Chandigarh, November 10
The good news for Indian nurses is that the good old US of A is short of 10,000 nurses right now. By 2013, this shortfall is likely to multiply ten-fold to nearly 1,00,000 jobs. And they want Indian nurses to work in their hospitals. But the bad news is that most Indian nurses cannot speak and understand English with an American accent.

“They are of no use to us”, says Mr Mike Nobles, president, CPI Medical Staffing Inc., who is currently on his fourth visit to India to recruit qualified nurses for US hospitals. He was the main speaker at an “International Nursing Fair 2003-04” organised by Canway Immigration Consultants Limited here today. Based in Memphis, Tennesse, Mr Nobles says that his state alone has 150 hospitals which are facing a 25 per cent shortage of nurses. “We rate the Indian nurses very high. They are highly motivated, very hard working and their schooling is equal, and, in some cases, even surpassing those in the USA. But the main problem is their speaking and understanding the English with an American accent,” he said in a talk with TNS.

At the fair, he asked the participants a simple question: “How old are you?” And those who understood were asked to raise their hand immediately. Only six girls of the 50 odd present responded. “This shows that most of them were not able to follow what I was saying,” he points out.

“This is my fourth visit to India and each time I am amazed with the rapid progress made here. America is aware of the quality of doctors and computer professionals who have called America their home and worked very well. Now is the time for nurses.

“America has been built by immigrants. It is this constant inflow of people from diverse backgrounds and religions that America is what it is today. New people bring with them new work ethics, new dreams, new goals and a willingness to achieve them”.

He also announced the setting up of an Indian Nurses Association in the USA. “This forum is being set up to address all issues relating to nurses in the USA and to form a support system for them. We have also set up a scholarship programme. All nurses who pass our aptitude test shall get scholarships for availing themselves of free training facilities.

Chandigarh, November 10
The lone Sports Training centre in the city, being run under the aegis of the Sports Authority of India (SAI), located at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 18, will get a further boost in basketball activities, as the basketball courts have been floodlit, thanks to the initiative taken by the SAI authorities.

Ms Ritu Pathik, Assistant Director, SAI, and in charge of the centre, said it was local MP Pawan Kumar Bansal whose help of Rs 2 lakh gave a fillip to sports activities at the centre. Ms Pathik said earlier it were volleyball courts which were made floodlit with the aid of MPLADS fund.

This would help in longer playing hours at the courts, and in winter, players could play late in the evening, she said. This centre has provision for four sport disciplines — athletics, basketball, volleyball and hockey. It began functioning in the 1980s and earlier was covered under the sports hostel scheme of the SAI.

In hockey, for more than a decade, girls used to play on six-a-side playfield. They practised at the nearby Sector 18 hockey stadium. But despite that, the centre was able to produce champions of the status of Sita Gusain, who captained the Indian women’s hockey team and also was conferred with the Arjuna Award.

Even Mamta Kharab, on whom the Arjuna Award was conferred upon last year, and another promising national hockey player, Saba Anjum, are products of the centre. Jaswinder Singh, the coach at the centre, had been the assistant coach of the Indian team.

In basketball, Harpreet Kaur has represented India. Sapna in volleyball and many women athletes have brought laurels to the centre at the national and international levels.

SAS Nagar, November 10
The Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA) will organise the first flower show in the town in February, 2004 on lines of Chandigarh and Panchkula.

This was decided in a joint meeting of various developing agencies organised by the Kharar MLA, Mr Bir Devinder Singh, at the Municipal Council office here today.

The two day flower show will be organised on February 14-15 at Sylvie Park in Phase 10 here. The details of the show will be finalised at another meeting on the issue to be held on November 17.

The MLA also pulled up corporation and PUDA officials for the shoddy state of parks and the roundabouts.

Later, talking to mediapersons, Mr Bir Devinder Singh said he would inspect the parks along with a team of members from PUDA and MC in order to resolve the stalemate between the two organisations as to who will maintain these parks.

Chandigarh, November 10
Besides forming a road safety committee for better coordination between the UT Traffic Police and Engineering department, it has been decided to carry out certain modifications on major roads in the city. These decisions were taken at a meeting of the state-level Road Safety Council held here today.

The meeting, headed by the Adviser to the UT Administrator, Mr R.S. Gujral, decided to constitute the committee headed by the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Mr M.P. Singh. It will have the Superintendent of Police, Mr Amitabh Dhillon, the Chief Engineer, Mr V.K. Bhardwaj and the Senior Town Planner as members, whereas the Chief Engineer of the Municipal Corporation will be its convener.

The aim of the committee will be to help the Engineering Department to achieve better prioritisation of its road engineering projects. It will meet within a fortnight to tackle specific traffic-related problems.

The council also decided that the installation of automatic traffic-light signals at Piccadilly Chowk will be expedited and possible diversion routes for Mohali-bound buses will be worked out along with the road engineering implications to reduce congestion on the Himalaya Marg during the peak hours. It was also decided to convert Udyog Path into a dual carriageway road.

The council further decided that rumble strips would be installed at the accident-prone prove V-3 and V-5 road intersections. Besides installing stop signs and painting stop lines at all such intersections to warn all motorists entering V-3 roads from V-5 roads, the corporation will install blinkers on all such intersections.

It was decided to install high iron grills on the central verge and on the sides along the Vikas Marg to reduce pedestrian cross-over points and to curb the high rate of fatal accidents taking place on this road. Iron grills will also be installed on the road dividing Sectors 45 and 46 and road dividers will also be constructed on the road to separate the opposite streams of traffic.

The council also decided that the slip road along the National Highway from Tribune Chowk to Hallo Majra will also be constructed on priority and solar-powered studs will be embedded into the stop line on all important road intersections, especially Housing Board Chowk, Railway Light Point and Traffic Light Point.

It was decided to undertake a traffic education-cum-enforcement drive to ensure proper following of rules on the rotaries. The council also decided to work out some practical solutions to ensure quick updation of vehicle registration database so that the current address of all registered vehicle owners should be readily available. The Chandigarh Police will acquire a smart card reader and writer and the Registering and Licensing Authority will make available the necessary software to the Chandigarh Police for entering challan history in the driving licence of the offender.