CRIME

3 held on charge of disobedience
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 25
The police have arrested three persons on a charge of disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant. The accused have been identified as Kewal Singh of Mohali, Sandeep Kumar, a resident Sector 27, and Satish, a resident of Panchkula.

The police said the accused kept their shops open till 1.30 am in Sector 22 which was in violation of orders passed by the UT Deputy Commissioner. In the orders issued under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the Deputy Commissioner has prohibited the running of commercial activities between 1am and 4.30 am. The drive to put a check on such activities will continue in near future. A case has been registered under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Sector 17 police station. All accused were later released on bail.

2 youths snatch bag

Chandigarh, December 25
Two motorcycle-borne youth snatched a bag from a Batala resident in Chandigarh. The incident took place near the Sector 7 market. The victim, Amarjit Kaur, reported that she was attacked by the youths, who snatched her bag containing diamond earrings, a diamond ring, a gold chain, a mobile phone, a gold locket, gold earrings and Rs 20,000 in cash.

A case of assault or criminal force in attempt to commit theft of property carried by a person and punishment for theft has been registered under Sections 356, 379, of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in the Sector 26 police station. — TNS

26-yr-old’s suicide
Police yet to question victim’s parents
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 25
A day after a 26-year-old woman residing in Canara Bank Society at Sector 44 allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself, the police is yet to question the victim's parents, who are yet to arrive from Patna.

Bhawana Mehta, who got married in 2011 and has a one-year-old son, was stated to be under depression.

Police sources said a dispute with her husband Shantunu, who is a probationary officer with the bank,was stated to be the reason behind the woman taking the extreme step. Her post-mortem examination is yet to be conducted. "We are investigating the matter. Things will be clear once we record the statements of her parents who will arrive in the city tomorrow," said Rajesh Shukla, SHO, Sector 34 police station.

SPORTS

DAV-8 beat AKSIPS by 109 runs
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 25
DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8 and Saupin’s School Sector 32, won their respective matches of ongoing SS Bava Memorial Inter-School Cricket tournament for boys (U-16), being held at Government Model Senior Secondary School Sector 26, here today.

In the first match of the day, the DAV School, Sector 8 defeated Ajit Karam Singh International Public School (AKSIPS) by 109-runs. The DAV school won the toss and elected to bat first, posted 145-runs for 7 wickets in 20 overs. Sagar contributed 35-runs studded with two boundaries and Tavleen contributed 21-runs in the team’s total. For bowling side, Rachit got 2 for17. Chasing the target, the AKSIPS team mustered on a mere total of 36-runs. Sarthak (3-runs) and Abhishek (2-runs) were the main scorers for the team.

In the second match, the Government School Club, Sector 40, went down against Saupin’s School by 70-runs. Batting first, the Saupin’s School scored a total of 172 runs losing 6 wickets in 20 overs. Sawapnil took the charge and contributed 57-runs. Manan (38-runs) and Aayush (31-runs) were the other main scorers for the team. Abdullha and Atul took 2 wickets each for Government School Club. In reply, the Government School handed over the match on 102-runs. Vikram Sharma played a stroke-full innings and scored an unbeaten 61 runs. For Saupin’s, Satyam and Prithvi claimed 2 wickets each.

Skaters make city proud
Tribune News Service

Panchkula, December 25
Skaters of Rolling Tigers Skating Academy, Panchkula, achieved yet another thumping success and bagged cash award of 7 lakhs, four gold medals, four silver medals, four bronze medals in the Federations and CBSE Nationals, held from December 16 to 20 in Mumbai.

B Pranay Goud, a student of Hallmark Public School, Panchkula, clinched one gold, one silver and one bronze medal, with a cash award of Rs 50 thousand while Aditya Dabas, of same school, won two silver medals and cash award of 2 lakhs.

Vidushi Rawat of Banyan Tree School Chandigarh bagged one gold and one silver medal while Aryan Pal and Adhiraj Kundlas of St Xaviers School, Panchkula, claimed two gold medals, a total cash award of Rs 4.5 lakhs and a bronze medal. Aarsh Mehtani of Bhavan Vidyalaya, Panchkula, and Shubham Aggarwal of DC Montessori School won one bronze each.

Chander Singhal, director of Rolling Tigers Club and former national skater said, “It’s a glorious record event. The skaters have ended this season on a very good note. Skaters performed well in the federation and CBSE Nationals,” said Chander.

Rs 26 cr spent, but stadia not fit to hold events
Akash Ghai
Tribune News Service

Mohali, December 25
Over Rs 26 crores were spent on constructing four sports complexes in the town by Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA), seemed to have gone down the drain as several defects have started developing in these complexes within two months of its inauguration.

Cracks in walls, sinking-in of floors, seepage in walls, leakage in swimming pool, broken tiles and doors, stains in granite stones are visible in the complexes. It not only showed the poor picture of these sports complexes but also indicated that substandard material was used in the construction.

Shockingly, the newly built sports complexes, located at Sectors 59, 61, 63 and 65, are yet to open for public.

During a random visit of these sports complexes, The Tribune team found that tiles from the outer wall of Sports complex at Sector 59 had already fallen down. A big crack has developed on the main outer wall of the building. The floor at various places was also seen sinking in. Leakage of drain water in the newly built swimming pool, its main pipe and safety tank there also pointed out the quality of work. As big gaps between the outer walls and sheet-roof have been left, pigeons and other birds were seen flying around inside the complex.

Shortsightedness of the contractor and the concerned GMADA officials was evident as the floor of the badminton courts was polished with ordinary polish instead of melamine polish.

According to a sports official, the melamine polish, which is costlier than the ordinary polish, increases the life of the floor by more than 10 years. “Apart from that, the ordinary polish on the courts can pose injury threat to players as they can slip on it while melamine polish reduces the slippery conditions drastically”, said the official. Besides, installing special lighting system in table tennis hall and badminton courts, ordinary rods have been installed.

“There is leakage in the roof of the stadium and during rains water seeps inside the complex”, said a staff member.

At Sector 61 sports complex, the floor of skating rink is not only uneven but it has also started sinking in. Several floor tiles of basketball court and volleyball court there have also already broken in while the two tennis courts have been left incomplete.

The story is no different in the sports complex at Sector 65, where one can see the same poor conditions.

“Due to poor quality of work and shortsightedness of authorities, none of these complexes is fit to organise even a state-level sports events. The large amount spent on the construction, certainly has gone down the drains, admitted a senior official of GMADA on the condition of anonymity.

BUDGET OF COMPLEXES

In the first allotment, a sum of about Rs 11 crores was allotted to complete these four complexes. Later, an enhancement of around Rs 11.50 crore was given for the job. The final expenditure on these complexes was about Rs 26 crores. A senior official of GMADA admitted that as a large amount of public money has been wasted on substandard and poor quality of work here, the vigilance inquiry should be conducted to fix the responsibility of erring officials. “Enhancement of around 150 per cent in the budget is not possible under any provision. This aspect should also be checked,” said a senior official of GMADA.

UT Sports Dept reduces charges
New rates will be applicable from April 2014
Deepankar Sharda
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 25
Taking a roll-back on their decision, the UT Sports Department has decided to slash down the booking charges of all the stadiums, from the coming financial year. Earlier, the department was charging a hefty amount, from the unrecognised organisations, for booking the grounds on daily basis.

The grounds will be provided free of charge to the recognized UT Sports Associations for organising recognised tournaments.

In an order, circulated on December 10, VK Singh, the finance-cum-sports secretary approved the new booking charges and the charges would be applicable from April 1, 2014 to March 2015. Also, the UT Sports department has decided to permit the organisers for installing tents with dimensions of 15’x 30’ for seating and 15’x15’ for refreshments however cooking of food is not permitted on the premises. Earlier, no tents were allowed in the entire premises of the stadium. The conditions to put no banners or posters of the sponsors, on the entire premises of the stadia, remain the same. The charges are set against the usage from 9.30am to 4pm including water and electricity charges. According to the reports, the department has dropped the booking charges to half if compared to previous’ year ground booking charges. Also, according to the revised rates, the cricket stadium of Sector 16 shall be provided at Rs 1 lakh per day for organising international tournaments (excluding electricity, water and flood lights).

Jagmeet, Chandan win car rally
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 25
Chandigarh’s Rally Champion Jagmeet Gill and his counterpart Chandan Das, winners of Raid De Himalaya TSD Category 2013, have lifted the overall winner's trophy at the Uttarakhand Adventure Car Rally, concluded at Dehradun. Gill, who was leading on day one, slipped to the fifth position, on the day two but on the last day he ranked among the top TSD rallyists of the country.

Jagmeet and Das participated for Team Maruti. Bangalore’s champion rallyists and husband-wife duo of Satish Gopalkrishnan and Savera D’Souza ranked second at the rally. Ajgar Ali from Haldia with navigator M Mustafa of Tamilnadu ranked third in the rally. Jaipur's Vishnu Singh, with navigator Adithya Anthony of Bangalore, ranked fourth at the rally.

Jagmeet Gil and navigator Chandan Das won the prize of Rs 5 lakhs. The rally followed the TSD (Time-Speed-Distance) format.