Kharar, June 21
A mutilated body of a woman in her late forties was found at Bar Majra village, near Balongi area of Kharar today.

Some passerby informed the police about the body, which was lying under the bushes, in the wee hours.

Police officials, who reached the spot, said the woman was apparently murdered and her body was thrown after badly hacking her face with rocks. The accused had also apparently thrown acid on her face in order to conceal her identity.

The police also recovered some rocks lying near the body, which were used to disfigure the face. The body was thrown here either last night or in the wee hours today, said the police.

The body was kept in the mortuary for identification and a case was registered against unidentified people.

Senior police officials said a pen, cap of a bottle and another bottle containing acid, a stick and one of the slippers of a woman were recovered from the spot.

Dera Bassi, June 21
A 19-year-old boy, Santosh, drowned in the reservoir of a tubewell at a flower farm on the Gulabgarh Road, here on Monday. Santosh reportedly drowned in the reservoir under mysterious conditions. 

According to information, the youth belonged to Uttar Pradesh and was employed as a worker at Guga Nihal Singh Farm here for the past some time. The youth was taken to the Civil Hospital, Dera Bassi, where he was declared dead on arrival.

Kalka, June 21
The solid waste management project for Kalka and Pinjore, which had been hanging fire for over three years due to the apathetic attitude of the district administration and had shown some signs of revival of late, has again hit a roadblock.

Official sources said the local administration had recently selected a site measuring three acres at Paploha village, near Kalka, thus rekindling the hope of thousands of residents of the two towns to see the project take shape.

However, their hopes were dashed when residents of Paploha village opposed to the construction at site and refused to give the land for the purpose.

The villagers said their delegation had recently met the Panchkula Deputy Commissioner and submitted a memorandum in this regard. A letter was also sent to the Haryana Chief Minister.

They threatened to launch a stir and block traffic if the administration refused to withdraw the project.

The village gram panchayat had given the three acres to the administration for the setting up of the plant.

Three years ago, the Kalka municipal committee had sent a proposal for a no-objection certificate to the district town planner (DTP), Panchkula, to set up a solid waste management plant.

The municipal committees of Kalka and Pinjore had jointly selected five acres for the purpose near Seyuri village, adjacent to the BDPO office, Kalka.

The solid waste management plant was to be built on the lines of those in big cities by the central government at an estimated cost of Rs 2 cr.

But the department of town and country planning, Panchkula, had rejected the plan in 2006.

The then district town planner, Panchkula, had confirmed the rejection of the plan as the land selected for the purpose was not permissible under the development plan of the department. The Kalka municipal committee had been asked to recommend some other piece of land that was permissible under the development plan of the department.

The rejection came as a setback to the Kalka MC and residents, as there was little land to spare within the town’s limits.

The sources added that in the first quarter of 2008, the Kalka municipal committee had again sent a proposal for approval to the DTP, Panchkula.

The municipal committees of Kalka and Pinjore were to jointly construct the plant in May, 2008 as the state government had granted Rs 1.08 cr (Rs 78 lakh to Pinjore MC and Rs 30 lakh to Kalka MC) for the project. However, the project is yet to see the light of the day.

Chandigarh, June 21
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued a notice to the Registrar of the PGI here to show cause why contempt proceedings not be initiated against him and members of a board of doctors for non-compliance with orders.

The directions by Justice Alok Singh came on a petition filed by Devraj, brother of Pawan Kumar, convicted and sentenced for 10 years in a case registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

In his petition in the high court, he had stated that Pawan Kumar was release on parole on May 14 and was to surrender on June 12.

In 2009, Pawan Kumar had undergone heart treatment and same problem had recurred. Devraj had sought extension of Pawan’s parole for six weeks for getting him medically checked and treated from specialists.

On June 10, the high court observed that the petition could be a tactic for getting the parole extended, but it might have to be seen whether Pawan required specialised treatment.

The high court had then directed the PGI Registrar to get Pawan medically examined by a board of doctors on June 11 and produce the medical report in the high court.

During the resumed hearing of the case, counsel for the petitioner Gourave Bhayyia said Pawan had been medically examined, but opinion had not been given or submitted in court.

Taking note of the assertion, Justice Alok Singh issued the notice to the Registrar and members of the medical board, fixing June 25 as the next date of hearing.

Panchkula, June 21
Two officials of the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) were suspended for allegedly taking bribe through a cheque for rectifying the fault in one of the societies in the town.

The managing director of the UHBVN Arun Kumar today ordered suspension of lineman Lal Singh and assistant lineman Raghubir Singh with immediate effect and issued them a chargesheet as they had reportedly charged Rs 4,000 from members of a group housing society in Panchkula for rectifying a snag in the power supply.

Stating this here today, a spokesman of the Nigam said some members of the group housing society number 22 of Sector 20 met the managing director today and showed him the copies of the affidavit and complaint, which they had given to the executive engineer concerned. In their complaint, they had said lineman Lal Singh of sub-urban sub-division, Panchkula, had demanded Rs 4,000 for restoring power supply. Assistant lineman Raghubir Singh also accompanied him.

He said when the supply of electricity was interrupted on June 7, the members of the group housing society lodged a complaint on the following day, but the employees of the power utilities told them to get the repair done themselves.

They alleged that junior engineer Shyam Dhar, accompanying the two, also misbehaved with them. The spokesman said the officials of power utilities came to restore power supply on June 9 and demanded Rs 4,000, including Rs 1,000 as labour charges.

They also gave a bill signed by Lal Singh and Raghubir Singh and the amount was accepted through a cheque in the name of Lal Singh.

The consumers also asked the executive engineers whether the power utilities were entitled to get charges for such a repair and if not, the same may be returned.

Zirakpur, June 21
Shiva Sharma, a resident of Saini Vihar, Phase V, Baltana, who was injured in a road accident on Saturday late night, died this morning at the PGI, Chandigarh.

The investigating officer stated that the incident took place when Shiva was returning on his motorcycle to his home in Baltana after attending a marriage function along with his relative Ritesh Sharma. The motorcycle was being driven by Shiva.

Panchkula, June 21
The police has impounded a truck carrying 198 cases of the Indian made foreign liquor worth Rs 2 lakh and arrested its driver.

The police has registered a case against the driver, identified as Rajbir Singh, a resident of Butana village, Sonepat district.

Police sources said a naka was laid near Ramgarh chowk on a tip off. The police signalled the truck to stop and found 198 cases (2,376 bottles) of English wine of various makes upon searching it.

The accused was produced before the district excise and taxation commissioner, Panchkula, today for penalty.

Sources said the accused had bought the liquor from Chandigarh and was to be smuggled to Gujarat. Sources added that in Chandigarh these brands were available for Rs 90 to 100 whereas it would have fetched around Rs 200 per bottle in Gujarat.

Chandigarh, June 21
The police arrested 10 persons who were involved in two incidents of assault in different parts of the city here yesterday.

Prem Chand of Shastri Nagar, Mani Majra lodged a complaint with the police that Ranjit Kumar, Raju, Brish, Santosh, Dalip and Satish of the same locality assaulted and threatened him and Bablu, another resident.

He said Bablu, Dalip, Santosh and Ranjit were injured and admitted to the Public Health Centre, Mani Majra. The police arrested the accused and registered a case.

In another incident, Mukesh Kumar of Mohali filed a complaint with the police that Vinod Kumar, Ram Phal, Ashish Kumar, Sandeep Kumar and Sant Lal of Palsora, Bajrang Lal of Maloya and Satish Kumar of Sector 44 barged into their home and attacked him and his father Suresh Kumar.

Chandigarh, June 21
In an effort to boost sports as well as sportspersons in the city, the Chandigarh Sports Council has decided to hike the cash award for sportspersons.

The decision was taken at the general body meeting of the council, presided over by Adviser to the Chandigarh Administrator Pradip Mehra here today.

With this, the winners (local sportsperson) of gold medal in Asian Games and Commonwealth Games will get Rs 1 lakh whereas silver and bronze medallists will be awarded with Rs 50,000 and Rs 30,000, respectively. Earlier, the amount of cash award for the gold medallist was Rs 30,000.

The amount of cash award in other recognised national and international sports competitions has been doubled by the administration.

While the Olympic gold medallist from the city will get a cash award of Rs 4 lakh, the amount for silver and bronze medallists has been fixed as Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1 lakh, respectively.

It was also suggested that at least 25 per cent local players be included in the state-run Chandigarh Hockey Football Academy.

The amount of cash awards in other tournaments are: World Cup/World Championship — Rs 2 lakh, Rs 1 lakh and Rs 50,000; Asian Junior Championship — Rs 12,000, Rs 8,000, Rs 4,000; sub-junior national/National School Games U-14 — Rs 6,000, Rs 4,000, Rs 2000; junior national/national School Games U-17 — Rs 8,000, Rs 6,000, Rs 4,000; senior national championships/National School Games Under-19/Inter-University Championships — Rs 10,000, Rs 8,000, Rs 6,000.

Team events: Sub-junior national/National School Games U-14 — Rs 12,000, Rs 8000, Rs 4,000; junior national/National School Games U-17 (Rs 16,000, Rs 12,000, Rs 8,000) and senior national championships/National School Games U-19 (Rs 20,000, Rs 16,000 and Rs 12,000). 

Panchkula, June 21
With his superb bowling spell, Jashpreet Singh (4 for 16 including a hat-trick) enabled his Chandigarh Phoenix Cricket team beat Hansraj Cricket Academy (Blue), Panchkula, by six wickets in the league match of the First Under-10 Category Cup League Cricket Tournament at Hansraj Public School Cricket Ground, Sector 6, here today.

Batting first, Hansraj (Blue) team were bundled out for 92 in 20.4 overs.

Chasing the target, Phoenix-11 batsmen made 93 in 19.2 overs with the help of opener Nitish Verma’s 38 runs knock.

Brief score: Hansraj Cricket Academy (Blue), Panchkula: 92 all out in 20.4 overs (Saksham Mahajan 27, Joy Mathur 20; Jashpreet Singh 4 for 16, Nikhil Verma 2 for 18, Mohit Arora 2 for 8).

Chandigarh Phoenix Cricket: 93 for 4 in 19.2 overs (Nitish Verma 38, Gaurav Kumar 22, Chetan Dhall 19 n.o; Paras Kumar 2 for 11, Aman Kumar 2 for 22). 

Chandigarh, June 21
After a two-year hiatus following the rape of a German woman in the city on the World Tourism Day (September 27), the UT administration now wants to cash in on the upcoming Commonwealth Games by reinventing the concept of tourism police.

The Superintendent of Police, Traffic and Security, the Secretary, Transport Authority, and the Tourism Department are putting their heads together to work in the direction of reinventing the tourism police.

Outlining the concept and construction of tourism police, Pradeep Shrivastava, IGP Administration, said here today that select personnel from the UT police would be given special training at the Dr Ambedkar Institute of Hotel Management, Sector 42.

The training module would cover subjects such as personal grooming hygiene, motivation, leadership, stress management, tourism basics, city’s tourism action plan and social mannerism. They would be groomed in friendly techniques, besides basics in English and some foreign languages, to easily assist and interact with tourists, especially foreigners, visiting the city.

Besides the uniform of the Chandigarh police, they would wear a special jacket to facilitate identification from a distance. Besides guiding tourists on law and order, security measures, places of medical help, matters relating to passport and visa, residential exchange of currency and immigration, they would help in easy transport and board and lodging at appropriate rates.

They would also assist them in case of any emergency and provide security against unscrupulous elements. Records revealed that in 2007, 26,567 foreign tourists visited the city and their number increased to 34,762 in 2008 and to 37,967 in 2009. In the first four months of 2010, 15,260 foreign tourists had already visited Chandigarh.

Chandigarh, June 21
The Chandigarh Press Club bagged the table tennis singles trophy in the Inter-Press Club Tournament organised by the Shimla Press Club as part of its silver jubilee celebrations at Shimla on June 19 and 20.

Sukhwinder Sodhi of the Chandigarh Press Club overpowered Anil Hedley of the Shimla Press Club in straight sets 21-12, 21-13 to bag the title.

In the doubles final, the city team of Sukhwinder Sodhi and Vikrant Parmar lost to Shimla’s Hedley and Somkirti to finish runners-up.

Similarly, Gian Thakur of Shimla beat Rohit Awasthi of Chandigarh to bag the badminton singles final.

Also, Thakur and Arun Uniyal of Shimla thwarted the city’s challenge of Rohit Awasthi and Vikrant Parmar to bag the doubles crown.

Journalists from press clubs of Chandigarh, Dehradun, Agra, Jalandhar and Jammu, besides Shimla, took part took part in the tournament.

The two-day tournament was inaugurated by Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal while state health minister Dr Rajiv Bindal gave away prizes to the winners.

Chandigarh, June 21
Dipanshu Garg, a CLTA trainee, defeated second seed Manoj Sheoran by 7-6 (4), 6-3 on the third day of the AMUL-AITA Talent Series Tennis Tournament being held at the CLTA, Sector 10, today.

In another close match, Harry Jindal defeated Sohrab Kunwar by 6-2, 7-6 (4). Harry faced tough competition in the second set from Kunwar, whereas the matches of the boys’ singles U-18 category were decided in straight sets.

In the boys’ U-14 singles category, all matches were decided in the straight sets. Surya Pratap Singh of Punjab beat Rishi Khirwar of Uttar Pradesh in straight sets by 7-5, 6-3, 6-0.

On the other hand, Udai Bhaskar of Punjab got the better of Sultan Singh Atwal, whereas Saurav Rarh beat Abhinav Bansal in another three-setter match by 4-3, 6-3, 6-2.

In the girls’ under-14 singles event, Neelanchal Gupta defeated Seerat by 6-1, 6-1 after losing the first set by 4-6.

Results:

Boys U-14 singles (main draw 1st round): Dawinder Singh (PB) beat Abhijeet Singh (CHD) by 6-2, 6-2, Vishavjit (CHD) defeated Dipanshu Premani by 6-1, 6-1, Surya Pratap Singh (PB) defeated Rishi Khirwar (UP) by 7-5, 3-6, 6-0, Udayan Bhaskar (PB) defeated Sultan Singh Atwal (PB) by 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, Paramvir Singh Bajwa (CHD) defeated Akhil Bansal (PB) by 6-1, 6-3, Param Pun (CHD) defeated Karandeep Singh (PB) by 6-2, 7-6 (7), Saurav Rarh (DLI) defeated Abhinav Bansal by 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, Ishan Kakkar defeated Sabrang Sandal (CHD) by 6-1, 6-0, Rahul Seth (CHD) defeated Manjot Singh by 6-4, 6-3, Santbir Singh (CHD) defeated Chirag Bajwa by 6-1, 6-2, Gurjot Singh (PB) defeated Shivain Suroya by 6-1, 6-3, Nihit Rawal (CHD) defeated Navneeth Reddy (AP) by 6-1, 6-3, Rohit Kumar (HAR) given walk over, Aditya Vashisht (RAJ) defeated Kanik Batra by 6-1, 7-5, Adhhyan (CHD) defeated Parmeet Singh Deol (CHD) by 6-0, 6-3, Shrey Gupta (HAR) defeated Amandeep Dhull by 6-2, 6-0.

Boys’ U-18 singles: Harry Jindal (PB) defeated Sohrab Kunwar (PB) by 6-3, 7-6 (4), Aditya Sharma (DLI) defeated Nirbhay Singh Soin by 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, Mandeep Kumar (CHD) defeated Pranav Suri (CHD) by 6-4, 6-3, Fatehdeep Singh (PB) defeated Hardeep Singh Sandhu (PB) by 6-1, 6-3, Ayush Mintri (PB) defeated Sean Yip (CHD) by 6-3, 6-3, Dalwinder Singh (PB) defeated Samrat Rana (CHD) by 6-3, 6-1, Kamal Kishore Maderna (RAJ) defeated Manav Malhotra by 6-1, 6-3, Nischay Rawal (CHD) defeated Ajay Singh Thakur (PB) by 6-0, 6-4, Atul Sri Patel (UP) defeated Andrew Pradeep by 6-2, 6-2, Dhruv Puniani (CHD) defeated Raghav Chaudhary (CHD) by 6-0, 6-1, Rajanvir Dharani (MAH) defeated Rahul Seth (CHD) by 6-1, 6-1, Dhruv Agarwal (UP) defeated Soumya Raj by 6-1, 6-0, Suraj Beniwal (HAR) defeated Shivesh Tripathi by 6-0, 6-0, Udai Singh Mann (CHD) defeated Shrey Gupta (HAR) by 6-4, 6-2, Ranjeet Singh (CHD) defeated Adeetya Bhalla (PB) by 6-1, 6-4, Dipanshu Garg (HAR) defeated Manoj Sheoran (HAR) by 7-6 (4), 6-3.

Girls U-14 singles: Jigisha Dosajh defeated Taru Ahluwalia 6-2, 6-1, Abhilasha Mudgil (CHD) given walk over, Rubani Ahluwalia (CHD) defeated Sejal Bohra by 6-0, 6-1, K Gayatri (DLI) defeated Ravnoor Kaur Puri (CHD) by 6-0, 6-2, Sheffali Bohra defeated Pragya Mangal by 6-3, 6-2, Aditi Mittal defeated Sanika by 6-0, 6-1, Sarita defeated Tanya Sood by 6-0, 6-4, Ayna Arora defeated Aastha Malhotra by 6-1, 6-2, Bhavya Wadhawan (CHD) defeated Dimpy Khirwar by 6-0, 6-0, Neelanchal Gupta (CHD) defeated Seerat by (PB) 4-6, 6-1, 6-1.

Girls U-18 singles: Saumya Saxena (CHD) defeated Sanjam Preet by 6-1, 6-1, Aashima Garg defeated Sonali Bansal by 6-2, 6-2, Harsimran Kaur (HAR) defeated Pooja Mourya by 6-1, 6-3.

Panchkula, June 21
A brilliant half century by Jatin Sandhir helped Panchkula Moons to beat Panchkula Warriors by four wickets in the inaugural U-16 Cricket League Championship organised by the Hansraj Cricket Academy, Panchkula, on the school premises.

Batting first, Panchkula Warriors scored 166 runs for nine in the stipulated 25 overs.

From Panchkula Warriors, Shubham Rana made 74 runs, whereas Moons bowlers were successful in taking wickets at regular intervals.

Navjeet took four for 30 runs and Kamaljit Singh claimed two for 27.

In reply, Moons opening batsman Jatin Sandhir made 50 runs, whereas sensible batting by Chetan Rawat (36) and Kamal Jeet Singh (36) took Moons to the
victory.

Brief score: Panchkula Warriors: 166 for 9 in 25 overs (Shubham Rana 74, Animesh Goyal 30, Ranbir Singh 16; Navjeet 4 for 30, Kamal Jeet Singh 2 for 27, Jatin Sandhir 1 for 19).

Panchkula Moons: 168 for 6 in 21.4 overs (Jatin Sandhir 50, Chetan Rawat 36, Kamal Jit Singh 36, Rishab Sharma 13; Abhilav 2 for 17, Gaurav Garg 1 for 28, Munish Verma 1 for 40).