Western Command turns 52
Tribune News Service

CHANDIMANDIR, Sept 15 — The Western Command, the largest operational command in the army, celebrated the 52nd anniversary of its raising here today.

Tributes were paid to martyrs at a solemn ceremony held at Veer Smriti, the command war memorial. A ceremonial guard of honour was presented in the memory of brave and valiant soldiers who laid down their lives while defending the motherland.

Lieut-Gen H.B. Kala, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Command, laid a wreath on behalf of all ranks. A large number of officers, JCOs and other ranks participated in the memorial service.

In his message on the occasion, General Kala felicitated all ranks, civilians and their families. He called upon the Western Army to strive hard to ensure combat readiness of the highest order.

Raised as the Delhi and East Punjab Command on September 15, 1947, it controlled all formations with an operational role in the territorial areas of the present Western and Northern Armies. It is the front line operational command of the army.

It was redesignated as the Western Command in January 1948. In 1954, the headquarters of the command moved to Shimla. After the India-Pakistan conflict in 1971, the Northern Command, with its headquarters at Udhampur, was carved out of it to assume operational responsibility of Jammu and Kashmir. The headquarters of the Western Command eventually moved to its present location in 1985. The command has actively participated in all wars since Independence. It was instrumental in effectively blunting the Pakistani aggression in 1947, 1965 and 1971 and subsequently carrying the battle into the enemy territory, thereby underlining resilience and offensive spirit of its men.

The command also did a yeoman's service in combating militancy and restoring normalcy when militancy was at its peak in Punjab.

Besides, the valiant troops did a commendable job in helping the civil administration during floods, restoration of road communication by constructing bridges and providing infrastructural help for the development of villages.

A large number of welfare projects such as opening of vocational institutes for service personnel and ex-servicemen were undertaken by the command. Measures were also initiated to maintain ecological balance and create awareness about environment in Chandi Mandir and in all formations located in the Western sector.

Slow progress of GMCH building
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 15 — The construction of a building of the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, here for which the Planning Commission has made an allocation of Rs 22,346.22 lakh during the Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Five-Year Plans, seems to be making slow progress. According to sources in the Department of Engineering, Union Territory, a shortage of staff is one of the main reasons for the slow progress. According to the plan envisaged for the construction of the building, the hospital complex will be completed by the year 2002. But sources say the schedule would be difficult to meet.

Block 'A', with 250 beds, parts of Block 'D', which houses the main reception, administration offices and research laboratories, the departments of radiology and radiotherapy and services Block 'L' were constructed in the first phase.

In the second phase, which was inaugurated in June this year, the five-storeyed Block 'B' with a basement was completed. This building housed a canteen, a family welfare clinic, an information technology services centre, CT scan, medical and pediatric OPDs and immunisation services.

The GMCH today offers operative surgical procedures, a licensed blood bank and emergency services, besides indoor admissions and out-patient services.

The construction of the building is in its third phase, which though scheduled to be completed by 2000, would now take longer, according to sources.

The third phase includes the construction of Block 'C', the main hospital wing, a seven-storeyed building with two basement levels that would contain 14 operation theatres, ICU and services like kitchen and laundry. As of today this structure can be seen standing with finishing work being done inside the building.

Interestingly, sources in the Department of Engineering also cited the presence of the many vigilance committees in the hospital as one of the factors delaying the construction work since this "becomes a source of terror and harassment sometimes".

Meanwhile, work is also going on in the remaining part of Block 'D' which will have the departments of radiodiagnosis and radiotherapy, the blood bank, garbage disposal and the administrative components of various clinical departments.

Sources in the GMCH state that the voluntary blood testing centre, the second such centre after the PGI, would be functional in the first week of November. This centre would be part of the mega project in the second phase of the AIDS control programme being implemented by the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO).

The construction of Block 'E', a seven-storeyed building with two basement levels, and Block 'F', which would house the central library and college administration, besides stores and records room, consists of the last phase of the hospital construction.

'Indian shooters have talent'
By Arvind Katyal

CHANDIGARH, Sept 15 — "The city lacks proper infrastructure for shooting and the game has abundant potential in this vast country, specially in this part of it," said Aignes Szuc'sak, a Hungarian shooting coach. She is now assisting her husband, Laszlo Szuc'sak, who is on a two-year contract as official coach in air rifle and pistol events with the Government of India at Delhi.

Aignes was here on a day's visit to see the potential of any upcoming player during the Punjab Shooting Championship which concluded at the Sector 25 shooting range. The Hungarian lady was all praise for spirit and talent of Indian shooters. She said unless they were provided with a proper place to shoot, their performace would suffer.

She was all praise for Abhinav Bindra and another upcoming Ludhiana shooter, Jaspreet Dhaliwal. Jaspreet did extremely well in the last national championship at Bangalore by claiming a gold medal in the air rifle peep sight event. Now, he will represent India at the SAF Games in Nepal to be held in the last week of September.

Aignes said even the performance of shooters like Jaspreet had suffered in this state meet due to improper conditions at the range. The range is not covered. These along with a frequent change in the light due to the uncertain weather affects the performace of a player. Humidity is another factor which is not uniform.

In shooting, all these factors attribute to a poor performance which under these conditions is obvious and expected from shooters with no fault of theirs.

The Szuc'saks were with the Malaysian government before signing the contract with India in February. They were satisfied with the efforts put in by Indian shooters. According to them, India stands a good chance to win medals in international shooting events. Trap and skeet events can bring more medals for India.

Regarding Hungary, she said it had a good shooting team but along with that it had focused also on swimming, pentathlon, kayaking, canoeing, wrestling and football.

She said tennis and badminton were being played in Hungarian clubs but not at the competitive level.

Aignes said she had learnt that Chandigarh was a city of roundabouts and beautiful, but she had not been able to see much of it. She also talked to young Chandigarh shooter Sabeeha Dhillon. She advised her to practise more. She said there was hardly any competition among girls in Chandigarh. She said Sabeeha should go to Delhi to get exposure and represent India in international meets.

In women's shooting events, India can really become a world force, admits the coach. She said Indian shooters like Jaspal Rana, Manavjit, Zorawar and Mansher had done well and a new crop of shooters in the air rifle events was coming up, which included Abhinav Bindra, Jaspreet and Chetan.

Project to help the hapless
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 15 — Pramilla, daughter of Mr Shiv Shankar, a gardener, was born with a cleft lip, a common congenital defect that affects 1 to 2 per cent of the new-born babies and also involves expensive surgery. And today at the age of nine months, Pramilla has not only undergone restorative surgery but has also been given this costly treatment free under a programme called ''Project life of dignity''.

At a press conference organised by the Rotary Foundation and the Rotary Chandigarh Shivalik on ''Restorative surgery for birth defects'' at Chandigarh Press Club today, it was announced that the Rotary Shivalik had been given a grant of $ 25,000 under the child opportunities grant programme for this project to help the needy patients to go in for such operations.

According to Mr Dharinder Tayal, President of the Rotary Chandigarh Shivalik, this grant would be utilised to benefit children in the age group of up to 16 years and to all the poor and needy patients from the Union Territory of Chandigarh, Punjab, haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh. This facility would be available at a private nursing clinic in Sector 21 where not only the surgery would be provided free of cost but the patients would also get free stay and food.

According to Dr G.S. Kochhar, Project Chairman, the surgeries, which would cover defects like club foot, congenital squint, cleft palate, hydrocephalus (big head) and lip revision, would involve doctors from the fields of orthopaedics, pediatrics, cosmetology, eye surgery and anaesthesia. The doctors who would be part of this project would include Dr Yogesh Kaplash, Dr Pardaman Singh, Dr Gurjit Singh and Dr Avtar Singh.

The funds available for this project would be enough to cover almost 60 operations of congenital defects in children, Mr Tayal added.

The club also presented eight-month old Aarti, another patient, who would undergo surgery under this scheme. Aarti's father, Mr Surjit Singh, who works as a waiter, said: "I am quite relieved to know that there is treatment for my daughter's state and that too free of cost. But I was ready to get my daughter treated even otherwise".

Meanwhile, at the conference, Mr Tayal listed other projects of the Rotary Shivalik, including ''Project hope'', a $ 4,000 project for providing basic computer training to handicapped at the Nevadec Prosthetic Centre and free medical and hepatitis B vaccination camps at Perch village, near the PGI.

The club also intends to hold a hepatitis B vaccination camp in the city on September 26 at subsidised rate of Rs 130 for adults and Rs 65 for children.