The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

HEALTH

500 patients examined
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Aug 31— More than 500 patients were examined and provided medicines free of cost at a medical check-up camp organised by the Lions Club (Vishal) at Shri Krishna Charitable Hospital yesterday.

ECG, X-ray and other clinical tests were conducted and medicines given to patients suffering from tuberculosis, asthma, typhoid and jaundice. As many as 51 patients were short-listed for adoption by the club for the treatment till recovery. The camp was inaugurated by Mr S.K.Sarin.

Mr V.K.Gupta, president, and Mr I.S. Khanna, secretary, assured that the club would organise similar camps in various parts of the city to render medical aid to the deserving patients. The club will organise a free dental check-up camp at Daaba Road Colony on the G.T.Road in the first week of September.

SPORT

City mourns death of Amarjeet Singh Grewal
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Aug 31 — Mr Amarjeet Singh Grewal, a well known personality in the field of rural sports promotion, passed away early this morning. He was just 38.

Working as a production assistant in Doordarshan, Jalandhar, he also worked for a lot of development programmes for his village, Gujjarwal.

Mr Grewal was the chairman of the Rural Sports Promotion Council, Punjab and chairman of the Gujjarwal Sport Club for the last 10 years.

He helped in almost all the development programmes of his village like opening an ITI with government aid and helped in bringing proper water supply to the village. He initiated the construction of a block level indoor stadium and open air stadium (which is under construction).

Acting Vice-Chancellor of PAU Dr K.S. Aulukh, said that Mr Grewal was a link between the university and Doordarshan and was involved in many promotional activities.

Dr Surjeet Singh Gill, Additional Director, PAU; Dr Gurbhajan Singh Gill, vice-president, Punjabi Sahit Academy; Mr Jaismer Singh Dhatt, chairman, Sabhyacharak Sathak; Mr Jaswant Singh Chhaapa, president, Baba Farid International foundation and others have expressed grief over the death of Mr Grewal.

Badminton teams selected
From A Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Aug 31 — The District Junior Badminton Teams (boys and girls) under-19 have been selected by the Ludhiana District Badminton Association. Mr R.S. Behal, general secretary of the association, said in a press note today that the teams would represent the district in the Punjab State Junior Badminton Championship, scheduled to be held from September 7 to 9 at Sangrur.The members of the boys team are: Dilpreet Singh, Iqbal Singh, Tauseef Ahmed, Ranbir Singh and Ramneek Sharma. The members of the girls team are: Balpreet Kaur, Harmeet Kaur, Rupinder Kaur, Prabhsimran Kaur and Saruchi.

ADMINISTRATION

Trees face axe for road widening
By Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, Aug 31 — The process of depleting the green cover near the Punjab Agricultural University ( PAU ) to facilitate the widening of the Shaheed Joginder Pal Pandey road began today. Twenty fully grown eucalyptus and other trees were uprooted and cut.

A total of 108 trees will vanish within a week’s time. The MC has gone ahead with the process of cutting the trees in spite of protests by environmentalists. According to the MC officials, the cutting drown of trees is an unavoidable step as the widening of the road is a long pending demand of the city’s residents. They have argued that a number of accidents have been occurring on the unwidened stretch of the road from Ferozepore road to the Kitchlu Nagar end of the university.

For the road widening purpose, the MC has acquired a road-side stretch of Hathi Complex, a residential colony of the PAU, and has in exchange given a portion of the adjoining Nehru Rose Garden to the university. Due to this exchange, a number of trees standing in the colony have also to be uprooted.

The MC has fetched a sum of Rs. 1.83 lakh from the auction of the trees. Around 10 labourers, armed with ropes, spades, hoe and shovels were seen uprooting and cutting the trees. The workers said the work was not a simple one as one of them has to climb the over 60-feet tall trees and tie a rope around the top part, which was then pulled down by a tractor. The workers said this was necessary as otherwise the trees would fall towards the road, which could be dangerous.

While the MC has gone ahead with the road widening process in spite of the protests by environmentalists, one of whom having sought help from Ms Maneka Gandhi, condemnation of the cutting of trees has poured in today as well. Mr Sham Singh Harika, a winner of the Indira Priyadarshni Vriksh Mitra Award, has condemned the act. He said the trees were almost 40-year-old and were nurtured with immense difficulty by the residents of the city. He said the corporation should have planned the construction in such a way that the trees formed the central verge of the road.

In earlier condemnation letters sent to Ludhiana Tribune, a number of residents have expressed resentment at the plan to cut the trees. The residents have demanded that if the MC has some interest in saving greenery of the place, some alternative should have been found.

Ensure unbiased development: ADC
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, Aug 31 — Mr S.R. Kaler, Additional Deputy Commissioner, today, directed the Block Development and Panchayat officers to ensure unbiased construction of roads and drains in villages of the district so that the number of such complaints reported in the weekly Sangat Darshan programme could be reduced.

Mr Kaler directed the officers concerned at the Sangat Darshan programme held at the Mini Secretariat here today. About three dozen complaints came up in the programme, the majority of which were settled on the spot. The ADC also referred some of the complainants to the officers concerned for speedy and time bound disposal of the complaints.

Mr Bakhtawar Singh of Malik village had complained that a drain being dug in their village was not properly designed. The ADC assured them of proper action in this regard.

The ADC also ordered the removal, within a week, of a liquor vend near the residence of Mr Surjit Singh of Tihara village. The resident had complained that he and his neighbours were facing difficulties due to the presence of the vend.

PSEB withdraws power cut in morning
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Aug 31 — Responding to a report on water and power scarcity in the city in Ludhiana Tribune on August 30, the PSEB has altered its power cut schedule and the cut imposed in the morning at 6 am for an hour or lesser duration has been withdrawn with immediate effect.

The Chief Engineer of the PSEB, Ludhiana circle, Mr A.S.Randhawa, said here today that he had taken up the matter with the Chief Engineer (Operations) at Patiala and asked for a change in the power cut schedule as disruption in the supply during early morning had led to acute scarcity of drinking water, besides throwing the normal life in the city out of gear.

The MC authorities had attributed the deteriorating water supply, particularly in the morning due to the power cut, which they said resulted in delayed running of tubewells and feeble pressure in the water mains when the demand was at its peak.