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| Sunday,
April 8, 2001, Chandigarh, India |
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PUDA to identify disaster-prone
areas SAS Nagar, April 7 Priority has been laid on identification of areas vulnerable to natural disasters like earthquakes and floods. A recommendation to follow a resolution adopted by the Gujarat Government, which asks for revision of the existing development and control regulations and modifications in the existing laws dealing with the permission to raise structures, has also been made. When approved, the amendments could be extended to other government agencies involved in construction activity. Sources in the government said the PUDA had recommended that the amendments made in the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966, and the National Capital Regional Planning Board Act, 1985, could be adopted by the state. The Haryana Government had also constituted a committee of HUDA and the Mines and the Geology Department to examine changes in the building byelaws after the reported tectonic activity in the foothills of the Shivaliks in Panchkula extension area. In Punjab, PUDA is a major player in developing residential, commercial and industrial estates in over 12 urban estates. Construction of District Administrative Complex (DACs) and some other prestigious building projects were entrusted to PUDA. In the state-wise list of the priority areas with respect to safety of buildings and houses in natural hazard prone regions, the expert group indicated risk to Punjab from floods and earthquakes. Risk assessment of Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Patiala and Amritsar and formation of district-wise preparedness plans were suggested. As per the vulnerability atlas compiled by the Union Ministry, Punjab falls in seismic zones III and IV. Based on the recommendation of the expert committee, the PUDA suggested “retrofitting” of existing houses in vulnerable areas after comprehensive technical survey within cities. Officials said a programme for strengthening of the existing houses had to be drawn up. The issues were discussed at a recent seminar chaired by the Union Minister for Urban Development at Delhi. The state Local Government Minister and officials of PUDA also attended the meeting. At the seminar, the state governments were cautioned to take pre-disaster measures. A techno-legal framework was also discussed. Suitable provisions in the planning and development laws, based on studies of natural disasters, incorporating details about the natural hazard prone areas and guidelines required to be adopted for development of the areas in the zoning or master plans had been recommended by the expert group. It took account of seismic aspects while drawing the building plans and following the construction standards code of Bureau of Indian Standards. In areas where there was no master plan, general guidelines on natural disaster mitigation were to be issued to the civic bodies and panchayats. In earthquake prone areas, the state government had also been asked to analyse whether the soil conditions were favourable to liquefication or settlements under earthquake vibrations. Special studies by geologists and geo-technical engineers had been recommended. |
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Sector 41-D upkeep caught between Admn and
MC Chandigarh, April 7 According to residents, repeated representations to the authorities concerned had fallen on deaf ears. Although several of their problems had been there for the past several years yet the formation of the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC) in 1995 seemed to have compounded the problems. The confusion in the division of work between the Chandigarh Administration and the MCC had made the things worse, alleged Mr R.K. Mann, president of the LIG Residents Welfare Association, Sector 41-D. Giving an instance, Mr Mann alleged that the area from House No 3148 to Government Model High School had been without the streetlights as the administration and the MCC has been unable to decide which agency was responsible for providing the streetlights. And with the summers round the corner, the problem of low water pressure has started. The provision of booster has been hanging fire since long, added Mr S.K. Juneja, general secretary. Similarly, in the absence of the development of the five small parks, the children faced difficulty as hardly any developed open space was there for them to play. Similarly, the residents rue that the green belt from the petrol station to Shivalik Public School had not been developed. Not to talk of completion of the pending works, the completed projects like the community centre, which was reportedly completed several months back, had not been opened to the public. A visit to the area revealed that the road leading to Sector 42 (dividing Sector 41-B and 41-C) was yet to be completed. Besides this, the cleanliness and maintenance of the road by replacing the side slabs of V-3,V-4,V-5 and V-6 road also left much to be desired. The sector lacks the bus queue shelter and the commuters faced a lot inconvenience during inclement weather. Similarly the work on the road gullies had been left midway. Mr Mann alleged that despite repeated assurances the Mayor, Mr Raj Kumar Goyal, had not visited the sector. |
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Medical experts for HRT
use Chandigarh , April 7 Speaking about the HRT during post menopausal phase in women, Prof Kala Vashisth, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, PGI, said, even though the therapy of replacement of the two hormones, oestrogen and progesterone, is usually after cessation of menses in women, at times it may be required in some pre menopausal cases as well. She said, HRT is also beneficial in reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases and incidence of fractures in old age due to osteoporosis. Oesteoprosis is an after effect of deprivation of oestrogen and progesterone, after ovaries stop functioning at menopause. Prof Vasisht, however, warned that HRT also has some disadvantages which include an increase in the risk of cancer of uterus. But this can be warded off by adding another hormone, besides administration of oestrogen, she said. Though women on HRT could be at slightly increased risk of breast cancer as compared to others she, however, asserted that treatment offers benefits which are much more than the risks involved. Later, case discussion on management of a pregnant HIV positive woman was discussed by experts, including Prof Ritu Sarin from Simla, Dr Umesh Jindal, Dr Bipin Gupta and Dr Rashmi Bagga and Dr Bipin Gupta from Chandigarh. It was agreed that voluntary screening for HIV should be encouraged and strategies to prevent vertical transmission to neonate be implemented As many as 20 to 40 per cent babies of the HIV positive mothers stand the risk of contacting the infection, which according to the experts, can be effectively lowered by timely and appropriate management during the pregnancy. |
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Cross-examination of Colonel Kala ends Chandigarh, April 7 Deposing before the court, Colonel Kala, who was the battalion’s second-in-command, said that he had neither seen the charge sheet against the accused at any stage nor had he been appraised by the prosecution about the charges regarding which he was supposed to depose before the court. He said that he was not aware if there were any charges against the accused for refusing to go for attack on June 25 or 26. He testified he had stated before the court of inquiry (COI) that the accused had refused to go on attack on June 25 and the same was communicated to the battalion’s Commanding Officer (CO) on June 26, when the latter returned from recce. The witness said that the CO had a prolonged talk with the accused on June 26 and when the CO failed to convince the accused to go for attack, asked the unit’s medical officer to examine him. Colonel Kala said that it was correct to suggest that when he appraised the CO that the accused could not go on attack because of his knee injury, the CO directed that the accused should go up to the fire base and control support fire. He also testified he had stated during the summary of evidence that when both, he and the CO, failed to persuade the accused to go for attack, the CO directed that the accused be referred to the Field Surgical Centre (FSC) at Ghumri for expert opinion. He said that the FSC’s opinion had reached the CO on June 27 in a sealed envelope and that he was not aware of its contents. Colonel Kala also testified he had stated during the COI that he had spoken to the accused on his return from the FSC on June 27 and that the accused had told him that he was still unable to climb and his injury would take about 10-15 days to heal. The same was conveyed to the CO who directed him to leave the accused at Mogulpura while the rest of the battalion proceeded for attack. He stated before the court that it was correct to suggest that the question of sending the accused to Kajal post arose only after his conversation with the CO on June 26. He added that the troops had already reached the Kajal before June 25 and recce was also being carried out from the outpost. The witness also stated that the issue was reported officially by the CO to the HQs although he did not see the letter nor did he remember if he initialled such a letter. He also stated that it was incorrect to suggest that he had ordered the accused to go on recce to Point 5060 after July 6 to check out any enemy presence and to launch an attack if the enemy presence was found. He added that he did not remember if the accused had written any recce report on his return from Point 5060. In response to a question, the witness said he had known the accused since he was commissioned and the accused had served under him during counter insurgency operations in Kupwara, where his performance had been good and he had held the accused in high esteem. Colonel Kala also testified that he had met Major T. S. Sidhu, a legally qualified officer and Lt Col Vinay Dutta, member of another GCM trying Major Maneesh Bhatnagar on different occasions, but denied that he had asked them the implications of deposing falsely before the court. He added that he was aware that deposing falsely was an offence. |
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Ownership pattern of newspapers changing Chandigarh, April 7 Professor Petersen, who had earlier worked in a trust-run newspaper — Economics and Policy — as its Editor, says that the old owners of Danish newspapers have only one ideal before them — how to save their newspapers from vested interests. That is why they have been opting for trust managements, which offer much more editorial freedom as they are not dependent upon profit seeking owners, there are no pressures and little or no commercialisation point of view. Besides, in the trust-run organisations, there is a clear demarcation between editorial and commercial departments which is extremely beneficial. Professor Petersen is here to participate in a conference at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi from April 9 to 11. He called on the Editor of The Tribune, Mr Hari Jaisingh, in his office today. In Denmark, until 40 years ago, most of the newspapers were identified with political parties. But it was difficult for smaller newspapers to survive. “Now we have local, regional and national newspapers,” he said, maintaining that earlier there was no formal education or training to become a journalist. “But in late 60s or early 70s, the Danish Government decided to formalise journalism education by setting up a High School of Journalism. Until the middle of 90s it was the only Journalism School in Denmark. So it was thought that only one school would provide narrow-minded education in journalism. “In the middle of 90s, the President of Odense University called me to ask whether I would be willing to draft syllabi and programme for introducing a Journalism course at the university to provide competitive education. I agreed. Six months later he asked me if I would take up the responsibility of running the new department. I accepted. Three years ago we started the course. Last year, we sent 70 students for internship to various newspapers. To our great satisfaction, they all were accepted and have now returned to complete their academic requirements to finish their degree programme next year. Then we will know how many of them actually get into the profession. “We have tailored our curriculum and syllabi with an eye on the future.The future is of media convergence. Unlike now, a future journalist will be armed with not only various audio-visual gadgets but will perform all duties, including still and movie photography. So, all branches of media — print, radio, television and computers — will get integrated into one. So, our thrust is on multimedia education, to produce journalists for the future,” Professor Petersen said, maintaining that in essence from traditional methods, “we are heading for digitalisation”. Professor Petersen, however, is “pessimistic” about the role of new mechanism of information. “It is going to create new types of classes or new types of divisions in the society which may be detrimental to democratic societies. “The new classes we are going to have will be of people who have information and people who have knowledge. The major problem will be with people with information. They will have only fragmented information and will not have a complete picture. It is here the role of print media will become very important,” he says, maintaining that a 15 to 20 seconds shot on television will not be enough to give the viewer a complete picture of an event. “Other major worry is that it is technology and not human beings who is going to govern us. It is for the media to inform and educate people about what is going to happen in coming years,” adds Professor Petersen. Professor Petersen had been visiting Shimla for the past two days and delivered a lecture at the Institute of Advanced Studies. Today, he addressed the faculty of the Sector 19 CRRID. For him India is a vast and interesting country. “My knowledge of India is as good as of an average Indian of Denmark. There is a big difference between my country and India. In Denmark, the gap of equality is very little while it is quite wide here. I am here to talk about ethics of the welfare state: a comparison of the German and the Danish Welfare State model,” he says hopin to return soon. |
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Dire need to tackle FMD Chandigarh, April 7 Most developed countries, which are free from this disease, do not accept milk, milk products and hides of FMD affected animals, thus acting as a severe constraint on the export of this sector. In England, Ireland, France and certain other European countries, appearance of FMD among the cattle in recent months has led to a large scale destruction of the affected cattle which includes wholesale slaughter and burning of their bodies. The USA has put a blanket ban on the import of meat and milk products from these European countries. A long term perspective plan is required to be put in place immediately so as to prevent recurrence of such outbreaks which result in financial loss to the farmers and also impose economic burden on the state. Also, with the coming into effect of the WTO, it has to ensured that the animals are absolutely free from disease so as to comply with WTO standards of quality and hygiene. With this end in view, Mr D.S. Jaspal, Secretary, Animal Husbandry, Punjab, has suggested in his report to the government, a series of long-term measures which must be taken up immediately instead of having to wait for yet another epidemic. i) Price premium for quality instead of Content: Not only for complying with WTO standards on quality and hygiene, but also for the health of the animals as well as overall health of the dairy sector, the farmers have to be made quality conscious. The best method of doing this is to reward quality by giving them price preference. Under the present system, farmers are paid on the basis of fat content in milk. This has to change and price to farmers should be determined on the basis of quality graded by bacterial count (per ml) and/or cell count (per ml). This will compel farmers to think about quality because a farmer is always very receptive to an economically rewarding proposition. Since this will involve a paradigm shift in the economics of the dairy sector affecting all three players — dairy farmers, milk processors as well as consumers (and also the government), it will be desirable to have a paper prepared on the subject by a professional organisation and then throw it open for debate and discussion before arriving at a final decision. ii) Cattle herd registration: In every developed diary economy of the world, all animals are registered so that their characteristic features like genetic profile, progeny, yield, medical history etc. are recorded on computer. For the long term control of the FMD, for example, if the cattle herd registration system is in place, it would be easy for epidemiological investigations in tracing outbreaks of FMD through surveillance of the susceptible animal population, identification of disease free animals, monitoring of vaccination response, verification of progress of vaccination campaign etc. The cattle herd registration would also create a computerised case history data bank. iii) The example of Ghaloti village illustrates the damage that can be done by the absence of a well defined and well designed communication/disease detection-cum-reporting mechanism. For example, though the first death occurred in the village on February 23, there was no formal communication by the local veterinary doctor to his superiors either at Chandigarh or at Ludhiana. Nor did he inform the vety labs at PAU or the Animal Health Institute (AHI), Jalandhar. AHI and PAU experts visited the village after reading newspaper reports. All vety doctors are required to submit monthly reports on a prescribed proforma by the 25th of each month to the state headquarters. The vety doctor stationed in the vety hospital at Ghaloti village had not submitted up to March 9, the report for the month of February, the due date for which was February 25. Nobody at the state headquarters had pulled him up for non-submission of the report. Evidently what is required is a modern, well-designed computerised information system where the information is available online to the various medical experts and functionaries. iv) Regulation of vety practitioners and elimination of quacks: A large number of quacks are practising in the villages who are not only duping the farmers of money but also, very often, endangering the health of the animals by providing wrong or spurious medication. v) Education of farmers: The farmers should be made aware and educated about animal disease and disease control. For this purpose, NGOs need to be involved or, better still, dairy farmers welfare committees could be constituted at the village level. vi) Regulation of cattle fairs: Transactions in the cattle fairs need to be strictly monitored and a cattle fair code needs to be introduced and strictly enforced.
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Lawyers chambers demolished Chandigarh, April 7 According to police sources, more than 50 personnel from the Police Department and the Estate Officer were deployed for the operation. The demolition was carried out in the presence of Mr Prithi Chand, Subdi-visional Magistrate (centre). Sources said no prior notice was given to the advocates. Mr S.S. Randhawa, Deputy Super-intendent of Police (central), who was also present during the operation, said that the demolition went on peacefully. However, the DSP claimed that no prior notice was required to be served in this case. It is also learnt that the lawyers have threatened to go on an indefinite strike from Monday onwards in protest against the Administration’s action. |
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FILM REVIEW ‘Rahul’ (Piccaddily) is an intense family drama depicting a tussle of egos and ‘self respect’ between a husband and a wife. Only their four-year-old child has become the bone of contention between the two parties after separation. The ‘bone’ itself wants the affection of both. The Prakash Jha direction comes with a rather simple but clean story in simple settings without too much of adventure in adding elements of ‘masala’. Rahul (Yash Pathak) is the child who has lost his mother in a family battle and lives with his tourist guide father. Rahul’s is an appreciable performance by Pathak knitting innocence of a child embroiled in a battle to have the support of the father as well as the lap of the mother. The action place of the story in the hills is itself a rather pleasing change from the conventional settings of race against time settings in similar releases earlier. Jatin Grewal has wed Neha against her family wishes. Everything is fine till the family of the girl “hurts his self respect”. Neha stands by him till the time her brother is hit publicly by Grewal. The two part their ways. Rahul stays with his father for five years when the judge had asked him to appear again in the court. Rahul picturises Neha as a ‘bad mother’ as told by his father. He even paints her as a witch till the time he sees her. Deep in the heart he loves her too much. When Grewal comes to know the child sees his mother he says that he would not stay with Rahul if he loved his mother more than him. Rahul tells his mother that he hates her. It is only when he comes back home that he falls sick. The critical condition draws both to his deathbed. Even at this stage the mother and father are fighting it out for their personal egos till they see the screen of Rahul’s heartbeat showing a blank and the doctor declaring that “the child was no more”. Gulshan Grover as a merchant and Parikshit Sahni as a doctor have good appearances. Subash Ghai, the master director, this time has opted out only for presentation under the banner of Mukta Arts. Anu Malik has set music to lyrics by Anand Bakshi, both of which deserve special mention. The cinematography by Arvind Kumar is a laudable effort. |
Plea for relief to UT
staff Chandigarh, April 7 In a press note the committee, while hitting out at the facilities being enjoyed by unauthorised slum dwellers, has demanded that people living outside the “Lal Dora” of any of the 18 villages in the Union Territory should not be made eligible voters as they were destroying the culture of the villages. The president of the committee, Mr Angrez Singh, argued that since the Chandigarh Administration was promoting slums it was only augmenting the non-Punjabi vote. On the other hand employees, who are largely Punjabis and could not buy costly plots or flats in Chandigarh, but had purchased land to construct houses outside the “Lal Dora”, were not offered any water , power or sewerage facilities and even the right to vote. However, according to the Administration the houses are in violation of the Periphery Control, Act, 1952. Mr Angrez Singh alleges this is discriminatory towards Punjabis, who had built houses while the slum dwellers, most of whom are migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar had simply encroached upon land were being offered all facilities. |
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Chandigarh Club poll: counting next week Chandigarh, April 7 The outgoing president, Mr Chaman Lal Sharma, has convened a meeting of the club executive here tomorrow to decide on the day of counting of votes. Under the club constitution, the president can appoint two “scrutinisers” to oversee the counting of votes before declaring the result. The Chandigarh Club election has remained mired in controversies right from day one. A series of law suits have been filed in the court against one aspect of the election or the other. There have also been allegations of polling of “bogus votes” when the election took place on March 3. Mr Subhash Nagpal, Returning Officer for the club poll, has already informed the court that he was not keen on taking up the counting of votes which should be entrusted to someone else. At the same time, if the court has ordered him to take up the counting and declare the result, he would be duty-bound to do so. Mr Nagpal said today that he had already informed the club management that he intended to take up vote counting at the club premises at 9 a.m. tomorrow for which all arrangements should be made. |
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MC Executive Officer transferred SAS Nagar, April 7 However, it could not be ascertained whether the Executive Officer had been transferred to a B class council from a A class council. According to the information available, new Executive Officer in place of Mr Brar was yet to be posted. |
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Motor accident claims settled Panchkula, April 7 The executive chairman of the Haryana State Legal services Authority, Mr Justice VK Bali, said that special lok adalats had set a new trend in the state in settling cases of bank claims at the pre-litigation stage. He said the cases of bank claims amounting to Rs 3.18 crore were settled in two such lok adalats organised in the state during the last month by the Haryana State Legal Services Authority. Justice Bali informed that the authority had so far settled over 3.19 lakh cases. Also, 12,909 cases had been decided in lok adalats being headed by retired and judicial officers. Besides, legal services had been provided to 10,753 persons |
Man murdered Kharar, April 7 According to information, the deceased, Jatinder Kumar, was a resident of Ward Number 5, Kurali. At 8.30 a.m. the alleged accused, Sushil Kumar, came to his residence and get into an argument with him over some issue. He told his family members that Jatinder had spoiled his life. Jatinder tried to escape from there but Sushil allegedly attacked him with a sharp-edged weapon. He was injured and fell on the floor. The wife of the injured started shouting and the accused managed to escape. According to the police, Jatinder was taken to the Civil Hospital,
Kurali, where he was referred to the PGI. He died on the way. The police has registered a case under Section 302 of the IPC against Sushil Kumar. The motive behind the murder is not known. Chandigarh, April 7 According to information, at about 1.30 pm the accused allegedly took the girl to his house on some pretext and tried to commit the offence. The accused was reportedly caught red-handed. Two injured According to police sources, Arun, who was driving the scooter, was admitted to the General Hospital, Sector 16, while Rattan Kumar, who was riding pillion, was admitted to the PGI. Stereo stolen |
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