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Scientists to tap solar power for rural folk
Patiala, September 4 The fear of power failure and the resulting agony, especially in summers, may not last long now with scholars in Punjabi University’s physics department engaged in transforming solar cells into electrical energy, possessing the capacity to charge inverters and other kinds of batteries. The project “Preparation of silicon sheets by capillary action shaping technique (CAST) for solar cell application” is being handled by Prof R.C. Verma, professor in the physics department, and dean, faculty of physical sciences, in collaboration with Prof V.K. Mittal and Dr Anup Thakur of the physics department and Dr S.M.D. Rao, an internationally renowned expert from Taiwan. The Rs 80 lakh project has been assigned by the department of science and technology (DST), Government of India. Giving details of the project, Prof Verma and Dr Rao said the solar cells provide 12 volts of electricity like a motor battery. The project is also aimed at developing new technology for preparing silicon sheets at a much cheaper cost which would be used to fabricate solar cells because of much lower cost of labour and availability of cheaper raw material. “We will not only be able to produce solar cells for its domestic consumption but also for their export in substantial quantities,” said Dr Verma and Dr Rao. The scholars said the rural power consumers will be much benefited by this project where power supply remains frequently interrupted and for much longer durations. “Though the project has been assigned for three years, we are likely to wind it up within a year’s time,” they admitted. |
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Birthday celebrations go awry
Banur, September 4 The deceased has been identified as Gurvinder Singh (25). After spending two years in Australia, he had recently joined the college. The family members and friends of the victim said the incident took place during the birthday party of a student at a hotel in Banur. They said two groups from BCA (III) and IT (III) were having separate parties at the same hotel. Some students entered into an argument after consuming liquor and a youth hurled a utensil towards the others. It was then a free-for-all and both groups started throwing objects at each other. “The hotel owners tried to intervene and pacify them. They also informed the police and told the boys to leave the venue,” said Partap Singh, an uncle of the victim. Instead of acting swiftly, the police reached after a long time. The fight took an ugly turn outside the hotel as they started attacking one another with blunt weapons. Two students, Gurvinder and Rudrapartap, were injured, Sandeep Singh, a cousin of the deceased, said. They were rushed to the Rajpura civil hospital. Gurvinder was referred to the GMSH-32 in Chandigarh, where he was declared brought dead at around 8 pm last night. The students were carrying a grudge against one another for the past several days and had often fought over petty issues. Contrary to the claims of the police, the family of Gurvinder said he was a teetotaller with no earlier record of fighting with anyone. A case has been registered against Rudrapartap, Vikas, Naseeb and Khatri. No arrest has been made so far. |
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Two killed in accident
Kharar, September 4 The incident took place at around 1.30 am when the truck carrying bread was moving from Phillaur to Shimla. Rakesh Kumar, a resident of Thathera Mohalla in Phillaur, and Rajpal (28), a resident of Kangra, started from Phillaur at around 11.30 pm. They reached Basti Jodhewal bus stand in Ludhiana at 12.30 pm, where Randhir Singh alias Bobby (37) asked them for a lift. Randhir, a resident of Jagjit Nagar, Pakhowal Road, was bound for Solan. All three reached near Khanpur at around 1.30 am. Here a truck was parked in the middle of the road without any dipper or lights on. The mini truck driver could not see the stationary vehicle and rammed into it. Rajpal and Randhir died on the spot. The police has booked a case against Kuldeep Singh, a resident of Garshshankar, Hoshiarpur, who had parked the truck in the middle of the road. He was arrested and later bailed out. Postmortem of both deceased was conducted at Kharar civil hospital today and the bodies handed over to their relatives. |
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2 held with 285 boxes of illicit liquor
Fatehgarh Sahib, September 4 The accused have been identified as Harmeet Singh, a resident of Ambala and Sonu, a resident of Yamunanagar. Fatehgarh Sahib SSP Dr Kaustubh Sharma said the three accomplices of the accused, who were helping them with an Indica car, are absconding. They were identified as Davinder Singh, Rachpal Singh and Bitu. The police arrested the accused during a naka near Sirhind. The SSP said so far, the police had confiscated 21,000 bottles for the past few months. The market price of the liquor is around 10 lakh, he said. A case had been registered. Efforts were on to nab the absconding culprits, the SSP said. |
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MC Elections
Kharar, September 4 Nomination filing remained a show of strength affair with candidates turning up with an army of supporters in tow at the SDM office. A large number of such supporters and their vehicles resulted in
traffic jam on NH 21 road from 12 noon to around 2.30 pm. Commuters, especially those travelling in buses, had a tough time passing the stretch. The road remained choked. |
Cheque bounce
Chandigarh, September 4 Before reserving the orders, Justice Sunder went through video clipping on a laptop. It was produced before the court by complainant counsel Pavit Singh Mattewal in an attempt to substantiate its contention that Shetty was the director of the firm that had issued the cheque. Notice issued Chief Jstice Tirath Singh Thakur and Justice Surya Kant today issued notice of motion for September 9 to the Union of India and the states of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, along with Chandigarh, on a petition challenging the vires of Sikh’s definition contained in the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925. The notices were issued on a petition filed by a student, Gurleen. She and others had been denied admission in MBBS course against seats reserved for Sikh students on the ground that those trimming beard or plucking eyebrows were not Sikhs in strict religious sense of the term.
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Consumer Courts
Chandigarh, September 4 The forum has also asked the bank to pay Rs 5,500 as cost of litigation. The petitioner, Pardeep Tayal, had taken a house loan of Rs 13 lakh in 2004, which was to be paid in 96 EMIs of Rs 17,724 per month. He asserted that according to the letter he had then received, the interest rate was to be reviewed at the end of three years from the date of final disbursement. However, he was informed vide letters dated July 22, 2005, February 1, 2006, and July 1, 2006 that the interest rate had been revised to 7.5 per cent, 8 per cent and 9.5 per cent, respectively. He alleged that the action of the bank in reviewing and enhancing the interest rate before the expiry of three years from the final date of disbursement (which was December 8, 2004) was unwarranted. The bank argued that the petitioner had opted for a floating rate of seven per cent, which was subject to resetting of interest rate according to the home loan agreement. The forum found that for the first three years, the rate of interest could not be changed according to the agreement and was to remain at 7 per cent. The forum observed: “The bank cannot just issue a letter and change the terms of the agreement to the disadvantage of the complainant.”
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Financier Case
Chandigarh, September 4 Several residents of the city and neighboring areas stated that they had been trapped in a vicious cycle of unending monthly installment after they had taken loan from the Sector 37-based financier. When the victims failed to pay the installments, a cheque bounce case was slapped on them. Borrowing a meager loan ranging between Rs 10,000 and Rs 2 lakh had either sent some of the victims to the deathbed or inflicted a lifelong ailment. An employee with director of industries, Haryana, Kashmiri Lal, had taken a loan of Rs 60,000 when his son was unwell. Though he repaid the loan with interest, he had a criminal case filed against him on the basis of which the court passed orders to attach his salary. Another victim, Meena, lost her husband due to stress caused by filing of cheque bounce cases against him. She
said: “My husband had taken a loan of Rs 20,000. However, the
financier asked him to pay Rs 1 lakh. This came as a shock to my husband
and he suffered a fatal heart attack.” While Baj Singh is still
trying to reconcile with the fact that though he has repaid the borrowed
money with interest, cheque bounce cases amounting to lakhs of rupees
have been filed against him by different people. “I am an employee
with the irrigation department. I had borrowed the money for my daughter’s
wedding and repaid it on time. Still the financier filed cheque bounce
cases against me,” he said. Another complainant, Lal Singh, said:
“One of my close associates, Ram Kumar, has become a patient of
paralysis, as he was unable to accept the fact that he had wasted his
hard-earned money.” The victims shared their experiences with each
other all day long.
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Administrator’s Challenge Cup
Chandigarh, September 4 Maintaining their winning spree, Chandigarh Football Academy (CFA) claimed an easy win over Tamil Nadu Football Association with half a dozen goals without any reply in the group-A match. Scoring three goals in each half, CFA proved too good for Tamil Nadu Foot Academy. Pankaj Negi opened the CFA account in the fourth minute. Gagandeep quickly added one in the 16th minute. Gagan also scored his team's fifth goal in the 63rd minute. Abhrahim K. C. Lalchhuanmawia (29th), Sachin (47th) and Rajinder Kumar (89th) chipped in with one goal each to swell the winners' tally. Santosh Kumar and R. Bharat Arun of Tamil Nadu received yellow cards in the 43rd and 55th minutes, respectively. Later in the evening session, Mahilpur Football Academy found an easy rival in Delhi Soccer Association (DSA), whom they thrashed by 9-0 in a group-D fixture. Deepak became man of the match by scoring five goals, including a hat-trick. His goals came in the 31st, 33rd, 36th, 53rd and 76th minutes. Rajbir Junior registered a brace (27th and 29th minutes). Daljit Singh (58th) and Gurlal Singh (78th) got one goal each. Kunal of DSA was shown red card for dangerous play in the 66th minute. Miland and Bhupinder, both of DSA, were cautioned for rough play. Daljit Singh of Mahilpur Footbal Academy was also penalised for rough play in the 75th minute. In another group-A match, Rohit Football Academy of Orissa routed Haryana Football Association (HFA) by 5-0. It was Rohit Football Academy's second win. In their previous matches, they had defeated Tamil Nadu Football Association by 4-3 and drew 1-1 with Madhya Pradesh Football Association. H. Kabrar (13th), Asif Ali (15th), Abdul Kadim (64th), SK Rehan (72nd) and Santosh (76th) netted one goal each to outplay HFA. In another match, Punjab Football Association (PFA) outplayed Himachal Pradesh by 6-0. PFA have one win and one defeat from two matches they have played so far. PFA today scored through Manpreet Kumar (2nd and 20th minutes), Kulvir Singh (5th), Amitpal Singh (9th and 14th) and Bongu Singh (42nd). PFA's two players, Kulbir Singh (47th) and Manpreet Kumar (69th), were shown yellow cards for rough play. In group-A encounter, Madhya Pradesh Football Academy (MPFA) routed Steadfast Sports Academy of Mumbai by 5-0. Prati Kanojia (43rd and 78th), Jubeer Ahmed (53rd), Nitin Rajak (71st) and Pardeep Bisht (81st) were the scorers for the team. Amit Khare (16th) and Kuldeep Kumar (23rd) of MPFA received cautioned for rough play, Pramod Pandey of Steadfast Sports Academy was penalised (yellow card) for deliberately handling the ball in the 35th minute. |
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A damp squib
Chandigarh, September 4 The schedule of the matches that was released during the press conference had to be changed as Mahindra & Mahindra Mumbai, J&K Football Association, Mizorum SSA Football Team, New Public School Football Academy, Chandigarh, and Services Football Academy did not turn up for their matches. Is it lack of coordination or some other reason that five teams did not show up for their matches? I. S. Sandhu, director, Chandigarh Sports, says: “Two clubs couldn’t turn up owing to the flood in their region, J&K club could not come because of the bandh, while NPS, Chandigarh, couldn’t turn up as there was shortage of under-17 players in their squad.” Another hitch in the smooth conduct of the tournament is the toll of players declared overage, which has risen to 30. Orissa Football Association and Bihar Football Association are topping the chart with six of their players found overage. Meanwhile, some teams are playing without their substitute players in the tournament. |
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Bhullar climbs up to second spot
Chandigarh, September 4 He was trailing the leader, Mohd Siddikur Rahman of Bangladesh, by four strokes. Siddikur has been playing a consistent game (66, 69, 67) and is all set to take on any challenge. Just one stroke behind the Kapurthala golfer is Chandigarh lad Ajeetesh
Sandhu, who turned pro barely one year back. Ajeetesh played a par game today conceding two double bogeys in the front nine. But then be shot an eagle on the eighth and showed some sparks in the back nine to manage a par 71 round after firing 69 and 67 in the first two rounds. Big hitter Gurbaaz Pratap Singh Mann and Uttam Singh Mundy, both from Chandigarh, are close behind Ajeetesh at the seventh and eighth slots with scores of five under par 208 (67, 70, 71) and three under par 210 (66, 68, 74), respectively. Seasoned Chandigarh golfer Harmeet Kahlon played a four under par 67 to move up to the joint 12th spot at one under par 112 (72, 73, 67). A. S. Lehal was also tied 12th with Kahlon (70, 71,
71). Gaganjeet Bhullar, who came nearest to clinching an Asian Tour event at Jakarta last year, fired a hat-trick of birdies on the fifth, sixth and seventh. But then, he conceded a bogey on the eighth for a two under par 33. The return nine was a blemish-free 34 studded with two birdies. The four-under 67 today and the 66 yesterday, showed that this Kapurthala boy was all set to take on the Bangladeshi's challenge on the final day
tomorrow. Bhullar said: "Even though I was in great hitting form today, I'm not happy with my effort because I missed as many as six putts that were within 10 ft of the
hole." Yusuf Ali from Kolkata and C. Muniyappa of Bangalore are tied with Bhullar at the second spot. Other Chandigarh golfers in the competition include Ranjit Singh at 216 (71, 75, 70), Randhir Singh Ghotra at 220 (73, 75, 72) and Harendra P. Gupta at 222 (72, 75, 75). The leading scores after the third round: 202 Mohd Siddikur Rahman (66, 69, 67); 206 Gaganjeet Bhullar (73, 66, 67); Yusuf Ali (69, 69, 68) and C. Muniyappa (64, 70, 72); 207 Ajeetesh Sandhu (69, 67, 71) and Shamim Khan (73, 67, 67); 208 Gurbaaz Pratap Singh Mann (67, 70, 71); 210 Uttam Singh Mundy (66, 68, 74). |
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Kho-Kho
Chandigarh, September 4 D. R. Yadava, joint secretary cum regional officer of CBSE, presided over as the chief guest for the inaugural ceremony. Results: Boys: Hansraj Public School (Pkl) bt AKSIPS-41 (Chd) by 11 points; SAS (Kalka) bt GNMPS, Paonta Sahib, by 11 points; GNPS, Nalagarh, bt Bapist School (Chd) by 10 points; Doon International School, Mohali, bt DAV School, Mehatpur, by 16 points. VRS, Baddi, bt Saint Soldier International School-28 by 10 points. Girls: Hansraj (Pkl) bt GNMS, Paonta Sahib, by 16 points; Punjab International School, Chamkaur, bt Dev Samaj-21 by 7 points; APS, Baddi, bt Alpine, Nalagarh, by 10 points; Golden Bell, Mohali, bt MUKG Bharmoti Natoun, by walk over. |
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Snooker meet from today
Chandigarh, September 4 The winner of the tournament will represent Chandigarh during the forth-coming national championship to be held in Indore, Madhya Pradesh in November.
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7-member gang busted
Panchkula, September 4 The accused, who are in the age group of 22 and 30 years, have been identified as Sagar Chauhan, Sandip Dahiya, Amit Gudha, Krishan Kumar, Bajrang, Bhola and Praveen. While Chauhan belongs to Uttar Pradesh, all others are residents of Rohtak district. Surprisingly, the youths are well educated. While Dahiya holds a degree in BPharmacy from the PGI, Rohtak, Amit is pursuing his graduation. The gang allegedly took away a Canter of a transport company from Chandigarh loaded with goods, including medicines, and kidnapped the driver and cleaner. Later, they reportedly killed the driver, but the cleaner managed to escape, leading to the arrest of the gang. The SP, Sandip Khirwar, said the gang impersonated as a team of the excise department and stopped a Canter loaded with goods on August 6 near the Mouli-Handesra road, near here. The accused, numbering around 12, were in a Hyundai Accent and Tavera. They introduced themselves to the truck driver, Kamal Singh, as excise officials. As soon as the driver and the 16-year-old cleaner got down, they overpowered them and took them to Rohtak. They lodged them at hotels and kept them on sedatives, the SP said. Later, they took them to Rudraprayag probably to kill them and dispose of their bodies, he said. They threw the driver in a river after injecting him with a sedative and put the cleaner in a sack after strangulating him and presuming him to be dead. However, he managed to get free after gaining consciousness and informed the Uttarakhand police. The local police got a lead that the accused were trying to sell the stolen medicines at Jhajjar. This led to their arrest. A few months ago, they had stolen medicines worth several lakhs from a godown of a pharmaceutical company in the industrial area, Phase II. The other members of the gang were from Chandigarh and Panchkula and would be arrested soon, the SP said.
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JE held for graft
Chandigarh, September 4 According to sources, Sulakshan Goyal, a junior engineer with road division No. 1, had demanded Rs 20,000 from the owner of a saw mill at Maloya. Goyal had gone to the mill two days ago and asked Pardeep, who runs the mill, to show the required documents. After that he asked for a gratification of Rs 20,000 from him. Pardeep told him to come after two days and tipped-off the CBI. On getting the complaint, the CBI laid a trap today and nabbed the official, who had come to collect the bribe money. A case has been registered against the JE.
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