NEIGHBOURHOOD

Residents block highway over erratic water supply 
Our Correspondent

Patiala, July 15
Dr Padmakumar Nair has been appointed the Director of the LM Thapar School of Management (LMTSOM) run by Thapar University.

An eminent researcher and management consultant of international repute, Dr Nair, who has to his credit more than 50 research papers in international journals and more than 1,500 citations in academic journals, has worked both in academia and industry.

He has an experience of over 25 years in diverse industries, including oil and gas (in Amsterdam), education (in Denmark, the US, Japan, the Netherlands, China), consultancy (in Price water house Coopers, Japan, the UK and the US) and advanced research and development (in the Netherlands, Japan and the US). He holds a US and a world patent in the area of converting natural gas into useful petrochemicals.

Dr Nair specialises in organisational leadership, entrepreneurship and nanotechnology and is a visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge (the UK), University of Twente (the Netherlands), Chonnam National University (South Korea) and Wuhan University (China). 

Fatehgarh Sahib, July 15
As per the directions of the Election Commission of India regarding the rationalisation of the polling stations, Malwinder Singh Jaggi, ADC (G), today held a meeting with the representatives of the political parties to take their consent before forwarding the appeal to the Election Commission.

ADC (G) briefed the representatives of the political parties that rationalisation is done in cases if the distance of a polling Station is more than 2 km, if the infrastructure is not proper, if the number of votes is more or any other reason.

He discussed the polling stations identified for recommending the rationalisation. He also sought their suggestions and assured that before recommending and forwarding the appeal, their suggestions will be taken into consideration. —OC

Fatehgarh Sahib, July 15
The district police has arrested two drug peddlers and recovered 25 kg of poppy husk from their possession.

SSP Gurmeet Singh Chauhan said, "The anti-narcotic cell Fatehgarh Sahib had set up a naka at the T-point near Ferozepur village. During search, the police recovered 20 kg of poppy husk from a vehicle. The police arrested Lucky Verma, a resident of Ludhiana. He confessed to have sold drugs and supplied to the peddlers in rural areas.

The Sirhind police arrested Rati Pal Sharma, a resident of Defence bandh area of Sirhind, and recovered 5 kg of poppy husk.

A case under the NDPS Act has been registered.

Ambala, July 15
Members of the Rajput Sabha and Rajput Youth Brigade blocked the Ambala-Hisar highway for an hour to protest against the distortion of historical facts in TV serial Jodha-Akbar.

Hundreds of vehicle stranded on the highway as the protesters sat in the middle of the highway.

The president of Rajput Sabha, Rambir Chauhan, and Youth Brigade's leader Jatinder Rana said it was not established in any book and historical documents that Akbar was married to Jodha. The Rajput community would resent this.

DCP Vinod Kaushik and SHO city police station along with other police officers reached the spot and pacified the protesters. It was only after an hour that the blockade could be lifted.

Chandigarh, July 15
A woman was attacked by miscreants after she objected to drinking by youngsters at a public place in Mauli Jagran.

President of the Seva Samiti Dal Seema, a resident of Mauli Jagran, was attacked and her car was smashed by the miscreants in Mani Majra. She was attacked when she objected to drinking by a couple of youngsters in a park in front of her house.

Rahul of Mauli Complex entered Seema's house in Mauli Jagran last night and smashed the window panes of her car.

Seema alleged that Rahul attacked her with a sword before threatening her when she objected to their drinking in the park in front of her house.

Seema suffered minor injuries in the attack. Rahul was arrested and booked for causing hurt for (323) criminal intimidation (506) and attempt to murder (307) of the IPC at the Mani Majra police station. 

Chandigarh, July 15
A 28-year-old man was killed after his motorcycle was hit by a Gypsy.

The deceased was identified as Sunny Johnson, a resident of Sector 48.

A case has been registered on the complaint of Jaswinder Singh, a resident of Sector 49.

Jaswinder Singh told the police that he had gone for a walk near a park in Sector 49 when the victim, who was riding a motorcycle (PB 65J 8050), was hit by a Gypsy bearing registration number CH01G 4048.

The motorcyclist fell on the road and suffered a head injury. The driver of the Gypsy took the victim to Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, from where he fled. The vehicle belongs to Ishar Khan, a resident of Sector 26, who had purchased it from the Chandigarh police in an auction held in April, 2013.

No arrest has been made in the case so far.

A case of rash driving, causing hurt by act of endangering life or personal safety of others, causing death by negligence under Sections 279, 337 and 304A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered at the Sector 34 police station.

In another incident, four persons were injured when a truck and a car collided at the Transport light point today.

Rakesh Kumar (30), along with his wife Bindya (30) and three-year-old son Laksham, was going towards Zirapkur when the car in which they were travelling collided with the truck coming from Sector 28 side.

The truck overturned and the driver, Surjit Singh,suffered injuries.

The injured were rushed to Government Medical College and Hospital in Sector 32. The condition of Rakesh Kumar, Bindya and Laksham is stated to be critical. 

Mohali, July 15
The police has claimed to have arrested a member of a vehicle lifting gang.

The accused, identified as Akshay Kumar, a resident of Ambala, was nabbed from Dhanoni village at 2 am.

Mohali SSP Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said the night patrolling police party intercepted two persons, who were on a motorcycle.

The police arrested Akshay while his accomplice managed to flee.

Investigations revealed that the two-wheeler was stolen from Dera Bassi.

Another motorcycle was also recovered from him.

Zirakpur, July 15
A 26-year-old youth was killed in a road accident last night. The deceased has been identified as Rajesh Kumar, a resident of Sector 19, Panchkula. 

Accident occurred when victim was trying to cross the road near over bridge last night and suddenly a car had hit him. The victim received serious injuries and was rushed to the GMCH, Sector 32, Chandigarh, where he succumbed. 

Chandigarh, July 15
A youth on a motorcycle snatched cash from a petrol station employee in Sector 38 last night.

Vinod Kumar was counting the cash at the CITCO-run petrol station when the motorcyclist took away Rs 3,961 from him. SHO of the Sector 39 Charanjit Singh said they scanned the closed-circuit television footage, but it was not clear. He said efforts were on to nab the accused.

Chandigarh, July 15
Blame it on their poor financial background or call it the motivation in the wake of the recent flick “Bhaag Milkha Bhaag” that led the local athletes to run barefoot and without spikes, during the trials to select local athletics team for the upcoming north zone nationals.

During the trials, organised by the Chandigarh Athletics Association, majority of amateur athletes were seen participating without proper gear, at Sports Complex, Sector 46, here today. The selected members are expected to represent the city in the north zone nationals after undergoing coaching camp. The participants were seen either running barefoot or with normal casual shoes.

“Its for the first time that I am participating in an athletics event. I have read that only bona fide students or residence are eligible to appear for trials, so I appeared. I am not aware of spikes (professional track shoes), but will update myself,” said Anupam, a student at a local government school.

Another participant, from a local school added, “I find comfort while running in these casual shoes,” said Nikyant. When asked about running in actual competition, he said, “My motive is to gain entry in the national competition. Rest can be taken care of later,” said Nikyant.

Interestingly, mother of a 15-year-old young girl, unaware of track or field events, added, “Inspired by the recent movie, ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’, I opted to take my daughter here. But after arriving, the officials told me that the 400 meters race is already over. I will try to prepare her for the next trials,” said the mother.

An official, seeking anonymity, added, “We have to select from whatever entries we have received. To expect unexpected results from these entries is a tough thing to do. The senior category athletes are far better than the junior lot but then they don’t have competition at all. At the maximum, we are receiving five odd entries in senior age-groups,” said the official.

Chandigarh, July 15
Chandigarh, a city that has produced many good players for the nation, has nothing to offer when it comes to facilities for local athletes. For athletics, the event that is counted among the major sports of the world, the city does not have any basic synthetic athletics track.

The project that has been pending with the Sports Department and UT Urban Planning Department is yet to see the light of the day. The all-weather synthetic track, made of polyurethane, is among the essentials needed because all track and field events in athletics are performed on the synthetic track. It also allows the athletes to compete against bad weather and improves their results over other surfaces. Major ligament injuries that occur due to hard surface are also avoided on the synthetic track.

“It’s been a long time that I had requested the authorities to provide a synthetic track for the local athletes. To compete with the world or other parts of the nation, a player needs to clear the basics. In today’s world, we need facilities to move ahead. Every major competition is organised on the synthetic track. But ironically, the city doesn’t have a single artificial soft track for athletes. Grass grounds are also essential but only to train budding athletes so that they can run like a free horse, with spikes, on synthetic track. The city is providing best facilities to the local players and also to players from other states and the athletes also deserve to get the best. The authorities should lay a synthetic-track,” said Milkha Singh.

The city has two major athletics tracks at Sports Complex, Sector 46, and Sports Complex, Sector 7. The track at Sector 46 is a soft-grass track, whereas, the other one is of hard-track nature. Panjab University also offers a green-patch track to the senior athletes.

“It’s been many years that we are hearing about the promises of the synthetic track. The grass patches are equally important for preparing a budding athlete. But it’s a synthetic track that makes an athlete to gain confidence in his strides. Needs change with time and a synthetic track is a need of the hour. The city can produce best players but it will be of no use if they do not give a tough competition at national or international level,” said a group of players, at Sports Complex, Sector 46.

When contacted VK Singh, Sports Secretary, UT Administration, he added that the project to lay down a synthetic track is in the pipeline and will be completed soon. “The Sports Complex of Sector 46 has been shortlisted for laying down a new full structured synthetic track. The only problem is the shortage of space. We have a common wall of a college on one side and an old structure on the other. The urban development department of Union Territory Administration is working on this project and the track will be laid down soon,” said VK Singh.

“The city will soon witness a full-fledged synthetic track at the sports complex of sector 46. The project is in pipeline,” said VK Singh, Education-cum-Sports Secretary.

Chandigarh, July 15
Youngster Yuvraj Kooka will face Udayvir Singh in the title clash of boys (U-12) category during the ongoing Mount Carmel Total Tennis Championship, being played at the Total Tennis Academy here on Tuesday.

In the semifinals played today, Yuvraj outplayed his rival Pranav 8-4 while Udayvir Singh charged ahead, registering an 8-6 victory over Vikram Aditya. In other semifinals of boys (U-10) category, Pranav Kumar defeated Mahesh Bhatt at 8-3 while Siddarth Goel routed Sarabjot by 8-3.

Results: Boys (U-12) semifinals-Yuvraj Kooka b Pranav 8-4; Udayvir Singh b Vikram Aditya 8-6; Boys (U-14) semifinals-Yuvraj Kooka awarded walk over against Siddarth; Udayvir Singh b Kanav 8-4; Boys (U-10) semifinals-Pranav Kumar b Mahesh Bhatt 8-3; Siddarth Goel b Sarabjot 8-3.

Chandigarh, July 15
In the recently concluded Green Field Tennis Academy Tennis Championship, the doubles team of Harjasleen Singh and Ankush Mishra defeated Rajveer Gill and Ravneet Saini, to win the final in the doubles category.

The winning pair registered a 4-6, 6-1 and 6-2 victory over the rivals. Earlier, in the semifinals, Rajveer and Ravneet defeated the pair of General HJ Singh and Dr Ashish at Saini 4-2 and 4-1 while Harjasleen and Ankush routed Varun and Nikhil 4-2 and 5-4.

Chandigarh, July 15
The Chandigarh Cricket Association affiliated to the Haryana Cricket Association will conduct trials to select boys (Under-25 years) team. The trials will be held at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 19, on July 17 (3.30 pm).

The players born on or after September 1, 1988 can participate in the selection trials.

The selected players will represent the city in the Inter-District Cricket Tournament to be organised by Haryana Cricket Association later this month.

Chandigarh, July 15
The UT Education Department will organise Inter-School Tournaments in discipline of football and cricket from July 21, here. The football tournament will be conducted under boys and girls (U-17) category while the cricket championship will be played under boys (U-14) age group.

According to the organisers, during these same championships, the excellent players will be shortlisted among the probable’s list for the upcoming 59th National School Games. The interested teams can send their entries completed in all respect till July 17 at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 33, (for boys tournament) and Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 32, (for girls tournament).

The entry fee for participating in the championship is Rs 20 per player. The fixtures will be drawn on July 18 (10 am) at the sports branch office of the District Education Officer, Sector 19.

Cut-off dates

For Under-14 categories players should be born on or after January 1, 2000 and for Under-17 categories the players should be born on or after January 1, 1997. 

Chandigarh, July 15
Table tennis player Paavan of DAV Public School, Sector 8, added another feather to her cap after bagging three gold medals in the Table Tennis Open Tournament held at Mandi Gobindgarh (Fatehgarh Sahib).

A class VIII student, she bagged the top honours in three categories i.e. youth, junior and sub-junior category. Her counterpart, Arshita, also finished her campaign on a high note. The tournament was organised by management committee of SNAS Senior Secondary School, Mandi Gobindgarh. According to organisers, more than 150 players from the north region participated in this tournament.

Results: Cadet girls-Parvita Singla of Millennium School, Mohali; Arshita Garg of DAV Public School, Sector 8, Chandigarh; Aman of Khanna; Sub-junior girls-Paavan of DAV Public School, Sector 8, Arshita Garg of DAV Public School, Sector 8; Nistha Sharma of DAV Public School, Sector 8; Junior girls-Paavan, DAV Public School, Sector 8; Arshita Garg of DAV Public School, Sector 8; Poonam of Khanna; Youth Girls-Paavan of DAV Public School, Sector 8; Anmol of Khanna; Arshita Garg of DAV Public School, Sector 8.