The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

HEALTH

Dental clinic on wheels for kids
From Our Correspondent

DERA BASSI, April 24 — In its maiden venture in Patiala district, the Punjab Red Cross Society has taken on itself the task of educating schoolchildren on the essentials of oral hygiene, beginning with Government High School, Ambala, in Dera Bassi subdivision.

During the first phase of the move, students of eight schools of the subdivision, will be educated about dental care. The target would be achieved by May 5, said Mr Sher Singh Sidhu, SDM, while launching the move, jointly organised by the Punjab Red Cross Society and District Red Cross Society, Dera Bassi unit, in Ambala village here today.

Mr Sidhu said three fully equipped mobile vans, with three dentists each, reached schools in remote areas of the subdivision. At the village level, Red Cross villages will be created by motivating youths to be life members of the societies. He appealed to the residents to contribute so that needy persons could be helped.

Dr Satwant Kaur, Deputy Director, Dental Care, Patiala, expressed her concern over the increasing rate in dental diseases in the state. She stressed upon the need to educate parents and children about dental care on the village-level. Ms Satwant Bhalla, SMO, Dera Bassi, said similar camps would be organised in Lalru, Bhankharpur, Rampur Sainian, Dappar, Sarseeni and other villages.

Besides residents of the village, Mr ML Bindal, Deputy Secretary, Punjab Red Cross Society, Chandigarh branch, Mr Jaswinder Nayar, Headmaster of Government High School, Ambala, Mr Bhupinder Singh Saini, President of Rotary Club, Dera Bassi, were also present. Two persons who were hard of hearing — Mr Shamsher Singh and Ms Surjit Kaur — were given hearing machines free of cost by the SDM.

SPORT

113 report for NSTC trials
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, April 24 — In all, 113 aspirants reported for the SAI selection trials for the NSTC at DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8, in athletics, volleyball, hockey, football, gymnastics and rowing. Most of them had come for the football trials, while the rowing trials attracted the least number of aspirants.

Shiv Bedi, who conducted the volleyball trials, said nine girls had already been selected from the Kurukshetra district for the Sector 18 STC. These girls were earlier being trained in a rural centre.

Today was the first day of the two-day trials where the aspirants were put through battery of tests like shuttle run, vertical jump, long jump, high jump and 800 m run among others. Tomorrow, they will be interviewed, after which, a final list will be sent to the corporate office in New Delhi.

Earlier, the trials had been conducted in the first week of April, but, the response had not been adequate. So, revised dates had been given for the trials to DAVSS-8 and the Sector 18 STC.

STC spikers win: The 11 girls who were part of the volleyball team of the SAI Sports Training Centre here which participated in a three-day Rohru Mela Sport Meet won all their matches. They were awarded a trophy and Rs 5,000. Mukta, captain of the team, said she was grateful to the organisers for providing the team with free boarding and lodging facilities.

Mukta, a student of the local SGGS School, Sector 35, said this was the first such exposure for the team. Shiv Bedi was the coach. In the final, the STC girls beat the Jubbal team, 25-5, 25-9, 25-27, 25-21.

The team comprised Mukta (captain), Priyanka, Poonam (Sr), Sushma, Suman, Reena, Sonia, Vinkle, Poonam (Jr), Sushma (Jr), and Sunaina.

Sport equipment: The UT Sports Department will provide city school with volleyball and handball equipment, besides introducing coaching centres at these places. This will be under the National Service Scheme of the Union Ministry of Human Resource.

Meanwhile, More than 150 officials of the UT Sports Department and the staff of Government High School, Kajheri, besides many volunteers, took part in a drive to eradicate weeds from the school grounds, especially handball and volleyball courts. Ms Mohini Sharma, Principal of the Sector 42 Government College, inaugurated the scheme here.

Selection trials: Sports Authority Of India, Northern Region, Chandigarh, will hold selection trials for all schemes of SAI on April 24 and 25 at DAV Senior Secondary school, sector 8. According to the a press note from Dr P.C. Kashyap, Regional Director, SAI, parameters for boys will be above 165 cm (under-14), above 175 cm (under-16) and above 182 cm (above-16), and for girls these will be above 160 cm (under-14), above 165 cm (above-16) and above 170 cm ( above-16).

League cricket tournament
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 24 — The Chandigarh Cricket Association affiliated to the Haryana Cricket Association will organise the second Samsung Cash-prize League Cricket Tournament in the memory of Samuel Banerjee.

In this tournament, teams will be divided into eight pools and one team from each pool will reach the quarterfinals. Godrej Club, Chetna Club, Videocon XI, Kelvinator XI, ICC, Gymkhana Club, CNS Evergreen of Dera Bassi, LIC, Mohali Cricket Club and Panther CC are expected to play in the tournament. Entries close with Mr Kamal Mehra, SCO 48, Sector 17-E.

ADMINISTRATION

HUDA drive against water offenders
Tribune News Service

PANCHKULA, April 24—On account of low water pressure owing to illegal water connections by people from “across the border” in Sector 19, which shares its boundary with Punjab, the Haryana Urban Development Authority has taken serious view of the findings and launched an offensive against the offenders.

Within a span of four days, officials of the department have snapped four such connections of water pipelines and three sewerage connections in an area of about 100 yards.

Initially, at the time of planning of the sector, HUDA had laid water and sewerage pipes as a part of the development works carried out by them in the sector. However, later, a part of Haryana’s land went to Punjab during joint demarcation of boundaries of the two. Resultantly, a part of the pipeline network in the area went with that and dismantling of these was not undertaken though these were made non-functional.

Meanwhile, colonisers of Punjab began development on their side and shops and residences sprouted in no time. These residents, HUDA officials claim, took to stealing the water of Haryana by illegal connections which invited a lot of complaints from the residents of Sector 19 and brought the problem into focus.

While establishing a “link” with the network is no problem since all it takes is digging up earth and “fixing” the problem, the officials contend that it exists right through the year but comes to light only in summer owing to water paucity. “The residents are not bothered during winter because low water pressure is not a complaint at that time of the year.

However, we are always on the lookout for water thefts by residents of Punjab and keep checking these off and on,” an official informed.

This year, too, residents brought in a similar complaint following which the Administrator, HUDA, Mr Abhilaksh Likhi, ordered the department concerned to identify the “problem spots” and carry out disconnections instantly which was first done on April 21 and then this morning.

Meanwhile, during the drive, the officials discovered that some residents on the side of Haryana were supplying water to the residents on the Punjab side with the help of PVC pipes.

For the time being they have been left with a warning, the department is contemplating registering FIRs against others found indulging in the practice.

Sector 6 gets tubewell
Tribune News Service

PANCHKULA, April 24 — One of the eight tubewells planned by the Haryana Urban Development Authority to ease the water pressure problem in the township was inaugurated at the Sector 6 water works by the Chief Administrator, HUDA, Mr N.C. Wadhwa, here today.

The tubewell, built at a cost of Rs 15 lakh, will pump out 1 million litres of water per day (MLD). While half of this will be directly pumped into the distribution system of Sector 6, the balance will be stored in the main distribution system.

The department has planned eight such tubewells which will bring additional 8 MLDs in the township and have been set up in sectors where either population pressure is more or water pressure is low and the demand exceeds supply.

While the installation of tubewells will increase the water supply by almost 20 per cent, HUDA officials maintain that the total consumption of water in the township is 50 MLDs. However, tubewells in the pockets identified will greatly solve the low pressure problem.

These will provide greater pressure to the residents of the sector during supply time and pump in water into the main water system for storage during non-supply time.

Though the tubewell is still running on a generator, the department has provided for an electric connection, which is likely to become functional in the next couple of days.

Sub-Registrar’s office computerised
From Our Correspondent

SAS NAGAR, April 24 — Computerisation was introduced at the Sub-Registrar’s office here today.

The system was inaugurated by Mr G.S. Grewal, Ropar Deputy Commissioner.

He said in accordance with the state government’s policy work was computerised in all four tehsils in the district from today. The cost of introducing the computer system in each tehsil was around Rs 1.54 lakh.

Mr Grewal said the main aim of computerisation was to bring about speedy registration and transparency and curb corruption.

He said during 1999-2000 there was an increase of 33 per cent in stamp duty and other revenue-related duties. In the current financial year there would be a rise of 20 per cent to 30 per cent over last year’s figure.

The rates of different types of land like agricultural, residential and commercial have been fixed for various villages and localities and fed into the computer. The system automatically calculates the minimum registry rates, helping to check the loss of revenue.

The system covers various types of deeds like sale, mortgage, will special power of attorney and gift. The salient features of the software include storage of photographs, printing of photographs and endorsements, creation of index registers and maintenance of a permanent record of deeds on CD-ROM.

The public will now be able to get registration done on the spot through a single window service. The photographs of sellers, buyers and witnesses can be taken and stored in the computer and also printed on the reverse side of deeds. This will help avoid fraud.