NEIGHBOURHOOD

2 held with illegal sugar

Rajpura, April 26
The police today arrested two people for illegally carrying 50 quintal sugar in truck near Rajpura.

A case has been registered at the Shambhu Police Station and the accused have been identified as Bhupinder Singh of Chamaru village and Rehmat from Sujanpur in Uttar Pradesh.

The police said the truck was intervened after a tip-off was provided by a source in the afternoon near Uksi Kalashpur village. The truck occupants failed to produce any bills or other related papers of sugar. The police said a case had been registered and further investigations were on. — TNS

Bassi Pathana, April 26
A man was looted of his car and belongings when he gave a lift to two unidentified persons in his car. After boarding his car, the miscreants offered him sweet lassi mixed with intoxicants, which made him unconscious. They then threw him in the bushes on the roadside and drove away with all his belongings.

According to Rajwinder Singh Sohal, DSP, victim Parminder Singh, resident of nearby Mehmoodpur village, is carrying out sale purchase business of vehicles at Mohali. Last evening, when he was returning from Mohali in his Indica Car No. CH-04B-2595, two unidentified persons signaled him for a lift and he obliged them. He gave them lift near the SYL canal, Chuni.

They offered him " sweet lassi" containing intoxicants and after consuming he fell unconscious. They then threw him in the bushes near Duphera village on the Bassi Kharar road and drove away with his belongings. He lay in the bushes throughout the night and this morning when he gained consciousness, he took the help of a passerby and made a complaint to the police. He said the miscreant robbed him of all his belongings like gold ring, cash, driving license and the car.

The DSP said a case was registered under Sections 328 and 379 of the IPC against the two unidentified persons.

Fatehgarh Sahib, April 26
The yield per hectare of wheat has registered a rise this season in Fatehgarh Sahib. Farmers attribute it to use of improved wheat varieties.

Modern equipments and training provided to the farmers under ATMA Scheme and as compared to the other major wheat growing district, Fatehgarh Sahib has registered more yield this season.

Deputy Commissioner Yashvir Mahajan said that so far 2.37-lakh metric tonne wheat had been procured by various procuring agencies as compared to last year’s 1.98-lakh metric tonne.

This season, the wheat procurement in Fatehgarh Sahib is expected to reach near 4-lakh tonne. The Deputy Commissioner said that the Agriculture Department had distributed approved wheat seeds of 7,500 quintal and 1,125 quintal paddy seeds in Fatehgarh Sahib to increase the wheat yield.

Also, under the colour-improvement scheme, the farmers are given subsidy for gypsum with 50 per cent subsidy besides a 50 per cent subsidy over medicines being used to combat various diseases of wheat crop.

To improve the yield of wheat crop at the village level, 1,094 quintal of seed was distributed among farmers of 90 villages in the past three years on a subsidy of 50 per cent. To store wheat grains, the government has also provided 810 drums to farmers to store wheat besides literature for the benefits of farmers.

Chief Agriculture Officer Sarabjit Kandhari said that the six-farmer training field schools in Jalvehri, Haripur, Damanheri, Krishanpura, Hindupur and Manaili villages have been setup for better communication services.

He said that successful farmers from nearby states would be called to interact with farmers of Fatehgarh Sahib. This helped farmers in adopting their schemes and getting solutions to their problems as well. He said that 10 farmers field schools would also be set up soon for the betterment of the farmers.

He however said that due to lack of power supply and water some farmers of the Amloh area were affected and letters in this connection had been written to senior government functionaries. 

Ambala, April 26
The two-day Open Chess Tournament in the city got underway at Congress Bhawan, Ambala Cantt, in which Nirmal Singh, a Congress leader was the chief guest.

Hundred players from different states, including Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh took part in the tournament.

Nirmal Singh, a former minister of Haryana, inaugurated the tournament. The main attraction of the event was participation of more than 30 ladies, kids and handicapped persons.

Abhinandan Vohra of Chandigarh bagged first prize, Himanshu Bhasin of Chandigarh got second position and Anil Verma of Sonepat stood third.

Cash prizes and trophies were given to more than  25 winners.

Mohinder Singh, principal general manager, BSNL, Ambala, gave away prizes to the winners. The other prominent persons who were present on the occasion were Archna Sodhi, Lioness Club, Sandip Agarwal from Agarwal Sabha, NS Shera, district Congress chief.

Dr Vikas Bhatheja, chairman, organising committee said participants were enthusiastic and there were rated players also. He said Haryana Junior Chess Tournament would be conducted in Ambala in which more than 200 players would participate.

Ambala, April 26
JCBL, Lalru, organised a cricket tournament at the Police Line, Ambala  City, which was concluded today.

As many as nine  teams participated in the championship.

JCBL plant II team won the championship by defeating JCBL head office team by 121 runs. JCBL chief managing director Rajender Aggarwal gave away the trophy to winning team captain Pankaj Kumar.

Sandeep Singh was declared the man of  the match.

Ambala, April 26
BJP legislator Anil Vij today rapped the Haryana government here for levying house tax in the state again.

Addressing media persons Vij, who is leader of the BJP legislature party, said the house tax had been waived before the assembly elections. However, the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government had again levied house tax in the state after coming back to power.

Describing this as a massive betrayal with the people of the state, the BJP leader said that the spiraling prices had already broken the backbone of the people in general and fresh taxes being imposed by the state government were adding further burden to the common man.

Demanding immediate abolition of the house tax, Vij said that the Haryana government had been extravagant in its spending and instead of curtailing its wasteful expenditure it had resorted to the easier way of levying fresh taxes on the people of the state. He said there was no move during the recently Assembly Budget session, if it was to be done it should have been brought in the House in the session, Vij added.

The BJP leader said that the worst hit by the fresh house tax in Ambala were the residents of over 30 villages, which had been included in the freshly constituted municipal corporation. These villagers had got the additional burden of the house tax with tasting any benefit of being under the new Ambala Municipal Corporation. — TNS

Chandigarh, April 26
A local court today framed charges against a youth who allegedly killed a 50-year-old beggar in Mauli Jagran last December last year after the latter refused to have sex with him. The suspect, Krishan alias Patra, was heavily drunk when he reportedly hit the beggar with a brick in a fit of anger on December 4 night.

The deceased was sleeping in the open at a ground when Krishan reportedly approached him and began making sexual advances. The beggar then picked up a brick lying nearby and hit the youth. Furious, Krishan struck back with the brick, causing serious head injuries to the beggar.

It was only after a police patrol team from the Mauli Jagran post, which was passing through the area, noticed the incident that the suspect was arrested at the scene. The injured beggar was taken to hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.

A case of murder was later filed against Patra. Evidence in the case will be recorded on August 26.

Chanidgarh, April 26
Disposing of an appeal filed by a Mohali resident, Lakhvinder Singh, against the decision of District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-I, Chandigarh, the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Chandigarh, has directed the United India Insurance Company to pay Rs 1,20,525 along with interest at the rate of 7 per cent to the complainant.

The interest will be payable from the date two months after the filing of the documents for the claim till realisation. The company has also been told to pay Rs 5,000 as litigation expenses.

Lakhwinder Singh, working as a deputy manager at HFCL Infotel Limited, secured a group mediclaim insurance policy from the United India Insurance under which employees and their dependents were covered for various medical expenses incurred by them on treatment. Gurbachan Kaur, mother of Lakhwinder, a patient of hypertension, felt chest pain on January 10, 2006, and was immediately taken to Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, from where she was referred to the PGI. At the PGI, Rs 1,20,525 were incurred on her treatment and the bills were submitted for claim, which were refused by the insurance company.

In its reply, the company stated that Gurbachan Kaur was a hypertension patient for the last six years and was having chest pain for the last four-five years. The doctor appointed by the insurance company gave the opinion that as per the medical record, she was having stable angina for the last four-five years which was confirmed in angiography report submitted the company.

The insurance company would not be liable to make any payment in connection with or in respect of such diseases which have been in existence at the time of proposing the insurance policy, pleaded the company before the district forum following which the forum dismissed the complaint.

Aggrieved by the order passed by the forum, the complainant filed an appeal and submitted that there was no question of fraudulent suppression of material fact in any document as the question and answer form was never filled. Neither medical expert of company nor the forum had taken into consideration clarification sought by the insurance company from Dr YP Sharma, head of the cardiology department, PGI, which specifically stated that there was no history of pre-existing angina. Moreover, the policy in question was of year 2000 and renewed thereafter from time to time and no one will wait for four years to go in for treatment where life is at stake, the complainant submitted.

In its order, the commission observed: “After the perusal of the reports issued by the PGI cardiologist, we have come to the conclusion that admittedly there was no history of previous treatment of angina. Moreover, as per the contention of the appellant that at the time of issuing this policy, the respondents never asked for medical history and no medical tests was conducted. So, there is no question of any concealment of material facts as the respondents have never sought any medical declaration form from the complainants.”

“We are of the view that the district forum has wrongly observed that there is a pre-existing disease as respondents have failed to prove on record that the complainant had taken any treatment and before the chest pain on January 10, 2006, the complainant was aware of this fact that Gurbachan Kaur was suffering from disease,” the commission observed. 

Chandigarh, April 26
The police today arrested Bhupinder Singh, a home guard volunteer and son of a former Chandigarh Police inspector, on charges of allegedly cheating a woman promising her a job with the Chandigarh Police.

SHO of the Sector-3 Police Station Inspector Mahavir Singh said the accused was held from near the UT Police Headquarters, where an altercation broke out over money between him and the woman aspiring to join Chandigarh police.

The police said, the woman Prabhdeep Kaur of Taran Taran, in her complaint, reported that she had come to the Police Lines in Sector 26, along with her aunt to know about the recruitment process on April 23.

There they met one Bhupinder, who promised them to get her recruited in the police and demanded Rs 2,500, which they gave to him. He told them to come to the Police Headquarters on April 26, along with Rs 26,000.

Prabhdeep alleged that she came, along with her aunt and met Bhupinder near the head quarters.

They gave Rs 15,000 to Bhupinder, who insisted for more money. Prabhdeep told him to give a receipt of the money and Bhupinder started dodging her.

An altercation broke out between them during which Bhupinder tried to flee with the money. She raised the alarm and some policemen on duty gave him a chase, but finally were held.

The area police was informed about the incident, and they reached the spot and arrested the accused.

The SHO said a case of cheating under Section 420 of the IPC had been registered against the accused and Rs 1,000 were also recovered from him.

Zirakpur, April 26
Jewellery and cash were stolen from the house of Army official at Hill View Enclave, Dhakoli, on Sunday when he was out of town.

The theft took place when he returned from his journey. The thieves decamped with 23 tola of gold, 12 tola of silver and cash Rs 10,000.

The owner of the house Bihari Lal, who works at Station Headquarter, Chandi Mandir, said they left around 4.30 am on April 24, along with family members to pay obeisance at Naina Devi and other religious places.

He returned at 4.30 pm on Sunday to find that the door was bolted from inside. When they entered the house through the terrace, they found that the house was ransacked.

The owner claimed that gold and silver jewellery and a few cloth pieces were missing. Cash worth Rs 10,000 was also missing from the almirah.

A case has been registered on the complaint of the owner of the house and investigations are on.

Another theft was reported at Dashmesh Colony. According to the police, the owner of the house Jagjit Kaur said she left the house on Saturday and when she returned she found that the house was ransacked. She claimed that gold jewellery and cash worth in lakhs were missing. Meanwhile, four cars were also stolen from Lohgarh village. — TNS

Panchkula, April 26
The local police today arrested two chain snatchers here, who had snatched a chain of a women about 20 days back near the Amartex Chowk.

The two accused, who have been identified as Om Parkash alias Tunda and Bhagat Ram alias Badal, both resident of Rampur village, Mujaffarnagar, (UP). Both the accused were produced in the court, which remanded them to police custody for three days. Police sources said the two accused on a black Pulsar motorcycle had snatched a 25 gm gold chain of Kavita, a resident of Sector 15, when she was out on a morning walk near Amartex chowk. However, the accused, who had covered their faces, had managed to escape from the site. A case has already been registered in the Sector 14 police station. The police sources said that two accused could be involved in around a dozen cases of chain snatchings in the region. The sources further said that keeping in view the recent incidents of chain snatching in the tricity, including Chandigarh, the involvement of the two couldn’t be ruled out. — TNS

Chandigarh, April 26
Sitting president Birinder Singh Gill was elected president of the Chandigarh Golf Club (CGC) for the second term, defeating his rival Gurjit Singh Lehal with a margin of 368 votes. An elated Gill claimed this to be the highest-ever margin for this post in the club’s history. Out of the total 1,066 votes polled, 717 were polled in the favour of Gill. Lehal, on the other hand, polled 349 votes in the elections held yesterday.

The Gill panel also managed to get seven seats (members) in the governing council while four seats went to the Lehal panel. For the Gill panel, TL Verma (652 votes), APS Kahai (599), Dr Pramila Chari (505), Gursharan Singh Sandhu (502), Harjinder Singh Kang (493), Lt Col KS Thandi (483) and Capt GS Ghuman (447) were declared winners whereas the four members of Lehal panel are Sandeep Singh Sandhu (505), Manpreet S Waraich (468), Vijay Wadhawan (431) and Dr BR Jain (401). Counting was done manually this time since EVMs did not arrive in time from Pune. See also P5

Mohali, April 26
Jotpal Jassowal of Punjab and Abhilasha Mudgil of Haryana entered the pre-quarterfinals of the Under-14 Manav Mangal Total Tennis AITA Talent Series held on Manav Mangal school premises in Phase X here today.

A player in action during the Manav Mangal Total Tennis AITA Talent Series in Mohali on Monday.  A Tribune photograph

All 32 players, who were competing in various categories for the top honour, sailed through with ease into the pre-quarterfinals.

In the boys’ under-12 event, Ankush Nagpal of Vivek High School defeated Sumer Sandhu of Strawberry World School in a tough fight. Ankush won the first set without any fight by 4-0, but Sumer bounced back with full energy and broke Ankush in the fifth game and retained his service game and second set by 4-2.

Third set went neck-to-neck till 2-2, but Ankush controlled his nerve and won the game with his consistency and held his serve to win the game and match.

In the boys’ under-14 category, three tough matches were witnessed between Tegbir Hara of Ludhiana and Sabrang Sandal of Chandigarh in a thriller match. Hara managed to defeat Sandal by 4-1, 1-4 and 4-2. Dalwinder Singh of Jassowal also managed to beat Lavish Nehra by 4-1, 1-4, 4-0.

Manjot Singh of Mohali, the underdog, who qualified into the main draw yesterday beat Dushyant Agarhani of Rajasthan by 4-1, 0-4, 5-3 and moved into the pre-quarterfinals. Paramveer Bajwa of Chandigarh had to taste the defeat from Raghav 
Talwar.

Mohali, April 26
With the fine partnership of 88 runs stitched between openers Simranpreet Singh and Shivam Bhambri, the Chandigarh team put on 241 runs for seven in the first innings of the three-day final of the Under-16 Inter-District Cricket Tournament for ML Markan Trophy against Patiala district at the PCA Stadium here today.

After winning the toss, Chandigarh opted to bat first. Simran and Shivam provided a good start with their 88-run partnership. While Simran chipped in 89 runs, Shivam was stumped by Vikrant Sarohi off Sukhwinder Singh at 54.

The next notable partnership of 51 runs for the second wicket was shared by Simranpreet Singh and Abhishek Verma. Abhishek hit 24 before holing out to Prabhjot. The next jolt came when Simran, who was playing well, gave a catch to Manpreet off Siddharth Sharma.

Saurabh Vaswani missed his half century by three runs, whereas Kapil Punia was sent back by Sharma on duck.

For Patiala, Sukhvinder Singh claimed three for 67 followed by Karan Kalia and Siddharth, who took two wickets each.

The match will resume tomorrow at 7 am. 

Brief score:

Chandigarh (Ist innings): 241 for 7 in 113 overs (Simranpreet Singh 89, Shivam Bhambri 54, Saurabh Vaswani 47, Abhishek Verma 24, Sukhvinder Singh 3 for 67, Karan Kaila 2 for 51, Siddharth Sharma 2 for 55).

Chandigarh, April 26
Shiv Kumar and Monu Dhiman will lead Chandigarh men and women teams, respectively, in the 55th Senior Ball Badminton Championship to be held at Nandyal, Karnul district, Andhra Pradesh, from May 2 to May 6, according to Chandigarh Ball Badminton Association secretary Inderjit Singh Puri.

The team was finalised during a coaching camp.

Team: Men: Shiv Kumar (captain), Manish, Shubham, Manpreet, Sushant, Dinkar, Simardeep Singh, Rajan Negi, Sunny and Baljeet Singh.

Women: Monu Dhiman (captain), Nitika, Sobha, Deepika, Samriti, Deepshika, Anuradha, Parul, Sangeeta and Ipsa.