NEIGHBOURHOOD

CM asks PSEB to promote CFLs
Tribune News Service

Patiala, December 5
To revive ailing sugar mills of Punjab, the state government has proposed a whopping Rs 650-crore package and plans to convert these mills into mega sugar complexes.

Punjab cooperative sugar mills in the state were incurring a loss of Rs 550 crore annually. Of the total 15 sugar mills in the state, six were incurring losses.

Punjab cooperation minister Capt. Kanwaljit Singh has revealed that a Rs 650-crore package had been worked out to revive sugar mills and upgrade these into mega sugar complexes, having inbuilt power generation complexes. He said this generation of power would fetch additional revenue of Rs 200 crore per annum from this industry.

Kanwaljit said the government was well aware of the concerns of the employees of these mills and till date an amount of Rs 57 crore towards salaries and arrears of sugar cane had been released. He said efforts were on for release of remaining amount of Rs 37 crore. He said the government had completed the process of engaging technical consultants for revival of sick sugar mills and their recommendation would be implemented as soon as they come.

Attacking the erstwhile Captain Amarinder Singh-led Congress government of the state, he said the Congress government had done nothing in favour of employees of the state. He said it was the SAD-BJP government during its last term that had given a benefit of more than Rs 2,500 crore to the employees. “I will always work as an advocate of employees and would personally take up the case of demands of the employee unions,” assured the minister addressing a gathering at a function here to honour Surinder Singh Pahalwan and Harpal Singh Teja, presidents of the Mulazam Dal and Adhyapak Dal, respectively.

Other prominent leaders who addressed the function were Kirpal Singh Badungar former SGPC chief, and SAD general secretary Prem Singh Chandumajra.

Ropar, December 5
Road infrastructure in Punjab is all set for a transformation through new express ways, state highways and modernisation of existing key linkages along global standards, PWD (B&R) minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa said here yesterday.

Dhindsa was here to preside over a function held at Pharmacy College, Bela. He said the Punjab government had planned a network of Greenfield Express Ways in addition to an upgradation of the existing infrastructure.

“The scale of fiscal layout is expected to be around Rs 2500 crore,” Dhindsa added. With upgradation of this transport artery, travel time between three major towns of Punjab would be reduced by about 45 minutes, resulting in crucial savings in terms of fuel and other attendant expenditure.

He added the world class super express highway connecting Mohali International Airport with Jalandhar and Amritsar via Phagwara would be constructed. A similar super express highway would also be built between Mohali International Airport and Industrial hub in Baddi-Nalagarh (Himachal Pradesh).

Dhindsa added the road project had been divided into two phases. Under Phase I, civil works on 700 km of road length was underway. Physical works comprised of about 150 km of upgradation (3 works), 200 km of rehabilitation (6 works) and 350 km of periodic maintenance (10 works).

The works that were under the periodic maintenance have been successfully completed and rehabilitation and upgradation works are currently in the execution stage. Major works in this phase involving widening to four lanes are Ludhiana-Malerkotla-Sangrur Road and Kharar-Banur-Tepla Road.

He further said Phase II of the project would comprise of network management of about 650 km roads to be taken under output and performance-based road contracting (OPRC). This is a new form of contracting, in which payments to the contractor shall be made based upon performance of the road instead of quantity of the work executed.

The roads under this pilot shall primarily be from southern part of Punjab comprising of Sangrur, Bathinda, Mansa and Barnala districts. He also said the Punjab PWD (B&R) department had also decided to introduce a revolutionary policy of e-tendering and e-procurement to ensure transparency and accountability in functioning of the department.

The PWD (B&R) department had been included in first phase of computerisation by the IT department by introducing e-procurement.

He said computerisation of the PWD (B&R) was also a part of the World Bank funded Punjab State Road Sector Project. A budget of Rs 15 crore had been kept for computerisation in the project.

Ambala, December 5
Members of the Ambala Bar Association abstained from the courts today to press upon their demand to transfer a civil judge of Ambala court.

The lawyers have been boycotting the court of A S Nayyar, civil judge, for the past about two months. The bar alleged that the behaviour of the civil judge was not reasonable with lawyers.

S M Sharma, president of Bar, said here that the work in all courts in Ambala remained suspended as no lawyers appeared in any court. He said the Ambala Bar had also sent letters to various district bar associations of Haryana to observe a strike on November 5 in their support. He claimed that most of the Bars of the state honoured their call. He said the matter was also brought to the notice of the inspecting judge of Ambala and the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana High Court.

He said the bar had decided to boycott of mega Lok Adalat to be held on 20 and 21 December if their demand was not fulfilled. 

Ambala, December 5
A major tragedy was averted late last night after Ammonia gas reportedly leaked from the Vita milk plant in Ambala City leaving four people injured.

The incident, occurred at about midnight, is said to have happened when a pick up truck that was reversing hit the valve of a tanker containing Ammonia. The leakage was detected when many workers complained of vomiting, headache, irritation in the eyes and two fainted.

The plant was immediately shut and the injured were rushed to the Civil Hospital, Ambala, including milk loader Praveen Kumar from Kaithmajri, Amarjeet a security guard from Baldev Nagar, Vikas from Yammuna Nagar and Mohan Lal.

Panic also spread in the nearby areas of the milk plant, including Vita enclave based in Baldev Nagar as the news of the gas leak spread. People came out of their houses complaining of discomfort.

Operations at the plant were immediately stopped and were re-opened later only after a few hours.

Ropar, December 5
The 13th finance commission of Government of India visited villages in Khad Bathlaur, Kandi areas of Ropar today.

P.K. Verma, director, Government of India, headed this team comprising of five members form the finance commission. The local administration demanded more funds for the government to lay emphasis on redressing problems of people residing in the Kandi belt.

Arshdeep Singh Thind, ADC, told the team that out of 588 villages of the district, 374 villages lie in the Kandi belt. 340 of these villages have access to drinking water. The district administration has got nod from the government to provide this facility in 23 remaining villages for which Rs 690 would be spent and till 2009 these villages would have drinking water facilities.

Area residents told commission that they face problems of drinking as well as water for irrigation purposes. Wild animals in the area devour their crops and the Section 4 of Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA) has no more left them as owners of the land they inherited.

The team members called upon villagers to take benefit of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) and get the development works done.

Patiala, December 5
A fracas ensued in the general house meeting of the Municipal Corporation here, following which the meeting was deferred.

The fracas started when municipal councillor Surinder Singh Sado alleged that a senior official of the MC misbehaved with him when a team of the corporation tried to demolish his illegal construction in New Mehar Singh colony. The corporation team had tried to demolish the structure a few days ago when the MC official allegedly misbehaved with him. Taking into cognizance the frayed tempers of the councillors, the authorities formed a three-member team headed by senior deputy mayor Anil Bajaj to look into the entire incident. The team also includes assistant commissioner Nazar Singh and MC employees leader Pushpinder Pathak.

The agitating councillors said the next meeting of the general house would be convened only after the committee went into the details of the incident.

Panchkula, December 5
Residents of Amravati Enclave and adjoining villages were given a temporary relief allowing them to fill the trench to commute between the highway and their homes by National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) officials after the intervention of the local police here today.

A meeting at the office of the Panchkula superintendent of police held between the builder, local residents and NHAI project director Col K. P. Sharma, ended after the NHAI authorities reportedly allowed the builder to fill the trench on the condition that two persons would be deployed at the entry point of the locality on the highway to regulate the traffic and blinkers would also be installed. Moreover, it was also decided that the builder would fulfill all remaining formalities to require the permission to access the highway.

The access road to Amravati Enclave and over a dozen other villages in the vicinity was blocked by the National Highway Authority of India yesterday digging up a trench on the entry of colony on the Panchkula- Pinjore road for penalising the coloniser for allegedly violating the NHAI Land and Traffic Act 2002.

Sandip Khirwar, superintendent of police, was apprised of the situation by the locals, including members of the Resident Welfare Association, and sarpanches of the villages following which a meeting between the NHAI authorities and the residents was arranged at the SP office in Panchkula today.

However, the police arrangements were made to avert any kind of untoward situation in the area. Kalka deputy superintendent of police, Dayanand, said a police team visited the spot and as precautionary measures the police personnel were deployed in the area.

Managing director of Amaravati Enclave, Kulbhushan Goyal, said the matter has been sorted out and they would complete the formalities for renewal of the permission.

K.P. Sharma, however, when contacted said he had no information that the Amravati Enclave had filed any such papers with his office.

And he would take the action as per the NHAI rules and regulations in case the management failed to do the needful, added Sharma.

25 take part in campus  placement
Tribune News Service

Kharar, December 5
Three top-notch executives from Hindustan Computers Ltd (HCL) visited Guru Gobind Singh College of Modern Technology, Kharar, for conducting campus interviews of MBA students (specialisations HR and marketing), who are going to pass out 
in July 2009.

A total of 25 students appeared for the drive. After pre-placement talk, written test was conducted and as a result 16 students were shortlisted for the second round. Finally four students were declared selected
by HCL.

Besides, HCL also conducted training-cum-placement drive for BTech students of CSE, IT and ECE branches. A total of 43 students appeared for written test, out of which 36 students cleared test and 27 students gave consent for undergoing six month industrial training  with HCL.

Chandigarh, December 5
The chief judicial magistrate, Kanchan Mahi, today framed charges against Jagtar Singh Hawara in the jail break case.

The court allowed the application filed by Terminder Singh the counsel for accused D.S Rana wherein he had challenged the submission of supplementary challan in the trial court when the matter is pending before the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The case has been adjourned to December 19.

The court dropped the charges wherein he was alleged of waging against the government against Hawara.

It was mentioned in the application that the prosecution had earlier also filed 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 the sessions court. The sessions court after hearing the arguments on charge had passed order that charges are 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. 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 with request to send the case to the sessions court is trying to seek double remedy.

Jagtar Singh Hawara, a Babbar Khalsa International terrorist, and his associates Jagtar Singh Tara and Paramjit Singh, all three accused in the murder for former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, escaped after digging a tunnel in the jail in 2004. An under trial, Devi Singh, also escaped.

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, December 5@Social activist-cum-advocate Ranjana Shahi today moved the high court for directions to the Union of India, the Press Council of India and other respondents against the use of words like “Hindu terrorist” and “saffron terrorism”.

In the petition through counsel Vijay Kumar Jindal, who is also Punjab additional advocate-general, Shahi had contended the use of such words was illegal, unpatriotic and against the cultural ethos of the country.

The Bench of Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and Justice Jasbir Singh, however, dismissed the petition as alternative remedies were available.

Justice Uma Nath Singh and JUstice Daya Chaudhary today issued notice of motion on a petition against Haryana's decision to fix the price for sugarcane between Rs160 and 170 per quintal during the current crushing season. It has been claimed the decision is illegal, arbitrary and without the backing of a rational policy.

The petition for quashing the announced price has been filed by Yamuna Nagar-based Sarswati Sugar Mills, through vice-president Pankaj Malik and another.

Chandigarh, December 5
UT Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has directed the manager of Piccadily cinema hall, Sector 34, to pay a compensation of Rs 10,000 to J.K. Babbar for the inconvenience he had to face.

In his petition, J.K. Babbar, a resident of Sector 55, alleged that he and his wife went to the Piccadily cinema hall on July 29, 2007, for the evening show of a movie.

He said that the condition of seats allotted to him in the upper stall was bad and the cover of the seat was torn and some nails were protruding out due to which his shirt was torn. He alleged that the second seat was also not better. It is also alleged that the seat numbers given were of the lower stall, but he was charged for the upper stall. The staff also behaved in a rude manner after which the complainant went to meet the manager to lodge his complaint, he was not in his chamber.

The forum held, “Nevertheless, the case of the complainant is adequately proved/corroborated from the document of the Chandigarh administration as elaborated by us in the earlier part of the order. We accept the complaint and grant him compensation of Rs 10,000. However, the officials of concerned wing of administration are directed the upkeep to ensure due compliance of its directions for removal of deficiencies in the facilities/to remove the services availed by innumerable consumers.”

The forum further directed the manager to get the seats repaired. The manager didn’t depose before the forum, thus ex-parte proceedings were initiated against him.

Panchkula, December 5
Finding the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) guilty of unfair trade practice, the Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Panchkula, has directed the authority to refund the entire earnest money to a complainant with interest at the rate of 9 per cent per annum.

The court also asked HUDA to pay Rs 5,000 as compensation for mental agony and harassment caused to the complainant due to the conduct of the authority and further to pay Rs 2,000 as costs of litigation.

The order was issued by the forum consisting of quorum of Ashok Kumar Jain, president of the forum along with members Sarita Jain and Vijay Gaur.

Gagandeep Singh Kahlon, a resident of Mohali, had filed a complaint with the forum stating that he applied for allotment of 10-marla residential plot in Sector 31 of Panchkula with HUDA on February 7 last year. For this, he depositied Rs 1,54,660 as earnest money. However, he was not successful in the draw of plots. After a few days of draw when he contacted the HUDA for the refund of earnest money, he was told that a cheque in his name had alredy been dispatched to him.

On inquiries, the complainant found that his cheque was encashed by some unidentified person by opening an account in his name at a bank in Amritsar. The forum directed the chief administrator of HUDA to look into the matter and hold an enquiry and further take appropriate legal action against the defaulters. It also observed that “We are of the view that a fraud had taken place with the complainant in sending the cheque of earnest money from the public money which was not received by him and encashed by some other person”.

Chandigarh, December 5
Gurinder Singh, a jeweller in Sector 22, lodged FIR to the police alleging that two unknown persons cheated him by purchasing the gold ring with the fake credit card from his shop, yesterday.

A case has been registered under Sections 420, 120-B of the IPC at the Sector 17 police station. One accused named Mangat Singh of Patiala has been arrested from Sector 22.

Scuffle

Two groups of Faidan village were held into a minor scuffle, yesterday. The police has registered a case on the complaint filed by Karma alleging that Balkar Singh and Ajay of the same village quarrelled and threatened Karma at his residence.

Both the cases have been registered under Sections 147, 148, 149, 323, 506 of the IPC at the Sector 31 police station. The investigations are on and the police has arrested Balkar and Ajay.

Stolen

Harpreet Singh, a resident of Mohali, filed a complaint with the police alleging that his Scooter (CH-01-R-7027) was stolen from Sector 8, on November 25. A case under Section 379 of the IPC has been registered at the Sector 3 police station.

In another incident, Ashok Bakshi, of Sector 47 filed a complaint with the police alleging that his briefcase containing some important documents was stolen from his car (CH-03-Y-5176) by opening rear door, from Sector 19 today. A case under Section 379 of the IPC has been registered at Sector 26 
station.

Accident

Local police registered a case on the complaint filed by Anurag Goyal of Sector 22, alleging that Vinod Kumar of Sector 21 hit his car (CH-01-T-7065) at Sector 23, on December 3. Anurag got injuries and was admitted to GMSH-16. A case under Sections 279, 337 of the IPC has been registered at the Sector 17 police station.

Chandigarh, December 5
A snatcher, namely Mangat Singh, attempted suicide by cutting his wrist nerve in the Sector 17 police station this evening.

According to SHO Ramesh Chand, “Mangat ( 26 ), cut his wrist nerve by rubbing a thread repeatedly. Mangat procured the thread from a mat lying inside the cell”.

He was found bleeding by sentry, who immediately apprised the senior officials of the incident, he added.

Mangat was taken to the GMSH, Sector 16, for the treatment.

“I felt insulted with my arrest, so I wanted to kill myself”, the SHO said, while quoting Mangat.

The SHO said Mangat was a drug addict. Because he did not get drugs, so he took this step.

Mangat, a dairyman by profession, was arrested by the police on the charges of snatching a purse of a Mohali-based woman yesterday and was nabbed later from the Sector 22 market. His accomplice Kaaku managed to flee from the spot. He was produced in a local court today, which sent him to the police remand for one day.

The police has registered another case under Section 309 of the IPC against Mangat while Kaaku is still absconding. 

Chandigarh, December 5
Liquor smuggling is emerging as a major challenge for the Chandigarh Police with as many as 210 cases being registered in this regard so far this year.

On an average, this amounts to two cases being registered every third day.

If this is the quantum of reported cases, one can imagine the gravity of the unreported cases of the liquor smuggling in the city.

The huge difference in the prices prevailing in the city and the neighbouring states attracts the bootleggers to this lucrative illegal business.

If the cost of a bottle of ‘X’ brand is Rs 250 here, it costs around Rs 380 in Mohali and Rs 280 in Panchkula. When one purchases in bulk the difference would be even higher. There is also a big difference in tax structure that led the rates much cheaper in the city than in its neighbouring states. Here the VAT is four per cent in comparison of 12.4 per cent in Punjab.

According to the sources, the smuggled consignments not only go to the neighbouring states like Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab but also go to many far-fetched states, including Rajasthan and dry state Gujarat.

“Interestingly, the maximum quantity of smuggled liquor goes to Gujarat, where they (the smugglers) sell it on very high prices”, said a local liquor contractor preferring anonymity.

“Many big players along with handful of local liquor contractors are involved in the bootlegging. Being professional they do everything to give shape to their nefarious deeds,” he added.

The claim gets support from the fact that the local police has seized oil tankers, milk tankers and even ambulance many a time while carrying the illegal consignments.

About their modus operandi, the police revealed that the smugglers have also ‘settings’ with some of the local contractors here in the city.

“They pick the liquor in huge quantities by paying nominal profits (Rs 20-25 per case) to the contractors and smuggle it. These players also hired godowns and other plots out of the city to put their consignments. Even some transporters are also linked with the smugglers. They charge hefty amount as charges to provide the transportation for such consignments”, claimed the police official.

One more reason behind the rising incidents of smuggling is that there is no quota system for the contractors in the city.

“In absence of any quota, a contractor can sell as much liquor. This is also one of the reasons of smuggling”, said another contractor.

Panchkula, December 5
While the Chandigarh police claimed to have registered 210 cases of smuggling of liquor from UT to other areas of the country, the smuggling has been increased to an alarming rate as the Panchkula excise and taxation department has seized 45 consignments of contraband till now this year.

The sources in the excise department revealed that while around 50 cases of smuggling of liquor were detected last year, the number in the current year is expected to touch a much higher level.

While a total of 3,359 cases of Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) were seized in the year 2007-08, 9,500 cases have already been confiscated till now, said the sources. In addition to 145 cases of the country-made liquor, 594 cases of beer were also seized.

In fact the smugglers keep on changing the route to other states with the change in security scenario. Quoting reasons behind the smuggling, the sources said there was no limit on the sale quota of liquor at the vends of Chandigarh, while in other parts of the country the liquor contractors were provided with a fixed quota of liquor for sale.

Panchkula, December 5
A 38-year-old woman was arrested by the local police for forcing her minor children into theft at a marriage party here today.

The accused, identified as Wohbhee of Azad Colony, was later produced at the local court from where she was sent to the police remand till December 13.

Earlier, the police had arrested her two children on Wednesday, who were bailed out yesterday only. The children told the police that they handed over the purse carrying cash and jewellery worth Rs 10 lakh to their mother.

The two committed theft in a marriage ceremony at a Sector 10 rented house.

The police said the duo used to reach parties well-dressed and then used to commit thefts of jewellery or cash.

The case was registered on the complaint of Mona, an NRI, who was here to attend the marriage of her brother.

Chandigarh, December 5
The alleged kidnappers of a seven-year-old, Japjit Singh of Sector 38-West, frustrated every move of the police to nab them in the act. They virtually outsmarted the police team and made away with a ransom amount on November 29.

The police today, however, claimed it had recovered the entire ransom amount of Rs 3.35 lakh from the accused. Meanwhile, a local court today remanded the accused, Prem Singh, Sandeep, Vishal and Sahil to the judicial custody.

Police sources informed TNS that the kidnappers outsmarted a team of policemen, including two deputy superintendents of police, in the entire episode.

It is learnt that though DSP (CID) Satbir Singh and DSP (south) Jaswant Singh Khaira, who were supervising the rescue operation of Japjit, were receiving minute-to-minute information about the activities of the kidnappers, but they also failed to nab them.

The kidnappers, who were regularly in touch with the victim’s father, Surjit Singh, they kept him talking to them for over an hour.

A team of policemen was following the car, in which Surjit Singh was travelling with a bag containing ransom amount of Rs 3.35 lakh. A senior police officer said the accused had planned that they would ask Surjit to drop the bag containing the money from the Railway Bridge near Kalagram, when the train passed under it to make their escape easy.

Moreover, it was not easy to go down to the railway track quickly after stopping the car on the busy road.

After sometime Surjit Singh got a call from them to take his son from Matka Chowk.

The police, however, claimed it did not make efforts to nab the kidnappers, as its priority was the safety of the child.

Any misadventure could harm the child, which the police deliberately avoided as per the directions of the superiors.

The scheme of tracking the kidnappers through their mobile call details proved futile to the police. The accused remained elusive to the police even through mobile phones, as they did not prolong their call on a single sim card, which might have revealed their location to the cops.

Chandigarh, December 5
Prem, a rickshaw-puller in his mid-thirties, was found dead under mysterious circumstances near needle Factory in Phase I, Industrial Area, this morning.

The body bore several injury marks, however, the police said the injuries suggested that the victim was run over by some vehicle in a hit-and-run accident.

The death came to light at around 8:30 am when some passerby informed the police control room about a body lying near a boundary wall of a school in Colony Number 4. The SHO of the Industrial area police station, Yashpal Sharma, said the victim had an injury on the left side of his jaw, he had several bruises on his right shoulders and on back. He, however, stated the injuries were not inflicted by any sharp-edged weapon. The SHO added that in the probability the victim was run over by a vehicle.

The police contacted Ayub in the village, who said the victim, Prem, was living as a tenant in his house about two months back. He said Prem had come to him requesting him to rent a room to him, as he had none, Prem went back. The SHO said Prem hailed from Hoshiarpur district in Punjab and was living alone in the city. Meanwhile, the body has been shifted to the GMCH-16 for a postmortem. A case has been registered in this regard.

Chandigarh, December 5
Ranjodh will lock horns with Sachin Kumar in the final of the ongoing YMCA Total Tennis Championship, which is being played on the YMCA Total Tennis Academy premises, Sector 11.

Other finalists were decided in the boys’ under-10 sections.

In the first semi-final, it was a smooth sailing for the top seed, Sumit Pal Singh of J&K, as he thrashed his opponent Sameer Vats in straight sets by conceding just two games in 45 minutes.

The score was read in the favour of the top seed, Sumit 4-0, 4-2.

In the boys’ under-12 age category, Sachin Kumar, Param Pun, Utkarsh Khosla and Paramveer Bajwa reached into the semi-finals, beating Sahil Rawat, Divyansh Pandey, Sumit Pal Singh and Vishu, respectively.

Results:

Boys’ under-10 quarterfinals:Sumit Pal Singh bt Viksit Verma 8-1;

Sameer Vats bt Adish Bansal 8-1;

Paramveer Bajwa bt Dishant Verma 8-0; Param Pun bt Ankrish 8-4.

Boys’ under-10 semi-finals: Sumit Pal Singh bt Sameer Vats 4-0, 4-2; Param Pun bt Paramveer Bajwa 4-1, 1-4, 5-3.

Boys’ under-12 quarterfinals: Sachin Kumar bt Sahil Rawat 8-1; 

Param Pun bt Divyansh Pandey 8-4; Utkarsh Khosla bt Sumit Pal Singh 8-4; Paramveer Bajwa w/o Vishu.

Boys’ under-14 semi-finals: Sachin Kumar w/o Ranjit Singh; Ranjodh Singh bt Nishat Eqbal 3-1(conc).

Boys’ under-16 quarterfinals: Parminder Singh bt Ameer Singh 8-2; Ravisher Singh bt Arshbuland Aulakh 8-6; Andrew Pardeep bt Nishat Eqbal 8-6; Aviraj Kamboj bt Shubham 
Vij 8-0.

Boys’ under-18 semi-finals: Amardeep Singh bt Sunil Kaushik 6-3, 5-7, 6-3; Aviraj Kamboj bt Saurav 6-1, 6-2.

Girls’ under-10 quarterfinals: Prinkle Singh bt Ishdeep Singh 6-2; Seerat Sidhu bt Vaidehi Bagrodia 6-0; Shea Bhasin bt Kriti 6-5 (3); Shreya Bali bt Anchal 
Mittal 6-1.

Girls’ under-12 semi-finals: Nikita Bisnoi bt Shreya Bali 6-0; Nehmat Aulakh bt Prinkle Singh 6-0.

Girls’ under-14 semi-finals: Madhushahi bt Nehmat Aulakh 6-3;

Samridhi Lodha bt Nikita Bisnoi 6-4. 

Mohali, December 5
The Doon International Soccer Cup Tournament concluded on the soccer ground of Doon International School here today with a closely contested final match between Doon International, Mohali, and St Xaviers, Chandigarh, the teams that emerged winners of the two semi-finals.

In the first semi-final, the host team, Doon International School, convincingly beat St Kabir- Chandigarh by 5-1, while the second semi-final was a close match, in which St Xavier’s-Chandigarh defeated IPS, Kurali, by 5-4.

The nail-biting final was played today between the host team and St Xavier’s, Chandigarh. The show was stolen by Doon International, which gave a tough time to St Xavier’s in an exciting battle. During the match, the host team, Doon International School, registered a convincing 2-1 win over St Xavier’s, Chandigarh, in a tie-breaker culminating in penalty shoots.

Chandigarh, December 5
Twenty-year-old Ajeetesh Sandhu of Chandigarh slipped to tied fourth spot carding a two over par 72 to be four under 208 as Delhi's Shamim Khan maintained his lead at 10 under 202 on the penultimate day of the Rs 20 lakh TATA Open PGTI event in Jamshedpur today.

Shamim Khan gave a steady display shooting a two under par 68, while yesterday's record breaker Mandeo Singh Pathania carded a one under par 69 to be second at seven under 205. Kolkata's Shankar Das was tied third at five under 207 (67-73-67).

On Friday the entire field (divided into two) played nine holes each on Beldih and Golmuri courses. They then switched courses for the return nine. The par for the combined courses was 70. The same format will be followed on Saturday.

Shamim Khan (68, 66, 68), who is currently fourth on the PGTI Order of Merit, held on to his overnight lead despite having a mixed day on Friday. He made birdie-bogey-birdie on the second, third, fourth and then had a bogey-birdie on the sixth and seventh to make the turn at one under. Two more birdies followed for him on the 11th and 13th.

The 30-year-old from the Del close at two under.

Mandeo Singh Pathania (75, 61, 69), who scorched the greens with a record-breaking 61 yesterday, could muster a one under today and for the first time was placed as high as second heading into the final round of a PGTI event. The Greater Noida big hitter trails Shamim by three strokes.

C. Muniyappa and Ajeetesh Sandhu are both one stroke behind Shankar Das in tied fourth place. Chandigarh's Harendra Gupta and Feroz Ali Mollah shared the sixth place at three under 209.

Mukesh Kumar, the defending champion and current leader on the PGTI Order of Merit, was tied 13th with a total of one under 211. His four under 66 was the best score of round three.

Ajeetesh conceded three bogeys against a single birdie for his two over par performance (64-72-72-204) and will have to play really well on the final day tomorrow to get back into contention.

Harendra Gupta had a good front nine firing four birdies against a lone bogey to be three under 31 at the turn. The back nine saw him drop a bogey on the 14th for a two under card (71-70-68).

The other city golfers in the fray are Uttam Singh Mundy (tied eighth at 67-74-69-210), Harmeet Kahlon (tied 15th at 72-69-71-212), Sujjan Singh (tied 22nd at 74-71-69-214), A.S. Lehal (tied 25th at 72-68-75-215) and Ranjit Singh (tied 28th at 68-78-70-216).

Chandigarh, December 5
Gauri Monga could not have asked for more. The 15-year-old Delhi girl clinched the 16th Punjab Open Ladies Amateur Golf title by a whopping margin of 10 strokes and wrapped it up with junior title to make it a grand double at the Chandigarh Golf Club greens here today.

It was a virtual cakewalk for the Class IX student of Sri Ram College as she continued to increase her lead with no other golfer coming anywhere near her gross score.

Gauri, 12-stroke leader overnight, took things easy on the final day. After firing a fabulous birdie on the fourth, she bogeyed thrice to be two over par at the turn. Another two over on the back nine saw the Delhi teenager finish with a four over par 76 for a final tally of nine over 297.

Shreya Ghei, who trailed the leader by 12 strokes, tried a late charge with a par game at the turn. Shreya sank a birdie on the first of the back nine. But that is where the charge ended. As Shreya finished with a two over back-nine for a two over par 74 card and an overall score of 307.

Meher Atwal edged past Neha Tripathi and Shweta Galande to claim third place. In the Silver Division, local 13-year-old Ekam J. Singh held on to her lead to win from Amrita Sarna. Bela Phadke had a facile win in the Bronze Division with the youngest competitor in the field, 10-year-old Seher Atwal claiming second place. Vani Kapoor carded the best score of the day at one over par.

Sponsored by Som Datt Builders, the Punjab Open event attracted top lady amateur golfers from all over the country.

Final Results:

Championship Bowl (0-12): Gauri Monga 297, Shreya Ghei 307, Mehar Atwal 314, Neha Tripathi 315.

Silver Salver (0-12) Nett: Vani Kapoor 290, Aakrati Singh 355.

Challenge Bowl (13-24): Ekam J. Singh 353, Amrita Sarna 355. Nett--Rashmi Dhaon 296, Meher 
Dhillon 296.

Bronze Plate (25-36): Gross--Bela Phadke 385, Seher Atwal 407. Nett--Seerat Grewal 298, Neelu Chopra 303.

Junior Shield (under-18 years): Gross--Gauri Monga 297; Nett--Gurjot Badwal.

Sub-junior Trophy (under-14 years): Gross--Gurbani Singh 318, Nett--Ekam J. Singh 293.

Daily prizes: Best gross--Vani Kapoor (gold division) 73, Rashmi Dhaon (silver division) 87, Seher Atwal (bronze division) 99. Best stableford--Akrati Singh (gold division) 38 points, Ekam J. Singh (silver division) 38 points, Bela 
Phadke (bronze division) 
35 points.

Chandigarh, December 5
Abhishek and Pranay were adjudged best athletes in the under-12 age category during annual sports day of the senior school of St John’s High School that held here today.

While in the under-14 age group, Vardaan Arora and Birender Thapa clinched the first place, in under-16 age group, Rochan Kakkar and Jagrit Pathania bagged the first honours.

About 1,000 boys from the senior wing participated in various events. The best part of the whole event was the breathtaking equestrian display and the mass drill by the students of the senior school.

In the march past event, Br Morrissey house got the best march past house trophy and Br O’Keeffee house got the runners-up house trophy. While the Br Rice house won the runners-up house participation trophy, Br Crease house got the overall winning house trophy.

Chandigarh, December 5
Cadet Hema K.C. from No 1 Chandigarh Naval NCC unit and a student of MCM DAV College for Women here has won a gold medal in the team event and silver medal in the individual’s category of 50 m rifle three-position women’s event at the 4th South Asian Shooting Championship held at Islamabad, Pakistan.

Hema was deputed from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh, NCC directorate, to Islamabad to take part on the said event. Shooting teams from five countries, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal, participated in the competition.

On her return from Pakistan, the performance and effort of the cadet was appreciated by Brigadier Rajendra Singh, deputy director general, NCC. She was trained by Col M.S. Chauhan, commander, NCC Group, Chandigarh.

Chandigarh, December 5
Continuing their winning spree, Ramgarhia Girls College, Ludhiana, got the better of GGS College for Women, Chandigarh, 4-2 home runs today in a league match of the ongoing Panjab University Inter-College Softball (Women) Tournament here on PU grounds.

It was once again the team effort of the Ramgarhia College that did the trick for them. Loveneet, Harkamal, Gagandeep and Luxmi, all scored 1 home run each to steer their team to an easy win. For GGS Suman and Latesh were the only scorers to provide some respite with 1 home run each.

The second league match of the day was hotly contested with Guru Nanak Girls College, Ludhiana, finding it hard to defeat Guru Nanak Khalsa College for Women, Ludhiana, 6-5 home runs.

Amandeep and Manjeet were the top scorers of the winning team. Baljinder and Sandeep were the other scorers for them. While for Guru Nanak Khalsa College, Arshi, Amanjeet, Amandeep, Daljit and Amanjot, all scored 1 home run each to give tough competition to their rival.