PGI Blood Bank set to get NACO accreditation 
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 17
Giving a boost to voluntary blood donation in the city, the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) is set to make the PGI Blood Bank, Department of Transfusion Medicine, the first one to be accredited by it.

Ranked fourth in voluntary blood donation after West Bengal, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, the PGI will be the first government medical institute to receive such can accreditation by the NACO.

Talking to Chandigarh Tribune at the ninth Continued Medical Education (CME) on Transfusion Medicine, Dr Debasish Gupta, consultant, NACO, and project co-ordinator, WHO, said the accreditation process would be over by December and it would facilitate the process of organised and quality blood transfusion in the city.

Dr Neelam Marwaha, organising chairperson, said in addition to the PGI, three other institutes — SGPGI, Lucknow; Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai; and MGR University, Chennai — had also been shortlisted by the NACO.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Gupta, however, agreed that a lot needed to be done in the field of blood donation, safety and AIDS awareness in Punjab.

With more than 50 representatives from Punjab attending the CME, the queries put forth by them were addressed by Dr Gupta.

“The rate of voluntary blood donation and AIDS awareness is much better in Himachal Pradesh as compared to Punjab and Haryana and this may be credited to a frequent change in leadership,” said Dr Gupta.

He added that there had been no dearth of funds, most of which had not been properly channelled and utilised.

Also present were delegates from Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttranchal, Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi.

Dr J.G. Jolly, renowned figure in the field of transfusion medicine, presided over as the chief guest.

A souvenir was released by Dr Inderjit Kaur Walia, Director, Health Services, UT Chandigarh, during the inaugural function.

Various topics of interest like blood inventory management, gel technology in blood banking and bio-safety in blood banks were discussed on the first day of the CME.

SPORTS

Australia to play without regular skipper
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 17
The under-19 Australian team, which arrived in the early morning at Hotel Mountview, here, today, will have no regular captain during the forthcoming one-day series. The skipper will be changed with every match. The idea is to give an opportunity to all deserving player to lead the team.

Earlier, the team was scheduled to arrive yesterday but it could not turn up as their flight was delayed due to inclement weather.

The team will play five one-day matches with the Indian team (under-19), commencing on September 19 at the PCA stadium in Mohali. The late arrival and the incessant rain played spoilsport in the practice schedule of the visitors. The team just had a round of the stadium in the afternoon. Tomorrow, the team will have the practice session on the nets at the stadium.

The second match will be played on September 21. The next two matches will take place at Dharamsala and the final match will be played at Delhi on September 18.

The Australian team's members are: Graeme Skenner, Usmaan Khwaja, Tom Cooper, Aaron Finch, Tom Stray, Moises Henriques, Ben Gledhill, Philip Wells, David Warner, Patrick Darwen, Jack Mcnamara, Jakson Bird, Cris Thompson. Brian McFkdyen, coach, Matthew Mott, assistant coach.

Indian team: Ravi Kath Shukla (captain), Ankit Rawat, Anirudha Srikanth, Rohit Sharma, Ali Murtaja, Mayank Tehlan, Arindam Ghosh, Pinal Shah, A.G. Pradeep, Piyush Chawla, Shahbaz Nadeem, Yo Mahesh, Anand Rajan, Abu Nachim, Pragyan Ojha.

Chandigarh State Games in October
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, September 17
The city will witness the Ist ever Chandigarh State Games in 20 sport disciplines in the last week of October, which will be organised by the Chandigarh Olympic Association (COA).

An executive committee of the COA was held with its president Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi in the chair. He said the COA was committed to improve the sport culture in the city and also to provide more tournament exposure to its player adding that tentatively they had fixed October 27 as the date for the above said games.

It was also decided to provide Rs 5000 each to the respective association for conducting tournament. Mr Sodhi said the COA would also give t-shirts, cap, a lapel pins and track suits to the participants of the opening ceremony.

Mr Ravinder Talwar, secretary general, COA, said the above games would be made annual feature which would will help in nurturing talent in various sport disciplines. He said lunch and other refreshments would also be served to the players and officials. Various committees were also formed for the smooth conduct of the state games. He said the annual general meeting of the COA would be held on September 27 at 4.30 pm at Hotel KC Residency, Sector 35.

PU sails into last four of badminton tourney
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, September 17
Hosts Panjab University Campus (PUC) today rallied to beat GGN Khalsa College, Ludhiana, by three matches to nil and sailed in the last four of the men’s section of the Panjab University Inter-College Badminton Tournament being held at the PU Gymnasium Hall.

In another match of the men’s section, Government College, Talwara, got the better of Government College, Sector 11, Chandigarh, 3-0. In two matches in women’s section played today, GGS Khalsa College for Women, Kamalpur, downed NINE PGI, Chandigarh, by 2-0 while SGHRS, Chabbewal, defeated Malwa College, Samrala 2-0.

Results:

Men’s section: PUC beat GGN Khalsa, Ludhiana 3-0 (Gurjeet Singh beat Navdeep 15-1,15-3; Vinay beat Harpreet Singh 15-0,15-5; Gurjeet and Pratik beat Navdeep and Sharanjeet Singh 15-1,15-2. Government College, Talwara, b eat GCM, Sector 11, Chandigarh 3-0 (Davinder beat Harish 15-8,15-3; Arun beat Gaurav 15-3,15-0; Davinder and Arun beat Harish and Jaspal 15-4,15-3.

Women’s section:

GGS Khalsa College for Women, Kamalpur, beat National Institute of Nursing Education, PGI, 2-0 (Harpreet Kaur beat Ravneet Kaur 11-0,11-2; Harpreet and Maninder Kaur beat Ravneet and Jyotinder 15-0,15-2). SGHRS, Chabbewal, beat Malwa College, Samrala, 2-0 (Rajwinder Kaur beat Ramanjit Kaur 11-0,11-0; Rajwinder and Satvir beat Ramanjit and Baldeep 15-0,15-1).

Inter-college hockey tournament concludes
Our Sports Reporter

Mohali, September 17
The two-day Punjab Technical University Inter-College Hockey Tournament concluded last evening at the Rayat Institute of Engineering & Information Technology, near here. The tournament was played in men as well as women editions with 15 men and seven women teams participated.

Dr S.K. Salwan, Vice-Chancellor of Punjab Technical University, asked students to learn the spirit of participation. Others who spoke on the occasion included Dr M.S Grewal, Registrar PTU, Jalandhar, Mr Gurvinder Singh, Vice-Chairman, Rayat Educational and Research Trust, Dr R.P. Singh, Director , RIEIT, Prof C. M Behl, Managing Director, Rayat Educational and Research Trust. Later, prizes were distributed to the winners.

TTA to open branch in Jalandhar
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, September 17
The Total Tennis Academy (TTA), Sector 11, which already has two branches, has now planned to open its third branch in Jalandhar. The academy has two branches at YMCA, Chandigarh, and Mount Carmel School, Sector 47, Chandigarh. According to Mr Devender Kapoor, Director, TTA, said the academy would be located at Gymkhana Club in Jalandhar and would be known as the Total Tennis Gymkhana Club Academy.

The academy will have three grass courts,two cement courts and a synthetic court alongwith a practicing wall. Mr Kapoor said an MoU had been signed between the academy and the club. The academy would be set up on professional lines.

Admn’s new policy on site allotment to bodies
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 17
The Chandigarh Administration today announced a new policy on allotment of sites and land to various bodies, associations, trusts and organisations of religious, charitable and social nature.

According to an official press note, the policy also covers allotment of land to various governments, commercial and non-commercial organisations.

Under the policy, all non-residential properties will be allotted on lease-hold basis for 33 years, which may be extended by two terms of like duration after considering performance and observance of other terms and conditions of lease and re-fixation of lease amount.

Land for residential purposes to the Central Government and the Governments of Punjab and Haryana will be allotted at 48 per cent of average auction price fetched during the past three years.

The land to these governments for institutional purposes will be allotted at 15 per cent of the average auction price fetched during the past three years of the commercial properties in the locality.

Land for institutional purposes to non-commercial organisations or public sector undertakings of non-commercial nature of Central Government and Governments of Punjab and Haryana will be allotted at 25 per cent of the average auction price fetched during the past three years of the commercial properties in the locality.

Land for all commercial organisations and such PSUs of commercial nature of the Central Government and Governments of Punjab and Haryana, including CITCO, will be allotted at a price that is average of auction of the commercial properties in the past three years in that locality.

Land for institutional purposes, including any activity related to the field of art, culture, social, health, environment, sports, religion, music or charitable purposes, will be allotted to non-governmental organisations through a system of limited auction and allotment at a rate that is the average of the auction price of residential properties fetched in the past three years.