The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

HEALTH

Adviser assures Admn support for fighting childhood cancer
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 15
“We need empathy not sympathy”, said Divya Jot, a young childhood cancer survivor while talking about her experience of the sufferings caused by the disease during a Childhood Cancer Day function held at the Advanced Paediatric Centre Auditorium, PGI, here today.

Students of St Stephen’s School participate in an awareness rally organised by the Sahayta Cancer Care in collaboration with the International Confederation of Childhood Cancer Parent Organisation (ICCCPO) at the APC, PGI, in Chandigarh on Tuesday. — A Tribune photograph

The function was organised by Sahayta Cancer Sahyog, a social service organisation in collaboration with the International Confederation of Childhood Cancer Parent Organisation, Ms Neeru Nanda, Adviser to the UT Administrator, was the chief guest.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof Lata Kumar, Head, Department of Paediatrics, PGI, said “The disease is curable and we have success rate of 70 to 75 per cent at the APC. The disease is certainly not hereditary and not contagious either. Creating awareness about the disease will help in enabling parents to recognise symptoms and report to doctors at an early stage.”

Divya Jot, a cancer survivor, related her experience of fighting the disease. She said one should have complete faith in God and doctors. She was all praise for the APC’s Haematology and Oncology unit and its doctors where she was treated.

Mr Amitabh Mohan, father of a cancer patient, related his experiences about parenting a child suffering from cancer. Mr Ashwani Luthra, Commissioner, Income Tax, talked about the positive and effective role being played by organisations like Sahayta which along with mustering funds for patients, provide emotional support to the patients and their parents.

Mr Harold Carver, Principal, St Stephen’s School, assured all support of the city’s independent schools to Sahayta.

Visibly moved on having shared the agony and innocence of children suffering from cancer, Ms Nanda could barely hold back tears. She assured the PGI of all support from the Administration for the cause. She related her experience of seeing her father suffer from cancer. She donated Rs 5,000 to Sahayta.

Ms Neelu Tuli, founder of Sahayta, had earlier talked about the organisation and its activities.

Ms Nanda also gave away prizes to the children who had participated in the drawing competition organised during blood diseases OPD at APC in the past five weeks. Vaishali, Gurleen, Devleena, Sagar Chugh, Ancy Joseph, Saurabh, Rohit, Dharamveer Taneja, Supreet, Nitika, Stuti, Amit and Pankaj Saldahna, Rahat, Nitika Bhassin and Shubham were some of the prize winners.

Ms Nanda also flagged off a rally by students of St Stephen’s School from the APC to the Sector 17 plaza to create awareness among the public about the disease.

SPORTS

‘Synthetic turfs must to improve game’
Arvind Katyal

Chandigarh, January 15
“The term Astro Turf which is used for a hockey ground was actually the brand name of a company. But the people thought it is the name of the turf”, said Mr Rainer M. Gintzel, Technical Managing Director of Polytan, a company based at Burgheim (Germany). He was in the city on a brief visit. Recently this company had been awarded the contract to lay the hockey turf at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, and Dashmesh Girls College grounds, Badal (Muktsar), Punjab. Earlier, they had laid the running track at Guru Nanak Stadium, Ludhiana, where the athletic events of the 31st National Games were conducted, Mr Gintzel added.

In a brief interaction with Chandigarh Tribune, Mr Gintzel said the latest trend and innovations in this turf was to lay the turf made of 100 per cent monofilament yarn and at Amritsar and Badal they will be using Polytan PP Megaturf PPN14-8. Another product now a days used in various turfs were polyurethane systems and of artificial grass.

He was of the view that unless India adopts use of more synthetic turfs, it would be difficult to compete according to world standards and gave the example of Germany and many other European countries where their governments had given top priority to lay turfs.

He was surprised to know that in India the hockey turfs were very few in number. When asked about the durability of these turfs, he said they gave seven years warranty of Ludhiana track but affirmed that if the maintenance was done as per the desired specifications, then that track could last for more than 20 years.

Mr Gintzel who is credited with laying more than 200 synthetic turfs all over the world and with more than two decades of experience, said in major parts of the world, apart from hockey turfs, the emphasis was on football turfs. The new combi-filled artificial grass was another in thing now a days and used in tennis, hockey, rugby, baseball and soccer.

On the time frame for new turfs, Mr Gintzel said the turfs at GND, Amritsar, and Badal village will be laid before March, 2002.

Kapil Dev is UTCA General Secretary
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 15
Former India cricket captain Kapil Dev has been unanimously elected General Secretary of the UT Cricket Association. The meeting was chaired by the UTCA President, Col Ajeet Singh Judge. Mr. S.S. Bawa will continue as Secretary of the association.

The association had offered life membership to Kapil Dev, Yograj Singh, Ashok Malhotra and Chetan Sharma, which they had accepted.

Giving this information, Mr Bawa also released the cricket calendar for 2002.

UT League : March 17 to June 9.

St Kabir Trophy (under 12): June 10 to 16.

Clinic for umpires and scorers: July 20 and 21.

Conditioning camps for different age-groups: August 2 to 24.

Shivalik Trophy for UT Schools: September 14 to 29.

Kapil Dev Trophy for Colleges: October 12 to 20.

Veterans’ Trophy: November 17.

Inter-Institutional Tournament: December 21 to 29.

AGM: February.

DAV-10, PEC move ahead
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, January 15
DAV College, Sector 10, Chandigarh, and Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh, moved up in the men and women sections of the Panjab University Inter-college Badminton Tournament, which began here today at the Gymnasium Hall on PU Campus.

Results : women: PEC b DAV Girls College, Garhshankar, 2-0 (Harmanjit b Mandeep Kaur 7-0, 7-0, 7-1; Harmanjit and Nidhi b Mandeep and Varinderjot 7-0, 7-1, 7-2). In another match, Ramgarhia Girls College, Ludhiana, b SGSRS College for Women, Chabbewal, 2-0.

Men — DAVC b PEC, Chandigarh, 3-0 (Naresh b Pradeep Bansal 7-1, 7-0, 7-0; Deepak b Puneet 7-0, 7-0, 7-0; Varun and Gurjeet b Pradeep and Praneet 7-0, 7-1, 7-2.

Admn, MCC directed to repair road
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, January 15
on a civil suit filed by the Welfare Society, Sector 22-D, a local court has directed the UT Administration and the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh to repair the V-3 road from Sood Dharamshala to the vegetable market in Sector 22 within three months.

The court also directed the Administration and the MCC to repair the manholes on the roadside and maintain the park properly.

The plaintiff had filed a suit before the court and prayed for mandatory injunction to direct the Administration through the UT Home Secretary and the MCC through its Executive Engineer to perform its duty effectively regarding carpeting the roads from Sood Dharamshala to the vegetable market and repairing the manholes on the roadside.