The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

HEALTH

Pending construction in GMCH 32 begins
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 31
Pending construction work on Block C of the Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, has begun and according to Prof Raj Bahadur, Medical Superintendent, GMCH, efforts are on to make the building operational as fast as possible.

The 225-crore prestigious GMCH, slated to be completed in 1999, has been running behind schedule. Besides some technical difficulties, work had been stalled about two years ago, following an inquiry by the Central Vigilance Commission, after a part of the block under-construction had collapsed, killing one person. According to Professor Raj Bahadur, while most of civil work is almost complete, pending work includes terraces on the second and third floors, staircase from the basement to the third floor and the lecture theatre at the sixth floor.

Block C is the main indoor block of the hospital. Facilities in the basement include laundry, mortuary, canteen and medical gases substation. Kitchens are located on the ground floor and the second and third floors house as many as 14 operation theatres and post operative wards. The fourth, fifth and sixth floors have indoor wards with 300 beds and about 50 private rooms are located on the seventh floor.

Construction work was initiated with the plantation of trees in the hospital by Mr R.K. Jain, Chief Engineer, UT, Prof S.B.S. Mann, Director Principal, GMCH and Prof Raj Bahadur.

SPORT

66-run win for Eleven Star
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, March 31
Sumit Kumar helped Eleven Star in beating Harmukh Cricket Club by 66 runs in the Vth UT Summer league cricket tournament played here today at PGI grounds. He slammed 121 runs and bagged two wickets.

Eleven star won the toss and opted to bat. The team scored a total of 238 runs for the loss of three wickets in the stipulated 25 overs. In reply, Harmukh CC, were bundled out for 172 runs in 23 overs.

In other matches of the day, Indo Dutch Xi had an easy win over Gallant CC by four wickets, Satluj CC beat Sunrise CC by 94 runs, Youth CC Attawa defeated Videocon CC by 45 runs and in last match of the day, Thunder XI outplayed HT Cricket club by 63 runs.

Brief scores;
Ist match; Eleven Star: 238 runs for three wickets in 25 overs (Sumit Kumar 121, Angad 31, Abhishek 30, Anshul Arora 26, Vinod Kaul 2 for 34,) Harmukh CC: 172 all out in 23 overs (Ajay Pandita 45, Anshul Arora 3 for 45, Sunil Kumar 2 for 21, Balwar Pooni 2 for 22).

IInd match: Gallant CC: 90 all out in 22.1 overs (Vishal Sahni 20, Yadwinder 15, Vishal Radi 4 for 15, Deepak 2 for five) Indo Dutch: 91 runs for six wickets in 17.3 overs (Vinod Sharma 57, Rajinder 2 for 13, Yadwinder 2 for 27).

IIIrd match: Satluj CC: 213 runs for seven in 25 overs (Jai Kapil 54, Navneet Thapar 40, Tejinder 19, Krishan Kant 2 for 24)

Sunrise CC: 119 all out in 24 overs (Lovely Singh 39, Dhawal 3 for 17, Karandeep 2 for 18, Jai Kapil 2 for 20)

IVth match: Youth CC: 147 for eight in 25 overs (Sukhdev Singh 40, Vinod Kumar 23, Pawan Kumar 19, Sham Lal 4 for 22) Videocon CC; 98 all out in 21 overs (Kamalpreet 31, Nitin 18, Sukhdev Singh 3 for five,Gurvinder 3 for 14).

Vth match: Thunder XI: 151 runs for four in 15 overs (Sanjay Bhatia 44 n.o., Sandeep Kumar 28 n.o., Prem Nanda 2 for 25, Manoj Chawla 2 for 29). HT XI: 88 for nine in 15 overs (Manoj Chawla 23 n.o., Pawan Singh 18, Surojit Modak 17, Deepak 3 for 22).

ADMINISTRATION

Regularising illegal basements: PUDA slashes fee
Tribune News Service

SAS Nagar, March 31
Finding few takers for its policy to regularise unauthorised basements and building by-law violations in the rear courtyards in commercial premises in the town, the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority has slashed the compounding fee by around 70 per cent.

As per the new rates, an excess coverage at the basement level would be compoundable on payment of fee of Rs 350 per sq feet as compared to the earlier fee of Rs 1500 per sq feet. In case of extra coverage in the rear courtyard at ground floor the fee has been reduced from Rs 2000 per sq feet to Rs 500 per sq feet.

Sources in the authority said earlier the authority had given time till December 12, 2000, to the violators to get their constructions regularised but not a single person applied. The issue was taken in a recent meeting of the Finance and Account Committee of the authority.

The commercial structures have been divided into different categories like shop-cum-flats (SCFs), shop-cum-office (SCOs), single storey shops, and booths. Most of these cases of building by-law violation are related to unauthorised constructions, both temporary and permanent, in front and back courtyards of the commercial premises. Violations in the residential and institutional premises were comparatively less.

The decision to compound the violation was taken at a recent meeting of the Finance and Accounts Committee. More covered area for basements had been allowed in the rear courtyard of SCFs in Sectors 53, 54, 56, 59, 60, and 61 area as composed to one allowed in Sectors 63, 64 and 65. In case of SCOs in Sector 63 the basements built in the main building (excluding the corridor) would be compoundable. Similarly, in case of single storey shops in Sectors 56 and 63, the basements in the rear courtyards were compoundable.

In case of booths in Sectors 53, 54, 59, 60, 61, 63, 64 and 65 the basements area under the main building (excluding corridor) could be regularised An official of PUDA said that earlier no basements were permitted in case of the booths except in Sector 65. In case of SCOs and SCFs (except Sector 63) basement had been permitted under the building portion excluding the public corridor. No basement in SCOs in Sector 63 was earlier permitted.

However, structures in the front courtyards have not been regularised so far.