Morinda, June 6
Officials of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and the local municipal council have locked horns over the Ludhiana-Morinda road, blaming one another for poor state of the road, which is full of potholes.

The highway authorities blame the council for not fixing the problem of overflowing sewerage, which caused erosion of the road surface, resulting in potholes. While the road needs recarpeting, it is 
currently being repaired with patchwork.

The road connecting Chandigarh with Ludhiana and Sirhind has been lying in utter neglect for the past seven months.

Overflowing sewerage has aggravated the problem, while recent rains have added to the misery of motorists.

The road is one of the busiest ones in the area with hundreds of cars, buses, trucks and other heavy vehicles passing through. However, potholes have rendered the road unfit for traffic, making it a nightmare for motorists.

Karnail Singh, NHAI XEN based at Ropar, said: “Under the recent rules for the NH, we can get a police case registered against those responsible for damaging public property. We have been writing to the municipal council officials time and again asking them to fix the sewerage problem, but nothing has been done so far.”

He added that the sewerage system had been wrongly engineered, as it was above the level of the road.

As a result, sewage overflowed and got accumulated on the road, thus resulting in formation of potholes.

“We have given them 15 days to fix the problem. If it is not done, we will be forced to take legal action,” he said.

Karnail Singh added that a proposal to recarpet the entire 6-km stretch had been referred to the NHAI. It was expected that the road would be included in the programme.

Meanwhile, MC executive officer Inder Gurpreet Singh said there was no flaw in the sewerage system. He blamed in on the wrong engineering of the road for the problem.

He said the need of the hour was to raise the level of the road.

Patiala, June 6
Acting on a petition filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court by a Patiala resident seeking probe into the assets of revenue official Nirpal Singh Tiwana, HC judge Rajesh Bindal has sought reply from the Punjab DGP, SSP, SP (crime), Punjab Vigilance Bureau director and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Ranjeeta Syngle had petitioned that in spite of the fact that there was sufficient evidence of corruption against the official, posted as kanungo, no action was being initiated against him allegedly at the behest of a senior politician.

In May, 2006, the then DSP (crime), special branch, Jaipal Singh had confiscated a personal bag of Tiwana containing registered sale deeds, “jamabandhis”, power of attorneys, passports, fixed deposit receipts and some “benami” transactions of land — all running into crores of rupees.

Syngle had claimed that the DSP had written to the ADGP (crime) that “simple assessment had proved beyond doubt that the official had accumulated wealth many times beyond his fair and known sources of income”.

The DSP had also recommended that separate investigations into the case should be made by the ADGP, Vigilance Bureau, Punjab.

She claimed that the official was arrested on December 13, 2006 and was finally released on bail on December 29, 2006.

In her petition, she added: “It is shocking to learn that the revenue official was making a mockery of the state government by getting re-instated, thus violating the Punjab Government Rules (Punishment and Appeals).”

She claimed that a senior Akali politician was hand in glove with the official as far as his illegal “benami” transactions were concerned.

Chandigarh, June 6
After playing bogey-free cards in the first two rounds, Delhi's little master Shamim Khan seemed to have lost his Midas touch bogeying five times on the penultimate day. But then he mixed aggression and caution to card a two under par 70 for a 20 under par tally of 196 after the third round of the Surya Nepal Masters at the Gokarna Forest Golf Resort greens in Kathmandu today.

Shamim moved into the final round with an eight-shot lead over Vijay Kumar who also submitted an identical two under par 70 to move into the second place at 204 displacing Chandigarh big hitter Gurbaaz Pratap Singh Mann who could muster a two over par 74 to slip to the third slot at 207. Another Chandigarh golfer Sujjan Singh shot a three under par 69 to be fourth at 208. Chandigarh caddie turned pro Harinder Gupta and Sri Lankan Anura Rohana were tied fifth at 210. Vinod Kumar was placed seventh at 211 with Gurki Shergill occupying the eighth slot at 214.

Deepak Neupane brought cheers to the local fans after shooting the lowest score of the day when he signed a bogey-free card of eight under 64.

Shamim did lose his Midas touch for a while on his front nine when he made a bogey on the par four second. But he made amends on the very next hole with a neat birdie. Shamim got stuck at the foot of a tree on the fourth and was forced to drop a shot. However, he not only recovered but also strengthened his position with four consecutive birdies beginning from the sixth to take the turn at three-under.

On the back nine, the diminutive pro saved one more stroke on the par five 11th. But he struck a black patch with back-to-back bogeys on the 14th and 15th and also dropping a shot on the 17th. In between he made a birdie on the tough par three 16th. "Every day cannot be the same. I am not perturbed by the few bogeys I made," said Shamim Khan after the round. "Anything can happen in golf. Having said that, my aim will be to play my own game and I am looking for a victory," he added.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh consolidated their lead to 15 strokes in the International Amateur Team competition at the end of the third round. The pair of Shekhawat Hussain and Shahid has a tally of 436 as the Indian pair of Tarun Ghogale and Karan Vasudeva moved to the second spot at 451. Nepal A consisting of Tashi Ghale and Rupak Acharya were third at 453.

Top scores after 54 holes (All Indians except metioned): 196 Shamim Khan (62, 64, 70); 204 Vijay Kumar (69, 65, 70); 207 Gurbaaz Mann (65, 68, 74); 208 Sujjan Singh (71, 68, 69); 210 Anura Rohana (Sri Lanka) (68, 69, 73), Harinder Gupta (70, 70, 70); 211 Vinod Kumar (68, 70, 73); 214 Gurki Shergill (72, 73, 69); 216 Sanjay Kumar (73, 70, 73), Amardip Malik (72, 67, 77), Shiv Ram Shrestha (Nepal) (71, 72, 73), Siddikur Rahman (Bangladesh) (71, 70, 75), Deepak Neupane (Nepal) (77, 75, 64), Chirag Kumar (69, 71, 76).

Chandigarh, June 6
Overnight leader Anish Gupta carded a six over par 78 to clinch the junior (15 to 17) title tallying an overall 155 on the concluding day of the CJA Junior and Sub-Junior Golf Championship on the par 72 greens of the Chandigarh Golf Club here today.

K. Raghav Bhandari finished three strokes behind for the runner-up title. Anish had a good front nine of one over par 37. He birdied the second and ninth holes and conceded bogeys on the fourth, sixth and seventh. But five bogies on the back nine saw him finish the round at six over par 78.

In the 13-14 age-group Tarundeep Chadha played a par front nine and finished with the best card of the tournament at four over par 76 to clinch the title with a two-day aggregate of 154. This was the best score among all participants in the tournament. He left his nearest rival Rishi Arora 10 strokes behind.

Subhankar Sharma clinched the 11-12 age-group title with a two day tally of 174. Gurnoor Singh finished eight strokes behind.

The youngest player of the tournament, playing in the under 10 category was Aadil Bedi. This seven-year old golfer finished third in his category.

President of the Chandigarh Golf Association C.S.R. Reddy said the junior-subjunior championships would be played every three months to give a boost to the upcoming players.

Results:

Group A (15-17 age-group): Anish Gupta 155, K. Raghav Bhandari 158, Zubin Nijhawan 162. Longest drive Raghav Bhandari (264 yards); nearest to pin Raghav Bhandari.

Group B (14 to 15): Tarundeep Chadha 154, Rishi Arora 164, Dhruv D. Kumar 165. Longest drive Tarundeep Chadha 256 yards; nearest to pin Dhruv D. Kumar.

Group C (11 to 13): Subhankar Sharma 174, Gurnoor Singh 182, Feroze Grewal 187. Longest drive Arjun Dhawan (226 yards).

Group D (under 10): Jai Raj Sandhu 86, Ikrabdeep Singh Ghai 98, Aadil Bedi 112. Longest drive Rohan Kathuria (149 yards).

Group G (girls under 15): Rabiya Gill 79, Jaipreet Ghuman 86, Shivali Aggarwal 89. Longest drive Shivali Aggarwal (175 yards); nearest to pin Rabiya Gill.

Mohali, June 6
With over 5000 sportspersons attending the summer coaching camps, the organiser — Punjab sports department — is feeling encouraged with the response.

Punjab sports director Pargat Singh said the camps were aimed at utilising the vacations for honing the skills of players. “The camps provide an opportunity to the sportspersons to take ‘full load’ of training with a free mind. Besides, the focus is on improving their physical fitness and attaining form for forthcoming competitions,” he said.

Training is being imparted in basketball, swimming, athletics, kabaddi, volleyball, hockey, wrestling, gymnastics, football, handball, boxing, weightlifting, badminton, table tennis and judo. The camps are being organised at district sub-coaching centres throughout the state.

Chandigarh, June 6
The Chandigarh administration has constituted a single-window committee to streamline the process of granting permissions for the installation of mobile or wireless telephone towers by the telecom companies in non-residential buildings of the Chandigarh administration and its undertakings, including municipal corporation of Chandigarh (MCC).

UT finance secretary will be the chairman of the committee and the chief architect will be the member-secretary. The estate officer, the chief engineer, the chief fire officer of the MCC and head of office/institute of the building concerned will be the members of the committee.

The member-secretary will circulate the requests of the mobile telephone companies to all the members of the committee for their report/comments within 10 days. The committee will be competent to lay down various conditions/guidelines as deemed appropriate from time to time.

Chandigarh, June 6
Local pugilists Vikas (light heavy weight) and Mukesh Kumar (fly weight) have been selected in the Indian boxing team for participation in the 39th International Men's Boxing Tournament to be held at Usti Nad Labem (Czech Republic) from June 10 to June 15.

Both the pugilists are now under training in the national coaching camp at NIS, Patiala. This is for the first time that two boxers of the city have selected in the national team.

UT chief boxing coach Bhagwant Singh will accompany the team.