Ludhiana, August 23
Chaos played spoilsport at Guru Nanak Dev Bhawan, the venue for “Shaadi@barbaadi.com”, a play staged by Paresh Rawal and his troupe, here last evening.

The play was organised by the Ludhiana Sanskritik Samagam (LSS), an organisation instrumental in bringing quality theatre to the city.

Mismanagement on the part of organisers was evident from the number of “obligatory entries” for bureaucrats and their families and friends, leading to ruckus. The situation went out of hand of organisers as more than 2,000 persons turned up for the play whereas the auditorium has only 865 seats.

Despite the additional 250 seats in the auditorium, more than 200 spectators were standing in the hall to watch the play.

Requesting anonymity, one of the organisers said some office-bearers of the LSS had issued passes as well as “courtesy invitations” to the bureaucrats who didn’t let go of the chance to bring along their families and friends in large numbers.

Senior police officers gained access through the backdoor and were successful in taking seats in the front rows. In stark contrast, a large number of LSS members were left outside, some of who even burnt their invitation cards.

To top it, the men in uniform did not allow LSS members and other invitees to park their vehicles inside the premises. Only VIP vehicles were allowed inside.

Senior citizens and women members of the LSS were caught up in a stampede-like situation and had no option but to leave the venue as a mark of protest.

Ranjodh Singh, an LSS member, rued that such shows left a bad taste.

Notwithstanding the commotion, comedy king Paresh Rawal and his troupe began the play on time.

As the title “Shaadi@barbaadi.com” suggests, the play revolved around infatuation between an unmarried couple, which with the passage of time, is replaced with squabbles.

Written and directed by Ramesh Shukla, the play is set in a Gujarati backdrop and had the audience in splits with a typical dialect mastered by the artistes. Going by the austerity of conventional theatre, the intricacies, including lizards and spider webs on the walls in the background, did not go unnoticed by the audience.

The description of the girlfriend with reference to Bollywood actors pointed towards the Indian male psyche. Puns on the political scenario with reference to politicians like Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee added to the realism.

Despite the twists in relationships portrayed by the characters, the strong message of acceptance and forbearance ran throughout the play.

Jagraon, August 23
The Jagraon court has acquitted Gurmail Singh, a former sarpanch and brother of former Ferozepur SSP, Gurcharan Singh Pherurahin.

Gurmail Singh, his son, Gurdeep Singh and relative Avtar Singh was booked by the Raikot police on October 11, 2002, after the seizure of several unlicensed arms from the house of Avtar Singh, a close relative of Pherurahin, at Bassian village.

Though the police claimed that these were illegal arms, the Pherurahins said these were licensed arms.

After the main witness, Rajvir Singh, the then naib tehsildar of Raikot, turned hostile on December 20, 2007, the court of Ravi Inder Singh acquitted all the accused.

Rajvir Singh also accused the police of forcibly taking his signatures on blank papers and termed the entire story of the police as concocted.

The police, during the term of Amarinder Singh government, had filed several cases against SSP Pherurahin, including the infamous fake currency case. He, however, got acquitted in a majority of cases as in most cases, the witnesses turned hostile.

On the request of Pherurahin, the trial of most cases were held outside Punjab as he apprehended that Capt Amarinder Singh would try to influence the cases if tried in Punjab. Pherurahin was considered to be close to Parkash Singh Badal.

The fake currency case is pending in the Punjab and Haryana High Court after it took a serious note of all government witnesses turning hostile, leading to the acquittal of the accused.

Gurcharan Singh Pherurahin, however, expressed satisfaction at the judgment and said he had confidence in the judiciary of the state. He said his acquittal in three cases earlier proved his innocence and that he was implicated in false cases due to political rivalry.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, August 23
Foreign currency collection, which had once emerged as a popular hobby, has started loosing sheen in this part of Malwa. Fear of contracting Swine Flu virus was reported to be reason behind the trend.

Youngsters, including school and college students, have virtually stopped exchanging currency notes among themselves. Contrary to earlier trend they don’t demand foreign currency notes from their NRIs relatives and parents returning from abroad.

Even elders, who earlier used to accept foreign currency as a part of repayment or loans from their NRIs relatives visiting India, hesitate in touching once most sought after dollars and ponds.

Surinder Kumar Sharma of the local Subhash Nagar area, who returned after visiting his relatives in Canada and the USA, was astonished and disappointed when his granddaughter Gaurie Sharma refused to accept a set of foreign currency notes he had specially brought for her.

“My granddaughter, who earlier used to ask me to bring different types of foreign currency notes for her collection, refused to accept set of dollars and ponds of various denominations this time. I was shocked when instead of being delighted on seeing the foreign currency she said I should destroy these notes as they could carry pathogens, including the Swine Flu virus,” said Surinder Sharma while talking to the Ludhiana Tribune.

Ashok Chatlie, an NRI settled in the USA, who had come here to visit his relatives and friends was somber that one of his friends whom he wanted to help financially did not accept dollars for fear of contracting infection. “As I had no Indian currency with me I wanted to give some dollars to one of my friends whom I wanted to help. Instead of accepting the money he advised me not to give these to any of locals as it could spread diseases among handlers,” said Chatlie while talking to Ludhiana Tribune before leaving India. 

Ludhiana, August 23
Even as the Punjab Police has been citing staff crunch as a reason for the spurt in thefts in the city, the police has even failed to protect the area where the SSP resides.

The fact came to the fore today when a Ford Fiesta was stolen at gunpoint just a few metres away from the SSP’s residence here.

According to information, Gaurav Kumar, a resident of Vishal Nagar, had parked his car 200 metres away from the SSP’s residence and had gone to a sweet shop in the Civil Lines near the Arya College for Girls.

When he returned and used the auto-lock to open the car, two youths in their 20s suddenly sat in the car.

Gaurav Kumar, who owns a book shop, approached the car and before he could question the duo, one of them pointed a gun towards him and asked him to handover the car keys to them.

Fearing for his life, Gaurav gave them the keys after which the duo fled with his car. He said when they took away his car, they were followed by two more youths in a Swift car. By the time he could raise the alarm, the cars had disappeared from the scene.

Meanwhile, a case has been registered and investigations are on.

Interestingly, this is not a lone incident as this year, three police vehicles have also been stolen, putting a question mark on the efficiency of the police.

The stolen vehicles include cars of a DSP and the scooter of a police constable. These have not been recovered till date.

Ludhiana, August 23
With a virtual scramble among residents to make applications for allotments of 158 freehold residential plots in Sector 39-A on Chandigarh Road here, the Suvidha Centre in the Mini Secretariat has witnessed an unprecedented rush of applicants for attestation of affidavits from the executive magistrate as laid down under the conditions of the offer which will close on August 31.

As thousands of applicants kept descending on the Suvidha Centre each morning, the staff deployed there found it difficult to cope with the work load, and, at times, there were verbal duels or frayed tempers which caused further delay in the execution of the affidavits. Apart from this, the crowd that was made to wait for hours brought work at other counters to a standstill.

An employee at the Suvidha Centre said at an average, more than 1,000 affidavits were being attested everyday. "We try to process the documents as early as possible but still attestation and getting the applicant photographed is a time-taking exercise. Putting additional counters for this purpose has also not helped much as the number of waiting people keeps increasing."

In this context, a senior district official wondered as to why the GLADA authorities were insisting on an affidavit attested by the Executive Magistrate alone. "In September, 2008, the then DC had issued a circular to all heads of the departments not to insist on affidavits attested by the Executive Magistrate alone for different purposes while emphasising that affidavits attested by notary public also carried equal weight. As a further safeguard, it was directed that affidavits attested by notary public should have a photograph of the applicant which should also be attested."

The GLADA officials said the problem being faced by the applicants in getting affidavits attested had been brought to their notice. This was the main reason that the closing date of the offer had been extended from August 20 to 31.

On acceptance of affidavits attested by notary public as had been directed by the DC, the officials said the matter would be legally examined and a final decision on its feasibility will be taken in a day or so.

Ludhiana, August 23
A two-day training programme on micro irrigation was conducted at the PAU department of soil and water engineering here in which participants from the department of soil and water conservation, Punjab, participated.

Dr PK Gupta, dean, College of Agricultural Engineering, who was the chief guest, said the use of drip irrigation system in Punjab for growing vegetables and for orchards could help in the efficient and judicious use of water.

It not only saved water, but also increased yield. The Punjab government was giving 75 per cent subsidy on drip irrigation system through the department of soil and water conservation. He emphasised that farmers must adopt the micro irrigation system to conserve natural resources and to enhance the socio-economic conditions of the farmers.

“Water is a critical input in agriculture and owing to the problem of depleting water table in Punjab, farmers and extension personnel need to be apprised about the technology for its efficient use,” Dr PPS Lubana, head, department of soil and water engineering, said, adding that, the PAU regularly organised training camps on the subject not only at Ludhiana, but also at other places in the state.

Dr Rakesh Sharda said 16 officers of the state department of soil and water conservation participated in the programme that focused on various aspects of drip irrigation, its use in vegetables and fruit crops, planning layout and design of drip and sprinkler irrigation, design of water storage tanks, field evaluation of micro irrigation and maintenance of the drip irrigation system.

The faculty of the department of soil and water engineering were the resource persons. The trainees were taken to the fields of Devender Singh, a progressive farmer of Sanghowal village, Jalandhar, where they saw drip irrigation of vegetables grown over 12 acres.

Doraha, August 23
Students and teachers of Doraha College of Education, collaborated with Government Senior Secondary School, Payal, to organise a “green earth” awareness rally at Payal yesterday.

The rally intended to sensitise general public on environmental deterioration and promote public participation by reinforcing responsibilities in them. It was preceded by a plantation drive at Government Senior Secondary School, Payal.

Payal SHO Gurpartap Singh flagged off the rally, which traversed through streets of Payal and culminated at the office of Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Payal. Students prepared placards and banners viz “Grow more trees”, “Ban Polythene Bags”, “Prevent Global Warming” and “Save Water”.

They also distributed pamphlets to public regarding present concerns related to environment and suggested simple measures to save the planet. Global warming, water crisis, use of polythene bags, cutting of trees, pollution from vehicles and industries were the main concerns that the public was made aware of.

At the office of Payal SDM, a memorandum demanding environment preservation and creation of green earth was presented to Payal tehsildar Mandeep Singh. Trees were planted around the office of the SDM.

The tehsildar appreciated the efforts of teachers and students for showing their concern regarding deteriorating state of our environment.

He further said such awareness rallies would help to educate public regarding the dangers we may face in future.

A token of gratitude was presented by Sukhpal Singh, chairman of Doraha College of Education to the tehsildar for his cooperation. Members of the management and faculty members and other dignitaries present on the occasion were Dr RK Lekhi, director, Doraha Institute of Management and Technology, Supreet Kaur, co-ordinator DIMT, Amrit K Gurm, director, DCE, and Dr Navneet Kaur, lecturer, Panjab University, Chandigarh.

Ludhiana, August 23
The Punjab Youth Forum and Ludhiana Citizen Council today organised a plantation drive at Power Colony No. 2 near Sarabha Nagar in association with the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) and forest department.

Harish Rai Dhanda, Chief Parliamentary Secretary was the chief guest. Other prominent persons participating in the campaign were Rachpal Singh, deputy chief engineer, City West Circle of PSEB, Vishal Chauhan, divisional forest officer, Neelam Kapoor from JAGO - an NGO and Darshan Arora, chairman, Ludhiana citizen council.

Jaswant Singh Zaffar and MP Singh, both senior executive engineers of PSEB welcomed the guests while stressing the need for plantation in an industrial city.

Dhanda emphasised on motivating people for planting more saplings. He said even a small damage to the environment took years to recover. "Environment is deteriorating to the extent that it is imposing threat to human beings. Only plants can save the existence of mankind and improve environment."

Darshan Arora, president of the council, echoes similar views while making a fervent appeal to the city residents to plant saplings and nurse them to ensure their healthy growth.

Vishal Chauhan, DFO, dwelt upon the achievements of the forest department. He appreciated the initiative of the participating bodies in the plantation drive and offered full support from the forest department in this noble cause.

Every one at the venue planted a sapling each in the park while the activists of the youth forum pledged to look after the plants till their maturity.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, August 23
Chhatti festival was celebrated with religious fervour at various temples here today.

Devotees, including men and women paid obeisance to Lord Krishna at Laxmi Narayan Mandir, Shree Ram Mandir and Geeta Bhawan here. Besides reciting bhajans and chanting mantras, they oscillated swing carrying idols of Lord Krishna.

Langar was also served to those participating in the function. Councillors Ravinder Puri and Bimal Sharma supervised arrangements at the functions.

Dr KC Goel, former DHO, Dr Sunit Hind, Tarsem Garg and Pawan Kumar were present.

Ludhiana, August 23
Several presentations and a blood donation camp, yielding 50 units of blood, marked the second day of the health expo, organised jointly by Paramount Exhibitors and Indian Trade Promotion Council in association with Indian Medical Association (IMA) in a bid to bring the manufacturers of health related items, healthcare service providers and public on a single platform.

Dr Harpreet Kaur Sibia told the visitors how a single machine - Cytotron, could help both in regenerating and degenerating the tissues.

"Cytotron with Rotational Field Quantum Magnetic Resonance (RFQMR) beams has regeneration software to regenerate cartilage in osteoarthritis patients who have decreased cartilage causing pain in the knee or other joints and a degeneration software to arrest cancer tumour cell growth. The treatment is tissue specific, non-invasive without pain, discomfort or any known adverse effects.

In the day-long technical sessions, experts from different specialities examined several patients suffering from ENT, cancer, orthopaedics, general medicine, surgery, neurology and cardiology. Some of the complicated cases were also taken up for detailed discussion by the delegates.

"Meet the expert programme" was able to address over 100 patients and more than 4,000 persons had already visited the expo, said Dr Harish Arora, CEO, Paramount Exhibitors.

Ludhiana, August 23
The week-long celebrations of Ganesh Mahotsav started today with religious fervour. All the temples of the city wore a decorative look.

The Ganesh utsav started at local Sidhi Vinayak Mandir. Every evening bhajan sandhaya will be organised at the mandir from 8-11 pm.

Hundreds of Ganesh idols from the city have been purchased by the people of the neighbouring cities. During the utsav Deputy Commissioner Vikas Garg will also perform the aarti. Bollywood singer Labh Janjua will also be performing during the utsav at Sidhi Vinayak mandir.

Ludhiana, August 23
God’s creations are bountiful and beautiful. The biggest solace painter Bably S Singh feels is to watch God's creations like birds and plants. Her painting exhibition titled "Sab teri kudrat tu kaadar karta" is being held at Gallery Artmosphere.

"Nature is so pure and honest. Whenever I feel sad or in a low mood, I watch birds and plants and they give me peace of mind," says Bably. In one of her paintings she has shown numerous flowers and plants. "These are only a few of God's creations while there exist countless numbers of flowers, plants and even the shape of every leaf is different," she adds.

Painting was her hobby since childhood but she always wanted to become a doctor. Though she cleared the entrance exam but was denied admission due to underage. "I was really depressed that I was not given admission due to the age factor. After that, paintings became my life and I expressed every thought through them," she added.

Telling about one of her paintings "Touch Me Not" she said the theme was that every one is sad from inside.

Discussing about her another painting which shows a bright yellow flower on a black backdrop she said the flower represents hope in the sad mind. "Last four years have been very tragic for me. First I lost my father and then my dog. I was unable to paint and did not make a single painting. A night before the inauguration of the exhibition I was sad because my dad was not there with me and I was also missing my dog, Yogi. At 2 am, I thought, I should start life afresh and a new hope came into my mind and I painted this painting with a bright yellow flower in the black background," she said.

“All my ideas are conveyed through art and I am happy to be blessed with this creativity,” she added.

Ludhiana, August 23
50 boys of NCC (3) battalion of Ryan planted around 250 saplings at various places, like parks and residential areas. Principal Gurpreet K Sandhu emphasised the need to protect the environment.

Prize distribution

Prize distribution function for classes from Nursery to V was held in auditorium of BCM Senior Secondary School, Chandigarh road, here yesterday.

Suresh Kant Munjal and Rama Munjal were the chief guests. Principal DP Guleria gave a warm welcome to the guests and highlighted the achievements of the schools. The students presented cultural items. The chief guests gave away the prizes.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, August 23
A few unidentified persons, suspected be organisers of an ultrasound scan center, tried to hit Harbans Singh Brahampuri with their car so as to stop him from blowing whistle against female feticide near Rasulpur village in the Jagraon subdivision about 10 days ago.

Though a few passers by had rescued Brahmpuri, who had sustained serious injuries, and shifted him to the Jagraon Civil Hospital within few hours of the incident, neither the doctors nor the police paid attention to him.

Having failed to identify and book them, the social activist has now decided to launch a manhunt for the suspects on his own. The police authorities denied having received any complaint in this connection.

“Now, when the authorities have not bothered to identify the suspects, suspected to be organisers of an ultrasound scan center, I have decided to visit all hospitals and diagnostic centers to identify them and got them booked,” said Brahmpuri alleging that they (suspects) had threatened him with dire consequences in case he continued his crusade against female foeticide.

The suspects had tried to hit Brahmpuri while he was going to the village after presenting awareness programmes at a few schools at Leelan and Jandi villages on August 13. With meager resources at his disposal, Brahmpuri had found a novel way to attract people’s attention. He made people aware of the ill affects of female foeticide by displaying slogans on his mobike.

Brahmpuri has been spreading awareness for the past few years. He tries to disseminate his message through educative songs and poems written by him. Though he does not get regular financial help from any organisation, a few officials, including heads of educational institutes, had been supporting him.

Then Deputy Commissioner Sumer Gurjar had given Rs 4,000 about a year ago. “I utilised the money for installing public announcement system on my vehicle. It became easy for me to address people,” Brahmpuri added.

Brahmpuri said he had launched movement against dowry deaths from Government College, Karamsar, in 1986 at a function presided over by then Governor S D Sharma. He dedicated the movement to female feticide in 1999.

Endorsing Brahampuri’s views, Malkit Kaur, his wife, alleged that the successive governments had failed to recognise his selfless service and the issueless couple was forced to starve in absence of any aid or pension. 

Jagraon, August 23
The human right associations today joined hands in an attempt to seek early release of Sarbajit Singh, who is languishing in a Pakistani jail on the charges of carrying out anti-national activities in Pakistan. Shital Das, coordinator, South Asian Human Rights Group, Canada, and Surat Singh Khalsa, chief spokesman, Universal Human Rights Organisation, in a joint press conference said today that the Canadian rights’ activists were following the Sarabjit’s case since his illegal arrest in August of 2003 and the court passing the verdict of hanging him till death for getting the innocent released. The plea of mercy of Sarabjit Singh had failed as his attorney had failed to appear before the Supreme Court of Pakistan at the time of final trial.

Shital Das said both rights panels had now appealed for granting clemency to Sarabjit Singh before the President of Pakistan. He said the Universal rights’ panel had got an appeal signed by more than 1 lakh people most of whom were advocates. He said Jagraon Bar president Raghubir Singh Toor and his colleagues had also signed the mercy appeal. The appeal has now been sent to the President of Pakistan for ensuring his release.

Both organisations today urged the Indian government to unconditionally release Prof. Davinder Singh Bhullar from the Tihar jail. He should be allowed to spend rest of his life with the family. Davinder Singh is also languishing in the jail on charges similar to those levelled against Sarabjit Singh.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, August 23
Disappointed over the alleged pathetic attitude of development authorities in the Pakhowal block towards long-pending demand of residents of a Dalit colony at Chhappar village, Ek Noor Sewa Society, a social organisation, has started constructing streets of the locality.

The civic body of the village, instead of appreciating the organisation’s gesture, tried them to stop work on the street and demanded action against office-bearers of the organisation and those residing in 
the locality.

The incident could have taken a violent shape, had the police and senior SAD leaders led by Mann Singh Garcha not intervened in the matter.

The block development officer at the Pakhowal block maintained that he would look into the matter after opening of offices on Monday. Though panchayat officer and panchayat secretary of the area were reported to have visited the site, the BDO maintained that they had not reported the matter to him.

Failing to impress upon the civic body and the block development office authorities for constructing streets and drains in their area, residents of a Dalit Colony at Chhappar village requested office-bearers of the Ek Noor Sewa Society to come to their rescue and enable them live a dignified life.

Moved by the pitiable condition of 25 families, who were virtually forced to live in a hell, the volunteers of the society decided to construct metaled street and drains in the area. The volunteers and residents of the locality were shocked when the office-bearers of the civic body, led by Gurmel Singh Sarpanch threatened the volunteers of dire consequences for interfering panchayat affairs and approached the Latala police for taking action against them.

Apprehending the violence, Kulwant Singh, SHO, Latala, persuaded volunteers to stagger their programme and proceed further after taking permission from authorities concerned.

Supporting the move launched by the social organisation, SAD leaders led by Mann Singh Garcha and Kuljit Singh Boparai assured the residents that work on the street would continue till completion.

“If the authorities have any problem with volunteers undertaking repairs and construction work they should get it done by their own men,” argued Garcha. 

Ludhiana, August 23
“Punjab reports a very high incidence of diabetes, high blood cholesterol level and obesity. These, in turn, manifest as cardiac problems,” Dr RP Singh, senior consultant cardiologist, SPS Apollo Hospitals, while addressing the participants at the National Cardiology Update - 2009, stated this. Dr BC Roy, laureate, and Dr Mathew Samuel Kalarickal, Father of Interventional Cardiology in India, was the chief guest.

There was live demonstration and telecast of four interventional cases from SPS Apollo Hospital under the expert guidance of Dr Kalarickal, which evoked good response from the participants. More than 400 doctors from all over Punjab were witness to the entire process.

According to Dr Chetan Sharma, senior consultant cardiologist, heart disease is the leading cause of death globally killing about 7.1 million people each year. “India is expected to account for nearly 60 per cent of the global heart ailments by 2010. Fatty deposits that harden and block arteries, high blood pressure, which damages blood vessels, and a few other factors, cause heart disease he added.

Physicians and cardiologists observed that Indians had more common involvement at younger age with smaller coronary arteries; diffuse distal disease, multi-vessel disease and higher incidence in women. Unhealthy lifestyle and bad eating habits are making the situation more worse.”

Focusing on poor medical care in rural and remote areas, the conclave recognised that people with heart disease in rural Punjab received slower care than people in main cities and were more likely to die.

The doctors painted a picture of heart attack patients heading to hospitals in rickshaws rather than ambulances, and paying for the treatments out of their own pockets because of ignorance regarding health insurance.

In his address, Dr Manmohan Singh, President, Punjab Medical Council, commented that the benefits of addressing the root cause of heart disease in Punjab, such as threatening levels of body fat, high cholesterol and blood pressure, along with low intake of fruits and vegetables, together with change in the lifestyle, would be immense in terms of number of lives saved, mostly among young and middle-aged persons.

Jagraon, August 23
Two NRI sisters have been booked for committing a fraud. Harminder Kaur, who resides in New York, had in a complaint lodged with the Sudhar police alleged that Lakhvir Kaur and Jasvir Kaur, both sisters who live in the USA, and their brother Buta Singh, who lives in India, had cheated her.

She accused that Lakhvir Kaur, Jasvir Kaur and their brother Buta Singh, had got married on numerous occasions and cheated all of them. All of them have been missing since then, she alleged.

She said Lakhvir Kaur had got married to Rajvir Singh of Boparai Kalan in September 1995. However, she divorced him on February 1999 and got married to Daljit Singh. Thereafter she got married to Roop Sing of the USA with intention to move to the USA. She, however, refused to divorce Daljit Singh. After living with Roop Singh for at least eight years, she managed to obtained the Green Card and returned to India in 2007. Before returning to India she got Roop Singh’s saving worth Rs 13 lakh transferred to her account. She returned to the USA in 2008. Instead of returning to Roop Singh, she came to Bhupinder Singh, an illegal immigrant. She assured to get US citizenship after marrying him for Rs 4 lakh. Bhupinder Singh’s family paid the amount to Buta Singh, accused Lakhvir Kaur’s brother. Lakhvir Kaur and Jasvir Kaur were present when the money was being handed over to Buta Singh as both of them had to return to India.

She returned to the USA, took $ 35000 from Bhupinder Singh. Since then, all three are absconding. Boota Singh is also missing in India.

The Sudhar police has registered a case against the three accused under Sections 420 and 120B of the IPC.

The court of Mandeep Kaur Bedi has declared them proclaimed offenders after they failed to appear before the court. 

Ludhiana, August 23
Defending champion, Aayush Kumar from Ludhiana outperformed Kunwardeep Singh of Amritsar to retain the title in the junior category in the sub-junior section on the penultimate day of the Punjab Open Snooker Tournament being held at Sutlej Club here today.

Rishu and Anmoldeep, both from Patiala, secured third and fourth positions, respectively.

In the semifinal legaue, Aayush scored an easy 4-0 victory over Kunwardeep Singh to come out triumphant while Anmoldeep recorded an identical win against Rishu to finish third and Rishu faced a little challenge from his opponent Anmol whom he outclassed 4-1 to secure fourth position.

In the senior category, seeded players, Dharminder Lilly, Dhruv Verma, Vivek Chopra and Aayush Kumar wrapped up their quarterfinal encounters to surge ahead in the last four stages.

Dharminder Lilly defeated Ashish Dhanda 4-0; Aayush Jumar blanked Nitin Gupta 4-0; Dhruv Verma overpowered Anmoldeep Singh 4-1 and Vivek Chopra trounced Dheeraj Soi 4-0 to complete the semifinal line up.