Ludhiana, January 3
As the thick blanket of fog continued to envelope the region, it was the same chaos for travellers as several trains were cancelled or delayed today.

The failure of power grid on Saturday had its affect today also as many trains were running behind schedule. Even after 24 hours of the restoration of power supply, most of the long-route trains were running behind schedule and some were cancelled due to late arrival of the corresponding train.

Due to the delay in running of trains yesterday, the Railways today cancelled the 2497/98 pair of the Shane-Punjab operating between New Delhi and Amritsar. Similarly, the 2469 Amritsar-New Delhi Express and the 4681 New Delhi-Jalandhar (via Saharanpur) were also cancelled for the day.

According to railway officials, the 3005 UP Howrah-Amritsar Mail was running 10-and-a-half-hour late, the 8101 Muri Express by 15 hours, the 5707 Katihar-Amritsar Express by six hours while the 4673/4674 pair of the Flying Mail was delayed by three hours each.

The dislocation of trains spelled miseries for thousands of passengers who were stranded at railway station either due to cancellation of trains or delay in arrival or departure of trains. The biting cold and intermittent showers made things more difficult for passengers. As four up and down trains on the Amritsar-New Delhi section were cancelled today, other trains running on this section had to take additional load of passengers, especially in the unreserved coaches. Those with reserved tickets were also put to inconvenience as alternative seats or berths were not immediately available on other trains.

Ludhiana, January 3
Even as the city continued to reel under darkness due to the failure of the northern power grid since yesterday, early morning drizzle added to the woes of residents as almost the entire city went powerless till 11 am today.

As a result, water supply was badly affected and residents had to bear the brunt of chilling cold. The power supply to several parts of the city remained suspended for nearly two hours.

According to PSEB officials, light showers, which started early in the morning today, and fog caused a short-circuit at several conductors and power supply was disrupted. The intermittent rain made the task of restoration of power supply more difficult.

“Power supply was restored in many affected areas around 10 am, but even as the process for restoration of power supply was on, the two-hour power cut was imposed. Barring a few feeders, which took time to restore power, the supply was normal by 3 pm in almost all parts of the city,” a senior official of the PSEB claimed.

While officials were reluctant to come on record, highly placed sources in the PSEB told The Tribune that disruption of power supply due to fog had almost become a routine thing in the absence of anti-fog discs on the conductors.

Work for installation of anti-fog discs was on and most of the 66 KW lines had been covered. However, the 11 KW lines still remained uncovered due to resource crunch, sources revealed.

In the absence of power and water supply, the city residents had to face a harrowing time, as normal life was thrown out of gear.

“As the rain confined us indoors, there was no electricity to run room heaters, geysers or heat convector and no water to take bath or even cook food on a holiday,” rued Raman Sood, a resident of Haibowal.

A large number of irate residents from various parts of the city were questioning the logic behind the imposition of power cuts from 9 to 11 am and to 3 pm when the power supply remained suspended for more than four to six hours in most parts of the city.

Jagraon, January 3
A pall of gloom descended on this town after news broke that a local youth was murdered in a suspected racial attack in Melbourne, Australia where he had gone for studies about three years ago. Yesterday a friend of Nitin Garg, 22, rang up the latter’s family members at their home in Vijay Nagar Mohalla here at around midnight to inform them about his death.

Nitin was working in a part time job in a Melbourne restaurant 'Hungry Wing'. Yesterday, after completing his shift, when he was coming out of the restaurant some young people - apparently natives - tried to snatch his mobile phone from him. He tried to confront the snatchers who in turn stabbed him several times in his abdomen and chest, inflicting fatal injuries.

The restaurant owners then took him to a hospital where he underwent surgery for one and a half hours. However, the doctors could not save him and he died on the operation table.

Nitin had recently returned to Australia on December 16 after spending his vacation with his relatives here. His father had died of a heart attack in July last year.

Nitin’s family members expressed their dismay on the way the local administration had reacted after the news of the death came in. His uncle said no official had bothered to visit the family and console it. “Instead the administration officials have been persuading us not to give details of Nitin’s death to the local media”, he added.

Nitin’s body is expected to reach Jagraon from Australia in four days. 

Ludhiana, January 3
Those who had been waiting for the end of the season sales may have to wait more as hosiery manufacturers seem to be in no mood to sell their products on discount for the next 15 days.

The season has been good for hosiery manufacturers and they have been able to cover the losses incurred last year. Despite power cuts, labour shortage and slow production, the woollen products are being sold like hot cakes in the cold weather and all the stocks have almost been cleared by now.

Talking to The Tribune, Vinod K Thapar, president, Knitwear Club, said last year was not good for hosiery manufacturers in the region. The sales were not up to the mark and huge stocks were dumped in godowns. The manufacturers had incurred heavy losses. But this time, they were in a position to cover previous losses and their sales were up by 10-15 per cent.

“Though the season started with many problems and it was a slow beginning. Production in units was badly hit due to erratic power supply and acute labour shortage. But this year, a majority of hosiery manufacturers have cleared their last year's stocks also. The annual clearance sales, which were usually there by December 15, have been advanced till mid-January due to brisk sale.

Sudershan Jain, another hosiery manufacturer, said production in a majority of units was over by mid-December but they were still getting orders. He said woollen products, including jackets, sweaters, pullovers, cardigans and mufflers were already sent to the retail showrooms. “As the production has been stopped, several orders could not mature. This season, people have made bulk purchase of woollen products. It is peak cold weather and the purchase is still on,” said Jain.

Manjula Sharma, a homemaker, said: “Residents wait for the annual clearance sales. But this time there are no discount offers by a majority of woollen brands. Except for a few, nobody is offering discounts. I purchased woollens for my kids in bulk during the sale season in December 2008, but this time the wait seems to be longer,” she added.

Ludhiana, January 3
Throwing caution to the wind, some city hospitals have not been observing the prescribed norms on disposing of medical waste from isolation wards for swine flu patients, increasing the chances of the H1N1 virus spreading further.

Masks, gloves and head caps used in the isolation wards are thrown away in uncovered bins kept in the corridors. Masks used by attendants while shifting suspected swine flu patients can even be seen lying in the open.

The hospitals’ lackadaisical attitude is in stark contrast to the instructions pertaining to disposal of medical waste from isolation areas issued by the central health & family welfare ministry.

Said Reema, an attendant of a patient admitted to a leading city hospital: "It was shocking to see doctors and nurses who were coming out of the isolation ward were disposing the masks and gloves in a garbage bin lying outside the ward, even though even a layman knows this can raise the chances of H1N1 infections spreading. The health authorities should take strict notice of the matter”.

In another incident, Harbir Singh, whose mother is undergoing treatment at a city hospital, said the hospital staff went to the extent of bringing a swine flu positive patient in the ICU thereby subjecting the patients in the ward to H1N1 infection. "Such an act is criminal. The paramedical staff and doctors at hospitals can't get away with negligence as gross as this," he added.

When contacted, Ludhiana civil surgeon Dr Maninderjeet Singh said he would call a meeting of medical superintendents of all those hospitals that have swine flu isolation wards. "I’ll issue them fresh instructions on proper disposal of medical waste from isolation wards so as to ensure swine flu infection is not spread amongst common people," he said. 

Ludhiana, January 3
A labour contractor was electrocuted while two other labourers received electric shock during the construction of an industrial unit near Shepur chowk here today.

The deceased have been identified as Kishore Kumar (32), a migrant from Uttar Pradesh, while the injured, identified as Krishan and Shanker, both from Uttar Pradesh, are recuperating at the civil hospital. Their condition is stated to be out of danger.

The incident took place this morning when the labourers were laying the lintel of an industrial unit. According to brother of the deceased, Tilak Ram, they were shifting iron bars from the construction site when it touched the overhead power cables.

Ludhiana, January 3
Even though over a hundred unauthorised colonies, both big and small, have mushroomed in the city during the past seven years, the municipal corporation appears to be clueless about them. And, no wonder - they were allowed to come up due to political patronage from officials who turned a blind eye to these colonies.

Sources close to the civic body said the last survey of illegal colonies was conducted in 2001-2002 with the municipal commissioner, local bodies department and even ministers being fooled all these years into using the same old data.

"Whenever senior officials ask for data the old survey figures are presented, due to which the mushrooming of illegal colonies has gone completely unchecked all these years. STP, MTP or ATPs are seldom found on field duties - most of the time they prefer to rely on the information being provided to them by the building inspectors and draftsmen”, the sources added.

They said about half of the unauthorised colonies that have come up in the last seven years belonged to sitting and former councillors. "You would be astonished to know that the MC’s C zone is a ‘hub’ of illegal colonies that has not been ever touched by any official. An ATP posted in the C zone after 2000 stayed there for over five 5 years and yet he has failed to take any action," the sources said, adding if there are any enquiries “only the blame game is found”.

The present development charges are Rs 250 per square yard and, if evasion is calculated, it would work out to be above Rs 50 crores. Even then no one appears to be bothered. "Evasion of development fee by the colony developers or owners not incurs losses for the state exchequer but also burdens the public. When the civic body doesn’t have enough funds to develop infrastructure it is the common man who bears the brunt in the form of broken roads and deteriorating basic amenities," the sources said.

They added; “When former municipal commissioner GS Ghuman used to seek details on unauthorized colonies the old lists were provided and officials never gave any directions for action”.

Ludhiana, January 3
The management of Dayanand Medical College and Hospital has deferred the ban on private practice by the doctors of the institute till September 30.

The management at its meeting in July had decided to ban the private practice by the doctors of the hospital from January 1. But there was a pressure from doctors on the management to postpone the ban for sometime.

The DMCH doctors are having roaring practice at their private clinics and are reluctant to give up the same. Some of the doctors practice at their clinic late at night and are so busy that the patients are not able to get appointments for weeks.

There is a general feeling among the people that the management has succumbed to the pressure of doctors and have not taken care of poor patients.

The people had welcomed the decision of the management to ban private practice by doctors.

However, the management has banned the practice of doctors engaged in the departments of pathology, microbiology and biochemistry. They will not conduct any tests at their private clinics now.

The management had also started constructing chambers for the doctors to undertake private practice on the hospital premises, which has also been stopped now for the time being.

Secretary of the DMCH management Prem Gupta told The Tribune that the decision to ban the private practice had been deferred in order to raise necessary infrastructure on the hospital premises. There was a need to have separate parking lot too for patients coming in the evenings.

The DMCH is one of the premier health institutes of the region with a faculty of about 200, including doctors working in the Hero-DMC heart institute, which has earned goodwill of the people of the region. No private practice is allowed in the heart institute and the doctors are being paid handsome salaries.

According to Dr Gurpreet Singh Wander, chief cardiologist and director of Hero-DMC Heart Institute, about 70 bypass surgeries are done in a month and about 100 angioplasty procedures per month.

The patient care services in the general hospital (DMCH) need much improvement, as there are complaints of poor after admission care in the hospital. There are complaints of non-availability of doctors too in the emergency.

Meanwhile, Dr Daljit Singh, principal, DMC, has issued norms of practice by the doctors after the managements decision to defer the ban on private practice.

The circular issued by him says that patients cannot be admitted in private clinic/facility of the consultant. All such patients must be referred to the DMCH. Consultants are not allowed to visit any other hospital or nursing home for any kind of professional work. Only minor procedures as allowed by the institute can be performed on patients in private clinic/facility. List of such procedures must be submitted for permission. Setting up of laboratories or pharmacies is not permitted in the private clinic.

The doctors have been asked to give undertaking to abide by the rules and regulations of practice and list of minor procedures proposed to be carried out in the private clinic for approval and permission. They have also been asked to submit details of private clinic/facility of spouse or other first degree relative.

Doctors complain that the management has implemented the received UGC scales but the arrears are not being paid to them. The arrears must be paid to them, they emphasise. The doctors also resent the “authoritarian” attitude of the management and want a change in the attitude of treating them like workers. 

Mandi Ahmedgarh, January 3
Thousands of students of about a hundred government primary schools in Dehlon Blocks I and II were forced to remain hungry in the New Year after school authorities expressed their inability to provide them the obligatory midday meals. Even though there were enough materials to prepare the meals the authorities said they had not received funds to pay wages to the cooks.

Though none of the heads of the concerned schools agreed to comment on the issue, teachers undertaking preparation and serving of meals disclosed that officials at the BPEO offices had sent verbal 'orders' to stop the midday meal facility till further instructions.

Admitting the scheme had been suspended due to funds not being available, Dehlon BPEO Madan Gopal said he had apprised his seniors on the situation, which he maintained was not better than in other blocks. “The supply of food would be resumed as soon as those in charge of the midday meal scheme receive funds for preparing the food”, he added.

Referring to information received from heads of various schools, Gopal said a large number of teachers had spent thousands of rupees from their own pockets to sustain the scheme.

Investigations by the Ludhiana Tribune revealed the authorities at government primary schools falling under Block Primary Education Office at Dehlon I and Dehlon II had suspended the midday meal scheme at their schools when they reopened after the winter break on January 1.

As no formal announcement was made on interruption of the facility, the students - most of them from poor families - had to do without meals during these days. Besides, there are many students whose parents do not prepare breakfast at home due to persistent penury and who come to school expecting a stomach full of food.

The disbursing officials for the scheme had earlier been accused of forcibly deducting Rs 100 to Rs 200 as "office expenses" from monthly grants being paid to the heads of government primary schools of this area.

There has been a further decline in both the quantity as well as quality of meals being served to the students, which was already poor due to the meager amount of funds available and hike in food prices. 

Mandi Ahmedgarh, January 3
As a part of observance of the Traffic Safety Week and campaign against the violation of traffic rules, the local police involved students of various schools in controlling vehicular traffic in the town and surrounding areas.

Four teams of students of MGMN Senior Secondary School, headed by NGOs at the city police station, laid ‘nakas’ at various spots in the town on Saturday and Sunday. Besides controlling traffic at crucial points, students filed challans of violators of traffic rules.

Commenting on the importance of the camp, city SHO Harinder Singh said the practice would bring in a change in the attitude of youngsters after they themselves act as authorities.

A large number of vehicles were challaned for violating rules. Shortcoming in documents, uninsured vehicle, not wearing of helmet and safety belt were the violations.

Ludhiana, January 3
Dr Daljit Singh Dhillon, head, department of extension education, PAU, has been awarded fellowship of the Indian Society of Extension Education during the annual conference of the society and national seminar on “Enhancing Efficiency of Extension for Sustainable Agriculture and Livestock Production”.

Prof SP Gautam, Vice-Chancellor, Rohailkhand University, Bareilly, who was the chief guest, congratulated Dr Dhillon on his achievement.

Dr Dhillon has also been awarded a Silver Certificate by the Coverdale Organisation, London, in 1992, under the Coverdale-MANAGE, a project for agriculture extension management training.

Sahnewal, January 3
Sacred Heart Convent School, Sahnewal, organised its annual prize distribution function here today.

Thomas Kolenchery, rector of Christa Jyoti Kauli, Patiala, was the chief guest on the occasion. The function began with a welcome song.

Students presented a cultural programme. Various activities like songs, dances, skits and solo performances were presented by students.

Western and patriotic songs, English and Punjabi play, Gujrati dance, break dance, Marathi dance, Rajasthani dance, bhanga, giddha and Biblical play mesmerised audience.

School principal Sister Pavitra read out the annual report of the school. Vice-principal Sister Paulin welcomed guests.

The chief guest appreciated the efforts put in by students, management and staff. He also distributed prizes to students excelling in academics and extra-curricular activities.

Mandi Gobindgarh, January 3
Gobindgarh Public College organised its first annual convocation at the Kanhaya Lal Bardeja Hall yesterday. Registrar of Panjab University Prof SS Bari graced the occasion as chief guest.

He lit up the lamp and inaugurated the function.

Students presented a cultural programme.

College principal Dr Suresh Tandon enlisted achievements of the institute.

The chief guest congratulated students.

Around 400 students were conferred on with degrees.

Toppers of the institute Narinderpal Shahi, Meenu Khullar, Sahil Singla, Amit Gupta, Jagmohan Gupta, Mandeep Kaur, Rohni Gupta and Niha Jindal were honoured.

Trust chairman Piara Singh Kalsi, chairman of the managing committee Vinod Bansal, NK Khanna and Pawan Sharda were present on the occasion.

Ludhiana, January 3
The National Integrated Medical Association, Ludhiana, organised the 87th free diabetes check-up camp under the Community Service Project at Diabetes Free World, Dr Surendra Gupta Clinic, Shivpuri, today.

A team of doctors, including Dr Surendra Gupta, Dr Rajesh Thapar, Dr Inder Sharma, Dr KK Kharbanda, Dr Diwaker Sharma, Dr Ish Handa, Dr KK Kohli, Dr Neeraj Sood and Dr Bharat Bhushan Chhabra examined patients.

Dr Surendra Gupta said as many as 138 patients were screened for diabetes and hypertension, as their blood sugar, ECG, BP and body fat index tests were conducted free of cost.

Those, on higher side were advised diet, exercise and life style modifications, apart from medicines.

He said consumption of alcohol might be justified in cold climate countries, but there was no justification for its consumption in a warm and humid country like India and other tropical countries .

To keep diabetes, heart ailments and other complications at bay, one should take measures from an early age, which include timely meals.

Dr Ramanbir Singh, senior endocrinologist at SPS Apollo Hospital, examined selected cases of diabetes and other endocrinology disorders.

While Dr JS Grewal, senior cardiologist at SPS Apollo Hospital, examined heart patients.

Dr Devinder Singh Sandhu, renowned oncologist, and Bhagwan Singh of Gurmail Medical Hall were also present on the occasion.

Dr Rajesh Thapar appreciated Dr Gupta for organising the camp.

Ludhiana, January 3
The Punarjot Eye Bank Society (regd) organised a medical camp under the second phase of its project SANJH, a health care and education campaign for 2010, at Sehzad village here today.

Doctors from Dr Ramesh’s Eye and Multispecialty Hospital, Ludhiana, and Hero DMC Heart Institute, Ludhiana, examined nearly 300 patients at the camp.

Eye and ECG tests were conducted free of cost.

The camp was inaugurated by Satpal Gosain, Deputy Speaker, Punjab Vidhan Sabha.

He lauded the society for organising such camps. Gosain announced a grant of Rs 1 lakh to the society.

Secretary of the society Subhash Malik said they had successfully organised around 152 camps in 2009, in which eyes of as many as 39194 persons were examined, along with free distribution of medicines.

The society has conducted about 682 free corneal transplant surgeries and 1394 free cataract operations in 2009.

Dr GS Wander, chief cardiologist, Hero DMC Heart Institute, stated that approximately one million deaths per year were caused due to the heart disease in the USA. Heart attacks occur in Indians much earlier and is almost one decade earlier in comparison to the western population.

Dr Wander appreciated the noble work being done by the society under the project SANJH and promised to extend all help in future to hold such camps.

Dr Ramesh, director of the society, said, “The corneal service has been upgraded at Punarjot by incorporating advanced keratoplasty techniques to provide best possible results for our patients.”

Dr Ramesh appealed to all NGO's, media and health institutions to come forward for the noble cause of eye donation. 

Ludhiana, January 3
Dr Arvind Kumar Bakshi, former food science and technology expert at Punjab Agricultural University, has been appointed Vice-Chancellor of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Meerut.

Dr Bakshi did graduation from the PAU and MSc from IFTTC, CFTRI, Mysore, followed by a doctorate from the PAU.

Earlier, he has served as director of research, Shere-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Science and Technology, Jammu, and head, department of food science and technology, PAU.

Dr Bakshi has worked with the team of Dr Norman E Borlaug and Dr E Villegas on screening of early generation segregating material of wheat and maize for quality. He has also worked at NDSU, the USA.

Dr Bakshi has been given the ICAR team award for research on wheat. He is also the member of the Research Advisory Council of Central Institute of Sub-Tropical Horticulture, Lucknow, NAARM, Hyderabad, Food and Agricultural Division Council of Bureau of Indian Standards.

PAU Vice-Chancellor Dr Manjit Singh Kang, director of research Dr PS Minhas and director of extension education Dr MS Gill have congratulated Dr Bakshi on his appointment.

Ludhiana, January 3
“Music stirs the heart and heals the soul,” says Satinder Satti after releasing her second music album “Moh…My Love”. After perfectly anchoring TV shows, Satti is now satisfying her singing capabilities.

“In the first album, people thought I sang just for the sake of fun. But in my second album listeners will really feel the difference, as I have sung professionally,” she added.

She started her career as an anchor. She used to anchor the show “Lishkara” on DD and is now apt in singing, acting and dancing apart from anchoring.

“I had no godfather in the film industry neither anybody from my family is into this profession. What I am today is the outcome of my own efforts,” she quips.

“It is not the money, which has made me entered the singing line. Soul satisfaction is the most important thing that one needs. I want to be fully satisfied. I was earning enough money by anchoring the show. Money was never a problem for me, in fact, I am experimental by nature,” she added.

While singing “Shukrana”, she thanked God and her parents for educating her and loving her unconditionally.

“I thank all poets, who inspired me and helped me transform from an anchor to a singer,” she said.

The album is a perfect blend of traditional as well as contemporary music. Songs “Mere naina vich” by Romi and “Vigad Gaya” will be definitely liked by the youth, whereas “Aj Raat Na Jayi” has a traditional beat that reminds the rich cultural heritage of Punjab.

Kala Nizampuri has penned down two soulful numbers “Boli te boli” and “Sonya”. The music is given by Jaidev. 

Ludhiana, January 3
Students of Bharitya Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, Kitchlu Nagar branch, clinched 24 medals in the Ludhiana Sahodaya School Athletics Tournament organised at Sant Ishar Singh Memorial Public School, Rara Sahib.

The tournament was held from December 31 to January 2.

Participants from various CBSE-affiliated schools took part in the three-day inter-school athletics meet and players from BVM, Kitchlu Nagar, bagged as many as 24 medals, including 11 gold medals, 6 silver medals and 7 bronze medals.

Besides, three participants from the school were adjudged the best athletes. They included Abhiti and Malika, who shared this honour in the girls U-14 category and Bharti, who was declared the best athlete in the U-19 category.

Players clinching medals are:

Girls U-14: Abhiti (gold in 400m race, gold in 800m race and silver in 4x100m relay race); Malika (gold in shot put, gold in discus throw and silver in 4x100m relay race); Gunjan and Khushboo (silver in 4x100m relay race).

Girls U-16: Ushma (bronze in 100m race); Ankita (bronze in 800m race); Lalima, Kajal, Vani and Ushma (bronze in 4x100m relay race).

Girls U-19: Bharti (gold in long jump and 200m race, silver in 100m race); Priya (gold in shot put and discus throw); Ritika (bronze in high jump).

Boys U-14: Chaitanya (silver in 800m race and bronze in 400m race).

Boys U-16: Shivam (gold in shot put); Puru (gold in discus throw); Sahil Chaudhary (gold in 3,000m race); Bhupesh (gold in 1,500m race); Gautam, Aditya, Sahil and Bhupesh (bronze in 4x100m relay race).

Boys U-19: Pankaj (silver in 1,500m race); Vishal Bector, Anuj, Sahil and Bhupesh (bronze in 4x100m relay race).

Principal Santosh Mehra appreciated students and congratulated director, sports, BVM Schools and Baljeet Singh Gill. 

Ludhiana, January 3
Sports lovers witnessed high class game on the concluding day of the 60th Perals Senior National Basketball Championship for Men and Women at Guru Nanak Stadium, here today.

All the four teams, played in the men's as well as women's final dished out spectacular play and the capacity crowd of spectators, present at the indoor hall enjoyed every moment of final encounters.

The final in the men's section was played between hosts, Punjab and the reigning champions, Indian Railways while Delhi eves took on Indian Railways in the women's final.

A group of youths, accompanied by a Punjabi dol beater was present there to cheer their favourite team, Punjab which fought a pitched battle in the men's section against the defending champions, Indian Railways.

The spectators were left a dissappointed lot when the hosts, lost the cliff hanger with a wafer thin margin of just one point 74-75 to content with the runners up trophy.

In the women's section, last years winners at Surat, Indian Railways, again proved their mettle to edge out Delhi 84-62 to retain the title.

Punjab Finance Minister and a former national baskteball player, Manpreet Singh Badal was the chief guest on the concluding day. Among others who were present there, Rajdeep Singh, DGP cum Director, Punjab Police Academy, Phillaur, former, DGP, Punjab, M S Bhullar, Dyan Chand awardees, Aparna Ghosh, Ram Kumar, Arjuna awardees, Suman Sharma, Sajjan Singh Cheema, Parminder Singh (sr.), Dr S S Chauhan, DIG, Ludhiana, Dr Sukhchain Singh Gill, SSP, Ludhiana and Harish Sharma, secretary general, Basketball Federation of Indian long with other office bearers of the federation.

Ludhiana, January 3
Players of various teams participating in the 60th edition of the basketball championship, under way at the Guru Nanak Stadium here, celebrated the first day of the New Year with a cultural evening at a marriage palace on the Baddowal road last night.

DGP RS Gill, president of the Basketball Federation of India, was seen tapping his feet on the latest songs. Gill was accompanied by several Arjuna award-winning cagers.

The move behind the event was to lift the spirits of the cagers, who could not celebrate the New Year due to the championship.

At least 400 players from 22 teams participated in the event, organised by the Punjab Basketball Association.