Ludhiana, November 24
The city police arrested six persons and recoverd Rs 56.5 lakh hawala money here last night. The police is investigating the matter. The hawala money will be deposited in the Treasury.

Commissioner of Police Ishwar Singh said a complaint was lodged on the basis of a statement made by Somnath, a resident of Bal Singh Nagar here, at the Basti Jodhewal police station. The complainant said he, along with his friend Prabhjot Singh Sabi, were sent to the Western Union Money Transfer office, Gur Mandi, by his "master" Raj Kumar Sandhu to get Rs 7 lakh. Sanjay Tangri, owner of Western Union, Gur Mandi, asked them to collect the amount from near Cheema Chowk. While they were coming back after collecting the cash, three persons on a motorcycle hit their motorcycle near Street number 1, New Madhopuri. "Somnath maintained that the three persons snatched the bag containing Rs 7 lakh from him and fled," said Ishwar Singh.

He said during investigation, it came to light that Somnath and Sabi had taken about Rs 60 lakh from Western Union Money Transfer. It was a planned conspiracy by Somnath and his accomplices Prabhjot Singh, alias Sabi, Bimal Kumar, alias Bagga, Avinash Kumar, alias Vicky, Amandeep Singh, alias Bunty, and Sukhdev Kumar, alias Nandu.

"A police team under the supervision of ACP Swapan Sharma conducted raids on several places and recovered Rs 56.5 lakh from the accused. Another accused, Pamma, is at large and the remaining amount is expected to be recovered from him," said Ishwar Singh, adding that another complaint had been lodged on a statement of Raj Kumar Sandhu, a property dealer from Phillaur, who had sent his worker Somnath to get the money from Gur Mandi.

Police investigations revealed that Somnath was planning to get back the possession of his house from Tilki, with whom the house was mortgaged.

Ishwar Singh said they had informed the Income Tax Department about the hawala money, which was to be transferred to various persons following instructions given by someone from Bengaluru.

"We appeal to people to get their money transferred through legal channels only as their workers/servants can easily plan conspiracies to grab huge amounts," said the Commissioner of Police.

Ludhiana, November 24
Imtiaz Ahmed, alias Bhola, a native of Balliyan, Bihar, and Ramji Paswan, also a native of Bihar, who stay in Gobindgarh, Dhandari Kalan, were arrested by the Salem Tabri police and have been remanded in police custody till November 29 for a murder attempt on Bholi Mahant, a eunuch from the Peeru Banda area in Salem Tabri, here last evening.

Ishwar Singh, Commissioner Police, said a countrymade pistol of .315 bore and a cartridge had been recovered from Imtiaz Ahmed.

Ishwar Singh said from initial investigations, it appeared contract killers were hired in the case. They were paid around Rs 2 lakh for killing Bholi Mahant, who is undergoing treatment at the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital. Her condition is stated to be stable.

Two youths had entered the dera on the pretext of paying obeisance to Bholi Mahant last evening. One of the youths touched Bholi's feet while the other opened fire on her stomach with an intention to kill. One of the youths was nabbed by dera clerics while the other managed to flee. The nabbed youth was handed over to the Salem Tabri police, following which another arrest was made later. The police is also looking for Vijay Kumar for his involvement in the conspiracy.

The police said it seemed to be a case of rivalry between two factions over the distribution of the "area of operation". Contract killers were hired to kill Bholi Mahant in order to settle an old score.

Contract killers were hired?

• Bholi Mahant was shot at on Friday
• Police arrests Imtiaz Ahmed and Ramji Paswan
• Feels it is a case in which contract killers were hired. Around Rs 2 lakh was paid for the task
• Rivalry behind two factions appears to be behind the incident
• Another accused, Vijay Kumar, at large

Ludhiana, November 24
Yesterday's incident in which an elderly contractor tried to commit suicide inside the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation's Zone A office has exposed the poor fiscal condition of the civic body. The MC is trying hard to recover outstanding dues from residents, but does not seem to have been too successful.

The Deputy Chief Minister has prepared a comprehensive Rs 3,000-crore development plan for the city and has also cleared the Ludhiana Metro Rail Project. The question remains where will the funds come from?

Contractors have not been made payments for the past more than six months. Auctions being conducted by the MC are turning out to be "flop shows". The MC has been finding it difficult to make payments to contractors for the ongoing development works as it is short of funds.

The MC owes more than Rs 90 crore to the contractors. Some contractors have not been made any payment since February this year. On November 16, a group of 20-odd contractors had barged into the MC Commissioner's office, demanding that their dues be cleared.

A contractor said, "When we went to meet MC Commissioner Rakesh Kumar Verma on the issue of payments, he sarcastically told us that we should distribute his monthly salary among ourselves. Are we beggers? Is this the way the MC Commissioner should behave? I have worked with many MC Commissioners, but none of them ever made such sarcastic remarks," he alleged.

On failing to get his due payment of Rs 5 lakh, which he required for the marriage of his daughter, a Ludhiana Municipal Corporation contractor, Puran Singh, yesterday threatened to commit suicide by jumping off the top floor of the MC Zone A office here. The contractor was upset over the "dilly-dallying attitude" of the corporation over the payment of Rs 5 lakh that was pending since April this year.

MC officials suspect some "foul play" behind the entire incident and feel that it was "stage-managed".

"I have this gut feeling that the contractor was instigated by someone else. Maybe, a councillor or a former councillor is behind this incident. I have ordered an inquiry into the matter so that the real culprit can be identified and action taken against him. Moreover, if Puran Singh had some financial issues, he could have come and met me because his daughter is like my daughter. I wonder why he tried something like this," said Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria.

Due to non-payment of bills amounting to around Rs 2 crore, the work on a pedestrian underpass in Aggar Nagar was stopped by the contractor around five months ago, while work on flats being built for the urban poor under the JNNURM in the city was also stopped after contractors were not paid for the past eight months.

The MC has not even cleared outstanding dues of Rs 3 crore to the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board for THE maintenance of Sewage treatment plants in the city.

Suicide Bid by Contractor

Ludhiana, November 24
Former Senior Deputy Mayor and senior BJP leader Parveen Bansal was unanimously elected president of the district unit of the BJP today. Though he had assumed charge as the district BJP chief around seven months ago, today's intra-party election made him the "elected president" of the district unit of the BJP.

Bansal had taken over the reins of the district BJP from Rajiv Katna this April after the BJP's dismal Assembly poll performance in the district. In the Assembly poll, the BJP had lost the three seats - Ludhiana Central, Ludhiana West and Ludhiana North - that it had contested. Incidentally, Bansal had contested from Ludhiana North in the poll, but had lost to Congress candidate Rakesh Pandey.

Till yesterday, the nominations for the post of the party district chief had to be filed. Today evening, as party election in charge Pushpinder Singal announced Bansal's name for the post of the district chief, mandal chiefs and delegates present at the Samiti Kendra unanimously agreed to choose Bansal as the chief of the Ludhiana unit of the BJP.

Talking to Ludhiana Tribune, Bansal said as the district BJP chief, he had a three-point agenda - to widen the party's base and strengthen it in the district, to work for the development of the district and help in improving the basic amenities being provided to the public, and to work for further development of the Ludhiana industry.

"Ludhiana is the financial capital of Punjab. The development works in this industrial hub have to be geared towards the welfare of the industry," he said.

He added that the district unit of the party would also focus on the 2014 Lok Sabha poll.

The elections to the post of district party chief were held after three years. Among those present on the occasion were former state president of the Punjab BJP, Prof Rajinder Bhandari.

Mandi Ahmedgarh/Dehlon, November 24
The state government having initiated process for construction of Dry Port near Kilaraipur Railway Station near here, residents of area see ray of hope for resumption of dwindled business and staggered development in the region.

New habitations for employees and workers associated with the proposed depot, revamping of consumer market and flow of funds worth more than Rs 500 crore, are among expectations of the residents.

Nirmal Singh Chahal and Paramdeep Singh Deepa, who were disappointed after imposition of massive taxes on their marriage palace are now satisfied that they can utilise the premises of their marriage palace for alternate purpose once work on the proposed Dry Port starts.

"Instead of arranging huge amounts for keeping our marriage palace running we will utilise the premises for alternate uses that arise after the Dry Port starts functioning," said Chahal and Deepa.

Tarsem Garg, an office bearer of Social Welfare Organisation said local market would be revived once families of workers and employees associated with the proposes depots start visiting the town. Grocers, cloth merchants and traders dealing in consumer durable products will be among beneficiaries.

Though residents of the area have been hearing about construction of dry port at Kilarapur for many years yet it is for the first time that some official announcement has been made by the government.

A high power committee led by deputy chief minister has given nod to construction of the port, which will be spread in 150-acre land and the cost has been estimated at Rs 500 crore.

It is reported that the project would be jointly commissioned by Punjab State Container and Warehousing Corporation Limited (CONWARE), Container Corporation of India and a public sector undertaking Navratan. It will be linked with the Eastern and Western Freight Zone and is expected to start functioning in 2015.

An integrated container depot is presently working at Sahnewal near here, which is known to have contributed substantially in development of that area.

Mandi Gobindgarh, November 24
With reference to the survey conducted in 225 countries of the world by Transparency International Organisation of Germany, India has been placed at 16th position in the field of corruption all over the world said the PPP chief Manpreet Singh Badal while addressing a rally at the Indore Stadium here on Friday.

The rally was organied by PPP District Chief Jagmeet singh Sahota. Manpreet gave a clarion call to the people of the state irrespective of their castes and creed to come on the one platform to fight corruption. It is the main Agenda of the party to help the people to get rid of from the clutches of corruption.

While addressing audience, the PPP senior vice-president Gurpreet Singh Sahota, vice-president Sarbjeet Singh Makhan and district senior vice-president Inderjeet Singh Randhawa spoke in detail about the policies of the centre and state government which promote corruption in a big way.

Ludhiana, November 24
Epilepsy is eminently treatable in over 75 per cent cases (50 to 60 per cent with medications and about 15 per cent cases with surgery).

However, nearly 100 per cent of the people with epilepsy in our society suffer from the stigma attached to epilepsy and from myths and misconceptions associated with the disorder.

These myths affect all stages of life from schooling career selection, marriage and parenting. This was said by Dr Gagandeep Singh Professor and Head of Neurology, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital here today while observing National Epilepsy Day.

He further said that epilepsy is a neurological disorder (and not a mental illness) due to sudden burst of abnormal electrical discharges from the brain. Those with epilepsy should not be called epileptics; rather they are people with epilepsy.

If someone has epilepsy, then we should make every effort to make epilepsy part of his or her life, not their whole life.

On this occasion of National Epilepsy Day members of an Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) also performed a street play to make people aware about epilepsy which was appreciated by the spectators.

Ludhiana, November 24
Cactus, considered as ‘useless’ plant, can play a vital role in the farming and economy of people dwelling on Kandhi (embankment) areas of the state, said a scholar of cactus farming, Dr Gurbachan Singh.

Chairman, Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board (ASRB) Dr Gurbachan Singh, renowned name in the field of research on cactus farming throughout India, during his visit to Punjab Agriculture University (PAU), claimed that cactus farming can change the fate of the farmers and people living in Kandi areas and can play a vital role in uplifting the economic conditions of these farmers and people. Cactus is a member of family of cactaceau. There are so many kinds of this family and some of these are with thorns while some are without thorns.

This plant is perfect for draught and arid regions and Kandi areas of Punjab state are the perfect match for these plants, stated the director. The scholar revealed that world famous liquor known as tequila is produced from the fruits of cactus plant. "I had visited Mexico, a state of US, one and half a decade ago and observed that there is a large scale farming in this state and it had changed the fate of the people of this area and their economic conditions were changed with the farming of cactus," he said adding that the fruit of the cactus had equal values like other fruits and was eaten by people in many countries.

"As far as Punjab is concerned, the cactus can be an alternate for fodder for dairy farming for increase in milk production in the field. Moreover, if there is proper cultivation initiated, the fruit of the cactus can be proved a big boom as it is sold in continental and hotels across the country," he added.

This also has a medicine value and is used in various types of medical drugs for curing various types of diseases. The cactus can be used as bio-fencing to make a boundary wall across the fields to meet with the problem of stray animals which is common problem in Punjab state.

Ludhiana, November 24
The Chamar Mahan Sabha announced to start a sincere exercise in the state for the formation of an effected pressure group of Punjab's Scheduled Castes (SC) so that the people belonged to these castes would live in the state with glory and dignity and without any kind of exploitation.

A resolution to this effect has been moved in this direction in a meeting of the sabha's Ludhiana unit being held here at Guru Ravi Dass Mandir situated at Basti Jodhewal chowk. The meeting was presided over by the president of the sabha Paramjit Singh Kainth and the meeting was largely attended by the sabha 's cadre.

While addressing in the meeting, Paramjit Singh Kainth said that the need for the formation of an pressure group of state scheduled castes has aroused as the state government as well as other political parties active in the state are working to further weaken the state scheduled castes as this move suits them well as being a divided house the scheduled caste people are unable to raise their voice to get their rights from any of the governments.

Kainth exhorted the scheduled castes of the state to be vigilant from the evil designs of the political parties during the polls as they are trying to get their votes through the dummy people by presenting them as their candidates. — TNS

Ludhiana, November 24
Som Nath Sharma and Sharda Devi from Akhnoor (J&K), Mohd Shabir and Shamim Akhtar from Rajouri (J&K) were extremely happy parents as their children Janu Sharma (7) and Irfan (8) recovered from major heart defects as they were living with large holes in their hearts along with defective valves. They were successfully operated upon at Christian Medical College and Hospital.

According to the hospital release,"Both were not growing according to their age and would get recurrent infections and were blue in colour . They were examined in Jammu

where the doctors recommended a major open heart surgery at an advanced centre. As the parents were not able spend on the operations.Their case was adopted by the Army under the project Sadbhawana, a brain child of the Chief Of Army Staff Gen Bikram Singh and the International Rotary India Humanity Foundation (based in Kolkata with Shekhar Mehta as the Director), which runs the Saving Little Hearts Programme.

Dr Harinder Singh Bedi, head of cardiac surgery said the children were suffering from a congenital heart defect called Tatralogy of Fallot, which is known as blue baby disease. He said both the children underwent a major open heart surgery and were doing well. The children were operated upon under the ‘CMC Gift of Life’ project 

Ludhiana, November 24
About seven months ago Punjab Health Minister Madan Mohan Mittal had announced that the Civil Surgeon’s office of Ludhiana would be shifted to a safer building on the premises of the Civil Hospital, Ludhiana, as the present office building was old and in dilapidated condition. However, the month of November is about to end, the office is yet to be shifted to a safer building.

It was on May 7 the Health and Family Welfare Minister had said that the building would be sold and money earned from the deal would be used for setting up a new office and upgrading the Civil Hospital. An employee of the Health Department said,"There is no improvement here. We have no option rather than sitting and working in the dark rooms." Another employee said," We are eagerly waiting for shifting of our office as it is dangerous to sit and work in such a building."

Sources revealed that a high-powered committee has been constituted in which Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbeer Singh Badal and Health and Family Welfare Minister Madan Mohan Mittal were the members and the committee would take the decision regarding shifting of the office. Meanwhile, Dr Subhash Batta, Civil Surgeon, Ludhiana, said," As of now we have not received any intimation in this regard."

Ludhiana, November 24
Traffic in the city went out of gear with a host of VIPs descending on the city today for the various events. Besides, the visit of Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal, Cabinet Minister Bikramjit Singh Majithia and high-profile judges were also visiting the city, which led to the the chaos.

Majithia was here for a conference of doctors. Many senior judges visited the city for a programme at the Guru Nanak Bhawan. The congestion on the roads led to traffic jams in different parts of the city. "Although no traffic diversions were made, yet the visit of many VIP's led to the traffic in the city," admitted Jasmine Kaur, traffic in charge. Some religious and private functions organised on alongside the roads added to the chaos. "I had to wait for more than an hour to reach the Clock Tower," lamented a resident.

Ludhiana, November 24
Onset of winters is the time for residents to add style to their attire. Stoles, shawls and scarves might be believed to add to the staid old fashion, but youngsters in the city are tying their scarves, and wrap-around clothing in innovating ways to make a style statement to go with any occasion.

Scarves and stoles can be tied in several different ways to make the attire look interesting, said Kulkiran, a member of fashion faculty from INIFD.

Kulkiran said, scarves, mufflers and stoles could be tied in a variety of ways that complement both the formal and informal look.

Draping them in various styles including waterfall knot, over-sized knots, wrap, bandana-style, layers knot, front knot, headband knot, u-knot, says Kulkiran.

"These scarves are ready accessories. In winters, these double up as clothing to protect from cold and also add a style to the dress," said Sonal Chawla, a student.

The beauty of wearing scarves and stoles is that the look of these can be changed just by the style you wear these, she says.

"The muffler I use has pockets as well, and it serves beautifully both to add the style element as well as utility as well," she added.

As these stoles come in a variety of materials and cloths, mufflers and such accessories are being used both by boys and girls these days.

"These knots of different kinds have become popular both with boys as well as girls," says Harman, a student. "I think the fashion would only pick up more as the weather gets colder this season," he says. "I have already learnt to tie my muffler in different ways," he added.

Ludhiana, November 24
Even after two months have passed since the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation house was formed, but the issue of finalising the name of leader of opposition in the MC house seems to have been entangled into the infighting among the senior Congress leaders.

In the absence of a leader of opposition, several issues concerning the city residents remain unattended, with no Congress leader voicing his concern.

As the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation is under acute financial crunch, which is affecting the pace of ongoing development projects, the residents expect that the Congress leaders should raise this issue before senior MC officials. It is an open secret now that Manish Tewari, Information and Broadcasting Minister, and local MP and Bharat Bhushan Ashu, MLA from Ludhiana (West) have been at loggerheads for a long time and this slugfest is believed to be the reason why Congress has not been able to finalise name of leader of opposition in MC house. Even when a function to honour Manish Tewari for becoming Information and Broadcasting minister was organised on November 11, a group of leaders and councillors from the Ashu group boycotted the function. These leaders included Bharat Bhushan Ashu, MLA Surinder Dawar, former DCC president KK Bawa, former MLA Harmohinder Singh Pardhan, councillors Deepika Bhalla from Ward Number 54, Narinder Sharma from Ward Number 52, Mamta Ashu from Ward Number 49, Balkar Singh Sandhu from Ward Number 55, Gurpreet Singh Bassi from Ward Number 53, Maharaj Singh Raji from Ward Number 28 and Jai Parkash Sharma from Ward Number 30. Interestingly, all these councillors owe allegiance to the group headed by MLA Bharat Bhushan Ashu.

While speaking to The Tribune, Bharat Bhushan Ashu said Tewari has got an opportunity for fulfilling the promises he made during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.

"We all know that the local Congress unit is a divided house and Manish Tewari is supporting only one particular group led by District Congress Committee (Urban) president Pawan Dewan and is ignoring the other. Now it is up to Tewari himself whether he wants to set the house in order or to remain patronising a particular group. Moreover, he should understand that during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, he will require help of all local Congressmen," said Ashu.

When contacted Pawan Dewan, a close confidant of Manish Tewari, refuted these allegations as baseless. "Congress is one big family and all leaders are treated equally. Manish has always treated all leaders in the same manner and has in fact, worked for strengthening of party in the city. Whenever we organise any function, invitations are sent to all party leaders as well as workers, but Ashu and his group always stays away for reasons best known to them. We want that we should all sink our differences work hard for strengthening of our party," said Pawan Dewan.

Ludhiana, November 24
Chrysanthemum is all set to charm as the season for the beautiful flower has arrived. The chrysanthemum exhibition at Gurdwara Dukh Niwaran Sahib is all set to delight devotees organised. A variety of flowers has already been kept on display in the Gurdwara.

Mahinder Pal Singh, a businessman said, under whose leadership the flowers have been developed, said that around 60 varieties of the flowers would be brought for the exhibition. Around 1,600 pots of the flowers in full bloom would be arranged. About 60 pots of flowers have already arrived and these would be arranged for inside the Gurdwara Complex.

The exhibition has been organised annually for a couple of years now, he says. "This year, we would have 60 variety of flowers on display. This flower depends a lot on the weather conditions. Minor changes can impact the growth of the flowers. So a lot of care has to be taken for the development of the flowers," says Mahinder Pal. The process for creation of these flowers begins way back in July and the flowers remain in full bloom in November to December in winter before the weather starts getting foggy, he said.

It takes a lot of time and effort to make arranged each of the flowers at the same height and arrange in a particular way, he says. But these flowers are such a visual delight and working round the year to see these flowers in full bloom is worth it, he says.

"It all started when Pritpal Singh, president of the management committee once visited my home and was elated to see the flowers. He asked me to develop these flowers for the Gurdwara and we now develop these flowers at a nursery created at Bhai Gurdas Gurmat Missionary College," he said.

Ludhiana, November 24
The youth festivals, organised by the State Legal Services Authority (SLSA) in all district of Punjab concluded today. It was for the first time that the judiciary organised such type of youth festivals to create legal awareness among youth and to sensitising them against social evils. Around 175 students from various colleges across the state showed their talent in skits, documentary presentation, poetry recitation and debate competitions at Guru Nanak Bhawan, Ludhiana, today.

During the month-long youth festivals more than 5,000 students from about100 colleges participated. "Dream big to achieve the best. This is my personal experience," said Justice S S Nijjar, a judge of the Supreme Court.

AK Sikri, Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, expressed concern over the issue of child labour. He urged the youth to begin from their house first and then move towards society for the eradication of the menace. "Books not bricks should be in their hands,"added the Chief Justice. He came down heavily on the persons indulging in female foeticide. He said out of 36 judges in the recent batch of the new judges, 26 were women. "So, why female foeticide," he quipped.

Winners of different categories were awarded mementos with cash prizes. "The youngsters were full of energy and it was the need of the hour as it is vital to channelise their energy for the welfare of society. Otherwise, we all know, how the youngsters are being allured by drug peddlers," said Sessions Judge Gobinder Singh. 

Jagraon, November 24
The Sudhar police has arrested two alleged drug peddlers and seized a huge amount of poppy husk from them. The accused have been identified as Sukhwant Singh, alias Rinku, and Jagjiwan Singh, alias Jiwan, both residents of Jattpura village. According to the police, both the accused were arrested near Halwara drain during a routine checking. The drug recovered by the police was packed in six plastic bags and total weight of the narcotics was around 210 kg.

DSP Raikot Amrik Singh Minhas said the narcotics were seized by the police during a routine patrolling in Halwara area this morning." The police saw the two youths sitting on some plastic bags, which were hidden behind the bushes. This made the police suspicious and during the search it recovered the poppy husk following which both the youths were arrested and the poppy husk was seized," said DSP Amrik Singh Minhas.

SHO Sudhar, Inspector Rajesh Kumar, said a case had been registered against both the accused at the Sudhar police station under various Sections of the NDPS Act. According to the police, the market value of the poppy husk was around Rs 2.5 lakh. The police officials were now trying to find out the main source, who smuggled such a huge amount of poppy husk into the area, added SHO Rajesh Kumar. The police has not ruled out the possibility of involvement of some other persons and more arrests are possible in the days ahead. 

Jagraon, November 24
The Jagraon police has arrested a proclaimed offender, who was wanted in a theft case. The accused has been identified as Jaspal Singh, a resident of Gagra village.

As per information, the accused was arrested by the police from a dhaba, located near the drain, which was outside Jagraon.

According to ASI Jaspal Singh Chopra, the accused was wanted in a theft case, which was registered against him about three years ago. Later, he was declared as a proclaimed offender by a local court as he did not appear before the court for a long time, ASI Chopra said.

"We had received the information about his whereabouts. We conducted a raid on the dhaba and arrested the accused," said Chopra. The accused was produced before a local court today which, sent him to two-day police remand. During the preliminary investigation, Jaspal Singh confessed that he had started working as a truck driver to evade his arrest, added ASI Chopra.

Jagraon, November 24
The pugilists of Shere Punjab Sports Academy, Chakar, near Jagraon once again proved their metal by performing wonderfully in the Punjab State Rural Women Boxing Championship.

The pugilists of academy won total six medals in the championship held at Bathinda recently and brought laurels for the Academy as well as Jagraon area.

As per the information given by Dr Balwant Singh Sandhu, chief administrator of Shere Punjab Sports Academy Chakar, as many as six trainees of the academy represented Ludhiana district in this championship and each of them managed to win one medal.

While Sumandeep Kaur and Jaspreet Kaur clinched one gold medal each, Bulbul and Harmandeep Kaur returned with silver medals.

Besides, Ramandeep Kaur and Mandeep Kaur managed to win bronze medals thus taking the medal tally up to six during the championship.

"It was only due to the amazing performances of pugilists of Shere Punjab Sports Academy Chakar that Ludhiana district ended up first runner up in this championship. This is really a proud moment for this small village and the academy being run without any kind of government help," said Dr Balwant Singh Sandhu while expressing his delight.

It is not the first time that the female pugilists of this academy have given such good performances.

Earlier too, the pugilists of this academy won several medals at state level and national level events.

"The countless achievements of our female pugilists at various levels during the past have motivated more parents to send their daughters for training at our academy. So going by this trend, our academy is not only promoting sports in rural areas but it has also been changing the mindset of the rural people and this trend will also help eliminating evil like female foeticide from our society," added Sandhu.

All the medal-winners were given an arousing welcome by the villagers when they returned to the village after taking part in the championship. Later on, a brief function was also organised at the academy to felicitate the winner pugilists.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, Nov24
The management committee of Khalsa Senior Secondary School for Girls, Kilarapur, felicitated members of hockey team, which was declared winner in state-level hockey tournament held at Hoshiarpur recently.

Kuldeep Singh, president of the management committee said eight girls of the Khalsa Senior Secondary School for Girls, Kilarapur, had played in the U-14 team of Ludhiana district, which won the championship in the category. Performance of the girls of the Khalsa Senior Secondary School for Girls, Kilarapur, was appreciated by organisers and officials of the school sports department.

Office-bearers and members of the committee led by Inderjit Kaur principal, Jaswant Kaur, coach, and Darshan Singh manager, felicitated the outstanding performers.