NEIGHBOURHOOD

Probe against cops for ‘misbehaviour’
Our Correspondent

Ropar, November 26
The civil hospital SMO, Dr Vinod Kumar Jain, has been transferred today after the hospital staff, including doctors, paramedics and class four employees went on a strike against him.

Following a representation from the hospital staff, health minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla immediately transferred him to directorate health services, Chandigarh. The staff on agitation alleged Dr Jain of misconduct on the hospital premises and coming on duty in an inebriated state.

The doctors also alleged that Dr Jain forced them to refer patients to a specific ultrasound centre in the city and rebuked them for not following his orders. The doctors suspended the OPD work as a part of their protest.

Fatehgarh Sahib, November 26
Around 160 delegates from the ministry of human resources development and teachers from the education department, Punjab, held seminars on science and maths in different schools of the district.

The aim of these seminars was to reduce difficulties being faced by the children for these subjects. Members of 15 resource teams from all over the country also attended the seminar. The seminar was conducted with the help of the employees of the education department and teachers.

The members were also honoured at Gurudwara Fatehgarh Sahib during their visit. The project directors of five states, including Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Tripura and Maharashtra were also present.

The five district education officers from Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Ferozepur, Mansa and Fazilka accompanied them.

The delegation was headed by Sarita Mittal and chief adviser of the MHRD (Ministry of Human Resources Development) Vinay Patnayak.

Vijay Kaushal DEO secondary from Fatehgarh Sahib, Rajesh Sharma, Gurjeet Singh and Sanjeev Kalra from the education department office, Fatehgarh Sahib also accompanied the delegates.

Ambala, November 26
Over four million persons will face death by 2020 due to cardiovascular diseases in India.

This was stated by Dr P. Venugopal, former director of the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, and chairman, medical division, Alchemist, here today.

He was here to deliver the 19th Gian Chand Jain memorial lecture on the subject “Advances and future of cardiac surgery”.

Addressing doctors, local industrialists and students, he said the mortality rate attributed to cardiovascular diseases would rise by 103 per cent in men and 90 per cent in women by 2015.

Commenting on the advancement in technology, he said in the coming decade, cardiac surgeons would use robotic systems for conducting surgeries. He further said modern cardiac surgeons must understand molecular biology, tissue engineering and stem cell search. Stem cells for regenerative therapy would be a potent tool in the hands of cardiac surgeons in the coming years.

Thanking Anil Jain, chairman of the Gian Chand Jain Memorial Foundation, Dr Venugopal said late Gian Chand Jain, who was a pioneer in manufacturing scientific instruments, would have been very happy to see advancements in modern science.

Gian Chand Jain memorial lecture is held every year in the memory of pioneer exporter of scientific instruments Gian Chand Jain, who has the distinction of being invited by the President of Sudan in 1976 to address Parliament of Sudan and to equip the primary and secondary schools with scientific and educational equipment worth Rs 5 million dollars. He passed away in 1989.

Patiala, November 26
In response to a call given by the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers’ Union, the teachers working in more than 30 colleges affiliated with Punjabi University, Patiala, proceeded on mass casual leave and held a rally at the Mall Road here today.

They demanded the immediate implementation of recommendations of the Union Grants Commission of October 19, 2006 on the issue of career advanced scheme for DPE’s and for librarians, restoration of 95 per cent salary deficit grant in aid scheme, lifting of ban on recruitment etc.

Dr Jagwant Singh, general secretary of Punjab and Chandigarh College Teacher’s Union, lambasted the Punjab Government for its poor performance in the field of education and health. Professor I.S. Sandhu president of the PCCTU said the Punjab Government has failed to make any progress on the issues.

Patiala, November 26
National School Games, the biggest sports event of the year, began at Yadawindra Stadium here today.

Around 3,000 players from 28 states are taking part in the games organised by the School Games Federation of India (SGFI). Education secretary K.B.S. Sidhu, IAS, was the chief guest on the occasion. He inaugurated the meet after hoisting the national flag.

DC Vikas Garg, IAS, ADC (development) Shiv Dilar Singh Dhillon, PCS, accompanied the chief guest. The cultural programme began with the recital of Shabad from famous singer Manpreet Akhtar. Students from various city schools presented songs and dances to add Punjabi flavour to the entire show. Bhangra by Multipurpose School and Giddha marked the celebration.

The most attractive item was the display of Taekwando techniques by deaf and dumb students. The on-lookers cheered these kids with zeal and enthusiasm. Ramandeep Kaur, Daljit, Bharti, Pallavi, Meenakshi and basketball player Nagma were the torch-bearers on the occasion.

DPI (primary) S.S. Randhawa, director, SCERT, J.S. Khatra, deputy director, sports, Kulraj Kaur Randhawa, CEO Ashok Bhalla, DEO IK Gill, DEO Fatehgarh Sahib, Vijay Kaushal, DEO Ropar, J.P. Singh, DEO (P) Harvinder Kaur, acting AEO Jagtar Singh Tiwana and the president and secretary-general of Mulazim Wing, Punjab, Surinder Singh Pehalwan and Harpal Singh Teja, respectively, were there on the occasion.

Results of Day-1:Basketball (men): Kashmir defeated Bihar by 38-27. Delhi defeated Chandigarh by 59-21. Rajasthan defeated Indian Public Schools by 77-50.

Basketball (women): Punjab thrashed Uttaranchal by 45-0.

Hockey (U-19) Boys: Chandigarh defeated Chattisgarh by 3-0. Himachal Pradesh defeated Vidya Bharti by 3-0. Punjab defeated Gujarat by 5-0. Haryana defeated Tamil Nadu by 3-0. Girls: Punjab defeated Kerela by 3-0. Indian Public Schools defeated Chandigarh by 5-1.

Patiala, November 26
Sukhjeet Kaur of Bhagomajra Physical College of Education ran a nicely timed last lap to win the 800 m race at the Punjabi University Inter-College Athletics Championship, which commenced on the university campus here today.

Sukhdeep Kaur started slowly, but made up for her slow start at the bend to finish the race way ahead of Ramandeep Kaur of Shaheed Udham Singh College, Sunam, and Harpreet Kaur of Akal College of Physical Education, Mastuana, both of whom stood second and third, respectively.

In the triple jump event for men, athletes of Shaheed Udham Singh College, Sunam, stole honours with Ranbir Singh and his classmate Sarbdeep Singh dominating the event.

Ranbir packed enough power and punch into his run up to end up winning the gold with a jump of 14.70m mark.

Balkar Singh of National College, Bhikhi, garnered the silver with a jump of 14.51m, while young and exuberant Sarbdeep Singh showed enough glimpses of his talent by jumping to a distance of 14.49 m.

Roopneet Kaur of Malwa College of Physical Education, Bathinda, showed why she was ratted as one of the finest talents in this part of the region when she displayed good technique to win in the hammer throw event.

Roopneet threw the iron ball to a distance of 42.17 meters to annex the title.

Her dominance in the throwing event was so complete that the athlete who came second, Davinder Kaur of Morinda Physical Education College, was placed a good 3 m behind the winner. Sandeep Kaur of Sunam college brought up the rear by being placed third.

The high jump event for women was a tightly contested affair with Neeraj Rani of Akal Degree College, Mastuana, winning it with a jump of 1.54 m.

She was followed by Akhwinder Kaur of Bhagomajra Physical Education College and Rupinder Kaur of Malwa College of Physical Education, Bathinda, in that order.

Earlier, the meet was inaugurated by Beijing Olympian boxer Akhil Kumar in the presence of Punjabi University director (sports) Dr Raj Kumar Sharma.

Chandigarh, November 26
The defence lawyer, on behalf of the prosecution, today moved an application before the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Kanchan Mahi, in the jail break case wherein the defence has challenged the submission of supplementary challan when the matter is pending before the trial court. Jagtar Singh Hawara, a Babbar Khalsa terrorist, and his associates Jagtar Singh Tara and Paramjit Singh, all three accused in the murder of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, had escaped after digging a tunnel in the jail in 2004. An undertrial, Devi Singh, had also escaped.

The case was adjourned to November 28.

It was mentioned in the application that the prosecution had earlier also filed a chargesheet under Sections 121, 121-A, 221, 223, 224, 452, 457 and 120-B of the IPC against the accused including, D.S. Rana, Jagtar Singh Hawara and others, which was committed to Sessions Court. The court, after hearing the arguments on charge, had passed orders that charges were not made out under Sections 121, 121-A, 221, 223, 452 and 457 and sent back the case for trial in the court of the CJM.

The investigating agency filed a revision, challenging the orders in the Punjab and Haryana High Court but no stay was granted by the high court and the case was fixed for final arguments on January 15, 2009. Later, the investigation agency filed another application wherein a supplementary chargesheet was submitted before the court. Subsequently, the supplementary chargesheet was filed by the investigating agency in the court of the CJM.

The application stated that the prosecution agency, by filing the supplementary chargesheet before this court, was trying to seek double remedy.

Chandigarh, November 26
A local court today issued summons to municipal corporation commissioner, chief engineer and XEN (electrical) in a case filed by suspended SDO A.K. Dadwal seeking release of salary.

Dadwal, who is the prime witness in the infamous engineering department kickback case, was suspended following his arrest on May 30 by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a graft case.

According to official guidelines, a suspended employee is released 50 per cent of the salary during first six months of suspension and 75 per cent thereafter, but no salary has been given to Dadwal.

According to the complaint, the department had asked Dadwal to submit his service book that is usually with the office.

Subsequently, the department asked Dadwal to submit an affidavit that he was not working anywhere else and the salary will be released after that.

With nothing going in his favour, the complainant was literally penniless with the monthly salary not being provided to him.

He then filed a case seeking release of salary with interest.

Chandigarh, November 26
The police booked a salesman of a shop in the furniture market on charges of assaulting a lawyer. Shopkeepers in the market, on the other hand, accused the police of acting in a biased manner and registering a case against the victim under pressure.

Sources in the police said the police received information of a scuffle in the market yesterday at 3 pm.

Ram Singh, a salesman at a shop, told the police that he was slapped by advocate Raman Garg, while Garg claimed that he was assaulted by the salesman.

The police booked Ram Singh for assault and criminal intimidation on a complaint lodged by Garg.

On the other hand, Sham Lal, president of the market, told the TNS that Garg had given Rs 500 in advance for two chairs on Monday.

He came to the shop yesterday and insisted on taking the chairs. The salesman told him to pay the amount first, to which Garg took offence and entered into an argument with them.

Garg abused Ram Singh and also slapped him. At this, Ram Singh called the police and both parties reached the police station, he added.

“Both parties lodged complaints against each other and the police told us to come later,” he claimed.

“It was only later that we found out that a case had been registered against Ram Singh. The police took no notice of our complaint. We met DSP (east) Jaswant Singh Khaira, who assured us of a fair probe and said the case may be sent for cancellation,” alleged Sham Lal.

Police station-34 SHO Sudarshan Singh maintained that the police did not act under pressure and the case was dealt with only on merit.

About action on Ram Singh’s complaint, he added that the matter was being looked into.

Chandigarh, November 26
A pedestrian snatched a bag from a woman near Badheri rotary, here early this morning.

According to the police, 45-year-old Bimla of Sector 56, a sweeper in the PGI, was on her way to work when a man snatched her bag.

Mohali, November 26
A bid to take away four animals from Mataur village was foiled after the owner came to know about the crime and nabbed the alleged thieves, who were later handed over to the police.

Zirakpur, November 26
A resident of Ramgarh Bhudha was killed in a road accident near Nabha Sahib on the Zirakpur-Patiala highway this evening.

According to the police, the 44-year-old was on his way home with his friend on a bike when the hook fastening a boring machine with a tractor broke lose and the machine hit the rider. As a result, the motorcyclist fell and was run over by the machine.

The police added that the victim was taken to the Dera Bassi Civil Hosptial, where the doctor declared him brought dead. The accused fled the scene with tractor, leaving behind the machine.

A case has been registered and the police has started further investigation.

Chandigarh, November 26
The Chandigarh Golf Association, Golf Range, may very soon have a nine-hole golf course on the Sukhna choe, which runs adjacent to the range.

This became evident when the Punjab Governor and Chandigarh Administrator, Gen S.F. Rodrigues, promised to give the responsibility of developing the Sukhna choe to the CGA to develop a nine-hole teaching and practice golf course.

General Rodrigues made this announcement after inaugurating the country's first National Golf Academy of India at the CGA Golf Range here.

He hoped the NGAI would go a long way in adopting the best practices and procedures to promote the game. Calling for a change in the elitist image of the sport, General Rodrigues emphasised the need for making it broad-based with a view to tapping talent from all sections of society.

He said the time had come for us to have a hard look and come out from self-imposed constraints by breaking barriers and working for the promotion of the game as a mission.

The function this morning was attended by officials from the golf world body Royal and Ancient (R and A) of St Andrews as also the top brass of the Indian Golf Union.

CGA president T.T. Jagannathan praised the effort of the CGA in promoting the game. He said the Golf Range was the best suited for the academy.

Duncan Weir, director of Golf, Royal and Ancient, St Andrews, hoped that the academy would give India and its neighbouring countries a good number of golf teaching professionals.

Soon after the announcement by the Governor, Keith Hodgkinson, chairman Golf Development Committee, R and A, promised all help in the development of the nine-hole golf course. He presented a SAM Putt Lab to the IGU. CGA president C.S.R Reddy said when the CGA was formed it was never envisaged that so much would be achieved in such a short span of time.

Donato-de-Ponziano, vice chairman PGA of Europe who was asked by the IGU to start this programme for classifying the teaching professionals and to ensure that the teachers were exposed to the best practices in the world could not be present. His message was read out by CGA general secretary J.S. Cheema.

Keith said India had a vast potential in golf, which needed to be tapped. For this a central academy was the main link, which could produce professional teachers to hone the skills of the budding golfers. He repeatedly took the name of Dilip Thomas of India who suggested the setting up of such an academy almost three years ago.

R and A Development director Dominic Wall said Indians could become a major challenge in golf world once it puts its house in order and restructures junior golf into a truely national system.

He said: “Its time Indian Golf Union brought in coordination among different groups for a systematic growth of junior golf.”

The region’s only Grade A coach could not have asked for more. A committed coach, who has seen a number of golfers take shape under his wings, was happy that the city had become the hub of golfing activity with the opening of this academy.

Chandigarh, November 26
Rahul Ganapathy of Mysore fired a four under par 68 to take a one stroke lead on the opening day of the HUDA-GTPL-Unitech Haryana Open on the par 72 greens of the Panchkula Golf Club today.

Barely one stroke behind in the Rs 20-lakh PGTI event was Kapurthala’s Gaganjeet Bhullar who was tied second with country’s top-ranked pro Mukesh Kumar at three under par 69.

Rahul Ganapathy sank six birdies after committing a double-bogey on the par-3 second hole. After four-putting on the second, Rahul sank birdies on the sixth and seventh to draw level par at the turn.

Ganapathy fired a hat-trick of birdies on the 10th, 11th and 12th and another one on the 15th for a flawless four under back nine.

“I had a very good outing today, having made 17 regulations. The only disappointment was the double bogey on the second. My best moment today came on the 10th when my sand wedge approach shot stopped just one foot short of the pin. The course is not playing very easy even though the greens are nice and soft. This course gives you a number of opportunities to sink birdies but one needs to putt extremely well,” said Ganapathy, a three-time winner on the PGTI in the 2007-08 season.

Gaganjeet Bhullar played a par front nine birdying and bogeying twice each. But the back nine saw the Kapurthala boy in his elements as he sank four birdies, dropping a lone bogey on the 17th.

His birdies on the 11th, 12th, 15th and 16th saw him headed for the tied leader’s spot. But then a bogey on the 17th put him at tied second spot.

Mukesh Kumar began with a birdie on the first and further consolidated when he holed his sand wedge approach shot on the sixth from 100 yards out to make eagle. He then bogeyed the seventh and birdied the ninth to make the turn at three under. The professional from Mhow came up with another birdie on the 11th but lost a stroke when he bogeyed the 13th after missing a two feet putt for par.

Mukesh, the current leader on the PGTI Order of Merit, said: “I was satisfied with my eagle on the sixth but at the same time I regret having missed some easy putts. The par three holes are going to hold the key during this tournament. The par three holes here are very long and challenging and even making par on these holes would be quite creditable.” Delhi golfers Dinesh Kumar and Chiragh Kumar carded scores of two under 70 to share fourth place.

The Chandigarh quartet of Ajeetesh Sandhu, Sujjan Singh, Gurbaaz Mann and Randhir Singh Ghotra shot identical scores of one under 71 to share sixth place with five other professionals.

Mohd Siddikur Rahman of Bangladesh and Bangalore’s C Muniyappa are both tied 19th as they shot matching 73s. Chandigarh’s Harendra Gupta fired a two over 72 to lie tied 29th.

Panchkula, November 26
St Xavier’s High School, Panchkula, got the better of Holy Child School 50-40 in a well-contested boys semifinal of the third Chand Trehan Memorial Inter-School Basketball Tournament being organised by Holy Child School on its premises on the Morni Road here today.

St Xavier’s attack was spearheaded by talented Sarfraj, who topscored with 20 points.

He was given full support by Gaurav and Joshi (13). For Holy Child, Harshit gave an outstanding performance as he scored 20 points. Vinay (10), Daljinder (7), Pranshu (7) and Ishan (6) were the other principal scorers for the losers.

Earlier, Delhi Pubic School “A” team of Pinjore snuffed out the challenge of Tender Heart School 43-32 in the quarterfinal encounter.

Karan was the topscorer for the winners with 16 points. Udham contributed 12 points. Moksh (2), Uday (4) and Achal (1) were the other scorers for the winners.

Rohan was the star performer for Tender Heart School as he logged 22 points. Mohit (2), Mayank (8) also helped Tender Heart reduce the margin.

In the second quarterfinal, Holy Child School defeated Delhi Public School “B” team, Pinjore, 40-20.

Holy Child owed their triumph to Harshit who contributed 22 points. Pranshu (6), Daljinder (4), Ishan (4) and Dipan (2) also made valuable contributions.

For DPS Pinjore B team, Ankit (4), Karishna (6), Shubham (4) and Rishi (10) were the principal scorers.

Chandigarh, November 26
Around 100 players and thirteen officials of the education department of the Chandigarh administration are participating in the ongoing 54th School National Games in basketball under-17, hockey under-19, and judo under-14, 17 and 19, to be held from November 26 to December 1.

The manager of the basketball team, Parmjeet Singh, has been nominated as the general manager of the contingent.

In basketball, Amit of Guru Harkrishan Public School-38 and Sushma of IS Dev Samaj School-21 will lead the city basketball team.

Basketball boys team: Amit, Jagjeet, Mohinder, Simredeep Singh, Digvijay, Jeevtesh, Amrinder ,Ajay, Vikas, Sumit, Gurjot and Jaspreet. Coach - Amarjeet Singh and manager Parmjeet Singh.

Girls team: Shushma, Manpreet, Parminder, Neha, Smiti, Roopandeep, Naina, Neharika, Kirti, Jigmeet, Mankarwar, Amol. Coach Paramjeet Kaur and manager Navdeep Malhi

Hockey

Boys team: Harjeet Singh, Abhimanyu, Shamsher Singh, Parmjot Singh, Sandeep, Ashsish, Amritpal, Rohit Thakur, Mohit Singh, Major, Diljot, Kishanjeet, Gurpreet, Manpreet, Yatin and Vijaydeshwal.

Girls team: Mira, Sulbha, Navneet Kaur, Preeti, Manpreet Kaur, Pooja, Shivani, Himanshi, Pooja Yadav, Jagjeet Kaur, Reema, Preetsaimea Walia, Anuradha, Reena, Richa Sharma And Anu.

Coaches: Jaswinder Singh and Bahlinder Singh. Manager Parmjeet Kaur and Karnail Kaur.

Judo (under-14) boys: Vivek Singh, Sagar, Ankit, Dharminder, Vicky and Gagan.

Girls: Aanchal, Deepika Negi, Babita, Pooja, Preeti, Seema, Jyoti Das. Boys (under-17): Pankaj, Chandan, Parshuram, Govind, Pankaj, Sameer, Amrinder and Jyoti Prakash.

Girls: Babli, Reena, Sonia, Babita, Nisha, Rekha Rana, Ramneek Kaur. Boys (under-19): Ravinder, Robin, Vinay Rana, Vijay Kumar, Atul, Anil Singh, Lovish Chaudhary and Bhanupratap Girls: Namita, Nivedita, Archana,Nitu, Richa Kalra, Sapana, Vadhana and Shivani.