SPORT

Shuttlers all smiles now
By Arvind Katyal

CHANDIGARH, Nov 13 — A pleasant smile greeted young badminton players aspiring to play in the forthcoming nationals when they found the three courts, including a new one at the Sector 42 Indoor badminton hall, the venue for the Junior National Badminton Championships beginning from November 15 with qualifying rounds, ready to play.

Isha Sharma, Mala Gaba and Parnita Verma, who were present at the centre, said they were allowed to play in the newly laid hova (synthetic) courts, in the court number one and two. The newly laid wooden court, number three, was not looking better than the other two. The UT Engineering Department though swung late into action, but they met the deadline since two days were left.

Though the finishing touches were being given for its face-lift, the things still required to be undertaken by the departments concerned, including work relating to horticulture and road repairs. Mr Rajiv Tuli, badminton coach, UT, was seen taking help of young players in laying badminton courts, nets and other markings required for the match.

Mr D.K. Mukerjee, the founder of the Chandigarh Badminton Association, thanked the CBA to organise the tournament and allocating Rs 12 lakh for this.

Mr T.P.S. Puri, organising secretary, said the third hova courts would be ready by tomorrow. The two hova courts were arranged from Delhi through the corporate office of the Sports Authority of India. Mr Puri said a full- fledged media centre equipped with all modern facilities would start functioning from November 15.

The chief referee, Mr S. Murlidharan of Kerala, who has been deputed by the Badminton Association of India, will be reaching here tomorrow. The players for the qualifying matches of singles will start coming from tomorrow.

Sports meet:
It was a gala time for students of Blue Bird Model School, Sector 16, Panchkula, when they assembled to celebrate the annual sports meet on the school premises. There were items like oath-taking ceremony, march past, block race, sack race, bucket race, lemon race, chatti race, ring race, slow cycling, needle and thread race. The chief guest, Ms Anita Dhankar, Chairperson, Women Development Corporation, Haryana, gave away prizes.

Cricket tourney:
Four teams namely of Government Institute for Mentally Retarded Children, Chandigarh, Navjyoti and Arpan from New Delhi and Jeevan Jyoti from Nabha entered the semi-finals of the North Zone Cricket Tournament organised at various places in Chandigarh.

ITBP sports meet from Nov 15
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 13 — The Indo-Tibetan Border Police will hold its 20th Inter-Sector Annual Sports Meet along with the First Boxing Championship at the Basic Training Centre, Bhanu, near here, from November 15 to 18.

According to a statement issued here today, as many as 250 athletes from seven sectors will participate in the meet. Nearly 100 boxers are also expected to participate in the championship.

Demonstrations of karate, Judo, ribbon PT and tattoo show as well as a cultural programme will also be organised during the meet, which will be inaugurated by the DIG, Himachal Sector, Mr B. L. Handa.

ADMINISTRATION

MHA got posts delinked: Admn
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 13 — The Chandigarh Administration has said that the delinking of the post of Secretary, Medical Education and Research, from the post of Director Principal, GMCH, Sector 32, was carried out at the behest of directions issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

It was incorrect to say that anything had been done at the local level and the same has been wrongly reported in a section of the press. The MHA had issued the directions for proper administrative functioning and had said the arrangement of dual charge be terminated. The MHA also said specifically that the charge of the post of Secretary, MER, be assigned to the Health Secretary.

A spokesperson of the Administration today said reports in a section of the media that the question of any officer having played a role in influencing the decision of the MHA were incorrect. Any imputation of motives to any officer of the Administration, which have appeared in a section of the press, were baseless, unwarranted and unjustified.

Meanwhile, independent sources in the Chandigarh Administration pointed out that the MHA might have been forced to pass the orders after the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) also expressed reservations about Prof V.K. Kak, the Director Principal of the GMCH, being a part of the selection process, being Secretary, MER.

Nine sites for IT towers identified
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, Nov 13 — A high-level meeting to decide the future course of action regarding the proposed information technology (IT) towers was held at Raj Bhavan here this evening. Senior officials of the Chandigarh Administration also attended the meeting.

Already nine sites where six-storey high information technology (IT) towers will come up have been identified by the Chandigarh Administration and the authorities have asked CITCO to advertise in the newspapers about the IT towers and look for prospective partners for the project.

The nine sites are located in Sector 47-C and 47-D. The city’s present limit of six storeys is being maintained, said sources. Already the Architecture Department has cleared the zoning plans for the buildings and have laid down blue print as to where will be the location of various services in each building.

The interested parties, who will be investing in these towers will be told in advance about these services and the space which can be leased out. The space in the IT towers will be marketed with the entire concept of Chandigarh and its benefits as small compact city well connected with Delhi.

CITCO will prepare a comprehensive plan for the IT towers project and also implement it besides inviting leading IT companies to set up their units in these towers. Recently Administration officials had also met a Singapore based corporation for the IT towers.

100 unauthorised structures removed
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 13 — More than 100 unauthorised structures, extending up to the road berms in Indira Colony, Mani Majra were removed by the anti-enforcement wing, UT as today.

These structures had to be removed as the road in the area is being widened and recarpeted by the Municipal Corporation authorities. The encroachments in the form of extended rooftops, hedges were demolished by bulldozers during the drive. The Inspectors of the MC were assisted by the police, who cleared the road of encroachments in four to five hours.

Confusion over DSP’s appointment continues
Tribune News Service

SAS NAGAR, Nov 13 — The confusion over the appointment of the new Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Mr Amarjeet Singh Bajwa, against a non-existent post in the SAS Nagar Subdivision continued today with the local police officers refusing to say anything on the matter. The SSP, Mr GPS Bhullar, was not available for comments.

It could not be ascertained how the work load would be divided between the two DSP’s. It may be pertinent to mention that the new DSP has been posted in addition to a Superintendent of Police, Mr B.S. Randhawa and Deputy Superintendent of Police, City, Mr Sukhwant Singh Gill. There was only one sanctioned post of a SP and a DSP in the sub-division.