SPORT

Neha, Simmer enter semis
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, April 26 — Neha Singh, Yuvraj Chowdhry, Harneet Singh and Simmer of Chandigarh entered the last four in their respective events in the All-India Ranking Juniors tennis tournament at Amritsar today.

In the quarter-finals, Neha beat Neha Rana of Delhi 6-3, 6-1 in under-14 section, while in under-16, she defeated Bhavna of Andhra Pradesh 6-7, 6-2, 6-2. Her sister Simmer defeated Satvika Saboo of Chandigarh 6-2, 6-2 in under-16 section, while she lost to Parul Goswamy in under-14 section. In boys under-14 section, Yuvraj Chowdhry overpowered Jitin Bishnoi of Haryana 2-6, 6-2, 6-0, while Harneet Singh downed Raghav Nanda of Delhi 6-4, 6-2.

Under-14 cricket: Panchkula coaching centre and Chandigarh Coaching centre, sector 16, overpowered Mohali coaching centre and MBS, Patiala, respectively, in the under-14 cricket tournament, which began here today.

In the first match, Gaurav and Mandeep gave a solid start to Mohali CC. Gaurav and Yadwinder put up a five-wicket stand of 154 runs. Mohali CC scored 220 for 6 in 35 overs. In reply, Panchkula CC achieved the target with two wickets in hand. Middle order batsmen V. Dutt and Dhanol Lekhi contributed 72 and 54 runs, respectively.

In the second match, Sidharth of Chandigarh CC scored 82 runs with 11 boundaries. MBS were all out for 105 runs, with Munish claiming 4 wickets for 17 runs.

Brief scores: first match — Mohali CC: 220 for 6 in 35 overs (Gaurav 107, Yadwinder 47, Mandeep 20, Gaurav Chopra 3 for 35); Panchkula CC: 220 for 8 in 35 overs (V. Dutt 47, Dhanol Lekhi 72 n.o., Karamdeep 20, Satwinder 4 for 43); second match — Chandigarh CC: 187 in 35 overs (Sidharth 82, Munish 24, Karan 20, Harwinder 2 for 40); MBS:105 in 19.2 overs (Gurinder 26, Tarun 32, Karan 2 for 10, Munish 4 for 17).

School playgrounds: The playgrounds of Government Senior Secondary School, Dhanas, were developed for football, volleyball, handball, kabaddi and kho-kho by officials and coaches of the UT sports department. Mr D.S. Saroya, DPI (Schools), and Mr J.P.S. Sidhu, Joint Director Sports, also took part.

A few days back, the playgrounds of Government High School, Kajheri, were cleaned. It was decided to provide essential equipment for coaching centres which would come up at such schools in morning session.

New diploma courses: Lt-Col B.S. Ahluwalia, Executive Director (Academics), Sports Authority of India, National Institute of Sports, Patiala, has told this reporter about starting new diploma courses in sports coaching, including fencing and handball, for the present academic session at Patiala.

A few years back, the course was increased to two years. In 1998, it was again reduced to be of one year duration. There are other sports which need the attention of the authorities. One of the parents of a national-level roller skater said they had to depend only on players-turned-coaches. There are other sports like chess, carrom and ball badminton, where players find it difficult to get good training and they depend on senior players.

Shooting has immense potential, considering the achievements of Indian shooters. Colonel Ahluwalia said they also had a two-year postgraduate course in sport medicine at the Patiala centre of SAI.

Maldives has upcoming shuttlers: Puri
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, April 26 — Mr T.P.S. Puri, a former national badminton coach who is now on the expert panel of the International Badminton Federation, has returned to the city after a three-week Olympic solidarity course in badminton at Male in Maldives.

A total of 22 coaches of Maldives attended the course, out of which three qualified for intermediate level and thirteen for basic level, while six failed. Mr Zaheer Nasar, President of the National Olympic Committee, and Mr Moosa, the national badminton coach, were also present. Mr Puri said the country had upcoming badminton players, while football was the most popular sport.

Regarding the methods of coaching, he said it included theory and practical, with aerobic and anaerobic, physical conditioning and stroke practice and other exercises. He added that the top four players in men and women were also called to see the training.

He claimed that he was also invited to train the national team of Sri Lanka for the Asian Badminton Confederation Championships, to be held later this year. Sri Lanka also agreed to send the team of juniors to Chandigarh. Mr Puri said the report of the present course would be sent to the Asian Badminton Confederation and the International Badminton Federation.

ADMINISTRATION

New HUDA tubewell to pump out one million litres of water a day
Tribune News Service

PANCHKULA, April 26—The second of the eight tubewells planned by the Haryana Urban Development Authority to ease the water pressure in the township was inaugurated at the Sector 16 by the Administrator (Headquarters), HUDA, Mr Anurag Aggarwal, here today.

Built at a cost of Rs 15 lakh, the tubewell will pump out one million litres of water per day (MLD). While half of this will be directly pumped into the distribution system of Sector 16, the balance will be stored in the main distribution system.

Residents of the sector also can to attend the inaugural function of the tubewell. While interacting with the officials of HUDA, they explained that water pressure was low in the pocket where the tubewell had been established and that water had failed to reach residents even on the first floor.

The officials assured the residents that the additional tubewell would provide greater water pressure to their sector during supply time while the tubewell would pump in water into the main water system for storage during non-supply time.

Also, by the time the next tubewell was inaugurated in the township, the officials stated that they would be in a position to secure an electric connection for the function since there were not enough generators to cater to all eight tubewells.

Though this tubewell is still running on a generator, the department has provided for an electric connection which is likely to become functional in the coming days. An independent feeder line and transformer for round-the-clock supply of power for running the tubewells has been ensured.

Meanwhile, the Administrator, Mr Abhilaksh Likhi, said that the team of officials appointed to attend to the water problem has already started checking for water pumps by residents on pipelines, indiscriminate use and water wastage at construction sites and use of water in the mornings for washing of cars and watering of lawns. Any violation of orders could mean issuance of challans or even disconnection of supply.

Station masters hold meeting
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 26 — The All-India Station Masters Association (Ambala Division) held its annual general meeting at Ambala yesterday.

The station masters demanded that supervisors be placed above the supervisor and designated the station manager grade. No station master be roostered for more than 12 hours. Continuous duties at night be avoided at a stretch and the working hours be reduced to 40 a week. All this was required for the safety of the travelling public. They further asked that their cadre and that of the Assistant Station Master be integrated into one and a uniform promotional avenue be provided. The association has sought a minimum basic pay of Rs 5000.

Around 100 station master of the Ambala Railway Division attended the meeting. The following have been elected new office-bearers: Divisional President — Mr O.P. Verma (station master, Rampura Phul); Divisional Secretary — Mr D.P. Singh (station master, Sirhind) and Divisional Finance Secretary — Mr Anirudh Kalia (station master, Jagadhari).

Vigilance Officers discuss corruption
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 26 — Corruption has vitiated various systems in society and brought contempt for the law. This observation was made at a meeting of the Vigilance Officers of the Chandigarh Administration held here today. It was decided that the Central Vigilance Committee would take bold initiatives to expose corruption and take the fight to its logical conclusion against those who are known corrupt officials, according to a Press note of the Chandigarh Administration.

Neeru Nanda new head of CHB
By Prabhjot Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 26 — Ms Neeru Nanda, an IAS officer of the AGMU (UT) cadre, belonging to the 1971 batch, will be the new Chairperson of the Chandigarh Housing Board. She will relieve Mr Rakesh Singh, Finance Secretary, of the additional charge.

The post has been lying vacant ever since the Union Home Ministry recalled Mr Balbir Singh, also an IAS officer of the AGMU cadre, some months ago. For the past several years, the post has been held by senior IAS officers of the AGMU cadre.

Earlier, the post of Chairman used to be filled from amongst technocrats, including retired Chief Architects and Chief Engineers of Chandigarh. Mr Surjit Singh, Mr J.S. Kohli and Mr S.S. Kohli, for example, were all technocrats who held this position.

In between, the post was also temporarily held by bureaucrats belonging to the Punjab cadre. For example, Mr Sewa Singh also held the charge of the board as Finance Secretary. Subsequently, Mrs Tejinder Kaur also held the additional charge of the board when she was Finance Secretary, Chandigarh Administration.

For the past five consecutive terms, only senior IAS officers of the AGMU cadre have been appointed here as Chairperson. They are Mr Pradeep Mehra,Mr M.P. Tyagi , Mrs Meenakshi Dutta Ghosh, Mr Balbir Singh and now Ms Neeru Nanda.

At times, the politicians have been raising a demand that the post should go to a local political worker. The demand was raised some years ago when Congress MP and subsequently Samajwadi Janata party MPs were elected from here.

Even this time, there was strong moves from the BJP circles here that the post should be filled by political appointment. The Union Home Ministry is reported to have considered all options before taking a decision last night to send Ms Nanda to Chandigarh as Chairperson of the board.

Incidentally, Ms Nanda, who is also the Chief Election Commissioner for both Chandigarh and Delhi, was here last night in connection with some dispute over notification of a defeated candidate for the Zila Parishad.

At present, the Chief Executive Officer of the board, Mrs Varsha Joshi, is also an IAS officer of the AGMU cadre. Sometime earlier, Mrs Asha Nayyar, another IAS officer of the AGMU cadre, also held the charge of the Chief Executive Officer of the board. Mrs Rinku Dugga, another young IAS officer of the UT cadre, served the board as its Secretary.