Punjab will have to give up its stubbornness over SYL issue: Khattar

 

Chandigarh, December 20

 Haryana Chief Minister  Manohar Lal Khattar said that in a democratic country, states cannot run arbitrarily and Punjab will have to give up its stubbornness over the issue of SYL. He hoped that Haryana will definitely get its rightful share of water.

Addressing a Jal Adhikar Rally at ITI ground in Narnaul today, the Chief Minister said that the SYL case had been pending for decades. As soon as the present government was formed, a plea to hear the matter ahead of time was made, after which the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Haryana. The court had asked the Chief Ministers of both the states to sit down and decide but Punjab did not agree to give Haryana its rightful share.

He said that in democracy there is a way to protest. Protests can be made before the House and the media or by gathering democratically.

On this occasion, Mr. Manohar Lal assured the farmers that he would leave politics if there was any kind of threat to Minimum Support Price (MSP). He said that the government is thinking beyond MSP through the new agricultural laws. MSP will continue like before. Similarly, mandis will continue to function as well, he added. He said that some people are agitating politically, they are not farmer-friendly. We should talk about SYL water with the farmers of Punjab sitting on the border, he added.

The Chief Minister said that all three new agricultural laws are for the benefit of farmers. This will free the farmers from bondage, he added. He said that the government will procure the crop from farmers in the mandis at MSP, but if the farmer wants to sell it outside at a higher price, he will have complete freedom to do so. In addition, these new laws also aim to improve the storage system, he added.

The Chief Minister said that under this reform process, the government has made 88 mandis online out of 104 mandis in the state. He said that due to lack of proper storage, every year there is loss of food grains worth Rs. 30,000 crore in the country. Even in Haryana, food grains worth Rs 700 crore go bad, therefore the government is making efforts to save this food grain, he added. He said that Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi is the true benefactor of farmers. There is a dire need for storage reforms and sales reforms in the country and to fulfill this, the government has enacted these laws, he added.

Mr. Manohar Lal said that the opposition parties are trying to deceive the farmers in which they will never succeed. The opposition does not want the farmers' income to increase so that they can take good care of their children, he added. He said that in 2010, a committee was formed by the previous government under the chairmanship of former Chief Minister, Mr. Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Mr. Hooda had advocated for reform in the APMC Act, but today the same opposition parties are sitting on the border and provoking the people.

The Chief Minister said that in the interest of the farmers of the state, a new micro-irrigation scheme has been started. Bhiwani-Dadri and Mahendragarh districts have been included under this scheme, he added. He said that, under this, water will be made available to fields where there is scarcity. The farmers there will be provided irrigation equipment at 80 percent subsidy, he added. He said that the government will make arrangements in every possible way to provide water if a farmer comes up with a plan to bring 25 acres of land under irrigation from January 1, 2021.

He said that after the formation of the government water has been made available uptil every tail-end by dividing the available water equally. A scheme worth Rs 2000 crore has been made to raise the groundwater level in southern Haryana, by releasing excess rainwater into the rivers Krishnavati, Dohan, and Sahabi. Similarly, the MoU of Renuka-Kishau dam has been done and the MoU of Lakhwar dam will be signed soon. This work will be completed in a time-bound manner, he added.

Mr. Manohar Lal said that the State Government had called upon the farmers to quit paddy cultivation, which resulted in farmers planting paddy on 80,000 acres of less land last year.

On this occasion, Union Minister, Mr. Rao Inderjit Singh, Haryana Agriculture Minister, Mr. JP Dalal, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Mr. OP Yadav, State President, Bharatiya Janata Party, Mr. OP Dhankar, Bhiwani-Mahendragarh MP, Mr. Dharambir Singh, Ateli MLA, Mr. Sita Ram, Prithla MLA, Mr. Nayan Pal Rawat, Former Education Minister, Mr. Ram Bilas Sharma among others also addressed the gathering. MLA, Nangal Chaudhary, Dr. Abhe Singh Yadav conducted the stage.

====balbirsingh227@gmail.com

Gaganjeet Bhullar sees it home with a hard-fought 68

 

Chikkarangappa finishes runner-up, moves into second on PGTI Order of Merit

Jamshedpur, December 20

 Gaganjeet Bhullar from Kapurthala (Punjab) saw it home with a hard-fought four-under-68 despite a bumpy ride on the final day of the TATA Steel Tour Championship 2020 in Jamshedpur. Bhullar, who totaled an outstanding 24-under-264 for the week, thus collected his 10th trophy on the PGTI and first in nine years on the tour.

The final round of the Rs. 1.5 crore event was witness to an absorbing contest as Kapurthala’s Bhullar, Bengalureans Chikkarangappa and Khalin Joshi, Kolkata’s SSP Chawrasia and Noida’s Amardeep Malik were all in the lead or joint lead at different stages.

Chikkarangappa ended the week as the runner-up after his fourth round of 68 moved his total to 22-under-266. Chikka’s second place finish lifted him from 11th to second position in the PGTI Order of Merit.

Khalin Joshi (69) finished third at 21-under-267, Kolkata’s Rahil Gangjee, who fired the day’s best score of 67, took tied fourth place at 20-under-268 along with SSP Chawrasia (72). Amardeep Malik (73), the joint third round leader along with Bhullar and Chawrasia, closed the week in sixth place at 19-under-269.

On Sunday, the leading 27 players out of 53 played their first nine holes at Golmuri and second nine holes at Beldih. The remaining 26 players played at Beldih first and then Golmuri.

The 32-year-old Gaganjeet Bhullar (69-63-64-68), a winner of 10 international titles with victories on both the European Tour and Asian Tour, brought all his experience into play by coming through despite dropping five shots (three bogeys and a double-bogey) in the final round.

Gaganjeet, who holds the Indian record of nine wins on the Asian Tour, consolidated his position at the top with a flurry of early birdies on the first, third and fourth holes thanks to his accurate iron and wedge shots. Bhullar’s troubles began on the fifth where he double-bogeyed after finding the hazard. He missed an up and down on the next hole to drop another shot.

Gaganjeet, a part of the Indian team that won the silver medal at the 2006 Doha Asian Games, pulled one stroke back with a 15-feet birdie conversion on the eighth before conceding another bogey on the 11th. The broad-built six-footer from Punjab then added two more birdies on the 12th and 13th before finding trouble once again on the 15th where he landed in the trees and as a result made bogey.

Bhullar was two behind Chikka and Joshi after 15 holes but the match turned on its head when Gaganjeet chipped-in for eagle on the 16th and sank a 20-footer for birdie on the 17th. As Chikka and Joshi stumbled on the 18th with a bogey and double-bogey respectively, Bhullar went on to seal the title with a two-shot margin after a par on the final hole.

Gaganjeet took home the winning cheque worth Rs. 24,24,750 and is now likely to make major gains in the world ranking from his current 807^th position having earned five Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points for his win on Sunday.

Bhullar said, “Honestly, I was not at all expecting to win this week. This week the first goal for me was to make the cut. But I kept gaining momentum with each passing round and played four solid rounds where my putting was very consistent.

“I did shoot a nine-under on day two but it was the third round of 64 that really put me in contention. That’s when I knew that I had a really good chance to win. I was aware of the fact that whenever I have been in contention in recent times, I have gone on to win.

“I believed in myself on the final day despite the ups and downs during the round. The eagle and birdie on the final stretch came just at the right time for me. It’s been great being back on the PGTI and registering my first win on the tour since my 2011 victory in Chandigarh.

“I played two events on the PGTI this month and the competition has been very intense which is a great sign of things to come for Indian golf. I would like to thank TATA Steel for staging this fabulous event and supporting Indian golf and the PGTI even in such difficult times.”

While runner-up Chikka mixed seven birdies with three bogeys during his 68, third-placed Khalin sank five birdies at the expense of a double-bogey for his 69.

Among the other prominent names, Anirban Lahiri (68) took 11th place at 14-under-274, Chandigarh’s Karandeep Kochhar (72), who continues to lead the PGTI Order of Merit, finished 14th at 12-under-276, Shiv Kapur (69) was tied 16th at 10-under-278 and Jyoti Randhawa (81) was tied 30th at five-under-283. 

-----balbirsingh227@gmail.com

Chikkarangappa’s blistering 62 hands him first round lead

Jamshedpur, December 17

Bengaluru’s Chikkarangappa S struck a blistering 10-under-62 to take the first round lead at the TATA Steel Tour Championship 2020 being played at the Beldih and Golmuri golf courses in Jamshedpur. Noida’s Amardeep Malik posted an impressive nine-under-63 to be placed second on day one of the Rs. 1.5 crore PGTI event.

Gurugram’s Manu Gandas, Delhi-based Kshitij Naveed Kaul and Arjun Prasad and Chandigarh’s Harendra Gupta were all in tied third place having shot matching scores of 64.

Pre-tournament favourite Anirban Lahiri fired a 65 to occupy tied seventh along with the Chandigarh duo of Karandeep Kochhar (PGTI Order of Merit leader) and Yuvraj Singh Sandhu.

In round one, one half of the field played their 18 holes at Beldih Golf Club while the other half played at Golmuri Golf Club. Both halves of the field will switch venues in round two.

Chikkarangappa, who began his week at Golmuri, the venue that produced the lower scores on day one, claimed an eagle, nine birdies and a bogey on Thursday. The 27-year-old reaped the benefits of using a new putter early on in his round as he sank birdie putts from a range of 10 to 15 feet on the first, fifth, sixth and seventh. After landing it within three feet on the ninth and 10^th, Chikka added two more birdies to his card.

The two-time winner on the Asian Development Tour (ADT) was relentless thereafter as he picked up birdie-eagle-birdie on the 11th, 12th and 13th to move to an astonishing 10-under for the day. On the 12th, he recovered well from the rough with a terrific nine-iron second shot before converting an 18-footer for eagle. The 13th saw him make another 15-feet conversion.

The Asian Tour regular Chikka then found the trees on the 17th that led to his only bogey of the day. He managed to negate it with a birdie on the closing 18th.

Chikka said, “I changed my putter this week as I was struggling to hole putts in previous events even though I was stroking it well on the greens. The new putter seems to be working for me as I holed a lot of long putts today.

“I’ve been in contention in all events since the tour resumed in November this year. However, I still need to convert my good starts at events into better finishes. Hopefully, with my driving, wedge-play and putting now shaping up well, I can have a good result this week.

“Golmuri is more scoring among the two courses this week so I expect Beldih to throw up its own set of challenges when I play there during round two,” added Chikka, who finished a creditable second at the PGTI event in Jamshedpur in 2018.

Amardeep Malik, who also played at Golmuri on day one, came up with a flawless round. Malik was in contention in the last event in Chandigarh lying one off the lead after round three before he finished tied 16^th. On Thursday he made four consecutive birdies on the front-nine and back-nine.

Amardeep capitalized on all four par-5s – second, third, 11th and 12th – by picking up birdies there. He also drove the green on the par-4s fourth and 13^th to set up birdies.

Harendra Gupta and Arjun Prasad produced the best scores at Beldih on Thursday, rounds of 64, to be tied third along with Manu Gandas and Kshitij Naveed Kaul both of whom played at Golmuri.

Gupta suffered a groin injury while teeing off on the ninth but still managed to return a bogey-free card.

Among the other prominent names, SSP Chawrasia, a three-time winner in Jamshedpur and local amateur Navtez Singh were both tied 13th having carded scores of 67. Jyoti Randhawa and Shiv Kapur were both tied 18th with scores of 68 while Gaganjeet Bhullar and Rahil Gangjee were a further shot back in tied 23rd place.

Defending champion Udayan Mane of Pune shot a 71 to be tied 52nd while Delhi’s Rashid Khan, the highest-ranked Indian in the world, posted a 72 to be tied 60th. 

=====balbirsingh227@gmail.com

Panchkula and Ambala bag ‘Har Ghar Nal Se Jal districts’

  Chandigarh December 16

 In a significant achievement, two districts of Haryana namely Panchkula and Ambala have bagged the title of ‘Har Ghar Nal Se Jal districts’ with 100 per cent Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) in rural households under the Jal Jeevan Mission. The Mission aims to ensure access to sustainable drinking water through piped water connection to every rural household by 2024.

        While stating this here today, Additional Chief Secretary, Public Health Engineering Department, Mr Devender Singh said that under the able leadership and guidance of Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal, Haryana is fully aligned with Government of India in this flagship programme and committed to provide FHTC to every rural household in the State by December 2022, way ahead of the national target of 2024.

         Mr Devender Singh said that Panchkula and Ambala have become districts having 100 per cent FHTC in rural households. While Panchkula with 34,433 FTHCs in four Blocks namely Pinjore, Raipur Rani, Morni and Barwala becomes the first district of the State having 100 per cent FHTCs in rural households. Thus Ambala with 1,19,431 FHTCs in six blocks namely Ambala I, Ambala II, Barara, Shahzadpur, Naraingarh and Saha secures the second position by having 100 per cent FHTCs in rural households.

        He said that since the inception of this programme the Public Health Engineering Department has actively strategized the entire programme and as a result, today, Haryana has provided FHTCs to more than 80 per cent rural households of the State.

        The Additional Chief Secretary said that as per annual action plan, it was targeted to achieve one district with 100 per cent FHTC by January 26, 2021. However, with the active contribution of staff under the guidance of Engineer-in-Chief, Public Health Engineering Department, this milestone has been achieved earlier well before the target date. During this pandemic time, by taking all the safety measures, the team at ground level headed by Superintending Engineer and team members including all the Executive Engineers, Xen, JEs and other field staff members are the real victor of this success story, he added.

        He said that further, the Department is in the process of contacting each and every Gram Panchayat and obtaining Certificate from concerned Village Water and Sewerage Committee (VWSC) for reconfirmation of 100 per cent coverage in the village ensuring on-ground coverage of the programme.

====balbirsingh227@gmail.com

Verma and Radhika Vasudeva win tennis titles

 

CHANDIGARH, DEC 16

  CLTA trainees Verma and Radhika Vasudeva won singles titles in the CLTA-AITA Championship Series (CS-3) Tennis Tournament at the Sector 10 Tennis Stadium here today.

Second seed Navya Verma upset the top seed Aryan Thakur in straight sets in the boys under-16 singles final. Navya Verma played a very intelligent and consistent game and there was a lot of variation in his shots, Navya won the first^t set 6-3. In the second set Navya was leading 3-0 but Aryan Thakur came back strongly and took the next three games in a row and made it 3-3. Navya however refocused on his game and closed the 2^nd set and the match 6-3. 

In the girls under-16 singles finals another CLTA trainee, Radhika Vasudeva upset the top seed Harleen Kaur Dhanda 6-4, 7-5. Radhika played a lot of variations in her ground strokes and used her shots intelligently to beat Harleen Kaur Dhanda 6-4 in the first  set. In the second set both players played good quality tennis. Finally Radhika overcame Harleen and won the 2^nd set and match 7-5 in a close contested match.   

Dr. Reet Mahinder Singh, Member Executive and Mr. Romen Singh, Chief Coach, CLTA distributed the prizes to the winners and runners-up of both the events.

Results  -

Boys under-16 singles (final): Navya Verma [2] bt. Aryan Thakur [1] 6-3, 6-3

 

Girl’s under-16 singles (final): Radhika Vasudeva [2] bt. Harleen Kaur Dhanda [1] 6-4, 7-5.

----balbirsingh227@gmail.com

Navya Verma and Radhika Vasudeva in finals

 CHANDIGARH, DEC 15

Second seed Navya Verma of CLTA Trainee and top seed Aryan Thakur moved into boys under-16 singles final in the CLTA-AITA Championship Series (CS-3) Tennis Tournament  . Navya defeated Aditya Chauhan another CLTA Trainee 9-5. Navya played high quality tennis, Navya forced to make error his opponent Aditya Chauhan and played solid game from the baseline. Finally Navya used his experience to win from 3^rd seed Aditya Chauhan. In the another Semifinals top seed Aryan Thakur won easily from Akshat Dhull 9-2. Aryan Thakur dominant throughout the match and Aryan Thakur win the match from Akshat Dhull without getting much pressure.   

In the girls under-16 singles final top seed Harleen Kaur Dhanda will face second seed Radhika Vasudeva. Radhika Vasudeva blanked third seed Maitreyi Phogat 9-0 without conceding single game. In another semifinals top seed Harleen Kaur Dhanda defeated Gurmanat Kaur Sandhu 9-2 in a easy score. Harleen overpowered with her aggressive flatter ground stroke from the baseline from Gurmanat Kaur Sandhu. In the previous round Quarterfinal match Harleen defeated Bhumika Gupta 9-2.

Results

Boys under-16 (s-finals):   Aryan Thakur [1] bt. Akshat Dhull 9-2,  Navya Verma [2] bt. Aditya Chauhan [3] 9-5.

Girls under-16 (s-finals): Harleen Kaur Dhanda [1] bt. Gurmanat Kaur Sandhu 9-2,  Radhika Vasudeva [2] bt. Maitreyi Phogat [3] 9-0.

Boys under-16 (q-finals):    Aryan Thakur [1] bt. Rakshit Dhankar [8] 9-5,  Akshat Dhull bt. Anirudh Sangra [6] 9-4, Aditya Chauhan [3] bt. Arnav Bishnoi [7] 9-2,  Navya Verma [2] bt. Kartik Sunil Kumar [5] 9-1.

Girls under-16 (q-finals):  Harleen Kaur Dhanda [1] bt. Bhumika Gupta [6] 9-2, Gurmanat Kaur Sandhu bt. Vanya Arora [4] 9-8(5), Maitreyi Phogat [3] bt. Ananya Dogra [5] 9-4.

=====balbirsingh227@gmail.com

Navya and Radhika enter quarter-finals

   CHANDIGARH, DEC 14

Second seed in boys under-16 Navya Verma of CLTA and seventh seed Arnav Bishnoi advanced into quarterfinals boys singles of the CLTA-AITA Championship Series (CS-3) Tennis Tournament for Boy’s & Girl’s under-16 at the Sector 10 Tennis Stadium here today.

. Navya overpowered Yash Solanky of another CLTA trainee 8-0. Navya played matured tennis and maintained his rhythm throughout the match. Another CLTA player Arnav Bishoni won from Arpit Garg marginally 8-4. Sixth seed Anirudh Sangra and Aryan Thakur (top seed) also advanced into quarterfinals.   

In the Girls under-16 singles second seed Radhika Vasudeva, Vanya Arora and Harleen Kaur Dhanda moved into Quarterfinals. Radhika Vasudeva defeated Shriya Singh 8-3 in easy match. Top seed Harleen Kaur Dhanda overplayed from Radha Sadhra 8-2 in one sided match. 

Unseeded Gurmanat Kaur Sandhu upset seventh seed Bhumi Kakkar in a closed contestant match 8-6. Gurmanat   played consistently with good momentum, Gurmanat played few intelligent short to defeat Bhumi Kakkar. Fourth seed Vanya Arora blanked Saira 8-0. Ananya Dogra, Maitreyi Phogat, Bhumika Gupta and Riya Kaushik also advanced into quarterfinals.

Results  

Boy’s under-16 singles (PQ finals):   Aryan Thakur [1] bt. Mehraab Singh Rai 8-0, Rakshit Dhankar [8] bt. Parmarth Kaushik 8-1,  Akshat Dhull bt. Lakshya Gupta [4] 8-6,  Anirudh Sangra [6] bt. Manvir Singh Hundal 8-1,   Arnav Bishnoi [7] bt. Arpit Garg 8-4,   Aditya Chauhan [3] bt. Umang Singh Cogi 8-5,  Kartik Sunil Kumar [5] bt. Akshit Ratti 8-1,   Navya Verma [2] bt. Yash Solanky 8-0.

Girl’s under-16 singles (PQ finals):   Harleen Kaur Dhanda [1] bt. Radha Sadhra 8-2,     Bhumika Gupta [6] bt. Krittika Katoch 8-3,   Vanya Arora [4] bt. Saira Saundh 8-0,  Gurmanat Kaur Sandhu bt. Bhumi Kakkar [7] 8-6,   Ananya Dogra [5] bt. Anandita Sharma 8-7(6),     Maitreyi Phogat [3] bt. Rubani Kaur Sidhu 8-6,    Riya Kaushik [6] bt. Sidhak Kaur 8-1,     Radhika Vasudeva [2] bt. Shriya Singh 8-3.

Singles (Ist round): 

 Boy’s under-16:   Aryan Thakur [1] bt. Jashandeep Singh 8-1,  Mehraab Singh Rai bt. Anish Sharma 8-2,   Parmarth Kaushik bt. Nandit Negi 8-0,   Rakshit Dhankar [8] bt. Sabyasachi Naveen Pruthi 8-0,  Lakshya Gupta [4] bt. Angad Singh Rangi 8-1,  Akshat Dhull bt. Sehaj Sharma 8-0,   Manvir Singh Hundal W/O Harmanbir Singh,   Anirudh Sangra [6] bt. Saksham Sandhu 8-0,    Arnav Bishnoi [7] bt. Hrridya Pandey 8-0,  Arpit Garg bt. Anuj Pal 8-6, Umang Singh Cogi bt. Satyan Sankalp 8-4, Aditya Chauhan [3] bt. Samarpit Bhatia 8-1, Kartik Sunil Kumar [5] bt. Manav Malik 8-2, Akshit Ratti bt. Shaurya Goyel 8-5, Yash Solanky bt. Karen Singh 8-1,  Navya Verma [2] bt. Aryan Jolly 8-1.

Girl’s under-16:   Radha Sadhra bt. Sia Mahajan 8-6,   Krittika Katoch bt. Rhosyn William 8-5,     Saira Saundh bt. Soumya Hooda 8-1,    Gurmanat Kaur Sandhu bt. Akshita Vashisht 8-0,     Anandita Sharma bt. Mokshita Yadav 8-1,   Rubani Kaur Sidhu bt. Mehakpreet Kaur 8-2,     Sidhak Kaur bt. Milli Pandit 8-3,    Shriya Singh bt. Agrima Gandhi 8-3.

====balbirsingh227@gmail.com