NEIGHBOURHOOD

Repayment of Central loan
Patiala MC approaches improvement trust for bailout
Attar Singh
Tribune News Service

Patiala, September 17
In an attempt to meet the growing demand of the television and film industry, the department of journalism and mass communication of Punjabi University took a big leap forward with the inauguration of a new TV and film studio by vice-chancellor Dr Jaspal Singh in the department here today. The acoustically designed studio, accompanied by a production control room (PCR), has been completed at a cost of Rs 25 lakh.

The VC today announced a grant of Rs 5 lakh to further upgrade the studio so that the students were exposed to every aspect of professional training on the audio-visual gadgets. The grant will also be used to make about 40 ad films and documentaries which the students of PG diploma in audio-visual production course are supposed to make during their course of study.

Dr Jaspal Singh added that the department was passing through a phase of change and the next in the line will be the creation of a monumental media centre.

He further said that studios will be used not only as the training centres but professional production centres too. Dr Gurmeet Maan, head of the department, said the studio will be used to produce programmes like talk-shows, panel discussions, interviews and quiz shows to be further used for broadcasting on online radio and television. With the installation of teleprompter, the students will get real-world feel of news anchoring and other news-based programmes, he said.

Dean, academic affairs, Dr M.S. Saini, registrar, Dr S.S. Khehra, dean, faculty of education and information sciences, also spoke on the occasion.

Fatehgarh Sahib, September 17
A day after the labourer was found murdered, the Fatehgarh Sahib police today claimed to have got vital clues the case.

A migrant labourer, Supan Choudhary (34), working in the agricultural land of Kulwant Singh, was found murdered in the fields near the tubewell. Kulwant Singh deployed Supan to look after his 18 acres.

A Bihar resident, Supan was working in the fields of Kulwant for the past around four months.

SSP Kaustubh Sharma disclosed that they are working on the clues provided by the neighbours and those visiting the labourer, who was staying alone in one of the rooms built in the agricultural land.

“So far we have come to know about relationship of an unidentified woman with the deceased. The woman is said to have been visiting Supan on and off,” the SSP said.

We would be able to arrest the accused in the coming few days, he said.

A case in this connection has been registered against unidentified people and the dead body of the deceased was handed over to the family members of the deceased.

Banur, September 17
Miscreants allegedly fired gunshots and threatened a section of residents of Fatehpur Garhi village here last night.

In their complaint to the police, Kishan Singh and some other villagers alleged that around five persons carrying firearms and sharp-edged weapons intercepted them and threatened them with dire consequences.

“They also fired gunshots in the air to create panic in the area. We snatched the revolver of one of the miscreants. They fled the scene after more villagers joined them,” said Manjit Singh, a resident of the village.

He alleged that the police had failed to take action against unscrupulous elements who had been creating panic in the village over a property dispute with a family living in the village.

In spite of bringing the matter to the notice of the police, no action had been taken in this regard, he said.

He also asked the police to provide security to villagers.

“If the police fails to take action against the guilty, we will bring the matter to the notice of senior authorities,” he said.

Meanwhile, Banur SHO Jagvir Singh said no action would be taken in the case, as such incidents took place everyday.

Ambala, September 17
Jitender Kumar, deputy manager of Fun Cinema, Galaxy Mall, was allegedly stabbed by three youth today. He was immediately rushed to the local civil hospital.

According to hospital sources, Jitender was stabbed at least six times.

Jitender was sitting in his office on the first floor of the mall when the three youths barged in and stabbed him. However, they managed to flee.

Brother of one of the attackers had scuffled with a security guard of the Fun Cinema a few days ago.

The guard had not allowed visitors from taking eatables inside the mall.

They have been told to frisk every visitor entering the mall. However, it could not be ascertained how they managed to take knives inside it.

A case has been registered against Gurvinder and other two in this regard.

Ambala, September 17
A number of women of Balana village blocked the Ambala-Hisar road near Ambala City to protest against the scarcity and undeclared power cut in the Naggal area this evening.

The women sat in the middle of the road and did not allow the vehicles to cross there. The national highway remained blocked for one hour. Hundreds of vehicles running on Ambala- Kaithal route were stranded near Balana village.

The district revenue officer reached the spot along with the police. The blockade was lifted after the assurance by the DRO of taking up the matter with the senior officers to resolve the issue.

Ropar, September 17
President of the Thermal Plant and Ambuja Sufferers’ Association Nirmal Singh Ladhomajra and its general secretary Harbans Singh Banwait today demanded a CBI probe for finding out the reasons behind frequent breaches in the escape channel of Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Plant.

The 50-foot wide breach had flooded the nearby villages thereby causing an extensive damage to the standing paddy crops and fish farming in villages like Ranjitpura and Batarla due to the hot water.

The officials of the association stated that at least 200 acres had been affected due to the breach. Similar breach had taken place near the starting point of the channel in February 2006. It was attributed to poor design of the channel. It took more than a year to get the damaged portion repaired.

According to sources, this time poor construction material might be the reason behind the breach. The surplus hot water from thermal plant has been diverted to the old channel. Deputy commissioner had ordered special girdawari for assessing damages.

This channel was constructed for utilizing the water flowing into the Sutlej from thermal plant for generating electricity. A micro hydel plant has been constructed at end of this channel for tapping the water for electricity generation. After the breach, electricity generation from the micro-hydel channel has been stopped. Sources said it might take at least four months for getting the damaged channel repaired.

Kalka, September 17
Articles worth lakhs of rupees were gutted in a fire incident, which occurred due to short circuit in a house at Ward No-5 in Kalka. According to the report submitted by Rakesh Kumar at the police station here, he was sleeping along with his family members in his house on last night.

At around 2 am he smelt burning of some electricity equipment. He raised an alarm on seeing the fire spreading briskly due to short circuit. The family members rushed out of the house and the police was immediately informed about the incident. It took three hours to control the fire.

Chandigarh, September 17
Over 10 years after he was pardoned in the UT engineering department kickbacks case, a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ordered the release of A.K. Sachdeva’s death-cum-retirement gratuity and commuted value of pension.

Sachdeva was working with the UT Administration as superintending engineer when the case was registered on February 3, 1998, under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

A co-accused in the case, he had turned into an approver and was pardoned by the UT Chief Judicial Magistrate on May 2, 1998.

In his petition placed before the High Court Division Bench of Justice Mehtab Singh Gill and Justice Augustine George Masih, Sachdeva had sought directions to the State of Haryana and other respondents to release the remaining retiral benefits.

Counsel for the petitioner had contended that all benefits, apart from death-cum-retirement gratuity and commuted value of pension, had been handed over to the petitioner.

He had added that the petitioner had joined as assistant engineer in 1969 and had retired on November 30, 2003, on attaining the age of superannuation. No adverse remark was conveyed to him during the period of his service. Besides this, no chargesheet or departmental proceedings were pending against him. Having become an approver, he was a witness for the prosecution and had given his evidence in the favour of the state after he was granted pardon.

During the course of arguments, the court was informed that a chargesheet was issued on April 30, 2002, to which a reply was submitted.The state wanted to retire him compulsorily on August 19, 2002, but the order was stayed.

After going through the record and the rival contentions, the Bench held pardon was granted by the trial court on the asking of the state. The state now could not go back and say criminal proceedings were pending and the petitioner should not be given the death-cum-retirement gratuity and commuted value of pension.

Observing that the petitioner had not backed from his statement in the court, the Bench directed the respondents to release the benefits within 30 days.

Chandigarh, September 17
CBI Special Court of Jagdeep Jain today adjourned the framing of charges in the 5-crore embezzlement case of Oriental Bank of Commerce to October 1.

The matter came to light in 2003 when the bank had to decide whether to grant loan to a private company. The bank had sought opinion of the panel that suggested sanctioning the loan. On the complaint of a government employee the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) made an inquiry. The CBI claimed that a panelist had family ties with the owners of the company that was to be granted loan.

To establish this, bank statements were kept on record in the court that suggested that one of the panelists had sanctioned loan to the company. However, the court discharged one of the seven accused and the charges on others would be framed on the next hearing.

Chandigarh, September 17
Additional district and sessions judge S.K. Aggarwal today sentenced Prem Chand to rigorous imprisonment (RI) of five years for attempting to kill his brother. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 9,000 on the accused.

He was convicted under Sections 307, 326, 324 and 506 of the IPC.

According to the prosecution, the accused entered into an altercation with his brother Karam Chand in Manimajra on April 26, 2006. A hawker by profession, Prem Chand, reached the residence of the victim and started beating Karam Chand with ‘gandassi’ on his neck. Shakuntala, victim’s wife, came outside and tried to intervene and sustained minor injuries. A case was registered against Prem Chand on the complaint of Roshan Lal under Sections 307, 326, 324 and 506 of 
the IPC.

Pronouncing the orders the court held: “The prosecution has been able to connect the accused with the commission of offence under Sections 307, 326, 324, 506 of the IPC. It is found that the accused Prem Chand had inflicted injuries on neck and right side chest of the injured Karam Chand. Since repeated injuries on chest of injured Karam Chand the accused has been convicted for attempt to murder. Apart from this the accused gave grievous injury on right arm of Roshan Lal with sharp edged weapon - ‘gandasi’. Therefore he was convicted under Section 326 of IPC”.

Mohali, September 17
Residents of Lambian village blocked traffic in protest against the alleged torture of a stray bull by employees of the municipal council here today.

The protesters alleged that council employees had tortured the stray animal while trying to catch it for loading it onto a vehicle. They said the bull got badly injured in the process and died.

Tempers frayed as residents blocked the Kumbra-NIPER road for around half-an-hour, leading to a traffic jam.

The police reached the scene and urged the protesters to lift the blockade. They relented after an assurance of action against erring employees was given.

Residents claimed that the bull had been wandering in the area for some time and had never hurt anyone. The animal died followed alleged torture by the MC staff.

However, council president Rajinder Singh Rana said the civic body employees were trying to load the animal onto a vehicle with the help of ropes but villagers prevented them from doing so, causing injuries to the bull in the process.

He said villagers allegedly beat up and injured employees, who were later admitted to a hospital. He termed the allegations of torture against council employees baseless.

The police has registered a case under Section 429 of the IPC against unknown persons in this regard.

Chandigarh, September 17
An abduction case has been registered against a 16-year-old-boy, who along with his friend, had gone missing about a month ago. The case was registered, as the whereabouts of the other boy, Amit, are still not known, while the suspect returned home after a week.

The victim, Amit, a Chandigarh Police constable’s son, had gone along with the suspect without informing their families on August 18. However, the suspect returned home but failed to give any satisfactory answer with regards to Amit’s whereabouts. A case of abduction was registered against unidentified persons and the accused who happens to be minor under Section 364 of the IPC on Tuesday. The case was registered after victim’s father Krishan Singh took up the issue with senior officials and expressed doubts over his son’s friend.

According to the police, Amit had taken Rs 25,000 and a car (CH-04-B-5577) before leaving home. He told the police that they went to Meerut and stayed there in a guesthouse for a few days before retuning to the city. He further claimed that Amit dropped him near the housing board light point and told him that he did not want to return home. He also told the policemen that he used to stay at the guesthouse while Amit went around the city.

A police team went to Meerut to corroborate the sequence of events narrated by the accused. There the guest staff told them that both boys used to check out every day and return in the evening. Finding some missing links and inconsistencies in the statement recorded by the boy, the police suspected that something was missing.

A police officer said there was a gap of two days between their departures from Meerut and arrival in Chandigarh. The accused also failed to give any satisfactory answer about the missing links.

When asked about the delay in the registration of a case, the Mani Majra police station SHO said the family of the accused boy had lodged a complaint after both boys went missing. A DDR had been registered in this regard. The police recorded statements of the boy and the family members and was verifying the matter.

They had also taken call details of their mobiles for keeping a track of the location and the persons in contact with the police. The case was registered only when Amit’s father expressed doubts over the involvement of the boy in the case.

Chandigarh, September 17
The local police has arrested Kishore Kumar, a resident of Sector 38, from near Community Centre Sector 38, on September 16 and recovered five grams Smack from his possession.

Chandigarh, September 17
Harjinder Singh Kang of Chandigarh and Ambala's Manav Das made the cut although they were placed at joint 14th and 19th, respectively, as the sun played hide and seek at the midway stage of the LG Golden Greens Amateur Golf Championship at Gurgaon today.

Abhinav Lohan sparkled on top of the leaderboard as he played an even par round to stay at five under par. Abhinav still enjoys a four shot cushion going into the final two rounds. But the field is closing in on him. Rudresh Sharma slipped under the radar to find himself in sole possession of the second place.

A two over par round by Rashind Khan meant that he would start in the penultimate group.

Along with Moin Malak for company, they would be hoping to launch a charge towards the top.

Kang, ranked fifth on the order of merit, could manage a sole birdie on the ninth as he double bogeyed the fifth and lost strokes on the third, 14th and 16th to return a poor five over par 77.

His one over par in the first round saw him finish at six over par 150 to be tied 14th.

Manav Das who took rest in the previous amateur event also managed a birdie on the last hole as he bogeyed five times for a repeat four over par 76 and a two-day aggregate of eight over par 152 to be tied 19th at the end of the second round.

Despite an improved performance by the players, the cut fell at 15 over par because of the big numbers the players carded on the first day. Veteran on tour, Simarjeet Singh was one of the big names to miss out on the halfway mark.

Scores (after second round): Abhinav Lohan 139, Rudresh Sharma 143, Gagan Verma 144, Moin Malak 145, Rashid Khan 146, Hav Jahangir and Abhishek Jha 147, Sudhir Sharma, Pawan Kumar (sr), Rahul Bajaj, L. Selvadurai and Karan Vasudeva 148, Samresh Sardar 149, Darshan Veeraraghavan, Saurabh Bahuguna and H.S. Kang 150.

Chandigarh, September 17
Rain and cloud played hide and seek on the second day of final of Katoch Shield at PCA Stadium, Mohali, between Chandigarh and Ludhiana, today.

In all 23 overs were bowled today in which Chandigarh took their overnight total of 56 for 4 to 103 for 6 in 49 overs before the play was called off for the day.

Resuming from 16 (not out) Gurkeerat Walia fell to an outswing delivery of Gagandeep when he edged one to wicketkeeper Gitansh for 28.

Gagandeep, who was bowling with great fire at that time, had the new batsman Anil Sihag going for an expansive drive to an outswing delivery that landed up in the safe gloves of the wicketkeeper, reducing Chandigarh to 101 for 6.

Later, Gaurav Gambhir played a responsible innings of unbeaten 34 in 81 balls.

The match was presently in an interesting stage with Chandigarh still needing 39 runs to overhaul Ludhiana’s first innings total of 141 with 4 wickets in hand.

Brief scores:

Chandigarh: 103 for 6 in 49 overs

Gaurav Gambhir 34 (not out), Gurkeerat 28, Gagandeep 2/30 and Sunny Kumar 3/32.

Chandigarh, September 17
Last year’s runners-up State Bank of Mysore (SBM) got a jolt as the team lost to Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) by 8 runs in a rain-truncated opening match of the 15th All-India JP Atray Tournament for the Pearl Trophy at Sector 16 Cricket Stadium here today.

ONGC skipper Gagan Khoda won the toss and elected to bat first. The team posted 184 for 8 in 44 overs. The match was reduced to 44 overs due to interruption by rain, which first stopped the match when the team was playing at 101 for 3 in 26 overs.

ONGC got first jolt by losing its opener Radhey Shaym (1) when the board read just 18. Medium pacer Chetan Williams, who returned with impressive figure of 4 for 42 in 8 overs, snapped the first wicket.

Gagan joined the other opener Sandeep Sharma and both the batsmen stitched 45-run partnership for the second wicket. Gagan made 17 before throwing his wicket to left arm spinner Nurudeen.

Sandeep steered the team to consolidate position with his 43 off 73, consisting seven boundaries.

Ajay Ratra (45 off 61) and Mohammad Saif (31 off 52) took the score to 146 with their 45-run stand for the fifth wicket.

In reply, SBM were given a revised target of 191 runs on the basis of Duckworth Lewis method.

Providing a solid start, M.K. Manjunath and Shoib Manager put on a 50-run partnership for the opening wicket before Manjunath, who chipped in 31 runs, was caught by M. Patel off Parminder Awana.

The team lost the second wicket at the score of 64 when K.N. Ramesh was bowled by Vikramjit Malik for 13. SBM was playing on 74 for 3 in 21 overs when the match was stopped due to rain.

Test star Munaf Patel conceded 18 runs in five overs without any success.

Applying D/L method, ONGC were declared winner by eight runs.

Chief guest Pardeep Mehra, advisor to the Administrator, gave away the man of the match award to Chetan Williams.

Brief score

ONGC: 184 for 8 in 44 overs (Sandeep Sharma 43, Ajay Ratra 45, Mohd Saif 31, C. Williams 4 for 42, Anand Katti 2 for 28, B. Akhil 1 for 35, Nooruddin 1 for 29)

SBM: 74 for 3 in 21 overs (Manjunath 31, Shoib Manager 25, K.N. Ramesh 13, Parvinder Amana 1 for 24, Vikramjit Malik 1 for 24, Sauresh Kumar 1 for 6).

Chandigarh, September 17
MCM DAV College for Women got the better of GGS Khalsa College for Women, Chandigarh, to bag the Panjab University Inter-College Handball (women) Championship for the session 2008-09 here today.

While in the PU Inter-College Badminton (women) Tournament being played at Gymnasium Hall, Dev Samaj College (w), Chandigarh, beat National College for Women, Machhiwara (Ludhiana) by 2-0.

A.S. College for Women, Khanna, beat Dev Samaj College (w), Ferozepur by 2-0. DAV College, Malout, beat Ramgarhia Girls College, Ludhiana by 2-0.

Kabaddi (NS) men results: Government College, Muktsar bt Government College, Sector-11. DAV College, CHD bt GHG Khalsa College, Gurusar Sadhar (Ludhiana). Panjab University Campus bt RSD College, Ferozepur city.