The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

NEIGHBOURHOOD

Cultural extravaganza marks R-Day functions
Tribune Reporters

Fatehgarh Sahib, January 27
A cultural extravaganza was organised by the district administration to mark the 59th Republic Day celebrations here yesterday. The largely attended function started with the unfurling of the National Flag by Punjab information and public relation minister Bikramjit Singh Majhitia. March past by the police and NCC cadets was followed by presentations by the school children.

PANCHKULA: Haryana health minister Kartar Devi reviewed the parade and unfurled the National Flag during the 59th Republic Day celebrations at Parade Ground here yesterday. Tributes were paid to martyrs The minister honoured 31 persons for excelling in their fields.

KALKA: SDM Dr Saket Kumar presided over the sub-divisional-level celebrations and unfurled the National Flag here yesterday. He also took salute from Haryana police jawans, besides students of various schools.

AMBALA: The 59th Republic Day was celebrated with fervor at Police Lines yesterday and deputy chief minister Chander Mohan was the chief guest. He unfurled the National Flag and paid homage to the martyrs.

BASSI PATHANA: Republic Day was celebrated with enthusiasm at Bassi Pathana. SDM Poonamdeep Kaur unfurled the National Flag and took the salute from the parade.

SPORTS

Farooq, team no match for Chandigarh golfers
Donald Banerjee

Chandigarh, January 27
Farooq Abdullah and his golfing team from the Royal Spring Golf Club, Srinagar, were no match to the Chandigarh golfers in their annual two-day tournament which saw the city team retain the team title on the par-72 greens of the Chandigarh Golf Club, here today.

Farooq and B.R. Singh won their match-play against R.S. Sandhu and Sukhjeet Sing Lehal yesterday. Kashmir team lost their match play and stroke-play event to the Chandigarh golfers.

B.S. Sandhawalia of the host team recorded the best gross score of 16-over par 160. I.P.S. Mann also carded the same score, but because of a better back nine on the second day Sandhawalia clinched the event. The best card of the tournament was recorded by Mann who carded a two over par 74 on the opening day. The nett winner in the two events was B.R. Bajaj who carded 140, with Dr G.S. Kochhar netting 143 for the runner-up slot.

The top five slots in the gross scores were claimed by the city golfers, with Kashmir's Ashfaq tying for the fifth slot with K.S. Sibia at 168. Danish Khan of the Royal Spring Club tied with D.S. Bajwa for the seventh slot at 170.

B.R. Singh said the Kashmir golfers were delighted to be in Chandigarh and were happy with the hospitality extended to them. He said the team's tour to the city had been sponsored by Greater Kashmir.

He said two new 18-hole golf courses had come up in Kashmir at Pahalgam and Sonmarg and very soon the main course at Srinagar would be hosting a major prize money golf tournament for which the IGU had given its consent.

Mann clinched the longest drive title with 249 metres. O.P. Singh of Kashmir hit a drive of 229 metres to be the best on the opening day. Sheikh Manzoor of Kashmir was nearest to the pin at 5.1 ft.

The results (nett score in brackets): B.S. Sandhawalia 160 (146), I.P.S. Mann 160 (150), Jaspreet Bakshi 164 (152), Sukhjeet Singh Lehal 167 (149), K.S. Sibia 168 (144),Ashfaq (Kashmir) 168 (152), D. S. Bajwa 170 (158), Danish Khan (Kashmir) 170 (156), Dilmick Lamba 172 (152), O.P. Singh (Kashmir) 174 (152), Dr G.S. Kochhar 175 (143), B.R. Bajaj 176 (140), Birinder Singh Gill 177 (177), Mansoor Sheikh (Kashmir) 179 (151), B.R. Singh (Kashmir) 180 (152), Riaz (Kashmir) 183 (151), R.S. Sandhu 186 (158), Tanvir Malik (Kashmir) 190 (162), Manavar (Kashmir) 195 (163).

Naveen thrashes Raghavender
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 27
Naveen Shankar thrashed Raghavender Sahdev 4-0, 4-0, in straight sets in the final qualifying round of boys’ under-16 category in AITA Championship Series Tennis Tournament, held at Lake Club tennis courts, here today.

In the under-14 category, Vilasir Khote beat Rohin Gajree 4-1, 4-1, in the final qualifying round to move into main draw of the series.

The matches of the main draw will start tomorrow at 10 am at the venue.

The other results: Boys’ u-16 (Final round): Pankaj Kumar b Gulshan Kumar 3-5, 4-2, 4-2, Harry Jindal b Akash Dhingra 4-0, 4-2, Jaswinder Singh b Sidharth Sahdev 4-0, 4-0, Ayush Mitri b Ankit Goel 4-2, 4-1, Saransh Bhatia b Aushotosh Rana 5-3, 3-5, 5-4 (0), Jatinder Singh b Kuwar Singh 4-1, 4-1, Taranbir Singh b Naveen 4-2, 4-0.

U-14 (Final round): Sushanta Mohanta b Ravinder Singh 4-1, 4-0, Ranjeet Singh b Ankush Arora 5-3, 4-2, Amit Bzad b Abhishek Verman 4-0, 4-2, Udai S. Mann b Kushaan kumar 4-2, 5-4 (3), Mandeep Kumar b Shrey Gupta 4-0, 4-0, Naveen Anand b Anush Bhatti 4-2, 4-2, Dhruv Goyal b Bhavya Jain 4-1, 1-4, 4-1.

Abhishek remains highest scorer
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 27
Handball Coaching Club of DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8, won the top honours defeating Handball Coaching Club, Sector 42, by 29-22 in the finals of 21st Junior UT State Handball Championship, concluded here today.

Abhishek remained highest scorer with 16 goals. He was well supported by Bhim and Salim, who scored seven and five goals, respectively.

For the losers, Amarjit finished top scorer with eight goals. Dharambir netted six goals. Team-A of Coaching Club, Sector 23, finished third beating Team- B of Coaching Club, Sector 23, in the men’s category.

Handball Coaching Club, Sector 42, emerged champions in the girls’ category. In a well-contested final match, the team beat Handball Coaching Club of DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8, by 15-12.

HEALTH

Hair Transplant
New technique catching public fancy: Expert
Pradeep Sharma
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 27
Beauty-conscious balding persons are increasingly taking fancy for a new hair transplant technique, follicular unit (FU) transplant, for giving the hair a natural look, a leading dermatosurgeon said here yesterday.

Presenting a paper at Dermacon-2008, 36th national conference of Indian Association of Dermatologists, Venereologists and Leprologists, which concluded at the PGI here today, Dr Gurinderjit Singh, chief dermatologist, Mohan Dai Oswal Cancer Treatment and Research Foundation, Ludhiana, said the FU transplant had certain inherent advantages over other traditional techniques.

Dr Singh, who pioneered hair transplantation in north India as early as 1988, said the hair grew in the human scalp mostly in groupings of one to four terminal hair follicles called FUs.

In pre-1988 hair transplantation surgery was performed exclusively by the use of random groupings of multiple FUs into plugs (12-14 hair), minigrafts (4-8 hair) and micrografts (single hair).

“The underlying concept of the new technique was that in order to maximise the cosmetic benefit of the hair transplantation only naturally occurring individual FUs should be transplanted,” the paper said.

Listing advantages of the FU transplantation, Dr Singh said it gave the hair a natural look. The tufting seen with plugs and multi-follicular unit grafts does not occur with FU grafts. “Grafts may be placed among pre-existing hair in zones of thinning without the loss of such pre-existing hair in a majority of the cases,” he claimed.

Moreover, the healing of both the donor and the recipient area is rapid. Scarring is uncommon if proper surgical principles were followed.

Not only hair on the head, eyebrows and eyelashes could also be restored by this technique though methods in these critical areas are more complex than the routine grafting, the paper added.

However, the FU transplantation was time-consuming and labour-intensive. Special training is necessary to produce skilled assistants, who understand the precision needed to generate and place the high-quality grafts for excellent results, the doctor added.

350 examined at camp
Tribune News Service

Zirakpur, January 27
A health camp was organised by the Women Welfare Association, Baltana, and O.P. Jain Memorial Trust here today. Punjab minister for cooperatives Capt Kanwaljit Singh inaugurated the camp. A team from the PGI, Chandigarh, lead by Dr Meenu Singh, additional professor in department of paediatrics, examined over 350 patients.

Tests like ECG, blood sugar, blood pressure were also conducted. Medicines were given free of cost to patients courtesy the Chandigarh Chemists’ Association.

Addressing a gathering, the minister assured the local residents that a government hospital would be opened in the area soon. Students of Satyanand Convent School presented a cultural programme. A play on female foeticide was also staged.

Dermacon-2008
Dermatologists awarded
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 27
Young dermatologists held the centre stage on the last day of Dermacon-2008 which concluded at the PGI here today. Punjab has the highest number of HIV/AIDS patients in north India followed by Chandigarh. The use of condoms and other forms of safe sexual practises is still abysmally low in commercial sex workers, said Dr Vanita Gupta, project director of the State AIDS Control Society, Chandigarh.

Prof F. Handa Award for the best paper was given to Dr Deepthi Bhute while Dr B.B. Gokhale Medal for the best paper went to Dr Tanvir Pal Gupta. The best poster prize went to Dr Manoj. Meanwhile, the conference witnessed discussions on topics ranging from therapeutics, leprosy and sexually transmitted diseases to dermatosurgery yesterday.

BUSINESS

Sale is the buzz word in city
Ruchika M. Khanna
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 27
The ‘sale’ and ‘sale-on-sale’ offers by each and every retailer worth his name, has come as a boon for consumers. With the cold wave intensifying and stretching on till the end of January, the consumers can now get the best buy.

The retailers were expecting a short span of winters, just as during the last couple of years. So, as has been the practice, the retailers put up the discount sales right from the first week of this month. But with the cold wave intensifying this year, the customers are getting a good bargain.

Right from children’s garments to branded clothes for men and women, woolens and footwear, everything is available on discounted prices. A visit to any of the busy markets in Sector 17, Sector 22, Manimajra, Phase VII in Mohali and Sector 8 and 11 in Panchkula, one is amazed at the discounts offered by the retailers. Everybody is keen to make the most of these sales, which offer customers a discount of anything between 10 to 50 per cent.

As a result, customers are availing of the best deals with discounts offered on not just non-premium segments, but also on branded woolens like Monte Carlo, Casablanca, Pringle, Creative Line and Rage. Regular clothes shops as well as branded clothes outlets like Allen Solly are also offering good discounts. Various companies like Park Avenue, have also put up their sales in exhibition halls. So, for all those who were craving to buy the best of clothes can actually strike a good deal with these sales.

But how genuine are these sales? Though these sales lure customers with an offer of up to 50 per cent off, there are very few articles that are available on such a heavily discounted price. Most of the articles, especially in apparels of latest designs, the discount is of 10 per cent.

A shopkeeper in Phase VII, Mohali, on condition of anonymity, said, “Shopkeepers have to clear their old stocks and are left with no option than to sell them off at a discounted price or face loss, besides making arrangements to stock up the woolens for the next season. So the best bet is to put up a discount sale,” he said. He also added that generally all branded companies hike the prices of their goods by almost four times and then sell it to the retailer in the beginning of the season. “The retailer gets a fixed percentage from the manufacturer, and during the sale, the retailer loses on the percentage of profit. But as the quantum of sale increases, he does not suffer much,” he added.