Examinees find time for World Cup
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 13 — With the much-hyped World Cup matches beginning tomorrow, students appearing for the undergraduate and postgraduate examinations are faced with a piquant situation. On the one hand, they have their heads well into the examination and on the other hand, they do not want to miss the matches.

A visit to the campus revealed that students are either busy preparing well in advance for those papers, which will be held during the World Cup or rescheduling their study timings in such a way that they are able to watch at least some of the interesting matches.

However, majority of them admitted that World Cup will be a major distraction during the exams and wished that the examinations had commenced according to their earlier schedule so that they could relax and enjoy these matches.

Vikas Bundela, a B.Com student, says, "My concentration during the examinations will be affected as I do plan to watch these matches. However, I will try and concentrate more on the matches in which India will be playing and for the others I will watch the highlights.'' Since all my papers are in the evening shift, I plan to study more during the morning hours and then spend a major part of the evening watching the day and night matches.

Kapil, a BA student who is confident of his capacity to study late at night, is quite unruffled by the timing of the matches coinciding with his examinations. He said that he would sit up the whole night and study and sleep during the day so that I am able to do both the things simultaneously. "I only wish the examinations had finished before the World Cup, which we have been eagerly awaiting, '' he adds.

Amit Jaiswal, a student of laws, who has put the World Cup schedule along with his date sheet is busy giving the entire syllabus a quick reading so that he has to spend lesser time learning right before the examinations. This cricket buff plans not to miss a single match.

His attitude is such that he says, "I do not mind getting a re-appear at the cost of an interesting World Cup match, since I will be able to qualify the same after six months during the next semester.

Himanshu, a B.Sc ( Hons) student, believes that examinations are his priority at this stage when he has to plan his future career. However, one will not be able to stay away from the World Cup mania. Hence, he plans to watch at least 15 overs of both sides so as to be a part of it. He is, however, happy that most of the semi-final and final matches will be played after his examinations finish on June 19.

Another B.Sc student, Monica opines that she has already adjusted her study schedule in such manner that she will watch the matches during her relaxation time. "Instead of watching other programmes on TV or wasting time with friends, I will now utilise that time watching my favourite cricket players in action." However, she fears that if Indian players do not play well, she may get upset. In that case, she will not watch those matches, she maintains.

DPS Randhawa, a student leader, also intends to plan his preparation schedule for examinations in such a way that he is able to watch the matches in parts. And for the matches, which are just a day before the exam, he will just watch the highlights. "I will try to do maximum learning and revision either in the early morning hours or late at night, when there is no possibility of getting disturbed,'' he adds. He further laments that the timing of the entrance examinations will further deprive many of us from enjoying these matches.

Manisha, a pharmacy student, is also spending more time in the library revising her syllabus thoroughly so that she is not much affected by the mania all around her. `` I will try and watch the first and last 15 overs of both the teams which are the most interesting because of the field restrictions.

She plans to go in for selective study this time so that she is thorough with her concepts and does not have to spend much time cramming too many topics.

Power failures belie PSEB claim
From Kulwinder Sangha
From Our Correspondent

SAS NAGAR, May 13 — Contrary to the claim of the PSEB authorities that the electricity supply arrangements would be satisfactory this summer, complaints of erratic supply and unscheduled power cuts have been received from various phases and the Phase VI Civil Hospital.

Although the supply position in Phases I, III A, III BI, X and the Industrial Area here has not attracted the consumers’ ire, complaints have come in from Phases II, V, VI, VII and XI.

Doctors at the Civil Hospital say power sometimes is cut for two or three hours at a stretch putting patients to inconvenience. The hospital does not have the “hotline” facility and, to make matters worse, the hospital generator is too small to take the entire load. At night, patients in the emergency wing have to be attended to using an emergency light whenever there is a power failure.

Mr Amrik Singh, municipal councillor of Phase XI, said yesterday though on the whole the supply position was satisfactory, a pocket with 10-marla houses (Nos 90 to 150) had been facing the problem of low voltage for about two months. This had adversely affected gadgets owned by consumers, he said. He had complained twice during the past 10 days to the Senior Executive Engineer but to no avail.

In Phase VII, Dr V.K. Goel said yesterday that power was cut almost daily and the supply was not restored for long periods. He said consumers, out of frustration, had gone in for inverters. “Even I have ordered an inverter,” said Dr Goel.

Mr Varinder Kumar, a shopkeeper in the Phase V market, said often power supply was cut in the evening, usually for two to three hours. He said it seemed the transformer in the area could not bear the load. Sometimes the transformer emitted loud sounds before the power went off. He said the power problem had been going on for almost 15 days.

Residents of Phase II said the supply was often disrupted and was sometimes not restored for up to two hours.

Dr Ajay Pal Singh of Phase III BI said the power problem was not a major one. Whenever the supply was disrupted, it was restored soon.

The Mohali Industries Association President , Mr R.S. Sachdeva, said about a month ago there was a power problem in the Phase VII Industrial Area. However, at present the position was satisfactory.

Mr K.R. Chaudhary (Phase X) and Mr Yogesh Gupta (Phase I) said there were no serious problem in their areas.

The Senior Executive Engineer of the PSEB, Mr R.R. Garg, said there were problems at the two substations supplying power to Phases V and VII. However, these has been rectified, he claimed. In the case of the Civil Hospital, he said, power was cut only when maintenance work was carried out.

He said after a new feeder set up for the Department of Public Health became fully functional, the hotline” facility would be given to the Civil Hospital for uninterrupted supply. He admitted there was a power problem in a part of Phase II.

However, on the whole there had been a substantial improvement in the power position over the past years, though some shortcomings might have remained, added Mr Garg.

Why do some markets have no parking lot, MCC?
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 13 — The Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC) has come in for severe criticism for not providing parking lots in certain markets of the city.

A random survey by TNS today revealed that there was hardly any parking space in front of several rows of shops in certain markets of the city. While this affected the businesses of the shopkeepers, it was also a traffic hazard as people parked their vehicles on the main roads.

What the shopkeepers rued most was the apathetic attitude of the civic body towards what they call their "basic right" of having a parking space for running their businesses.

The shopkeepers of Sector 19-D market, where SCFs 1 to 10 do not have any parking space, alleged that since the formation of the civic body, they had been writing to, among others, the Mayors, the former MP, Mr Satya Pal Jain, the area councillor, Mr O.P. Goyal, and the Chief Engineer, but to no avail.

The President of the Capital Beoparis Association, Sector 19-D, Mr Jagdish Kapoor, complained that in the absence of the parking area, their business was severely affected. And with the Chandigarh police launching the drive of towing away vehicles parked on the main road, the customers avoided this particular portion of the market, he added.

Showing the large number of representations submitted to various top functionaries, Mr Bal Krishan, a shopkeeper, wondered why the civic body was dragging its feet on the issue. When the parking spaces could be provided in Sector 27-D and Sector 18 markets, and near the Aroma complex and Mehfil, which were were also situated on the main roads, why they were being meted step-motherly treatment, he asked.

Meanwhile, the vehicles, which stopped on the main road in front of certain shops in the Sector 27-D, posed a traffic hazard. In spite of the police towing away the vehicles parked on the main road, parking on this stretch of road continues endangering the lives of the motorists.

In other parts of the city, the situation is no different. The shopkeepers of certain portions of the markets of Sectors 29-D and 30-C also face a similar problem with the result that the customers, preferred to shop at the other parts of the market.

Bumper mango crop expected
By Varinder Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 13 — What may prove to be a source of delight for most of the residents of the city is that after a gap of many years, they can enjoy the spectacle of bunches of 'dasehri' mangoes dangling on mango trees in the Purav Marg mango belt thanks to a largely favourable weather this year.

So far, no damage has occurred to the crop on account of windstorms, and a frequent change in weather, which are the two most common deterrents for the mango crop every season resulting in large-scale destruction of mangoes. A good crop was expected by the Horticulture Department of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation this year.

The mango crop in the city had been failing during the past few years, and particularly during last year, when a majority of the trees in the belt remained without fruit, while a few others bore a little quantity of fruit in the huge 72-hectares mango belt, having more than 2,000 mango trees of the 'dasehri' variety. The crop failure had been attributed to a number of factors, including lack of irrigation arrangement, frequent weather fluctuation during the flowering process and existence of pollution due to proximity of the busy Purav Marg to the belt.

"The crop had been failing mainly as during recent years, a strange phenomenon of weather was witnessed, wherein after an extended spell of winter the weather would be hot for some days only to revert to its original position. That would result in hindering of the flowering process of the trees, thus leading to a fall in yield," said an MC Horticulture Department official.

He said it was a matter of great satisfaction that the flowering process, like in all mango producing areas of the country, was normal as though the delayed winter gave to summer all of a sudden, there was no change in the temperature after that, he added.

On the other hand according to Mr Satish K Narula, a leading horticulturist, the good crop in the city 's mango belt and at other places in the region was mainly due to non occurrence of strong windstorms, which were common in this season and due to a positive alternate crop cycle, wherein, if the crop was good one year, it would not be so the next year.

"Moreover, the 'dasehri' variety was more regular than 'langra' and 'chausa' varieties and it was least affected by the alternate cycle", he said

According to Mr Nasir, a member of the family which has taken the belt in auction from the Municipal Corporation for the current season for Rs 1.20 lakh, the crop was good and he expected good returns this year.

"I fear that it will remain good only if it rains in a few days, otherwise the fruit will be damaged due to dehydration, which is more likely to grip the trees as there is no proper irrigation arrangement in the orchard," he added, saying that there was only one small tubewell for the entire 72-hectare mango belt. According to him, out of a total of 2400 trees, about 700 were bearing fruit, which was, however, more than last year.

On the other hand, the Horticulture Department of the Municipal Corporation, which is responsible for the upkeep of the orchard, said about 1300-1400 trees out of 2700 trees were bearing fruit this year as compared to only 500 to 600 last year, due to 'extensive care' taken by them after the failure of the crop last year.

"After the crop a failure last year, we undertook three sprays prior to the flowering season and during it in February this year, which lead to the destruction of harmful insects such as mango hopper and powdery mildew, common during the flowering process which was on in February and March," he claimed. He said to cope with the shortage of water, the department had made enclosures around the trees so that these could retain more moisture from the water released into these.

About the problems being faced while maintaining the belt, Mr Nasir said the biggest one was that of trespassing by the residents of the 200-odd houses along the belt in Sector 29-D.

"As there is no fencing, the children tend to pluck the fruit during the night hours.

He said a number of requests had been made to the Municipal Corporation to make arrangements for water supply and for providing fencing around the belt, but nothing had been done so far. He said the yield of the orchard could enhance manifold if proper arrangements were made for the irrigation of the orchard, and if it could be saved from certain 'unscrupulous' elements.