Victim succumbs to injuries
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 20 — Akash, a resident of Mauli Jagran, was seriously injured when he fell down from the scooter he was riding on the pillion, on Madhya Marg in Sector 7 today.

According to the police, he was shifted to the PGI where he later succumbed to his injuries. It is learnt that the driver of the scooter lost control due to heavy rain.

Man stabs self: Gursharan Singh, a resident of Sector 41, was admitted to the PGI after he stabbed himself after reportedly consuming a poisonous substance.

Poison consumed: Three persons were admitted to the PGI here today.

Gurmeet Kaur, a resident of Dhanas, was injured when her scooter was hit by a car near the Sectors 16 and 23 crossing.

In another incident, Kaushalya of Sector 19 consumed some poisonous substance.

Reha Devi, a resident of Dhanas, was injured when she fell from the steps of her house.

PANCHKULA

3 hurt in mishaps: Three persons were injured in two separate road accidents in the district on Sunday.

Two motor cycle-bound persons — Gagan Saini and Harbans Kaur, both of Railway Colony, Kalka — were seriously injured when their vehicle was hit by a truck at Kalka late last night. Both have been admitted to the PGI, Chandigarh.

In another case, a pedestrian was injured when he was hit by a car near Chandi Mandir this afternoon. The victim, Manohar Lal (22) has been admitted to the local General Hospital here.

The driver of the car has reportedly been arrested.

‘Beach party’ pulls crowd
Tribune News Service

PANCHKULA, June 20 — Sand-beach, loud music, frenzied dance and finally a couple of streakers. This was what the “beach party” at Fun-City Wonder Water Park, near Ramgarh, on Saturday night was all about.

With even families driving down to this park to participate in the “beach party”, the party kicked off like any other dance party, where everybody in the age group of six to 60 could be seen wearing his/her dancing shoes. From “Macarena” to “Dil Laye Gayi Kudi Gujrat Di” to “Vengaboys”, to “Kuk-Kuk Kukeey”, the almost 500-odd crowd jostled with each other to jive away the night on the artificial sand beach.

Three young boys caught “streaking” themselves near the pool, were later shooed away by the securitymen present on the premises. The show was meant “strictly for couples only”, though a lot of single young boys could be seen in search of partners.

Incidentally, earlier in the evening the organisers did announce their plans to end the beach party by a jump into the nearby pool water, which they clarified was supposed to be with “clothes-on only”. It was the dance floor that drew the maximum crowd, which sweated it out not only by jiving to the boisterous tunes but also by playing handball on the artificially created beach.

With even the rain obliging in the day earlier , the “beach party” with its artificial palm trees and beach huts, somewhat ravaged by the rain storms, gave just the right ambience for the “thinly-clad” youth. Even the parking lots were to be found full of those wanting to down a few “quick ones”.

Surely, the crowd did appear to have its full at the beach party, especially at a time when the discotheques in the city close down long before midnight.

Peas, ginger become dearer
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 20 — Barring peas and ginger, most of the commonly-used vegetables have become cheaper during the past 24 hours.

During a survey of the local market today, it was found that peas, priced at Rs 48 a kg yesterday, was available today for Rs 60 a kg. The wholesale price of the vegetable has also increased from Rs 200 to Rs 250 per five kg during this period.

Similarly, the price of ginger has gone up. A kg of the vegetable, priced at Rs 60 yesterday, could be purchased today for Rs 100. According to traders, the hike in the price of both vegetables was temporary and was due to less arrivals from Himachal Pradesh.

On the other hand, the prices of a number of vegetables came down during this period. A kg of cauliflower, priced at Rs 15 a kg yesterday, was available in the market today for Rs 12. The wholesale price decreased from Rs 65 to Rs 50 per five kg. A kg of cabbage, priced at Rs 8 yesterday, was available for Rs 6 today.

Similarly, a kg of lady's finger, priced at Rs 10 yesterday, could be bought today for Rs 6. The wholesale price of the vegetable came down from Rs 40 to Rs 25 per five kg during this period. Likewise, a kg of squashgourd, priced at Rs 16 yesterday, was available today for Rs 10. The wholesale price of the vegetable came down from Rs 60 to Rs 35 per five kg. According to traders, the prices of all seasonal vegetables were coming down due to increasing arrivals in the market.

The case of lemon was no different, as a kg of the vegetable, priced at Rs 20 yesterday, was available today for Rs 15 in different parts of the city. The fall was attributed to a fall in demand due to rain and a consequent fall in temperature.

The fall in the price of capsicum was also considerable. A kg of the vegetable, priced at Rs 20 yesterday, could be bought today for between Rs 8 and Rs 10. The wholesale price of the vegetable came down from Rs 60 to Rs 30 per five kg during this period. Traders maintained that the price came down owing to enhanced arrivals during the past week.

Tomato also became cheaper as the price of a kg of the vegetable decreased from Rs 10 to Rs 8 per kg in the retail market and from Rs 40 to Rs 30 per five kg in the wholesale market. However, there was no fluctuation in the prices of brinjal, potato and onion. brinjal was priced at Rs 10, potato at Rs 5 and onion at Rs 8 a kg, respectively.

New appointments

THE remaining two top appointments in the Chandigarh Administration are all set to come through this week. The Ministry of Home Affairs was reportedly in the process of finalising appointment of Mr Manikant Prasad Singh, an IAS officer of the Punjab cadre belonging to the 1986 batch, as new Commissioner of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. He will replace Mr Satish Gathwal, an IAS officer of the AMGU cadre, who is being repatriated to Delhi.

Similarly, the formal appointment of Mr Balbir Singh as the new Chairman of the Chandigarh Housing Board is also expected to be through. Mr Singh belongs to the 1971 batch of the IAS and is from the AGMU cadre.

Once the top posts are filled, the second round is expected to get in motion. Certain HCS and PCS officers may get new orders to go back to their parent cadres. This will be broadly applicable for the second-rung officials who have completed three or more years in the Administration or have voluntarily opted to go back to their parent State cadres.

The Administration has either asked for fresh panels of names from the two governments or has already received some names.

Wanted

A pink-coloured "Wanted Dead or Alive" poster has appeared almost everywhere in the city. The poster wants people of Chandigarh and nearby areas to remain on the lookout for Anopheles, a mosquito responsible for the spread of malaria, especially during the rainy season. The suspected hideouts of the "wanted" mosquito are ponds, desert coolers, low-lying areas which remain inundated, and drains, besides slush and marshy areas.

Brought out by the malaria wing of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, this poster also suggests ways and means to prevent mosquito breeding.

Last week, the wing organised a workshop on malaria by inviting experts from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, the Union Government and the Armed Forces and paramilitary forces.

Narinder Singh

The name of Mr Narinder Singh "International", a tourism promoter of the city, has now appeared in a new guide book "Let's go India and Nepal", published simultaneously in Britain and the USA.

The book carries following comments on Mr Narinder Singh: "One Rock Garden regular is local tourist saint Narinder Singh, an elderly Sikh in a blue turban who frequents the cafeteria, as well as the bus stand. Look for him if cheap elude you. He is one of handful of folks in Chandigarh whose hotel and city tour is entirely (incredibly) benevolent".

Mr Narinder Singh had retired some years ago from the Punjab Government as an Office Superintendent.

"Moinjodaro"

The Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India has finally approved and supported the Publication "Moinjodaro" of the Environment Society of India (ESI). The society has been engaged in arts, heritage and environment conservation and thus its name Moinjodaro is consistent with its aims. And the recent statement of renowned international biodiversity expert Geffery A. McNeely, "We are losing cultural diversity much faster than the biological diversity, "has further given impetus to its actions.

The first issue of this journal published in January last year was submitted to the Central Ministry for support. It carried articles "100 years of Indian cinema" by Gautam Kaul, Director General ITBP, "K.L. Saigal: Tansen of 20th century" by Mr Yoginder Saikon, ADC to the first President of India, "Environment and Development" by Dr Karan Singh and several research papers on studies carried out by senior researchers of Haryana Agricultural University.

The journal will be published half yearly during this year. From next century it will be a quarterly and will carry articles and research papers by experts on the subject. It will also reproduce newspaper clippings and articles on successful projects mainly in English and some in Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu.

Employees

Two women employees of the Punjab Government would like to forget as soon as possible the experience they had while travelling from the Civil Secretariat to the MLA Hostels intersection in a Haryana Roadways bus last week. Before the bus could reach the intersection, it was stopped by a Flying Squad of Haryana Roadways. Both the women employees produced their photo identity cards. But since they were not carrying their bus passes, they were asked to pay 10 times the normal bus fare. Interestingly, the receipts of fine issued to them by the Flying Squad are dated June 15,1990. One of the women employees, Ms Ravinder Kaur Gill, said for a long time, employees of both Punjab and Haryana had been travelling in the special buses of each other's state. These buses are specially plied from the Civil Secretariat to State Government offices located in Sectors 17, 22 and 34, mainly for the employees. The Punjab Civil Secretariat employees have demanded immediate refund of the fine charged from their two women colleagues and sought that steps should be taken to prevent such harassment of employees.

Two-in-one

Conmen always find new ways for deceiving their unsuspecting victims. And this time, the victim of a small-time conman was a "cigarette-wallah" sitting outside the office of The Tribune. The method employed was novel.

One fine evening, when the vendor was doing his business as usual, somebody came to him for purchasing cigarettes and handed over a 'five rupee' coin against the purchase made by him. But much to the dismay of the vendor, who inspected the coin after the buyer left the scene, the coin was, in fact, not that of Rs 5, but instead, were two one rupee coins joined cleverly with the help of some strong adhesive.

No cheers

In a panel discussion on lifestyle diseases organised at the Command Hospital, Chandimandir, on June 13, a senior PGI doctor had the following advice for the bacchus lovers: One or two drinks daily were preferable to heavy drinking or abstaining off and on. One or two drinks for men and one drink for women would be allright for those used to it.

But in the same breath he warned that alcohol had toxic effects on our vital organs like liver, pancreas, heart, brain and joints. It would, as such, be best to abstain from drinking, he said disappointing a section of the Army personnel, who took to the bottle daily.

No cheers!

Book feature

Shivalik Public School, Sector 41-B has installed a massive stone structure showcasing books piled in a compact position with water cascading gently down from all three sides, signifying the flow of knowledge. The solid structure installed in the school ground right at the entrance has the school logo — Victory with determination'' on top of it.

The structure has been designed and executed by Mr Amarjit Virdi, a young artist from the city and a product of Shivalik Public School. According to him, the idea behind sculpting books was to let the children and the common man relate easily with the structure. Though the material used is rigid, but the artist has done a satisfactory job in showing the contours of the cover and the paper.

The sculpture is complete in itself as seen from all three sides: Individually and together and signifies the process of gaining knowledge and flying out successfully.

Yoga, vegetarianism best for players
By Arvind Katyal
Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, June 20 — Channe ki dal should be consumed by sportspersons for building stamina as horses too consumed this nutritious food, and everyone was aware of the power of a horse, said Prof M. Lal, renowned yoga expert, during an informal discussion. He advocated the use of yoga in the early part of the career of any sportsperson. He said it could yield better results and regulate the biomechanism of a sportsperson in a less strenuous way.

When asked, why Indian sportspersons lacked basic strength and often suffered injuries even before reaching their peak form, Prof Lal said when a person overworked, he was bound to be let down by his body as it knew its capabilities. It would be best for everyone not to go beyond one's capacity.

For treating injuries through yoga, Prof Lal suggested rest and reconditioning exercises and said that sometimes, these injuries were beyond the comprehension of ordinary doctors.

Prof Lal further cited merits of consuming vegetarian food. He gave the example of non-vegetarian foods which are said to be rich in proteins. He said, as compared to these foods, vegetarian food items like curd, pulses, soyabean, channa are richer in proteins and stimulate the entire body. Even egg, normally used by every sportsperson, also increased cholestrol level. It was advisable for sportspersons to consume natural foods. Almonds and Amla, if eaten regularly, gave one the desired edge over others in building endurance, speed and concentration required in any sport.

Prof Lal said the spine was more active than the brain, so, one should give due importance to it by exercising regularly for improving sports performance and preventing injuries.

He suggested meditation as the best exercise for increasing concentration. He said nowadays, Indian teams going abroad always took a yoga or meditation expert with them.

He also said pranayama was one of the best and useful exercises for any sportsperson as it related to breathing. Today, the West was ardently following various yoga techniques in several sports.

About the usefulness of aerobics endurance exercises, he said it was controlling breathing system which was important in all sports, so, the it would be best to use pranayama.

He further said that beginners in sports should be taught yoga and coaches must attend orientation courses in yoga.

TT girl does city proud
By a Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, June 20 — At an early age of 12, when Amarpreet won her first inter-state table tennis tournament, her teachers and parents didnot know that the girl would make them extremely proud one day.

Amarpreet Kaur, an ex-student of Manav Mangal School, Chandigarh, claims to be the only girl table tennis player selected from the city to visit Gulf countries for promoting the game. The friendly visit has been organised by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). She has been selected on the basis of her performance in the CBSE inter-school national tournament held this year.

Amarpreet has particapted in a number of state and national level tournaments and has won at various stages. She said she was encouraged by her sports instructor, Mr Deepak, to play the game.

She has scored 72 per cent marks in her matriculation examination and plans to study medicine. She said that she would prefer to take up homoeopathy as the subject was easy and she could spare time for the game.

Amarpreet stood second in Bhawan Hawk, an inter-state table tennis tournament held in 1995. In the same year, she participated in the National School Table Tennis Tournament held in Guwahati. In 1996, she bagged the first place in an inter-school tournament held in the city and also took part in the 58th Open National School Tournaments at Indore. Next year, she particapted in the national tournament held at Calcutta. In 1998, Amarpreet was adjudged first at the state level. In the same year, she was placed third in the CTTA tournaments, second in the CBSE inter-school tournament and also played in a national-level tournament. This year, she has been invited to visit Gulf countries in September.

Mr Deepak, her sports instructor, recalled that though the girl was not punctual, she was an allrounder. He said that she played her first national tournament when she was only in Class VI and since then, she had never looked back. She has won prizes not only in sports but also in various extra-curricular actives. Her instructor is grateful to her father for encouraging her to play. He also recalled how her father had even allowed her to skip her Class VIII examinations as she had to participate in a tournament.

Amarpreet says that the main aim of her visit would be to make new friends and popularise the game. She regrets that the game leaves no time for her hobbies. She loves watching cricket and is a big fan of Saurabh Ganguly. She felt sad at the country's performance in the World Cup.

New CBA team takes over
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, June 20 — The Chandigarh Badminton Association, as expected, chose a few new faces as office-bearers at its annual general meeting held here today. Mr M.C. Sethi was unanimously elected the President of the CBA for the next four years. Mr D.K. Mukerjee who was instrumental in making the CBA get directly affiliated to the Badminton Association of India (BAI), expressed his inability to continue as the secretary of the body due to ill health. He however, was unanimously chosen the Chairman of the body.

Mr T.P.S. Puri, a former national badminton coach, widely known on the international circuit for being on the active panel of the International Badminton Federation (IBF), replaces Mr Mukerjee as the new Secretary of the association. His name was proposed by Mr M.C. Sethi which was unanimously accepted.

Mr Virinder Mehta who previously held the post of Joint Secretary is the new Finance Secretary of the body. He replaces Mr M.R. Gupta. Other persons unanimously elected to this body include, Mr Subhash Nagpal — Senior Vice-President, Mr Ramesh Kapoor, Mr Gian Chand Gupta, and Mr B.D. Gandhi — Vice-Presidents.

The association also passed the auditor's report for the previous year. It was also decided to donate money for helping families of soldiers martyred in the Kargil-Drass sectors by sending a draft on behalf of the CBA.

The CBA will meet in a few days to chalk out its calender of activities for the coming session. Earlier, listing the achivements of the CBA, Mr Mukerjee said the association had made tremendous progress.

The members hoped that new team would work for the welfare of badminton players and promote the game in this part of the world.

Do not demolish roundabouts

Of late, Chandigarh roundabouts have been attracting undeserved and unsolicited criticism from many. A lot of people have wished them hasty extinction. Already a few strategic roundabouts have been razed to give way to open crossings with traffic regulatory lights. Sadly, this experiment has failed to solve the problem of frequent traffic jams. This step has, in fact, made the situation more chaotic. Many a time during rush hours, these lights are either found not working or manned by traffic policemen. A careful analysis shows that the replacement of roundabouts with open crossings has, in fact, increased frequency and quantum of traffic jams.

Doing away with roundabouts doesn’t appear to be a really good solution. There is an increasing load of traffic on the Panchkula-Chandigarh main road. During rush hours, especially office hours traffic-jams have become a common site. This problem is compounded by ill-planned and hastily executed slip roads along Madhya Marg. By virtue of rather being short and too near the main crossings, these slips roads have become self defeating in purpose as these have themselves become a source of constant traffic jams.

In my opinion, the roundabouts should be allowed to stay. These should, however, be supplemented with traffic lights that allow clockwise, sequential draining of traffic from around these roundabouts. Even the concept of the right of way can be better implemented with roundabouts in place. This will make for a more disciplined approach and flow of traffic, and hence lessen the number of accidents.

Incidentally, instead of having these on sides, traffic lights should be ideally placed in the middle of the cross-road, either on a long pole or suspended from a cable supported from sides. This will afford better visibility of these lights from far away and even through thick traffic.

Vivek Khanna
Panchkula

Railway employees

A large number of superannuated railway employees who chose Chandigarh and its satellite townships Panchkula and SAS Nagar as suitable places to settle find themselves a harassed lot in absence of any departmental medical help.

While Chandigarh has the best medical facilities and specialised treatments available at the PGI and the General Hospital, the retired railway employees and their spouses cannot avail of free medical treatment at these centres or the state dispensaries and have to rush to private practitioners, whose expensive treatment they cannot afford.

Many states like Himachal Pradesh allow reimbursement of medical expenses or provide medical allowance to their retired employees recently even the Chandigarh (UT) government entitled its employees living at Chandigarh, Panchkula or SAS Nagar free medical treatment at the Government Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32.

The railway authorities have been apprised of the problem many a time but they continue to be indifferent 1999 is being observed as the year of the aged and we hope the railway administration would allow us free treatment at the above mentioned medical institutions and state dispensaries to alleviate our suffering.

H. C. Goel (Panchkula)
Raj Kumar Kapoor (Chandigarh)
Tek Chand (Panchkula)
A.C Arora (Panchkula)

CET seats

Apropos a news item in Chandigarh Tribune of June 9. It is unfortunate that there will be no review of CET seats. The observation of Mr N.S.Rattan that children of government employees who have passed their 10+2 examination from Chandigarh will be considered in 85 per cent quota and those of non-employees will be considered in 15 per cent quota earmarked for Punjabis living outside is not convincing.

The admissions are regulated by the rules notified by the government and the Punjab Government has notified these rules through a notification of 22.03.99. According to this notification, 85 per cent seats in the institutions affiliated to Punjab Technical University (Except REC Jalandhar and other RECs ) are earmarked for those candidates who have passed their qualifying examination from a school and college situated in Punjab. However, this will also include wards of employees of Punjab state/ government of India / autonomous bodies of the Punjab Government, who are otherwise domicile / residents of Punjab but their wards on account of their posting might have passed their qualifying examination from anywhere in India. The remaining 15 per cent seats are earmarked for Punjabis living outside Punjab.

A study of these eligibility conditions indicates that wards of government employees who are posted in Punjab and whose children have passed 10+2 from Chandigarh cannot be considered in the 85 per cent quota. Similarly , wards of non-employees who are residing in Punjab cannot be considered in the 15 per cent quota meant for Punjabis living outside Punjab.

It is not understood as to how PTU will make such admissions in violation of the Punjab Government orders. If the PTU indulges in such misadventure, it will push the affected people to seek legal remedies. The Punjab Government should not make it a prestige issue and rectify the anomalies in the rules. It will save a large number of candidates from unavoidable expenditure and harassment.

H. S. Nigah
SAS Nagar

Tree transplantation

Apropos news item “50 full grown trees to be transplanted” in Chandigarh Tribune of June 4.

It is a stupendous task involving huge amount and efforts. Only the time will tell as to how many of these trees will survive after transplantation. The concern shown by the President, Environment Society of India, in this regard is justified.

A serious concern is frequent lopping of trees which have been growing for years under the overhead power supply lines. Wherever and whenever, the trees are found touching power supply lines, these are mercilessly lopped by the Electricity Department.

Above instances clearly show lacuna in our planning. Obviously the planners of Chandigarh did not foresee the future needs of the city and proper planning for laying overhead power supply lines.

We celebrated Environment Day on June 5. Every year we resolve to keep our environment clean. By shifting lopping of trees, we are certainly causing great harm to the trees, which serve as lungs of the city. In this context, I would like to reproduce below what Lord Buddha said more than 2500 years ago.

“The forest (tree) is a peculiar organism of unlimited kindness and benevolence that makes no demands for its sustenance and extends generously the products of its life activity, it affords protection to all beings, providing shade even to the axeman who destroys it.”

S. P. Mittal
Panchkula