The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Sports fair begins Our Correspondent Hoshiarpur, February 18 Punjab Minister for Medical Education and Research, Forest and Wildlife, Labour and Parliamentary Affairs Tikshan Sud today inaugurated a two-day sports fair, organised by the District Olympic Association, in which more than 2,000 sportsmen below 21 years of age are participating at Outdoor Stadium here. Addressing the gathering, Tikshan Sud said to encourage sportspersons and promote sports, 13 multipurpose and international-standard stadiums were being constructed in Punjab by the state government at a cost of Rs 60 crore. One such stadium was being constructed at a cost of Rs 7.50 crore at Outdoor Stadium here and the construction work would be completed very shortly. Besides, Rs 16.50 lakh were being spent on the renovation of the local Indoor Stadium. Deputy Commissioner-cum-Chairman of the District Olympic Association Dharam Dutt Tarnach said during the two-day fair, competitions in different games, including football, volleyball, basketball, handball, kho-kho, kabaddi and athletics, would be held at the Outdoor Stadium, whereas competitions in wrestling, judo and boxing would be held in the Indoor Stadium. The main aim of holding the fair was to encourage sports among youths and keep them away from the drug abuse. Following are the results of various games held today. Kho-Kho: Naru Nangal defeated Qilla by 16-9 and Jhingarwan defeated Mukerian by 15-7. Kabaddi: Tanda block defeated Mahilpur block by 25-16. Basketball: Dasuya block defeated Tanda block by 35-11, whereas Purhiran defeated Bassi Daulat Khan by 29-20. Football: Mahilpur defeated Bijli Board Club, Hoshiarpur, in a tie-breaker. Volleyball: Zahura defeated Ramgarh Sikri and Talwara Service Club defeated Jhingarwan. 800-m race: Satnam Singh of Achharwal stood first, Naveen Kumar of Hariana second and Gurmit Singh of Tanda third.
	Crime File Dhaba employee killed over Rs 200 bill Tribune News Service Jalandhar, February 18 An employee of a dhaba at the Focal Point lost his life when he demanded Rs 200, a pending bill of tea, from his neighbour running an auto spare parts and repair shop this morning. The SHO, police station Division No 8, Gurvinder Singh, said the Ram Singh, an employee of Giyani Da Dhaba, owned by Trilok Singh, today approached Satish Bhamba, owner of the auto spare parts and repair shop, and asked him to pay the bill. Since Bhamba had not been making the payment for a long time, so Ram Singh picked up a trolley of a refrigerator from his shop and came back to the dhaba. After this, Satish, in a fury, kicked him hard on his private parts. Ram Singh fell unconscious and did not regain consciousness, the SHO said. The police rounded up the suspect and a case under Section 304 of the IPC had been registered against him on the complaint of Ram Lal, an eyewitness. Blind murder case solved, 6 held The city police claimed to have solved the Deep Chand blind murder case with the arrest of six persons here today. The ADCP (City-I), Dr S.K. Kalia, said taking certain clues with the help of general public the police rounded up six persons - Ram Pal, Jatinder Kumar, Onkarjit Singh, Jaspreet Kumar, Tahmu, all residents of Randhawa Mansanda, and Narinder Kumar of Ballan village. During questioning, they admitted to have attacked Deep Chand, a migrant labourer from Gadaipur village, near a Focal Point locality. Deep Chand had succumbed to injuries on February 15 morning. Kailia said their two accomplices Munish Kumar of Arjunwal village and Som Nath of Randhawa Mansanda were absconding. Deep Chand and his friend Gulbadan were returning from their factory when they were attacked by assailants with baseball bats. Gulbadan was also seriously injured in the attack. The police had lodged a case under Sections 304, 379 and 34 of the IPC on the statement of Bachu Prasad, brother-in-law of Deep Chand. The police is yet to make the seizure of the baseball bats and other weapons used in the crime. Accident case converted A strong protest by residents of Nangal Lubana village in front of Begowal police station forced the police to convert a case of road accident into a murder case here today. The irate residents had brought vehicular traffic to a standstill for over three hours last night. Sikander Singh, a resident of the village, had lodged a complaint with the police alleging that his brother Mangal Singh was beaten mercilessly by two motorcyclists at a petrol pump in Begowal village. The assailants were later joined by four occupants of a car, who later dragged Mangal Singh to the roadside. One of the car occupants then ran the car over his body. Mangal Singh was taken to a hospital at Begowal, but the doctors referred him to the Civil Hospital, Kapurthala. The victim succumbed to his injuries on the way to the hospital. Sikander Singh alleged that the police registered a hit-and-run case instead of a case of murder. The protesters lifted the traffic jam only on the assurance from SP (Detective) Gaganajit Singh. The police had identified two suspects - Inderjit Singh and Dharminder Singh - in the case, while their three aides were yet to be established, said Surinder Kumar Bansal, SHO, Begowal.
	AISSF unearths ’84 riots-hit village lying in ruins Perneet Singh/TNS Amritsar, February 18 The All-India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) today claimed to have discovered a village in Haryana’s Rewari district where Sikhs were killed in the 1984 riots and since then the homes inhabited by them and the village gurdwara have been lying in ruins. Responding to the claim, the SGPC said it would investigate into the matter. In view of the discovery, Karnail Singh Peermohammad expressed his intention to preserve the village as a “memorial to the martyrs of 1984” and sought help from the SGPC and other Sikh organisations. The village, Hondh-Chillar, located 55 km from Gurgaon, was unearthed by Manvinder Singh Giaspur, an engineer hailing from Ludhiana and at present working at Gurgaon. According to him, in November 1984, the village was inhibited by more than 35 Sikh families. “On November 2, 1984, in an organised attack, the entire village was burnt along with its Sikh population and gurdwara. According to records of the local police, an FIR was registered for the death of 20 Sikhs from Hondh-Chillar village on the same day. The remains of Hondh-Chillar show that the entire portion of the village where Sikhs used to live was torched, including the gurdwara,” he added, while producing photographs to corroborate his claims. He said the gurdwara building was in a bad shape and animal fodder was being kept in its verandah. Peermohammad claimed that Giaspur had rang up SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar and brought the matter to his notice on January 23. “Makkar had promised him to visit the site, but till date he hasn’t turned up.” The AISSF will be holding an Akhand Path at the site of the village gurdwara on March 4 in the memory of innocent Sikhs who were burnt to death in 1984. It has requested Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh to lead the bhog ceremony on March 6. On the other hand, Makkar said nobody had contacted him in this regard. He, however, said the SGPC would look into the matter and if any such incident had occurred in the village, they would cooperate with the AISSF.
	March to promote Punjabi Jalandhar, February 18 The success of any community in the world depends on the proficiency and ability of youngsters to read and speak the language as it was done by their forefathers. But this cannot be said about the present day Punjabis who are slowly but steadily “deserting” their mother tongue in favour of other languages. It would be a black letter day in the history of the state when the language withers in the coming decades. Who lives if Punjabi dies, questions Prof Piara Singh Bhogal, president of the Punjab Jagriti Manch. Hastening to add that they were not against other languages but efforts must be made to promote Punjabi among the youngsters who were not well versed with the language as their contemporaries, say a decade ago. “In fact, we should rise above religion, creed and other considerations while espousing the cause of Punjabi,” he stressed. In this context, an awareness march would be taken out by them on February 21 in the city in tandem with like-minded social outfits, he informed. Satnam Singh Manak, general secretary of the forum, said the present day consideration of the language could be gauged from the fact that children did not speak the language fluently. “The virtual gag on the language starts from the day a child enrols in school, more so in the public and convent educational setup where children are discouraged from speaking in their mother tongue,” he added. It was unfortunate that the people’s mindset had veered around to the view that those conversing in Punjabi were considered uneducated and unintelligent, he pointed out. “We all realise the importance of learning English, that has emerged as the lingua franca of the world, and that Hindi is our national language. But we are also of the view that a person can best grasp the profoundest thought in his mother tongue,” he added. “We appeal to the people to march with us to urge the people to come forward and pledge to promote their mother tongue,” he said. Other personalities that have confirmed their participation and support include Jagroop Singh (CPI), Mangat Ram Pasla (CPM), T.S. Bittu (Congress), B.S. Rajewal (BKU), Revenue Minister A.S. Kohar, famous singers Hans Raj Hans, Manmohan Waris, Amarinder Gill and Lakhwinder Wadali, besides comedian Bhagwant Mann. — TNS
	ETT teachers to gherao Badal village Tribune News Service Jalandhar, February 18 Alleging that the state government has failed to keep its promise of shifting ETT teachers from zila parishads to the Education Department and fresh recruitment of over 8,000 teachers, the ETT Teachers’ Union, Punjab, and Unemployed ETT Teacher Union have decided to jointly gherao the Chief Minister’s native village Badal on February 27. In a joint press statement released here, Manjot Singh Pandori Nijjhraan and Beant Singh Bhadmaan said on January 12, the Chief Minister had agreed to advertise for 6,500 and 1,500 posts of teacher under zila parishads and the Sarv Sikhya Abhyan, respectively, by January 26. The Chief Minister also agreed to shift ETT teachers from the Department of Rural Development and Panchayti Raj to the Department of Education and to constitute a separate directorate within the Rural Development Department. However, none of the demand was fulfilled. To press the Chief Minister for accepting their demands, a full-day gherao of Badal village would be organised on February 27, they added.
	2 booked for demanding dowry Our Correspondent Hoshiarpur, February 18 On the complaint of Kishan Singh, son of Partap Singh of Bassi Jamal Khan, the Sadar police has booked Sital Singh, son of Karam Singh, and his mother Piari of Tilowal Khun Khun under Section 498 A of the IPC. According to the police, Kishan Singh stated that his daughter Veena Rani was married to Sital Singh on May 2, 2010. He gave sufficient dowry to her daughter during her marriage. Soon after the marriage Sital Singh and his mother Piari started torturing and maltreating Veen Rani for bringing more dowry, alleged Kishan Singh. 2 killed in accident Gurjit Singh and Gurjit Singh of Kandhala died on the spot when a bus (PB 07X 8179) of a private transport company hit the motorcycle (PB 07T 5116) they were riding on near Machhian Gaina last night. According to police sources, the driver of the bus was booked under Sections 279, 304A and 427 of the IPC by Garhdiwala police station.