Eyesight of 250 bus drivers tested
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 7
Between 20 and 30 per cent of the 250 drivers were today found to be driving buses with inadequate eyesight.

This was found out during an eye-testing camp for 250 drivers of Punjab Road Transport Corporation, Himachal Road Transport Corporation, Haryana Roadways, Punjab Roadways and Chandigarh Transport Undertaking. The camp was organised by the Chandigarh traffic police as part of its ongoing Road Safety Week, being observed between January 5 and 11.

The eye testing was conducted by doctors led by Dr Jasdeep Singh from General Hospital, Sector 16. The doctors who conducted the tests and advised many of them to wear spectacles said between 70 and 80 per cent of them were found to be having perfect vision and a couple of them had poor vision.

At least 300 truck drivers and operators participated in another eye-testing camp at Transport Chowk. Dr Raj Vohra checked the eyes here. The president of the Truck Operators Union and its vice-president extended support to the traffic police’s campaign.

The Children Park Instructor, Head Constable Des Raj and Inspector Ishwar Singh Mann gave truck drivers tips about road safety in workshop-cum lectures at both places. The president of the union, Ajit Singh, and its vice-president, Ram Parkash, joined the police in its campaign. Arvind Kumar topscored with 27 out of 30 points in a test conducted by the traffic police to check drivers’ knowledge about road safety. Neelu Sandhu stood second in the contest, bagging 25 points.

At least 150 NCC volunteers pasted stickers about road safety on vehicles at 14 points in the city. The stickers were provided by Indian Oil Corporation. The stickers read: “Never jump red light,” “Stop before stop line,” “Observe speed limits” and “Don’t mix drinking and driving”.

SPORTS

Milkha Singh awaits administration's reply
Arvind Katyal

Chandigarh, January 7
Known for his concern for the betterment of veteran players, Flying Sikh Milkha Singh awaits reply from the Chandigarh Administration regarding allotment of suitable land for setting up an old age home in the city for veteran sportspersons.

In a brief interaction with this correspondent today, the legendary athlete said last year he had established Milkha's Charitable Trust with many former sportspersons and friends on the board of trustees.

He said the trust had decided to set up an old age home in the city to help sportspersons who in their days had brought laurels for the country but now needed help. Initially the trust wanted to start a sports academy but seeing the plight of veteran sportspersons, setting up of an old age home became the first priority.

Milkha said a letter to this effect was sent last month to the Adviser to the UT Administration for allotting suitable land to the trust. The home will be constructed by the way of donations for which rebate under the section 80-G of the Income Tax Act 1961 had already been obtained.

When asked about facilities to be provided, he said apart from housing veteran sportspersons, genuine and deserving sportspersons would also be provided accommodation. It would have all the facilities of an old age home.

It will accommodate 200 persons. Various health ailments would also be taken care of.

Milkha said they had identified sites in Sector 24, near the CGA Range, behind the Lake Club and near the Punjab Congress Bhavan in Sector 15.

In the next few days, he would seek an appointment with UT Administrator, hoping for a favourable response. He appealed to sports lovers and the general public to donate for the worthy cause.

Digvijay overpowers Mithilesh
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, January 7
Digvijay Singh in the under 12 age group and Karan Patnaik in the men singles section moved ahead on the second day of the Total Tennis Championship being played here today at the YMCA, Sector 11.

Digvijay overpowered Mithilesh Verma 6-0 while Karan had no difficulty in beating Vikram Malik 8-1. In the under 10 section, the kids played an impressive game and enthralled the handful of spectators mainly parents.

According to Mr Devender Kapoor, Tournament Director, tomorrow the girls matches will start at 3 pm alongwith next rounds of the men section.

Today’s results: Boys: under 10; Nishchey Rawal b Pavit Virk 6-0; Udayveer Garg b Anvit 6-1; Manik Khanna b Shubham 6-1; Nimish Mehra b Kunal Kapoor 6-1; Rahil Mahajan b Prabhdeep Singh 6-0; Anmol Bains b Nikhil Keshwan 6-0; Zery b Raghav Sardana 6-0; Rohan Markanda b Harman Dhillon 6-0; Bipliv b Shyresh 6-0; Uday Singh b Ravmehar Singh 6-1.

Under 12: First round: Bikram Kang b Kunal Bansal 6-0; Abhinav Sharma b Raghav Pandey 6-5 (12-10); Gurmehar Singh b Vinit Kumar 6-1; Fateh b Suvir Sachdeva 6-0.

Second round: Digvijay Singh b Mithilesh Verma 6-0; Manik Khanna b Gurmehar Singh 6-2; Nishchay Rawal b Udayveer Garg 6-2; Anshul Kadiyan b Sanyam Gupta 6-0; Raghav Singla b Vidur 6-0; Amit Chauhan b Medhaj 6-0; Fateh Sidhu b Arjun Khanna 6-2; Abhik b Bikram Kang 6-2; Devin Markanda b Ravmehar Singh 6-2; Nikhil Kalra b Ankur Siwan 6-1; Karan Bhai b Raunak Khosla 6-0; Fateh b Deepak Garg 6-0 ; Samin Bhargav b Aayush Chandel 6-1.

Men singles: first round: Amitabh Singh walk over Gurvinder; Gursimran Brar b Simran 8-0; Pardeep Kumar b Sandeep Dhiman 8-4; Karan Patnaik b Vikram Malik 8-1.

Selection trials

The Chandigarh Football Association will hold selection trials to select 25 probables for the forthcoming 40th Junior National Football championship for boys under-19 section for Dr BC Roy Trophy to be held at Una (HP) from January 20. According to Mr Ravinder Talwar, president of the association, the players born on or after January 1,1985, will be eligible for the said trials to be held at DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8, Chandigarh tomorrow at 2.30 pm.

PU shuttlers shine at North Zone meet
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, January 7
Panjab University won the gold medal and silver medal in the women's and men's sections, respectively, in the North Zone Inter-university Badminton Tournament which concluded at Kanpur on January 5.

According to information received here, they have qualified for the All- India Inter-university Badminton Tournament to be held at Nagpur from January 9.

The results:
Women: P.U (Chandigarh) b Punjabi University (Patiala) 2-0 (H. Sarda b Puneet 11-4, 11-5; H.Sarda and Isha b Jaspreet and Amrit Pal Kaur 15-6, 17-14)

Men: PU lost to Delhi University 1-3 (Deepak Sidhu lost to Sumit 6-15, 9- 15; Gurjeet lost to Manpreet 15- 12, 14-15, 10-15; Sachin/Gurjit b Rohit/Sumit 15-8, 15- 12 : Piyush lost to Rohit 8- 15, 10- 15).

The teams: Women: H.Sarda, Isha Sharma, Gauri Sharma and Roma

Men: Deepak Sidhu, Gurjit Bajwa, Piyush Aggarwal, Sachin Garg, Aakash Sethi, Pawan Malik and Pankaj Nathani. 

Judokas win 7 gold in school games
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, January 7
Chandigarh players garnered a rich haul of medals in various sports at the 49th National School Games. According to Mr Prem Puri, Assistant Education Officer, UT, city players have so far won seven individual gold medals, one team gold medal, four team silver medals and three individual silver medals.

They have also won 10 individual bronze medals.

The disciplines in which medals have been won included cricket (U-19, U-16), lawn tennis (U-19 boys and girls), judo and wrestling.

Commenting on the performance, Mr DS Mangat, DPI (S), said this year both boys and girls had done better than the last year.

Judokas won the maximum medals, seven gold three silver and seven bronze, in the competitions which concluded in Delhi on December 29. They were also second overall with 18 points.

Gold medal winners are: Ashish Thakur, Sarita, Ranjana Rana, Komal Saini, Pooja Tallam and Vivek Thakur.

Silver medal winners are: Kuljit Kaur, Priyanka Thakur and Amrinder Kaur.

Bronze medal winners are: Vijay Sharma, Amit Singh, Vijay Chauhan, Esha Sharma, Shilpi Katoch, Aekta Gill and Yogesh Sharma.

In wrestling events held in Delhi, Sher Singh won the silver medal while Rohit, Sushil and Yoginder got a bronze medal each.

In the tennis events held at Surat, U-17 girls team won the silver medal. The team included Simmer, Chandni, Raksha and Anuradhika. Mehak won the bronze medal in the U-14 event. In the U-19 event, both boys and girls teams won the silver medals.

In the cricket U-19 boys event at Srinagar, Chandigarh won the gold medal while in the U-16 competitions at Delhi, Chandigarh won the silver medal.

The athletics team has already left for Jalpaiguri, West Bengal.

Generators allowed in commercial buildings
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 7
The Chandigarh Administration has allowed that a generator having a capacity upto 10 KVA be allowed on the terrace of a commercial and institutional buildings. This generator will have to be within the service zone meant for services such as cooling towers etc.

Further a generating set upto 25 KVA capacity shall be allowed on the lowest level of the residential building subject to the air pollution and structure borne noise levels being within norms. However, there shall be no objection in installing of the generating sets of the capacity beyond 25 KVA, in the basement or ground floor of the premises of commercial or institutional sites within covered area norms. These provisions are subject to clearance by the Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee and Electricity Department of the Chandigarh Administration as per their norm, a spokesperson said.

Admn refunds 15 crore to builder
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 7
The Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh has refunded Rs 15,15,30,208 to a constructor who was never handed over the possession of a hotel site that he had got in an auction, sources said here today. The site was earmarked in Sector 35.

The party concerned had got the site for Rs 36.55 crore in a public auction in April, 1997. An earnest amount of Rs 9.13 crore was deposited with the corporation.

Interestingly the corporation had auctioned the site without getting possession from the UT Estate Office.

The party was not refunded the money. This resulted in a legal battle, which the corporation lost in the high court as well as in the Supreme Court.

The corporation was ordered to refund the entire amount along with interest.

“The money has been refunded from the corporation’s own finances”, the sources added.