NEIGHBOURHOOD

2 engg students killed in accident
Tribune News Service

Kharar, October 9
All five de-addiction centres being run by NGOs in Kharar were found to be in a pathetic condition during a raid conducted yesterday by SDM Rajiv Kumar Gupta, SMO Jai Singh and DSP Raj Balwinder Singh.

The three officers conducted raids on five centres as per the orders of Mohali deputy commissioner Rahul Bhandari. These centres were found housing their inmates in small unhygienic and dingy rooms. Many of the inmates were found locked from outside and did not have freedom to move around.

The centres included those run by NGOs Disha Foundation, Jeevanjyot Foundation behind Royal Palace on the Landran road, Guru Kripa Foundation on the Randhawa road, and Freedom Foundation and Guru Mehar Foundation, both on the Jhungiyan road. SDM Rajiv Kumar Gupta, who headed the team, said: "The DC passed the orders under Section 144, CrPc, to conduct surprise checks on these centres and submit him a detailed report.” SMO Jai Singh will submit the report to Gupta tomorrow.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Mohali administration has to give a reply to a writ petition filed by these de-addiction centres in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The petition was filed against the district administration for conducting raids on them.

Interestingly, by the time the team reached Chetna Foundation at Dakoli village, its owner showed them a copy of the stay orders from the High Court against closure of the centre.

"We had not gone to close any of the centres. It was simply a visit to check their functioning,” added an official.

Ropar, October 9
Apna Ghar, a centre for elderly people in Haveli Kalan village, has become a home away from home for them.

The centre, which is being run by a retd. assistant police commissioner (Delhi), L R Mundra, welcomes elders who want to spend the later years of their lives here.

Mundra has dedicated this centre to his wife and started it on November 27, 2006 under aegis of the Saraswati Devi Mundra Charitable Trust.

The trust manages finances of the centre and also depends on donations by philanthropists for the same.

Ram(83), who has served with the Army and the CRPF, has found solace here. “I have found companionship here that I had yearned for,” he said. Similarly, Kulwant Singh(66) from Ludhiana also finds the place suitable to his needs.

Elders here are provided with facilities like separate beds, cupboards, besides, enjoying entertainment facilities.

Senior citizens come here to spend their spare time indulging in reading and discussions. Apna Ghar can be reached at 01881 222161.

The founder, Lekh Raj Mundra, was born here in 1921. He served as a viceroy commission officer for the Royal Indian Army Service Corps (RIASC) from June 1941 to May 1947.

During the second World War, he worked in the Middle East for three years and was honoured with a North America Star and a War Medal.

He joined the Delhi police as a sub inspector in November 1941. He worked as a personal security guard of three Prime Ministers of India, Jawahar Lal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi. He also worked as a personal guard of President Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy and retired from this post on October 31, 1979.

Patiala, October 9
Students of Yadvindera Public School (YPS) did the school proud when a team comprising 12 students and a teacher escort, Dalip Singh Shekhawat, scaled the Shatidhar peak (17,200 ft) in the Pir Panjal range recently.

The team was to scale the adjacent Friendship Peak (17,350 ft), but the plan was altered following heavy snowfall. The peak had developed crevasses and the terrain had become too hazardous for the students to make an effort to scale it.

On October 1, the students reached the top of the Shatidhar peak and hoisted the YPS flag.

Patiala, October 9
The Rajpura colony residents have their cup of sorrows filled to the brim with contaminated water being supplied to most of the residents from the tube well.

The new tube well was sunk near the Government Elementary School about two years back, and of late it has been developing a snag almost every month. The water supply from the tube well is discontinued for a couple of days every month whenever the tube well develops a problem, and this incidentally happens like clock-like precision.

Everybody in the colony seems to be aware of the problem except the municipal corporation, which is supposed to take care of supplying clean drinking water to the residents of the locality.

This time around the tube well, bore was sunk a couple of days back. It has been pumping out muddy water, which is being pumped into the water-supply lines. There is no provision of treating the water and the contaminated water supply poses a serious health hazard to the colony residents.

Gurbux Singh, a resident of the Rajpura colony, told this correspondent that he had to get a water filter installed in his kitchen to take care of the family's health in view of the frequent supplies of muddy water through the municipal-water supply. He said with the winter round the corner he was planning to have a booster pump installed in his house to overcome the problem of low water-pressure even though this is not allowed.

Another resident, Sarabjeet Kaur, said the water pressure from this tube well was so low that there was no water in the overhead water-tanks in her house for the last two months. She said she had to keep buckets of water in the kitchen and the bathroom daily to meet her household needs as the water supply remained erratic with the power cuts still in force.

Sarbjeet Kaur also complained of contaminated water being supplied to the locality saying no body from the corporation had ever visited the locality to enquire about the woes of the residents.

Despite repeated attempts, the Patiala Mayor Ajit Pal Singh Kohli could not be contacted.

Patiala, October 9
The Punjab College Librarians Association has welcomed the UGC review committee report regarding revision of pay scales of teachers and librarians in university and colleges.

The committee headed by Prof G.K. Chadha has recommended revised pay band of Rs 15,600-39,100 at entry, senior scale and selection grade levels along with grade pay of Rs 6,600, 7,200 and 8,000, respectively.

To remove stagnation, a new scale of Rs 37,400-67,000 along with grade, pay of Rs 8,700 has also been recommended as a third promotion.

Association president Mohinder Singh Dhillon and general secretary Barjinder Pal Dhiman in a statement here said pay parity had been maintained between teachers and librarians in the report and promotion under CAS from deputy university librarians to university librarians had also been recommended.

Patiala, October 9
The Punjab Academy of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, on the occasion of World Sight Day, urged the Government of India that human eyes should be declared as national property.

Dr D. S. Bhullar, a spokesman of the academy today said the government should have the right to remove the eyes from the dead body without any consent from the relatives of the deceased and use the same for corneal grafting in the needy patients.

He added that the law must be amended accordingly to exclude the eyes out of the purview of the present Human Organs Transplantation Act, which is not impossible as cornea, the part of eyes used for transplantation, is not an organ, rather a tissue and can be easily removed from the dead body by an eye surgeon, thus giving vision to two blind and needy patients.

Bhullar said a very liberal Corneal Transplantation Act must be enacted separately for the success of the National Blindness Control Programme of the government as more than 25 per cent patients needing corneal transplantation were in the younger age-groups, who go blind from injuries while earning their livelihood.

He added that the voluntary organisations must come forward to formulate a consensus for boosting eye-donation movement by pressing the government for the suitable amendment in the present law and the citizens of India must take it their fundamental duty to protect the health and vision of the fellow citizens by motivating the people for voluntary eye-donation.

Ambala, October 9
The Baldev Nagar flyover on National Highway-22 in Ambala city was opened to traffic on Wednesday evening.

Built under the four-laning project on the Ambala-Chandigarh stretch, the flyover has been opened one month before the schedule and is 1.7-kilometre long.

The flyover was opened after an inspection by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) project director Col K.P. Sharma (retd). He said the flyover at Zirakpur was likely to open in November.

Chandigarh, October 9
The Panjab University has told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that vacant seats for other backward classes in the five-year law course in the University Institute of Legal Studies will be filled from among the general category candidates.

As a petition filed by Jangsher Singh, a candidate on the waiting list, came up for hearing before a Division Bench, advocate for the varsity and other respondents Ajay Pal Singh Gill stated: “Unfilled seats created for other backward classes shall be filled up amongst the general category candidates on the basis of merit of the combined entrance test and of the marks obtained in the qualifying examinations”.

The Bench, consisting of Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Rakesh Kumar Garg, took on record the submission made by the counsel in the court. Before disposing of the matter on the basis of the contention, the Bench observed: “In view of the said stand of the respondents, the present writ petition is rendered infructuous”. The orders were pronounced on October 4 by the Bench. The copy of it was made available today.

The petition was filed by Jangsher Singh through counsel Puneet Gupta against the university and other respondents. In his petition, Jangsher Singh had claimed that the decision to implement seven per cent other backward classes quota was taken by the Panjab University syndicate on September 4.

The counselling was held, but as many as six seats created for the other backward classes remained vacant throughout. Seeking directions to the varsity and other respondents to convert the seats for the benefit of the general category candidates, the petitioner had quoted the Panjab University rules.

The petitioner had also placed reliance on an Apex Court judgment, delivered by a Constitutional Bench of five judges, headed by the Chief Justice of India. Elaborating on the judgment delivered on April 4, the petitioner had contended that the Bench had ruled seats would be created for the other backward classes in the courses. These would, however, be converted to general category in case they remain vacant.

Chandigarh, October 9
A 60-year-old woman, Usha, was killed in a hit-and-run accident near colony number 5 here today.

Police sources said the victim was crossing the road when a speedy auto-rickshaw knocked her down.

She sustained severe internal injuries and was rushed to the Sector 32 Government Medical College and Hospital, where she was declared dead. The auto-rickshaw driver sped away from the spot.

A case of causing death due to rash and negligent driving has been registered against the accused.

In the scuffle, Arvind Sharma suffered injuries. An FIR has been registered at village Matour.

The theft was reported after a caretaker at the house informed Jagdev Sign about the theft. Around Rs 15,000 and some valuables were stolen. A case has been registered by the police.

Chandigarh, October 9
Jaspal Singh, manager of the State Bank of Patiala, village Sarangpur, filed a complaint with the police alleging that Wazir Kumar, a resident of Talwandi Sabo, who was caught red-handed while using fake voucher in above said branch on October 8.

Chandigarh, October 9
Chikkarangappa from Bangalore shot a one under par 71 card to surge into the lead with a 10 over 226 score on the penultimate day of the Usha International Chandigarh Junior and Sub-junior Golf Championship on the par 72 greens of the Chandigarh Golf Club here today.

This was the first time in the tournament that Chikkarangappa and Honey Baisoya (Category C) played an under par round. Chandigarh's 14-year-old Tarundeep Singh Chadha shot a one over par 73 to occupy the third slot in the overall score sheet while leading in Cateogry B at 230.

The leader in the first two rounds, Aman Guron of Chandigarh, played a four over par 76 to slip to second spot, two strokes behind Chikkarangappa.

The stage is now set for the final day's encounter with the top three placed at two-stroke margins in the IGU-categorised tournament.

Chikkarangappa played a flawless first nine with a birdie on the second for a one under par 35. On the return nine he bogeyed and birdied once each for a par score and a card of one under par 71.

Tarundeep bogeyed on the ninth for a front nine 37. The return nine saw him birdying the 10th and 13th. But then he dropped scores on the 12th and 18th for a par score.

A flawless back nine with two birdies was the key to 12-year-old Honey Baisoya's one under par 71 card in the C Category (under-13). In the front nine, he conceded two bogeys and sank a birdie on the sixth for a one over par 37. Honey Baisoya was leading the Category C pack with 235. Overnight leader Shubankar Sharma fell back to finish five strokes behind. Another three strokes behind was Gurbani Singh at 243.

Chandigarh's Piyush Sangwan played a four over par 76 to lead the under-11 D Category at 158. Viraj Madappa was three strokes behind the leader followed by Mohammad Wasil at 165.

The results:

Category A (under-18): 226 Chikkarangappa (78-77-71); 228 Aman Guron (75-77-76); 239 Ajay Verma (83-80-76); 241 Kapil Kumar (81-77-83); 242 Sanjeev Kumar (82-81-79) and Jong Yung Kim (79-84-79); 243 Zubin Nijhawan (81-78-84); 245 Kunal Bhatia (82-85-78); Romario James (84-77-84) and Haman Thakur (82-77-86).

Category B (under-15): 230 Tarundeep S. Chadha (80-77-73); 235 Ankur Chadha (81-77-77); 243 Varun Verma (82-80-81); 249 Dhruv D. Kumar (79-86-84) and Abhishek Kuhar (83-81-85).

Category C (under-13): 235 Honey Baisoya (84-80-71); 240 Shubankar Sharma (83-75-82); 243 Gurbani Singh (81-81-81); 248 Vidit Singh (88-78-82); 250 Akash Shrinivasan (86-80-84).

Category D (under-11): 158 Piyush Sangwan (82-76); 161 Viraj Madappa (78-83); 165 Mohd Wasil (79-86); 185 Karandeep Kochhar (93-92); 195 Aadil Bedi (101-94).

Chandigarh, October 9
Parnita Garewal will lead the Chandigarh challenge in the third leg of the DLF Women's Professional Golf Tour, which gets under way on the greens of Panchkula Golf Club in Panchkula on Friday.

Sponsored by the DLF in association with Aegi and Graavaa, the tournament carries prize money of Rs 1,68,750 with the winner pocketing Rs 50,468.

With Irina Brar pursuing a doctorate in psychology in the US and Saanya Sharma recuperating from a surgery in Secunderabad, the Chandigarh challenge has been restricted to Parnita and Pritinder Kaur.

Vying for the title at the challenging Panchkula Golf Course will be India's top women-professional golfers.

This season's order of merit leader Nalini Singh will face a tough competition from second leg winner Simi Mehra, who is in an excellent form, and the rookie on the Professional Tour, Vandana Aggarwal.

Others in the fray are Pallavi Jain, N. Ponappa, Nikita Jadeja and Rukmini Mehra. Conspicuous by their absence will be Nonita Lal Qureshi and Shalini Malik. The first round will commence at 11.10 am.

Chandigarh, October 9
Unbeaten seventh wicket partnership of 49 runs between Arjit Singh (41*) and Subir Hayer (33*) enabled Guru Nanak Public School (GNPS) Academy beat Desh Prem Azad Cricket (DPAC) Academy by 46 runs in the Inter-Academy Under-14 Cricket Tournament being organised by DPAC Academy on GNP School ground in Sector 36 here today.

GNPS Academy after winning the toss, elected to bat first and made a good start with Shivam Bhambri’s brilliant knock of 69 runs off 71 deliveries. He made a good platform for the coming batsmen but the middle order could not take much advantage and GNPS were struggling on 153 for six.

But Arjit and Subir’s unbeaten seventh wicket partnership provided a good finish to the team, they flayed DPAC Academy bowlers as they realised 49 runs in last five overs and the team piled up a big total of 202 for six in 30 overs. Only right arm left break bowler Karan Aggarwal commanded respect as he claimed three wickets for 24 runs in allotted six overs.

In reply, DPAC Academy got an early jolt, as their opener Karan Aggarwal was worked of the first ball of their innings. However, Daksh Aggarwal and Talwinderjit Singh repaired the innings with a 57-run partnership for the second wicket. Daksh scored 28 and Talwinderjit Singh's knock of 30 contained four boundaries.

Later, Jagpreet Singh contributed 43, which included one six and four fours. However, DPAC Academy could muster only 156 for nine in allotted 30 overs.

It was GNPS Academy's first win from one match while DPAC Academy has suffered their second successive defeat.