NEIGHBOURHOOD

Rubina tops Class XII in Ambala
Tribune News Service

School principal offers sweets to Ambala topper Rubina Pandit in Ambala on Thursday. A Tribune photograph

Ropar/Patiala, May 22
Navneet Kaur, a student of Himalaya Senior Secondray School in Muzafat village here, secured first place in the state in Class VIII exams of Punjab State Education Board. Her father Harinder Singh is head constable with railway police at Patiala. It was Navneet’s grandfather Jagat Singh, who always encouraged her to outshine in academics.

Punjab Class VIII topper Navneet Kaur with her mother. A Tribune photograph

Another girl student of the same school, Amanjot Kaur, secured sixth place in the state. She hails from Khanpur village and her father Charan Harpal Singh is a farmer.

Meanwhile, Davinder Singh stood first in Patiala town and third in Patiala district in the PSEB Class VIII examinations, the results of which were declared today.

Davinder Singh is a student of Play Way High School. The others who have excelled are Rahul Saggi, Manav Kathuria, Aanchal Khullar, Neha Walia, Jasleen Sethi, Bhawna Dhian and Harneet Kaur.

Patiala, May 22
Punjab public relations department administration officer Punit Goyal has been appointed poll observer for Patiala district for the forthcoming panchayat polls scheduled to be held on May 26.

Meanwhile, the district administration has geared up to hold the panchayat elections for over 800 panchayats and five zila parishad seats where polls were postponed. The process of staff rehearsal was being carried out to make the polls a smooth affair.

Goyal will also be observer for certain zila parishad and block samiti polls in Nabha block where elections were put on hold keeping in view the alleged poll violence.

Goyal has been appointed poll observer in place of senior IAS officer N.S. Kang who had supervised the recent ZP and samiti polls as an observer.

The change has been effected by the Punjab State Election Commission, official sources said.

Anyone who had any suggestion or complaint pertaining to forthcoming panchayat polls could meet the new poll observer at his camp office in Patiala Circuit House, said an official spokesperson.

There are a total of 976 gram panchayats in Patiala district out of which consensus has been reached in over 150 panchayats. Now polls will only be held in the remaining about 800 panchayats on May 26. Earlier, elections were held for 140 out of 168 block samitis and 16 out of 21 zila parishads on May 12, while polls were postponed for 28 block samitis and five zila parishad seats in Patiala districts. Four of the remaining five zila parishad seats and 25 out of 28 block segments where polls were postponed and were now to be held on May 26, fell in Nabha block which was worst hit by poll violence and where a deluge of opposition complaints was witnessed.

Interestingly, officials who had performed poll duty in zila parishad and samiti polls have been entrusted with panchayat elections duty also. The only difference is that their booths will be changed as per the rotation policy, wherein, the poll staff will not be aware which booth they will get for the forthcoming polls till the last moment.

Patiala, May 22
Chairman of the Punjab State Electricity Board Y.S. Ratra yesterday informed that the Board had decided to give compensation to those farmers whose wheat crops was destroyed due to short circuit in the overhead electricity wires.

A survey was conducted by PSEB officials with the help of the deputy commissioners of the district following Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s assurance of providing adequate compensation to those farmers whose wheat harvest had been destroyed.

Out of 324 cases, 144 fall under the jurisdiction of the chief engineer (west zone), 52 cases fall under the purview of the chief engineer ((north zone), 46 in the territory of the chief engineer (south zone), 42 in border zone while 40 cases were being handled by the chief engineer (central zone).

Ratra informed that compensation to the tune of Rs 40 lakh had been distributed to the affected farmers.

Kharar, May 22
Four thieves, including two minors, were held today from Sunny Enclave, Mundi Kharar. They were held stealing taps from under construction houses.

Pappu and his nephew Rakesh Giri, both residents of Sante Majra, have been stealing water taps from under construction houses in Sunny Enclave.

According to the police, the duo had also involved two minors from Kumbra village for stealing water taps for which they were giving a handsome amount to the latter. They were arrested today from an under construction house in the area at around 6.30 pm.

Police officials said Pappu and Rakesh were earlier booked by the Mataur police for stealing water taps. All the four accused will be
produced in court tomorrow.

Kharar, May 22
A 16-year-old resident of Sialba Majri village strangulated her mother for objecting to her affair with a Muslim boy.

The incident took place last night when the girl and her mother Karamjit Kaur were about to retire to bed. At around 10:45 pm, Karamjit Kaur latched the door of the house from inside. Following this, the girl wrapped a dupatta around her mother’s neck and strangulated her.

She later wrote a suicide note to mislead police investigations. In the note, the girl stated that her mother Karamjit Kaur thought that she had an affair, but it was not so. She stated that insulted by her mother, she was going to commit suicide and her body would never be found.

When the girl's father Kesar Singh, an ex-serviceman, who works as a security guard in Chandigarh, returned home at 4 am, he was shocked to find his wife dead and daughter missing and informed the police.

The police recovered the suicide note and started looking for the girl's boyfriend, who lives in a village of Morinda and traced him. During interrogation, the girl called him on his cell. She said she had murdered her mother and needed his help.

The police traced the girl from this call and escorted the boy to Dosarna village, where she had called him and arrested her.

During preliminary investigations, she confessed to have murdered her mother as the latter had objected to her affair with the Muslim boy. 

Chandigarh, May 22
A gutsy Jeev Milkha Singh of Chandigarh is all set to repeat his 2006 Asian Golf Tour performance when he finished on top of the order of merit. His blistering six under 66 on the opening day of the Irish Open saw him sharing the lead with Australia’s Richard Green in the European Tour event.

An amazing eagle on the par five seventh and four more birdies in a blemishless card was enough evidence of the Chandigarh golf icon finding his form, although in patches. Although he played over par cards of 76, 75 and 74 on the subsequent days, his 40th position was enough to take him to the 14th position in the European Tour order of merit.

Earlier in the US Masters, Jeev fought back from a disastrous opening 10 holes to sign off with a three over par 75 to post his best Major result

Jeev, a member of the Professional Golf Tour of India, completed the year’s opening Major with a four-day total of four over par 292 which earned him a creditable equal 25th position. His previous best finish at a Major was tied 36th in the US Open 
last year.

Jeev has been doing very well on the Asian Tour circuit with two runner-up finishes. He occupies the second spot in the order of merit with cash earnings of $ 5,40,694.

He trails Mark Brown of New Zealand who occupies the top slot with earnings of $ 6,51,000.

Jeev, who had a bad season in 2007 after occupying the 37th slot in 2006, is determined to make it to the top-50 world ranking this year.

Presently ranked 83rd in the world, Jeev said after the US Masters: “You learn a lot every time you play here. I am mentally tired. Every hole takes a lot out of you. I am taking the week off to refresh myself and start all over again.”

“I love this course. You have to be sharp. It keeps you going. It doesn’t let you give up because if you do, you’re done.

You have to make sure that you keep trying and it pays. Sometimes, if you try funky shots, you pay for it.

“I will go back to Asia before returning to Europe. I want to move back into the top-50 in the world and try to get back here for the US Open (in June).” 

Chandigarh, May 22
A total of 16 players in the age group of 9-10 years have been inducted in the state-run Chandigarh Hockey Academy (CHA) here. In the academy, the selected will be provided round-the-year residential training free of cost.

Earlier, hockey legend Dr Richards Charlesworth of Australia, who is technical adviser to the Indian hockey, supervised the selected lot of 24. He watched the players in action and also reviewed the records of all players.

Eight players were declared ‘medically over-aged’. Out of selected 16 players, 15 are from Punjab and one from Haryana.

Joint director sports Dr J.P. Sidhu was also present. He disclosed that eight more players in the sub-junior category (8-9 years) would be selected during the second phase. The strength of the junior players will also be increased to 24 from present strength of 20.

The names of the selected players are: Amritpal Singh (Gurdaspur), Ravinder Singh (Gurdaspur), Malkeet Singh (Amritsar), Parampreet Singh (Nawanshahr), Gurjot Singh (Jalandhar), Oamkar Daman Singh Deol (Gurdaspur), Jaspreet Singh (Amritsar), Gurjeet Singh (Ferozepur), Sumeet Pal Singh (Gurdaspur), Hartaj Singh (Kapurthala), Jasdeep Singh (Mohali), Pushpinder Singh (Ferozepur), Arvinder Singh (Sangrur), Maninderjit Singh (Sangrur), Kamaljit Singh (Amritsar) and Vishal Ankit (Sonepat).

Chandigarh, May 22
The challenge of local lad Utkarsh Khosla was ended by Delhi’s player Vikash Berwal as the latter drubbed the former (6-2, 6-1) in straight sets of boys’ under-12 category in the semifinal of the ongoing AITA Talent Series Tennis Tournament at Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association, Sector 10, here today.

Now, Berwal will take on Sachin Kumar of Chandigarh in the final, taking place tomorrow. Sachin beat another local player Dheer Anush Bhati (6-3, 6-1) in a one-sided affair.

In the girls’ section, Hassan Abdal Dhanoa and Bhavya Wadhawan set up title clash by beating their respective rivals in semifinals.

Punjab player Hassan got the better of Charvi Saxena of Chandigarh (6-4, 7-5) and Bhavya emerged triumphant against Delhi player Vaishnavi (6-4, 7-5).

Other results:

Boys’ U-16 (Semifinal singles): Pankaj Kumar (CHD) bt Samin Bhargava (CHD) 6-3, 6-1; Harry Jindal (CHD) bt Jaspinder (PB) 7-5, 6-2.

Girls U-16 (Semifinal singles): Prabhamrit Kaur (CHD) Sandeep Saran (PB) 6-2, 6-0; Jaspreet Kaur (PB) bt Ravnoor Kaur (CHD) 7-6(5), 6-2.

Doubles final: Harkirat Kaur Bains (CHD) and Charvi Saxena (CHD) bt Ayenaaz Sidhu and Rajendra Madhu (CHD) 6-4, 6-1.

Boys’ U-16 (Doubles final): Harry Jindal (PB) and Prateek (PB) bt Manoj (CHD) and Mandeep Kumar (CHD) 7-6 (6), 2-6, 10-3.

Mohali, May 22
Students of Golden Bells Public School, Sector-77, Mohali, bagged 24 medals and overall trophy for the school in the All India Table Soccer Championship, 2008, held at Police DAV Public School, Ambala City, recently.

The competition was organised by the Table Soccer Federation of India (TSFI). H.K. Jaggi (manager, Northern Railways) was the chief guest. Seven states participated in the championship and there were over 500 participants. They bagged 10 gold, 10 silver and 4 bronze medals and they also got overall winners trophy for the school. The director Colonel C.S. Bawa congratulated the children on their achievement. 

Mohali, May 22
Jalandhar district of Punjab has been selected for the implementation of a pilot project initiated by the Government of India on non-communicable diseases (NCD) for nine states.

This was stated by secretary, health and family welfare-cum-managing director PHSC Tilak R. Sarangal, at a workshop on diagnosis and management of non-communicable diseases organised here yesterday. 

Three blocks of the district Kala Bakra, Jamsher and Kartarpur were selected for the project. He said a special NCD cell had been set up in Jalandhar which would provide prompt diagnosis management through special clinics on cardiovascular and diabetes. The workshop was attended by medical officers, paramedicals and NGOs.

During the workshop, participants were provided orientation regarding preventive, educative and other aspects of non-communicable and life style diseases like cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, strokes, cardiac arrest, diabetes and also factors that precipitated these diseases eg tobacco intake, alcohol consumption,fatty foods and lack of physical activity etc.

The positive role of yoga, meditation, exercise, physical activity like cycling was also discussed.

Besides this, special focus on schools has also been laid where children will be educated about the ill-effects if tobacco, eating habits like junk food will also be discouraged.

Presentations were made by Sarangal, Dr Deepak Bhatia while Dr S.K. Mathur, consultant, endocrine diseases, Alchemist Hospital, Panchkula, gave a lecture on diabetes and endocrine and thyroid-related disease. Dr T.P. Singh gave a lecture on hypertension and coronary artery diseases.

Chandigarh, May 22
A light and sound play under the banner of Surya 108, a Chennai-based group, is being organised by MAA Sharanam, an NGO at Bhargava auditorium, PGI on May 24.

As many as 64 youngsters from Chennai are participating in the show.

The group through their performance tries to explore the sun as an object of reverence in cultures all around the world throughout human history.

The show features drama, dance performance and multimedia presentations to bring the full glow of the sun.

The show is a creation of Chinmaya Yuva Kendra of Chennai and third batch of the
Youth Empowerment Programme under the guidance of H.H. Swami Mitrananda.

Newly constructed child art gallery at Government Museum and Art Gallery, Sector 10, Chandigarh, gives a deserted look. A Tribune Photograph

Chandigarh, May 22
UT administrator Gen (Retd) S.F. Rodrigues’ vision of setting up the first child art gallery of the region in here may not see the light of the day if things move in such a lackadaisical manner. The gallery, which was all set this March, is still waiting to showcase any artwork. The museum authority feels there is no budding artist available in the region whose work could be displayed in the gallery.

Sources in the administration revealed that there was a separate section for the child art gallery-cum-administrative block in the museum, but in 1997 it was dismantled and city museum was set up in its place. 

In 2005 it was again decided by the administration to set up a separate section of child art gallery in the museum for providing a platform to children to display their works of art and craft. Under this concept it was mooted to set up a live art gallery to display work related to clay modeling, paintings of winners of on-the-spot painting competitions, work of paper craft and selected items of Chandigarh carnivals. 

Beside this, a special section for the mentally and physically challenged children was also to be set up to motivate their art works.

Sources revealed that in order to make this section, a proposal was made that the cafeteria of museum, which was not in use, could be converted into child art gallery section. The project was finalised with the consent of chief engineering and architecture department of the Chandigarh administration.

During renovation of the child gallery, a display screen, track lighting and flooring were installed to give a new look to the gallery with a cost of Rs 70 lakh. 

When contacted, Navjot P.S. Randhawa, director, Government Museum and Art Gallery said at present this section of the gallery is being used for display routine exhibitions. He said the gallery is yet to start, as it is hard to find good work of budding artists, which could be displayed in the gallery. He said this section would open when some other section would be merged with it.

Some artist groups who support this project said the aim of setting up this gallery is to give a stage to young artists. They said it is not possible to find famous artists like M.F. Hussain in these young children now, but this platform would be a source of motivation to them to show something extra ordinary in this field.