Diwali,the festival of lights,was celebrated amid fire incidents with traditional gaiety and religious fervour in Mohali and Kharar on Saturday,though five fire incidents were also reported. As dusk descended,houses and streets across the district were illuminated with oil lamps,candles and colourful lights and people exchanged sweets and gifts with their near and dear ones. Amid heavy rush,thousands of devotees offered prayers at the Lakshmi Narayana temples and Shiva temples in different parts of the district while Muslims greeted their Hindu friends with sweets. While 18 children and adults with cracker burn injuries were reported at Civil Hospitals,Mohali Fire Brigade,which is the lone fire service catering to Mohali and Ropar districts,received 5 fire calls on the Diwali night. With no major fire incident reported from any part of the district,packaging material in an industrial shed in Industrial Area,Phase VI,Mohali,household articles on first floor house of Sudesh Gupta in Dashmesh Market,Balongi,wooden material at Vikram Public School in Kharar,wild growth near Micro Tower in Phase VIII,Mohali,and cow dung cakes outside a house in Sohana were gutted due to cracker fires,Station Fire Officer Avtar Singh told Newsline. Responding quickly to all the fire calls received between 9.35 pm on Saturday night and 3.30 am on Sunday morning,the fire tenders were rushed to the spots and controlled the blaze from causing major damage,claimed Singh. Mohali Civil Hospital received 7 burn injury cases caused due to negligent bursting of crackers,disclosed Senior Medical Officer (SMO) Dr H.S. Sarang. Kamalpreet Singh (10) of Phase VI,Mohali,Dhruv Bhushan (5) of Balongi,Nirvair Singh (16) of Kharar,Kulpreet Singh (27) of Phase I,Mohali,Chander Shekhar (34) of Phase IV,Mohali,Gaurav (13) of Phase VII,Mohali,and Arjun (11) of Sector 56,Chandigarh,were reported with burn injuries on hands and were treated and discharged by a team of specialist doctors specially deputed on emergency duty on Diwali night. Two burn injury cases were reported at Fortis Hospital in Mohali,where also they were discharged after treatment. At Kharar Civil Hospital ,9 superficial burn injury cases were reported and discharged after treatment,said SMO Dr Jai Singh,who was not having any further details. Though there were some reports of minor scuffles due to excess consumption of liquor,the district police,however,confirmed no case of untoward incident from any part of the district on Diwali. Attack by parents,man lands in hospitalParminder Singh of Madanheri village in Mohali sustained critical injuries in an attack allegedly made by his parents on Saturday night,the police said here on Sunday. Singh was rushed to Civil Hospital ,where he was admitted for treatment. Singh told the police that around 9.30 pm when his in-laws had come to his place,his father Gurcharan Singh and mother Kuldeep Kaur called him outside his house. When my wife went outside,she was slapped by my father and when I ran outside on hearing her cries,my mother was holding a sharp-edged weapon to attack my wife but when I went ahead to save my wife,I sustained injuries on my arm, Singh reported to the police. A case of causing injuries in furtherance of common intention under Sections 324 and 34 of the IPC has been lodged against Singhs parents,who were not yet arrested,the police said.
