Bassi Pathana, May 15
The ETT union at its meeting held here today has decided to further intensify their agitation and to adopt the do or die attitude, if the state government did not concede their demands, said union president Randhir Singh Baina.

He said the union had postponed its agitation so that the tercentenary celebrations of Sirhind Fateh Divas may be celebrated without any protest.

He said they would again restore their agitation and all class masters, block master trainers (BMT), CMT and coordinators would submit their resignation and completely derail the “Paro Punjab” programme of the government. He said their agitation would be completely peaceful and would force the government to concede their demands of bringing them under the education department, instead of Zila Parishad and local bodies. — OC

Chandigarh, May 15
A local court today issued notice to three officials of the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL), which came up alongside the Indian Premier League, for not paying the dues of a local hotel.

The outstanding dues are for 2008 when the first ICl tournament matches were organised here. The court has sought a reply for July 26.

Taking cognizance of the complaint filed by the Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation (CITCO), Chief Judicial Magistrate JS Sidhu issued notice to chief of accounts department, manager accounts and assistant vice-president of the Essel Group. The group had hosted the ICL. CITCO, a semi-government corporation, had filed a complaint in the court alleging that the ICL authorities had not paid the dues of Hotel Mountview, Sector 10, where the teams had stayed in 2008.

“Out of the bill of Rs 13.5 lakh, ICL officials had not paid around Rs 7.29 lakh. We had informed them through mails, calls and even sent them various reminders at regular intervals but they have not paid the money so far,” said a CITCO official.

“The ICL officials asked us to provide them with detailed bills, which we had submitted to them before January, 2010. After seeing no development, we had to approach the court,” he added.

The first edition of the ICL, which was not recognised by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), was held in November-December 2007.

Chandigarh, May 15
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed GE Money Financial Services Ltd to pay Rs 50,000 in compensation to Puran Singh for causing physical harassment, mental agony and pain.

It has also been asked to recast/overhaul the loan account in accordance with the originally agreed rate of interest applicable for the initial 11 years, as stated in the loan sanction letter, and to maintain the period of repayment of the loan amount as 132 months with EMI @ Rs 5,608 per month without making any alteration in any of the terms.

Puran had submitted to the forum that he had taken a loan of Rs 3.35 lakh from GE Money Financial Services Ltd.

As per the clause of the agreement, he had to pay the rate of interest @ 10.28 per cent pa for a period of 11 years from the date of disbursement of loan in 132 installments of Rs 5,608 each.

However, the company issued a cheque for Rs 3.28 lakh, thereby paying Rs 6,375 less.

After the expiry of one year, the company not only arbitrarily increased the rate of interest first to 15.25 per cent and thereafter to 20.50 per cent pa against the agreed 10.28 per cent but also increased the installments first to 239 and thereafter to 262. He served a legal notice to the company but to no avail.

In their reply, the company stated that the agreed rate of interest to be charged was 16 per cent and that out of the total amount sanctioned, the amount of processing fee and insurance premium had been deducted.

It had been pleaded that the complainant was trying to escape from repayment of his outstanding loan amount, which the company was eligible to recover with such interest as was agreed between them.

The forum comprising Ashok Raj Bhandari, Rajinder Singh Gill and Dr Madanjit Kaur Sahota observed that it was a mockery of the banking and financial systems.

Chandigarh, May 15
A migrant allegedly raped a five-year-old girl near a garbage dumping ground in Dadu Majra last night.

Swift action by the police resulted in the arrest of the accused, identified as 30-year-old Mohammad Rashid, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, from the scene.

He is said to have shifted here just a week ago from his native place and was in search of job while staying with his friends.

Baldev Singh, in charge of the Maloya police post, said the victim was abducted around 8 pm from a park of the Daddu Majra Colony.

The victim, a resident of Milk Colony, Dhanas, had gone to Dadu Majra to meet her grandmother.

“The accused lured the victim by offering candies. She was taken to a forest area near the dumping ground. On getting information about the girl going missing from her mother, we deputed various teams to search for the girl. Rashid was coming out from a deserted area when he was nabbed. We later recovered the victim from the forest area,” the police officer said.

After completing the legal proceedings, the accused was remanded in 14-day judicial custody. 

Chandigarh, May 15
The Chandigarh Police yesterday arrested three persons, including two women, on the charges of cheating and kidnapping a woman along with her child in October last year.

The accused, identified as 60-year-old Nirmala, who runs a tiffin packing business in Maloya, Veer Singh and Geeta, couple from Baltana, have been nabbed for alleged kidnapping of Sonia (32), wife of a labourer, Rajesh Kumar, a resident of Maloya. Her son has been recovered from a Mani Majra woman, Simran, at the instance of Nirmala Devi.

Sonia had been missing along her three-month-old baby in October last year. After her sudden return last week, she alleged that her employer Nirmala and her accomplice Veer Singh and Geeta had sold her to one Sanjay, a resident of Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh for Rs 40,000.

According to the police, Nirmala Devi had lured Sonia to leave her husband, who is said to be drunkard, on the pretext that she (Nirmala) would arrange her marriage with Sanjay and look after her child after the marriage.

“After her return on last Wednesday when Sonia asked Nirmala about her child, she started making excuses. After her arrest, Nirmala disclosed that the child was sold by them to Simran for Rs 32,000,” said police sources.

The police has started investigations after registering a case under Sections 373, 420 and 120-B of the IPC.

Panchkula, May 15
A 19-year-old girl was found hanging from a tree with a duppatta on the premises of the sewage treatment plant located in Sector 20 here this morning.

The deceased had been identified as Sita Bai, a daughter of a migrant labourer from Uttar Pradesh, who was living with her parents in the nearby jhuggies.

A case of suicide has been registered at the Sector 20 police station. The postmortem would be conducted tomorrow as the parents were waiting for Sita’s brothers to arrive. She is survived by four brothers who are also working as labourers.

Sub-inspector Laxmi Chand of Sector 20 police station said Sita had a tiff with her parents regarding household chores and had left her home on the pretext of attending to the call of nature. However, when she did not return for over an hour her parents started searching for her.

The father of the deceased, Mallan Singh, said he had asked his daughter to remain in the house and do the household chores. Annoyed over this she immediately left the house stating that she would return soon. He said though she seemed offended, they did not suspect anything at that time.

Chandigarh, May 15
Adit Jain of New Delhi School defeated Snehal Gaikwad of Maharastra by 8-0 to enter the third round of men’s qualifying All-India Tennis Tournament being held at the CLTA Complex here today.

Earlier Adit had also won the men’s singles title of 2009 October tournament at CLTA.

In another match, Kamal Kishore Maderana, a CLTA CHART trainee, upset 11th seed Arvind Sharma to move into the third round. All other seeded players moved into the third round of the men’s singles qualifying matches.

In the women’s singles qualifying, all seeded players move into the final round in one-sided matches. Qualifying third round for men and women’s final round would be played tomorrow at CLTA and Lake Sports Complex, from 8.30 am and 9 am, respectively. The main draw sign-in would be held at CLTA from 12 noon to 2 pm.

Results: Women’s singles (1st round): Nupur Kaul (MAH) bye, Lavleen Raizada (MP) bt Sandeep Kaur (GUJ) 8-2, Preethi Srinivasan (TN) bye, Pamie Gogoi (ASM) bt Sheffally Sharma (PB) 8-1, Seema Kumari (DLI) bye, Shalini Jain (DLI) bt Kirandeep Kaur Kotade (GUJ) 8-0, Arushi Sharma (DLI) bye, Anjana K (AP) bt Shiny Raizada (MP) 8-2, Disha Agarwal (DLI) bye, Vaibhavi Trivedi (GUJ) bt Sushila Rajesh (HAR) 8-0, Abhilasha Mehra (DLI) bye, Sanya Madan (DLI) bt Komal Gotra (PB) 8-1, Jaspreet Kaur (PB) bt Bhoomi Parma (GUJ) 8-0, Sneha Reddy (AP) bt Priya Singh (RAJ) 8-1, Surya Tejaswani (TN) bt Radhika Jadhav (MAH) 8-4, Shalaka Manjunath (KAR) bt Ayenaaz Sidhu (CHD) 8-0.

Men’s singles (1st round): Rubal (DLI) bye, Amit Chauhan (CHD) bt Anil Rathee 8-2, Harry Singh Amor (CHD) bt Devendra Yadav (UP) 8-1, Samin Bhargava (CHD) bye, Milind Seth (MAH) bye, Pranav Suri (CHD) bt Parth Girme (MAH) 8-2, Kamal Kishore Maderana (RAJ) bt Neeraj Choudhary (RAJ) 8-3, Arvind Sharma bye, Adit Jain (DLI) bye, Deepak Malik (HAR) bt Snehal Gaikwad (MAH) 8-2 ,Rajendra Rai (UP) bt Danish Halder (WB) 8-1, Sean Yip (CHD) bye ,Gaurav (CHD) bye ,Sachin Garg bt Praful Upadhyay (UP) 8-7 (6), Gagandeep Singh (CHD) bt Krishna Swami (KAR) 8-3 ,Vivek Raja bye, Deepinder Singh Bains bye, Mandeep Kumar (CHD) bt Nagendra Rai (UP) 8-6, Nirbhay Singh Soin (GUJ) bt Mithilesh Singh (CTG) 8-4, Shailendra Rathore (CHD) bye, Arun Sikarwar (MAH) bye, Harry Jindal (PB) Suraj Desai (GUJ) 8-5, Aditya Sharma (DLI) bt Vikram Singh (HAR) 8-0, Adwait Sadwikar bye, Prosonjit Paul bye, Dushyant Verma (MP) bt Prakram Singh (HAR) 8-1, Bhavdesh Gaur (MP) bt Anandpal Singh Negi (DLI) 8-0, Jatinder Singh (CHD) bye, Shyam Jagat (CHD) bye, Manav Dhawan (PB) bt Udai Singh Mann (CHD) 8-6, Vikram Singh (HAR) bt Harsimranjeet Singh (PB) 8-7 (6), Tushar Jaetly bye, Arvind Singh (CHD) bye, Nilay Ikhankar bt Deva Prakash Guru (AP) 8-2, Ratindra Kakati (DLI) bt Rupam Gogoi (ASM) 8-5, Jitin Bishnoi (HSIIDC) bye, Raj Kumar (DLI) bye, Anurag Kumar (PB) bt Naveen Mann 8-1, Sahil Bindal (HAR) bt Rahul Gupta (UP) 8-5, Deepanshu Garg bye, Sagar Manianna bye, Gagandeep Singh (HAR) bt Gurwinder Singh (PB) 8-6, Faizan Khan (RAJ) bt Prabhsimran Singh Bal (CHD) 8-5, Paras Karania (KAR) bye, Bhomik (GUJ) bye, Bhavtaranpreet Singh (CHD) bt Nasir Malik (CHD) 8-4, Vipul Sabharwal (CHD) bt Sunny Pathak (AP) 8-7(6), Vishwesh Sinha bye, Arjun Goutam bye, Gaurav Sharma bt Anand Singh (DLI) 8-1, Harpreet Singh Sidhu (PB) bt Vikram BS Naidu (KAR) 8-5, Devanshu Jain (RAJ) bye, Rinku Garhval (RAJ), Abhishek Phore (DLI) bt Ishtpreet Singh (PB) 8-0, Shikhar Garg (HAR) bt Vishnu Jinan (KAR) 8-5, Anshu Kumar Bhuiyan bye, Arjun Tomar bye, Saurin Trivedi (GUJ) bye, Sunil Kaushik (HAR) bt Soumya Rai (DLI) 8-3, Bruhad Mankad (GUJ) bye, Amardeep Singh bye, Vicky Goswami bye, Vishwanath Savadi bye.

Men’s singles (2nd round): Rubal Shandilya (DLI) bt Amit Chauhan 8-2, Harry Singh Amor (CHD) bt Samin Bhargava (CHD) 8-1, Pranav Suri (CHD) bt Milind Seth (MAH) 8-6, Kamal Kishore Maderana (RAJ) bt Arvind Sharma 8-7(4), Adit Jain bt Deepak Malik (HAR) 8-0, Rajendra Rai (UP) bt Sean Yip (CHD) 8-7(1), Gaurav (CHD) bt Sachin Garg 8-0, Vivek Rajan bt Gagandeep Singh (CHD) 8-2, Deepinder Singh Bains (CHD) bt Mandeep Kumar (CHD) 8-4, Nirbhay Singh Soin (RAJ) bt Shailendra Rathore (CHD) 8-1, Harry Jindal (PB) bt Arun Sikarwar (MAH) 8-0, Adwait Sadwikar bt Aditya Sharma (DLI) 8-1, Prosonjit Paul bt Dushyant Verma (MP) 8-4, Jatinder Singh (CHD) bt Bhavesh Gour (MP) 8-2, Manav Dhawan (PB) bt Shyam Jagat (CHD) 8-4, Tushar Jaetly bt Vikram Singh (HAR) 8-3, Nilay Ikhankar bt Arvind Singh (CHD) 8-5, Jitin Bishnoi (HSIIDC) bt Ratindra Kakati (DLI) 8-6, Anurag Kumar (PB) bt Raj Kumar (DLI) 8-2, Deepanshu Garg (DLI) bt Sahil Bindal (HAR) 8-6, Sagar Manianna bt Gagandeep Singh (HAR) 8-1, Faizan Khan (RAJ) bt Paras Karania (KAR) 8-4, Bhavtaranpreet Singh (CHD) bt Bhomik (GUJ) 8-4, Vishwesh Sinha bt Vipul Sabharwal (CHD) 8-0, Arjun Gautam bt Gaurav Sharma 8-4, Harpreet Singh Sidhu (PB) bt Devanshu Jain (RAJ) 8-4, Abhishek Phore (CLI) bt Rinku Gharval (RAJ) 8-0, Anshu Kumar Bhuiyan bt Shikhar Garg (HAR) 8-3, Arjun Tomar bt Saurin Trivedi 8-1, Bruhad Mankad (GUJ) bt Sunil Kaushik (HAR) 8-7 (5), Amardeep Singh bt Vicky Goswami 8-5, Vishwanath Savadi bye.

Chandigarh, May 15
Sandeep Duggal entered the final of the 9th Saurabh Khattar Memorial Billiards and Snooker Championship at Chandigarh Club today.

In the first snooker quarterfinal, Sandeep beat Pankaj Gulati in three straight frames (84-11, 109-30, 58-30).

In another quarterfinal match, Gurpreet Batra beat Vishal Gupta (3-2). Gurpreet Batra lost the first and the fourth frames (26-74, 28-55), while he was able to win other three frames (50-43, 65-25, 52-32).

In the first snooker semifinal, Sandeep defeated Gurpreet Bawa 3-1 (74-18, 63-28, 45-54 and 37-28) to enter the final to be held tomorrow.

The second semifinal between Aman Bhasin and Pardeep Kinger was in progress till the filing of the report.