Kasauli (Mohali), December 25
Within a year of land scam involving levelling of large tracks of eco-fragile Shivalik Hills in Chandigarh’s periphery to carve out roads, the Punjab forest department has booked five persons for levelling Shivalik Hills near Nagal village.

The work was being done to carve out a road leading to farmhouses.

In a case registered under Sections 186, 353 of the IPC and Sections 4, 5 and 19 of the Wildlife Protection Act on the complaint of Guraman Preet Singh, Range Officer, Siswan, Sham Lal, a former sarpanch of Gura Kasauli village, has been named as one of the accused. Similar cases had been registered against him last year when the eco fragile hills were being levelled.

Sources in the forest department said the levelling was being carried out with active involvement of certain forest officials, who had been extending patronage to the mafia. Last year, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had directed all officials concerned to conduct a fair probe into the matter.

Again the same persons have been found using heavy machinery to uproot hundreds of trees to pave way for access roads to farmhouse sites sold to “outsiders” in the area. The hillocks being targeted are spread over the common village land in Majri block comprising five villages-Bhagindi, Gurdha, Kasauli, Jyanti Majri and Karaundewala.

Last year, several FIRs had been registered against the violators. Forest officials said in the case registered last night, Sham Lal, sarpanch of Gurdha village, Nasib Chand, Raga Ram, Billu had been named.

Though villagers of the area have been reporting the matter to the police and the forest department for the past many days, the complaint was lodged on December 20 and the FIR was registered today.

The sources said due to political interference, senior officials in the forest department were finding themselves helpless in preventing the mafia
from damaging the eco fragile hills.

Despite the Punjab and Haryana High Court taking cognisance of the matter last year, the forest department seems to have learnt no lessons. 

Results: DAV College, Chandigarh, b SCD Government College, Ludhiana, by 34-24; GGDSD College, Chandigarh, b SGGS College, by 30-11; DAV College, Sector 10, b GGDSD College by 30-26; SCD Government College, Ludhiana, b SGGS College by 18-09.

Chandigarh, December 25
The four member tennis team of Aastha Malhotra, Rubani Ahluwalia, Anureet Brar and Akshita Singh has finished third in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Tennis National Tournament, held recently at Indo Public School at Amravati in Maharashtra.

The team included leaders Aastha Malhotra and Rubani Ahluwalia with Anureet Brar and Akshita Singh who won bronze medal in the gils’ (U-14) category.

Earlier, the team from Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, Sector 26, had secured the winning position in the North Zone CBSE Tennis Tournament held at Banyan Tree School to qualify for the final rounds held at Amravati.

A total of 13 teams from five zones participated in the All India level tournament.

In the tourney, Aastha Malhotra and Rubani Ahluwalia played the qualifying rounds and finished third after playing six matches in four days.

“We are very happy after securing the berth in the national level tennis tournament. We are looking forward to play more tournaments to excel in the sport,” said delighted players.

Chandigarh, December 25
Haryana lads won the finals of 23rd edition of Senior National Circle Kabaddi Championship for Men while the Punjab team lifted the girl’s title, at Football Stadium, Sector 17, here today.

In the final match of boys’ category, the Haryana team defeated Delhi by 48-35. In a well contested match for Haryana, raiders Raj Kumar, Sonu and Somveer scored 12, 10, and 10 points, respectively, while stopper Narvindra, Pardeep and Baggi scored 6, 5 and 2 points each.

For Delhi, Amit and Matru scored six points each while Anil earned 5 points for the team. Parveen, Sonu and Mahaveer scored 7, 6 and 5 points, respectively.

In the finals of girls’ event, the Punjab team defeated Haraya by 27-12 with raiders Raman, Dimple and Harjit scoring 5, 4, and 4 points, respectively, while catchers Rekha, Aman and Parveen earned 5, 4 and 5 points each.

For Haryana, Parveen, Biro and Neeraj earned 3, 2, and 1 points as raiders while Ritu, Seema and Suman got scored 2, 2 and 2 points as a catcher.

Results:

Men (semifinal)

Delhi defeated Punjab by 33-25; Delhi (Amit 7 points, Manto 6 points, Parveen 7 points, Sonu 5 points, Punjab: Bhappy 5 points, Lucky 4 points, Raj 6 points and Pakka 4 points); Haryana defeated Chandigarh by 34-16 (Haryana Team: Raj Kumar 8 points, Sonu 5 points, Narindera 7 points, Pardeep 6 points, Chandigarh Davindera 3 points, Monu 3 points, Manna 3 points, Sewak 4 points).

Women (Semifinal)

Haryana defeated Chandigarh by 28-22 (Haryana team: Biro 5 points, Parveen 6 points, Seema 7 points, Reetu 4 points, Chandigarh team: Usha 5 points, Ranjitka 4 points, Komal 4 points, Neha 4 points); Punjab defeated Dehi by 41-37 (Punjab team: Dimple 9 points, Raman 6 points, Rekha 9 points, Aman 6 points, Delhi team: Suman 8 points, Sanjita 5 points, Roshani 7 points, Israna 6 points).

Chandigarh, December 25
More than 500 players participated in the 9th National Choi-Kwang-Do Championship in the boys’ and girls’ (U-10, U-14, U-17 and U-19) category held at Tau Devi Lal, Sports Stadium, Sector 3, Panchkula.

In the defence drill event of girls (U-10), Aditi Kaushik won gold while Sanjana Kumari and Chanchal Mandloi finished second and third, respectively. Urvarshi Veram of Madhya Pradesh secured fourth place.

In the Airshield Drill categry of girls’ (U-10), Nishtha Rajput and Ashna Bansal won top honours. In the 21-27 kg event, Tanishka Vishe, Komal Joshi, Shivangi Rathore and Jyoti Ratnani attained first four places.

In the 30-33 kg event, Prabhnoor Kaur of Haryana stood first place while local player Parul Puri won silver medal and Nandani Roy won bronze medal in the tourney.

Results:

Girls (U-10) speed drill: S Rajadshtini, boys(U-10): K Vidhya Darshini, Priyash Bagrecha, girls(U-14): Vandana, Mayuri Kadam, Meghna Sharma, Uma Maheshwari, Antara More, girls(U-12): Harshita Grewal, Vijayshree Bankar, Chanchal; (33-39 kg): Shweta Bankar, Mansi Pandey, Hema Bisht, Ankita Sharma, Mehak Arora, Komal Patil; (39-48 kg category): Nehashree Lihare, Himanshi Dhiman, Sophiya,Prema Tamta; girls (U-14): air shield drill (24-30 kg): Neha Athani, Rupali Gabhane, Ashwini Lokhande, (30-33 kg): Chanchal Verma, Kanika Taralkar, Sheetal Moond; (33-36 kg)-Mehak Abrol, Tejal Vyas, Kiranpreet Kaur, (36-42 kg): Geetika Malhotra, Aditi Patil, Nikita Kaushik; (42-48 kg): Ankita Kar, Vaishnavi Pisal, Gauri Mali Rajwinder Kaur, Akansha Mane, Riya Shrivastava, girls (U-14) Pattern-Sukreety Gupta, Ilakya, girls (U-14) speed drill-Simran Kaul, Muskan Jamwal, Prastuti Sharma; girls (33-45kg, U-14): Aishwarya Patil; Karishma Sargar, Priyanka Katkar, Komal Barve; (45-48 kg): Rajbir Kaur, Kritika Goyal; x(48-54 kg)-Supreet Kaur, Himani, Himani Ahlawat; girls (U-17) air shield drill (33-42 kg): Kritika Gaikwad, Ruchita Shinde, Dhanshree Desai, (42-54 kg): Kajal Borde, Samira Kulkarni, Chaitrali Kanitkar, (54-60 kg): Karishma Shaikh, Vidushi Dhankar, Nancy Waj, Khushboo Borewar; girls (U-17): Divya Thakur, Tushmeet, Aashu Ratnani; gilrs (14-17 age category) Devyani Jawde, Sujata Ingale, Anuja Date (42-51 kg): Lima Kale Gauri Paul, Priyanka Nikhade; (60-69 kg); Roma Devi.

Chandigarh, December 25
Ayush Tayal of Sonepat overcame local lad Pankaj Sidhana by 3-1 in the finals of sub-junior category during the 2nd EFSO Table Tennis Tournament, here today.

In the final match, the winner Ayush defeated Pankaj Sidhanaby 11-9, 11-7, 8-11 and 11-9. Earlier, in the semi-final match Pankaj overcame Shashwat of Panchkula by 3-2 (17-15, 11-5, 8-11, 7-11, 11-9) and Ayush beat Harnoor of Ludhiana by 3-1 (11-6, 11-2, 9-11, 11-5). In the finals of boys (cadet), local boy Shaurya Gupta defeated Krishan by 3-1 (11-7, 11-9, 7-11, 12-10) while Ishan Kapoor won the single’s category after defeating Kartika Rana by 3-0 (11-7, 12-10, 11-9). Bhavya won the sub-junior title after overcoming Ayushi by 3-1. — TNS

Chandigarh, December 25
Chess player Sanjeev Biswas scored 4 points to emerge as the winner of fourth round during the Chandigarh Team Chess Championship being held at St Xavier's Senior Secondary School, Sector 44, here today.

Piyush Manuja and Pradeep Singh Negi scored 3.5 points each to finish second in the tourney.

A total of 39 players (men and women) are participating in the championship.

Results:

4 Points: Sanjeev Biswas, 3.5 Points: Piyush Manuja and Pradeep Singh Negi, 3 Points: Anil Raina, Vipan Negi, Himal Gusain, Anubhav Tuknayat, Nitin, Manmohan Singh, Harinder Pal Singh, 2.5 Points: Abhinandan Vohra, Kashish Kaushal, Rishab Jain, Anmol Razdan, Rahul Arora, 2 Points: Shweta, Aryan Oswal, Shivika Jain, Hardeep Singh, Tanya Kaushal, Abhinav Bansal, Kashish Jain, Akshit Khunger, Prateek Wadhwa, Uday Vats, Amartya Bhattacharya, 1.5 Points: Jaskeerat, Anhat Singh, Ishaan, 1 Point: Surveer Bhatia, Agamjot Singh Bedi, Arshdeep Singh, Sidharth Mahajan, Maurya Mahajan, Kritika Kapila, Vansh Chawla, Nivedan Bhardwaj, 0.5 Point: Komal Bhatia, Shishir Lamba.