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Dera Bassi, May 7
Traffic jam and harassment for commuters have become a routine affair at the Dappar toll plaza, situated on the Ambala-Chandigarh national highway. Long queues of vehicles can be always seen here due to closing of some crossing lanes at toll plaza. After a visit at the site, traffic jam was witnessed in the absence of proper crossing ways. Vehicles were standing on the both roads of the national highway in the wait of turn to cross. Commuters on buses, trucks and cars could be observed till one km on both sides.

Some ambulances were also caught in the traffic jam. Commuters said that traffic jam has become a routine affair here because the managers of this toll plaza do not open all crossing lanes, which leads to jams here everyday. Drivers of ambulances that caught in this jam told they had come from Rohtak and Sirsa for shifting the serious patients at the PGI and the GMCH, Sector 32, Chandigarh. But they had been waiting for their turn to cross for over 15 minutes due to the jam.

Some other commuters also expressed anger over the mismanagement of the Dappar toll plaza. Meanwhile, in charge of toll plaza, Manishi Seth, said the time was wastage in providing crossing slips, which leads to traffic blockage here. He said all the lanes are always opened for traffic. He said all efforts were being made to resolve the jam problem.

Ambala, May 7
DGP, Haryana, SN Vashisht inaugurated the newly constructed block of Police DAV Public School, Ambala City this evening.

Police Commissioner, Ambala, Rajbir Deswal, Director Haryana Police Corporation BS Sandhu, DCP Ashok Kumar, Chairman of DAV management committee Rajender Nath and Principal of the school Vikas Kohali welcomed the chief guest.

While addressing the students, Vashisht said that the syllabus and the teaching methods of the schools should be updated according to the need of the present society.

He asked the students to work hard to achieve their goal. He said by hardworking and giving all regards to their teachers and parents they could achieve every goal in their life.

Police Commissioner, Rajbir Deswal said that the students would be future citizen of this country and they should be provided with best atmosphere and best education. He said the DAV institution had played an important role in the field of education. BS Sandhu also addressed the students.

Mohali, May 7
A local court today sentenced a seven-year imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on the accused, Varinder Kumar, a resident of Gulabgarh village.

Varinder Kumar. He had raped a minor girl of Chhatt village in 2011 on the pretext of marrying her. The police had rescued the victim from Varinder’s house after registering a case under Sections 363, 366 A and 376 and 120B of the IPC against Varinder, Kavita Rani and Asha, both from the Chhatt village. The court, however, acquitted both the women today.

Mohali, May 7
Evidence of two sisters of Fiza, alias, Anuradha Bali, were recorded in the court here today in the assets case. The next date of hearing has been fixed for July 8.

Raghujit Singh Madan, advocate of Fiza’s three sisters, said that documents to show that the three sisters were the legal heirs of the property owned by Fiza were presented in the court. Aditi and Monika had come for the hearing while the third sister, Anjali, who was living abroad, had given a GPA to her sisters in this regard.The advocate said the death certificates of Dharam Pal and Savita Bali, father and mother of Fiza, and that of Fiza were presented in the court.

An official from the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) had also come for the hearing and told the court that the house in question was in the name of Fiza. The documents were also tendered by the GMADA official, which showed how the house had come to Fiza.

The three sisters had earlier filed a suit in the district courts here staking their claim to the movable and immovable assets owned by Fiza. A plea was later made for the possession of cars and the house belonging to Fiza till the settlement of the case.

Chandigarh, May 7
The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge, Shalini Singh Nagpal, today sentenced a head cashier with the UT Electricity Department to five years rigorous imprisonment in an embezzlement case of Rs 1.64 crore and imposed a fine of Rs 1.6 lakh on him. The court sentenced Mangat Ram in as many as four chargesheets filed against him in the FIR registered at the Sector 36 police station in May 2008.

The court sentenced the convict under Sections 409, 467, 468 471 and 477 A of the IPC. The case was registered on May 2, 2008, when an audit of the State Bank of India (SBI) revealed that Mangat Ram, head cashier with the UT Electricity Department, had failed to deposit cash amounting to Rs 1.64 crore collected through electricity bills, new connections etc to the SBI’s treasury in a span of four years from 2003 to 2007.

As per the prosecution, the accused forged vouchers of the bank and prepared fake stamps to show that the amount had been deposited while actually he used to pocket the entire amount.

The police stated that Mangat Ram committed fraud during various postings between 2003 and 2007, thus five chargesheets were filed. It was only during an audit of the SBI in 2008 that it was found that the amount was not being deposited by the Electricity Department.

Panchkula, May 7
The court of Amit Verma today rejected a plea of the government pleader to grant more time for the rebuttal of evidence on behalf of the Deputy Commissioner, Panchkula, ADC, Panchkula, and EO of the MC, Panchkula, in a contempt case pertaining to stray cattle.

It may be recalled that the court on April 28 had given the defendants 
last opportunity to plead their evidence and adjourned the case to May 7. The court has already recorded the evidence of petitioner Pankaj Chandgothia in the contempt case against Panchkula DC Ashima Brar, KK Jain, EO of the municipal corporation, and the Panchkula Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) contending disobedience of the court orders dated October 20, 2011.

The court today closed the evidence of the DC, MC and Panchkula ADC, by the order.

In the case, the officers have been asked to explain as to why they should not be be punished for disobedience of court orders.

The then ACJM Gurvinder Kaur had earlier issued directions to all 
the defendants to take effective steps to ensure that the menace of stray cattle was fully dealt with in Panchkula City. The court has also observed that the defendants had the option to shift the animal owners to the surrounding area so that the cows did not move on the roads, public places and parks of the city.

However, Krishan Kumar, Assistant Commissioner of Police (HQ), Panchkula, filed an affidavit on behalf of the Panchkula DCP saying that the police was "doing its duty as per law". He said it was the responsibility of the municipal corporation to catch stray cattle and the police was providing full cooperation and assistance to the MC in their efforts to catch them. They were even providing the MC police protection.

The affidavit further says that a survey was conducted jointly by the MC and the police, in which it was found that the cattle owners allowed the cows to roam around freely on the roads and in the parks.

The Panchkula police has registered 13 FIRs under Sections 283, 289 and 290 of the IPC against owners of the animals and criminal proceedings were continuing against them.

Chandgothia had earlier filed a public interest litigation against the DC, MC and SP (Traffic), Panchkula, accusing them of neglecting their duties as they had not been able to keep the roads free of stray cattle that could lead to accidents. In his statement before the court, Chandgothia said that he had not filed the case for any personal benefit but for the benefit of all Panchkula residents in general. He pointed out that the Panchkula Administration had even failed to create a cattle pond to keep the seized stray cattle.

Chandigarh, May 7
Dismissing the appeal filed by a private insurance company, the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission upheld the orders of the District Forum, wherein, the company was penalised for wrongly deducting a major part of the premium amount, paid by the complainant, in the name of surrender value of a policy.

While the complainant was entitled to receive Rs 44,000 against the payment of Rs 50,000 as the premium, the insurer returned only Rs 5,000 according to the old Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) norms.

The District Forum had directed Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance Ltd to pay Rs 44,000 to the complainant on account of payment of the surrender amount along with interest.

While dismissing the appeal filed against the District Forum’s order by the insurance company, the state commission reduced the payable amount from Rs 44,000 to Rs 39,000 considering that Rs 5,000 was already given to the complainant. The insurance company has also been directed to pay a compensation of Rs 11,000 for causing mental agony and harassment to the complainant.

Complainant Nishi Gupta had paid the single premium amount of Rs 50,000 on March 15, 2008. After a lapse of three years, in March 2011, the complainant received a letter stating termination of the policy as per the terms and conditions of IRDA (via circular dated December 21, 2005).

Zirakpur, May 7
The Zirakpur police has busted a flesh trade racket here today by arresting three girls and one man from Dhakouli. Two accused (men), are still at large and the police is trying to trace them.

The arrested accused have been identified as Kaushik Kumar, a resident of Kapurthla, Manjot Kaur, a resident of Ludhiana, Meenakshi, a resident of Chandigarh, and Rekha Malik, a resident of Karnal.

Chandigarh, May 7
ABMS Club today defeated Eleven Challengers’ Club by 35 runs during a UT Cricket League tie at the Sector 16 stadium.

After winning the toss, the ABMS Club batsmen put up a total of 153 runs in the allotted 20 overs.

Batsman Manoj Phulara played a fine innings of 71 runs, which was studded with seven boundaries and two sixes.

Manoj was supported well by Vivek, who scored 31 runs. For the bowling side, Sachin grabbed two wickets.

In reply, the team of Eleven Challengers Club was bundled out on a total of 118 runs. After being the pick of the bowlers in the previous innings, Sachin proved his mettle with the bat too, scoring 47 runs. Despite this effort and 47 runs scored by his teammate Harmeet as well, the team lost the match. Karan claimed four wickets for the winning side, while Akhilesh contributed with three wickets.

In the second match, Inder Club trounced Town Club by eight wickets. Winning the toss, Town Club posted 112 runs on the board. Manish was the main scorer with 44 runs. For the bowling side, Pawan grabbed four wickets, while Jai claimed three wickets. Chasing the target, Inder Club batsmen ensured the team’s win in the twelfth over.

Chandigarh, May 7
As many as 234 sportspersons along with 24 coaches were felicitated today with cash awards during the players’ and coaches’ felicitation ceremony organised by the UT Sports Department at Tagore Theatre, Sector 18. Players who won the top-three positions at National Championships, National School Games and various inter-university competitions were given cash prizes.

Adviser to the Administrator KK Sharma and Finance and Sports Secretary VK Singh awarded the winners. Players who brought laurels in archery, athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, cricket, football, golf, gymnastic, hockey, handball, judo, lawn tennis, rifle shooting, rowing, sailing, yachting, skating, softball, swimming, taekwondo, table tennis and weightlifting from 2010 to 2012 were awarded under two categories of junior and senior during the ceremony.

Awardees: Archery: Amit, Udham, Amit, BDR Gurung, Vikas Shastri (coach); Athletics: Kashish, Iqbal (coach); Badminton: Oscar Bansal, Tarush, Abhishek, Harmaninder, Saurav, Wg Cdr Satish Bhatia (retd) (coach); Basketball: Ravi, Pulkit, Sanjeev, Deepak Singh, Sidhant, Puneet, Vinay, Navjot, Veeranant, Amarjit Singh (coach); Manjeet Singh (coach); Paramjit Kaur (coach); Boxing: Vipin, Parveen, Rahul, Neeraj, Karambir, Deepak, Shubham, Ashish, Himanshu, Sachin, Rishav Preet, Viswajeet, Lakshya, Danveer, Tej Pratap, Shankar, Naveen, Bhagwant (coach); Cricket: Kusum, Jyoti, Reena, Kajal, Sarita, Sonia, Saumya, Divya, Monika, Manisha, Himanshi, Mamta, Aseem, Divjyot Singh, Vaibhav, Chetan, Rahul, Utkarsh, Abhimanyu, Harish Sharma (coach), Nagesh (coach), Sanjeev Pathania (coach), SK Chopra (coach); Football: Yuvraj, Gulraj Vir, Jaswinder, Konsam Chingkheinganba, Pankaj, Robin, Om Nayak, Manav, Daniel, Francis Ramdinmawia Pachuau, Samuel Lalmuanpuia, Nishu Kumar, Md. Saukat, Harsharan Khabra, K Lalramzauva, Vikram Singh, Praseej, Dashmesh Singh, Pranshu Vinayak, Mehtab, Mohit Lochab, Md. Tehlil, Sonu Majhi, Harjinder Singh Football (coach), Sanjeev Sharma (coach), GS Bedi (coach), Sandeep Singh (coach); Golf: Ashi Jain; Gymnastic: Prahleen Kaur, Shreya, Deepika Rawat, Aanchal Sharma, Karandeep, N Shashi (coach); Handball: Tarun, Kavita, Rajesh, Tanvil, Kajol, Tanya, Sukhbir, Pooja Joshi, Arti Joshi, Vakinder Singh, Govinda Sharma, Saket Mishra, Sumit, Shama Parveen, Arshnoor Kaur, Pooja, Veena Rani, Kusum Lata, Rohit Joshi, Amarjeet Singh, Manish Kumar, Jaswinder Kaur, Baljeet Singh, Anita Devi, Aman Chauhan, Rajan, Barjesh, Manavpreet Singh, Salony Bhardwaj, Atul Kumar, Kumar Vasishth, Tejvir Singh, Deepak Sharma, Bhim Sharma, Seerat, Kiran, Rekha Rani, Amanjot Singh, Brahmjot Gill, Deepa, Vivek Sheoran, Prabhpreet Singh, Akshita, Cannon Kalra, Vishwajeet Singh, Vicky, Aakriti, Harmanjeet Singh, Rohit Pathania, Ravinder Singh (coach), Onkar Singh (coach), Iqbal Singh (coach); Hockey: Rajbir Singh, Amolak Singh, Anjali, Shivani Singh, Monika Sehrawat, Monika, Jyoti Manral, Sandeep, Ritusha Arya, Sangeeta, Meera, Karishma, Darshana, Manjeet, Rajinder Singh (coach), Manjeet Kaur (coach), SK Goswami (coach), Alpinder Singh (coach); Judo: Jyoti Dass, Pooja, Arundeep Singh, Jaswinder Singh, Jyoti, Abhi Raj, Seema, Ajay Singh Rawat, Sarwan Kumar, Krishan Lal (coach); Lawn Tennis: Rahul Seth, Pranav Suri, Vikas Berwal, Manjot Singh, Digvijay Singh Naruka, Dheeranush Singh Bhatti, Ranjeet Singh, Santveer Singh Bhangoo, Ravnoor Kaur, Nikita, Bhavika Wadhawan, Bhavika Wadhawan; Rifle Shooting: Gauri, Mridula Mahajan, Harsh Beniwal; Rowing: Sukhdev Singh, Kanav Dosajh, Ashish, Saurav, Arvind Sehgal (coach); Roller Skating: Hakashpreet Singh, Saksham Mahajan, Mohit.

Chandigarh, May 7
The Chandigarh Kho-Kho Association will conduct trials to select men’s and women’s teams at the Government College for Women, Sector 42, 4 pm onwards on May 10.

The trials will be held to select probables for the upcoming 20th Senior North Zone Kho-Kho Championship for men and women to be held at the same venue on June 8 and 9.

The association has advised aspirants to attend trials in a proper kit, and carry their identity cards.

Nine states, including Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, will participate in the championship.