The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

HEALTH

Outcry over outdated ORS powder
Our Correspondent

Sonepat, May 3
A large number of people including patients held a demonstration in front of the office of the medical superintendent of the civil hospital here today in protest against the alleged distribution of outdated Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) powder among the parents of some children who were ill and required the solution badly.

According to a report, this followed the distribution of ORS, without checking its expiry date, to Mr Arpan Jain who had gone to the civil hospital with his son who was unwell. When the condition of the child did not improve, he went to the civil hospital and again he was given the same packet bearing an old date, July 2001.

Thereafter, the relatives of the patient and other people reached the office of the civil surgeon where they raised slogans against the employee and the supply of expiry-date medicine.

They also demanded stern action against the erring employee but the authorities failed to take any action. Thereupon, they reached the deputy commissioner’s office but in his absence, thronged the office of the City Magistrate, Mr J P Thamman, who directed the civil surgeon to conduct a thorough probe and take action against the erring employee.

The civil surgeon is reported to have shifted the employee immediately but failed to take an action against him. The employee concerned reportedly told the medical superintendent that no child would die even if he was given the expiry-date ORS powder. The employee did not offer his apology to the medical superintendent or the complainants.

It is alleged that the employee had already sent these ORS packets to the various dispensaries and primary health centres in the district through the multipurpose health employees. He is also reported to have removed such packets from the cycle stand where he had kept them for the distribution among the multipurpose health employees.

Meanwhile, Ms Shakuntala Sharma, a woman municipal councillor and Mr Azad Singh Nehra, a Congress leader today demanded immediate stoppage of the supply of expiry-date ORS and stern action against the guilty employee.

They also threatened to launch an agitation on the issue by staging demonstrations and hunger strike.

SPORTS

Vaid shines in Inborn’s victory
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, May 3
Sonu Vaid smashed a strokeful 68 with eight boundaries to help Inborn Cricketers beat S B Youth by three wickets in an A-I Division match of the DDCA League at the Palam B ground.

Scores: SB Youth: 207 all out in 38.3 overs (Sandeep Pathania 86, Sangram Singh 49, Bharat Khurana 2 for 33, Sandeep Kaski 2 for 37, Rahul Ahuja 2 for 38).

Inborn Cricketers: 208 for 7 in 38.3 overs (Sonu Vaid 68, Suresh Tanwar 35, Rahul Ahuja 30 n.o, Subodh Badola 2 for 38).

Air Force beat State Bank of India by 39 runs in a Super A Division match at the Palam ground.

Scores: Air Force: 149 all out in 33.3 overs (S.ROjha 37 n.o, Vijay Bahadur Mishra 2 for 19, Zeeshan Mohd. 2 for 25).

SBI: 110 all out in 27.2 overs (Hitesh Sharma 43, Pankaj Kumar 4 for 14, S.S. Karmakar 2 for 22).

National Stadium Cricket Centre (NSCC) beat Food Corporation of India (FCI) by seven wickets in a Super A Division match.

Scores: FCI: 81 all out in 20.3 overs (Rajender Bisth 28, Sumit Narwal 20, Maninder Singh 2 for 5, Viraj Bisth 3 for 24, Shiv Shankar Rao 2 for 24, Mihir Diwarkar 2 for 26). NSCC: 83 for 3 in 12.2 overs (Gautam Gopal 30 n.o, Sanjay Kumar 24).

16 teams for Goswami Ganesh Dutt Cricket
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, May 3
Sixteen teams, divided into four groups of four teams each, will participate in the 29th All-India Goswami Ganesh Dutt Memorial Cricket Tournament, to be held at the Sant Harchand Singh Longowal Sports Complex, SGTB Khalsa College, Maurice Nagar, from May 5 to 26. Rajdhani Sports will take on Scindia XI in the opening match on May 5.

Defending champions Indian Airlines have been clubbed together with Trans Yamuna Cricket Association (TYCA), Young Friends Club and Food Corporation of India in Group A while runners-up Oil and Natural Gas Commission have been grouped with Ace XI, Agra, Goswami Ganesh Dutt Club and Lal Bahadur Shastri Club in Group D.

Group B is headed by Chand Khanna Club and comprise Central Warehousing Corporation, District Cricket Association, Faridabad and Collage Group. Group C has Sonnet Club, Rajdhani Sports, Scindia XI and Steel Authority of India Ltd. An annual cricket match between Delhi Sports Journalists’ Association XI and the Organising Committee will be held on May 12. Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) sports secretary Sunil Dev will give away the prizes.

MRF team make cautious start in Canberra rally
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, May 3
Team MRF drivers Naren Kumar and Arjun Balu made a steady but cautious start to the Subaru Rally of Canberra, first round of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC), at the Australian capital, according to information available here.

The start was a colourful affair with cricketer Steve Waugh flagging off the cars in the morning.

The Australian cricket captain, MRF’s brand ambassador, flew into Canberra as a confidence booster for the Indian drivers.

MRF vice-president and managing director KM Mammen was also present. Naren finished with a total time penalty of 52 min 33.4 sec to emerge 16th fastest in his group (N4) and 24th fastest overall among a highly acclaimed field of international rally drivers that included names like Possum Bourne, Ed Ordynski and Niki Caldarola.

“It’s been a revelation,” said Naren.” We know where we stand. It’s a learning process for us.

The jump from Asian Zone, which we won last year, to Asia Pacific, has been a big one. It has been tough too considering we had very little time for development work and getting used to the car.

But we are doing good. There’s a lot of work to be done if we want to beat the best guys in the world.”

Still, Naren was better-off than team-mate Arjun whose day one heroics came to nought when his turbo-charger blew on the third special stage. “There’s nothing much I can do,” shrugged Arjun.

“Nevertheless, it’s been a good outing. I’m very comfortable with the four-wheel-drive cars. We’ll continue with the rally for the next two days and try to get some mileage and experience.”

And not without reason. Surprisingly, Arjun set faster times than his more prolific team-mate Naren on the first two stages.

All this despite driving an all-new car and a new co-driver. Arjun’s regular companion Kumar Ramaswamy withdrew his name following a bad bout of sore throat just prior to the rally.

Australian Darryl Judd replaced the ailing Kumar and they seemed to be doing a pretty good job, that is till the turbocharger conked off.

Meanwhile, Mitsubishi’s Australian driver Ordynski took the overall lead at the end of the day, albeit just six seconds ahead of compatriot Cody Crocker in a Subaru.

Bourne of New Zealand, the two-time and reigning champion here, looking for a hat trick of wins was third but only 0.2s behind Crocker. Karamjit Singh, the reigning APRC champion and fresh from his WRC Group N win at Cyprus, was the most prolific retirement following a gearbox problem.

Italian Niki Caldarola also failed to live up to pre-event expectation slipping down to 11th falling prey to the local drivers ‘home advantage’.

Dhaka team lift Afzal Khan Basketball title

New Delhi, May 3
BKSP, Dhaka (Bangladesh) beat Woodstock School, Mussoorie 56-54 to emerge champions in the 12th Afzal Khan Basketball Tournament held at Doon School, Dehra Doon. Hosts Doon School beat Welham Boys School 44-37 to take the third position. Prominent school teams from all over India took part in the week-long tournament.

The Afzal Khan Basketball Tournament was started in 1991 to commemorate the memory of an old student of Doon School, who died tragically at the age of 21 years.

He was an outstanding sportsman, and the idea to start a basketball tournament in his memory was to promote the game at the school level. The tournament was started under the patronage of Afzal’s mother Begum Feroza Aslam Khan. Headmaster of Doon School John Mason.

The chairman of the society is Sardar Mohammad Akbar Khan and the secretary-cum-treasurer is Jayant Hari Har Lal. OSR

Cochin Refineries win in National League Volleyball

New Delhi, May 3
Cochin Refineries beat Karnataka Postal 26-16, 26-17, 26-23 after a battle of 188 minutes in the 5th National League Volleyball Championships being held at the textile city of Tamil Nadu, Tiruppur, according to information available here. In other matches, KSEB beat GKMF 26-21, 24-26, 26-19,26-18 and South Central Railway beat CPT 26-20, 26-24,26-16. In the women’s section, KSEB and South Central Railway have qualified for the Super League from Group B while in the men’s section, IOB-Chennai and Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation have qualified for the Super League.

Briefly...
Sonnet enter GP Cricket final
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, May 3
Deadly bowling by left-arm spinner Karan Harit (4 for 13) and a rapidfire knock of 39 by Akash Chauhan helped Sonnet Club beat Madan Lal Cricket Academy by 85 runs to enter the final of the first Gyan Prakash Memorial Under-17 Cricket Tournament at the Mohan Meakin ground in Ghaziabad. Akash Chauhan was named the man of the match.

Scores: Sonnet Club: 153 all out in 37.1 overs (Akash Chauhan 39, Ranchal Chaudhary 20, Mohd Dawood 2 for 20,Mohit Sharma 2 for 29).

Madan Lal Academy: 68 all out in 30.5 overs (Atrey Rajgopal 21, Karan Harit 4 for 13, Divyanshu Sethi 2 for 13).

Ramjas School win

Ramjas School No 2 beat Government Senior Secondary School, Vikas Puri by five runs in the Jayanti Devi Under-15 Cricket Tournament, organised by the Maharaja Agarsen Sports Club.

Scores: Ramjas School No 2: 161 all out in 34.3 overs (Rohit Sharma 32, Mannu Kapoor 21, Brijesh Kumar 20, A Tripathi 2 for 15, Kishan Buswala 2 for 27, Priyank Tehlan 2 for 34).

Government Boys School, Vikas Puri: 156 for 8 in 35 overs (Kishan Baswala 47, Priyank Tehlan 32, Mannu Kapoor 3 for 25).