Chandigarh, February 19
Do you know of a game which can be played by people of all ages, gender and ability ? The answer is: Bocce, a Chinese game, which has been played for more than 7,000 years. One reason why this game has been very popular is that anyone can play it and it does not require any strength, stamina or agility.

Having recognised its tremendous popularity in the West, the Special Olympics Bharat has planned to introduced Bocce, in India also. Bocce is “similar” to the French games of Boules of Petanque, and English Lawn Bowls. Special Olympics is an international programme of year-round sports training and competition for the mentally challenged people.

Bocce is played with a set of eight large balls. The balls must be of equal size and composed of wood or metal. However, according to Mr Michael Goodarce, Regional Sports Director, Asia-Pacific, Special Olympics Inc., the balls could be tennis, cricket or even plastic balls. “ Bocce is a very simple game and does not require much effort and money”, claimed Mr Goodacre. “An interesting thing about the game is that it could be played by a team of four, two or even a single player”, he says.

“In the next three years, Bocce would be played in almost all the schools of the country”, he says. Bocce has been specially adapted for Special Olympics. Mr Noel E Phillips, National Director, Special Olympics Bharat, maintains, “Mental retardation is associated with physical retardation and Bocce helps in eye-hand coordination”.

State level tournament of Bocce have already been organised in Jharkhand, Delhi and Mumbai. According to Ms Promila Chandra Mohan, Area Director, Special Olympics Society, a zonal tournament of Bocce would be held in the city in March.

The Bocce court is 12 feet wide and 60 feet long. The surface may be composed of stone-dust, dirt, clay, grass or artificial surface. While the court is fenced with at least a three feet high wall at the ends, the sidewalls should be as high as the Bocce balls.

The court is marked at a 10-foot line from both ends and mid-court marker. The four balls of one team must be visibly distinct from the other four balls. A must for the game to start is Pallina, another ball distinct from the Bocce balls.

The game begins with a toss of coin. After that, the pallina is rolled or tossed by a member of the team which wins the toss. The team tossing the pallina will have three attempts to stop in the playing area between the midway point and the 50-foot line. If it fails, the opposing team has one attempt for a legal throw. If it also fails, the referee places the pallina at the centre of the court at the 50 foot line. Team A player tossing the pallina must deliver the first ball followed by Team B player. While the Closest ball is the In ball, the other ball is the Out ball. The out ball team continue delivering until they are closer, and then the In team deliver.

Chandigarh, February 19
Municipal bodies will have to identify locations for landfills for waste disposal by the end of the year under a law notified by the Ministry of Environment and Forest after a Supreme Court order. This means that municipal bodies can face litigations for failing to provide facilities like sanitation, water supply, sewerage, roads and electricity entrusted to these bodies under specific Acts by several state governments.

This was informed by experts to a group of mayors, councillors and municipal officials from Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh, who gathered at the Centre for Research in Rural and Urban Development (CRRID) as part of a two-day national training programme on “Fiscal decentralisation and innovative urban management for strengthening municipal governments”. The programme concluded today.

Principal Secretary to Haryana Chief Minister and former Local Bodies Secretary and Commissioner M.K. Miglani asked the grassroot leaders to lead from the front in finding resources and local solutions to the people of their areas lest courts should intervene.

He informed that the Haryana Government had decided a couple of days back not to allow giving of municipal and panchayat land free of cost to any institution but urged the municipal leaders not to meet their expenditure from the sale of land and assets.

Mr Miglani informed that the Haryana Government had recently transferred Rs 2 crore to a local body for acquiring land for a sugar mill.

He said under constitutional and legal obligations, resources would have to be generated by local bodies to meet their needs of providing civic amenities and their failure to do so had been inviting court intervention.

Former Punjab Finance Commission member J.P. Gupta said Ludhiana Corporation had successfully exemplified the private-public participation in collection and disposal of garbage.

He said corporation paid Rs 1,200 per month to Mohalla Sanitation Committees for door-to-door collection of garbage.

The corporation then collects and delivers the garbage to a private party which turns it into manure. The waste disposal is efficiently and economically working in the city through this participation.

Dr N.B. Majumdar from the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) said the Union Environment Ministry had notified an Act making time-bound responsibilities of municipal bodies for the disposal of waste.