NEIGHBOURHOOD

Flood-affected Families
Punjab Cong secy provides aid from pocket
Our Correspondent

Dera Bassi, July 12
Secretary of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee Rakesh Sharma visited the flood-affected areas near Lalru and provided financial help to the poor families from his own pocket.

He also demanded compensation for those who lost life and property during the floods. He provided Rs 5,000 each to the family of a 10-year-old girl Parveen, who got drowned in the floods and to the family of Jaipal, who got electrocuted. He also visited the flood-affected crops and houses and demanded compensation from the government.

He was accompanied by Krishan Kumar Gupta, Harbhajan Singh and Gurbaksh Singh.

Rajpura, July 12
A dead crocodile was found today from one of the water tanks of the Rajpura municipal council’s (MC) treatment plant.

A section of local political leaders said people from many localities of the city were getting impure water and they tried to inquire about it today and paid a visit at the treatment plant where a dead crocodile was found.

Block Congress president of Rajpura, Narinder Shashtri alleged that it was negligence on the part of municipal council officials, who failed to clean the water tanks. The water from these tanks is released for drinking purpose in the entire city.

He also alleged that the water storage tanks are not cleaned for long wherein many other insects were seen today.

However, municipal council president Parveen Chhabra said the dead crocodile was found in the tank where water was stored for the purpose of treating. The entire water is released after completing various process and complete cleaning.

“Though I am not in the city, I came to know about the dead crocodile from some of the MC employees. We will inquire into the matter and an action would be initiated against the erring employees,” he said.

Kharar, July 12
People from nearby Bhukhri and Aujla villages have protested against lifting of mud from their villages to fill 20 feet deep pit at Aastha Enclave in Kharar city.

Officials of the municipal council, Kharar, are getting the mud lifted from these villages and trying to fill the 20 feet deep pit, which is a result of illegal mining in the residential area. Mud is being filled to save the houses near the pit, whose foundations have grown weak due to the deluge caused by the incessant rains.

Kuldeep Kaur, sarpanch of Bhukhri village, has complained to the SDM, Kharar, that for the past three days trucks were carrying away mud from the shamlat (common land) of the village.

Following the complaint, SDM, Kharar, Rajiv Kumar Gupta has handed over the inquiry to the block development and panchayat officer. The SHO, Kharar, and the BDPO visited the site in the village after which mud mining was stopped at Bhukri village. The municipal council has now started mining from its land in Aujla village.

SDM Gupta said tomorrow he would visit the spot and get a demarcation done to ascertain whether the MC was right in carrying out mining activity in 
area or not.

Ambala, July 12
Recent flash floods have wrecked havoc on the railway tracks and bridges. In the Ambala Railway Division alone, which covers five states, the Railways have marked five bridges as most sensitive and 18 others as sensitive. Round-the-clock vigil has been ordered with supervisors and gangmen specifically deputed for the job.

According to officials in the Ambala Railway Division, the Railways is yet to make exact estimate of the losses but random estimates put the losses into crores of rupees. Railway engineers and other staff are busy ensuring safe and smooth movement of traffic in the entire division with special focus on the areas, which witnessed heavy rains followed by flash floods. At a number of places, the soil has eroded under the bridges and tracks.

However, the Divisional Railway Manager, Ambala Division, YP Singh told The Tribune that the safety of the passengers would be ensured at all costs and special teams had been constituted and deputed at sensitive places for round-the-clock vigil to prevent any mishap.

Although the traffic is limping back to normalcy, most of the trains are still running behind schedule, as at several places and over several bridges, the speed has been restricted to as low as 10 km per hour. The traffic on rail track between Amritsar and Delhi remained suspended for 48 to 72 hours due to damages caused to the rail lines as a result of flow of water, which eroded the soil underneath.

The railway officials said, the technical staff of DRM office, Ambala, is keeping a strict vigilance on the bridges in the division to avoid any mishap. According to information, there are thousands of big, medium and small railway bridges spread in five states falling under the Ambala division.

The officials said, of the total 96-km Kalka-Shimla track, five bridges have been identified a most sensitive, which include one at the Kotti-Ghuman point, three at the Kunoh-Kandaghat point and one at the Kaithlighat-Shoghi point. The railway officials said it was not safe to travel on this route during rainy season as soil under the track usually got eroded. As many as 47 gangmen have been deputed to keep strict vigil during the rainy season and are advised to report to senior officials in case of any danger. As many as 10 trains pass through this route everyday.

Of the 18 bridges identified sensitive, six fall in the Ambala-Ludhiana section, seven in the Sirhind-Nangal Dam section and five in the Ambala-Saharanpur section.

Strict vigil has also been ordered on bridges over Tangri, Ghaggar and Yamuna rivers. The officials said, a team of gangmen was deployed for the repair of the Shahabad Markanda bridge where soil below the track was washed away with the flow of water and the traffic remained suspended for three days till the repair work was completed. 

Chandigarh, July 12
CBI’s Special Court of Darshan Singh has acquitted only three of the eight policemen booked by the bureau for graft in the past one year.

The graft demanded by the men in khaki in these cases varies from Rs 1,000 to Rs 15,000 per month.

Bhim Singh, posted in the Mani Majra, was acquitted by the court on January 11 after the court found fault in the investigation of the CBI.

The court held that the CBI had violated the guidelines of the CBI Crime Manual. As per chapter 10 para 10.2 of the manual, an officer other than the officer who laid the trap should conduct the investigation.

Also, constable Surinder Singh was let off by the special court on March 15 after the investigation agency was unable to establish whether the constable had demanded bribe or not.

The court held that the basic story of the prosecution was that the bribe was being demanded by the accused for giving a copy of the FIR. So, the accused must have arranged for the copy of FIR before calling the complaint for payment of bribe. No copy of the FIR was recovered from him.

Head constable Kuldeep Singh and Balbir Singh were acquitted on October 19, 2009 after the court didn’t find any corroborative evidence to establish whether the demand of bribe was made or not. Furthermore, the complainant didn’t support the prosecution version and didn’t state anything about the confirmation of bribe.

Among convicted police officials, sub-inspector Ved Prakash had sought the maximum bribe of Rs 15,000 per month. The complainant, Harpal Singh, had stated that he was booked under the NDPS Act in 2001 and another case of assault was registered against him in 2002 at the police station-36 which was pending

Zirakpur, July 12
A Dera Bassi court today remanded Surdesh Burman, a resident of Kolkata, arrested yesterday in a fake general insurance racket, in one-day police custody. The police official said he was produced in the court today where he has been sent to one-day police remand.

On Sunday, the police team arrested Burman after raiding at his Mohali office and recovered three computers, stamps, a printer-cum-scanner, covering letter of public sector insurance companies and lots of old records of vehicle insurances from his possession.

The police booked Burman on the complaint of Keshavjeet, a resident of Panchkula, who was working as a commission agent with him. The complainant told the police that Burman was asking people to do the business on a commission basis and after receiving the money, the policy was issued on the same day.

The complainant alleged that he, along with other agents, became suspicious and, hence, informed the police about the forgery after visiting the main office 
at Mohali.

Panchkula, July 12
The local court today awarded one-year imprisonment to a Kalka resident in a check bounce case.

Ramesh Vaid, a resident of Kalka, had alleged in his complaint that he had lent Rs 70,200 to Lalit Kumar, a railway employee, and also a resident of Kalka. He said Lalit had issued a cheque dated June 11, 2007 of the same amount to him. But when he tried to encash the cheque from the bank, it got bounced. The main reason stated by the bank for the bouncing of the cheque as insufficient funds in account holder Lalit.

The complainant later issued notice to the respondent and finally filed a case against him in the local court.

Judicial Magistrate Renu Rana today pronounced one-year imprisonment for Lalit Kumar and further directed Kumar to pay Rs 70,200 to the complainant. Meanwhile, the court suspended the sentence for one month so that the respondent could file an appeal against the order.

Chandigarh, July 12
After a delayed start due to heavy rain, top seed Pranav Suri easily overcame Abhijeet Singh in boys’ singles category (U-16) of the AITA Talent Series Tennis Tournament held at the CLTA courts here today.

Parvenu defeated his opponent by 6-1, 7-5 in straight set. Whereas, second seed Kishore Matrons defeated Uday Singh Mann by 6-2 each in the same group. The boys’ singles (U-12) witnessed some three set matches. Sachit Sharma defeated Harmeet Singh Deol in straight three sets. In another match, city lad Sagar Banin overcame fifth seed Yugal Bansal of Delhi. After losing the first set by 1-4, the local lad came back in other two sets and won the game by 4-1, 4-0.

The pre-quarterfinals of all categories would be held tomorrow.

Results

Boys U-12: Yash Yadav (MP) bt Himanshu Bansal (CHD) 4-0, 4-0; Sachit Sharma (DLI) bt Parmeet Singh Deol (CHD) 4-1, 2-4, 4-1; Aakarshit Mahajan (UP) Sohrab Kalia 4-0, 4-1; Sagar Bains (CHD) bt Yugul Bansal (DLI) 1-4, 4-1, 4-0; Karandeep Singh (PB) bt Siddharth Basnet (CHD) 4-1, 4-0; Nitish Rehlan bt Rahul Verma (CHD) 4-2, 4-0; Ankrish Khana bt Jagdeep Singh 4-1, 4-0; Sameer Vats (CHD) bt Tanay Bagree (ASM) 4-1, 4-0; Rohit Kumar (HAR) bt Sabrang Sandal (CHD) 4-2, 4-2; Rishab Sharda (CHD) bt Siddhant Jain (DLI) 4-0, 4-1; Leonardo Pamei (MAN) bt William Yip 4-1, 4-0; Paramveer Singh Bajwa (CHD) bt Shivam Vij (CHD) 4-0, 4-0; Aryaman Agarwal (MP) bt Rishi Khirwar 4-0, 4-0; Robin Kapoor bt Angrej Singh (CHD) 4-1, 4-1; Kabir Manrai (CHD) bt Utkarsh Bhardwaj (UTTR) 4-0, 5-4 (9-7); Param Pun (CHD) bt Calvin Golmei (MAN) 4-1, 4-0

Boys U-16: Pranav Suri (CHD) bt Abhijeet Singh (CHD) 6-1, 7-5; Anmol Sandhu bt Prabhsimran Singh Bal 6-1, 6-2; Jagtar Singh bt Anupam Lamba (DLI) 6-1, 6-2; Ranjeet Singh (CHD) bt Nishat Eqbal (WB) 6-2, 6-2; Sachin Kumar (CHD) bt Rahul Seth (CHD) 6-3, 6-4; Nirbhay Singh (GUJ) Jotpal Singh 6-0, 6-1; Allen Johnson bt Ranjodh Singh Minhas 6-3, 6-4; Kamal Kishore Maderna (RAJ) bt Uday Singh Mann (CHD) 6-2, 6-2

Girls’ U-16: Maitry Phukan (ASM) bt Shriya Kalia (HP) 6-0, 7-5; Bhavya Wadhawan (CHD) bt Ishmeet Kaur (MAH) 6-0, 6-0; Ayna Arora (CHD) bt Nimrat Walia (CHD) 6-2, 6-3; Karishma Mehta (CHD) bt Simran Kapoor (CHD) 6-4, 6-1; Sabrina Gill (CHD) bt Abhilasha Mudgil (CHD) 6-1, 6-3; Pooja Mourya (PB) bt Gulmehar Kaur 6-2, 6-3 and Vibhuti Khullar (CHD) w/o Sheffally Sharma.

Chandigarh, July 12
Top seeded Gurinder Singh has a tough day from Pradeep K Reedy at the HTA-AITA Men’s and Women’s Tournament 2010 held at Jassowal, Ludhiana.

In a nail-biting match, Gurinder won the first set easily, but in the second set, Pradeep came back and won the set by 6-4. The decider of the match went to the tie-breaker where Gurinder defeated his opponent by 7-4.

In another match, GP Prajnesh from Tamil Nadu defeated city lad Deepinder Singh Bains. Seventh seeded Deepinder was defeated in straight sets by 6-1, 6-1.

On the other hand, Harpreet Singh Saran, who was leading by 6-1, 6-0 against Sunny Dahiya, withdrew himself from the match after a twist in his knee during the match.

Results

Men’s singles 2nd round: Mandeep Kumar (Chd) beat Tushar Jaitly (Pb)(13) 9-8 (7-3).

Men’s singles 1st round: Gurinder Singh (Pb)(1) beat Pradeep K Reddy (AP)(WC) 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4); Sunny Dahiya (Har)(Q) beat Harpreet Singh Saran (Pb)(Q) 2-6, 0-2 (conc); Saurabh Dilip Patil (Mah)(6) beat Ajay Yadav (Har) 6-3, 6-1; GP Prajnesh (TN)(WC) beat Deepinder Singh Bains (Chd)(7) 6-1, 6-1 and Suraj Beniwal (Har)(Q) beat Manav Dhawan (Q) 6-1, 6-2.

Women’s singles 1st round: Surya Tejaswini (AP) beat Shilpa Naruka (Chd) 6-3, 6-2; A Lubna Mariam (TN) beat Komalpreet Kaur (Pb) 6-0, 6-0; Saadgi Rajani (Guj) beat Shalaka Manjunath (Kar) 6-3, 6-2; Sharmada Balu (Kar)(WC) beat Charvi Saxena (Chd) 6-0, 6-0; Rajbir Kaur (Pb)(WC) beat Jaspreet Kaur (Pb) 6-2, 6-2; Bhuvana Kalva (AP)(WC) beat Rimpledeep Kaur (Pb)(WC) 6-4, 6-3; Ambika Pande (TN) beat Baljindar Kaur (UP) 6-3, 6-1; Bhavika Wadhwan (Chd) beat Deepshikha Gupta (Raj) 6-2, 6-2.

Chandigarh, July 12
Gaganjeet Bhullar is the highest placed Indian on the Asian Tour Order of Merit. This 22-year-old Kapurthala boy occupies the 12th slot and leads the Indian rankings with earnings of 79,752 US dollars from six outings at the midway stage of the Tour.

Bhullar who finished sixth in the 2009 Order of Merit got off to a good start in 2010 when he clinched the season-opener Asian Tour International in Thailand.

The victory was well scripted with Bhullar coming back from a six-stroke deficit to defeat Korea’s Hwang Inn-choon by one stroke.

But the Avantha Masters outing saw the Kapurthala lad missing the cut. He started off reasonably well with a 69 opening round. But he faltered in the second round posting a poor 76 card, thus failing to qualify for the third round.

After being tied 39th in the Maybank Malaysian, Bhullar came back with good 68 cards in the first and third rounds of SAIL Open. He mustered a tally of 279 to finish sixth. After a tied 60th finish in the big prize money Ballentine's Championship, Bhullar is all set to enter the second phase of the Asian Tour with the Brunei Open to be held from July 29 to August 1.

Just one position below at the 13th ranking is Rahil Gangjee with earnings of 77,604 US dollars. Shiv Kapur occupies the 21st position with Jyoti Randhawa, two steps below at 23.

Heading the Asian Tour merit list is Korea’s teenage golfing sensation, Noh Seyung-yul, who has pocketed over five lakh US dollars from four outings.

A close second is Australia’s Marcus Fraser who clinched the Ballentine's title.

In 2009, Gaganjeet won his maiden title at the Indonesia President Invitational and notched up three runner-up finishes and two other top-10s to end the year in sixth place on the Order of Merit. He also qualified for his maiden Major at the British Open.

After a fairly successful amateur career, Gaganjeet enjoyed a good rookie season on the Asian Tour in 2007 where he missed only one cut in nine tournaments. He also won the World Junior Masters Championship in 2005.

Gaganjeet picked up golf at the age of four from his father HS Bhullar and grew up at the Kapurthala Golf Club.

Chandigarh, July 12
FIFA World Cup-2010 came to an end in ‘Johannesburg’, where Spain overcame all 31 teams to become the world champs.

Oranje squad created history by outplaying Holland on Sunday.

With controversial Jabulani ball and vuvuzelaas catching the fancy of fans, soccer fever had gripped the world.

“I was rooting for Brazil, but the team’s exit disappointed me. Now I will have to wait for another four years to see my favourite team,” said Rahul Singh, a student of Panjab University.

City lasses, too, were seen enjoying the game.

“I don’t know much about the game, but as I find Spanish players cute, I am happy over their victory,” said Pia.

A huge turnout was witnessed at city hotels. “We never thought of receiving such a good response after the flop screening of IPL matches,”said an owner of a hotel.

On the other hand, some soccer Gurus refused to believe Paul Octopus’s predictions. “Predictions do not work in a game like soccer, activeness in the field, stamina, speed and skills play a major role,” said Tejinder Kumar Sharma and Bhupinder Singh, both football coaches.

As far as Jabulani ball and vuvuzelas are concerned, most soccer lovers are of the view that the ball used in the world cup was difficult to handle.

On the other hand, vuvuzelas also distracted players.

The world cup is over ,but it has given everyone a reason to wait, to learn and smile.