NEIGHBOURHOOD

Cheema, Saini on Dronacharya
Award panel

Patiala, July 21
Patiala based former international sportspersons, wrestler Sukhchain Cheema and hockey player Rupa Saini, have been named by the sports ministry in a panel of which will select coaches for the Dronacharya Award.

The other members of the committee, which will be headed by Ramanathan Krishnan (tennis), are Dilip Tirkey (hockey), Shiny Wilson (athletics), Limba Ram (archery), Jyotirmoyee Sikdar (athletics), Syed Neemudin (fooball), R. D. Singh (para-olympics), O. P. Bhardwaj (boxing), Zolama Royte and Dr Kamaljit Singh (sports administration), Sayan Chatterjee, director general, Sports Authority of India (SAI), I. Srinivas, joint secretary, sports ministry, and Joe Sebastian, director, sports.

Ace athlete of yesteryears Milkha Singh will head the committee formed to make recommendations for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award and the Arjuna Award.

The director, sports, Punjab, Pargat Singh, has also been named as a member of the committee.

The other members are: Zafar Iqbal (hockey), M.D. Valsamma (athletics), Pullela Gopi Chand (badminton), Naresh Kumar (wrestling), Baichung Bhutia (football), G. Vishwanath (cricket), Saley Joseph (volleyball), Bhuvneshwari Kumari (shooting), Sayan Chatterjee, director general, SAI, and I. Srinivas, joint secretary, sports ministry.

Patiala, July 21
Gagandeep Singh Virk of the NIS won 100 m breast stroke title in the Patiala district swimming championship, which concluded at the Mohindra College swimming pool here today.

Johny Bhatia of Mohindra College and Rana Ranjeet Singh of Budha Dal Public School followed him in the order.

Young Harshit Rajoria clinched the title in the 50m back stroke while S. Kanav and Yasik Goyal were placed second and third respectively.

Other Results:

50m Back Stroke (Girls): Aayushi Saluja-1, Sukriti Bansal-2, Sunidhi Chopra-3. 50m Breast Stroke (Boys): Dipanshu Sharma-1, Tarundeep Singh-2, Paramveer Singh-3.

50m Breast Stroke (Senior Men): Gurpreet Singh-1, Rana Ranjot Singh-2, Bachittar Singh-3.

50m Breast Stroke (Senior Women): Arshia Jethi-1, Noorjit K. Sidhu-2, Khushman Hanjra-3.

Patiala, July 21
A dharna was held in front of the main gate of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) by activists of Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta) and other farmers’ unions here today following which normal traffic on the busy mall road remained paralysed.

Members of Bhartiya Kisan Union hold a dharna in front of the main gate of PSEB headquarters in Patiala on Monday. A Tribune photograph

The farmers’ unions, which included a sizeable number of woman activists, were addressed by many top leaders of various PSEB affiliated trade unions. Speaking on the occasion, Joginder Singh Ugrahan, president of the BKU (Ekta), said the SAD-BJP combine was acting in a manner which was completely detrimental to the interests of the farming community in the state.

Lashing out at the state government, Ugrahan added that leave alone providing 24-hour power supply, the state government could not ensure even proper 8-hour supply to the farmers.

He added that top officials of the PSEB were misguiding the farmers on the issue of providing free power to the farmers. He added that whatever power being provided to the agricultural sector was purchased from other states as the PSEB had no resources on its own.

He added that on an annual basis the Punjab government was subsidising power to the PSEB to the tune of Rs 2,300 crore. He added that even the Badal government, like the previous Congress regime in the state, was totally in favour of privatising the power sector.

Ugrahan said employees who were opposing the Board’s privatisation move were being either dismissed from service or were placed under suspension.

The leaders appealed to all workers to wear black clothes on August 6 in protest against the anti-farmer policies being followed by the Board and the government.

Patiala, July 21
Punjabi University has declared the revised result of MBA and MCA entrance test, as the result declared earlier had to be withdrawn from the university website due to some technical reasons.

According to Dr J.S. Pasricha, coordinator, the candidates can download their result from the Punjabi University website, <http://punjabiuniversity.ac.in> and bring it with them at the time of counselling.

Only the result cards downloaded from July 21 onwards will be valid for counselling which is to start from July 26, he said. The detailed counselling schedule will be released in newspapers and on the website separately, he added. According to Dr Pasricha, the candidates can get their answersheets rechecked by depositing a fee of Rs 2,000.

Chandigarh, July 21
Flying Sikh Milkha Singh, who had refused to accept the Arjuna Award around five years back, now looking forward to change the policy of conferring top sports titles, after getting chairmanship of the committee deciding the Arjuna and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Awardees.

“Only deserving players will get the awards this time as I am not going to oblige anyone on any pretext,” veteran athlete asserted while talking to the Tribune at his 
residence.

Milkha Singh would chair the 15-member committee that would decide winners of the Arjuna Awards, 2007, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Awards and Dhyanchand Awards for lifetime achievements in sports, 2008.

“There is a drastic need to change the policy under which the sportspersons have been selected for topmost sports awards of the country as many undeserving candidates manage to get the awards every year,” Milkha Singh said while marinating that anyone could single out the names after checking the previous lists of the awardees.

“Lot of such players had not even made any mark at the national level.

On the other hand, many deserving players, who had brought laurels to the country at international level, still look to be noticed by the government.

With such things we have already downed the standard of the prestigious award,” he said.

Only this was the reason behind his refusal to accept the Arjuna Award around five years back, added Milkha Singh.

“Now I will take up the issue with the government to constitute separate awards for national achievers while the Arjuna and Khel Ratna should be conferred to the medal winners of Asian Games or other competitions of the same level.

For the Olympic achievers, separate awards should be introduced,” opined Milkha Singh.

On being asked whether his golfer son Jeev Milkha Singh would be considered this year for the Arjuna Award, Milkha Singh evaded a direct reply.

In the past, Milkha Singh had been alleging that Jeev had been denied the award by the union government despite his top class achievements.

Mohali, July 21
A team of district officials visited various villages and slums here today after a case of dengue fever was reported from the town two days ago.

Pradeep Singh, a resident of Phase III B 1, tested positive for dengue. He had gone to the PGI, Chandigarh, for treatment after which the hospital authorities informed the Mohali health officials in this regard.

Dr S.P. Surila, district health officer, told The Tribune that Pradeep’s condition was stable today and he was likely to be discharged from the hospital shortly. Surila said he was a part of the team that had visited Phase III B 1 and other areas of the town, but failed to find the source of dengue. He suspected that Pradeep could have carried the disease from Chandigarh where he studied in a school in Sector 46. He said he would be writing to the Chandigarh administration in this regard.

Surila said that no more dengue cases were likely to be reported from Mohali. Only sporadic cases of gastroenteritis were reported from villages and slums.

The team, headed by the SDM, visited Madanpur, Matour and Shahimajra villages and a few slums. The executive officer (EO) of the municipal council was told to provide drinking water by tankers in Madanpur village as water samples collected by officials of the health department had failed the potability test. In case the water was to be used due to some compulsions then it should be boiled. The EO was also told to get fogging done in the town and get insecticides dusted in areas that lacked hygiene.

Chandigarh, July 21
Once again the UT’s plan to set up an ultra-modern medicity on 45 acres of land in Manimajra has gained momentum. After getting a partial go ahead from the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the Chandigarh administration is working out a revenue model for the proposed project.

A meeting to work out the details of the project is scheduled for tomorrow.

Earlier the administration had invited expression of interest for the proposed medicity. The project with public-private partnership will have at least two hospitals, a medical college as well as a dental hospital-cum-college in addition to a nursing college.

A super speciality hospital-cum-recuperation centre at the medicity will offer a wide spectrum of medical treatment, including cardiology and oncology. A recuperation centre attached to the hospital will give a boost to overseas patients as foreigners and NRIs could undergo surgery or treatment at the hospital.

Facilities like helicopter evacuation, tele-diagnosis and telemedicine may also be part of the facilities provided at the hospital.

Moreover, for research in thalassaemia and sickle cell anaemia, a research centre is envisaged along with a holistic medicine research centre aimed at harmonising medical knowledge in various streams like the the Ayurveda, homoeopathy, Yoga and naturopathy. 

Chandigarh, July 21
The postmortem report of Parmila, whose body was found near Kajheri village in Sector 52 yesterday, revealed that she was not raped. But Parmila was four months pregnant which probably was the reason behind her death.

Her body was found lying in an overgrown area near the village. Her face and parts of the body were burnt to conceal her identity.

The investigating team is now suspecting that her relatives and those known to her may be behind the murder.

Raids were being carried out to trace the whereabouts of the accused.

The police suspect that the victim might have been killed elsewhere before her body was dumped there.

Her body was handed over to her family, after which she was cremated.

Chandigarh, July 21
Having failed to get a favourable response to their inward investment promotion scheme - Malaysia - My Second Home, Tourism Malaysia, has decided to relaunch the scheme after tying up with real estate agents and builders in India.

Talking to The Tribune here today, Amirul Ariffin, director, Tourism Malaysia, said so far they had received just four investors from India who had bought property in Malaysia. “We will renew focus on this scheme by tying up with builders and property consultants who will be promoting this scheme,” he said.

The programme was launched in 2006 for attracting Indian investors to own bungalows and private resorts in Malaysia's tourism zones. Under the programme, the properties on offer in Malaysia vary from apartments and condominiums, terrace houses, bungalows in tourism zones such as beaches, near jungles and theme parks, recreational places and city centres. Any person availing the scheme has to maintain a minimum balance of 100,000 ringgets in a bank in Malaysia. The criteria to stay is a social visit pass with a multiple-entry visa initially valid for a period of 10 years and then renewable. However, he is not allowed to take up a profession or job in the host country.

“Other than this scheme, we will also focus on the growing market for wedding tourism and golf tourism from India. Last year, we had tied up with wedding planners in India and played host to as many as 12 Indian weddings. This year, after the high profile wedding of businessman Sabeer Bhatia, we received innumerable querries for conducting weddings in Malaysia and hope to see an exponential growth in wedding tourism. The fact that weddings in Malaysia work out to be cheaper than weddings in any five star property in Goa , we are hoping a huge growth in this segment, especially from Punjab,” he said.

Chandigarh, July 21
The BSNL has signed an agreement with Taxsmile to help its customers file income-tax returns electronically. The landline as well as mobile customers of BSNL can file their e-returns through the BSNL website, wherein an icon has been created to connect to the Taxsmile website for registering the subscriber and filing a return.

Launched

The State Bank of India has launched a mass internal communication programme - “Parivartan-II" - for its subordinate staff, beginning July 21. Ajay Swaroop, general manager, said the programme had been rolled out in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Chandigarh. Under this programme, 65 one-day workshops would be conducted at the bank's Learning Centres and other major centres wherein 2,600 sub-staff employees would be covered.

'This is a step in transformation and to bring a sense of belonging among its subordinate staff so that they feel motivated and empowered to contribute more to Team SBI. This initiative will certainly improve the customers' satisfaction/service level to a large extent,” he said. 

Chandigarh, July 21
Supply constraints have led to a marginal increase in the prices of tomatoes and ladies finger during the past one week. Though there is no increase in the price of vegetables grown locally, the prices of tomatoes, cauliflower and ladies finger have shown a marginal increase.

Traders in the city say that heavy rains in the hilly areas have led to landslides, cutting down vegetable supplies to the city. The transportation cost of these vegetables has increased because of the hike in the fuel prices. This has led to a gap in demand and supply and an increase in the prices.

Prices of vegetables like potatoes, onions, peas and capsicum have remained stable, while prices of cucumber and 'tori' have shown a downward trend. Traders say the main reason for the price hike of tomato is that the arrival of the vegetable has been delayed. From Rs 10-15 a kg, last week, the price has reached Rs 15-20 a kg now.

Among the fruits, mango is now on its way out and the 'chausa' and 'langra' varieties are available at Rs 30 and Rs 25 a kg respectively. 

TODAY'S PRICE

Tomato Rs 15-20

Ladies finger Rs 20

Cauliflower Rs 25

French beans Rs 25

Panchkula, July 21
Three-day state level folk song and raagini competition organised by the Haryana Kala Parishad concluded at the Inder Dhanush Auditorium here today. All the twelve winners of the contests in three respective age groups performed as a part of the closing ceremony of the folklore bonanza.

Following were declared winners of merit wise cash prizes of Rs 30,000, 20,000, 10,000 and special award of Rs. 5000 (by public voting) in the specified age groups:

15-20 age group: Sonia Chauhan (Jagadhari)-I, Jyoti Chauhan (Uchana Mandi)-II, Salman Khan (Rohtak)-III and Sunil Kumar (Jandli Kalan)-Special.

20-25 age group: Kanu Priya (Manimajra)-I, Somveer (Hisssar)-II, Yousaf Khan (Panipat)-III and Pawan Kumar (Panchkula)-Special.

26-30 age group: Dharmesh (Mahendergarh)-I, Anil Kumar (Sonepat)-II, Subhash Chander Yadav (Mahendergarh)-III, Anita Yadav-Special.

The final public voting award of Rs 1,1000 went to Dharmesh from Mahenderagarh.

The Parishad director Usha Sharma welcomed the chief guest Mohinder Kumar, IAS, Commissioner, Ambala, who awarded prizes.