NEIGHBOURHOOD

Whose land is it?
Land dispute between Punjab and Chandigarh lingers on
Rajmeet Singh
Tribune News Service

Patiala, March 12
A three-day international seminar being organised by the department of sociology and social anthropology, Punjabi University, Patiala, on ’Social Impact Assessment: The Issues of Development, Sustainability and Social Justice’ got underway here today.

In his key-note address Prof Allen Furr, chairperson, department of sociology, anthropology and social work, Auburn University, USA, said that social impact assessment should be encouraged to be the voice of the groups that are most vulnerable. He further said such an assessment is to predict the unintended consequences of the projects and policies that have to take place from time to time to evaluate the results so that benefits could be distributed equally to all sections of the society.

While inaugurating the seminar noted economist Prof Sucha Singh Gill, Director-General, CRRID, Chandigarh addressed the issues of inequitable distribution of income, questioning the inclusivelity, the corporate model that tends to be grossly capitalist, wherein displacement has been justified in the name of nation building. He stated that to bring in social justice in the sense, sensitisation at the level of the youth becomes very important. An approach needs to be taken that is not essentially objective but is truly pro-poor.

Dr Jaspal Singh, Vice Chancellor of Punjabi University, Patiala, while presiding over the inaugural function stressed upon adopting the inclusive growth and development model for making the fruits reach to the marginalised and the needy sections of the society. He appealed to the intelligentsia to ponder over the prevailing traditional value-system in the larger interest of the society.

Earlier while welcoming the delegates and guests, Prof HS Bhatti, head of sociology department, said the social impact assessment is a new field that started as environment assessment and later shifted to the social impact assessment. Highlighting the importance of social impact assessment, he said that it becomes more important when decisions about development policies and projects are taken that impart the lines of people.

On this occasion, Vice-Chancellor presented a set of university publications to the visiting dignitaries. Prof Malkiat Kaur proposed a vote of thanks. In the technical sessions Prof Rajesh Gill from Punjab University delivered a special lecture on ‘Sixty Years of Development: A Stock Taking.’

Fatehgarh Sahib, March 12
Shopkeepers and residents of Sirhind and Fatehgarh Sahib towns accorded a warm welcome to Kuljeet Singh Nagra, newly elected Congress MLA from Fatehgarh Sahib, during his thanks-giving tour of these towns. Nagra, accompanied by his supporters, went from door to door in the town to thanks the voters for reposing faith in him. He was offered sweets at every nook and corner.

Addressing a gathering in the main bazar, Nagra said he would fight for the cause of the area and would continue to raise the issues related to the area in the Assembly. He said he would try his best to bring all the Centre-sponsored schemes to the constituency.

He said he would remain indebted to the voters of the constituency.

He said development of the area would be his priority and he would be accessible to everyone.

Fatehgarh Sahib, March. 12
The office bearers of Bharat Vikas Parishad Bassi, Pathana unit, were elected in an election held here today under the supervision of Vimal Kakria, a state level leader. Advocate Manpreet Singh Sahi was elected as president, Ashok Arora, secretary, Babaljeet Panesa, senior vice president, Anil Kumar, vice president, Inderjit Singh, junior vice president, Manoj Sharma, joint secretary, Jai Krishan DPRO (Retd) as PRO and Vikas Gupta, cashier. Addressing the new office bearers, Vimal Kakria and Ashok Jindal said that Bharat Vikas Parishad is a leading social organisation of the country.

They said in the present era of globalisation every one has joined the race for money and people don't have time for family, society, and human beings. They called upon the youths to come forward and join the social organisations as service to mankind is service to God. They also advocated that there was dire need to launch a campaign against social evils like drug abuse, female feticide, dowry etc.

Ambala, March 12
A student of Government College, Ambala Cantonment, was murdered outside the college campus today. The deceased was identified as Kewal Singh (22), a resident of Jatwar village, Ambala Cantt. Kewal was an MA student. 

As per information, some youths had asked Kewal to come out of the college. As soon as he came out, he was attacked with sharp-edged weapons. He sustained multiple injuries and fell unconscious. 

Later, the assailants fled the spot. 

A few students took him to a private nursing home where doctors referred him to the Civil Hospital. But he was declared brought dead there. The police said the exact cause of the death could only be ascertained after an autopsy.

The father of the deceased is employed with the CPWD in Chandigarh. The police said a few days ago two groups had clashed on the college campus.

Chandigarh, March 12
Coming down heavily on the Chandigarh Administration for seeking extension for preparing the city's master plan, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today directed the administration to hold a meeting on the issue with the states of Punjab and Haryana within four weeks.

Making it clear that the Bench was in no mood to give more extensions to Chandigarh administration for completion of the city's master plan, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Mahesh Grover also asked the administration to remove all the impediments after taking up the issues with the two states. The administration was also asked to place on the High Court record the minutes of the meeting. The case would now come up for further hearing on May 4.

As the matter was taken up for hearing, counsel for the UT administration prayed for six months more to complete the master plan.

The UT counsel argued that additional time was required as there were some interstate regional issues required to be resolved with Punjab and Haryana.

A visibly unhappy Bench refused to grant the time and directed the administration to hold immediate meeting with both the states to sort out the issues.

Chandigarh's master plan committee has already deliberated upon the feasibility of renaming of streets, and the problem of parking in commercial areas. Among other things, it has also looked into the catchment area of Sukhna Lake at Saketri, the heritage buildings of the city, policy for growth and cheap housing accommodation.

For the purpose of preparing the plan, the administration has constituted the committee comprising experts, including the chief architect and the chief engineer. Also included in the committee are retired chief architect MN Sharma and architect-cum-development planner Madhu Sarin.

Already, the committee constituted for preparing the city's master plan is dabbling with idea of making Chandigarh the sports city of the country. Plans are also afoot to make the slum-free city a walkers' paradise.

In its status report submitted to the High Court on the preparation of a master plan for Chandigarh and its periphery, the Chandigarh Administration on the previous date of hearing said its vision included thrust on "providing adequate sports facilities to develop Chandigarh as the sports city of the country, with its vast open spaces, energetic youth and training facilities.

Chandigarh, March 12
Coming down heavily on the Chandigarh Administration for seeking an extension for preparing the city’s master plan, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today directed the administration to hold a meeting on the issue with Punjab and Haryana within four weeks.

Making it clear that the Bench was in no mood to give more extensions to the Chandigarh Administration for the completion of the city’s master plan, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Mahesh Grover also asked the administration to remove all the impediments after taking up the issues with the two states. The administration was also asked to place on the High Court record the minutes of the meeting. The case would now come up for further hearing on May 4.

As the matter was taken up for hearing, the counsel for the UT administration asked for six months more to complete the master plan. The UT counsel argued that additional time was required as there were some interstate regional issues required to be resolved with the Punjab and Haryana.

A visibly unhappy Bench refused to grant the time and directed the administration to hold immediate meeting with the states to sort out the issues. Chandigarh’s master plan committee has already deliberated upon the feasibility of renaming of streets, and the problem of parking in commercial areas. Among other things, it has also looked into catchment area of Sukhna Lake at Saketri, the heritage buildings of the city, policy for growth and cheap housing accommodation.

For the purpose of preparing the plan, the Administration has constituted the committee comprising experts, including the chief architect and the chief engineer. Also included in the committee are retired chief architect M.N. Sharma and architect-cum-development planner Madhu Sarin.

Already, the committee constituted for preparing the city’s master plan is dabbling with idea of making Chandigarh the sports city of the country. Plans are also afoot to make the slum-free city a walkers’ paradise.

In its status report submitted to the High Court on the preparation of a master plan for Chandigarh and its periphery, the Chandigarh Administration on the previous date of hearing said its vision included thrust on “providing adequate sports facilities to develop Chandigarh as the sports city of the country, with its vast open spaces, energetic youth and training facilities.

Chandigarh, March 12
It seems that officials of the UT sports department have turned a blind eye towards the development of city-based stadia.

Even as the end of the financial year is approaching, the authorities are yet to table new proposals regarding the upgradation of these stadia.

Notably, the UT administration has asked for Rs 21.48 crore (annual) and Rs 107.92 crore (five year) under the 12th five year plan budget for making new stadia and upgrading infrastructure.

Not only this, the department has claimed to have spent Rs 7 crore (apart from Rs 2 crore for purchasing the much-awaited AstroTurf for the Sector-42 hockey stadium) on upgrading the sports infrastructure in the city.

On the other hand, the condition of various stadia has turned from bad to worse as no development has taken place for years here. There are no gym equipment in these stadia.

“Things will change, but it will take time. The cricket stadium is being upgraded and new floodlights and gym equipment are also being provided there. Hopefully, things will change at the Sector-17 football stadium and Sector-46 stadium, ” said VK Singh, finance-cum-sports secretary.

Basketball players are still waiting for new ‘basketball courts’ at both the sports complexes in Sectors 7 and 42 here. The work to re-construct the arena had reportedly started in April last year, but till date it has not been completed.

“I have been practising here for the past four years but have never seen any new equipment here,” said a player.

While another player practising at the Sector-46 sports complex stated, “We cannot afford expensive gym equipment. So we have to make do with old equipment.”

Earlier, the sports department had decided to organise the All-India Basketball (U-19) Tournament in November last year at the sports complex, Sector 42, but it reportedly failed to organise the same as the work on the stadium was incomplete. The court is under construction for the past two years.

“During the last budget, the sports department had spent Rs 7 crore on upgrading the stadia. Now, Rs 21 crore will again go down the drain,” said sources in the department.

Chandigarh, March 12
The table tennis players of Dev Samaj College of Education won the Panjab University Inter-College Table Tennis Tournament for Women (Division C) at Panjab University’s gymnasium hall here today.

The team of Dev Samaj College defeated Doraha College of Education in the final 3-1. In the decider game, Meenu of Dev Samaj college went down against Richu 9-11, 2-11, 11-8 and 1-11 but Lakhwinder Kaur managed to defeat Pooja 11-6, 11-6 and 11-5 while Tanu overcame Shubhkamana 11-4, 11-2 and 11-5 to put the local college in front. In the last match, Lakhwinder Kaur defeated Meenu 11-2, 11-4 and 11-2 to register victory.

Earlier, in the semifinals, Doraha College of Education defeated local contender Government College of Education 3-1. From the winning side, Pooja defeated Natasha 11-5, 11-6 and 13-11 and Meenu overcame Deepinder 11-3, 11-3 and 11-2. In the third match, Shubh Khanna lost to Shefali of Doraha 9-11, 11-5, 11-8, 9-11 and 4-11 but Meenu managed to beat Natasha 11-4, 11-4 and 11-3.
In the second semifinals, Dev Samaj College of Education overcame SDS College of Education, Lopon, 3-1. From the winning side, Lakhwinder beat Pinkpreet 11-1, 11-4 and 11-3, Tanvi defeated Monika Rani 11-7, 6-11, 11-3 and 11-8 and Lakhwinder Kaur overcame Monika Rani 11-4, 11-3 and 11-2. In the last match, Richu lost to Monika Rani 5-11, 5-11 and 4-11.

Total tennis meet

The Total Tennis Academy will organise the Kapoor Memorial YMCA Total Tennis Tourney at the YMCA, Sector 11, from March 16 to 19, here. The tournament will be organised in U-10, 12, 14 and 18 categories for boys and girls.

Interested players can submit their entries to Rakesh Hooda (9781707026) before March 15. 

Chandigarh, March 12
The Hockey teams of Orissa, West Bengal, Delhi and Haryana defeated their rivals, in their respective matches of the ongoing All-India Audit General Hockey Championship, being held at the Hockey Stadium of the Sports Complex, Sector 42, here today.

In the first match of the day, Orissa overcame Tamil Nadu by 4-1.Abhaya Samantray was the star performer for the winning side after scoring two goals while Virender Yadav and Vijay Swarankar scored one goal each to ensure the team’s victory. For, Tamil Nadu centre half Nagendran reduced the margin.

In the second match, West Bengal team routed Andhra Pradesh by 4-2. For winners, SK Singh and GK Swaich scored two goals each while Vijay Kumar and Sai Kiran scored one goal each for Andhra Pradesh.

The third match of the day finished in a draw with players of Delhi and Rajasthan scoring two goals each. For Delhi, Vinod and Vinod Yadav scored one goal each while Ugra Singh and Sandeep Mathur scored the levelers.

In the last match, Haryana thrashed Madhya Pradesh by 5-1. For winners, Triveni and Daljit guided the team to victory with two goals each, while Gurmeet contributed a goal. For Madhya Pradesh side, Javed Ali scored the lone consoling goal.

Mohali, March 12
The cricket team of RO, Punjab, defeated Kapurthala district during the inaugural match of FCI’S 10th International Cricket League tournament at the YPS ground, here.

After winning the toss, the loosing side elected to bat first and set a target of 130- runs before getting all out in 23 overs. Gurvinder Singh (32) and Ashwani Kumar (26) were the main scorers of the team.

In reply to the target, the winning side managed to score 135 for 3 to win the match in the 22nd over. Former Ranji trophy player Arun Sharma guided the team to victory after scoring an unbeaten 48-runs. He was equally supported by Kulwinder Singh, who remained unbeaten on 56-runs.

Kulwinder Singh was the pick of the bowlers.