Ludhiana, June 1
Five girls from the humanities stream in BCM Arya Model Senior Secondary School, Focal Point, secured the top five positions in the state in the Class XII Punjab School Education Board examination, the result of which was declared today.

Shilpi Negi stood first in the state by scoring 427 out off 450 marks. She was followed by Anu, Shelley, Shikha and Lovepreet.

In the commerce stream, Tarandeep Kaur of the same school stood first in the district and third in the state with 396 marks, followed by Divya Ahuja of BVM school, Udham Singh Nagar, who stood second in the district and fourth in the state.

In science, Ramandeep Kaur of GHG Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Mandi Bhadurgarh, secured the top position in the district while Navjot Kaur and Amanpreet Kaur of Ramgarhia Girls Senior Secondary School and RS Model Senior Secondary School shared the second place.

Manik Mahindru of Government Modern Senior Secondary School stood first in the state in vocational studies.

M.R. Mehta, principal of BCM school, said, “It is sheer hardwork and determination of both teachers and students that produced such excellent results.”

Ludhiana, June 1
The insurance ombudsman from Chandigarh has asked officials of the United India Insurance Company to pay Rs 3.78 lakh to a city doctor on account of the theft of his car.

The ombudsman, S.L. Chadha, disagreed with the reasons for denial of claim to the doctor. The orders were passed while deciding on the complaint of Dr Parveen Popli.

The doctor had submitted that he got his car insured from the company in 2007 and it was valid for a year.

The car got stolen the same year. The matter was reported to the police and an FIR was registered.

The company, however, did not pay the claim on technical grounds. It was said when the car was stolen, it was not registered with the office of the DTO, Ludhiana, as per the requirement of the Motor Vehicles Act. It only had a temporary registration number.

The ombudsman found that not getting the vehicle registered with the office of the DTO in time was a lapse on the part of the complainant, but denying the claim on this ground was not justified because the insurer had verified the ownership of complainant at the time of issuing the insurance policy. Moreover, he had a valid insurance when the vehicle was stolen.

Instructions have been issued to the company for paying the claim within 15 days from the day of transfer of the RC in favour of the company and completion of other documentary formalities.

Ludhiana, June 1
The District Food and Supplies Controller today sealed a petrol station engaged in "arbitrary rationing" at Bharat Nagar Chowk here.

Petrol stations were instructed not to give more than one drum of 200 litres to industrial consumers and at the same time not refuse fuel to individual buyers.

The DFSC made an appeal to the public not to resort to panic buying as it was causing artificial scarcity of diesel. "People are trying to hoard fuel due to which the demand has increased by over 100 per cent. Even after oil companies increased their supplies, there is a chasm between demand and supply, causing problems for consumers as well as dealers," Ajvir Singh Sarao, DFSC West, said.

The problem of panic purchase is largely restricted to diesel. It is learnt that oil companies have increased their supplies by almost 40 per cent.

However, steep rise in demand has nullified the attempt to bridge the gap.

Panic buying was creating problems and the situation worsened today after the city witnessed a near day-long power cut due to which a large number of industrial consumers rushed to procure diesel.

To control the situation, the DFSC formed six teams to inspect pumps. "We found out that there was no problem as far as petrol was concerned. It is diesel that is being purchased in bulk," said Varinder K. Sharma, DFSC East.

"We found this petrol station rationing the supplies on its own and that too in an arbitrary fashion. They were limiting the quantity of fuel they were selling to a certain amount to autorickshaws, industrial consumers and even individual buyers," he said.

Ludhiana, June 1
Sparking off controversy, a senior Congress leader and municipal councillor Bharat Bhushan Ashu today met Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at vice-chairman, Board of Trade and Commerce, Madan Lal Bagga’s residence here today.

He was seen sitting in his function, joined the team that honoured him and even personally met the Chief Minister. He was seen shaking hands with him as well.

Earlier, while sharing the stage with the Chief Minister, Bagga addressed the gathering specially called for him. Later, talking to mediapersons, Ashu said he had gone to welcome the Chief Minister on his close aide, Bagga’s invite. His visit had no political motive and set aside the speculations that he was joining the SAD.

‘‘If my friend is an Akali and wants me to be present in every function he holds, I have to be there. I cannot leave my personal relationships due to my political alliances, ’’ Ashu added.

A senior Congress leader said as per the party’s protocol, no Congress leader was supposed to attend political functions organised by rivals. Bagga has defected from the Congress before the Assembly elections when he was denied ticket for the Ludhiana North. It was given to former MLA, Rakesh Pandey. He contested as an Independent from the constituency and he was responsible for upsetting the applecart of Congress stalwart, Pandey. Later, he joined the SAD amidst criticism for shifting loyalties with the change in command in the state. 

Ludhiana, June 1
More than 100 medical professionals called for an immediate ban on genetically modified crops or foods in India in light of its impact on human health. The doctors, who met at Wheat Auditorium of the Punjab Agricultural University today for a dialogue on “GM crops and health issues” expressed shock and dismay at the way in which the regulators were ignoring disastrous consequences of indiscriminate open air trials and expressed concern over genetic engineering in agriculture compromising food safety. They rued the lack of proper assessment of these crops or foods and advocated a precautionary approach to the technology. The meeting was organised by the environmental health action group, Kheti Virasat Mission.

In his inaugural address Dr L.S.Chawla, president, Indian doctors for peace and development (IDPD) said,” Agriculture technologies have the ability to leave lasting impacts as the lesson from chemical pesticides has shown us”. He warned that the fate of future generations could be sealed one way or the other by agricultural technologies deployed at any point of time, especially in food crops. Dr Devinder Sharma, a food policy analyst, urged the medical fraternity to take cognisance of the health impacts of genetically modified food crops which could cause irreversible damage.

Ludhiana, June 1
The Ludhiana Basketball Academy in the boy’s section while Gurdaspur district in the girl’s section came out triumphant in the Sub-Junior Punjab State Basketball League Championship that concluded at AS Senior Secondary School ground, Khanna, yesterday.

In the boy’s section, Mansa and Ferozepur secured second and third position, respectively, while Kapurthala finished runners-up in the girl’s section and Sangrur had to content with third position.

Ludhiana Basketball Academy lads proved their supremacy by registering convincing victories over their opponents.

In the first encounter, the academy players thrashed Kapurthala 41-15 to begin their campaign on a sound note.

In the second match, they drubbed Ferozepur 57-25 and in their last league fixture, overpowered Mansa 44-12 to emerge champions.

In other matches, Mansa defeated Ferozepur 54-25 and outplayed Kapurthala 44-14, while Ferozepur proved too good for Kapurthala whom they beat 46-13.

In the girl’s section, Gurdaspur district wrapped up all their three ties to romp home victorious and bagged the title.

They outclassed Sangrur 26-14, demolished Muktsar 34-07 and outplayed Kapurthala 37-20.

Kapurthala eves beat Sangrur 34-24 and then lost to Gurdaspur to finish second, while Sangrur got the better of Muktsar but went down against Gurdaspur and Kapurthala to finish at third place.

For Ludhiana Academy, Satnam Singh gave a good account of himself and was adjudged best cager of the league, while Loveneet Singh, Kushmeet and Sameer too played well. For Mansa, Manmeer made his presence felt to enable his side to finish runners-up.

Member of Parliament Sukhdev Singh Libra gave away prizes.

Players of the Ludhiana Basketball Academy who brought fame to their centre were honoured by the academy officials at Guru Nanak Stadium, here today.

Association honorary general secretary along with other office-bearers was present there to congratulate the boys.

Ludhiana, June 1
Two meet records were broken in the 24th Sub-Junior Punjab State Swimming Championship held at the municipal corporation swimming pool, Rakh Bagh, here today.

In the boy’s group IV (11 to 12 years), Shahbaz Bhullar from Ferozepur created a new meet record in the 200m individual medley event.

The second meet record was set in the 4x50m freestyle relay in the girl’s section of same group.

Earlier, the one-day meet, in which over 200 boys and girls participated, was inaugurated by the commissioner, municipal corporation.

Results:

Boys group III: 200m free style: 1 Karam Kumar (Sangrur), 2 Harsimran Singh (Sangrur) and 3 Balteshwar Singh (Ludhiana); 100m back stroke: 1 Puneetinder Singh Sekhon (Sangrur), 2 Aftab Sethi (Patiala) and 3 Pinkash Dhiman (Ropar); 100m butterfly: 1 Pinaksh Dhiman (Ropar), 2 Nawab Kang (Ludhiana) and 3 Balteshwar Singh (Ludhiana); 50m breaststroke: Manavdeep Singh (Ludhiana), 2 Prabhdeepak Singh (Ludhiana) and 3 Rajan Roop Singh (Ferozepur); 50m freestyle: 1 Harnimrat Bhinder (Sangrur), 2 Manavdeep Singh (Ludhiana) and 3 Harsimran Singh; 200m individual medley: 1 Harnimrat Singh Bhinder (Sangrur), 2 Manavdeep Singh (Ludhiana) and 3 Rajanroop Singh (Ferozepur); 4x50m freestyle relay: 1 Sangrur, 2 Patiala and 3 Ferozepur.

Boys group (IV): 50m freestyle: 1 Kulwinder Singh (Amritsar), 2 Shahbaz Bhullar (Ferozepur) and 3 Deshdeep Ghai (Jalandhar); 200m individual medley: 1 Shahbaz Bhullar (Ferozepur), 2 Kulwinder Singh (Amritsar) and 3 Hemant (Patiala); 50m breaststroke: 1 Shahbaz Bhullar (Ferozepur), 2 Kulwinder Singh (Amritsar) and 3 Deshdeep (Jalandhar); 4x50m freestyle relay: 1 Amritsar, 2 Patiala and 3 Ferozepur; 4x50m medley relay: 1 Amritsar, 2 Ferozepur and 3 Sangrur; 50m backstroke: 1 Kulwinder Singh (Amritsar), 2 Heman (Patiala) and 3 Shahbaz Bhullar (Ferozepur).

Girls group III: 200m freestyle: 1 Shubh Karman (Ludhiana), 2 Qudrat Jot (Ropar) and 3 Nancy (Ropar); 100m backstroke: 1 Shubhkarman (Ludhiana), 2 Richansha (Sangrur) and 3 Sargam Bansal (Patiala); 100m butterfly: 1 Alisha (Patiala), 2 Sargam Bansal (Patiala), 3 Jasneet Kesar (Ludhiana); 50m freestyle: 1 Alisha (Patiala), 2 Kajal Saini (Sangrur) and 3 Richansha (Sangrur); 200m individual medlay: 1 Pomi Mandal (Ropar), 2 Alisha (Patiala) and 3 Shivangi (Jalandhar); 4x50m medley relay: 1 Sangrur, 2 Patiala and 3 Ropar; 50m backstroke: 1 Shubhkarman (Ludhiana), 2 Kajal Saini (Sangrur) and 3 Richansha (Sangrur).

Girls group IV: 50m freestyle: 1 Jasmine Sohi (Patiala), 2 Vibhuti (Patiala) and 3 Harleen Kaur (Sangrur); 200m individual medley: 1 Vibhuti Syal (Patiala), 2 Jasmine Sohi (Patiala) and 3 Mani Mehtab; 50m breaststroke: 1 Harleen Kaur (Sangrur), 2 Jasmine Sohi (Patiala) and 3 Vibhuti Syal (Patiala); 4x50m freestyle relay: 1 Patiala, 2 Ludhiana and 3 Sangrur; 4x50m medley relay: 1st Patiala, 2 Ludhiana, 3 Jalandhar.