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| Friday,
September 14,
2001, Chandigarh, India
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Problem areas identified to check malaria Chandigarh, September 13 The problem areas identified where problem of malaria is widespread and needs immediate action plan includes Noida, Faridabad, Hardwar and Udham Singh Nagar, said Joint Director National Anti-Malaria Programme (malaria division), Dr G.P.S. Dhillon. The problem exists in these areas due to lack of local health infrastructure and inadequate corrective measures on the part of state governments, he added. According to him, in today’s session the delegates discussed various aspects of controlling malaria in these areas, and decided to formulate an action plan by tomorrow. The action plan includes a proposal to send two officers in these malaria-prone areas to identify the reasons and devising methods check its rise. Besides this, officials from the field unit of the NAMP would be sent to Hardwar to survey the whole area and prepare a report on the basis of which action would be initiated, said Dr Dhillon. Chandigarh and states of Punjab and Haryana have been consistently reporting success for the past many years now which were due to collective efforts of the state governments and use of pesticides, he said. For Chandigarh, specifically, migrant population has been identified as a major problem . Malaria vector cannot be eradicated, therefore, control through effective screening is recommended for the city, he said. The three-day Inter-State Border meeting is organised every alternate year to review malaria situation in the inter-state border areas and to develop action plan for the coordinated Containment Activities. According to Dr Dhillon, there is need to sort out border issues for the containment of malaria as joint action plans need to be conceived and spray operations coordinated at the same time.  |
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PGI Dean was disqualified for using Chandigarh, September 13 Giving details, she stated that Dr Nagi, with registration number 58-DJ-458, had appeared in FSC (Medical) examination under roll number 1049. He was disqualified to appear in the examinations till April, 1961, the petitioner had alleged, while seeking directions to add certain other paragraphs in the petition. Taking up the application, Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar and Mr Justice N.K. Sud of the High Court observed: ‘‘Counsel for the non-applicants have no objection if the application for amendment of the writ petition is allowed. Consequently, the application is allowed. Amended writ petition annexed with the application is taken on record. Respondents may file written statement within a week from today’’. The case will now come up on September 26. In her earlier petition, Dr Suri had stated that even though the High Court had directed the PGI and other respondents to keep the proceedings of the governing body in a sealed cover, the appointment of Dr Nagi as Dean had been published in complete violation of the orders. Quoting newspaper reports, Dr Suri had asserted that as per certain items a senior politician was instrumental in the appointment of Dr Nagi as Dean. Her counsel had added that Dr Nagi was being informed about the developments, evident from the fact that he had filed a caveat on July 26, apprehending a challenge to his selection, even though the governing body proceedings were kept in a sealed cover. Dr Nagi, it may be recalled, was appointed the Dean on Wednesday after Mr Justice N.K. Sodhi and Mr Justice Jasbir Singh permitted PGI to declare the result earlier directed to be kept in a sealed cover. |
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2-day orientation
programme at PGI Chandigarh , September 13 According to Head of the Department, Prof Rajesh Kumar, the objective of the training programme is to orient teachers of community medicine from the medical colleges in North India on recent strategies of the RCH programme with a view to incorporating these into the curriculum of the undergraduate and postgraduate courses subsequently. |
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Workshop
to motivate eye donation Chandigarh, September 13 According to experts, at present, there is an estimated demand of nearly seven million donor eyes to cure the cornea blind patients. However, in 2000, only 18,000 donated eyes could be procured in the
country. To address this shortfall, the Union Government and WHO initiated a programme to retrieve donor eyes from the deceased through grief counselling. The workshop will also impart training in procedures in eye banking. Besides this, delegates from Hyderabad, Lukhnow, Delhi and Chandigarh, will also discuss the legal aspects of eye donation, cornea procedures, tissue harvesting and processing. According to the PGI Additional Professor, Dr J.S. Saini, Dr Usha Gopinath from Hyderabad and Dr Sunil Singh from Lukhnow will be participating in the workshop.
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City athletes win 5 gold medals Chandigarh, September 13 According to Mr Ravinder Chaudhary, secretary of the Amateur Athletic Association, Chandigarh , the silver medalists in various events are, Shashi, Manjeet, Pawandeep Kaur, Mukesh Kumari, Hardeep Kaur, Veena Yadav, Harinder Singh, Lakhbir Singh and Vikas Kumar. The bronze medal winners are: Pawandeep, Veena and Domingo. Cricket tourney Chandigarh district team outplayed combined minor districts team by 88 runs in the PCA Katoch Shield Cricket Tournament played here today at SAS Nagar. It was Yuvraj Singh who wrecked the rivals batting line up as he claimed five wickets for 45 runs. Brief scores: Chandigarh: 438 runs for six in 80 overs. Minor distt: 350 runs in 87 overs (Harikrishan Kali 46 and Harman Hari 53). MCM DAV win in
softball meet MCM DAV College for Women, Sector 36, had a narrow win over Guru Nanak Girls College, Ludhiana, at 7-6 in the Panjab University Inter-College Zonal Softball (women) Tournament played here at GCG-11. In other matches of the day, the GGS College for Women, Sector 26, outplayed Ramgarhia Girls College, Ludhiana, at 8-7, GCG-11 defeated GCG-42 at 15-1, while PU Campus team got the better of AS College for Women, Khanna, at 14-4. Rowing meet
from Sept 16 The Chandigarh State Junior Rowing Championship will be held at Sukhna Lake, Chandigarh, on September 16. The events to be conducted included single scull, double scull, coxless pairs and coxless fours. The boys and girls born on or after January 1, 1983, will be eligible to take part. This was disclosed by Kailash Nath, senior vice-president of the Chandigarh Rowing Association. The selection of Chandigarh team for the junior nationals to be held at Jagatpur (Orissa) will also be made on the basis of performance in this championship. Entries close with Col M. Berry, General Manager, Lake Club, on September 15. Selection trials
from Sept 14 The Sports Department, Chandigarh, will hold the selection trials to select the UT women team for the XXVII National Women Sports Festival in badminton, table-tennis, lawn tennis and swimming to be held on September 14 and 15. The festival will be held at Chennai from October 10 to 13. Entries close with concerned coaches, badminton — at Sector 42 Badminton Hall; TT — Sector 23 hall; Tennis — Lake Club, Chandigarh; swimming — Sector 23 Nursery swimming pool. |
MC loses Rs 6.83 lakh in
water meter deal Chandigarh, September 13 Against a recent purchase order of 28,000 water meters from two firms, based in Jalandhar and Delhi, the MC has lost about Rs 6.83 lakh worth of public money. Where the MC purchased 15,000 water meters at a rate of Rs 314.55 per meter (plus 10 % sales tax and Re one freight cost) and another 13,000 metres at a further enhanced price of Rs 329.50 (also plus ST and freight) from the above-mentioned firms, the same were locally available for Rs 330 per meter., inclusive of taxes. Consequent upon the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s directions regarding replacement of faulty water meters in the city, the Public Health wing of MC worked out a requirement of 54,000 water meters. Sources, however, disclose that instead of conducting a market survey and inviting tenders, the MC directly placed orders for 28,000 meters. Copy of the supply order dated June 27 in possession of The Tribune confirms MC’s first order of 10,000 water meters of Kranti make from M/s Aman Engineering Works, Jalandhar, at a cost of Rs 314.15 per metre (plus Rs 31.40 ST and Re one freight charge). Another 5,000 water meters of Crescent make were ordered from M/s Bharat Precision Instruments, Delhi, at the same cost. The third order for 13,000 water meters was placed with the Jalandhar firm recently at a further enhanced price of Rs 329.50 (plus Rs 32.95 ST and Re 1 freight charge). So where for 15,000 meters will MC pay Rs 346.55 per meter, for another 13,000 it will pay Rs 363.45 per metre. And this despite the fact that the same meters were locally available at a much less price of Rs 330 per meter, inclusive of all taxes. Given this, the MC has lost about Rs 6.83 lakh against the purchase order of 28,000 metres. As the orders for the remaining 26,000 water meters are placed, the loss will stand at a phenomenal about Rs 9 lakh. It’s also reliably learnt that two out of the four Crescent water meters which were initially tested by the MC were found to be defective. The order was, however, still placed. The MC, on its part, clarified the purchase as “legal”, saying that the same was made under the provisions of Director General of Supplies and Disposals (DGS & D) rate contract. Mr Swaran Singh Kanwal, the-then SE, MC Public Health Circle, under whose signature the supply order dated June 27 went, said: “The MC is bound to purchase materials on DGS & D rates.” Independent enquiries from retired MC councillors, some of whom have been members of the Finance and Contract Committee, which approves such orders, however, revealed that “the MC was supposed to achieve maximum cost effectiveness, viewing the quality of the product.” The councillors did not rule out the possibility of inviting tenders. Another highly placed MC official, when contacted, said, “We can either invite tenders and survey the market or adopt DGS & D provisions. Both procedures are practised.” Meaning thereby that unlike on the UT Administration, the provisions of DGS & D are not really “binding” on the MC. The MC has, in the past, made purchases by inviting tenders. How the MC will ever account for the loss of Rs 6.83 lakh of public money is yet to be seen. |
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Service
station holds ‘ransom’ MC official’s car for want of payment SAS Nagar, September 13 Sources in the civic body said that last year when the Subdivisional Magistrate (SDM) was holding the charge of the Administrator of the civic body, some repair work was done on this the vehicle. An amount of around Rs 7,000 was pending against the civic body for these repairs. Few days back when the driver of the car took the vehicle for repair to the service station and it was kept at the service station ‘forcibly’ for want of payment. Meanwhile, a monthly meeting of the general House of the civic body is being held on September 15. The issue of a former Executive Officer of the civic body, Mr K.S. Brar overstaying in the official accommodation for over five months would figure in the meeting. The civic body is likely to decide to take a tough stand on the issue. The Local Government Department is reported to have ordered recovery of the penalty of around Rs 26,000 on account of house rent from the said official. A communication in this regard has been sent to the local civic body. Mr Brar was transferred to Gidderbaha civic body about four months ago and Mr Bhagwant Garg was posted in place, but the former officer continued to stay in the official accommodation in the municipal council residential complex in Phase V here. Some alterations in the house had also been made. The Local Government Department had already issued a notice to Mr Brar to vacate the house but the latter — who enjoys patronage of a senior politician in the Badal government — was yet to comply with the orders. As per the rules an official had to vacate a house on being transferred from a station. But the present Executive Officer was residing at Chandigarh. Mr Kulwant Singh, President of the civic body, said it had been decided to levy market rent of Mr Brar. During 1995, the then President, Mr HS Billa, had levied market rent at a rate of Rs 20,000 per month of his predecessor. Interestingly, the house occupied by the Executive Officer was the official accommodation of the President and that of the Executive Officer’s was occupied by a Town Planner from the Local Government Department. |
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Principal Secy justifies PUDA appointments SAS Nagar, September 13 With various projects, including District Administrative Complex (DAC’s) worth over Rs 107 crore, honing the skills of the engineering wing was required all the more. He said Mr NS Sodhi, who was appointed as Technical Advisor to PUDA, had a vast experience in engineering. Mr Dubey said the Technical Advisor (Electrical) and Technical Advisor (Public Health) would be advising PUDA on a case-to-case basis. They would be studying and scrutinising estimates prepared by the engineering wing. He said a study and scrutiny of the estimates of the DAC Bathinda, prepared by the engineering wing of PUDA, had been brought down from Rs 26.30 crore to Rs 23.43 crore by Mr Sodhi at the level of administrative approval. Similarly the estimates of DAC Patiala and Hoshiarpur had been reduced by Rs 2.69 crore, he added. |
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Decks cleared for
electric bus system in city Chandigarh September 13 A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting of the high-powered committee which met today at Delhi under the Chairmanship of Punjab Governor and UT Administrator, Lieut-Gen J.F.R. Jacob (retd). The committee deliberated upon various clauses of the MoU to be signed between BHEL and the Chandigarh Administration. General Jacob asked the Home Secretary to complete the detailed project report (DPR) of the project within six months so that this project could be operationalised at the earliest. Meanwhile, five routes on which this electric trolley bus system would be operationalised at the first phase were finalised at the meeting. The Chief Architect informed at the meeting that preliminary work has completed on these routes. At the meeting, besides senior functionaries of the Chandigarh Administration, representatives of the Urban Development Ministry, Ministry of Home Affairs and the Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited also participated. The Chandigarh Administration was represented by Adviser to the Administrator, Ms Neeru Nanda, Home Secretary, Mr Raminder Singh Gujral, Finance Secretary, Mr Karan A. Singh and the Chief Architect, Mr Sarabjeet Singh Sandhu. |
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