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| Sunday,
June 16, 2002, Chandigarh, India
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Flame for “Freedom from Tobacco” in city Chandigarh, June 15 The flame, which arrived in the city in the morning, was received at the SAS Nagar border and brought to the bhavan. The SEAAT flame, as it is being called, will be taken to the Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, Bihar and Assam by the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan in association with the World Health Organisation. The flame, which started from Delhi on May 31, aims at creating awareness and mass movement with regards to tobacco cessation activities, enlightening policy makers and the public on the harmful effects of tobacco and undertaking a nationwide campaign to reduce tobacco use among the common people. The Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Dr Ramseh Dutt, was the chief guest on the occasion, while the function was presided over by the secretary of the Servants of People Society, Mr Onkar Chand. Speaking on the occasion, the UT Director Health Services, Dr Rameshwar Chander, stated that all advertisements regarding the use of tobacco products should be banned. Dr Satnam Singh, former programme director, WHO, South East Asia Region, Delhi, stated that only a change in the mindset of the public along with professional support can make a difference. ‘‘Only 14 per cent of those who use tobacco are cigarette smokers, the rest fall under other categories like bidis etc. and these two need to be focused on,’’ he said. Dr Raka Rashid, regional director, CYP Asia Centre, Chandigarh, in her address pointed out that the flame was a message of hope and awareness being spread across South Asia. A short play and a cultural show was also organised.  |
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Kidney patients await help Chandigarh, June 15 Sunil
Tewari, a 35-year-old tea stall owner from Bihar, has been at the PGI for the past 11 months. Suffering from a kidney failure, Sunil has had 90 dialysis and is still waiting for a transplant surgery. Although lucky to have a donor, Sunil unfortunately has no money to pay for his treatment. And for him and his wife, wait seems to be an endless one. “Earlier this year, my mother had been found as a crossmatch for kidney donation but since there was no money I could not be operated upon. Later she could not donate the kidney anymore and we had to look for another donor among our family members,” says Sunil. Sunil has two brothers and four sisters but the elder brother and the sisters refused to help. “It was my brother-in-law who came forward to donate his kidney. He is just a lad of 22. But he showed courage and volunteered,” says Sunil’s wife Vandana. Sunil runs his small shop at Sangrampur in Bihar and his mother is taking care of his four children. A 28-year-old shop helper from Agra, Raj Kumar, who too is undergoing treatment at the PGI for kidney failure, has a similar story. After a wait of more than three months, his aunt finally agreed to donate her kidney to save his life. “I have one elder brother and a mother. My father died long back. My mother could not donate her kidney since she and I do not share the blood group, while my brother too cannot donate a kidney. It was my uncle who encouraged her to donate a kidney. Her children too encouraged her to help in saving my life,” says Raj Kumar. Raj
Kumar is undergoing dialysis at a private hospital in the city and is waiting for financial assistance before he can be operated upon. Says his wife, Pinky: “My husband has been ill for more than two years now. Till December last year, he continued to work in the shop but has not been able to stand and work ever since. We have a small house in Agra and have a joint family but since we cannot sell off the house to pay for this treatment, I sold off all the jewellery I had and managed to get his dialysis done. Now we are left with just Rs 2,100,” she adds. |
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Special
fund for
poor patients
Chandigarh, June 15 This fund had initially been started for a patient after his case was highlighted by Chandigarh Tribune, but, according to hospital authorities, if the city residents’ generosity continues to flow the way it for the patient, the fund will be made a regular feature and go a long way in lending a helping hand to at least some of the poor patients who come to the hospital. This is for the first time that such a fund has been created in the hospital in the name of the Medical Superintendent and will be separate from the already existing Medical Illness Fund for the treatment of poor patients. According to Dr K.K. Garg, Medical Superintendent, the donations coming to the hospital are only too welcome. ‘‘We have a fund aided by the Government of India that we share with the Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, for the treatment of very poor patients. Since our resources are limited, this fund is used quite often but judiciously’’, he says. There is a committee that considers applications from poor patients and if the patient needs to be helped from the Medical Treatment Fund he is given free treatment by the hospital. ‘‘From the Medical Illness Fund we have been able to help a large number of patients and even paid for their tertiary treatments in hospitals like the PGI and All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. |
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Novel way of generating
awareness Chandigarh, June 15 The department hired the bus from the administration and decked it up with banners and took medical officers from various dispensaries of the city along with the tourists across the city spreading the message. The Director, Health Services, Dr Rameshwar Chander, flagged off the coach and accompanied the staff to various parts of the city. Dr Alka Kothari, Senior Regional Director, Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, and other health functionaries also travelled in the coach. |
Camp to select UT netball team Chandigarh, June 15 In Chandigarh, North zone netball meet was organised in March this year, which gave the needed exposure to the game. The Netball Association of Chandigarh is holding a state-level camp which started on June 1, for 35 probables. The 12-member thus selected will take part in the forthcoming 16th Junior National Junior Netball Championships to be held at Sundernagar (HP) from June 19 to 23. Three eves of the city are currently attending the Pre-Asian under-21 camp in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh. Mr Gurbir Singh, president of the Netball Federation of India, said since it had been given affiliation by the Indian Olympic Association, the players stood better chances of exhibiting their talent. He said the game was quite old and played in many countries across the world, but in this part of the world it was yet to take off in a big way. However for the past many years the NFI had been holding national meets in various age groups to give exposure to the younger lot. The secretary of the Netball association of Chandigarh, Mr R. Sharan said the NFI had deputed a coach from Delhi, Raman Sharma, for the camp. Sharan said the team would leave on June 18. The probables are: girls: Kanchan, Harneet, Amandeep, Varsha, Monika, Sumeet, Amrit Pal Kaur, Rekha, Supriya, Swati, Pushpa, Rajita, Purnima, Neel A. Punia, Anita, Navneet, Shivani and Deepika Sharda. Boys: Sunny Sharma, Sandeep, Opinder Sharma, Anuj Bisht, Amit Kumar, Chandan Kant, Deepak, Sandeep Rana, Amit Walia, Vikram Rana, Amit Otam, Rahul, A. Bhatia, S. Sharma, Arvind, Amandeep Singh and A.K. Singh. |
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Sports workshop
for kids Chandigarh, June 15 The karate classes are held from 6 am to 8 am, while skating and cricket classes are organised 5 pm onwards under the floodlights. She says that some parents do not send their wards when the school session is on. But during vacations, children get time to devote extra hours to sports. So joining these summer camps is the most sought after activity during vacations. She said another advantage of these summer sports camps was to involve more parents so that more children or inclined towards sports. There were some children who attended general workshops in the mornings and sports workshop in the evenings. The school had earlier played host to the National School Games. Chess championship The UT-under 25 chess championship began here today with Kanwar Sandeep Singh, Vipan Negi and Anmol Razdan leading the pack at the end of the first day of the championship organised by the Chandigarh Chess Association. Shooting
tourney The 27th Chandigarh State Shooting Championship-2002 will be organised by the Chandigarh Rifle Association at Patial Ki Rao shooting ranges, Sector 25, from June 27 to June 30. According to Mr Vijay Pal Singh, general secretary, the events will be conducted under the ISSF and national rules in the rifle and pistol events. The UT shooting team for the forthcoming GC Mavlankar Shooting Championship to be held at Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) would also be selected during the meet. He said the fourth UT state inter-school shooting championship will be held at same venue on July 2. Kabbadi meet Panchkula In the fourth match, Haryana Power Sports Group, Panchkula, consisting of international players won the match against the UP State Electricity Board team by 30/2 points in a one-sided match. In the fifth and final match of the day the Maharashtra State Electricity Board defeated the Panjab State Electricity Board, Patiala, by 20/8 points. |
Illegal tree chopping will
now come to an end Chandigarh, June 15 The move to paint numbers on all trees bordering the main roads and within-the-sector streets is significant as, according to sources in the horticulture wing, unauthorised tree felling was an open secret in the city. The sources added that the residents, in a large number of cases, were ordering the chopping of trees in front of their residences “so that the face of the house was visible from a distance”. This was not all. The sources maintained that healthy trees were also being chopped of by “unscrupulous elements” not only for selling wood after drying it, but also for using it as fuel. In some cases, the branches were so badly trimmed by the “migrant labourers” that the trees used to dry up. In the absence of numbering, it became almost impossible for the authorities to even realise that the trees had been cut. Only in case of complaint by concerned residents were the authorities acting. A senior officer in the horticulture wing confirmed that the process of numbering the trees was on. He claimed, “We started painting the number on the trees almost five months back and will take another month or so for completing the process”. Giving details, the officer added that their staff, divided into several groups, first started painting the numbers on the trees which were bordering the main roads. The process, he added, was almost complete. The staff, he claimed, was now concentrating on painting the numbers on the bark of trees which were bordering the streets within the sectors. “We hope to complete the entire exercise within the next few weeks, latest by the end of the next month,” the officer asserted. Highlighting the need for painting the numbers on the trees, the officer added that the same not only ensured that the trees were not chopped of in an unauthorised manner, but also helped them in assessing the green cover in the city. “Green cover is essential not only for providing shade to the pedestrians and other commuters, but also for maintaining healthy ecological balance,” the officer contended. Chandigarh, he claimed, “was otherwise also meant to be a pedestrians paradise with shady trees on both sides of the roads enabling the residents to walk their way to their offices”. Environmentalists in the city have, meanwhile, welcome the move of painting the trees. “It is a right step in the right direction,” said Mr Anil Khaurana, an environmentalist. “I hope the department does not merely sit on the data collected after numbering the trees but also analyses it by comparing the number of trees now and 10 years back, besides ensuring that the correct ratio between the trees and the concrete structures was maintained for ensuring ecological balance”. |
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DC sets up panel for
redressal of complaints SAS Nagar, June 15 The committee consists of the SDM, DSP, Estate Officer of PUDA, Electricity Board and officials of the Town Planning Department. The Deputy Commissioner directed the PUDA to speed up the case of setting up a dumping ground and sewage treatment plant. It was stated that the PUDA was yet to acquire land for the treatment plant. The Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mr
H. S. Bhullar, pointed out that illegal guest houses were being run from residential premises in the town. He also said there was no recovery van with the police to tow away vehicles involved in accidents and to remove the vehicles which were wrongly parked. The Deputy Commissioner directed the PUDA to issue notices to the guest houses and directed the civic body to provide a recovery van to the police. Instructions were also issued to remove encroachments from in front of the rehri market of Phase 3B 1 here. |
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