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| Thursday,
June 7, 2001, Chandigarh, India
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Anti-malaria camp Chandigarh , June 6 The camp was inaugurated by a former Mayor and area councillor, Mr Kewal Krishan Adiwal, who emphasised on the involvement of the public in the prevention and control of malaria. He sought people’s cooperate in the malaria control programme launched by the UT Administration. Dr G.C. Bansal, Assistant Director, Malaria, highlighted the anti-malaria activities of the department and advised the residents to clean their coolers once a week to prevent mosquitoes from breeding. Later as many as 254 blood slides were collected for an on-the-spot examination. A house-to-house survey was conducted to check the coolers and other places suspected to be the mosquito breeding sources. |
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Are roadside clinics defaming
ayurveda? Chandigarh, June 6 Generally a small tent on the wayside with an array of numerous big and small vials containing various herbs and solutions and a battery-operated cassette-player announcing the arrival of a ‘famous vaid ji’ in your town are sufficient enough to catch the attention of a passer-by. A banner outside the tent serves as a signboard for the clinic. Besides carrying the name of the ‘dawakhana’, it generally carries a few words about the diagnosing acumen of the ‘vaid ji’ and a long list of various ailments whose sureshot treatment is reportedly available in this little tent. These clinics are a common sight on the outskirts of almost all the towns and cities, big or small, and the City Beautiful is no exception in this regard. Their number has gone up, in the recent past, in the vicinity of Chandigarh, especially on the roads leading to Panchkula and Mohali. An interesting thing about these vaids is their non-dependence on any costly medical tests for diagnosing their patients. They do not ask for any X-ray, ultra sound, C.T. scan, urine or blood tests. Rather they claim that they can spot the disease by merely feeling the pulse of the patient. After ascertaining the disease they offer ayurvedic treatment for the same. Mr Babu Ram, one such vaid, emphatically proclaims: ‘‘Nature has blessed us with numerous herbs and elements which have amazing medicinal qualities. The only requirement is to know, recognise, collect and amalgamate these in the right proportion depending on the nature and gravity of the problem.’’ When asked to name some herbs and elements commonly used by them, he narrated a long list of strange-sounding names. They claim that they do not depend on any reputed ayurvedic brands for treating patients. Rather they themselves prepare medicines for this purpose. A patient is generally asked to undergo a complete course of treatment which may go up to six months. The course fee may lie anywhere between Rs 50 and Rs 500 or even more. They ‘guarantee’ complete cure if a patient undergoes their complete course as per their guidelines, but claim no responsibility if the guidelines are not properly adhered to. Their clientele generally consists of male members of the lower income group between 15 to 40 years of age. Lack of sex education, which causes various apprehensions in the minds of adolescents, is a major factor which pulls them towards these ‘dawakhanas’. Perhaps they find it much easy to blurt out their apprehensions in front of one such vaid instead of going to some registered medical practitioner. Maybe the fear of being spotted by some acquaintance at such clinics acts as a deterrent for them. After ascertaining that sex is the weakness of their ‘prey’, they deliberately tend to relate every disease with the manly strength of the patient. This in turn allows them to pocket ‘quick money’. Another factor that lures people to these clinics is the common conception that ayurvedic medicines have no side-effects. But hardly anybody knows what they are serving in the name of Ayurveda. In some cases it has been found that these vaids use steroids in their preparations. These steroids immediately give a feeling of well-being to the users and after using these preparations even a sceptical visitor to these ‘dawakhanas’ feels convinced about the effectiveness of these medicines. But this gullible lot does not understand that the drugs used in these preparations may play havoc with their health and may even result in irreparable damage to the body. The stay of these vaids at any place depends on the availability of clientele in that area. Whereas at one place it may last only for a couple of weeks, at another place it may run into months together. But once a vaid has shifted his ‘dawakhana’ from a particular place, it is almost impossible to trace his whereabouts. By the time this write-up is published, the vaids interviewed by this writer maybe nowhere in sight. So the accountability factor is conspicuously missing in case of these quacks. No doubt ayurveda is the oldest medical science and it may have numerous surprises in store for humanity. But falling prey to these wayside doctors in the name of ayurveda is no prudence, especially when we have so many registered ayurvedic practitioners around us. Obviously, the proverb ‘neem hakeem khatra-e-jaan’ still holds relevance. |
Golf training camp for
beginners Chandigarh, June 6 This camp is being conducted not only for the children of the members but also for the outsiders. After getting initial lessons in this sport these children will continue to be trained at the weekend training camps to be held on all Saturdays and Sundays. The Golf Club is providing golf balls and refreshments to the trainees. On the concluding day a competition will be held among the trainees. The prizes will be given to the winners by Mr Bobby Sandhu, captain of the club. Giving this information to Chandigarh Tribune, Dr Ravinder Chadha, Chairman, Media Committee, said the club had decided to conduct camps for various age groups. This would go a long way in the club doing its bit to add to the list of international golfers. The celebrity list of golfers include Jeev Milkha Singh, Amandeep Johl, Amritinder Singh, Harmeet Kahlon, Irina Brar, Parnita Garewal. To improve the fitness and handicap of the upcoming golfers, the club has already provided the facilities of a night driving range and a health club. The construction of the squash court has already started and is expected to be ready by August. |
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Golf range to be floodlit tomorrow Chandigarh, June 6 Ms Neeru Nanda, Adviser to the Administrator of Chandigarh, will perform the inauguration ceremony of this facility on June 8 by switching on the floodlights. A large number of golfing luminaries of the town, including Kapil Dev, are expected to grace the occasion. Apart from the golfing pleasures that will be generated by the floodlit Golf Driving Range, the CGA will also be offering much more to cheer up its members by opening the “Pam-Grove” restaurant. Mr BD Bali, Chairman, Mount Shivalik Breweries, will inaugurate the restaurant, immediately before the inauguration of the floodlit range. This latest introduction of night golf facility will enable the tired minds to unwind themselves in an invigorating environment in the backdrop of the Shivalik Hills. And under the floodlights the entire family can now enjoy together a golfing activity followed by a delightful meal. |
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Abhinav ranked
15th in world Chandigarh, June 6 The new ISSF world ranking offers a transparent and objective means of ranking the overall shooting performances within the 17 Olympic shooting events and recognises the overall consistency of a shooter’s performance as well as the significance of the competition. The ISSF world rankings will allow direct comparison of events and an objective identification of the world’s best shooters. With these world rankings, top performance shooters will acquire a greater audience, and general knowledge of the shooting sport will increase worldwide, it is being felt. In women’s 10m air rifle category Anjali Ved Pathak of India is placed at the 20th position in the world currently. In men’s air pistol Jaspal Rana is placed at the 54th position. The rankings of the other Indian shooters are too low. |
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City lad
for Malaysia
hockey meet Chandigarh, June 6 This year he was instrumental in Chandigarh’s victory in the Junior National Hockey championship in Chennai. Rajpal also took part in the North Zone Inter-Varsity Hockey meet as a member of the Panjab University team. |
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Handball
championship Chandigarh, June 6 In the semi-finals played here today, the Southern Air Command outplayed Central Air Command 19-14 with half time score of 10-8. The scores for winning team were: K.N. Singh, Gurnuleh and Shah K, Naushad and Mahesh. In other semi-finals played in the morning, both teams — Maintenance Command and Eastern Air Command — had tie 11-11 in the normal time, with half-time score of 6-4 in favour of MC. Finally, extra time was called and MC prevailed upon EAC 16-12 on way to final. The scorers for winning team were: Jays and Arjun four each, Godwin and Tona-three each. |
‘Drainage Dept lagging on flood protection works’ SAS Nagar, June 6 Talking to mediapersons here, Mr ADS Anandpuri, Chairman of the council, said since the monsoons were ahead of schedule, it was not possible to complete various works in time. He alleged that as per the prevailing malpractices in the Drainage Department, the works would be shown completed and then washed away during the coming floods in the records. Mr Anandpuri said as part of the council’s drive to expose malpractices in the drainage department, it had successfully got an inquiry conducted into the bungling by the State Vigilance Bureau at the instance of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The Vigilance Department had found 145 engineers of the drainage wing, guilty during a check of 131 works. Criminal cases against 25 engineers and 11 contractors, blacklisting of 16 contractors and suppliers of the MSA wires had been recommended by the Vigilance Department, he said. Dr MS Bahara, Secretary of the council, claimed that the vigilance report had stated that relatives of the State Irrigation Minister had got work allotted to them at higher rates and no inspection had been carried out by the Controller of Stores. The Excise and Taxation Department and the Local Government Department had also been found guilty for not collecting transit duty for supplying boulders to the site of the work. He said a public watch dog, the council was keeping a strict vigil over bogus purchase of machinery parts and lubricants by the engineers of mechanical divisions. The council said that instead of taking action against the engineers named in the report of the Vigilance Department, the government was shielding them due to their alleged political nexus. The issue of the Finance Department granting selection grade to 539 temporary engineers against the rules had resulted in a loss of Rs 10 crore to the government. Though the government through the Finance Department had ordered a recovery of the amount from the ineligible engineers but the orders were yet to be implemented. |
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