The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

Panel weighs outlines of new Mental Health Act
Tribune News Service

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) affects 2 percent of the population

New Delhi-based Psychiatrist Dr Sumant Khanna says that in OCD, which mostly affects teenagers, the teenagers can not concentrate on anything and keep on thinking about a specific issue, even when they do not want to.

"The children, in the age group of 14 to 15 years begin to show the symptoms in which they think about an unwanted issue and can not take their minds off,'' he added.

As many as 2 per cent of the population suffer from the OCD, which requires both behavioural therapy and drugs as treatment.

Chandigarh, February 1
A panel discussion on the new Mental Health Act has been held during the third day of the 57th Annual National Conference of Indian Psychiatry Society (ANCIPS) at the PGI here.

Dr A.K. Kala, Dr P.K. Dalal, Dr S. Nambi, Dr J.K. Trivedi and Roy Adraham Kallivayalil participated in the discussion yesterday and highlighted the controversies inherent in the MHA and discussed the proposed outline of the new Act.

The proposals included new guidelines for the voluntary admissions and mental health tribunals to safeguard the rights of the patients admitted involuntarily. Several guest lectures were also organised during the day.

Professor Dinesh Bhugra, from the UK, spoke on the "Culture and Mental Health: Training issues.''

He noted that the culture and cultural factors played a major role in the understanding of the distress and symptoms.

He said that various mental disorders were taken as accepted behaviours according to the culture of the place.

Professor M. Parmeshwara Deva, former president of the world association of psychological rehabilitation deliberated on the ASEAN Federation for Psychiatry and Mental Health - a regional psychiatric organisation of the South East Asia.'

He pointed out that the nations of the Asian continent had many religions, languages, cultures and political and economic systems.

He said that the traditional links of these countries should be explored for better rehabilitation of the mentally sick persons.

Three award sessions were also held, including the Bhagwat Award, the Bombay Psychiatric Society Award and the Colonel Kirpal Singh award where health professionals presented their original pieces of research.

Dr Arabinda Brahma presented his paper on "an epidemiology study of deliberate self-harm from the Sunderbans delta, India,'' during the Bhagwat Award session.

The other presentations included "The prevalence and construct of anger attacks in depressive and other neurotic stress related somatoform disorders,'' by Nitesh Painuly, Sandeep Grover and Nitin Gupta and 'a comparison of the level of functioning in chronic schizophrenia with coping and burden on caregivers,' by Dean Credo.

But for finances, they are Sania in the making
Arvind Katyal

Chandigarh, February 1
One could spot three sisters — all in the age group of 12-18, playing tennis with grit and determination at the YMCA, Sector 11, during the ongoing Indo-Pak Friendship Tennis series.

Yes, they are local girls Neha Singh (18), Simer (17) and Mehak (12) and the man behind their plunging into tennis world is none other than a senior tennis coach with UT Sports Department, Mr Baldev Singh.

Clad in sports dress, he is the most noticeable man in Chandigarh who could be often seen ferrying two of his daughters on his scooter.

It is the ardent love for tennis and the ambition to make his daughters a name to reckon with in the game. He wants that at one of his daughter should be a professional tennis player or a grand slam player.

He had been giving coaching to his daughters and also to his regular trainees for the past one decade.

As Neha puts it, "I began tennis when I was just a five-year-old and now after 13 years, I have made a significant contribution to my city and institution.

A former student of Sacred Heart School, Sector 26, Neha had been playing in the AITA, ITF Tennis tournaments and has so far beaten many top-ranked tennis players of the country such as Sanaa and Ankita Bhambri, Tara Iyer, Fatima Beigh, Priyanka Parikh, Kartiki Bhatt among others at one or the other tournament.

She has also played with Sania Mirza in one of the AITA meets. Neha, a second-year student at the Chandigarh College of Architecture says, "One can go as high as Steffi Graf or Sania if gets a sponsor right from the beginning."

She says Sania Mirza got initial boost at an early age through the sponsor GVK group and today she is going places. The continuous financial support do matters.

Neha has also won a silver medal in the all-India inter-varsity tennis meet besides a second place in the National Women Festival and host of other tournaments.

Next to Neha is Simer, who is a class XI student of Government Model Senior Secondary school, Sector 16.

She has recently won a gold medal in under-19 National School Games held at Pune and last year also bagged a silver medal in the school nationals held in Surat.

Simer had been winning inter- school tournaments regularly and she was also adjudged the best athlete by her school in the annual athletic meet.

Simer also wants to follow her sister's footsteps by opting for the engineering stream.

Third and the youngest is Mehak, a bubbly 12-year-old and a class VII student of Sacred Heart school, Sector 26.

She has set her aims at being professional tennis player. Mehak says," My father and my mother who also is a Physical Education teacher are the real inspiration to me and one day my name will also shine in women's tennis."

She said the recent performance by Sania had further given a boost to her desire to be the best.

Mehak had helped UT schools' team in winning a bronze medal in the under-14 section in the National School Games in singles event. She also secured the second place in the singles in the AITA tennis meet held in Gwalior.

When asked about his plans for Mehak, her father said he would try to send Mehak to maximum number of tournaments but rued that it was the lack of adequate financial support which at times restrained him.

He said the ongoing Indo-Pak Tennis Friendship Meet was a good beginning and with the exchange programme, our players could always visit other countries to get more exposure.

IAF sanctions Rs 1 crore for renovating houses
Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 1
About 35 years after they were built, houses accommodating Air Force personnel in Chandigarh will go in for major refurbishment, with the IAF sanctioning about Rs 1 crore for the works. Besides, the entire area is also being given a facelift

According to sources, the first phase of the project, which will cover 250 units housing personnel of No. 12 Wing as well as No. 3 Base Repair Depot, will commence next month.

The works to be undertaken include re-plastering of walls, changing water supply lines, replacing decayed doors, window panes and other wooden fittings and checking seepage.

“Though buildings require major repairs to be undertaken every 7-10 years, this is for the first time that special work has been sanctioned for these houses,” an officer here said. “We have also received directives to draw up plans for undertaking repair work for the remaining houses,” he added.

The IAF has about 2,800 dwelling units of various categories in Sectors 28, 31 and 47. Majority of these were built during 1968—72 and in the absence of any major maintenance, were in a bad shape. “Expenditure for major work requires special sanction because it cannot be met from budget allotted for regular maintenance,” the officer said. “Priorities tend to be maintenance and upgradation of flying and technical facilities,” he added.

In addition to the repair work, the UT Administration is also taking up the task of improving the infrastructure in Sectors 31 and 47 and developing 12 parks in these sectors. According to IAF officers, the military garrison engineer is responsible for maintenance only within the compound walls, while the local civilian administration is responsible for infrastructure, including roads, street-lighting, open spaces and sewerage outside the compound walls.

Besides recarpeting roads, repainting sign boards and poles and repairing street-lights, the Administration is spending about Rs 15 lakh for developing existing parks in these sectors. It includes installing perimeter fences, swings, benches and landscaping. In addition, a new green belt is also being developed in Sector 47.

Meanwhile, in a change of specifications meant for new dwelling units to be constructed in Chandigarh under the Married Accommodation Project, additional features have been incorporated which signify perceptible upward shift in the economic standards of personnel below officer rank.

The new houses will also have a limited number of car garages for warrant officers, something which was unheard of. Besides, all new houses for airmen will have inbuilt parking space for two-wheelers, fittings for geyser and space for washing machine and room coolers, bathroom tiles and inbuilt wiring for telephone and cable TV. Earlier houses do not have these features.

In addition, an important aspect of the new houses is the inclusion of rainwater harvesting features, which has been incorporated after its requirement for the area was duly approved from the local ground water survey board.