HEALTH

Professor Lal’s stress on the power of ‘Om’
Our Correspondent

A young boy strikes a complicated yoga posture.

Panchkula, March 12 Pranayama yoga cures many chronic ailments without any operation. Yoga is a way of life, but not the difficult postures of the body. This was stated by Prof M. Lal, a famous yoga exponent, at a function organised here yesterday to celebrate the birth of the late Yogiraj Swami Devi Dayal ji Maharaj. Professor Lal explained the importance and power of ‘Om’. With the proper reciting of this mantra, one acquires peace, power and solace. He said that one should avoid consuming saturated fat but should add roughage in it.  Yoga was a lifestyle, he added. The chief guest, Mr Dharam Vir, president, Indian Yoga Federation, and Commissioner and Secretary, Information and Technology, Food and Supplies, Haryana, said one should exercise one’s duty judiciously and earnestly.

He paid tributes to Swami Devi Dayal ji.

He declared the adoption of two ‘‘yoga children’’, Rakesh Jhakhar and Vishal of Misa village in Faridabad district. He sanctioned Rs 2000 each for a full year for the educational expenses of the children from the Haryana State Yoga Association, according to Mr M.L. Vairagi, general secretary, Haryana Yoga Sabha.

Mr S.K. Monga, Deputy Commissioner, Panchkula, presided over the function. He said that following the footsteps of Swami Devi Dayal ji would be a true tribute to swami ji.

Earlier, Rakesh, Vishal and Sangeeta demonstrated complicated yoga postures like Tandaw asana, Natraj asana, Hanuman asana and Kokila asana.

School health services to be strengthened
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 12
To involve teachers in the health care of schoolchildren, Department of Community Medicine, GMCH, Sector 32, and Department of Science and Technology, UT Administration, today initiated a project for strengthening school health services.

The training programme will help teachers in developing first-aid kits and recognising the common health problems. About 1 lakh children enrolled in the government schools are expected to benefit from the programme.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof S.B.S. Mann, Director-Principal, GMCH, emphasised upon school health services to be adequately developed as this would benefit more than 38 per cent of the population.

Prof H.M. Swami, Department of Community Medicine, GMCH, urged the school teachers to develop skills to understand the common medical problems faced by the children, whereas Dr Vikas Bhalla highlighted the objectives of the project.

Dr R.K. Marwaha, Additional Professor, Advanced Paediatric Centre, PGI, elaborated on the common childhood medical problems like anemia, asthma, worm infestion and fever. Prof Arjun Das, Head of the ENT Department, explained about epistaxsis, ear discharge, adenoids and tonsillitis. Dr Suresh Kumar from the eye department of the GMCH demonstrated to the teachers how to screen the children for vision defects by using Snellen’s chart.

Prof Sarla Malhotra stressed for discussions about sex education, contraceptives and menstruation while Dr Sudhir Kumar demonstrated the first aid measures to be taken in case of serious injuries and fractures. Dr Ram Singh elaborated on social stigma associated with epilepsy.

SPORT

DAV and MCM overall PU champions
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, March 12
MCM DAV College for women, Sector 36 Chandigarh with 383 points among the women’s section and DAV College, Sector 10 with 504.5 points among the men’s section bagged the overall championship at the annual sports prize distribution function of the Panjab University held today at the gymnasium hall of the Panjab University campus. The outstanding sportpersons drawn from different affiliated colleges of the university were present amidst a large gathering of guests, which included coaches. Dr S.K. Sharma, Director, PGI, gave away the prizes. Also present were Mr K.N. Pathak, Vice-Chancellor of Panjab University.

This year Panjab University fielded 23 men’s and 18 women’s teams in various inter-varsity meets, while at inter-college level, the Department of Sports conducted inter-college meets for men in 28 disciplines and in 22 disciplines for women. Panjab University also played host to various Inter-varsity meets such as, North-East Zone Kho Kho , North-East Zone Football (men), Inter-zone Football (Men), All India Inter-varsity hockey meet (women), North Zone and All India Inter-varsity badminton meet for men and women.

The positions at All India Inter-varsity level were: Judo ( women)1; swimming (men) 2; kho-kho (women) 1; Football (men)-1; hockey (women)1; badminton (women) 1; men- 4; volleyball (women) 4; handball (women) 3; cross country (women) 4; cycling (men) 3; gymnastics (men) 4; Yoga (men) 4; Softball (women) 2; men-2; pistol shooting (women) 3.

Individual golds attained in athletics (men) 2; judo (women) 4; judo (men) 1; swimming (men) 2; gymnastics (men) 1; Rhythmic gymnastics (women) 1; boxing (men) 1; Best physique (men) 1; Powerlifting( men) 1.

ADMINISTRATION

Mechanics told to remove boxes
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 12
The anti-encroachment staff today asked 25 mechanics of Sector 21 here to remove their boxes from near the shop area. Six of them removed their boxes today itself.

Earlier, the staff had cleared off these boxes from the rear of the market, following a High Court directive.

The Anti-encroachment Magistrate, Mr Ishwar Singh and the MC Secretary, Mr Ashwani Kumar visited the area in the evening and asked the mechanics to follow the order.

Mr Mahender Chaudhary, one of the representatives of the mechanics’ union, assured the officials that mechanics would do so within the next two days.

Besides this, 80 persons in Sectors 11, 15 and 17 and on Dhanas road were fined for encroaching upon the MC land.

Year’s extension soon for building houses
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 12
The Adviser to the UT Administrator, Ms Neeru Nanda, gave her consent here today to allow more time to cooperative societies for constructing flats in Sectors 48 and 49. A formal order to extend the last date for this purpose by a year is expected soon.

The construction of these flats has been delayed due to various decisions of the Chandigarh Administration and the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB). The last date to finish the construction was December 31 earlier. Representatives of the Chandigarh State Federation of Cooperative House Building Societies (Housefed) met the Adviser today and told her about their problems.

A few weeks ago, the Housefed Chairman, Mr Surjit Chaudhary, had asked the Administration to extend the date by a year to encourage the growth of the cooperative movement in the city. The construction is almost over and, by giving this extension, the Administration hopes to solve many problems associated with these sectors.

The Housefed has also said that the Administration is responsible for the delay in finishing the construction. The Administration had given three years to the societies to finish their projects, with out developing the area.