Pulse polio campaign is off the mark
Parmindar Singh

Noida, February 23
The pulse polio campaign seems to be off the mark this year. Reason - the whole government machinery, officers and police were busy in Chief Minister’s programme at Dadri for Bhumi Pujan of a giant power project. Besides, a large number of marriages had been scheduled on 22 February. Still, the Rotary Club had extended full cooperation and support to it as in the past.

A total of over 1.28 lakh kids under five were administered the polio drops in various areas of Gautam Budh Nagar. This only amounted to 41 per cent of the total target of 3.8 lakh kids.

In the previous campaign, 45 per cent of target had been achieved. In Noida town, 52,152 children were given polio drops, which was 61 per cent of the set target. The health department teams will, however, fan out in the rural areas and urban pockets to administer pulse polio drops to kids for the next six days.

The impact of scrapping of G. B. Nagar district could also be seen on the campaign. No senior officer was known to have toured Noida or any other town as well as rural areas during the past one week. Even Ghaziabad CMO Dr S. P. Singh was not seen here for the whole week.

The Deputy CMO Bulandshahar, Dr R. B. Agarwal had visited Javer, Dinkore, Rabupura, Bilaspur etc. The Bulandshahr CMO, Dr Tiwari, had inaugurated the polio campaigns in Dankore, Mandi Shyam Nagar and Bilaspur.

The WHO Medical Surveillance Officer, Dr Danish Ahmed, informed that 52,152 kids in Noida city, 20,731 in Dadri, 23,262 in Bisarakh, 17,908 in Dankore and 14,542 in Javer, were given pulse polio drops on Sunday.

Dr R. C. Gaur, Deputy CMO, had gone around Sector-30 hospital and booths set up in sectors 8, 9, 11, 12, Morna, Gijjore, Barolla, Bhangel, Kukera, Hardoni, Bisarakh etc to check the arrangements. Dr Gaur said monitors had been posted at Noida, Dadri, Bisarakh, Dankore, Javer etc. Explanation of Dr Shushil Kumar for starting the booth in Tehla village late at 10.30 am was also called by Dr Gaur.

Good response to pulse polio drive
Our Correspondent

Sonepat, February 23
A large number of children upto 5 years were administered pulse polio drops by the employees of the Health Department and the volunteers of the various social and voluntary organisations at different booths created specially for the purpose in Sonepat, Ganaur, Kharkhauda and Gohana towns.

According to reports, the response to the campaign was overwhelming as parents and guardians were seen waiting with children for their turn at several posts.

In all, 666 polio centres were set up in the urban and rural areas of the district for this purpose, including 490 in the rural areas.

As many as 2,664 employees were deputed for administering the pulse polio drops to the children. As many as 101 observers were also appointed to monitor the campaign.

Several mobile teams were put into operation to cover the slum areas, brick kilns, labour colonies and at the bus stands and the railway stations for administering the polio drops to the children of travellers passing through the district.

Shops Act enforced

Most of the shops and commercial establishments remained closed in this city following the orders of the Deputy Commissioner to take action against shopkeepers who kept their shops open in violation of the Shops Act. Sunday is declared a closed holiday under the Shops Act. According to a report, all the main bazars and commercial centres remained deserted. The District Labour and Concilliation Officer, Mr D N Kaushik, reportedly convened a meeting of the shopkeepers association and asked them not to violate the Shops Act.

Dept launches special campaign to nail quacks
Our Correspondent

Sonepat, February 23
The health department has launched a special campaign to apprehend the quacks engaged in an unauthorised practice in the rural areas of the district and elsewhere in the state.

According to a report, this action followed the state governments’ directive to the department for apprehending such quacks in the state. A four-member team of the officials, headed by Mr Bhup Singh, Chief Drugs Inspector, conducted a surprise raid in Janti Kalan village along the Haryana Delhi border, about 25 km from here last evening. But they found all the shops of the quacks closed as the quacks had reportedly got prior information about the raids and they succeeded in fleeing after the closure of their shops.

Two drugs inspectors, Mr Sunil Chaudhary from Kaithal and Mr Rakesh Dahiya from Sonepat, and a strong contingent of Kundli police accompanied the raiding party. The officials of the team have a list of four quacks and these include Dr Om Parkash, Dr Ranbir and Dr Jagdish Khatri. As the officials reached the village, a panic was created among the residents and the medical practitioners. The officials carried out the raids on the shops of the quacks, but found all of them closed. When they wanted to seal these shops, the owners of these shops pointed out to them that these doctors had already left the village after paying the rents to them. Thereupon, the officials declined to seal the shops and left the village without any challan.

SPORTS

Indian Air Force beat Golden Hawks
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, February 23
Indian Air Force beat Golden Hawks by 3 wickets in Super A Division match at Palam ground. Score: Golden Hawks: 128 all out in 33.4 overs: Vivek Srivastava 30, Rajender Ramola 27, Deepak Bhaskar 3/15, Manish Jha 2/16. IAF: 130 for 7 in 38 overs: Satish Upadhyay 34, Harpeet Singh no 21, Kuldeep Rawat 3/24, Vishal Sharma 2/31.

Ashoka Club beat Bank of Baroda by 104 runs in all Div at YSC no-IInd ground. Score: Ashoka Club: 261 for 3 in 35 overs: Jitender Sharma not out 90, Abhinav Kachru 68, Ravinder Bhola 43, Vikas Katyal not out 37, Surender Arora 2/26. B O B: 77 all out in 20.2 overs: Devohri 4/26, Jagpreet Singh 3/16, Mahender Gupta 2/17

City Gym Khana beat young Delhi by 6 wickets in A-I Division at Mohan Meakin ground. Score: Young Delhi: 189 for 9 in 40 overs: Shanti Prakash 58, Pankaj Malik 36. Rahul Bhardwaj 4/38. City Gym Khana: 193 for 4 in 30.4 overs: Sameer Bandoh 102, Sunny Grover not out 31.

Lala Ram Charan beat Delhi wonders by 8 runs in A-II Division at Palam II ground. Scores: LRC: 180 all out in 39.4 overs: Dharmender Kumar 34, Rahl Suri 33, Akil Ahmad 3/19.

Delhi wonders: 172 all out in 38.5 overs: Surender Kumar 30. Suresh Kumar 4/35. Shammi Wadhwa 2/26.

Harender, Arun star
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, February 23
Fine batting by Harender Rawat (43 no) Arun Khanna (41 no) and deadly bowling by Kuldeep (3/22) and Subodh Badola (3/5) helped Pan Business beat Canara Bank by 7 wickets and get two points in 8th Suntan Cup Cricket Tournament at Vinay Marg ground.

Score: Canara Bank: 128 all out in 23 overs (B S Chohan 32, Shiv Kumar 30, Kuldeep 3/22, Subodh Badola 3/5). Pan Business: 132 for 2 in 22 overs (Harender Rawat 43 no, Arun Khanna 41 no).

Pusa Youngsters win

Pusa Youngsters won the All India Rajiv Gandhi Memorial Invitation Cricket Tournament at Chandosi (UP) defeating Rajdhani Cricket Club by 13 runs in an exciting finish at Pandit Hanman Singh ground.

Pusa youngsters won the toss and elected to bat. At one stage, they were 52 for 2 in the 11th over. Damanjeet Singh 116 (8x4) (10x6) and Abhinav Bali (54) (4x4) (5x6) put 129 runs in just 12 overs changed the trend of the game. Pusa made 272 in 35 overs. For Rajdhani sports, Ashish Sharma (129,6x4, 8x4) and Tara Chand (43) were the scorers for Rajdhani Sports who were all out for 258 in the last over.

Ashish Sharma was declared the man of the series, Damanjit Singh of Pusa Youngsters the best batsman and Lalit Anand the best bowler of the tournament. Freedom fighter Jagdish Narain Saxena give away the prizes.

Pusa Yongsters: 72 for 8 in 35 overs(Damanjt Singh 116, Abhinav Bali-54, Naresh-32, Nitin Aggarwal 5/58, Tarachand 3/68).

Rajdhani Sports: 258 all out (Ashish Sharma-129, Tara Chand 43, Ravi Yadav 29, Sunil Rawat 3/53, Jatin Khanna 3/32, Dinesh Yadav 2/30, K S Rana 2/28.

Ajay hits ton

Fine quick fire century (102) (11x4, 7x6) by Ajay Shokeen and good bowling (3/06) by Shailesh Kumar helped G E Consumer Finance defeated. Rebusis by 143 runs in the league match of the 4th Turf corporate cricket tournament at modern school ground.

Ajay was man of the match and Prashant received best batsman and Wajid Basha best bowler of the match. GELF: 198 all out in 23 overs: Ajay Shokeen 102, Prashant Kumar 36, Nitin Kumar 26, Nitin Jain 3/32. Wajid Basha 3/20, R. K. Reddy 2/35. Rebusis: 55 all out in 12.1 overs.

Ten-member TT squad for World Championship
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, February 23
India will field a ten-member squad—five men and five women—in the 4747th Liebherr World Table Tennis Championship to be held in Doha (Qatar) from March 1 to 7. Hubert Hustache of France has been invited to train the players. A coaching camp has been in progress since January 15, which will conclude on February 28.

The team is (men): Achanta Sharath Kamal, Soumyadeep Roy, Ranbir Das, Subhajit Saha and Chetan Panduranga. Women: Poulomi Ghatak, Mouma Das, Mantu Ghosh, Anandita Chakraborthy and Nandita Saha.

Coaches: Bhawani Mukherjee and Manjit Singh Dua. Umpire: V K Bawa. Manager: Sridhar Srinivasan. Delegates: Prabhat Chandra Chaturvedi, and Rajeev Boda. Technical delegate: Dhanraj Choudhary.

European coach: Hubert Justache. Table Tennis Federation of India secretary-general M C Chouhan will accompany the team as manager.

RP Academy annex SPM Cup
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, February 23
Fine batting by Mukul Dagar (97 and 15/4) and Vaibhav Rawal (59, 9x4) and deadly bowling by Raghav Kakad (5 for 38) helped R P Academy beat SPM Academy, Punjabi Bagh by 17 runs in the title match of the SPM Under-15 Winter League Cricket Tournament at the SPM College ground, Punjabi Bagh.

Principal of SPM College S K Jolly gave away the prizes. Raghav Kakad was named the man of the match as well as the best bowler while Mukul Dagar got the best batsman award. Yogesh Nagar got the best all-rounder award.

Scores:

R P Academy: 217 for 4 in 35 overs (Mukul Dagar 97, Vaibhav Rawal 59, Manik Tondon 36, Varun Kumar 2 for 30, Sandeep 2 for 12). 
SPM Academy: 178 all out in 30 overs (Sobhit Kaushik 81, Yogesh Nagar 69, Raghav Kakad 5 for 38, Manik Tondon 3 for 40).

Sports Medicine Federation launched

New Delhi, February 23
With India slated to host a clutch of international events in the coming years, including the 2010 Commonwealth Games, doctors have taken the lead to give a boost to sports medicine in the country with the launch of the Indian Federation of Sports Medicine (IFSM).

Olympian Dr Vece Paes is the president of the Federation and Dr PSM Chandran of the Sports Authority of India the secretary. Dr Chandran said the IFSM membership is open to MBBS graduates and medical students.

He said the IFSM will focus on training doctors, paramedics and scientists on various areas of sports medicine to meet the demand of sports and games.

Bhupender deadly

Deadly bowling by Bhupender Singh (4 for 4) and Sandeep Toshkani (3 for 12) helped E-Fund defeat Ericsson by seven wickets in the Reebok Cup Cricket Tournament at the Palam ground. OSR