NEIGHBOURHOOD

P’kula man’s body found from river
Our Correspondent

Rajpura, August 13
The BJP, the VHP and some other religious organisations today blocked the rail traffic for two hours in the wake of the Amarnath land row in Jammu and Kashmir.

Road traffic was also disrupted and some passenger trains were delayed due to the agitation. Commuters were at the receiving end due to the gathering of a large number of people protesting against the Congress government in Jammu and Kashmir.

The agitators raised slogans against the Congress government and demanded immediate fulfilment of their demands.

Heavy police force was deployed at various entry and exit points of the town in the wake of the agitation. No untoward incident was reported during the agitation.

Ropar\Kharar: BJP, VHP and other religious organisations blocked traffic in various areas of Kharar and Ropar today in wake of Amarnath land row in Jammu and Kashmir on the national call.

In Ropar, organisations blocked traffic near old bus stand from 9 am to 11 am. At Kharar, traffic was blocked near Balongi on NH 21. Police diverted the traffic from Kharar bus stand towards Landran road. Vehicles reaching Balongi were sent back.

The leaders included BJP Kisan Morcha vice president Tarlohan Singh Mann, BJP leader Madan Mohan Mittal, district president BJP Khushwant Rai Gigga.

SP traffic Sukhwant Singh Gill, DSP Kharar Raj Balwinder, SHO Dalbir Singh and SHO Manjit Singh Aulakh were present to avoid any untoward incident and divert the traffic.

Patiala, August 13
On a call given by the All-India State Bank Officers Federation, representing State Bank of India and Associate Banks,a demonstration was held in front of the Head Office of State Bank of Patiala today under the leadership of Amar Singh, general secretary, Associate Bank Officers Association (State Bank of Patiala, unit) .

More than 500 officers participated in this demonstration against the merger proposal of State Bank of Saurashtra with State Bank of India and also demanded extension of SBI superannuating benefits to associate banks .

Slogans were raised against the move of the union government to merge State Bank of Saurashtra with State Bank of India and any other move to merge other associate banks with State Bank of India .

While addressing the gathering, various leaders stated that all the unions and associations were opposing the merger move of public sector banks.The federation has also demanded the extension of SBI superannuating benefits to associate banks . He made an appeal to the members to observe a full- day strike on August 18. He further stated that all officers of State Bank of India and associate banks were on agitation on the issue of merger of the associate banks with State Bank of India and all the offices and branches in State Bank Group would remain closed on account of the strike by officers on August 18. The leaders cautioned the Indian Banks Association and Government of India that if the demands were not settled to the satisfaction of officers and employees, the agitation will be intensified and the officers will go on indefinite strike in September. 

Panchkula, August 13
In connection with the banned meat incident, which caused tension in Hangoli village (Raipur Rani) between two communities yesterday, a local court today sent all the 30 accused into judicial custody. The accused, who belong to a particular community, were arrested by the police yesterday as banned meat was found from their houses.

The accused were produced in the court of Madhu Khanna from where they were sent to Ambala Jail.

Meanwhile, many leaders of a particular community condemned the act. During the ‘chakka jam’ protest on National Highway 73, the leaders of a political party demanded strong action against the accused.

The police has sent the samples of the meat to a laboratory for further investigations. 

Patiala, August 13
Over 400 patients were examined at a free medical camp organised by Gian Sagar Medical College and Hospital at the SOS village at Rajpura, today.

A spokesman of the hospital said the camp was inaugurated by Dr A. S. Sekhon, principal of the college and hospital. Speaking on the occasion, he said Gian Sagar Educational and Charitable Trust was committed to providing quality healthcare facilities to the underprivileged and needy sections of the society.

Dr Sekhon said the trust had been running the Gian Sagar Medical College and Hospital which, was a 500-bed hospital equipped with latest medical equipments and the best of faculty. He said the GSMCH had issued identity cards to the inmates and families covered by the SOS village. These beneficiaries would be entitled to have special facilities at the GSMCH and also at the Urban Health Centre that the hospital had set up at Rajpura.

He called upon these beneficiaries to make the best use of the facility. He also said specialist doctors were available for consultation at the camps organised by the GSMCH like the one organised today.

Dr Sekhon said a special dental care van fitted with the best of dental care equipment was available today to undertake dental examination of the patients attending today's medical camp. Harinder Singh, director of the SOS village, lauded the initiative of the GSMCH.

Dr Jasdeep Singh, professor in the department of community medicine at the GSMCH, said the patients suffering from different ailments were examined today by teams of specialists from the departments of medicine, eye, ENT, gynaecology, skin and pediatrics. 

Patiala, August 13
Strong resentment prevails among Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) diploma engineers against the inordinate delay in filling of vacancies in the 5 per cent promotion quota granted for the removal of underemployment among the diploma engineers.

Gursharan Singh and S.S. Gill, president and general secretary of the PSEB Diploma Engineers Association, respectively, said the qualification based promotion quota remained available for the underemployed diploma engineers from 1970 to 1986 to the extent of 33 per cent, which was diverted from direct recruitment share from time to time. Incidentally, the qualification based quota was struck down by the Supreme Court in 1986, following which the board had withdrawn the promotion quota.

However, the Supreme Court overruled its earlier judgement and further held that such classification on the basis of qualification was not bad. But during all these 10 years, from 1986 to 1996, the fate of underemployed diploma holders remained sealed. Later, the board management agreed to restore their promotion quota during 1996 to the extent of only 20 per cent while promotion quota meant for other category of linemen was also enchanced from 33 per cent to 40 per cent.

The board later made it mandatory for JE (electrical) that such posts were to be filled through departmental test. However, linemen, other than diploma holders, were also made eligible to appear in the test and the quota was enhanced to 30 per cent with further relaxation in requisite experience just to accommodate them. It is quite understandable that those at the verge of their retirement can hardly compete with younger elements. Consequently, association had to demand a separate promotion quota exclusively for diploma holders.

Board constituted a committee under the chairmanship of secretary of the board in 2004, which recommended at least 5 per cent promotion quota for underemployed diploma holders and it was granted by the board in May 2005. But this was not acceptable to some already overprivileged employees of the PSEB and on their resistance, board slightly modified its earlier orders to the extent that 5 per cent promotion quota granted for underemployed diploma holders would be drawn from direct recruitment quota lying in the open market instead of the quota already diverted from direct recruitment for promotion through departmental test.

Kalka, August 13
Two families of the nearby Karanpur and Charnia village have allegedly sold the common land of Rampur Jangi village in Kalka subdivision to a gang of inter-state property dealers in alleged collusion with Kalka’s naib tehsildar. The land comprises a government school, cremation ground, graveyard, roads, ponds, a temple, a gurdwara, a dharamshala, drinking water supply scheme, community centre and village pasture.

According to sources, a sale deed (No. 271\1) was registered and attested by Kalka naib tehsildar Nirmal Dahiya on May 12, in which 88 bighas of land was sold illegally against Rs 1 crore, taking undue advantage of wrong and erroneous entries of the names of sellers in the ownership column of the record “jamabandi”.

This had been challenged by villagers in the court of additional civil judge, Panchkula, and the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which issued a status quo order on May 15.

According to village sarpanch Ram Singh, the village, which is situated around 15 km from here on the Pinjore-Nalagargh NH-21-A, has around 300 families belonging largely to the Scheduled Caste and Backward Class communities.

The village had around 741 bighas of “banjar quadim land”, which remained in possession of the villagers and was never cultivated or assessed to any land revenue. According to the “sharat wazbull arz” (constitution of the village), the land had been reserved for common use of the villagers.

Government and village panchayat had also spent crores of rupees on the development and construction of several buildings and other infrastructure on the land. Former sarpanch Ram Gopal lamented that the naib tehsildar had abused his powers and got the sale deed attested in favour of the property dealers, transferring 67 bighas out of the common land.

According to villagers, the families involved in selling the land had been asserting their claim on the common land, and wanted to garb and cultivate the land illegally.

Villagers had written to the Prime Minister, chief minister, Panchkula DC and other authorities in this regard. They claimed that the crime branch in its report had held the naib tehsildar guilty of illegal sale of land and proposed action against her.

They alleged that the district administration was dragging its feet on the matter.

Congress leader Lajja Ram, former chairman of the INFED, Haryana, and Ram Gopal Mehata, INLD leader and member of state executive of the party, who belongs to the village, along with villagers have warned the government of either removing the erring naib tehsildar or face agitation.

Tehsildar Naresh Kumar said he had submitted a report to the SDM Monica Malik in this regard.

SDM, who is also the inquiry officer in the case, said she would send a report in this context to the DC soon.

Chandigarh, August 13
A CLTA (Chandigarh Long Tennis Association) trainee, Atul Sri Patel, stole limelight by toppling top seed Kamal Kishore Maderna of Rajasthan 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 in the boys’ Under-14 singles encounter to storm into the semifinals in the AITA Talent Tennis Series Tournament at CLTA courts, Sector 10 here today.

The other seed players, who lost their matches today, were eighth Niklesh Kanojia, top seed Himanshu Mali (U-18), sixth seed Bhavika Wadhawan and eighth seed Yogita Saini.

Earlier, Atul came from behind after losing the first set to win the next two in a row to move ahead. The final verdict was 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.

In his match of Under-14 boys’ singles, against eighth seed Niklesh Kanojia of Madhya Pradesh, qualifier Dhruv Aggarwal of Delhi did not drop even a single game and stunned his strong rival by 6-0, 6-0.

Ajay Yadav of the CLTA pulled off the biggest upset by ousting top seed Himanshu Mali of Maharashtra by 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the boys’ Under-18 quarterfinal round.

In the girls’ Under-18 singles, Mehak of the Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 16 thrashed Nikita by 6-0, 6-0 to reserve her quarterfinal place.

The other results are: Boys

Under-14 (Q-Fs): Atul Sri Patel bt Kamal Kishore Madrena 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, Abhimanyu bt Ranjeet Singh 6-4, 6-3, Dhruv Aggarwal bt Niklesh Kanojia 6-0, 6-0, Pankaj Kumar bt Bhavtaranpreet Singh 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-3.

Under-18 singles (QFs): Naveen Kumar bt Aiman 6-1, 6-0, Garry Singh Amor bt Mandeep Singh Gill 6-1, 6-1, Ajay Yadav bt Himanshu Mali 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

PQF: Himanshu Mali bt Nischay Raat 6-2, 7-6 (8), Ajay Yadav bt Atul Sri Patel 6-0, 6-1, Aiman bt Shikhar Gaddh 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, Garry Singh Amor bt Harry Singh Amor 3-6, 6-2, 7-5, Abhilash Srivastav bt Dhruv Aggarwal 7-6 (6), 6-1, Akshat Joshi bt Rohit 6-2, 6-4.

Girls Under-18 (PQF): Mehak bt Nikita 6-0, 6-0, Jaspreet Kaur bt Yogita Saini 6-2, 6-4, Shreya Malhotra bt Hassan Abdal Dhanoa 6-2, 6-3, Sandeep Saran bt Madhu 6-2, 7-5, Parminder Kaur bt Gundeep Kaur 6-1, 6-2, Pooja Narayan bt KinshuDang 61, 6-3, Prabhamrit Kaur bt Bhavika Wadhawan 6-3, 7-6 (1), Nehal Sahni bt Amreen Chaudhary 6-1, 6-2.

Girls U-14 (QF): Shreya bt Harman 6-0, 6-0.

Chandigarh, August 13
The Chandigarh Amateur Cycling Association is conducting Independence Day Chandigarh Road Cycling Races for senior, junior and sub-junior (boys & girls) on August 15 at Lake Club.

The interested can report with their date of birth certificate at 6.30 am on August 15. The cyclists will be selected to represent the city for participation in the 14th Road Cycling National Championships to be held at Bijapur.