Couple hurt in road mishap
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 30 — Gurmeet Singh and his wife, Amarjit Kaur, were injured when the scooter they were riding on was hit by a car in the Industrial Area, Phase I, here this afternoon.

Both have been admitted to the PGI, according to the police.

Hurt: Rajesh Gupta, a resident of Dhanas milk colony, was injured when the bicycle he was riding was hit by a vehicle.

Burn injuries: Balbir Singh, a resident of Kalayat in Haryana, was admitted to the PGI with serious burn injuries.

Admitted: A one-year-old child of Kumhar Colony was injured when he was playing in his house.

He has been admitted to the PGI.

Collision: Rajinder Singh. a resident of SAS Nagar, was injured in a collision between a three-wheeler and a jeep.

He has been admitted to the PGI.

Injured: Puja Goyal, a tourist, was injured when she was hit by a truck near Mughal Gardens, Pinjore.

She has been shifted to the PGI.

PANCHKULA

Sanitary fittings stolen
May 30 — Burglars broke into a house in Sector 7 here yesterday and decamped with sanitary fittings and other valuables.

As the occupants of the house were away to Assam, the exact loss could not be ascertained.

Chicken, fish dearer
From Our Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, May 30 — Due to the sudden rise in temperature and decrease in arrivals because of high mortality rate, the prices of chicken and fish have skyrocketed in the local meat markets.

A kg of cleaned broiler chicken, which was priced at Rs 40 last fortnight, was available for Rs 55 today. The wholesale price of uncleaned broiler chicken also went up from Rs 28 to Rs 32 a kg. Traders attributed this price rise to decrease in production of chicken due to high mortality rate during summer.

Eggs were dearer by Rs 1 per dozen compared to Rs 14 last fortnight. The wholesale price per 100 eggs increased to Rs 119 from Rs 115. The hike in price of eggs was due to sharp rise in the cost of feed, traders said.

Chicken gizzard and chicken liver were priced at Rs 50 and Rs 40 per kg, respectively, compared to Rs 35 and Rs 30 respectively last fortnight. Likewise, chicken leg and chicken chest were available for Rs 65 per kg.

Contrary to this, retail and wholesale prices of mutton remained stable at Rs 80 and Rs 70 per kg. Likewise, mutton boneless and mutton keema were available for Rs 110 and Rs 100 per kg, respectively. Mutton liver kidney was priced at Rs 110 per kg.

Pork remained stable at Rs 40 a kg with its wholesale price being Rs 38. Boneless pork was priced at Rs 60 per kg.

Less variety of fish were seen in the market. Due to the summer, sea fish were absent and river fish such as rohu, mirgal and singara were available, though in less quantity. Both rohu and mirgal were priced at Rs 45 a kg instead of Rs 60 last fortnight. Singara was cheaper by Rs 20 a kg compared to Rs 80 a fortnight ago.

Due to the breeding season and decreased in demand, the price of fish went down every summer, traders said. The fluctuation in prices and decrease in demand of chicken and fish added to the woes of the recession-hit meat-shop owners.

Planned city?

THE general impression that Chandigarh is a planned city notwithstanding, there is little to corroborate any coordinated planning and execution of various schemes. For example, provision of road or storm water gullies.

A quick survey by The Tribune reveals that in most of the cases, work on the provision of storm water gullies is taken up much after the work on a new road or strengthening of any existing road, intersection or roundabout is completed.

This not only leads to additional expenditure but also creates traffic hazards, affecting the life of the road besides presenting eyesores. Take the case of the new traffic lights intersection of sectors 27 and 28 provided by the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. The work on provision of storm water gullies was taken up much after the intersection had been opened to traffic. Even some of the patch work, necessitated by the plugging of a leaking joint, is still to be taken up though the road was dug up immediately after its commissioning a couple of months ago. The intersection is yet to be painted as per traffic regulatory requirements.

Same is the story on Madhya Marg where slip roads have been recarpeted and some more slip roads provided. But work on provision of storm water gullies has started after recarpetting work is over. One wonders why all this cannot be coordinated.

Honour

Dr Birender Chopra, a lecturer in the department of biochemistry at the Sector 32 Government Medical College Hospital, has done her alma mater and the city proud. She has been chosen for the Young Scientist award, which will be conferred upon her at the 17th International Congress of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine to be held at Florence in Italy from June 6 to 11. Her research paper on some neurological disorders has also been accepted for presentation during the congress. The papers are based on the research she conducted at Christian Medical College and Hospital at Ludhiana.

Dr Birender Chopra is a product of Carmel Convent School and MCM DAV College. Her father, Prof J.S. Chopra, was the founder Director-Principal of the Sector 32 Government Medical College Hospital while her father-in-law, Dr Ajmer Singh, had been the Director of Medical Education and Research, Punjab.

Sustainable business

The Environment Society of India (ESI) has released a book, "Sustainable Business; Economic development and environmentally sound technologies", published by the Regency Corporation Limited in association with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). This 273-page book deals with sound environmentally sustainable technologies for development. The United Nations General Assembly special session held in June, 1997, supported Agenda 21 adopted at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development and urged the industries to adopt new technologies to meet the commitments made by the governments at the Kyoto conference on climate change.

This book deals with the review of the existing technologies for the prevention and control of pollution, energy efficiency and cleaner production, identify the main forces behind the environmentally sound technologies, national and international legislation, financial incentives etc. It also examines the main issues of financing, technology transfer, assessment and information.

The book is useful for all those who are engaged in development, transfer, and adoption of environmentally sound technologies. The book is available from ESI, Karuna Sadan Sector 11 B, Chandigarh. (Ph: 746832).

Lathi raj

The constables deputed in the traffic wing of the Panchkula police fit into the image of the lathi-wielding policemen. These "lathi" or "stick" wielding constables can be seen standing near the traffic lights at different points in the township.

Nothing may be wrong in the policemen wielding lathis but what troubles the motorists is the dangerous fashion in which the lathis are used to signal the motorists, who jump the traffic lights or violate other traffic rules, to stop.

In fact, recently two scooter-borne youths had to bear the brunt of the technique used by the policemen. In the process of stopping the youths, who were without helmets, a policeman hit the face of the one youth with his danda thereby injuring him badly. The victim had to get immediate medication to stop the bleeding.

To check such incidents the local residents demand that the methods adopted by the traffic police should be changed that no physical injury is caused to the motorists.

Fitness sake

With the advent of summer, various parks of the city have started remaining crowded with health enthusiasts. People throng them not only for their morning and evening walks but also for regular exercises. Yoga classes are held at several places. Then there are those who exercise individually.

The photographs on top of the page were clicked by our photographer, Manoj Mahajan, on a single day recently.

Long & short of it

When the Baby Doll, Alisha Chenai, made a grand entry into Chandigarh, it was not only the diminutively framed Indi-pop singer and her blonde look which got attention of her fans as well as scribes, but it was also her tall and attractive secretary who got more than just a few "dekhos"!

While the five-foot-nothing "Indian-Madonna" could hardly be seen, her towering secretary in tow was not only to be seen but also heard. With Alisha Chenai preferring to stick to a monosyllabic dialogue with the scribes, there was reason enough for the male scribes to go up to the attractive looking secretary and even chat her up. With Alisha maintaining a sphinx-like stance throughout her interaction with the media, even evading questions on her much-publicised "tiff" with Bollywood music director Anu Malik, the secretary was certainly the best bet to get some information from. And who minds a pretty looking news-source?

Alcoholics Anonymous

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an organisation of men and women devoted to the noble cause of making alcoholics become sober. The only requirement for membership of AA is the desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees for acquiring AA membership as it is self-supporting. A political and not allied with any sect, AA's primary purpose is to help alcoholics achieve sobriety.

Founded by Bill W and Dr Bob S. in the thirties, AA has spread its wings over the globe. Millions have recovered, thanks to AA, while many more are on the road to recovery. There are more than 30,000 AA units in operation at present.

In this region, AA meetings are held regularly at Delhi, Chandigarh, Panchkula, Mohali, Ropar, Nangal, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Dasuya, Sirsa and Sangrur where views are exchanged and strategies worked out to make the movement stronger.

That's news

The reference section of The Tribune keeps clippings of various newsitems subjectwise. This is the practice followed in almost all other national dailies. But we were a little surprised to learn that a reader of The Tribune also maintains such clippings.

For the past 25 years, Mr G.K. Chopra, of Sector 37-C in Chandigarh has been religiously cutting out off-beat items from The Tribune and pasting them in a scrapbook. The book of this Tribune reader, who is an Assistant Accounts Officer, is bulging with such items as "Eight years in womb", "New tongue fixed", "Snake with two heads" and "Baby washed in washing machine".

Judicious literature

The credit for this little write-up goes to Dr Subhash Rastogi, a man of letters, a resident of Chandigarh and "an avid reader of Chandigarh Calling for years".

He has brought to Sentinel two outstanding books "for notice". These are "Bride Burning: Social, Criminological and Legal Aspects" in English and "Ujala Darpan, Dhundhale Chehre" in Hindi.

The author is Mr Justice A.S. Garg of the Punjab and Haryana High Court with his residence at Chandigarh. Sentinel cannot attempt "a notice", meaning a review, in these columns. But a deep, hard look at the works convinces him of the morally inspired, legally sound and literarily rich contents of the books dedicated to humanity's total good.

Their message is: it is always better to build than to break in life as in society.

When man goes to his long home and mourners go about the street, one realises the quintessence of life which looks at immortality even while being bound in mortal coils.

Words cannot be readily found for the appreciation of the learned jurist-writer's love for the struggling being. But what remains unsaid says much subsequently in the field of the fine arts. Thank you, Dr Rastogi.

— Sentinel

Munish helps Godrej XI enter semis
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 30 — Fine all round performance by Ranji player Munish Arora (41 and 3 for 9) enabled the Godrej Cricket Club to beat the Punjab Warehousing Corporation by 8 wickets and enter the semi-finals of the third UT League-cum-knockout Cricket Tournament for the Golden Forest Trophy at the Sector 16 cricket stadium here today.

Electing to bat first, warehousing corporation batsmen could not face the hostile bowling spell of Haryana Ranji player Vineet Jain. Later, left arm spinner Munish Arora bowled an excellent line and length to claim three wickets. His overall analysis were 5 overs, 1 maiden, 9 runs and 3 wickets. warehousing corporation team folded up for a meagre 99 runs.

The Godrej Cricket Club required to overhaul this target in 18 overs to reach the semi-finals. Their openers, Vineet Jain and Munish Arora, got their team off to a flying start as they scored 72 runs in the first 10 overs. Vineet Jain scored 44 runs in 30 balls which included 8 boundaries while Munish Arora scored 41 runs in 28 balls which included one six and seven hits to the fence.

The Godrej Cricket Club scored the required runs in the 14th over of the innings.

Brief scores : PSWC XI — 99 all out in 24.5 overs, Navneet Thaper 25, Daljeet Singh 24, Jai Kapil 18, Anil Sharma 16, Munish Arora 3 for 9, Vijay Pal 3 for 16, Girish Bhanot 2 for 11.

Godrej CC — 10 runs for 2 wickets in 13.2 overs (Vineet Jain 44, Munish Arora 41).

In another match, some fine spin bowling by Jaswant Rai (4 for 16) and R.P. Singh (4 for 25) enabled the Piccadily XI to rout the PGI XI by 55 runs and enter semi-finals.

Brief scores : Piccadily XI — 157 for 7 in 25 overs, Ajay Mannu 51, Neelmani 33, Arun Tuli 29, Anil Choudhary 3 for 19.

PGI XI — 102 all out, Rajinder 24, Rajiv Dutta 22, Jaswant Rai 4 for 16, R.P. Singh 4 for 15.

At the Punjab Engineering College, a swashbuckling 51 off 23 balls by Baljeet Rana enabled the Tari XI to defeat the Pace CC by 8 wickets.

Brief scores: Pace CC — 98 all out, Sanjeev 24, Randhir Nain 21, Yadwinder 19, Madan Lal 5 for 13, Sandeep Sonu 3 for 24. Tari CC — 99 for 2 in 10.1 overs, Baljeet Rana 51, Umesh 17, Madan Lal 15 n.o., Randhir Nain 2 for 44.

In another match, the CNS XI beat the Videocon CC by 2 wickets. In this pool, the Chetna CC has already qualified for the semi-finals.

Brief scores: Videocon CC — 207 for 7 in 25 overs, Vineet Khosla 44, Kamal Preet 38, Munish Chadha 32, Ajay Sikka 3 for 19. CNS XI — 208 for 8 in 21.5 overs, Vivek Jain 41, Harminder 33, Viresh Sharda 29, Jugraj 21, Atul Kapoor 20, Rakesh Verma 18, Surinder Singh Baijee 2 for 55.

In the semi-finals to be played next Sunday at the Sector 16 cricket stadium, the Godrej CC will take on the Chetna XI while the Piccadily XI will play the Tari XI. The final match of the league comprising 48 teams and 87 matches is scheduled for June 13 at the Sector 16 cricket stadium.

New UTCA vice-chief

Mr N.K. Jain, IAS, Home Secretary of the Chandigarh Administration, today took over as the Senior Vice-President of the UT Cricket Association, Chandigarh, in place of Ms Anuradha Gupta since she has been repatriated to her parent state Haryana.

Prize-money cricket

The Bathany Cricket Club will organise the 11th Bathany Cash-prize League-cum-knockout Cricket Tournament from June 12 at the CRPF and Military ground. The matches will be played on Saturdays and Sundays only.

City cops win tourney
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, May 30 — The Chandigarh police cricket team has won the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial Cricket Tournament at Chaupal in Shimla district. The final was played on Friday.

The policemen defeated the Kot Khai XI by 45 runs in the final. Batting first, the Chandigarh police scored 135 runs for 4 wickets off the 20 overs. Ramandeep and Ajay Sharda scored 47 and 40, respectively. Vishal Sharma, the captain, chipped in with an unbeaten 27.

For the Kot Kahi XI, Babloo took 2 wickets for 25 runs. The policemen then bundled their opponents for 90 runs. Pradeep Kumar took 3 wickets for 15 runs and Vishal Sharma took 2 wickets for 7 runs. Ramandeep was adjudged the best player of the tournament. Pradeep Kumar won the best bowler award while Sher Singh, also of the Chandigarh police, bagged the "master blaster" award for hitting the maximum number of sixes.

Coaching budding paddlers
By Our Sports Reporter
CHANDIGARH, May 30 — The table-tennis centre in Sector 23 here completed three years on May 18. TT, unfortunately, earlier never got proper facilities, as its centre remained YMCA, Sector 11 afterwards Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 10, became the centre for six years. The Skating Rink in Sector 10, as a makeshift arrangement, continued to be used as TT centre as the allotted centre at that time, Indira Holiday Home in Sector 24, though a official centre of the Sports Department was used for marriage and other social activities many times.

Mr Rajeev Kaushal, the Department coach, who joined UT in 1984, said it was a dream come true for TT lovers and players when a new hall in Sector 23 became ready for players. This 128 ft 21ft x wooden hall has modern lighting system, with a permitted height having lights of 13 ft, and is capable of hosting any big national level meet. Recently the Table Tennis Federation of India has allotted this year’s junior national TT championship in November to Chandigarh. Since its opening in 1996 the national women festival for TT was organised, then All India Civil Services TT tournament was conducted in 1997, followed by the All India Powermen TT meet in the same year. The All-India Reserve Bank meet in 1998 and recently in march, the All- India Inter Bank TT meet was organised, which attracted some of the finest players of the country. A former national champion Kamlesh Mehta even termed the TT hall of Chandigarh as one of the best in India during his presence for the All-India meet.

The capacity of the hall with a single table is nearly 3000 persons and it can otherwise accommodate more than 12 tables at a time. Mr Kaushal, who was instrumental in giving this new hall to the city, said more such centres should opened in Sector 23 hall, there is one coach. A female coach for girls should be provided, said one of the senior players. There is also shortage of staff, as all activities, even the registration of players is interestingly done by the coach.`

Table Tennis game does not require much area, and more centres should be provided, felt some players. The Sector 23 centre attracts beginners only of nearby Sector as parents of young children do not risk sending kids in the high density traffic area. Parents want the Chandigarh Administration to start more local buses to the sector.

Chandigarh now has a good nursery of TT players such as Nadia Saini, Megha Kasal, Sajal Kaushal Aditya Puriv all (under 12), Varun Kassal, Ramit Singla, Ruchi Gautam all (under 14) Gaurav Bhatia, Manu KC, and Anuradha Bansal under ( all 17). It has a galaxy of senior players like; Harish, Amod Dixit, Anup KC Barkha KC, Shallu Kapoor, who have contributed their mite towards giving Chandigarh a good name in the nationals.

Chandigarh a degenerating city

I was amused to read (Chandigarh Tribune, May 24) Mr Milkha Singh project Chandigarh as “One of the most liveable cities”. As one who has seen the city since 1968 I dare say that it is moving towards decay and degeneration.

Southern sectors are crying for water. Water pressure is so low that at times it does not serve even the residents of ground floor, leave alone upper floors. Sometimes what one finds in Sector 45-A is sandy water flowing in taps.

Go to slums, jhuggis and colonies where nearly 2 lakh people live. I occasionally go to Kumhar Colony in Sector 25. People drink almost dirty water (after boiling it ). They sometimes skip a bath due to shortage of water. Pigs are to be found in abundance. Children defecate in open which pollutes the whole environment in Sector 25 and around.

Education has virtually been hijacked by the public schools. Government’s model schools, except the two in sectors 16 and 35, don’t have the required infrastructure. Public schools merrily fix high fees and pay less salaries to teachers. The Delhi High Court has asked for a look into the fee structure of public schools, something to be emulated by the Chandigarh Administration.

Sanitation in the city is a matter of the past. Garbage bins keep overflowing. Even parks (as the one in Sector 15) are surrounded on all sides by garbage bins oozing out stink and stench.

Some two years ago, the Estate Office had put heavy stone blocks on the exit of Sector 15-B towards the market in Sector 15-C. But vehicle-owners removed them, and these are still lying there. Then the exit to the market was blocked by putting iron rails, leaving space only for pedestrians to reach the market. Some months ago, the narrow exit was widened to enable scooterists on this zig-zag crumbling path, leading to pedestrians’ narrow pucca road.

Lots of children use this pedestrian path to reach DAV Model School in Sector 15-A. There is a risk of their getting crushed here. Will the Chandigarh Administration look into the matter.

Chandigarh S.S. Jain

Kiran Bedi’s departure

The role of Dr Kiran Bedi during her short tenure of 44 days as IGP, Chandigarh, was really commendable and praiseworthy. During this period, she was instrumental in: 1. Introducing and implementing welfare measures for policemen and their families. 2. Removal of encroachments in parking areas as well as verandas in the city as also proper parking by vehicle-owners in parking lots. 3. Strict vigil over driving of vehicles by minors on city roads. 4. Introducing beat system for Chandigarh Police. 5. Establishing a better channel of interaction between the police and public. There was visible change in the approach and attitude of police officials while dealing with public. They turned to be more cordial, polite and humble and quick in handling public grievances. 6. Banning consumption of alcohol by policemen on duty. 7. Punctuality among policemen. 8. Checking corruption in the police department.

Her predecessors could not do in years what she did in just 44 days. The residents of Chandigarh have been deprived of the services of a highly efficient police officer. On public demand, she should again be posted as IGP, Chandigarh.

Chandigarh A.P. Bhardwaj

II

During morning walk recently, I found small groups talking about Kiran Bedi’s transfer. People regarded it as a personal loss. In the market place too, people expressed disappointment over her exit.

The people and the press had hailed her as a messiah. There were high expectations from her. She had shown so many concrete results during her short stay. Now all our hopes have been dashed to ground.

Kiran was a live wire, who had not only the professional will, but also expertise and integrity to promote people’s welfare in a big way. Her good work brought her tremendous popularity. Perhaps that proved to be her undoing. Now we would relapse into the bad old days.

Chandigarh P.D. Shastri

III

Kiran’s posting to Chandigarh was ‘her home-coming’. But it was too short for her, and the people of Chandigarh, who were looking up to her to give the city its character of city beautiful.

Unfortunately, people like her have no place in today’s political and bureaucratic set-up where the principle of public service is often forgotten and thrown to winds. We have become a huge conglomerate of self-seeking sycophants.

Her stay was made short by a few who matter. It is unfortunate for Chandigarh. The city has lost an officer of high calibre and character.

Chandigarh Mrs K. Atma Ram

IV

Your views are really appreciable. The transfer of Kiran Bedi needs to be condemned forcefully by those who are disciplined, honest and law-abiding. However, the bureaucracy which is lethargic and wants to encourage indiscipline and lawlessness never wanted such an officer who would have changed the entire atmosphere and helped the public.

Rupnagar C.L. Kapoor
General Secretary
Citizen Welfare Council

Road divider

A road divider in Sector 21-C (near the government school in Sector 21-B) has turned into a virtual death-trap due to poor visibility.

I agree that the purpose of constructing the divider was to regulate traffic in front of the market but the divider has caused a number of accidents in the area. At night, there is no indication for the driver to know whether a divider is there or not. Many times the Administration has tried to put some indication, but often some vehicle hits the divider, damages it and the indicator is broken. However, this is not replaced/reconstructed for months.

I am not in favour of removing the divider, but the importance of human life should not be taken casually be the Administration. The Administration must think of some permanent alternative to properly illuminate and put proper indication of the divider.

Chandigarh Rajeev Gupta