in the regulation period.

In the regular tie-breaker session, Uttaranchal and Dream United were tied four-all. Parteek of Uttaranchal and Ashok of Dream United failed to convert their spot kicks. Jaswinder, Ajay Bhatt, Ashutosh and Vijay Bhatt converted their spot kicks for Uttaranchal. Ravi Senior, Bablu, Nikhil and Parminder scored for Dream United.

As the deadlock continued, the organisers applied the sudden death rule to resolve the dispute.

Dream United's Ravi Junior and Mukesh failed to convert their spot kicks. For Uttaranchal, Mukul dribbled away his try while Saurav clinched victory by converting his spot kick.

Tomorrow's fixtures: Maruti Football Club 'A' vs Citi Club (6 am); St Stephen's Club vs Der-e-Punjab White (7.30 am); Youngsters FC vs Crazy Club-41 (4 pm) and PEC Football Club vs Sher-e-Punjab FC (5.30 pm). 

Chandigarh, April 29
Jagnoor’s 81-run knock went in vain for YPS, Mohali, which lost the match against B team of APJ School, Kharar, during the inaugural match of the APJ U-16 Mohali Cricket Tournament on the YPS grounds here today.

YPS won the toss and elected to bat. The team could score only 159 runs at the loss of nine wickets in the allotted 35 overs. APJ’s Karanbir took two wickets for 19 runs while Anshul took one for 27 runs.

While chasing the target, APJ’s Sarthak Grover scored 56 runs. Mehnaz of YPS claimed three wickets for 22 runs.

Chief guest of the today’s match Anju Chander rewarded Sarthak Grover with Rs 500.

Brief scores: YPS School, Mohali: 159 for 9 wickets (Jagnoor 81, Karanbir 2 for 19, Anshul 1 for 27)

APJ School, Kharar: 160 for 7 wickets, Sarthak Grover 56, Sahil 15, Shine Sharma 14, Mehnaz 3 for 22). 

Chandigarh, April 29
The Chandigarh Handball Association has invited players for participation in the 25th Sub-junior Boys’ National Handball Championship to be held at Nawanshahr from May 2 to 7.

According to secretary of the association Rahul Talwar, the interested players should report at DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8, tomorrow at 4 pm for trials. The players, who were born on or after January 1, 1993, and are bona fide residents of Chandigarh are eligible.

Chandigarh, April 29
Harjinder Singh Kang of Chandigarh could not get his putting in order on a hot day and could manage a one over par-73 card to be tied sixth on the opening day of the LG Jaypee Open Amateur Golf Championship being played on the par-72 Greg Norman-designed Jaypee Greens in Greater Noida today.

India's No. 4 Gagan Verma played almost flawless golf to return a four under par-68 card to take the first round's honours. The Delhi-based amateur led by two strokes over Saurabh Bahuguna and Kapil Kumar, who shot an identical two under-par 70.

Rahul Bajaj was fourth at 71 while Moin Malak occupied the fifth position at level par 72. H.S. Kang, Samresh Sardar, Suman Puri and Tarun Ghogale were all tied for the sixth spot at 73 while last week's winner Abhishek Jha was tied for the 10th at 74 along with Arshdeep Tiwana, Simarjeet Singh, Pritam Haridas and Angad Cheema.

The No. 1 player on the IGU Order of Merit, Manav Das of Ambala could muster a three over par-75 card to be tied 15th after the first round.

H.S. Kang said: "The greens are playing fantastic. I did have some problems with my putting, but there are three more rounds to go."

Gagan Verma, looking for his maiden title on the LG Indian Amateur Golf Tour, began with a flourish making a birdie on the opening hole. But the initiative was immediately nullified on the very next hole when he went over on the par-4 second. And that proved to be his only mistake for the day as he saved a stroke on the par-5 third. After the eventful, first three holes, the IOC-employed amateur parred his way until the turn to finish at 1-under.

On the back nine, the tall amateur made consecutive birdies in the 11th and 12th holes before saving one more stroke on the 14th. Although he flirted with birdies on many occasions, he was not able to convert them. "It was a bit frustrating that I missed out on at least four birdies from close range," said Gagan. "However, overall it was a good round and I am happy to be in the lead," he added.

Scores (after first round): 68 Gagan Verma; 70 Kapil Kumar and Saurabh Bahuguna; 71 Rahul Bajaj; 72 Moin Malak; 73 H.S. Kang, Samresh Sardar, Suman Puri and Tarun Ghoghale; 74 Arsh Deep Tiwana, Simarjeet Singh, Pritam Haridas, Angad Cheema and Abhishek Jha.

Chandigarh, April 29
The PGI has given a new lease of life to a 12-year-old Kenyan resident, Linet Mjeri, who had sustained multiple injuries after an accident. She had come to the PGI from her country to get the treatment.

She had met with an accident while walking on a street at her hometown, near Nairobi, three years ago. She developed multiple injuries from which she gradually recovered but was left with a flail paralytic upper limb on one side (right arm).

She said she had lost sensation and all her muscles had become nonfunctional.

The condition arose following an injury to the neck where nerves supplying the upper limb were pulled out of her spinal cord. She underwent a surgery in Kenya but showed no recovery. Finally, she came to Chandigarh 10 days ago.

Her mother said: “We did not have any hope when we arrived here. But now I feel that my daughter will live a normal life again and will able to go to school in the new session.”

She expressed happiness at the way PGI doctors handled the case. She said the treatment and procedure had cost them $ 1,300. Dr Gautam Biswas, who operated upon the patient, said surgeries for such injuries were complex and were done in select centres in India. PGI was one of them.

He said the procedure was being carried out at the PGI for the past seven years. “We had operated on several patients from North-East as well,” he added. Such injuries usually occurred in motorcycle accident and patients were often young males, said Dr Biswas.

He added that around 30 surgeries were done every year and most of the patients were men.

“Paralysis was earlier thought to be incurable, but it’s absolutely the opposite,” he added. He said when Linet came to the PGI, her muscles had become nonfunctional.

After a nine-hour surgery, functioning muscles were transferred from her thigh, joining the vessels and nerves to available functioning nerves to her chest. The patient would need to undergo a further procedure after around six months, he added. 

Chandigarh, April 29
The police has booked eight persons of Kajheri village on charges of setting a temple priest on fire here last evening.

According to the police, the accused have been identified as Vidya Sagar, Nirmal, Bobby, Pinki, Dr Kansal, Bajrangi and Raghbir, along with an unidentified man, who have been booked on the statement of the priest.

Sources said tension had been brewing at the temple for over 10 days after the accused asked the priest, who had been staying there for the past 10 months, to vacate the premises.

Yesterday, after the “aarti”, the accused came to the temple and had heated exchanges with the priest. Pinki reportedly thrashed and intimidated the priest.

Around 10 pm when the power went out, villagers heard a noise and saw the accused run out of the temple.

The villagers went inside the temple and saw the priest, who had been set on fire, run out of his room.

People poured buckets of water on the priest and informed the police about the incident.

The victim was taken to the Government Multi-Specialty Hospital, Sector 16, from where he was transferred to the PGI. His condition was stated to be critical.

On his way to the hospital, the priest recorded his statement alleging that Pinki along with others had set him on fire.

The gatekeeper of the temple, Ashok, told the TNS that he was sleeping outside the room of the priest, when he saw flames in the room. The moment he went inside, he saw the priest on fire, he claimed.

However, eyewitnesses alleged that the gatekeeper was not present there at the time of the incident.

A CFSL team was called in for investigation and the police was verifying the matter. No arrest has been made so far.

Chandigarh, April 29
Smrata, a resident of Mouli Complex, has lodged a complaint with the police alleging that two unidentified men took away gold ornaments after fooling her.

According to the police, the two men came to her house this morning and took the women into confidence saying that they would clean her ornaments.

Chandigarh, April 29
With an average occupancy of 88 per cent, Hotel Parkview is set to emerge as one of the largest budget hotels in the region with 170 rooms by the end of this year. This was stated at a meeting of the board of directors of CITCO held under the chairmanship of the UT home secretary here today. With a turnover of Rs 5.24 crore, Hotel Parkview had a profit of Rs 1.59 crore for the financial year 2007-08.

According to the managing director, Jasbir Singh Bir, CITCO has netted a profit of Rs 18.35 crore during this period.

This is attributed to the outstanding performance of CITCO’s Hotel Mountview which has generated profit of Rs 11.19 crore on a turnover of Rs 25 crore. CITCO has undertaken an initiative to renovate Hotel Mountview.

Hotel Shivalikview has witnessed an increase of 13.5 per cent in its turnover from Rs 13.41 crore to Rs 15.39 crore during the financial year 2007-08.

The performance of Chef Lakeview continues to show an upward trend both in profits and turnover. The profit is higher by 18 per cent at Rs 1.78 crore against a profit of Rs 1.51 crore in 2006-07.

CITCO is planning to diversify its operations in the petroleum sector and two new petrol stations shall be set up in the southern sectors with an auto LPG facility to facilitate residents of Chandigarh, he said.