NEIGHBOURHOOD

Illegal mining goes on unabated at Dera Bassi
Bipin Bhardwaj
Tribune News Service

Patiala, September 8
Taking a big leap forward to claim the winning trophy, Punjab’s batsmen displayed a brilliant performance to ensure first innings lead against Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) during the third day play of the Fourth All-India Invitation (U-19) Tournament for Dhruv Pandove Trophy at Dhruv Pandove Stadium here today.

Riding high on the second-wicket partnership of 154 runs between Sanvir Singh and Mansab Gill, Punjab scored vital 101-run first innings lead against MPCA on the third day of the four-day final match. The duo with a perfect blend of shot selection and timing tickled the score to 281 runs in 72 overs. The stand was broken when Mansab Gill was snapped by Shivam Tiwari off Sagar Sharma for 62 off 139 balls inclusive of six boundaries and a six.

On the other end, Sanvir Singh continued his stay on crease and scored an unbeaten century of 119 runs off 180 balls studded with 12 boundaries and two sixes.

Chandigarh, September 8
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued notice regarding stay on a petition filed by the CTU Workers Union against the move to roll out special purpose vehicles in Chandigarh.

The petition aimed at protecting the interest of approximately 2,500 CTU employees comes at a time when Chandigarh is all set to get the new City Bus Service. It is expected to function on similar lines as the CTU, which runs low-floor and semi-low-floor buses on the city routes. The plan has already attracted a protest from the CTU employees, who see it as a move to wind up the ailing state transport undertaking struggling to run the service with the existing roadworthy fleet of around 200 buses on local routes.

Taking up the petition filed against the Union of India and other respondents, Justice Jaswant Singh also issued notice to the respondents.

The case will now come up for further hearing on October 28.

With a proposed fleet of 400 buses, the bus service will run under the aegis of the Chandigarh City Bus Service Society. The society will be controlled by a governing body, comprising the UT Adviser as its chairman and heads of different UT departments as its members. The Director (Transport), who heads the CTU, will be its member secretary and the CEO.

For running the service, a special-purpose vehicle has been formed to operate and manage the buses, being procured under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

The UT has already placed an order for fabrication of 200 AC and non-AC midi-buses. The strength of the fleet will be increased to 600 buses.

The operation of the buses, including drivers and conductors, will be outsourced. An exercise to work out the routes for the bus service is under way.

Mohali, September 8
The Permanent Lok Adalat (Public Utility Services), SAS Nagar, headed by Jagroop Singh Mahal, has allowed an application filed by the UCO Bank, Kharar, and has directed Lakhvinder Gir and Rajinder Singh of Gobindgarh village to pay Rs 5,05,807 along with an interest at 11.25 per cent per annum and litigation costs of Rs 5,000 in a loan case.

It is the first case of its kind in which ex-parte orders have been passed by the adalat.

The UCO Bank, Kharar, had filed an application before the Permanent Lok Adalat (Public Utility Services) alleging that Lakhvinder Gir took a loan of Rs 8,00,000 while, Rajinder Singh stood as guarantor. The installments were, however, not paid and now Rs 3,96,920, principal amount, and Rs 1,12,382, interest, remain due.

Notice was issued to the respondents upon which Rajinder Singh appeared but Lakhvinder Gir, allegedly, did not.

After the bank produced its evidence, copies of the same were sent to Lakhvinder Gir. The Permanent Lok Adalat (PUS) opined that the case can be decided by reconciliation and the terms of settlement were framed. Again, a copy of the terms was sent to Lakhvinder Gir along with the evidence adduced in the case, which was received by him in person. But, he still did not appear in the court.

The Permanent Lok Adalat (PUS), in view of Section 22-C (2) of the Legal Services Authorities Act, stated that after an application had been moved by a party before the adalat, no party to that application can invoke the jurisdiction of any court in that dispute. It was held that a respondent, by absenting himself after service, cannot thwart the cause of justice and cannot defeat the claim of the applicant because the applicant bank cannot go to any court to recover the said amount. The Permanent Lok Adalat (PUS), therefore, held that even if the respondent is not present, it has a jurisdiction to decide the case on merits.

Chandigarh, September 8
Hosts St Xavier’s outclassed St Joseph’s Senior Secondary School by 3-0 in the St Xavier’s six-a-side Inter-School Football Tournament that kicked off at St Xavier’s Senior Secondary School in Sector 44 today.

In the opening game of boys (U-12) category, the home team outclassed their rivals with Wittichai starring in team’s win. He pumped in two goals one each in the 17th minute and 24th minute. Prior to that Siddarth opened the team’s winning account by scoring the first brace in the ninth minute.

In the second match of the same category, St Kabir Public School, Sector 26, beat Mount Carmel School, Sector 47, by 4-0. The team’s win was starred with a hat trick by Avinav as he scored in the sixth, ninth and 18th minute while Mankanwar scored the fourth goal in the 20th minute. In the next match, DAV School, Sector 39, defeated St Xavier’s High School, Mohali, by 5-0 with Jashan Sandhu scoring four goals in the seventh, 21st, 26th and 28th minute while Divij Suri contributing another goal in the 14th minute.

In the last match of same age group, Strawberry Fields World School, Sector 26, beat St Xavier’s High School, Panchkula, by 4-0. Riding high on Divi Singh’s three-goal contribution in the sixth, eighth and ninth minute ensured their win. Devkaran Singh also contributed a brace in the second minute.

In the match of boys (U-15), AKSIPS -41 beat St Joseph’s School, Sector 44, via tie-breaker at 4-3. Earlier, in the stipulated time, the match ended on a 2-2 draw. Making the first goal, Paras scored the lead for Sector 44 outfit in the 10th minute followed by another goal in the 12th minute. Replying, AKSIPS leveled the score through Ishit (16th minute) and Prashant (20th minute).

Chandigarh, September 8
Vidushi Rawat, a Class VII student of Banyan Tree School, Sector 48, bagged two gold medals in the ongoing Inter-School Roller Skating Championship here today.

She won the medals in girls (U-14) category of the rink race 2 and road race events. She also booked a berth in the team that will represent Chandigarh in the upcoming National School Games to be held at Pune. 

A trainee of the Rolling Tiger Academy, Panchkula, Vidushi has won a total of 101 medals in various competitions. She also bagged a silver medal in the last National Roller Skating Championship in Mumbai this January. 

Also, she won gold medals in the CBSE’s National at Kolhapur and Amritsar. 

She had also been awarded with the State Award from UT Administration, Major Dhayan Chand award by local NGO and honours from Rotary Club, Chandigarh. — TNS

Chandigarh, September 8
The Directorate of Sports, Panjab University, will have to wait for a few more months for its much awaited AstroTurf field as its exporters are facing a tough time to overcome custom-clearance process. The project of laying down the AstroTurf field in the campus is expected to get delayed by a few more months while the work to make base of the turf is almost complete.

Already, the Rs 4.50 crore project that was scheduled to get over by May 2014 has been delayed by four months. The amount for the project was sourced from a special grant of Rs 80 crore. The construction work will be stopped after the completion of the turf base. The Engineering Department is now waiting to get a green signal from the exporters of the turf.

“We are ready with the base however, waiting for the exporters to deliver the turf. Earlier, there was some technical problem that led to delay in the completion of the project. We are aware that the project is already delayed by over four months. However, it will take two more months to complete the project,” said RK Rai, executive engineer, Panjab University.

Earlier, the project hit the roadblock when the authorities asked for an international-standard blue turf with pink border however, after the international hockey body changed their field status, back to green field, the Panjab University authorities also asked for the same. This led to technical issues between the authorities and the exporters that further delayed the project.

“Earlier, we had asked for the new colour field however, the idea was dropped after the international body changed their status on the colour field. Now, we have asked for the green artificial field. The matter is related to technical issue, so this shouldn’t be added as a reason of delay,” Rai said.

On the other hand, sources in the Engineering Department also revealed that the field would not have floodlights.

According to experts, a minimum additional amount of Rs 10 crore, would be needed to install floodlights of international standard on all the four corners of the mini hockey stadium. This hockey AstroTurf would be the second artificial field in Chandigarh. Earlier, a field, laid at the sports complex in Sector 42 is in poor condition. 

Chandigarh, September 8
PU Campus claimed the first spot in the 4x100m medley relay event on the first day of the Inter-College Swimming Championship for men and women at the varsity swimming pool today.

Chandigarh, September 8
Children of Smile Foundation at Don Bosco Centre, Sector 24, had to wait for over an hour to interact with their favourite Kings XI Punjab’s players, here today.

Kicking off their limelight campaign, prior to Champions League T-20 matches on their home ground at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA), Mohali, Kings XI Punjab management tied up with Smile Foundation to celebrate International Literacy Day. The management pledged to support the Smile Foundation in the mission to change the lives of girls by educating them.

On the occasion, right arm medium-pace bowler Sandeep Sharma and all-rounder Karanveer Singh interacted with children.

“We are happy to be a part of this noble cause. Education, as we all know, is an important part of life and these children too deserve to get the best of it. We wish them all the luck,” the duo said.

Fraser Castellino, COO of Kings XI Punjab, said: “We strongly believe that it is an intrinsic right of all girls to get equal access to education.”The Kings XI Punjab side is scheduled to take on Hobart Hurricanes in their opening match on September 18 at the PCA stadium in Mohali.