NEIGHBOURHOOD

They make jaggery to earn livelihood
Parmod Mehta

Dera Bassi, December 31
Nearly Rs 15 crore has been spent on the water supply schemes in Dera Bassi to provide safe drinking water to residents. This was stated by Chief Parliamentary Secretary NK Sharma while inaugurating the water supply scheme at Mubarkpur, which is to be built at the cost of Rs 75 lakh. Sharma said with Rs 15 crore, various villages have been covered under the water supply scheme.

He further said with the starting of these schemes, drinking water problem would be automatically resolved soon.

Among others who were present on this occasion included SAD leader Krishan Pal Sharma, Sukhminder Singh and SDO Balihar Singh.

Chandigarh, December 31
The UT police today busted a gang of vehicle thieves and burglars who had wrecked havoc in the tricity.

The police have arrested two accused identified as Ranjit and Pitamber, both residents of Mauli Jagran.

Both the accused have been arrested for their involvement in stealing luxury cars and two-wheelers from the city.

On the basis of their interrogation, the police arrested the third accused involved in the crime. The third accused has been identified as Balwant.

The accused were arrested while they were going in a stolen Honda City car with a fake number plate bearing registration number CH01E-2365. According to the police’s investigations, actual registration number of the vehicle was CHO3H-2219 and an FIR in this regard had also been registered at the Mani Majra police station on December 25.

The police alleged that the three accused have confessed to have stolen many vehicles from various areas including Mani Majra, Mouli Jagran, Ram Darbar and Panchkula. They were allegedly involved in committing burglaries as well.

The accused had committed many burglaries in various shops such as confectionaries, chemists, mobile shops in Panchkula, Ambala Cantt, Patiala and Mohali.

With their arrest, police have solved as many as nine cases of vehicle thefts and one case of burglary.

The police have recovered two stolen Honda city cars, two Esteem cars, one Tata 307 loaded with medicines worth Rs seven lakhs, three stolen motorcycles and one scooter from their possession. All these thefts were committed this year.

The cases in this regard were registered in Panchkula and Chandigarh.

Four stolen mobiles, two stereos, and some documents were also recovered from their possession, which were stolen from the cars seized.

Inspector Charanjit Singh, Station House Officer, Manimajra police station, said the accused Ranjit has a criminal history and had come out on bail recently. His name also features in the bad character list of the UT police.

Chandigarh, December 31
A junior warrant officer with the Indian Air Force (IAF), attached with 3-BRD, was injured after three unidentified motorcyclists stopped his way, robbed him of his belongings and also pelted stones at him in the wee hours today.

The victim, Kuldeep Singh, is admitted to Command Hospital, Chandimandir.

Kuldeep was stopped near the fuel station in Sector 31, when he was going towards his place in Sector 31. The victim reported the matter to the police. He told the police that two persons beat him up and robbed him of his wallet containing two ATM cards, ID card, pan card, Aadhaar card, voter ID, driving license, mobile phone and Rs 5,000 cash in front of the petrol pump near the Tribune roundabout.

One of the motorcyclists also hit him with a stone due to which he received head injury. He stated that two of the motorcyclists approached him enquiring about some residential address and in the meantime the other attacked him and hit him with a stone.

Police have registered a case of robbery and criminal intimidation. — TNS

Panchkula, December 31
An amount of Rs 35,700 was allegedly snatched from an employee of a courier company by three miscreants outside Punjab National Bank in Sector 8, Panchkula, where he had come to deposit the amount.

Chandigarh, December 31
An Assistant Professor with Punjabi University, Patiala, Mithilesh Kumar (39), allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan at his residence in Sarangpur village near here last night. His body was noticed hanging from the fan in the morning by his wife, who was sleeping in another room with their daughter. 

Chandigarh, December 31
A 22-year-old vegetable vendor, Rupinder Kumar, was found dead under mysterious circumstances at a vacant Housing Board flat in Sector 49 this morning. The body was found hanging from a ceiling fan with his hands tied at the back, which made the police suspect that it could be a case of murder though they have not ruled out suicide too.

The police said the body had been kept in the hospital mortuary for a postmortem examination and the exact picture whether it was a case of suicide or murder would be clear only after the autopsy report was received. Though the police recovered a suicide note from the clothes of the victim, the police are not ruling out foul play. Rupinder was residing in a colony in Sector 49 and the flat in which he was found dead was not allotted to anyone.

The police said his hands were tied with a rope at his back. The investigating officer said the suicide note was handwritten and they were waiting for the deceased parents to arrive. The police said Rupinder had cited a failed love affair as the reason behind taking the extreme step. The police conducted a videography of the incident.

The victim had left home last evening saying that he was going to meet his relative. He hails from Muzzafarnagar and used to reside with his younger brother in the city. He was staying in Chandgarh for the past five years.

Chandigarh, December 31
 “I wish to live till the time the Indian hockey team wins another gold medal in the Olympics," says the legendary three-time Olympic gold medallist and former Indian hockey captain Balbir Singh (Senior), who turned 90 today.

With moist eyes, he went down memory lane during a small birthday party at his residence in Sector 36 here today. He said, “I don’t like losing even today. Hockey was and will always remain my first love. Even my wife used to joke that she was my second wife, the first being hockey.”

Balbir Singh played a vital role in India getting gold medals in hockey in three successive Olympics -- the 1948 London Olympics, the 1952 Helsinki Olympics and the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

He captained the Indian team in the 1956 Olympics when the team defeated Pakistan in the first ever Indo-Pak final. He said though all three victories were unforgettable, the London Olympics victory in 1948 was special because they played under the National Flag for the first time and defeated the team of England, who ruled India for around 200 years, in its own soil in the final.

“The memory of seeing the Tricolour flying high in the 1948 Olympics is still vivid in my mind,” he said.

Balbir Singh holds the world record for the most number of goals by an individual in an Olympic final. He had scored five goals in the 1952 Olympics against the Netherlands. During the London Olympics in 2012, Balbir Singh (Senior) was the only sportsperson from world hockey and the only Indian to be honoured. He was chosen among the sixteen “Iconic Olympians” across all disciplines since the beginning of the Olympics.

His is a perfect example of human strength, endeavour, hard work and achievement.

“It was a proud moment for me as my grandson specially flew to London with my Olympic medals and my hockey stick, which was displayed at the Olympic Museum there," said Balbir Singh.

He said, “However, there is a vacuum in my heart due to poor state of Indian hockey right now. I wish the Indian team regains its glory and the Tricolour flies high again in the Olympics”.

Chandigarh, December 31
PU shuttlers won a silver medal in the All-India Inter-University Badminton Tournament at KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, which concluded on December 27.

In the team championships, first four teams from each zone - North, East, West, South and Central - (20 teams) played league matches in which the Panjab University was on top in their pool.

In knock-out, the PU team defeated Cochin University (last year winner) 3-1. In semi-final, the PU beat last year runners-up MDU, Rohtak, 3-2.

In the finals, the PU lost to MGU, Kottayam, in a closely contested tie with the score 2-3.

PU officials said the competition was tough. In every team, Indian professional players participated, but PU shuttlers performed extremely well till the end.

In the tournament, Akshit Mahajan and Kawaldeep played the key role in winning this prestigious silver medal as both of them defeated Indian ranked players Santosh Ravori, Shyam Parshad, Ketan and Dilshad.

“It is due to the hard work of the Panjab University shuttlers throughout the year that they have been winning the top positions for the past 13 years, said Dalwinder Singh, University Director, Physical Education, Panjab University.

Rupinder Singh, Kawaldeep Singh, Akshit Mahajan, Sumit Sharma, Ajay Kaith, Anand Tiwari and Gurbaksh Singh were the members of the winning team.

Surinder Mahajan and Narinder Singh were the coaches of the team.

Chandigarh, December 31
Dr CK Jerath, president, Chandigarh Amateur Boxing Association, has been nominated as director-supervisor for the technical conduct of the All-Inter University (AIU) Men and Women Boxing Championship.

Dr Jerath has been appointed by the Indian Boxing Federation, New Delhi. The championship will be held at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, from January 3 to 12. He had earlier been the technical head of several national games and AIU boxing championships.