Jammu, April 10
Ahead of Baisakhi festival, the Irrigation Department has released water into the Ranbir canal and its distributaries without de-silting and clearing it of garbage this year.

During the past few years, particularly in winter months, the cleaning process is done by private contractors engaged by the department, but for the the last few years, it is not being done. Though the officials maintain that they are facing shortage of funds, sources said the process is being deliberately delayed, as some of the blacklisted contractors are not allowing others to bid for tenders.

Once considered a lifeline of the Jammu region, the canal now stands testimony to the official apathy and rampant pollution. People living around the canal also expressed concern that the water body has turned into a big drain and is dying a slow death. People are using it for dumping bio-degradable and non-biodegradable waste into it.

"The water is emitting bad odour, which is not only harmful for humans but also for the environment. It passes through many areas of the city before moving towards the villages where it is the only source of irrigation for farmers," said Surjeet Singh who lives near Trikuta Nagar.

In summers, water with sewage and muck flows from Akhnoor to the tail-end of Bhagwati Nagar, Talab Tillo, Gajansoo, Trikuta Nagar, Satwari and other interior areas.

"The canal is not confined up to four walls of the rural belt. During summers, it acts like a lifeline for the Jammu residents. We deeply regret its plight”, said Pooja Sharma, a college student.

However, it is not only the department which is responsible for the plight of the water body. People living around it are also responsible for the present condition. “They ignore the restrictions imposed by us and dump the garbage into the canal. Even during religious festivals, polythene bags are thrown into it, which choke the body”, said Nadeem Qadri, an environmentalist.

Chief Engineer, Irrigation and Flood Control Department, Ashwani Sharma, said there was delay in clearing the canal as it was closed in late January. “We have completed the process of major portion but the late closure of the canal left many stretches uncleaned”.

Jammu, April 10
The BJP today alleged that the state government had been discriminating with the localities of Jammu city which are dominated by the Scheduled Castes.

Addressing a public meeting at New Plot, organised in connection with the ongoing ‘jan sammelans’, former Mayor of Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) Kavinder Gupta said there were a number of areas in Jammu city where a majority of population belonged to the SC community. “These people and also their areas are subjected to discrimination and given step-motherly treatment by the state government,” he averred.

He further said like other sections of the society and communities, the SCs in Jammu too had resentment against the NC-Congress coalition as benefits of various Centrally-sponsored schemes launched for their welfare had not been reaching the real deserving families.

“The scholarships for the poor SC students are sanctioned but not released in time. The development works to be undertaken on the SC basis under special schemes are also lingering due to a lack of will and approval by the authorities concerned,” alleged General Secretary of the BJP Sat Sharma. He said the BJP had been raising the issue of the SCs on appropriate forums repeatedly. He advised the people not to get misled by the false slogans of the NC and Congress in the forthcoming municipal elections and elect a BJP candidate so that their areas could be developed on priority.

Chander Mohan Sharma, another BJP leader, said the present NC-Congress coalition government had been neglecting the SCs and promoting corrupt elements in the state.

“The government feels proud in booking patwaris, JEs and other low-rank officials, but they do not feel ashamed while shielding top ministers who promote nepotism by throwing all norms to wind,” he added.

Jammu, April 10
In Jammu University, every year around 600 persons, mostly research scholars and teaching staff, apply for renewal of their Wi-Fi passwords and accounts and this number is increasing constantly. The Wi-Fi facility, which was set up at the Jammu University in 2005, has become one of the benchmark projects undertaken by the university to make the campus technology friendly.

Even though the facility is restricted to research scholars and teaching staff, the growth in numbers has been steady. While the students complain that they have to rely on desktops available in the respective computer labs, the authorities in charge of maintaining Wi-Fi connectivity say it is challenging for them to maintain individual record of all 3,000 students of the university.

“We already have close to 600 students and teachers using the Internet facility free of cost. To maintain the record of all students is not possible as we are short of manpower,” said Dr Devanand, Head of Department, Computer Sciences and Information Technology.

Along with statistical challenge, security is another reason for maintaining vigilant control over access to the Internet. Since the region is security-sensitive, the university does not wish its services to be used for any notorious purpose. “We have the UTM system installed in the IT department. This system not only helps us maintain control over bandwidth use by different departments but also keeps a check on the users and their location when they log in. Through this system, we can keep a track of every user and the kind of content being filtered”, Dr Devanand said.

At present, the university is using the services of Reliance Telecommunications and National Knowledge Network, the latter being free of cost. The UGC had granted Rs 50 lakh under the 11th Five-Year plan to Jammu University for the Wi-Fi and IT department projects. This amount helped the university not just to launch the project but get it upgraded regularly. The money has been used to lay down optical cables in the newly constructed departments to support Wi-Fi connectivity along with installing new access points and switches to start the operations in new blocks.

“We had started with 1 mbps as Internet speed in 2005 but today we are upgrading our systems to work on 150 mbps speed. The grants have helped us in changing out access points which help relay the Internet signal in order to support the new speed and latest N technology”, stated the HoD of the IT department.

The university is currently upgrading its Wi-Fi systems from G Technology to N technology, which will help the systems support increased Internet speed.

While students complain that Wi-Fi connectivity falters in some areas of the campus, the IT department technicians pointed out various conditions which lead to dark spots within the campus, “There are thick trees, huge building with chip tiles covering their walls and ceiling which at times become an obstruction for the signal and despite our best efforts there is little we can do about it. But, we do maintain 24x7 Internet connectivity not just on the campus but in the student hostels as well,” a technician from the IT department said.

Jammu, April 10
There was a day long traffic chaos in the city due to the visit of Union Home Minister P.Chidambaram, who was on visit to review the law and order situation in the state.

Keeping in view the VIP movement, authorities concerned had diverted traffic on some routes, particularly on Canal and Panjthirthi roads, to allow free movement of cavalcade of Home Minister.

During the morning hours, commuters had to wait for several minutes due to this VIP movement, thus, causing traffic jam on Tawi bridge, BC Road and Canal road.

“Whenever there is any movement or visit of Ministers, it is only the common man who suffers the most. Today, we reached office late because routes were diverted in the city”, complained Vicky Sharma, private telecom company employee.

Though there was some ease after noon, yet security forces and traffic police remained on toes for whole day to maintain proper vehicular movement.

“Whenever any VIP visits the city, every effort is made to streamline traffic chaos, but once they leave, no official bothers to take care of vehicular chaos in the city”, said Vinod Gupta, a local businessman.

Many people had to face this problem and some even missed out many important assignments.

Jammu, April 10
Experts have stressed for a detailed study about climate change and its impacts on the glacier resources of Jammu and Kashmir before reaching any conclusion.

Presenting their papers on the two-day national level conference on “Climatic Change: Understanding Himalayan Ecology” organised by the Institute of Himalayan Glaciology (IHG), University of Jammu, in association with Liberty Institute, New Delhi, the glaciology experts said for suggesting the possible solutions it was mandatory to comprehend the nature of alterations and their repercussions.

CV Sangewar, former Director, Glaciology, Geological Survey of India, said there were 5,362 glaciers in the state, excluding 535 glaciers in Gilgit area in Pakistan- occupied Kashmir (PoK).

“Thematic compilation based on the distributions of glaciers within the districts of Jammu and Kashmir had also been computed. Orientation-wise, North-oriented glaciers constitute 28.05 per cent, Northwest-oriented glaciers 15.33 per cent and Northeast-oriented glaciers are 19.92 per cent,” he added.

Impact of climate change

He said synthesis of data on monitoring of glaciers based on field studies and remote-sensed data revealed that the recessional pattern of the glaciers in the state did not show any remarkable shift in the present time as recorded even for smaller glaciers, including Rulung or Khardung.

“Understanding the impact of climate change is elusive in the context of sporadic data available presently. Hence, I recommend undertaking a multi-disciplinary programmes with goals to generate long-term data in different climatic zones for better understanding various geo-morphic process and changes brought due to variations in climate,” he stressed.

Barun Mitra from Liberty Institute, Delhi, said Jammu and Kashmir was directly in contact with the Himalayan range and any climatic change in the zone would show strong influence in the state.

“The phenomenon of climate change is highly complex. We feel the foremost thing to do is to develop a better understanding about the issue first. Then only we can analyse any sort of repercussions and go for some resolves. Everyone knows that climate of the planet has changed remarkably but an expert needs to study the phenomenon at micro level, and only then we can explain it to others,” he added.

He said the cluster of team involved in the two-day event included water bodies’ experts, glaciologists and disaster management experts.

Speaking on the impact of recent change in climatic parameters on agro-economy of Zanskar Valley, Ladakh, Professor MN Koul, Department of Geography, University of Jammu, said, “I have been working on the subject for the past 30 years and my observations say that climatic changes during the last two decades have changed environment balance of plant colonisation in higher Himalayas, particularly in the Zanskar valley, thereby affecting several hundred hectares of landscape processes.”

Prof RK Ganjoo, Director, IHG, said the conference was an effort to invite some eminent social scientists from across the country to discuss the issue in detail.

Jammu, April 10
Owing to the lack of coordination between the management of Government Degree College (GDC), Udhampur, and Jammu and Kashmir Projects Construction Corporation Ltd (JKPCC), an under-construction auditorium on the college premises was not completed in the stipulated time, thus resulting into an unfruitful expenditure of Rs 1.06 crore.

As per the reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for 2011, deficiencies in the construction of the auditorium led to unproductive expenditure.

The management of GDC, Udhampur, on the approval of the state Education Minister had urged the JKPCC to furnish a cost offer for the construction of an auditorium-cum-multi-purpose hall in October 2003. The JKPCC submitted the proposal against the cost offer of Rs 83 lakh in August 2004. The Education Department released the amount in four instalments, Rs 23 lakh in 2004-05, Rs 40 lakh in 2005-06, Rs 15 lakh in 2006-07 and Rs 5 lakh in 2007-08, whereas, the work started on the project in December 2004.

It was learnt that while the work was underway in 2007, the college management asked the JKPCC to execute some additional items of work, which had not been included in the original estimate of the project initially. For these additional works, the JKPCC submitted an extra cost of Rs 23 lakh in April 2008.

Moreover, the JKPCC asked the college management in September 2008 to take over the possession of the building and release the due amount of Rs 23 lakh.

The management released the fund belatedly in two instalments, Rs 8 lakh in March 2009 and Rs 15 lakh in March 2010.

However, the management refused to take over the possession of the building owing to certain deficiencies, including the acoustic problems.

When discussed with the JKPCC in October 2009, it demanded an additional amount of Rs 18.65 lakh to rectify the acoustics problems. Non-release of the amount, along with the differences of both the parties, had led to the failure of the college management in taking over the possession of the auditorium till April 2011.

The CAG report revealed that the college management had stated that the provisions of the acoustics had not been included in the original estimates provided by the JKPCC.

Whereas, the CAG report concluded that the management’s plea was not acceptable as it had failed to assess the requirement and communicate it to the agency. And, also it could not locate the deficiency on receipt of the initial and supplementary cost offers submitted by the JKPCC.

Although, the matter was conveyed to the department concerned in June 2011 but no reply was received until October 2011.

Jammu, April 10
In a meeting held in the Vice Chancellor’s office, Prof Mohan Paul Singh Ishar, Vice Chancellor, University of Jammu, assured the J&K College Teachers Association that all pending remuneration bills of the college teachers would be cleared within a week.

Instructions have been passed to all officials concerned that bills pertaining to the conduct of practical or theory papers and their evaluation should be paid to the teachers within 7 days. These bills have been pending for the past two years.

Jammu, April 10
To compel the government to concede their long-pending demands, daily wagers of various departments today held protest demonstration outside the Press Club.

Leaders of various unions of daily wagers, including medical, PDD, PDC, agriculture, floriculture, PHE, forest, education, estates, irrigation, etc, participated in the protest.

The protesters expressed concern over the indifferent approach towards them by not fulfilling their demand of regularisation.

They also alleged that the government had never collected the data of number of daily wagers in various departments.

Prominent among those who were present on the occasion included Gurnam Slathia, Rajan Sharma, Kamal Verma, Swarn Kumar, Surjeet Khajuria and Kuldeep Sharma.

Jammu, April 10
The University Cultural Troupe, deputed by the Department of Students Welfare under the patronage of the Vice-Chancellor, Prof MP Singh Ishar, University of Jammu, brought laurels to the Jammu University by winning three 1st prizes in the recently concluded Inter-University Youth Festival “Resurgence” at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra.

While Pooja Langeh from the Department of Chemistry, University of Jammu, was adjudged 1st in Cadenza, the western vocal (solo) singing, Zain-ul-Abdeen Banday from the Department of Political Science, University of Jammu, bagged the 1st prize in Verbose, English Debate. The other participants included Rabjot Singh from the IMFA and Prannoy Kundan from the Law School, University of Jammu.

The team was escorted by Kulbhushan Thakur, Department of Students Welfare, Prof Rita Jitendra, Former Secretary, J&K Academy of Art, Culture & Languages, Eminent Educationist and Social Activists, distributed the prizes.

Meanwhile, Prof Jasbir Singh, Chairman, Campus Cultural Committee, Prof NK Tripathi, Dean, Students Welfare, and Prof Neeru Sharma, Co-chairperson, congratulated the members of the teams.

Jammu, April 10
A rally of government teachers from Jammu district, organised under the aegis of the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan, was inaugurated with the aim to boost the enrolment numbers in the government schools, improving the quality of education and increasing the participation of the schools in various community services.

The rally was a part of the enrolment drive 2012, where NR Dhingra, Chief Education Officer, reiterated the commitment of the state Education Department towards providing better services to the masses.

The rally publicised the achievements of the abhiyan by displaying colourful banners, placards and posters.

It was an effort to make the masses see the vital role that government schools are playing in educating children.

Jammu, April 10
The Crime Branch (CB), Jammu, today produced a challan in the court of Municipal Magistrate, Jammu, in forged cheque case.

As per the CB handout, in case FIR No.24/2009 under Sections 420,120-B/RPC P/S, the accused have been identified as Jatinder Koul of Gandhi Nagar, proprietor, KK Travels, and Gurpreet Singh Rehal of Delhi, a station accounts assistant with Indian Airlines.

A written complaint was lodged by Sanjiv Misri, Station Manager of Indian Airlines, Jammu, with Crime Headquarters wherein it was alleged that two cheques bearing Nos. 438188 and 438189 dated November 23, 2008 issued in favour of Indian Airlines for an amount of Rs 7,58,162 and Rs 2,032, respectively, by Jatinder Koul of KK Travels had gone untraced. These two cheques were reportedly deposited by the station accountant of Indian Airlines with SBI, Main Branch, Jammu.

However, the said amount was not credited in the account of Indian Airlines and on inquiry, it was found that the SBI did not owe the deposited amount of Jatinder Koul for liquidation of its pending financial liability towards Indian Airlines.

A case was registered in the Crime Branch, Jammu, and during investigation, it had surfaced that sufficient amount was not available in the account of Koul. He knew that his cheque would bounce. To avoid this, he met Gupreet Singh, accounts assistant, Indian Airlines, Jammu, and hatched a conspiracy with him to entertain the cheques in question and thereafter got it executed or misplaced in such a manner that the evidence in the case was destroyed to conceal the facts.

The next date of hearing in the case has been fixed on May 15.

Jammu, April 10
Simula XI scripted a thumping 67-run win over Kings XI today in the ongoing Rajiv Gandhi Twenty20 Cricket Tournament being played at MA Stadium here. Simula XI won the toss and had no hesitation in taking first strike. They took maximum advantage of wayward bowling by Kings XI bowlers and piled up a challenging total of 162 runs for the loss of 8 wickets.

Hilal Rather was the top scorer with a fine 43-ball 42, including four hits to the fence. Hardeep Singh also made a useful contribution of 34 runs off just 16 balls. Anshuman and Dhruv Mahajan chipped in with handy 20 runs each. For Kings XI, Surinder was the pick of the bowlers with two scalps. Pritpal, Randir, Rohan and Gagan shared a wicket each.

In reply, Kings XI bowled out for paltry 95 runs in 18.2 overs. Randir and Pritpal were only batsmen who showed some resistance. Randir made 32 while Pritpal garnered 25 runs. For Simula XI, Mohit Puri bowled a splendid spell to grab 3 wickets followed by Dhruv Mahajan and Hardeep Singh who bagged 2 wickets each. Vikram and Sameer took 1 wicket each.

Jammu, April 10
Ram Raj of Jammu Zone bagged the top honours in 1500 m (men) today in the ongoing J&K Police Inter-Zone Sports Meet here.

Asif Ayoub Khan and Subash Chander of Training Zone secured second and third positions, respectively.

In 12-km cross country, Parshotam Lal of Intelsect finished first whereas Ram Raj of Jammu Zone and Naresh Kumar of Armed Zone had to be contended with the second and third positions, respectively.

In 12-Km cross country, Team Championship, the Armed Zone team, which comprised of Naresh Kumar, Dilawar Singh, Lovejeet Singh and Javed, clinched the top spot. The Training Zone team, comprising Sanjay Singh, Sunil Kumar, Sanju Kumar and Sagar Singh, had to settle for the second spot while Sajad Hadir, Parshotam Lal, Kuldeep Singh and Raj Kumar of Intelsect bagged the third position.

In the 10 km walk, Tirth Singh (Armed Zone), Imran (Training Zone) and Sohan Singh (Training Zone) secured first, second and third positions, respectively.

In javelin throw (men), Shah Nawaz of the Training Zone team stood first while Rajinder Kumar of Jammu Zone and Harish Sharma of Armed Zone fetched the second and third position, respectively. In 100 m sprint (women), Rita Katal of Armed Zone bagged the top honours, followed by Dimple (Armed Zone) and Vandana Sharma (Jammu Zone), who finished second and third, respectively.

In 4x100 m relay (women), the Armed Zone team, comprised of Rita Katal, Dimple, Shankala and Rajni Kumari, secured the first position. The Jammu Zone team, comprising Basanti Bhat, Meenu Sharma, Bandhana and Reena, stood second while Nanisha, Swati, Sharia and Mohsina of Training Zone had to be contended with the third position.

In shotput (women), Jaswinder Kour (Armed Zone) and Meenakshi Choudhary finished the joint first whereas Kamlesh Kumar (Jammu Zone) and Sukhwinder (Training Zone) had to settle for the second and third spot, respectively.

In discus throw, Jaswinder Kour (Armed Zone), Seema Devi (Armed Zone) and Basanti Bhat (Jammu Zone) finished first, second and third, respectively. In javelin throw, Seema Devi and Meenakshi Choudhary of Armed Zone secured first and second positions, respectively, while Veena Devi of Jammu Zone stood third.

In the long-jump event, Rita Katal of Armed Zone bagged the top honours while Sangeeta Koul and Shweta of Armed and Jammu Zone finished second and third, respectively. 

Jammu, April 10
Matches in preliminary stage continued today on the second day of the ongoing Inter-CPSU Table Tennis Tournament 2012 at multipurpose hall, MA Stadium, here.

In Group A, MOP dispatched REC by 3-1. In the first match, Lalit Narayani got the better of Aravinth by 11-7, 11-6 and 11-4 while Sandeep Sinha toppled Sanjeev Gupta by 11-7, 11-6 and 11-4. NK Gupta and Lalit Narayani scripted wins over Bhupendra Gupta and Sanjeev Gupta, respectively, with ease.

The Group B match between NHPC and MOP proved a one-sided affair as the former won by a comfortable margin of 3-0. In the first match, Rajesh outplayed Lalit Narayan 10-12, 11-8, 11-8, 10-12 and 11-6. Ashutosh edged out Sandeep Sinha 11-7, 11-1 and 11-3 whereas Lovkesh spanked NK Gupta by 11-1 and 11-3.

Hosts Power Grid also tasted success against REC by 3-0 with RS Bisht emerging victorious against Aravinth by 11-3, 11-6 and 11-6. Ronel Singh had last laugh against Sanjay Gupta by 11-6, 11-8 and 11-7 while Hatekar overcame the challenge of Bhupender Gupta 11-2, 11-5 and 11-5.

Power Grid again registered win over MOP by identical margin. J Mukherjee trounced Lalit Naravni by 11-8, 11-7 and 11-7. RS Bisht overwhelmed Sandeep Sinha by 11-6, 11-9 and 11-7 whereas Hatekar defeated N K Gupta by 11-1, 11-6 and 11-3. NHPC paddlers cruised past REC by 3-0 without facing any difficulty. In the first match, Ashutosh dispatched Rajinder Meena by 11-6, 11-6 and 11-4 while Lovkesh subdued Aravinth by 12-10, 11-6 and 11-7. In the last match, Dhian Singh outplayed Bhupender Gupta by 10-12, 11-8, 11-5 and 11-6.

Other results:

Power Grid beat NHPC by 3-0

1. Stanley Mathews toppled Ashutosh: 7-11, 11-7, 11-3, 11-6

2. Ronel Singh thrashed Rajesh: 11-6, 11-6, 13-11

3. J Mukhrjee drubbed Lokesh: 13-11, 11-7, 11-3

NEEPCO beat THDC by 3-1

1. S. Rahotgi defeated Vinay Gupta: 11-9, 11-9, 12-10

2. H. Sinha spanked Vipin Thapliyal: 11-6, 13-11, 4-11, 6-11, 11-6

3. SC Sarkar lost to SK Bahukhandi: 4-11, 7-11, 11-7, 8-11

4. S. Rahotgi overcame Vipin Thapyal: 11-1, 11-3, 11-4

CEA beat SJVNL by 3-2

1. Naresh Chibbar toppled Jeta Ukhal: 11-13, 11-6, 8-11, 12-10,11-8

2. Manmohan lost to Rakesh Bansal: 2-11, 8-11, 5-11

3. Baljit Singh lost to Mukesh Sharma: 3-11, 5-11, 5-11

4. Naresh Chibbar defeated Rakesh Bansal: 11-7, 12-14, 11-4, 11-5

5. Manmohan pipped Jeta Ukhal: 11-6, 11-2, 11-8

BBMB beat THDC by 3-0

1. Navneet Gupts outclassed Vinay Gupta: 11-7, 11-3, 11-6

2. Naresh Kumar subdued Vipin Thapliyal: 11-9, 11-7, 12-10

3. Paramjit Singh spanked S.K. Bahukandi: 9-11, 12-10, 11-3, 11-9

CEA beat NEEPCO by 3-0

1. Sanjeev Dhingra outplayed H. Singla: 11-5, 11-7, 11-9

2. Naresh Chibbar defeated R. Rastogi: 4-11, 15-13, 11-5, 10-12, 11-6

3. Manmohan Singh eased past S.C. Sarkar: 11-4, 11-2, 11-7

CEA beat THDC by 3-0

1. Sanjeev Dhingra thrashed Vipin Thapliyal: 11-4, 6-11, 11-7, 11-9

2. Naresh Chibbar overwhelmed Vinay Gupta: 12-10, 11-3, 11-3

3. Manmohan Singh subdued Sachin Mittal: 11-6, 11-2, 11-5

BBMB beat SJVNL by 3-2

1. Navneet Gupta lost to Rajeev: 8-11, 11-8, 8-11, 9-11

2. Naresh Kumar lost to Mukesh Sharma: 8-11, 12-10, 9-11, 11-5

3. Sandeep Pathak defeated Rakesh Bansal: 11-5, 11-9, 11-2

4. Navneet Gupta beat Mukesh Sharma: 11-6, 11-8, 11-4

5. Naresh Kumar toppled Rajeev: 17-15, 10-12, 14-12, 11-9

SJVNL beat NEEPCO by 3-2

1. Jeta Ukhal lost to S Rastogi: 11-9, 2-11, 8-11, 8-11

2. Mukesh Sharma trounced H Singh: 8-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-9

3. Pushkar pipped S C Sarkar: 11-8, 7-11, 11-9, 11-6

4. Mukesh lost to S Rastogi: 5-11, 10-12, 8-11

5. Jeta Ukhal subdued H Singh: 11-8,11-6,11-9

CEA beat BBMB by 3-1

1. Naresh Chibbar prevailed over Naresh Kumar: 11-6, 11-4, 11-6

2. Sanjeev Dhingra defeated Sandeep Pathak: 11-6, 11-9, 6-11, 12-10

3. Manmohan Singh lost to Navneet Gupta: 3-11, 4-11, 4-11

4. Sanjeev thrashed Naresh Kumar: 8-11, 7-11, 14-12, 15-13, 11-8

SJVNL beat THDC by 3-0

1. Mukesh toppled Sandeep Sharma: 11-4, 7-11, 11-5, 11-6

2. Jeta dispatched Vipin Thapliyal: 11-9, 11-13, 9-11, 12-10, 12-10

3. Rajiv overwhelmed Vinay Gupta: 11-5, 11-6, 11-7

BBMB beat NEEPCO by 3-2

1. Naresh Kumar trounced H Singh: 8-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-8, 11-7

2. Navneet Gupta lost to S Rohtagi: 11-4, 9-11, 5-11, 5-11

3. Sandeep Pathak had last laugh against S Guswan: 11-5, 11-5, 11-6

4. Naresh Kumar lost to S Rohtagi: 7-11, 6-11, 3-11

5. Navneet Gupta prevailed over H Singh: 11-1, 11-4, 13-11

Jammu, April 10
The Physical Education Department got the better of the Urdu Department by 16 runs in the ongoing Inter-Department Cricket Tournament being played at the University of Jammu grounds here yesterday.

The Physical Education Department won the toss and elected to bat first. Their opening pair provided a solid start, which helped the department to post a challenging total of 157 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in the stipulated overs.

Taqdir was the star performer with a gritty fifty. He contributed 57 runs off just 41 balls comprising as many as 8 fours and one hit for the maximum. Ranbir Singh (25), Varinder (23), Chander Kiran (21) and Sunil (15) were the other notable contributors.

For the Urdu Department, Rizwan was the pick of the bowlers with 2 wickets, while Arshad, Mozam and Azhar scalped a wicket each. Chasing 158 runs to win, Urdu Department batsmen could manage 141 runs before being bundled out in 19.2 overs.

Arshad played a gritty knock of 68 runs, which included 7 fours and 4 sixes. He looked in ominous form playing all bowlers with utmost ease but the wickets kept tumbled at regular intervals.

For the Physical Education Department, Sunil Dutt and Rajinder snared 2 wickets each, while Kulwinder, Chander and Amit Sharma took one wicket apiece. Deeraj Sharma and Raj Kumar were the umpires in the match. Sat Paul was the scorer.

Jammu, April 10
Coca-Cola India recently announced the launch of “Sprite Gully Cricket Champs Season-V” in Jammu. The matches will be played at the city level from April 12 to April 13. Winners selected from city league matches in each of the 27 cities will receive a cash prize worth Rs 30,000 while the runners-up team will pocket a sum of Rs 20,000. The centre winners will meet up in a knock-out tournament, which will be held at zonal level from their respective zones and the winners selected from zonal matches will receive a mega cash prize of Rs 5 lakh.

The championship will involve thousands of cricketers drawn from 13 states, 112 cities across four zones in India and it is open for all young players between the age group of 15 years and above.

Manish Sharma, Area Sales Manager, Jammu, Coca-Cola, said: “The Season-V of Sprite Gully Cricket champs is an initiative of brand Sprite to get its consumers to once again experience their passion for the sport of cricket in its most authentic format”.

He added this initiative was by far one of the biggest national level street cricket tournaments of its kind and provides a platform for the youth to display their cricketing talents outside their localities.

Jammu, April 10
The University of Jammu ground, hosting the Inter-Department Cricket final between Physical Education Department and Law School, today turned into a battlefield as students of Law Department allegedly disrupted the proceedings of the summit clash.

The students misbehaved with the officials as well as players and asked them to stop the match. Seeing the situation going out of control, Prof Dhian S Bhau, Director, Directorate of Sports and Physical Education, JU, along with other officials, rushed to the spot and started discussions with the students in a bid to solve the matter. The students, however, remained adamant.

According to the sources, during the second semifinal match between the teams of Law Department and Law School yesterday, the former, while chasing a target, objected to the umpire’s decision in the 11th over. This eventually triggered off the heated exchange of words between players of both teams.

Prof Bhau, along with the officials, reached the venue and intervened in the matter, but their efforts went in vain as students refused to accept it and walked off the ground protesting against the decision.

The Director then took a hard stance and gave half- an-hour ultimatum to the Law Department team to return to the field, but the team did not arrive and the Director awarded the match to Law School. The Law Department players then threatened to disrupt the proceedings of the final match, which they did today.

When contacted, Prof Bhau told The Tribune that the matter would be solved soon. “We are almost on the brink of finding a way out,” said Prof Bhau. “We have offered the players of Law Department to resume the semifinal match against Law School from where it was stopped. The Law Department players have demanded some time to think over it, which we accepted in the best interest of the game,” he added.

Jammu, April 10
Stadium XI notched up a resounding 4-wicket win over Lions XI in the ongoing 2nd Simula Budding Cricketers Cup Tournament being played at MA Stadium here yesterday.

Batting first, Lions XI was skittled out for 110 runs in 16.5 overs. Arjun was the top scorer with 24 runs with three fantastic boundaries. He was ably supported by Abhishek and Rohan who made useful contributions of 22 and 17 runs, respectively.

For Stadium XI, Vivrant and Surgan were the wreckers-in-chief with 3 wickets each. Both maintained an orderly line and length giving no width whatsoever to the batsmen to play shots at will. Sudanshu and Abhishek got 2 and 1 wickets, respectively.

In reply, Stadium XI cruised to victory in 19.5 overs losing 6 wickets in the process. Vansh played a fine knock of 25 runs studded with four hits to the fence. Kanha and Vivrant managed to get 18 and 14 runs, respectively.

For Lions XI, Deepak, Ravish, Anirudh and Abhishek shared a wicket each. Vivrant was adjudged the man of the match. The organisers of the tournament are Ankush Abrol, Chaman Lal, Rajesh Dhar and Shashipal.