NEIGHBOURHOOD

80 quintal rotten pickle destroyed

Patiala, February 28
One person was killed while three others were injured following a gas cylinder blast at a paint workshop on the Bhadson Road here today.

While the police has registered a case, it is trying to ascertain the exact cause of the blast.

The police said the deceased had been identified as Balwant Singh, who had come to the shop to get his vehicle repaired.

The injured included Jagdish Khushi, Dhani Ram and Balkar Singh.

According to the police, the blast took place around 2.30 pm. The exact cause of the blast was not yet known.

Ropar, February 28
The Ropar-Neelon-Doraha road passing will be widened soon. This was stated by the newly appointed Commissioner, Ropar division, SK Sandhu, during his address to government officials during a meeting here.

Sandhu said the work on the four-laning of the road would begin soon and the permission to axe trees for the purpose had been sought from the forest department.

A four-member committee had been constituted to look into the problem of traffic chaos. The committee comprised the ADC (development), the SDM, the DSP and the District Town Planner.

The committee would look into ways of solving the traffic problem without making any infrastructure changes and would take decisions on the construction of buildings for the future.

The Commissioner said vacant pieces of land would be utilised to create parking spaces at the old Veterinary Hospital and the BDPO office. The District Improvement Trust had been given the sites to develop the parking lots.

Sandhu said a bus station for the rural area would come up in the Transport Nagar area under the Improvement Trust.

The trust would be transferred 6.50 acres of land in lieu of the bus stand and Powercom would be compensated for the overhead cables passing through the area.

He added that the work on the second phase of the Ropar bypass would begin soon and a notification in this regard had been issued.

Chhat (Banur), February 28
Two Himalayan black bears that were rescued near Gopalpur zoo in Himachal Pradesh have been brought to the Mahendra Choudhury Zoological Park. They have been kept in quarantine for one month.

Zoo field director Churchil Kumar said forest officials of Himachal Pradesh rescued the bears during a fire incident in the forest area near Gopalpur zoo. The mother of the young bears got separated from her cubs in the jungle and failed to retrace them.

He added that another bears was expected to arrive at the zoo in the next few days from Kufri (Himachal Pradesh).

The zoo director said black bears were in abundance at Gopalpur zoo and the authorities did not have enough space to house them.

The Chhat Bir zoo has seven bears (four males and three females) and would be traded with other zoos in the next few months.

The zoo authorities said they were also likely to receive a pair of lions in the next few days.

Chandigarh, February 28
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today asked the private schools in the city to consider the admission of 15 per cent students from the economic weaker section (EWS) of the society.

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Augustine George Masih also directed the UT education department to widely publish in print and electronic media the availability of seats in the city schools for the children from economic weaker section of the society.

During the hearing, some of the schools informed the Bench they had already completed the admission procedure. Most of the seats were filled in December last. Taking a note of the assertion, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi asked the counsel for the schools to furnish the status of the seats in their schools on Tuesday.

The directions came during the hearing of a plea by Hemant Goswami of petitioner society, Burning Brain.

The Chandigarh Administration has already claimed that despite concessions, private schools were charging exorbitant fees either directly or indirectly; and the private schools were not complying with its directions to strictly maintain 15 per cent quota for the economically weaker sections of the society.

In an affidavit, the administration had also provided a list of 77 private schools in Chandigarh allotted land at concessional rates from time to time. The Bench was also informed that apart from the allotment of land at a concessional rates, water and electricity was also being provided to the recognised schools at special rates.

The UT Administration also submitted the scheme for the allotment of land to educational institutions on lease-hold basis in Chandigarh was notified on January 31, 1996, in which it was clearly mentioned to reserve 15 per cent or more seats, as may be determined by the Chandigarh Administration from time to time for the economically weaker sections of the society. But 15 per cent reservation for weaker section was not absolutely free and fees would be charged at the rate applicable to government schools. On the other hand, St Joseph School, Sector 44, had added a twist to the controversy on 15 per cent seat reservation by denying the land was allotted to the institutes on concessional rates. It was added that freedom to admit students should remain with the schools; and curbing the powers of the schools would be unconstitutional. 

Panchkula, February 28
The district court today handed down a 10-year jail sentence to Goldy, a resident of Ambala, for violating a 25-year-old woman in a gang-rape case of 2010.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Kanchan Mahi, while awarding the sentence, also slapped a fine of Rs 35,000 on the accused.

However, the court acquitted a co-accused Ashok, a resident of Morni, as the prosecution failed to prove anything substantial against him. Third accused, Chintu, in the case is still at large.

According to sources, the victim failed to identify Ashok during the trial, which helped in his acquittal.

The police had filed a charge-sheet against the accused under Sections 376(G) (gang rape), 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person), 328 (causing hurt by means of poison, with intent to commit an offence), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.

In the charge-sheet, the police had stated that on July 14 last year, the victim had left her house to receive treatment at General Hospital, Sector 6. On reaching the town, she boarded a maxi cab. The accused also hopped on the vehicle, the police had maintained.

The police added that the youths overpowered the woman and gagged her before drugging her.

After wandering across the town, the accused went to Ambala and kept her under illegal confinement on the intervening night of June 14 and 15.

The victim had told the police that accused had raped her in a room of a house in Ambala.

The accused had even threatened her with dire consequences if she reported the matter to the police, the police had said in the charge-sheet.

The victim had told the police that the accused had raped her again the next day before dumping her in the bushes on the National Highway-73, near here, on July 15.

The charge-sheet

The victim had told the police that the accused had raped her in a house in Ambala. The accused had threatened her with dire consequences if she reported the matter to the police

Panchkula, February 28
The eight persons who were arrested by the local police yesterday for impersonating candidates during an examination for the posts of conductor were remanded in seven-day police custody by the district court here today.

Police station-20 SHO Dharamveer Singh said six of the accused — Ashutosh, a resident of Aligarh (UP); Kapinder, Anand, Vikram, Bhupender and Satish Kumar, all residents of Sonepat — told the police that they were working for Sandeep of Gannaur village and Rinku, a resident of Badouli village in Sonepat district.

He said the kingpin used to give them Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 for appearing in such examinations.

Singh said the accused, who were students of Kurukshetra University, had admitted to having appeared in similar examinations in other parts of the state and Delhi in the past.

Chandigarh, February28
It seems that the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) has found more free entry ticket holders than ticket buyers for the upcoming league matches to be held in Mohali.

As per the officials, the host will distribute 5,000 free tickets to schools and academies in the name of promoting game whereas almost same number of tickets are reserved for the PCA club members and contingent of the ICC.

On the other hand, the authorities have only sold about 3,000 tickets so far, when the match between South Africa and Netherlands is only a few days away. Even the response for the online tickets has been poor.

A layman in the city feels that the PCA authorities instead of improving the marketing strategy is concentrating more on the tactics of how to distribute free passes.

“ It is clearly a tactics on the part of PCA authoritie, as the match is not on any weekend and the teams are not that good that people will come to watch the match live on the grounds. If the PCA distributes free passes for the semi-final match then we will feel that they are doing this for the promotion of the game” said a group of gully cricketers.

On other hand, the students are also not excited about this match as the match is on a working day and it is scheduled to start in the morning.

“I believe that only VIPs will watch all these matches as for first two league matches there will be less viewers as India is not playing, and for the semi-final match the price of the ticket will be too high that it will become difficult for the common man to witness the match” said Naveen, a resident of Sector 22.

Sharing his views another cricket lover said, “Distributing VIP passes is a normal thing but the authorities should also take care of the those persons who cannot afford to purchase the tickets, the PCA authorities should distribute free tickets to them also” said Parbhat Bansal, a resident of sector 32.

When a branch manager was contacted for getting the exact figures of the sold tickets, the official simply refused to provide the information and she maintained that PCA had all the data, but interestingly PCA only had the exact number of free passes distributed among people.

After a three-hour delay in flight, the South African cricket team arrived in the city with full security at hotel Taj, Sector 17, here, on Monday. The team led by South African captain Graeme Smith entered the hotel premises late in the evening. According to the South African squad media manager, the team will have an extended practice session on Tuesday followed by a light practice session on Wednesday. According to the team manager, Imran Tahir, who was suffering from minor respiratory problem due to pollution in Delhi, was now fit to play.

Chandigarh, February 28
The Chandigarh Administration will organise the second ‘Run for the spirit of Chandigarh’ marathon on March 13 here.

The marathon organised in association with Sport 18 (CNBC) Network will witness many international and national athletes compete in half, full marathon and 5-km run in both male and female category for winning the prizes up to Rs 6 lakhs.

According to Home Secretary Ram Niwas, “The city marathon will be a world-class experience for the athletes participating in the event”.

On the other hand, Bollywood celebrities along with renowned players from the sports fraternity will also be there for the marathon.

According to the Director, sports, city, “The winners will be presented with medal whereas participants will get participation certificate”,

The interested participants can register on at www.Chandigarhmarathon.com <http://www.chandigarhmarathon.com/> and also at Sukhna Lake and Sector 17 Plaza before March 11.

Chandigarh, February 28
Delhi University defeated Madras University, Chennai, to win the title of the All-India Inter Zonal Inter University Lawn Tennis (Women) Championship, organised by Panjab University at PU Lawn tennis courts here today.

Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi, finished third in the tournament after getting walk over against Calcutta University, Kolkata, as the team failed to turn up for the third place match.

In the final match of the tournament, Delhi University overcome Madras University, Chennai, by 2-0.In the singles category, Prerna Bhambari defeated Neena Reddy by 6-1, 6-0 whereas Garima Vatwani defeated Preethi Srinivasan to double the lead by 6-2, 6-4.

Ananya Gautam, D.I.G, Punjab Police, distributed the prizes among winners.

Chandigarh, February 28
The ICC World Cup match between India and England finished in a tie not only on field but also off field for bookies and punters.

The match left both bookies and their clients disappointed as the match was a no-result affair.

India being the host country were the hot favorites to win the match but a brilliant knock by England skipper Andrew Strauss not only changed the complexion of the match on field but also affected the mood in the bookies’ room.

“India were expected to clinch the match but the counter-attack by the Englishmen turned everything upside down for punters,” stated a city-based bookie.

According to him, the odds favoured the Indian team at the beginning of the match, but as the match progressed, the odds tipped towards the English side.

A business of Rs 25 crore was at stake, but it got to a naught with the tie.

“The rate for Indian team was set at 40 paise at the start of the match. If one was to bet Rs 1,000 on India, he was set to get Rs 400 in return as profit had India won,” said the bookie.

“When England came in to bat, the rate shot up and went to their favour by 30 paise. This meant, a Rs 300 profit for every Rs 1,000,” added the bookie.

“I had put my money on India as they had set a good target. But when the opponents started to chase the target, I switched my bet in favour of the visitors. However, I lost my money on both sides when the match ended in a tie,” said a college-going punter.