NEIGHBOURHOOD

Sirhind residents protest against power failure
Surinder Bhardwaj

Fatehgarh Sahib, May 29
A large number of residents of Sirhind today organised a protest march and dharna in front of the Deputy Commissioner office against the power shutdown in the area for the past three days and the failure of PSPCL officials to redress their grievances.

Protesters were led by advocate Anil Gupta and were joined by MLA Kuljeet Singh Nagra’s wife Mandeep Kaur. They raised slogans against the PSPCL officials. A delegation led by Mandeep Kaur met the Deputy Commissioner and apprised him of their problems. The Deputy Commissioner immediately called the SDO, Sirhind, and asked him to explain why they had failed to restore power supply to the area.

Anil Gupta said there was no power in their area for the past three days. All requests made to the PSPCL officials fell on deaf ears.

Gupta said the residents suffered in the scorching heat and had sleepless nights. The undeclared power cuts and low voltage caused great inconvenience to residents as it affected the water supply, too. As no official responded to them, they had to stage a protest.

SDO Sumel Singh assured the protesters that power would be restored immediately. He said low power voltage in the area was owing to the overcapacity. He said the department had no space to install new transformers. If the people could earmark the space, they were ready to install transformers.

Singh said the department also faced staff crunch and there was no stock of wires.

Panchkula, May 29
In what can turn out to be another problem for Doon MLA Ram Kumar Chaudhary, fearing the deletion of footage from the CCTV recordings at a nursing home, the police has sent the recordings to the Central Forensic State Laboratory, Madhuban, to recover the deleted footage. Chaudhary had reportedly gone with Jyoti to the nursing home in Sector 20, Chandigarh, to get her abortion done.

This was also mentioned in the supplementary challan presented by the Panchkula police before the court. Not only this, Jyoti's mobile phone has also been sent to the CFSL, Chandigarh, to recover the deleted SMSes, videos and photographs, which supposedly featured Chaudhary and Jyoti together.

According to police sources, the CCTV recordings have been sent to the laboratory as it suspects some footage might have been deleted. The deleted messages and photos in Jyoti's phone can nail Chaudhary.

Also, the supplementary statements of Ishu, Jyoti's sister, and Buti Ram have been attached with the challan as part evidences.

The challan also has the mention of the footage of the Chandimandir toll plaza. A truck was used to crush Jyoti.

Meanwhile, the CJM's court has refused to accept the challan against 10 accused, saying that since the proceedings ha taken place in a sessions court, the challan should be presented there itself. However, it was said the court could accept the challan against two new accused, the mobile shop owner and the sim card dealer.

The police has now decided to go in for appeal.

Chandigarh, May 29
The UT Education Secretary, VK Singh, today appeared before the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) in an ongoing petition filed by guest faculty teachers.

Singh informed the bench that the UT Education Department was working out modalities to adjust the PGT teachers whose services had been terminated.

He also apprised the tribunal that the administration was considering the case of teachers with sympathy and looking at ways to adjust them. He, however, claimed that the rules pertaining to adjustment needed to be relaxed, which can be done either by the UT Administrator or the UnIon Ministry of Human Resource Development.

The Education Secretary appeared before the Tribunal in connection with the application of the affected PGT teachers who were earlier working as guest faculty and had moved CAT challenging the decision to terminate their services. Around 55 guest faculty PGT teachers had moved CAT challenging the order of the Education Department.

The Tribunal had directed the UT Administration to adjust the teachers and told the department to allow the guest teachers to continue till further orders. The Tribunal had directed that these post graduate teachers (PGTs) be allowed to teach the TGT teachers' subjects.

The case would now come up for hearing on July 2. 

Chandigarh, May 29
The Narcotics Control Bureau today arrested a person and seized 6.6 kg of opium from a Ford Ikon (number DL-3 CR-0324), near the Kisan Bhawan roundabout, in Sector 35-A and arrested Raj Adhikari, a resident of Dimapur, Nagaland.

A case under sections 8 and 18 of the NDPS Act-1985 has been registered against him.

The contraband consignment is said to be worth of Rs 1.9 lakh in the international market. Raj Adhikari had purchased it from Assam and was taking it to Kullu in Himachal Pradesh.

In a separate case, the Chandigarh NCB staff, after getting a tip-off from a source, seized 15.4 kg opium from a Maruti 800 (HR-40-A-4433), near Fun Republic, Mani Majra, Chandigarh, and arrested two persons Room Singh (46) and Pawan Kumar. The contraband consignment is said to be worth Rs 46 lakh in the international market.

Chandigarh, May 29
The Yadvindra Public School cricket team defeated the DAV Sector 15 team by three wickets in the final of the 2nd Brother McCann Cricket Tournament, held at St John's School Sector 26, here today.

The DAV team posted 102 runs in their alloted 20 overs, after electing to bat first. For them, Jannat scored 25 off 34, whereas, Shivam contributed 29 off 27. For the bowling side, Jaskiran and Arman claimed one-wicket each. In reply, the YPS team chased down the target with three wickets in hand. Their batsmen Arman and Manraj contributed 32 and 23 runs respectively, to guide their team to victory, however, bowler Aman and Yuvraj took one-wicket each.

Aman was named as the man of the match, whereas, Tajas Kamg of St John's School was declared as the Man of the series and Vaibhav Kaushik was adjudged as the best batsman of the tournament.

In the league matches of boys (U-14) category, the team of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 29 (GMSSS 29), went down against Strawberry Field’s School, Sector 26. After electing to bat first, the losing side was restricted to just 52 runs. Akash, with his contribution of 12 runs, was the highest scorer for the team, while for bowling side, Hargum Torr, Pransh Gilohatra and Sidhart Mahajan claimed two wickets apiece. In reply the winning side chased the targed as Anhad Batt and Mohapch Goyal scored unbeaten knocks of 33 and 14 runs respectively.

Earlier, in another league match, bowler Mivaan of Strawberry Fields School, Sector 26, cramped St Kabir’s batting line-up with a 5-wicket haul to ensure the team’s victory. Mivaan restricted the St Kabir's batsmen to just 120 runs. While batting first, the winning side posted 123 runs, as Chiragvir Dhindsa (25 runs) and Yashvardhan (19 runs) scored the lion’s share. For bowling side,Shivam and Chirag claimed two wickets each. In reply, the St Kabir team could manage to score only 120 runs as Chirag (38 runs) and Akshaj (28 runs) scored the highest runs.

In another match, the team of Saupin’s School beat Anchal Public School. While batting first, the Saupin’s School scored 140 runs. Prabhjeet (31 runs) and Sachin (34 runs) were the primary scorers for their team, while bowler Sandeep claimed 2 for 33. Chasing the target, the Anchal School’s team was bundled out for 110 runs. Devinder, with his contribution of 22 runs, was the only batsman to play a respectable knock for his the team. 

Chandigarh, May 29
Fourth seed Rishabh Sharda registered a straight set win over the seventh seed, Drona Walia, in the quarterfinal match of the boys (U-14) category, during the ongoing Talent Hunt Tennis Series for boys and girls, being held at the CLTA courts in Sector 10, here today. Rishabh won the quarterfinal match 6-1, 7-5.

In another match of same category, the sixth seed tennis player, Digvijay Pratap, upset the top seed, Sagar Bains, in the straight sets 6-3 and 6-3 to book his semifinals berth.

In the other quarterfinal, fifth seed Calvin Golmei defeated third seed Sahishnu Sharma in a three-setter game.