Work on five-star hotel on
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 2 — The prestigious Hotel Chandigarh Ashok being constructed by the Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) in Sector 17, here, is likely to be completed in two years.

Work on the Rs 34-crore hotel, which will be the first five-star hotel in the city when completed, has picked up momentum following the decision of a court in favour of the ITDC last month. A Delhi-based firm, which was reportedly the second lowest bidder for the project had approached the court, praying that the work be allotted to it. This had delayed the construction work.

It may be recalled that the foundation stone of the hotel, an independent property wholly owned by the ITDC, was laid by the then Union Parliamentary and Tourism Minister, Mr Madan Lal Khurana, on August 19 last year.

The seven-storeyed hotel, besides having well-furnished 130 de luxe rooms will have a coffee shop, multi-cuisine restaurant, party and conference room for over 500 persons and roof-top restaurant.

An executive club for holding small parties and get-togethers, particularly by the VVIPs visiting the city, and fast-moving glass capsule lifts would be distinctive features of the hotel spread over an area of 2.2 lakh square feet.

Besides this, a swimming pool on the first floor would be an added attraction of the project. This has deliberately been done to to protect the privacy of the guests since the area around the hotel is open on three sites, explains Mr Umesh Maheshwari, Senior Manager (Projects) of the ITDC, who is supervising the project here.

A visit to the site today revealed that the work on the basement of the hotel is in full swing. Mr Maheshwari informed that the Delhi-based firm had been given 18 months' time to complete the project. After the completion of work on the basement, other agencies entrusted with other jobs such as installing electrical and other equipment in basement and other parts would start work.

Mr Maheshwari claimed that the project would be an asset to the city and commercially viable since Chandigarh was emerging as a major centre in the region and there was shortage of quality accommodation here.

This, coupled with the ideal location of the hotel site in the heart of the city, would put it in an advantageous position vis-a-vis other hotels. This was the one of best hotel sites in India as it was well-connected and open on three sides, Mr Maheshwari, who has helped ITDC set up hotels at many places, including Manali in Himachal Pradesh and Kovalam in Kerala, added.

Health centre awaits inauguration
From Bipin Bhardwaj
From Our Correspondent

LALRU, June 2 — The building of the local mini Primary Health Centre is awaiting inauguration for the past four years. The building was constructed by the Punjab Planing Board in memory of Baba Prithvi Singh Azad, a local hero, who fought for Indian independence. Since then, the health centre has not been provided any furniture or equipment by the Health Department.

The centre is functioning with the civil dispensary staff who were shifted to this building four years ago. Earlier, the dispensary was running form a building in the village. The new building which has been constructed over an area of nearly four acres of graveyard land of the village, has 30 rooms, one ward with eight rooms, registration room, a doctors' room, out door patients (OPD) room, a dressing room, one laboratory, an X-ray room and a waiting room.

At present, the centre has 14 beds, one X-ray machine, a stretcher, a television set, air coolers, a power generator and some other facilities. Almost the entire equipment and the furniture in the hospital have been donated by various donors of this area from time to time. The telephone connection has also been donated to the centre .

Though the building has sufficient space, yet it is facing the shortage of doctors, pharmacist, staff nurses, laboratory technicians, X-ray technician and Class IV employees. Out of the two doctors, one doctor has been on deputation to this centre.

Dr Daler Singh Multani, who is serving for the past six years in the dispensary, disclosed that an average of 175 patients are registered every day. The dispensary registered about 2,000 out door patients in 1993: 20,000 patients in 1997 and 19,500 last year.

More than 2,500 patients have been operated upon in the dispensary at various free eye camps organised in its premises till date. The centre has also organised awareness camps like AIDS, hepatitis-B, plague from time to time, to educate the villagers.

Medical experts say that keeping in view the rate of accidents on the National Highway, the government should appoint adequate staff so that in case of any emergency, the victims could be provided medical care without delay.

Besides Lalru, Dera Bassi subdivision has three mini PHCs, including Basoli and Pandwala villages.

Capt. Kanwaljit Singh, Finance Minister, Punjab, had last month directed the department to appoint adequate staff and assured the residents of the subdivision that the centre would be inaugurated in June.

Check dams a boon for Sukhna
By Varinder Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 2 — More than 100 check dams constructed in the catchment area of Sukhna Lake by the UT Forest Department as part of its soil conservation measures, have proved to be a boon for the lake as also for the flora and fauna of the area.

Perturbed over the alarming rate of silting of the bed of the lake, as many as 155 check dams have been constructed since 1975, when the department started taking conservation measures so that the heavy inflow of silt to the lake could be checked. These dams have been set up in an area of 2542 hectares of catchment area belonging to the UT Administration.

The total catchment area of the lake is 4207 hectares and falls in the UT, Punjab and Haryana.

The damage to the lake, which had driven the department to adopt some conservation measures, by heavy inflow of silt had been so much that 67 per cent of the total storage capacity of 8710 acre feet of the lake has already been lost since 1958, when the lake was constructed. So much so that after serving their purpose by retaining 200 hectare metres of silt, as many as 80 such dams have already been silted up.

Initially, the Punjab government, before Chandigarh was granted UT status was very much alive to the problem of siltation, had acquired an area measuring 2542 hectares so that a vegetative cover could be provided to check soil erosion in the catchment area, but after the formation Chandigarh, the administration had formulated various schemes to carryout intensive conservation, which included construction of check dams. The rest of 75 such dams still have the storage capacity to arrest run-off water and sediment. “ Though the silted dams have outlived their utility in a way, they are still making use of some of them by raising their level. Moreover, the vegetation grown in the bed of the dams itself acts as a preventive measure against the flow of silt in the lake. Had there been no such dams, much more damage would have occurred to the lake,” said Mr H.S. Sohal, the UT Chief Wildlife Warden. He said the dams, which were still in use, have been able to arrest 70 hectare metres of silt, which was considerable as compared to total 65.4 cubic feet of silt, as per a survey conducted in 1994.

According to officials of the UT Forest Department, the prevention of inflow of silt into the lake through check dams, was beneficial in two ways as it was cost effective compared to manual and mechanical desilting and solved the problem of dumping of silt removed in this way. Practically dams are a better option, compared to other methods such as manual, mechanical and wet dredging. One of the reasons behind delay in starting the process of wet dredging of the lake is that the authorities are in a fix as to where the silt removed that way should be dumped,” said an official of the department.

According to a study by the Forest Department, the dams were cost effective as if the cost of 100 cubic metres silt retained by a dam worked around Rs 1500, the cost involved in mechanical desilting of a similar quantity of silt from the lake was about Rs 3400.

Listing the benefits of dams, Mr H.S. Sohal said as the soil of the catchment area was highly susceptible to erosion, the construction of silt retention structures was the only immediate measure to arrest silt in the catchment area and to keep the lake alive. “No doubt the ultimate measure was an extensive vegetative cover in the area, but it will take some more time, till then these structures would prove useful. He said a total of 320 hectare metres of silt had been retained by dams so far,” he added. He said that in addition to dams, other structures such as causeways have also contributed in arresting soil erosion and these have retained about 50 hectare metres of silt in different parts of the catchment area.

According to officials of the department, besides retaining silt these dams were contributing a lot in the improvement of wildlife and micro-climate of the area. “ You can find a number of species of wild animals like sambhars, spotted deer, red jungle fowl and peacock, as the reservoirs of dams were a major source of drinking water for them throughout the year. Moreover, the presence of panther in the area is an indication of a healthy eco-system,” said Mr Sohal who added that due to the presence of water all through year the vegetative cover in the area was also improving.

Mr Sohal said the Centre had recently sanctioned Rs 12 lakh for carrying of improvement works, including desilting of filled up dams. As many as 10 such dams have already been desilted and the level of a number of these dams has been raised.

Environ Dept seeks clarification
By Poonam Batth
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 2 — Baffled over the implementation of ban on the use of polythene bags in the city, the UT Environment Department has finally sought clarification from the Ministry of Forests and Environment which, like the UT Administration, had also issued a notification banning the use of polythene bags.

The UT Administration had issued a draft notification on January 12 this year, proposing to ban the use of polythene carrybags in Sector 17 with a view to protect the health of people and animals and to improve the environment of the city.

Prior to this, a similar notification was issued by the Central Government, with a difference that only plastic bags made of recycled plastic for carrying and packing foodstuff should be banned. According to the notification, the thickness of recycled bags should not be less than 25 microns, while for virgin plastic bags it should not be less than 20 microns. Moreover, the carrybags should not be pigmented, the notification had said.

Confusion prevails among the department officials as to whether to implement the Central Government notification or the one issued by the local administration as both were different in more ways than one.

While the administration notification had proposed to outrightly ban the use of plastic bags completely only in Sector 17, the Central Government notification had allowed the use of recycled polybags with certain conditions in terms of thickness and quality.

The officials of the department were feeling that they were not in a position to implement the central government notification as they did not have the required infrastructure to check whether the bag met the specifications laid down in the notification. Subsequently, this had resulted in delay in the issuance of final notification by the administration.

According to Mr Satish Gathwal, Secretary, Environment, the implementation would be done after a clarification was obtained by the department from the Central Government.

“We have written to them and have apprised them of the situation and problems. We have also asked them to specify the standard procedures, if we are to implement the central one.”

Earlier, the Administration at the time of issuance of draft notification had invited mandatory objection and accordingly had received 84 objections in this regard. The objections had raised a controversy as most people said the ban should be implemented in the whole city. They questioned the utility of ban in Sector 17 alone, saying how the city environment could have been saved by just banning the use in a small pocket of the city.

Few others objected that it was a hasty decision and needs to be reviewed for the discrimination may prevent people from going to Sector 17 for shopping. The plastic lobby had also raised objections against it as they had pleaded that the recycled bags should not be banned and if at all these had to be banned there was no point in banning the use of virgin plastic bags.

A section of traders had started using recycled bags but due to lack of encouragement from the authorities concerned it did not catch up in a big way. They are now hopeful that action with regard to implementation will be initiated at the earliest.

Adventure camp for children
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 2 — Children drawn from various cantonment of the region will get first-hand experience of various adventure activities undertaken by the Army during a summer adventure camp which got under way at Chandimandir today.

The week-long Pine Division Children Adventure Camp is being organised by the 9th Battalion of the Assam Rifles. As many as 203 children, including girls, are taking part in the activities supervised by officers of the battalion. The age group is between eight to 16 years.

The base camp for the activities will be at Dagshai from where the children will move out to various places. An attempt has been made to infuse a sense of camaraderie besides exposing them to nature. The children belong to Gurdaspur, Tibri, Jalandhar and Meerut.

The children were today initiated to climbing and descending through ropeways and told how the Army manages to go across ravines or climb steep obstacles with the help of ropeways. This was followed by an arms display at an infantry unit.

While many children had chafed hands to show after the initiation was over, no one complained and some were asking whether there was anything more arduous. Officers were at hand to provide immediate medical attention to those who needed it.

During the course of the camp the children will go trekking and climbing in the Dagshai hills besides visiting Timber Trail, Pinjore Garden and Rock Garden.

Officers accompanying the children include Major C L Fotedar, Capt Munesh Tamang and his wife, Veena, Capt K Mathi, Capt Y Joshi, Lt Reena Bhatia and Lt Sarita.

The students visited Lawrence School, Sanawar, and interacted with the students and teachers there yesterday.