HEALTH

Symposium on malaria at NIPER
Tribune News Service

SAS NAGAR, Nov 3 — Malaria continues to be the third major infectious disease afflicting the mankind and development of drug resistance was posing a big challenge, said Dr Prati Pal Singh, Associate Professor in the Department of Biotechnology at National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) at the inaugural session of a two-day symposium on “ Malaria 2000” which started in the institute here today.

The symposium was dedicated to the memory of late Prof PCC Garnham by Dr Nitya Anand, a former Director of CDRI, Lucknow. A number of scientists, researchers and academicians are participating in the symposium to share the recent advances and present their findings in the area of clinical use of recently developed drugs and immunity to malaria.

Dr Anand in his address said in the endemic areas malaria killed a child every 12 seconds. The child- hood deaths, resulting mainly from cerebral malaria and anemia constitute nearly 25 per cent of child mortality in Africa. He said the problem of the malarial parasite to anti- malaria drugs available in the market was a big challenge for scientists. Discovery of new entities which were effective in resistant strains was important.

Dr Singh said malaria was a disease of the developing countries.

The trans-national pharmaceutical companies though aware of the therapeutic needs were reluctant to make serious investment because of poor returns in a short span of five to seven years. It was here the responsibility of national- level institutes to find solution came in to focus.

Earlier, Prof HPS Chawla, acting director of NIPER also spoke. During the two-day symposium, detailed discussions on issues like chemotherapy of malaria and development of anti-malarial drugs will be held. 

Paediatricians’ conference inaugurated
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 3— The first day of the main conference of the millennium meet of the Indian Association of Paediatric Surgeons was a special day for its organising secretary, Prof K.L.N.Rao, Head, Paediatric Department at the PGI. He watched with pride the little baby, he had operated upon almost 10 years back for a congenital disorder, present a bouquet of flowers to the chief guest on this occasion. “It certainly gives me immense pleasure to see the little lady bloom like flower.You know she is a business partner with her father and also models for his products,” he added with pride.

The youngster was born with a disorder called colostomy and was referred to Dr Rao after a general surgeon at Delhi could not do a reconstructive surgery on her. “It was fairly unknown surgery at that time in the country,” says Dr Rao who in his 27 years of career, operated upon as many as 2000 children every year. The doctor and his young once-upon-a-time patient are good friends who regularly keeping touch by way of letters and telephone calls.

Today, the young girl had been invited specially tobe a part of the inaugural ceremony of the five-day conference organised by the Advanced Paediatric Center at the PGI.

The conference was inaugurated by Prof S. K.Sharma, Director, PGI. He spoke on how the advances have taken place in endoscopic equipment and procedures in children to make surgical procedures easier for the children. He also dwelled on human genome, which in future could make for complex diseases to be treated by simple molecular or genetic therapy.

Dr I.C.Pathak, president of the association while welcoming the delegates from India and abroad, gave a brief overview of how paediatric surgery in India had advanced from 1962 onwards. 

Cycle rally for polio awareness
Tribune News Service

PANCHKULA, Nov 3—As many as 900 students from 10 schools participated in a cycle rally and slogan writing contest organised by the Rotary Club, here today, as part of the drive to create awareness on pulse polio.

Similarly, a rally of school children was held at Pinjore by the Rotary Pinjore Hills Club which saw a participation of six schools. The students carrying posters and banners marched through the streets. A poster-making contest was also held. 

SPORT

Ashwini Mehta’s team lead bridge championships
From Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Nov 3 — Ashwini Mehta’s team from Delhi is heading the field of 25 teams in the team of Four Duplicate event in the inaugural All India Chandigarh Open Bridge championships which got underway here today morning at the Skating Rink, Sector 10. Earlier the three-day championships was inaugurated by Mr M. Ramsekhar, Deputy Commissioner cum Director Sports, UT.

At the end of the third round of the six round qualifying swiss league, they picked up 68 victory points out of a total of 75. They outscored the challenges posed by first Sidhu H. Chandigarh by 24-1 victory points, then by the Central Secretariat Club, Delhi were beaten at 20-10 and in the third match against Oberoi’s team of Chandigarh at 24-1.

Hara, of Patiala who aggregated 60 victory points after three rounds are facing Mehta’s in the fourth. Earlier they shared their first match at 15-15 points with Tayal, but scored comprehensive wins of 23-2 over Ramesh of Chandigarh and at 22-3 points over ONGC, Dehradun.

With eight teams to qualify for the quarter-finals round robin, the run for qualification was just hotting up. The others in the order of rank were, Brig Batra, Kanpur, Dehradun ‘A’ both with 54 victory points, SD Sharma, Dehradun (50 points) and three other Chandigarh teams.

Haryana cricket tourney

Panchkula outplayed Faridabad by 70 runs in the Haryana State Inter district Cricket Tournament for the under 16 (Rajinder Goel) trophy held at Panipat today.

Brief scores: Panchkula: 197 runs for nine in 35 overs (Umesh Kaira 47, Sunny Sharma 42, Vishal Sahni 24, Vidit Kataria 18, Lokesh 2 for 10,Vikram 2 for 15)

Faridabad — 127 all out in 29.2 overs (Dharmendra 42, Rahul 31, Karan Kashyap 3 for 14, Umesh 4 for 12).

Now Panchkula will play its quarter final match against Panipat on November 5.

UT school cricket tourney

Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 35 defeated Sanjay Public School, Sector 44 by 37 runs while DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8 beat Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 27 by eight wickets in the UT Inter School Cricket Tournament for ‘Shivalik Trophy’ played here at the Sector 16 cricket stadium today.

Winning medals is her habit
By Arvind Katyal

CHANDIGARH, Nov 3 — Meet, Sabeeha Dhillon, a class XII student of Bhavan Vidyalaya School, Sector 27, who did it again, this time, by winning the gold medal in the air rifle event at the All-India inter school shooting championship, Kumar Surender Singh Memorial meet which concluded recently at Ghaziabad.

More than 200 shooters drawn from all over India took part in the meet. Sabeeha scored 383 out of 400 which was a new record in the school shooting while for last year it was 370 also scored by Sabeeha. She carries with her a good record of winning national junior title in air rifle held at Phillaur last year.

Sabeeha early this year had taken part in the Invitational Air Weapons parts Championship- Munich-2000, where 41 countries took part in the five-day meet and more than 100 participants vied for top honours. Sabeeha finished 20th with a score of 389 out of 400 whereas the top shooter scored 396. Though the difference was only of seven points yet many were bracketed with identical score.

Sabeeha who is a vegetarian said these days she had to balance between studies and sports as her class XII was quite taxing . At present she practices for two hours in the morning, then to the school, then again to shooting in the afternoon for three hours, then studies, before going to sleep.

Sabeeha who is 17, had also gone to Czech Republic early this year for another international shooting tournament.

Her father Iqbal Singh Dhillon himself a shooter of repute said that the Hungarian Coach Lazslo Szuvask’s guidance was quite absorbing for Sabeeha. Sabeeha’s mother, who takes care of her diet requirements, said unless one manage the sportschild properly, it was not possible to produce champions.

Sabeeha will be taking part in the National Shooting Championship starting at Phillaur (Punjab) from November 16.

ADMINISTRATION

Plan to honour weaker families of gallantry awardees
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 3 — The Punjab Govern-ment will honour 11 economically weaker families of gallantry awardees each year. The first such function will be held at Jalandhar on December 1.

Stating this here, the Punjab Finance Minister, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, said that the families would be given an assistance of Rs 2 lakh each. The function will be organised jointly by the Small Savings Department and the Directorate of Sainik Welfare.

The Finance Minister added that the committee for the selection of eligible gallantry awardees had been constituted and the final selection in this regard would be done soon. The committee comprises Director, Sainik Welfare, Director, Small Savings, Maj-Gen Tarlochan Singh (retd), Maj-Gen Gurdial Singh (retd) and Honorary Capt Mehnga Singh (retd). Two more members of the committee would be announced soon.

The scheme was announced by the Finance Minister at a public meeting organised recently on the occasion of Saragarhi day celebrations at Ferozepore. Punjab has about 1,600 families of officers, JCOs and other ranks who have won gallantry awards during various military operations. Some of the families are facing hardships due to financial constraints.

MC to become consumer-friendly
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 3 — If the resolutions adopted by the Water Supply and Sewerage Disposal Committee of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation at its meeting held here today are anything to go by, the residents will shortly have little problem regarding water leakage, water meter installation and sewage blockade. The committee which met here today, proposed a consumer-friendly scheme to redress all these problems.

According to chairperson of the committee, Ms Ranjana Shahi, beginning next Monday, the problems related to replacement of water meter would be redressed by one call. So all you have to do in case of any problem is call 746118 in the MC which will depute its persons to test the meter and replace it if needed.

It was informed at the meeting that all chronic leakage points of the 450-km-long water pipelines of the city, which required treatment, had been identified. In most of these cases, the pipeline has bulged due to depression on the surface, as a result of which, despite repair, these points are under constant stress. As per the new plan, the road surface around the pipes will be raised allowing the pipes to be depressed so that they don’t break with the passage of heavy vehicles.

In another important development today, three private agencies have been shortlisted with a view to awarding contract for the replacement and repair of water meters. This step has been taken to overcome the problem of staff shortage within MC. The said agencies will become operational from November 15.

Ms Shahi also suggested the officials to request the Telecom Department for allotment of a simple telephone number on which all water-related problems can be redressed.

The committee was also informed that total collection of the sewage cess in the city came to about Rs 3.75 lakh per month. Decks were also cleared for purchase of a Rs 12.99 lakh sewer cleaning machine for Manimajra, besides the two already existing ones. Also on the anvil is the purchase of a booster-cum-storage pump worth Rs 2.33 lakh for multi-storeyed house in Sector 41 B. It was also suggested to identify the multi-storey belts in the city where the water pressure needed to be maintained. Moreover persons responsible for the road gully blockages will also be penalised.

Maintenance of street lights to be privatised
By Rajmeet Singh
Tribune News Service

SAS NAGAR, Nov 3 — After mooting a proposal to partially privatise the water supply and sewerage in the town, the SAS Nagar Municipal Council has decided to privatise the maintenance of street lighting in the town. At least 40 or 50 points at different points of the town have been identified by the civic body which would be passed over to private hands.

Under the move the power lines laid exclusively at cost of the civic body and being used independently for street lights would be looked after by a private contractor. Though the exact amount to be paid to the contractor to maintain the lights was being worked out, sources said the terms and conditions being adopted by the Municipal Corporation of Patiala to pass on the street lights to private hands had been studied.

The administrator of the civic body has already written to the Local Government Department in this regard. Presently the maintenance was being done by the staff of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) and the council had to pay around Rs 1.25 lakh per month to the former. A clause in an agreement between the board and the council while taking connection of a street light necessitated that the maintenance be done by the board. While the officials of the board said the agreement was done under the Indian Electricity Act.

The officials of the council on the other hand said the Engineer-in-Chief ( Commercial) of the board had issued certain instructions to his subordinates to hand over the maintenance of lines which had been exclusively constructed at the cost of the civic bodies and the lines which were being used independently for street lights.

The sources said the process to hand over the street light to private hands would begin soon after a green singal was received from the Local Government Department. The street light have been classified in to five different categories - sodium lamps 70 W , 150 W, 125 W, 150 W and tubelight lit street lights.

Meanwhile, the Local Government Department has asked the civic body to provide details about its plan to adjust the persons who became free after the water supply and sewerage in Industrial Area (from Phase 6 to Phase 9) was passed on to privater hands.

Brig Kalha takes charge
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 3 — Brig R.S. Kalha yesterday took over as Deputy Director General, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh NCC Directorate here.

Prior to this, he was Brigadier Operations and Logistics at Headquarters Southern Command.

He takes over from Brig R K Mehra, who has been appointed as Chief Instructor, College of Combat, Mhow.

Commissioned into the Regiment of Artillery in June 1966, Brigadier Kalha took active part in the 1971 Indo-Pak war and has the distinction of serving in all theatres of action including counter-insurgency and high altitude operations in Jammu and Kashmir.

Besides several prestigious staff and instructional appointments, Brigadier Kalha has also served as defence adviser in Malaysia.

Catching them in their nappies
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 3 — Catch them in their nappies. That's the game plan the Chandigarh police proposes to adopt for preventing "the young innocents" from violating traffic rules. No, the intention is not to challan the "free birds on the wheels" but to teach them "some traffic sense".

You may not believe it but the police is "actually serious about the whole affair". The strategy has already been chalked out. For the first time, perhaps, the "men in white" will be going to nursery schools every now and then to tell tiny-tots about stop lines, red lights and using dipper at night.

"Kids will be learning all about traffic along with ABC and table manners," says Chandigarh Inspector General of Police B.S. Bassi adding "we hope to inculcate road safety sense in their psyche through cartoon films and songs".

The cops also plan to take the children to the Traffic Park in Sector 23. "They will be taught to look before they proceed, ride cycles on roads and stop at the traffic lights," elaborates a senior police officer. "The idea is to make sure that even a child of five can understand the rules governing free flow of traffic and rebuke his father every time he breaks the law", he explains.

The process has already started, claims the IGP. "About 150 kids of a Mohali school are being trained at the Traffic Park nowadays. We will be continuing with the programme in future also", he says.

The police is also considering another suggestion of getting a chapter on traffic management included in the curriculum. "We want them to realise that traffic is no child's play," he stresses.

Pollution checking drive from Nov 7
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 3 — Starting from November 7, a special drive to check pollution levels of automobiles being used in Chandigarh will be carried out jointly by the State Transport Authority and the Chandigarh traffic police.

On October 24, the STA had given 15 days to all automobile owners to get a ‘‘ pollution under control’’ certificate. The drive will cover three-wheelers, trucks, transport vehicles, private cars, two-wheelers and buses.

The STA has asked members of the public to ensure that their vehicles have the "pollution under control" certificates from the authorised pollution centres. Any vehicle, which will be detected without this certificate will be challaned and action taken as per the provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act.

Dr Sethi adviser to National Book Trust
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 3 — Dr G.S.Sethi , a former fellow of the Panjab University senate, has been appointed as a member of the advisory panel of the National Book Trust of India for a period of a three years.

A press note said the noted historian and linguist has been appointed a member of the panel for the Punjabi section.

Dr Sethi is also a member of the general council of the Punjab State University Text Book Board.

Only ‘original’ forms valid for passport
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 3—The Regional Passport Office has discontinued the use of the copy of the passport form with an immediate effect from today. The office will be accepting the printed forms only which will be available for Rs 10 each.

This information was given by the Public Relation Officer, of the RPO, Mr Jagdish Chand, here today. He said that the office had been accepting the photostat forms due to the shortage of original forms. But from now onwards the practice has been stopped.

The original forms can be had from the Regional Passport Office counter, a special counter at General Post Office, Sector 17, Jain Law Book Store, Sector 17 and Royal Education Consultant Private Limited, Sector 22.

MC Administrator is convener
Tribune News Service

SAS NAGAR, Nov 3 — The Administrator of the SAS Nagar Municipal Council has been appointed as convener for holding the election to the post of the President of the civic body. The date for holding the election is already scheduled for November 15. Information about the meeting was being sent at the residence of the municipal councillors by the convener. The district administration has appointed the DTO, Ropar, as the observer for smooth conduct of the election.

In case the date of holding the election of president was postponed, as apprehended by certain councillors, all councillors would again be informed by the convener.