Ludhiana, December 27
The elections to the 60 seats, which remained vacant during the elections to the panches of gram panchayats in Ludhiana district in June this year, are likely to be held on January 18, 2009.

According to information, the filing of nominations will start on January 1, and the last date for filing the papers will be January 6. The nominations will also be submitted on January 3, which is a public holiday. The sources said the nominations would be scrutinised by the officials on January 7, and the candidates could withdraw their candidature by January 8. They added that the whole process of electing the panches would be completed by January 21.

However, the schedule for filing, scrutinising and withdrawing of nominations will not be held in cases where re-poll is being held or election is being held on the basis of the nomination papers already filed.

Interestingly, out of the 60 seats for which various villages will go for polls, 50 are reserved for the SC, women and SC women. These seats remained vacant either due to non-filing of nomination papers or non-polling of votes. While a few of them also remained vacant due to the cancellation or rejection of the nomination papers.

The sources said most of the vacant seats were in Ludhiana-II, which were 21 in number, and were reserved for the SC and SC women. If they again failed to get any response for these seats, the places would be made unreserved.

The number of vacant seats in various blocks are: 6 in Raikot, 7 each in Khanna and Machhiwara, 4 in Pakhowal, one each in Sidhwan Bet and Jagraon, and two each in Dehlon, Sudhar and Samrala blocks.

Ludhiana, December 27
The district transport department (DTO), which claims to generate maximum revenue in the state through auctioning of fancy numbers, got a shot in the arm during the recent auction held at Nehru Siddhant Kendra here yesterday. The entire hall gave a deserted look as just a few people turned to get the special numbers. The numbers, which earlier were sold to the tune of lakhs of rupees, were allotted to people in few thousand bucks. Though department officials claim to have generated more than Rs 17 lakh through the auction but the amount is much less as compared to the previous auctions.

The highest bidding number in the PB 10 CG series was 0007, which fetched the department Rs 95,000. Number 0001, which, otherwise was allotted for more than Rs 3.5 lakh in the previous auctions, was given for just Rs 62,000 this time. The department had to auction more than 1,500 numbers from the series PB 10 CD, CE, BC, BS, etc. but just 380 applications came for the recent auction. Due to poor response by the bidders, the officials were not able to auction more than 250 fancy numbers.

Jatin, a bidder, who has got two special numbers for his vehicles in previous auctions conducted by the department, said people had become wise in the present times. Though there is no dearth of money in the city and the show-off culture is at the peak, still people seem to have understood not to spend their hard-earned money on such things. "The craze for getting important numbers remain for a few days, nobody even looks at your number plate after a certain time. It is better to invest money from where you get good returns", he stressed.

Chander Gaind, DTO, when asked about the poor show in the recent auction said many factors were responsible and the overall recession was a major reason. Secondly, more than 1,500 numbers were to be auctioned and the department had received a handful of applications. "The other reason could be that people were interested to get numbers in the fresh series but the auction of the numbers from previous other series was also conducted. The bidders did not show much enthusiasm in getting numbers from the old series. Still we were able to generate good amount of Rs 17 lakh", said Gaind. Next auction was expected to be conducted after a month, he added.

Ludhiana, December 27
The car of a relative of a SAD councillor allegedly hit two motor cycle-borne youths, injuring them seriously near the Ludhiana Club here this afternoon. The car driver was identified as Akshay Oswal (20), who is said to be the nephew of SAD councillor Ruchi Jain.

According to onlookers, the youth was at a high speed, which resulted in the accident. The victims were identified as Varun and Sahmmi, both working in a bank. They were heading for some official work when the Indica Car, coming from the Guru Nanak Stadium side, hit their motor cycle.

Both youths received multiple injuries and were rushed to a neuro hospital, where the condition of the youths was stated to be serious.

However, the youth driving the car has been nabbed by the police.The police was taking the statement of the victim till the filing of this report.

Ludhiana, December 27
The global meltdown will affect the placement of Indian doctors in UK as a large number of European doctors are coming to England, who will be given preference, observed Dr Irving Taylor, professor of surgery at the medical school of the University College, London. Dr Irving is in the city to attend 68th annual conference of the Association of Surgeons of India.

A large number of professionals are losing their jobs in foreign lands, which will affect the doctors in Europe sooner or later, thus the hospitals and universities will give the preference to European doctors over the doctors from the countries including India, said Dr Irving, who is president of the European Society of Surgical Oncology (ESSO).

The Surgeon is here to deliver a lecture on the “modern management of colorectal liver metastes”, which is spreading of colorectal cancer in liver. "The disease is common in Western countries and can be treated with surgery and chemotherapy, depending on the diagnostic stage," the surgeon said.

He termed the genetic factors and environmental factors as the major causes of the colorectal cancer, adding that it is possible to lower the incidence of this disease through high fibre diet.

Sharing his experiences as a regular visitor to India, Dr Irving said: "My visit to Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and various other states was a pleasure as the beauty of India lies in its diversity."

A cricket buff, the surgeon expressed his elation over the successful cricket Test series between India and England despite the Mumbai terror attacks, adding, "The incident brought back the trauma that we faced in London in 2005, and it hurt to see the destruction and bloodshed at the Taj that happens to be my favourite hotel. But, the cricket match was an answer to the terrorist outfits, which are trying to play havoc with the psychology of the global community."

Mullanpur Dakha, December 27
Chief Minister of Punjab, Parkash Singh Badal, yesterday laid the foundation stone of the new advance grain market being developed over 37.87 acre of land with a whopping cost of Rs 23.39 crore. The development of the grain market will be the joint efforts of the market committee, Mullanpur, the Punjab Mandi Board and the directorate of marketing and inspection scheme (DMI scheme). Under the DMI scheme, 12 advance grain markets will be developed all over Punjab at the expense of Rs 166.52 crore.

The Chief Minister also announced a development grant of Rs 45 crore for the development of the Dakha constituency, including Rs 24 crore for the grain market, Rs 7.27 crore for the water supply schemes, Rs 8 crore for the repair of roads and Rs 1.70 crore for the construction of new link roads. S Badal wooed voters on the basis of the development work done during his tenure and sought their support in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in a big way.

Ludhiana, December 27
A bill of around Rs 1.67 lakh for the work undertaken in 1981 comes to the Finance and Contracts Committee (F&CC) for approval on December 26, 2008. And that too recommended by all officials involved at both lower and senior levels.

Don't be surprised. This is what happened in the F&CC meeting here yesterday. Interestingly, the bill was passed during the last F&CC meeting and had come this time for final approval. Call it "extra-intelligence" of the municipal officials or "vigil" of the F&CC members that it was caught.

According to information, the contractor had done some construction of drains and the payment was yet to be made as per the copy of agenda that was supplied to the F&CC members, which included mayor Hakam Singh Giaspura, senior deputy mayor Praveen Bansal and municipal commissioner G.S. Ghuman.

It was a sudden look by some of the committee members that the matter was highlighted and referred to the legal cell of the municipal corporation.

It is not for the first time that the F&CC had received bills which were pending for 10 to 15 years. Many instances have come to fore like this, but this was unique, as the bill was more than 25 years old.

Besides, the F&CC has been getting various proposals of making payments to various contractors on compassionate grounds. Another proposal which came during this meeting yesterday was paying money to Greenline Advertisers for an agreement that was done in 1999 and the matter is still sub judice. However, sources revealed that the matter had been kept pending for the time being.

Ludhiana, December 27
Finally sticking to its word on holding the F&CC meeting every Friday, the committee members, which included mayor Hakam Singh Giaspura, senior deputy mayor Praveen Bansal and municipal commissioner G.S. Ghuman, held a meeting here yesterday.

Sources said the F&CC had decided to give advertising rights to one company in return for Rs 3 crore. Interestingly, the decision was taken after senior deputy mayor Bansal had raised a lot of hue and cry that giving advertising rights on a meagre sum of Rs 1.5 crore would be a huge loss to the civic body.

According to sources, there were around 50 proposals for discussion but the main topics which ruled the meeting were contract for advertisements, auction of multi-storeyed parking at Mata Rani Chowk and decorative lights on the stretch between the Jagraon Bridge to Ferozepur Road. An amount of around Rs 1.5 crore would be spent on it.

The meeting, which started at 4 pm and continued till around 6.30 pm, witnessed brain-storming sessions, with various members holding discussions and critically analysing the issues coming for approval.

Apart from this, other decisions which were taken at the meeting were asking various safai karamchari unions to vacate the rooms that have been taken by them in the municipal offices and new allotments.

Besides, the reserved auction prices for multi-storeyed parking at Mata Rani Chowk and Feroze Gandhi market, too, have been reduced. The new price for Mata Rani Chowk parking is Rs 20 lakh, while that of Feroze Gandhi Market has been decided to be Rs 60 lakh. The decisions came after the municipal corporation failed to find any contractors during auctions.

Besides, the municipal corporation would be soon leaving papers and switching over to computers, as the whole system would be made computerised.

Ludhiana, December 27
It was hard work of nearly four years, which helped 21-year-old Mohitinder Bawa of Chandigarh, win the coveted crown of Miss World Punjaban. She has done a lot of hard work and research before she finally won the title. She spent last three years reading books on Punjabi culture and even visited some of the rural fairs to get a real look of the Punjabi culture.

A final year student of B Tech at RIMT, Mandi Gobindgarh, Bawa is committed to devote her life to social servicing. "I will raise my voice against female foeticide and try to educate public against the same. The rural folks need to be educated a lot in this regard," she adds.

She has grown up seeing her mother giving giddha tips to girls. "My mother is a giddha instructor and she always inspired me towards this folk dance. She is my mentor and I have learnt giddha from her," she adds with a smile.

"Apart from reading books on the culture, I use to visit my village and fairs and what I came to know about the Punjab's culture and traditions during these years was absolutely out of the world," she adds.

Further she said no doubt foreigners were always bowled over by the rich Punjabi culture as it was so rich and varied. "But it is very sad to see that youngsters are moving towards the western culture and forgetting the rich culture of Punjab. We should adopt the good things from the west but should never go away from our own culture which is very rich and varied," she adds. Apart from Miss World Punjaban she has also won titles like "Dee Punjab di" and "Rani Tiranjana di".

Mohitinder Bawa would be the Nilibar's brand ambassador for the year 2009. Sonu Nilibar, owner of Nilibar, informed that Mohitinder Bawa would be shooting a TV commercial for the store.

Jagraon, December 27
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today categorically said that the SAD-BJP alliance would contest the coming Lok Sabha elections only on the poll plank of development and performance.

The Chief Minister addressed a series of massive public rallies at Jagraon, Mullanpur Dakha and Latala as part of his tour. Badal declared an electoral war against the Congress party and asserted that nobody could deter the SAD-BJP alliance from capturing all 13 parliamentary seats in the state.

On the occasion, Badal disbursed Rs 6.86 crore for various development projects in the Jagraon assembly constituency. Out of this, Rs 3 crore had been earmarked for the development of Jagraon and Rs 3.36 crore for the development of 80 villages in this constituency. Besides, he also announced a development grant of Rs 25 lakh each for the construction of sub-tehsil complex at the Sidhwan Bet and tehsil complex at Jagraon and in addition to this, he also announced a grant of Rs 7.15 crore for the repair of 114 km of road and Rs 2.45 crore for the construction of 17 km of new roads in Jagraon.

The Chief Minister also announced a development grant of Rs 45 crore for the development of the Dakha constituency including Rs 24 crore for grain market, Rs 7.27 crore for water supply schemes, Rs 8 crore for repair of roads and Rs 1.70 crore for constructions of new link roads. He also laid the foundation stone of new grain and vegetable market.

At Latala, the Chief Minister sanctioned grants worth Rs 30 crore and disbursed cheques of Rs 5 crore among village panchayats for the development works in the Qila Raipur constituency.

Ludhiana, December 27
With the coming of globalisation, the present socio-economic milieu has changed the modern society tremendously. It has impacted generation Y (younger) the maximum. Parents are also having a tough time in handling the young ones and youngsters also have developed a materialistic outlook. Children are the prize possession of the parents as almost every parent has got one or two children and they keep on doting around them.

Hargunjot working as a college lecturer says that her 5-year-old son is demanding and is smart enough to get his demands fulfilled. She said, "If you say no to him, he also rebuffs back saying that when he grows up, he would also not give anything to them." He is fussy about cars and always insists that he should be ferried to school in a big car. It is not only the competition of the cars among the peer group but even in small things also children spend a lot. Instead of getting a pencil box for Rs 10, he would go in for a pencil box costing Rs 250. She further said neither the over indulgent parents had a heart to say “no” nor the generation Y would accept a “no”.

Gurpreet, whose daughter is studying in class X says, "My daughter is very friendly with me. I have given her a mobile, but she has never misused it." She said her daughter's friend who has got very strict parents, keeps telling lies and misuses her daughter's mobile. Her daughter also believes that if the parents impose restrictions, the children are likely to go astray.

The mother feels that instead of being strict, the parents should try to bring the children round by convincing and suggesting them, not imposing restrictions.

The parents should devote time to the children and should not compromise on values. Childhood is an impressionistic age and the parents have to tackle the child taking into consideration his whims and fancies, likes and dislikes and channelise his energies in a positive direction.

Ludhiana, December 27
Come winters, groundnut becomes the main food of all programmes, be it a bonfire party, chat session in the college or leisure hours in the office. However, this year will be conspicuous with its absence from most of the programmes.

Reason is not hard to figure. With a price hike of Rs 10 since last year, groundnut is no longer poor man's cashew nut, as it is popularly known.

With winter at its peak, demand for groundnut rises manifolds, and so does its price. Available at Rs 55 per kg, it has gone out of reach of the common man.

"Groundnut is the favourite food during winters and is relished by one and all, be it the rich or poor, young or old. However, this year, the price of groundnut is skyrocketing. If things continue to be the same, then what once used to be the favourite time-pass for commoners, will soon become a luxury for the elite," says Romila Bedi, who works with an MNC.

Ghanshyam Gupta, a local groundnut seller who runs his trade in Model Town, says: "Every year, the price of groundnut rises by anything between Rs 3 and 5. However, this year, it has become costlier by Rs 10, because of a gap between its demand and supply. All local sellers get groundnut from Rajasthan, and this year, due to the global economic meltdown, trickling down to the domestic market, the supply as well as the pricing have been affected, thus affecting the demand."

He adds that due to the rise in price of the groundnut, gachak has also become dearer by as much as Rs 10 per 300 g. "Rewari has also become costlier by Rs 10 per 500 g."

Sunder, another groundnut seller of the city, says: "This is the peak time of sales every year. But this time, sale of groundnut has dipped by almost 40 per cent with the price rising by Rs 10-15 per kg."

He remarks that now the poor would not be able to have groundnut to keep warm during winters. "While the rich have dry fruits during winters to keep warm, groundnut was known to be the poor's dry fruit, primarily because it was very affordable and provided the much-needed warmth during chilly days and nights. However, it has now become a luxury food, which only the well-to-do can afford."

Ludhiana, December 27
Lt-Col Chanan Singh Dhillon (retired), president, Indian Ex-Services League, Punjab and Chandigarh, has again been invited to the UK by British members of Parliament (MPs) to discuss the issue of granting recognition/compensation to veterans of World War II. The British parliament has been discussing the issue for the past sometime and Colonel Dhillon has already paid two visits to the UK in this connection.

According to the communication received by Colonel Dhillon, John McDonnel, MP, has said, “Ministry of Defence (MOD) official Mary Burt discussed with me the process that we will have to go through to secure a recognition scheme for these veterans”.

They will need to ensure that there were adequate records of war time services and the period in which these veterans were prisoners of war (POWs). “It has now been confirmed that records are held at the Imperial War Museum, the MOD and individual regiments,” he has said.

McDonnel has invited Colonel Dhillon to visit the UK and meet members of the All-Party Parliamentary Punjabi in Britain Group. He will seek a meeting with the minister in January or February.

Colonel Dhillon said on Wednesday that at least 90 British MPs had extended support to the cause of extending recognition to the war veterans.

He said he was in favour of getting compensation for the war veterans (living or their descendents) directly and not through any government agency. More than 30,000 Army personnel had been taken POWs in North Africa during World War II.

Ludhiana, December 27
The importance of yoga towards the overall personality development was central to deliberations on the second day of the ongoing “Healthy Youth for Healthy India” NSS camp at SCD Government College in Daad village near here yesterday.

Dr Dharam Singh from the Bhartiya Yog Sansthan spoke on various aspects of yoga in aiding human development.

He demonstrated various “asanas” to enhance memory skills and for healthy eye-sight.

Prof P.S.Grewal and Prof B.S.Wadhwa, programme coordinators, dwelt on their personal gains from yoga exercises towards overall development, self-realisation and peace of mind.

Sarpanch Sukhdeep Singh and other village elders were also present on the occasion.

Ludhiana, December 27
Even the Mumbai terror fails to deter the spirits of this Ludhiana lad, who is all set to join a hotel industry in Canada. Deepak Bhatt, a student of an institute for airhostess training, will be joining Tim Hotel at Calgary.

After doing a diploma in aviation and hospitality, he is ready for his new job. "I am very excited for my new job and have a contract of three years," he adds.

Deepak has also worked at a pizza outlet for a brief period.

"Working at the pizza outlet was a good experience. I learnt a lot while working there," he adds. Apart form this, time management was what he learnt while working there and it helped him a lot.

Talking about the recent Mumbai terror attacks he added that one cannot stop working because of such incidents. It can happen anywhere. "I have kept my fingers crossed and will be flying off to Canada on December 29," adds Deepak with a smile.

Ludhiana, December 27
The year 2008 has been a mix bag of success and failures for the city police.

As the police is heading towards major infrastructural changes with the coming New year, the 2008 has seen an increase in the petty crimes.

Here are some of the important happenings, which made considerable impact in 2008.

Traffic

As the traffic police got tough with traffic rules offenders, the police challaned more than 1,34,634 violators this year with special focus on black filming, red-light jumping, without number plate driving, driving without wearing a seatbelt and driving while listening to mobile phone in the year 2008. This is almost twice the number of vehicles challaned last year. In 2007, only 63,790 vehicles were challaned.

The police focused on the vehicles causing pollution, wrong parking and even challaned those who overtook others from the wrong side or were caught in the wrong lane.

SP traffic Rupinder Singh said innovative steps coupled with stringent action taken by the traffic police bore fruit for the police.

The police made little effort to curb growing number of red beacon vehicles in the city.

Call it a political influence, but the police has only challaned nine vehicles for carrying red beacon vehicles.

Road accidents

This year has witness a considerable decrease in the road accidental deaths as against 363 deaths last year. Only 253 deaths have been reported in the city so far. However, the traffic police had made some makeshift arrangements to ease up the ever growing traffic of the city but had failed badly in its experiments.

The city witnessed worst kind of traffic chaos during the visit of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. Not only this, the rath yatras, nagar kirtans and agitating organisations blocked the traffic to express their demands, which resulted in the traffic mismanagement.

The proposal of one-way traffic at some of the major bottle necks of the city also backfired as Domoria bridge, Jagron bridge, Matar Rani chowk, Karim Pura chowk witnessed worst traffic jams, thanks to the mismanagement caused by the traffic police.

Infrastructure

The police had also made some infrastructural development in the department. With the New Year, the city police will have it own modern police station at Sarabh Nagar, the work of which is in the finishing stages.

The 174-year-old historical but unsafe building of the city, Kotwali, is soon going to give way to the first-ever "corporate look" building of the Punjab police.

The building plan approved by the Punjab government at a recent meeting after it was proposed and planned by IG Sanjeev Kalra and SSP RK Jaiswal, would give competition to malls by its modern architecture.

The three-storey building with a basement will have adequate parking and lush green lawns. It will have the office of the DSP City-I and the SHO, Kotwali, on the ground floor along with visitor's room. It will have barracks on the first floor and a gym-cum-recreation room for cops on the second. It will also have room for Malkhanna, records and weapons.

The year witnessed more presence of the traffic cops on the roads as compared to the previous years. The traffic police has also started installing CCTV cameras at various part of the city to curb the traffic mismanagement. These CCTV cameras are directly monitored from a traffic control room set up in the police lines. The city traffic police has sent a proposal to the government to start e-challans in line of the Delhi police.

Quick-reaction team

After the country witnessed the worst kind of terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the city formed its own quick reaction team to tackle all eventualities.

Crime

The year witnessed some of the bloodiest crime with the active involvement of the high profile people in it. The involvement of model-turned diamond merchant Mohit Sharma, son of Shiv Kumar, former SSP vigilance, Patiala, in the high profile diamond robbery case involving diamonds worth Rs 3.54 crore caught the residents by surprise.

The district also witnessed a minimal rise in the crime graph with 68 murder reported in the city as compared to 54 last year.

Further the police faced tough criticism from people in general and advocates in particular for the shooting incident that took place on the court complex, in which friends of the under trial pumped in three bullets into a youth, injuring him seriously.

The city also witnessed a steep rise in the petty crimes like snatching and vehicle thefts cases. Largely these cases went unreported. Thanks to the repeated visit by the CM, the police remained on tenterhooks arranging security for the VIP and lost there on the petty crimes.

The Ludhiana (rural) police hit the headline with the seizure of explosives weighing over 58 kg. The police nabbed five persons in this connection. On June 17, the police arrested two accused Gurbhej Singh and Manjit Singh and recovered 24.5 kg explosive from them and on June 26 they arrested three accused and recovered 34.5 kg explosive from them. These men were planning to carry a series of blasts in several key locations of the city. The prominent personalities were also on their target.

In the second case, the Jagraon police nabbed a man who was reported to be dead by the police 12 years ago.

The arrest of Jagsir (29), hailing from Tallewal village in Barnala, came as a rude shock for the relatives of five persons, who have already spent 10 years in imprisonment for the crime that was never committed.

Jagsir Singh was living with a changed identity in Chandigarh all these years. He was nabbed by the Jagraon police from Gurdwara Tahiliana Sahib where he had come to take money from his family.

His family had alleged in 1996 that he had been murdered by the then sarpanch Nacchhattar Singh, his son and their three accomplices. A body was also recovered from a village drain that was identified as Jagseer's body by his father.

Jail

The year started on a disappointing note for the jail authorities as seven member of the notorious Bangla gang fled, while shifting to the central jail.

There had been moments to cherish for the Bostal jail inmates as after five year the Bostal jail authorities resumed it's bagpiper band.

Khanna, December 27
The Machhiwara police today arrested two persons with 50 boxes of liquor. The police has also seized the vehicle used in the transportation the liquor.

A black Scorpio was intercepted by the police, which was coming from village Rahon. The vehicle was being driven by Ranjeet Singh, a resident of Kauri village in Khanna and another Gurdeep Singh, a resident of Samrala, was sitting with him.

During the checking of the vehicle, five cartons of English wine, five cartons of rum and 40 cartons of country-made wine were found. The occupants of the vehicle also failed to produce any licence or permit for the wine.

A case has been registered.

Khanna, December 27
A man and his son were booked by the police for beating up a resident of Theh village and inflicting injuries on him.

The victim, Rai Singh, in his complaint to the police alleged that Amrik Singh and his son Gurpreet Singh beat him up over a property dispute.

He was rushed to the local civil hospital, where his condition is stated to be normal. A case in this connection has been registered against the accused.

Ludhiana, December 27
Continuing with winning spree, Malwa Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Ludhiana, dubbed Jarkhar Academy in a group A match in the u-14 section in the ongoing Punjab State Inter-District Hockey League for Boys being organised by the Punjab sports department at Prithipal Singh Memorial AstroTurf Stadium of the Punjab Agricultural University here today.

Malwa school lads went ahead in the second minute through Parminder Singh and Nirmaljeet Singh made it 2-0 through a penalty corner conversion in the 15th minute. Parminder Singh again struck twice (27th and 30th minutes) to help his team to wrap up the issue quite easily (4-0).

In the second match of the day in the same group and age category, Prabhjot Singh scored a brace to fashion 2-0 victory for Gurukul Mehta Academy of Doraha against Sangrur.

Prabhjot pumped in goals in the 38th and 40th minute to help his team to romp home victorious.

The third match was played in the group C in the u-16 section between Patiala and Shaheed Brig Balwinder Singh Shergill Academy, Barnala, in which the former emerged winners 5-2.

Tarundeep Singh opened the account for Patiala in the eighth minute and two minutes later, Saif Ali sounded the board to read it 2-0 while Barnala lads reduced the margin in the 15th minute through Sandeep Singh.

Patiala increased the lead (3-1) in the 30th minute when Gurpreet Singh found the target. Satnam Singh of Barnala converted a penalty corner in the 36th minute to make it 3-2 while Mandeep Singh added two goals (40th and 49th minute) to steer Patiala to 5-2 win.

In another match (u-16) of group C, Khaira faced a stiff challenge from Sangrur before emerging victors 2-1.

Gurkanwal Singh scored a field goal in the 18th minute to put Khaira into the lead and Sukhjeewan Singh of Sangrur scored the equaliser in the 26th minute. The match decider came off Jatinder Singh's stick in the 56th minute, which also enabled Khaira to overpower their spirited opponents 2-1.

Ludhiana, December 27
Neva Club defeated Nav Bharti Public School, Civil Lines, Ludhiana, by 33 runs on the third day of the 5th Sarpanch Bachan Singh Memorial Open Cricket Tournament being played at the Sarpanch Bachan Singh Cricket Academy at Balloke on the Humbran road here today.

In the stipulated 20 overs, Neva Club scored 106 runs for the loss of nine wickets. The main scorers were Satish and Sunil who contributed 29 and 12 runs, respectively.

For Nav Bharti Public School, Deepak captured two wickets for 19 runs while Lucky secured one for 16.

Defending a small total, Neav Club restricted Nav Bharti Public School to 73 runs in 16.3 overs. Only two batsmen, Navjot and Goldy could reach double figure chipping in with 18 and 13 runs, respectively.

For Neva Club, Jatin was the pick of bowlers claiming three wickets for just 10 runs while Daljeet Singh too scalped three victims for 21 runs.

The second match scheduled to be played between Unique XI and Ladhian Sports Club could not be completed due to fog. It would be replayed tomorrow.