NEIGHBOURHOOD

Mango Mela kicks off at Pinjore
Hemant Kumar

A man clicks the photograph of a child in the backdrop of a rangoli at Pinjore Garden on Saturday. Tribune photo: nitin mittal

Kalka, July 6
Two-day Mango Mela, jointly organised by the Tourism and Horticulture Departments of the state, began today in the Yadavindra Gardens, by Paramvir Singh, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Fisheries, Mines and Geology Minister, Haryana.

The first day of the mela began with the receipt of entries of mangoes and mango products. A separate section has been dedicated for showcasing the unique and unusual varieties of mangoes. A total of 2,795 entries of different varieties of mangoes and its products have been exhibited by the farmers, which include 2,407 entries of different mango varieties namely dasheri, langra, chousa, mallika, rataul, malda, amrapali, ramkela, totapari etc. and 388 entries of mango products.

Besides, day performers entertained one and all with their spellbinding performances, like kacchi ghori & kalbelia-Rajasthan, bagpiper-Karnal, been sapera-Faridabad, long man bamboo walker-Delhi and also bioscope-Delhi and puppet show. Magician Wilson also enthralled the audience with his tricks.

Fun and feasting are a part and parcel of the Mango Mela. A food court, offering a mouth-watering variety of items to the visitors, has also been setup at the mela. To ensure good quality of food items, the stalls have been put up by students of State Institutes of Hotel Management from Kurukshetra, Panipat and Rohtak. Also the students from private hotel management institutes from Panchkula, Chandigarh and Mohali are dishing out delicacies at their stalls.

Similarly, a crafts bazaar is a special attraction. An interesting display of handloom and handicrafts items by crafts persons/weavers, who have been invited from Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh add to the charm of the mela.

No cultural programmes

This time, no cultural programme is being organised due to Uttrakhand disaster in the Mango Mela. Official sources of the Haryana Tourism revealed that this has been decided to pay homage to the people, who have lost their lives in the disaster.

On the second day of the mela i.e. July 7, competitions like fancy dress on mango theme (for age group up to 8 years or Class IV), mehandi applying and mango eating will be organised. Besides, there will be a demonstration of mango products preparation. Also, senior citizens from the registered senior citizens associations would pay a visit at the Mela.

Results of school competitions

Painting competition: Junior Group-1. Nisha, Sanskriti Model School, Sector 20, Panchkula 2. Anuj Gupta, Govt Model Sr Secondary School, Sector 32C, Chandigarh 3. Dishan Khaura, DAV Senior Secondary Public, School, Sector 8, Panchkula; Senior Group-1. Anureet Kaur, DAV School, Sector 8, Panchkula 2. Kanchan Jadli, KV-2, 3. Geeta, Govt Model Sanskrit Sr Secondary School, Sector 20, Panchkula.

Rangoli: Senior Group-1. Nobel High School, Pinjore 2. Govt Sr Secondary School, Kalka 3. Sanskriti School, Sector 20, Panchkula; Junior Group-1. Sarthak School, Panchkula 2. New India School, Pinjore 3. Hindu Girls Secondary School, Kalka.

Face painting: Junior group-1. Areshpreet and Muskaan of DAV, Surajpur, Panchkula 2. Sakshi and Anubhav of DAV, Surajpur, Panchkula 3. Kamakshi and Khusboo of New India, Pinjore (Panchkula); Senior group-1. Udit and Shipli of DAV, Surajpur, Panchkula 2. Anshika and Vasundhara of DAV, Surajpur, Panchkula 3. Aditi Mittal and Shubham Mittal of Bhawan Vidyalaya, Sector 15, Panchkula.

Fatehgarh Sahib, July 6
Farmers of Bag Sikander and other villages of Ferozepur, blocked the Sirhind-Morinda road due to irregular power supply in their areas. The traffic blockage caused traffic jam for about one hour.

The protestors alleged that the residents in the village were facing problems as they were not getting regular power supply. They further said that they had complained to the electricity department in this regard several times. But nothing had been done so far.

They claimed that the paddy crop was drying as they could not water their fields properly. They said they had to use diesel for running the generators to irrigate their fields. The police and the officials of the Power Com reached the spot immediately and assured the farmers that efforts were on to provide uninterrupted power supply to their villages by rectifying the faults. The commuters on the Sirhind-Morinda road had to face problems due to the traffic jam. Harpinder Singh, sarpanch Bag Sikandar, Balwinder Singh Ferozepur, Sandeep Singh, Sohan Lal, Harpreet Singh Jaspreet Singh, and Harjinder Singh were among those who led the protest.

Chamkaur Sahib, July 6
Amar Shaheed Baba Ajit Singh Jujhar Singh Memorial College of Pharmacy, Bela, has received the award of Best Performing Institution of the Year Award at the fourth International Achievers Summit on “Generating Global Partnerships” held in Bangkok, Thailand, last month.

The award was presented by the International Achievers Conference (IAC). The IAC is the amalgamation of economic, political, business, professional and other leaders of the Indian community which defines and discusses the key issues of Indian economic agenda.

Fatehgarh Sahib, July 6
Rotary Club, Sirhind, organised a seminar on female feticide and drug abuse here today. Dr Neelam Bhardwaj, Civil Surgeon, was the chief guest, whereas Dr NS Bawa, PNDT activist, presided over the seminar. The representatives of various social organisations, doctors, NGOs and students participated in the event.

Addressing the gathering Dr Neelam said the declining sex ratio is a matter of concern, every section of society particularly the youths should take it seriously. If this trend continued, there would be chaos in the society and it would lead to social disorder and a worst crisis for the coming generations. She said female feticide is not only a blot on the society but also it is misuse of technology for petty personal interests.

She urged the audience to control the younger generations and to educate them about the effects of drug addiction.

Fatehgarh Sahib, July 6
In order to train girls for self-defence, the Girls Organisation of India (GOI) would train the girls in martial arts in the state so that they can protect themselves from unscrupulous elements.

The GOI chairperson, Rajwant Kaur, said the a martial arts coach from the National Institute of Sports, Jasvir Singh, would provide training to the girls and for this, the girls would have to get themselves registered with the organisation. She said they were creating awareness among the girls as the present day girls were feeling insecure in the society as their honour was being challenged everyday. Kaur said there will be no charges for this training.

She added that not only the girls but boys also would be impart training in self-defence. She said the training period would be of three months and that the trainees would have to attend to classes regularly for one hour everyday.

After the training, a competition would also be held and prizes would be given to the winners, she said.

Rajwant said 55 members have enrolled themselves with organisation and they have been able to help in preventing crime against women. — TNS

Fatehgarh Sahib, July 6
Education Providers Teachers (EPT) Union would hold a state-wide protest in Ludhiana on July 7 against the Education Minister, Sikander Singh Maluka, for his "failure" to fulfill the long-pending demands.

Senior vice-president of the EPT Union, Manpreet Singh, said they had held a meeting with the Education Minister, Sikander Singh Maluka, on June 19 and had demanded that the details about the increased BRP fund from the centre besides their demand of exempting the teachers from the TET test. He said the minister had assured that the women teachers would not be transferred to other districts besides assuring them that their other demands would be fulfilled soon.

Singh said they have now decided to stage a protest rally in Ludhiana on July 7 against the non-fulfillment of their demands.

The union block president, Lakhwinder Singh, Gurmukh Singh, Kulwinder Singh and Jagtar Singh were among those who addressed the union meeting.

Chandigarh, July 6
The team of the Chandigarh Cricket Association (CCA) will face DAV Public School in the final of ongoing Guru Nanak Public School Cricket Cup, tomorrow. In the semifinals, played today, the CCA team defeated Mohali Cricket Association while DAV Cricket Academy routed Sarhitkari Cricket side.

In the first match, the CCA team defeated the rivals by 3 wickets. After elected to bat first, the CCA team posted 136 runs in the allotted slot of 35 overs. Saksham Gupta (46-runs), Navkaran (32 runs) and Deepinder (23 runs) were the main run scorers for the team.

For the bowling side, Harshdeep claimed 1 for 15 while Tanveer took 1 for 24. In reply, the MCA side bundled out for 134 runs with Ashwin scoring 55 runs and Gurkanwar contributing 35 runs. Bowlers, Mannu claimed 3 for 24 and Saksham claiming 1 for 22.

In the second match, batting first, the DAV side scored 104 runs before getting all out in 29 overs. Yuvi scored 36 runs whereas Ayush contributed 14 runs in the team's total. For the blowing side, Mandeep claimed 4 for 28 to remain the highest wicket taker for the team. Chasing the target, the Sarvhitkari side could manage to score only 59 runs.

Mohali, July 6
On the opening day of the AITA Paragon Total Tennis Championship, Aditya defeated Abhinav at 8-1while Savinay beat Jaspreet 8-6, in the matches of qualifying rounds being played at Paragon School-71 today.

Digvijay, Rishab and Rahul booked their berth final qualifying rounds with defeating their respective rivals.

Results (boys) first qualifying round: Ritvik bt Laksh 8-4, Jivesh bt Manjeet 8-3, Aniket bt Aarya 8-4, Ramanjot bt Rajdeep 8-0, Ajay bt Abhi Uday 8-3, Siddarth bt Tushar 8-0, Harshdeep bt Jaskaran 8-2, Neeraj bt Sartaj 8-2, Zorawar bt Akshay 8-7 (8-6), Siddhant bt Harshmeet 8-1, Navjot bt Dhruv 8-7 (7-2), Parav bt Shreyas 8-1, Aiswarya bt Gajan 8-0, Parmeet bt Chaitanya 8-1, Jaideep bt Sahil 8-2, Akashdeep bt Bhalinder 8-5, Nischay bt Tushar 8-4, Abhimanyu bt Devanshu 8-2, Rupesh bt Ankush 8-6. —TNS