Children examined for mental retardation
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 26 — About 110 children and youngsters in the age group of three to 25 years were examined during the third mental retardation awareness and detection camp organised at the Government Senior Secondary School, Mani Majra, here yesterday.

According to Prof B.S. Chavan, Joint Director, Government Institute for Mentally Retarded Children, Sector 32, teachers of government schools of Mani Majra and adjoining areas were trained about a month back to screen school going children for their mental health.

The teachers on the basis of the proforma designed by the institute identified 110 such youngsters who were examined at the camp by a team of 30 experts which included doctors, psychologists, special educators, speech and physiotherapists and social workers. According to Professor Chavan, experts were able to identify 20 children suffering from mild, moderate and severe retardation.

Twenty borderline cases were also identified who as per the experts had the intelligence quotient (IQ) between 70 to 90. As per Professor Chavan, these cases were neither able to fit in the normal or special schools for the mentally challenged .

For such cases, he recommended that government should draft special education policy so that these children could be adjusted in separate sections of normal schools so that they can at least reach up to class VIII to X with special care and education and become productive part of the society.

The experts also identified 70 youngsters who despite having normal IQ had difficulty in learning due to disability in speech or other problems and required family and emotional counselling.

With 20 more mentally challenged children identified, the ever growing waiting list for admission to the Government Institute for Mentally Retarded Children, Sector 32, has risen to 70 now. The institute, at present, has 170 students.

Professor Chavan said that with the UT Adviser, Ms Neeru Nanda, having agreed for providing space in the Prayas building in Sector 32, there is every hope that the institute would soon have an extension where the children in the waiting list could be accommodated.

The highlight of today’s programme was a play by the students of the nursing college about the causes and misconceptions of mental retardation.

PUDA ‘tampering’ with road plan
Tribune News Service

SAS NAGAR, Feb 26 — Residents of Sector 71, adjoining Mataour village have alleged that the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA) was tampering with original planning of a road to be laid on the outer side of the village. They pointed out that the alignment of the road had been intentionally changed to benefit certain persons.

By changing the alignment of a section of the road the PUDA has to uproot streetlight poles and other facilities laid there. Certain affected residents of Matour village have already complained to the Additional Chief Administrator (ACA), SAS Nagar, Mr Dipinder Singh.

Due to the change in alignment of the road the completion of the dividing road of Sectors 70 and 71 was being delayed, said Lt Col S.S. Sohi (retd), general secretary of the Rashtriya Raksha Dal. A contractor entrusted with the job of laying the storm water drain along the dividing road had removed several trucks of earth resulting in stagnation of dirty water there. The storm water collection chambers on the road were lying uncovered.

He lamented that instead of improving the basic amenities in the sector, the PUDA had carpeted sections of roads in front of an SDO of the local civic body. Encroachments on open space in the sector were rampant. Cleaning of road berms and developing parks has also been demanded by the residents.

Jalali’s assurance to MC employees
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 26 — Employees of the Municipal Corporation who were transferred from the UT Administration have finally knocked the doors of the Union Home Ministry at North Block, New Delhi, to ensure that they were considered to be on deputation to the civic body.

Municipal Councillor and BJP spokesperson Ranjana Shahi, who took a delegation of the MC employees to Delhi met the Additional Union Home Secretary and incharge for Chandigarh, Mr P. K. Jalali, on Friday in this regard. Over 5000 such employees who were transferred to the MC, when it came into being four-and -a-half years back are likely to be treated on deputation to the MC, once the necessary amendment in the Act is affected. An assurance to this effect was given by the Additional Secretary (Home), Mr P.K Jalali, who, according to Ms Shahi, agreed to the demand of the employees in principle.

Mr Jalali is reported to have told them that the process of mooting the suitable amendment in the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, as extended to Chandigarh will be initiated shortly and the bill will in all probability be introduced in the forthcoming monsoon session of Parliament.

The Chairman of the ITI Qualified Workers Association, Mr Piara Singh Kang, said that ever since they had been transferred to MC, they had been demanding that they be treated on deputation and not as employees of the MC. A legal opinion had been sought on the issue wherein the Legal Remembrancer had indicated that for doing so a suitable amendment was required in the MC Act.

Ever since their transfer, they have been agitating and staging protests to get their demand implemented but the authorities concerned did not pay any heed to them.

The other members of the delegation included the vice-president and general secretary of the ITI Qualified Workers Association, Mr Pawan Kumar and Mr Daljeet Singh.

MC drive against illegal entries
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 26 — The Municipal Corporation has intensified its drive against all those who have been misusing the municipal land and green belt areas by having rear doors there. The enforcement staff removed two such back doors of a house opening in the green belt of Sector 21, behind the Nehru Yuvak Kendra, today.

Sources reveal that while one door was closed by the residents themselves, the other was closed by the authorities as they had not done the needful even after a notice had been served upon them. Officials maintain that to begin with the emphasis is on checking such encroachments in the developed green belts in Sectors 20, 21, 15, 16 and parts of Sector 40 and 41.

As many as 70-80 notices have already been issued by the Horticulture Wing and Roads Division, MC, asking the defaulters, who have opened the back door of their houses into green belts or have other illegal entries to close the same within a period of seven days. The notice further says that if they fail to do so, the MC would do the needful and recover the cost of the same from the owners by deducting the amount from their water meter bills. Of the 80 odd notices, 50 have been issued to violators of in Sector 40-A. The remaining have been issued in Sectors 8,16, 20 and 21.

The drive will continue and subsequently action will also be taken against all those who make such openings even in small parks.

Paper leak scam probe completed
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 26 — The Vigilance Department of the local office of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has just completed an inquiry into the paper leak scam for the Junior Telecom Officers (JTO’s).

The BSNL (then the Department of Telecom (DoT) conducted a test for the JTOs at all district headquarters in Punjab. Allegations were levelled that one question paper was less when the bundle of question papers was opened at Amritsar.

The Divisional Engineer, Phones (vigilance), Mr A.S. Hundal, when contacted confirmed that the inquiry was complete and has been submitted to senior officials for further action.