HEALTH

AIDS-control scheme fails to impress
From Gautam Dheer

PANCHKULA, Feb 3 — Despite all endeavours by the Haryana AIDS Control Society(HACS), the first phase of the National AIDS Control Programme(NACP), which ended last November, has failed to yield satisfactory results. As many as 65 AIDS cases, 13 AIDS deaths and a high of 632 HIV positive cases were recorded in the state during the first phase.

The district, which recorded only one HIV infected case, three years ago from Kalka, stands between 6 to 10 such cases today. However, sources reveal that at any given point of time, the number of unidentified HIV positive cases would exceed over a hundred.

The guidelines of the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), Ministry of Health and Welfare, Government of India, have unknowingly contributed towards an alarming rise in the number of HIV infected cases. Surprisingly, its repercussion could not be well anticipated by the authorities concerned. The guidelines suggest that the identity of the donor and the outcome of his blood sample would not be disclosed to him until and unless the donor desires to know about it. The instructions which have been now followed for years together, have caused an irreparable damage to compound the menace.

An HIV infected victim, who is not informed of his precise health status and the outcome of his blood sample under the guidelines of the NACO, is likely to continue with certain vulnerable activities, including blood transfusion, unsafe sex etc, which could possible spread the disease further. Consequently, the number of such unidentified cases have grown over the years. A similar case in the Supreme Court last year, which highlighted the gravity to inform the outcome to the infected person, irrespective of his willingness, has forced the NACO to deliberate for a revision on the policy.

A survey conducted by Chandigarh Tribune on selected chemist outlets in the township, reveals that the sale of condoms and other contraceptives is at an alarming rise, especially between the age group of 18 to 24 years. The other side of the survey, highlights the vulnerability of the scores of youth and a greater caution on part of the authorities concerned to ensure durable policies to curtail the gamut of miseries.

As on date there are no specialised councillors to provide pre-test and post-test counselling facilities, who could educate people to restrict any further damage to many ignorant lives. An old Indian stereotype seems to hold good. Statistics based on a survey conducted by Durex Global Survey and TTK Limited in 1996 revealed that 47 per cent in the South, and 38 per cent in the East do not approve the use of contraceptives. With minor alterations, the position stills holds good.

Mr Amit Gupta, Branch Manager of FPAI, Panchkula, said that the induction of trained councillors on HIV/AIDS should have been foremost on the agenda of the NACO during the first phase of the NACP. “There are no follow-up mechanisms to approach an infected person, and educate him personally so that he is unlikely to add-on to the number of cases”, he said.

Official sources to an extent attribute the overall failure to the Non-Government Organisations (NGO) working in this direction. “The first phase of the NACP saw a total distrust between the authorities and the NGOs, which defeated the purpose,” they added.

NACO, at the start of the second phase, has sought for a performance appraisal from the Haryana AIDS Control Society, of all the NGOs. Official sources say the reply in this regard has been negative as nothing more than little awareness generation programmes had been undertaken by them. The reply states that the response from the NGOs has not been conducive to carry out successful interventions at community levels. The outcome — hardly 15 per cent awareness in the district rural areas and 45- 50 per cent in the urban areas.

Reliable sources add that an undercurrent to introduce AIDS awareness programmes and messages in the agenda of all the NGOs, is likely to be incorporated.

Learning a lesson from the failure of the first phase, NACO has suggested Voluntary Testing Centers (VTC) to be set up in every district by year 2004, under the second phase of the NACP-Project 2. The first VTC would be set up at Rohtak. The VTCs shall be equipped with specially trained councillors from varied fields of social work, culture, education etc. Dr Rajni Lamba, NGO Adviser at the Haryana AIDS Control Society, said here today that stress would be laid to initiate an ‘enabling environment’ for targeted interventions through NGOs.

For the purpose a two-day state level workshop will be conducted on February 9 and 10, she said. In the second phase of the NACP, a five-point action plan has been prepared which would lay emphasis on STD-targeted intervention, blood safety, research and development, low cost community care and inter-sectoral collaborations.

PGI faculty up against Centre
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 3 — The PGI Faculty Association in its meeting held recently has decided to become a party in the ongoing case against the Union Government to protect the Bakshi Committee pay scales along with the promotion avenues offered by the government in the new package.

The package passed by the government offers promotions for half of the additional professors who have complete seven years on the post, to the rank of professor, besides two additional increments. A section of additional professors which finds the government's package tempting, is of the view that the faculty should negotiate with the government on the issues of promotions and increment.

Prof Sudha Suri, Chairperson of the association, said the members had also taken a serious view of the delay in the ratification of the Dhar Committee selections held more than a year-and-a-half ago, whereas, time-scale promotions of certain additional professors had been pending. "This will also have a bearing on the next batch of promotions. The issue could not be taken up in three governing body meetings. While in the first one, the agenda of items was too heavy, the second one was cancelled and in the third, only two items on the agenda were taken up," she said. Prof Suri, in a letter written to the Acting Director of the PGI, Prof N.K. Ganguly, has asked him to convene a meeting of the governing body at the earliest.

The association has also taken up the cause of assistant professors by urging the authorities concerned to take into account the adhoc services of those doctors who are subsequently regularised at the expiry of five years. Prof Suri said the doctors who put in their best services in the adhoc period, even as they got no vacations or benefits of an allowance for attending a conference, should at least get the service benefit of the adhoc time period.

SPORT

Awards for young shuttlers
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Feb 3 — The Chandigarh Badminton Association, in order to encourage younger players, will give a cash prize of Rs 50,000 to any city player who wins the national title, while the runners-up will be given Rs 25,000. Briefing newspersons here, Mr M.C. Sethi, President of the association, said the CBA had drawn an ambitious plan to popularise the game which was now an Olympic sport with more than 130 countries taking part in it. The first step will be to host a maximum number of tournaments. This includes inter-club tournaments and inter-district tournaments. The association will also give financial help to players taking part in major tournaments. It will also hold off season summer coaching camps for these players.

Mr Sethi said the present members of the association were either former or regular badminton players, so, everyone was working hard for the growth of the game.

He also appreciated the services of the founder of the association, Mr D.K. Mukerjee, who he said was instrumental in the city getting direct affiliation to the Badminton Association of India in 1988.

He also said now the CBA had the services of T.P.S. Puri, an experienced former national coach who was also on the panel of the International Badminton Federation. He hoped that with T.P.S. Puri becoming the new secretary, things would improve further.

Mr Sethi said in the Krishna Khaitan Memorial Tournament, four players of the CBA had qualified for main round and had lost to ranked players. Mala Gaba, the current UT junior champion, gave a tough fight to G. Jwala of Andhra Pradesh, national junior champion, before losing.

In a major championship at Thane, Oscar Bansal had reached the quarterfinals, while Akash could make it to the last sixteen.

Apart from that, the CBA also hosted a state-level ranking tournament at the PU gymnasium hall. On the basis of it, the UT team for the North Zone Inter-State Tournament held at Jammu past year was also selected. The CBA players reached the semi-final of this tournament. After Punjab and Delhi, Chandigarh comes next on the performance graph.

The CBA also held a coaching camp at Panjab University past year where imported shuttlecocks were used and theory lectures given by experts. Dr Jaswant Rai, Head of the Department of Orthopaedics at the PGI spoke on the prevention of injuries, Dr S.N. Sharma, Chairman of the Department of Physical Education; and T.P.S. Puri talked on the importance of physical conditioning.

Eight players of the city were selected for an all-India (north zone) camp held at Jalandhar from January 3 to 24. At the camp, an SAI coach, Surinder Mahajan, posted at the PU, was praised by the Punjab Badminton Association, organsiers of the camp. City players won all matches conducted at the camp.

The association now plans to bid for the Junior National Badminton Championship to be held later this year. It will also bid for the 2001 Asia Cup.

Mr Subhash Nagpal, SeniorVice-President of the association, stressed the need for more infrastructural facilities at Chandigarh which only has the Sector 42 Indoor Hall. Members said the Sector 7 Indoor Hall, which produced national champions like Kanwal Thakur Singh should once again be made a badminton hall.

Volleyball meet: The Chamoli Parvatiya Vikas Parishad, Chandigarh, will organise a volleyball tournament on February 12 and 13 at Ramleela Ground (near RBI Colony), Sector 30-A, to welcome the new millennium. The interested teams belonging to Uttarakhand should submit their entry forms to Mr Arun Dutt Vashist, Manager of the organising committee of the meet, at 1077, Sector 28-B, by February 10.

Radhika gears up for title defence
By Arvind Katyal

CHANDIGARH, Feb 3 — Five-foot-six-inch tall Radhika Tulpule of Pune, one of the most intelligent junior tennis players of the country, is here to defend her ITF junior title. Back from Melbourne after taking part in the Junior Australian Open, She said she had gained valuable experience at the Grand Slam meet. She said she would love to follow Steffi's style and determination, though she was no longer at the top.

Having shared the same locker room at Melbourne with Martina Hingis, she also learnt a lot from her, said her coach, Nandan Bal.

Radhika who is ranked 82 in the Junior world of Tennis, is a reserved but smiling player on the court. She could not take part in the three consecutive ITF meets held at Thiruvanthapuram, Colombo (Sri Lanka) and New Delhi, due to her foreign tour. She will now play in the next two ITF meets in Calcutta and Bangladesh in the coming few days.

Radhika, aged 17, likes to concentrate more on singles which is why she does not have a steady doubles partner. She has won many doubles titles playing with Liza Pereira, also of Pune, and Radhika Mandke.

Nandan Bal, said as Radhika had a hectic schedule in the past few months, she had some difficulty in concentrating on her matches here. However, she still managed to enter the final with good a good show in the semi-finals and quarterfinals.

On her chances of winning tomorrow's final, Nandan said it would be a good contest as her opponent, Shuai Peng of China, was playing rather confidently after winning the Delhi ITF meet past week.

Radhika began playing at the age of nine at Pune, her native place. Her first major achievement came when she won the under-14 national title for two years consecutively. She won the under-16 national title as well. She has beaten the top players of the country like Sai Jayalakshamy.

A mojor achievement for her was winning a World Tennis Association (WTA) first-leg tournament held past year. At Chandigarh past year, she had won the ITF title.

Asked on the very first day of the tournament about her chances of winning, Radhika, who has a good control over her serve, said she would have to play all macthes in a serious manner. She said every player who had come here for the meet could be a force to reckon with, so, no match could be taken easily.

Nandan says, ''Radhika needs rest after playing the next ITF meets because next year will be harder as she will enter the senior section. Her game needs more polishing.''

GGSC girls win PU volleyball
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Feb 3 — Guru Gobind Singh College for Women, Chandigarh, won the Panjab University Inter-College Volleyball ('A' division) Championship for Women which concluded here today at the PU grounds. MCM DAV College for Women, finished second, while SMS Karamjot College for Women, Miani, and GNN College, Doraha, stood third and fourth, respectively.

In the PU Inter-College Volleyball Tournament for Men, SGGS College, Chandigarh, beat Government College, Hoshiarpur, 3-1, while DAV College, Chandigarh, beat Government College, Ludhiana, 3-0.

Shuttlers' seedings: Geeta Aggarwal in the women's section and Amit Sachdeva in the men's section, have been given top seedings in the Chandigarh State Badminton Championship which is to begin here tomorrow at the Sector 42 Indoor Hall. Disclosing this here this evening, Mr B.D. Gandhi, chief referee at the meet, said more than 150 players of the city will vie for top honours in under-10 (boys), under-13, under-16, under-19, men's, women's and veterans' (above-35, above-45 and above-55) sections. The four-day meet is being organised by the Chandgarh Badminton Association.

Mr M.C. Sethi, President of the association said the UT men's and women's senior teams would also be selected during the course of this championship. The selected players will take part in the Senior National Badminton Championship to be held at Kochi (Kerala) from February 22.

Yonex (Aerosensa) brand of shuttlecocks will be used in this championship which will be inaugurated tomorrow by Mr M.P. Singh, IAS and Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh.

The other top seeds in various sections are as follows: under-10 (boys) — Oscar Bansal 1, Aman Sethi 2; under 13 (boys) — Manpreet 1, Oscar Bansal 2; girls — Harleen 1, Tanveer 2; under-16 (boys) — Puneet Bansal 1, Akash Sethi 2; girls — Mala Gaba 1, Isha Sharma 2; under-19 (boys) — Vivek Sharma 1, Deepak Sidhu 2; girls — Mala Gaba 1, Isha Sharma 2; men — Amit Sachdeva 1, Vivek Sharma 2; women — Geeta Aggarwal 1, Parnita Verma 2.

The matches for veterans will be held daily in the morning.

ADMINISTRATION

Multiple entry visas for 18 residents
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 3 — In a unique gesture, the British High Commission in New Delhi, today presented multiple entry gratis visas to 18 prominent citizens as a part of the United Kingdom visa related event held at the residence of two local lawyers - Mr Anil Malhotra and Mr Ranjit Malhotra.

The passports with stamped visas, issued in New Delhi on January 27, were presented to the passport holders by Justice Kuldip Singh. The passport and visa to Justice Kuldip Singh was presented by Mr Ved P. Venayak, a city-based businessman settled in the United Kingdom, who was last year honoured with the Member of British Empire (MBE) award.

Those who got their multiple entry gratis visas are Dr S.K. Sharma, Director-Designate of the PGI; Ms Rupan Deol Bajaj; Mr Rakesh Talwar; Ms Reema Mongia;Mr Rajiv Atma Ram, Mrs Gopa Atma Ram, Mr Balraj Singh Hora, Mr Anil Kaushik, Mr Ajit Singh, Dr Jagmohan Singh Verma, Dr Yash Bala, Mr Bhushan Chander Gupta, Ms Sonali Gupta, Mr Rajinder Singh Cheema, Justice Kuldip Singh, Mr Sunil Malhotra, Mr Anil Malhotra and Mr Ranjit Malhotra.

An official of the British High Commission in New Delhi brought the passports stamped with visas here this morning.

Rakesh to look after Chairman’s work
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARHFeb 3 — Mr Rakesh Singh, Finance Secretary, Chandigarh Administration, will look after the work of the Chairman, Chandigarh Housing Board, in place of Mr Balbir Singh, an IAS officer of the UT cadre, who has been transferred and asked to report to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in New Delhi for his new assignment.

Mr Balbir Singh, who belongs to the 1967 batch of the IAS, was also the Chief Vigilance Officer of Union Territory of Chandigarh. The charge of the Chief Vigilance Officer will again be held by the Adviser to the Administrator, Mrs Vineeta Rai, till the Central Vigilance Commission approves the name of a regular successor of Mr Balbir Singh.

The successor of Mr Balbir Singh in the Chandigarh Housing Board is yet to be named. With the posting out of the Chairman, the Chandigarh Housing Board is now without any of the top three officials. The Chief Executive Officer is away on training while the post of the Secretary of the board has been lying vacant for some time now.

Meanwhile, the Administration is yet to get a fresh panel of names to select a successor of Mr S.K. Sharma, who was recently repatriated to his parent State of Haryana.

Mr R.K. Rao, Assistant Commissioner, Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, is also due for repatriation to his parent State of Haryana following his appointment to the Indian Administrative Service.

In that case three panels of names would be invited by the Administration to fill the vacancies.