The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

AGs hockey finals today
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, March 31
Hosts AG, Punjab, will clash with AG, Jharkhand for tomorrow’s finals of the All-India Inter Zonal IA and AD hockey tournament. In the semi-finals held today at the Hockey stadium, AG, Punjab, outplayed AG, Orissa by a solitary goal which was scored by Surjit Singh in the dying moments of the match.

Earlier, in the first semi-final tie, AG, Jharkhand defeated AG, Tamil Nadu 2-1 with good stick work by Manbahal Henry. AG, Tamil Nadu, surged ahead when their player H Raza scored the field goal in 10th minute of the tie. In the next few seconds, Manbahal bounced back to level the score at 1-1. Again in the second half, Manbahal came into action to score the winning goal. The finals will be played at 3.30 pm.

TT final

Rajan entered the final of Tribune Table Tennis Tournament in the singles event after beating Sukhwinder Sodhi here today. The score was 18-21, 17-21, 21-13, 21-9 and 21-12.

In the quarter final matches Sodhi defeated A.C. Bali by 19-21, 21-17 and 21-19, Munish defeated Dinesh 21-5 and 21-4 and Umesh defeated Sunil Dutt 16-21, 21-16 and 21-16.

In the double’s events, Rajan and Dharminder defeated Rajiv Bajaj and Ashok Bali 28-26, 27-25.

ADMINISTRATION

Education, power supply get more money
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 31
More money has been allocated for general education, technical education and power supply in Chandigarh for this financial year.

The Chandigarh Administration had projected an outlay of Rs 205 crore for annual Plan, however, the Union Finance Ministry has agreed for a spending of Rs 168 crore. This includes Rs 4.42 crore under the Prime Minister Rozgar yojana; Rs 1 crore for the National Slum Development programme; Rs 2.21 crore for state highways, roads and bridges; and Rs 73 lakh for National Programme for Adolescent Girls.

Among the major plans of the Administration is the acquisition of land for development of Phase III sectors: the acquisition of land for afforestation; and the acquisition of new buses for the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking. Besides this, early completion of Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32; the augmentation of water supply in Phase IV; the introduction of electric trolley bus system; setting up of sewerage treatment plant; establishment of botanical gardens; construction of flyover at transport chowk; and upgradation of the infrastructure and civic amenities available in the city and rural areas.

Out of allocation of Rs168 crores, a sum of Rs 107.05 crore will be spent on developmental projects. The Municipal Corporation will get Rs 26.76 crore for various developmental projects. A sum of Rs 124.96 crore will be spent on social services, including education, medical and public health, water supply, housing, welfare of the SCs and STs and social security and welfare. The power sector will get Rs 20 crore.

On the other hand, revenue collections will be Rs 114 crore more than the original target of Rs 544 crore. The administrative expenditure initially spent by the Administration on the Punjab and Haryana High Court is reimbursed by the state of Punjab and Haryana in proportion to the cases of the respective states decided by the court (Rs 20 crore approximately. Fifty per cent expenditure spent on the General Hospital is also shared by Punjab and Haryana (Rs 3.13 crores approximately. Similarly, the expenditure on the maintenance of the buildings in occupation of Punjab and Haryana Governments is also reimbursed by the respective states. Such reimbursement is depicted in the Budget as reduction of expenditure.

From the sale of plots, which comes under this category, the Administration is likely to earn Rs 130 crore during 2003-04. The target of recoveries for 2003-04 is Rs 181.50 crore. On the revenue receipts against the previous year's target of Rs 716.65 crore, the target of revenue receipts for the current financial year have been fixed at Rs 748.83 Crore.

Admn clarifies on Sukhna water level
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 31
The UT Engineering Department has sought to allay apprehensions expressed by Dr G.S. Dhillon, a former Chief Engineer of Punjab Irrigation, with regard to the threat which could be posed to the Sukhna Lake by its move to increase the water level by raising the sill level of the radial gates of the regulator.

In a statement issued here today, Mr Krishanjit Singh, Superintending Engineer, Construction Circle-II, said the fear expressed by Dr Dhillon was “totally wrong and unfounded.” It was proposed to raise the sill level by two feet from the maximum pond level of 1161 feet (and three feet from the maximum flood level of 1160 feet). Detailed technical examination had been underway in the department for the past six months, various alternatives and its impact had been studied in depth. Since the department did not possess the requisite expertise to handle such hydel problems, first the BBMB authorities were consulted and a number of meetings were held with Mr D. S. Notra, Chief Engineer, BBMB, and efforts were made to find the old design and the drawings. Only one old drawing of profile of the existing spillway structure could be traced. However, the structure design could not be traced. The design wing of the National Hydel Power Corporation (NHPC) was also contacted. Mr A. K. Sachdeva, Executive Director, NHPC, has suggested that the department should contact Mr M.P. Jain, a former Director, Hydel Designs, Punjab Irrigation Department, who had been heading hydel design organisation. After detailed discussion with him, the work for necessary modifications of the existing structure was assigned to him. It was found that keeping all the factors in view, it will be possible to raise the water level only by two feet.

Pros and cons of various alternatives such as raising the height of the gate with its lifting mechanism, raising the sill level of the regulator along with the modification in civil structure and introduction of breast wall at the top near the gates were studied. Of these three alternatives, raising of sill level by two feet without any modification of the gates was found to be most economical and effective. Therefore, it was decided to raise the sill level of the regulator and make corresponding changes in the civil structure after detailed discussions.

The lifting of the crest of the regulator by two feet from the maximum pond level did not alter any forces on the gates, piers and abutments. The raised water level did necessitate the changes in design of glacis, cistern, energy dissipating devices and downstream protection works. These changes were carried out after detailed studies as per standard engineering practices for such type of structures which included checking the adequacy of water way, length of impervious floor with respect to exit gradient, depth of upstream and downstream cut of walls against scour length and level of stilling basin with respect to hydraulic jump, uplift pressure, energy dissipation required, protection work on upstream and downstream of the regulator. Based on these detailed studies, the required remedial measures had been proposed to be carried out. These measures were sufficient for the safety of the structure against any type of failure. The apprehension of Dr Dhillon that masonry wall (piers and abutments) of spillway would not be able to withstand the additional pressure of water head was incorrect because there was no increase in pressure on the gates or masonry walls after raising of sill level. The earthen dam with stone pitching on the lake side had also been checked and found to be strong enough for this additional level of water.

Weak trees to be pruned
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 31
The Chandigarh Administration’s Engineering Department would soon start pruning weak and matured trees that are located near various government schools. Stating this, Mr Subhash Chawla, Mayor, said he had written a letter to the Education Department a few days ago and pointed out that certain trees along with the boundary walls of some government schools had become weak and frail.

He said, “These trees have become potential threat to the children and also to residents nearby as these could fall in the prevailing strong winds”. Mr D.S. Mangat, DPI (Schools), has taken a note of this problem and requested the Engineering Department to prune these trees, he added.