NEIGHBOURHOOD

Town continues to be victim of govt apathy
Our Correspondent

Patiala, January 1
The physics department of Punjabi University organised a valedictory function of the UGC-sponsored national workshop on computer laboratory training in physics here yesterday.

Prof RC Verma, workshop coordinator and dean faculty of physical sciences of the university, told that this workshop was inspired by the UGC recommendations to introduce the computer-based courses in physics. He told that a focal theme of the workshop was to provide expertise in the computer simulation techniques for physics problems using programme languages and other software to the participants, in addition special lectures on open source software.

Future techniques in computing and symbolic computing were also delivered by the guest speakers during the workshop. Prof Manjeet Singh, dean, the College Development Council of the university, presided over the function and distributed the participation certificates.

In his address, he highlighted how the computer education is serving not only the academic activities but also different activities in the society. Talking about the present decline in strength of the basic sciences, Dr Singh emphasised the urgent need of organising such workshops, which is expected to fill the existing gap of computer education to science and arts students in colleges and wished that the participants would enhance the computer activities in teaching to attract bright students towards basic sciences in their institutions after their return. Prof BS Mann, head, Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur National Integration, chair of the university, also graced the occasion and told that Punjabi University has been strong putting efforts in developing relations with several institutions abroad which is going to be mutually beneficial. In his address, he mentioned how neglect of research and development in science and industry can damage the progress of the country like other ones. He hoped such workshops would motivate the participants to utilise the computer training to boost the research in various fields. Prof HS Bhatti expressed a vote of thanks at the end of the function.

Patiala, January 1
The Punjab Civil Medical Services Association organised a peace march at the Mata Kaushalya Hospital here today, urging the doctors to ensure peace and health for all.

The PCMS Association also appealed to the World Health Organisation to adopt the slogan of "Peace and Health for All" instead of "Health for All" in the changed scenario.

PCMS Association patron Dr M.S. Randhawa said that in today's surcharged atmosphere of mistrust and hatred, the medicos could be the best messengers of peace because of their commitment to universal brotherhood as enshrined in their professional oath to treat all alike, irrespective of their belief, colour, caste and creed. The association also decided to offer its voluntary services to the state and Union governments and the world body for peacekeeping assignments. 

Kalka, January 1
The Nanakpur village of Pinjore will have a Primary Health Centre (PHC) soon, as the health department has already started the construction work of this project. Vijay Bansal, former secretary of Haryana Congress, said the state government had granted Rs 1.22 crores for this project. Ravinder Mehta, village sarpanch, said 16 bighas, 10 biswas of panachayat land had been granted for the construction of the health centre, which was earlier running in a Dharamshala of the village .

A visit to Nanakpur village revealed the hospital was being constructed in 11,598 sq ft area, under which 16 rooms were being constructed, which included 4 doctors’ room, operation theatre, laboratory, X-ray room and labour room.

The hospital would cater to at around 30,000 villagers of 40-45 villages. Earlier, the villagers had to go to kalka or Pinjore for the medical aid Dr Surinder Nain, SMO of Kalka Community Health Centre, said earlier 6 sub health centres, including Madhanwala, Karnanpur, Basaulan, Tipra , Tagra, and Bargodam were running under the Kalka health centre. Now, out of these six sub health centres, three sub centres of Madhanwala, Karanpur and Basaulan would work under the Nanakpur primary health centre. Nain said the PHC of Nanakpur would be equipped with the latest health equipments and facilities.

Two doctors, a dental surgeon , an ayurvedic doctor, 3 female health workers, 3 male health supervisors, one lab technician, one pharmacist, one staff nurse , two class fours and two sweepers would be deputed . 

Ambala, January 1
Senior INLD leader and former minister Sampat Singh said there was no dispute on the sharing of seats between BJP and INLD in the state for the Lok Sabha elections.

Talking to mediapersons here yesterday, he said some of the Congress leaders had been confusing the issue. He further said it did not make any difference how many seats were allocated either to BJP or to INLD as the goal of both the parties was common to win all the 10 seats of the state to make LK Advani the Prime Minister.

Replying a question, he said both the BJP and the INLD had been working jointly to make the alliance stronger. He claimed that the BJP-INLD alliance would prove a best choice of the people of Haryana in comparison to the Congress and other opposition parties, which did not have mass support.

He said the BSP and Janhit Congress had no base among the common men in the state.

He admitted that there would be a direct contest between BJP-INLD alliance and the Congress in the Lok Sabha as well as in the Assembly elections.

He said without adopting the legal procedure, the state government had been distributing 100-yard plots to the poor just to gain political benefits.

He said the government should have acquired the land of panchayats before distributing it to the people. He said this was the reason that a number of panchayats had opposed the move.

Referring the amendment in Punjab Road Scheduled Act, 1963, by the state government recently, he said Haryana should go for its own road Act.

He said 14,000 constructions have already been demolished while the remaining might get the relief by this amendment. Several BJP leaders, including Rattan Lal Kataria, Raj Singh and Ajay Jain were also present.

Chandigarh, January 1
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed Reliance General Insurance, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, to pay the insured amount of Rs 1 lakh to a resident of Sector 43.

The forum also asked the insurance company to pay a compensation of Rs 10,000 to the petitioner for harassment suffered by him due to repudiation of medical claim.

The trust has been depositing a premium of Rs 36,56,301 for taking the group medi-claim insurance policy valid up to August 15, according to which 1,682 advocate members, including advocate Sanjay Nagpal, his spouse and two unmarried children were insured for medi-claim to the tune of Rs 1 lakh.

It was stated by the petitioner that Sanjay Nagpal, fell down on the premises of Punjab and Haryana High Court and was taken to a dispensary where he was medically checked and diagnosed as a case of hypertension. Thereafter, he visited Fortis Hospital, Mohali, on January 10, 2008 and was advised MRI which was done and no abnormality was found.

He did not feel comfortable and thus, again visited Fortis from January 10, 2008 to January 14, 2008 for a check up and was advised to consult Dr G.S. Kalra, cardiologist, under whose guidance C.T. Coronary Angiography was done on January 15.

Thereafter, Dr Kalra treated the case as emergency and Angioplasty was done that revealed double vessel disease and performed CAG and Angioplasty with stent.

The insurance company stated that after the treatment and discharge from the Fortis Hospital, he filed a claim ie who examined the entire record and the discharge summary and thereafter repudiated the claim on March 27, 2008. The history given and the discharge summary clearly disclosed the fact that it was a pre-existing disease. 

Chandigarh, January 1
In an inhuman act, an unidentified auto-rickshaw driver dumped a 22-year-old youth at a secluded place in Kambala village, who was seriously injured after being hit by his vehicle on the road dividing Sectors 21 and 34 last evening. The youth was found dead today while the police was yet to trace the auto-rickshaw driver.

The SHO of the Sector 34 police station, Sudarshan Singh, said the victim had been identified as Shushil Kumar of New Indira Colony, Mani Majra.

He was working in a paint manufacturing factory in Mohali and was returning home from work when the mishap took place.

Sources in the police said soon after the mishap took place people gathered at the spot and gave a sound beating to the auto-rickshaw driver, who was driving recklessly. The mob asked the driver to take the injured to the hospital for treatment to which he agreed. He took the victim to a hospital with him.

Before the police could reach there the driver had left with the victim, leaving the victim’s motorcycle behind. The police took the motorcycle into its custody.

Instead of admitting the victim to the hospital he took him to Mohali and dumped him at a secluded place in Kambala village.

It was only today that someone spotted the body and informed the Mohali police about it.

The police identified the victim from his identity card and contacted his family. The Chandigarh police received information from the Mohali police at 1 pm today and said they had the victim’s motorcycle at the Sector 34 police station.

The SHO said efforts were on to trace the auto-rickshaw driver and a case had been registered in this regard.

Chandigarh, January 1
On the first day of the All-India Inter-University Baseball (Men) Championship, North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon, trounced Lucknow University by 10 home runs, here today.

North Maharashtra University gave an upbeat performance to score 12 home runs while Lucknow University could only score 2 home runs. Nitin, Dhiraj, Rajender and Vaibhav scored two home runs, each, for the Maharashtra. On the other hand, Swapnil and Manoj were the only scorers for Lucknow University. In another lopsided encounter, Bikaner University thrashed Kashmir University 15-1 home runs to register an easy win. Satpal scored 3 home runs and Satiya, Gurvinder, Manmohan and Dinesh chipped in with 2 home runs each. Kashmir University could only manage a home run with the help of Mehraj.

Meanwhile, Panjab University, Chandigarh, and DAV College, Chandigarh, will vie the top honours in the final of the Panjab University Inter-College Tennis for Men being played on the PU grounds, here tomorrow. Earlier, Panjab University blanked SGGS College, Chandigarh, 2-0. Nikhil Hooda of PU defeated Akash of SGGS 6-2, 6-0 Simarveer of PU outplayed Gaurav 7-6, 6-1, 6-3.

In another semifinal, DAV College prevailed over GN College, Narangwal, 2-0. Vijayant Malik of DAV College blanked Kulwinder 6-0, 6-0 and Deepinder of the same college outclassed Sunder (PU) 6-3, 6-2. 

Chandigarh, January 1
Sehaj Deep (154) stole the show, as he helped Mohali Cricket Academy to edge past Shree Shree Cricket Academy by 170 runs in the ongoing 1st CCA-GNPS (under-14) Cricket Gold Cup being played on the Guru Nanak Public School, Sector 36, grounds, here today.

In the second match of the day, Bharti of St Soldier Academy got the better of DAV Cricket Academy, Sector 8, by 28 runs. St Soldier Academy mounted a total of 160 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in 30 overs. Subeer, knock of 74 was the highlight of the match.

In reply, DAV-8 had a poor start and other than Harshit (20) and the team could not reach the target.

Scores:

MCM Mohali: 260 for 3 in 30 overs (Sehaj Deep 154, Anmol 84); Shree Shree Cricket Academy: 90 all out (Mandeep 20, Amanpreet 3 for 11, Anmol 2 for 2). St Soldier Academy: 160 for 5 (Subeer 74, Harmanjeet 54); DAV-8: 134 for 7 in 30 overs (Harshit 20, Pardeep 3 for 11).

Chandigarh, January 1
Fifteen-year-old Ashbeer Saini from Kapurthala stumbled on the third day. But, his three over 75 was enough to keep him in the joint overall lead along with the country’s top amateur Rashid Khan of Delhi at one over par 217 on the penultimate day of the Lalit Suri All-India Junior Golf Championship on the par-72 greens of the Royal Calcutta Golf Club in Kolkata today.

Three strokes behind the joint leaders was Bangalore’s Chikkarangappa, who played a two over par 74. However, in the A category Chikka was second. The three players will tee off in the last group in the final round to determine the winner of the championship.

Ashbeer was the best player in the under-15 age group(Category B), as the next best player in this group, Rahul Ravi, was 13 strokes adrift of Ashbeer at the end of three rounds.

There was a minor surprise in category C, as Tutul Ali jumped up the leaderboard to take a share of the lead in this group after Honey Basoya, the high rated golfer in this category, found the going tough and finished his round with a score of ten over 82.

Piyush Sangwan continued to lead in Category D(under-10), carding a four over 76, to open up a five shot lead over Prakhar Asawa, whose round of three over 75 was the best round in this group.

Rashid had a horrid start to his round and made the turn at three over 39, but managed to steady himself to get his round back on track. He fired three birdies in the last four holes of his round to finish with a respectable score of one over 73.

Ashbeer, who has impressed everyone with his ability to match the players in the higher age group category, had a tough outing and could not continue his streak of under-par rounds. With a score of 37 and 38 on the front and back nine, respectively, he had to be content with his round of three over 75.