Cross a nullah to reach Manauli
From Vishal Joshi

MANAULI (SAS Nagar), May 27 — Residents of Manauli and other more than half a dozen nearby villages are living under threat of floods in the absence of dams and proper outlets of storm water drainage.

The untreated sewage from Chandigarh and SAS Nagar which passes through this village has created several problems for hundreds of the residents of Manauli, Premgarh, Pattron, Manakpur. Their demand of making a permanent chain of bridges has been long pending.

A single spell of rain last week made the villagers panicky as the canal carrying the sewers has breached at several spots. Villagers fear if they are not repaired, water could enter their fields. Though the authorities have plugged the gaps, the residents feel it is not sufficient.

According to Mr Ranjit Singh, during every rainy season, the nullah swells and floods the villages. "Each year, it is the same story as the rain water enters the village and brings losses to the local residents. The roads in the area also get severely affected as there is no satisfactory arrangement for the outlet of rain water", he said.

The villagers further complained that their problems have multiplied due to the negligence of the authorities. Mrs Surinder Kaur, Sarpanch of Manauli, revealed that several villages remain cut off from the rest of the area.

She added that the village panchayat constructed a causeway to make a safe passage to the village during the rainy season. The village cremation ground is also across the nullah. They have to wait till the water level comes down for cremations.

Residents of several villages complained that due to non-availability of any access to cross the nullah, they are forced to go through the 'infectious' water, making them prone to several skin diseases. They have also to depend upon the sullage for the irrigation purposes.

"Though the crop yield here is very high, we doubt about if it's nutritious", said Mrs Surinder Kaur, a local resident. Students have to cross the nullah, which is also cause of serious concern. Due to continuos flowing of sullage, the underground water has also got 'affected'.

On the only road to Premgarh, Pattron and other villages, the Sarpanch said, the kutcha bridge poses a serious threat to the commuters as more than a dozen cases of fatal incidents of drowning have been reported. She said that despite complaints to the district authorities and their local representatives,but no action has been taken in this direction.

Mind your heart and health
By P.P.S. Gill
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 27 — Being health-conscious is not just a fad with the people living in this city or in Panchkula and SAS Nagar. For a large number of men, women, children and youth keeping fit seems to have become a habit, going by the number one comes across walking, jogging or doing exercise at different places in various sectors at dawn and dusk.

Are you also the one among them? Are you satisfied the way you are and the way you look? Are you fit and healthy with your heart in the right place? If in doubt, search your heart and seek sincere and speedy answers to such and related questions.

The best one to approach for a heart-to-heart talk is your own family doctor. But not many may, perhaps, have one.

In that case, there are doctors available in government hospitals and private nursing homes, who would tell you what the simple word “health” really means and how to know and care for the “heart”. In other words, it is important to have basic knowledge about “you and your healthy heart”. If that be so, here is an opportunity to do that by simply going through a 64-page book on the subject mentioned in the quotes above.

The author is Dr Anil Grover of the PGI, who has in simple language explained everything a layman would like to know about good health and a good heart. Not only that. The doctor-author explains common terms one hears and reads about heart, its activities, its hits and misses, its various treatments and post-operative care and lifestyle one should lead.

It may be heartening to see and meet people in parks, gardens, playgrounds or on the Sukhna Lake sweating it out. But equally important is to really understand if what is being done and what is intended to be done in the right way and by adopting the right type of exercise and diet. Much has been written and talked about heart and its problem. There are any number of ''dos'' and ''don’ts''. Many of us know these and yet are simply lazy to follow the simple rules to lead a happy, healthy and a fit life. But once one goes through the ''book of the heart'', one is compelled to make corrections and set right misconceptions.

Dr Grover says that “coronary heart disease affects about 2.5 per cent of the population above 40. Which means there are about five million patients of coronary artery disease in India”. If you are above 40 and have yet to start taking care of your health and heart, here is an opportunity to start doing so right away.

In the matters of the heart, the heart of the matter is “prevention”. This is one problem (disease if you please) in which “patient participation” in prevention is the maximum. Therefore, it is important if one cooperates with ones own self and ensures there is no imbalance between supply and demand of blood to the heart which makes the man and his machine tick.

The warning or caution signal is simple: “heart attacks are attacking developing countries. The heart which normally beats 60 to 90 times per minute must maintain its rhythm and not be disturbed by “risk” factors which unless taken care of, can upset or stop the beat. These factors are well-known. One more repetition will not be entirely out of the beat. These factors are blood cholesterol, stress, blood pressure, diabetes, smoking and obesity.

In other words, “an additional 1 kg of extra body mass means 3 km added long arteries and veins for heart to pump blood into”. If you do not want this extra mileage in the body, mind your health and heart. By simply following simple rules on diet and exercise, stress management, giving up some bad habits like smoking and drinking and adopting several good habits (low fat, high-value diet) can make a world of difference to keep the heart in the right place. And mind you, to quote Dr Grover again, “drug is not a substitute for a healthy lifestyle”. Moreover, with unrelieved stress becoming a modern epidemic, it is the right time to see that the risk factors are kept away.

As one reads on, one finds that the book is a “primary” guide to good living. So much so that it even includes a chapter which assures you that “you need not compromise on taste.” Several recipes are given which taste “really good” and do not disturb the “calories and fat budget”. A long list of food items (cereals and pulses, meat and poultry, vegetables, fruits, fats and oils and miscellaneous stuff) is appended to the book showing their calorific value and protein and nutrition value to enable you make a choice and a combination thereof. The book is as much educative as it is informative and entertaining.

Through simple drawings and diagrams (some not good in appearance and look jarring), the author has tried to demonstrate and explain what is meant to be understood by each one of you. It’s a medical guide which removes fears and apprehensions and prepares you, mentally and emotionally, to lead a healthy life.

It is inspiring and revealingly simple. There is no mention of the price though. It is a book which enables you to keep away from the “white coats” and if need arises prepares you to know where your heart is and how must it function or can be made to do so. Have a hearty living.

Hard times for design centre
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 27 — The Institute of Design, Punjab, located in Sector 10 of the city, seems to be dying a show death.

The institute, established in 1962, was set up as a research centre for handicrafts of Punjab, that would create designs for craftspersons of region. And today with 10 posts out of a total of 25 lying vacant and with the taking over of a part of the institute’s building by the Controller of Stores, Punjab, the design centre tells a sad story.

According to sources, a proposal has been mooted to shut down the institute, the only one in Punjab. The Department of Small Villages Industries (SVI), Punjab, has the additional charge of the institute.

Mr D. S. Guru, Director, SVI, Punjab, when contacted by the TNS, said he was unaware of any such proposal. Interestingly, employees of the design centre informed that the Director had never visited the centre “since it is an additional charge given to him”.

Mr A. S. Bhatia, Deputy Director, SVI, Punjab, however, said, “The Director Information Systems and Administrative Reforms, visited the centre and made reports. But no reports have reached us yet, and it is only on the basis of their reports that we decide to shut down certain institutes”.

On the issue of vacant posts, Mr Bhatia said, “The posts for technicians of embroidery and ceramics could not be filled by us. Either way we do send designs to artisans of region but they do not seem to need them these days”.

As per reports, in case no fresh recruitments are made, the institute would automatically close down by 2006, as all its employees would retire by then!

The centre even has entries lying with it that had come last year for the Vishwakarma awards announced in 1998. “A sum of Rs 1 lakh was announced for these awards, but since funds had not been allocated so these awards could not be given”, added Mr Bhatia.

The institute had reportedly everything going well for it from 1971 to 1993, from state awards to study tours to even the setting up of subsidies for artisans to buy their own tools. But after 1993, when no budget allocations were set apart for the institute even training schemes for craftspersons who used to get a regular stipend had to be shut down. “Today which artisan would come to us if he is given a stipend of Rs 100 per month to train with us?”, asked an employee.

With part of the exhibition hall having been taken over by the Controller of Stores, Punjab, in March this year, the design building even had to wind up its show windows. This year the institute has got only 19 entries for the state-level selection of Mastercraftspersons, that would be then sent for participation at the national level, which the staff is planning to display at its respective work-stations for want of space.

“We found some place in the building lying vacant and unused, and there was tremendous pressure on us for more space. The office of Controller of Stores has been shifted here only for public convenience”, said Mr Guru.

According to sources, lack of space in the Institute has also resulted in the “selling” of many original designs of ceramics.The designs are created only for production value and that too by craftspersons of the state. Lack of funds, rotting machinery, cracking show-case windows, and the Le Corbusier’s building, which was at time on the map of study-tour of students of architecture, cluttered with files and typewriters, certainly speaks a lot about the interest in our cultural heritage.