Living in hell... and still surviving
By Sourav Sanyal & Kshiti Nijhawan

PANCHKULA, Oct 2 — Even after 52 years of independence, unbelievable though it may seem, people are living inside corporation dustbins under sub-human conditions.Words like hygiene and sanitation seem to have not been heard by them. the children living in these dustbins and 'jhuggis' trudge on with heavy steps, under a blanket of thick cloud, the silver lining nowhere to be seen.

A team of correspondents visited five such families staying in corporation dustbins in Sector 9, just opposite the Cactus Garden here. All families have migrated from Uttar Pradesh, in search of a better life here. Finding no accomodation, they were left with no option but to make the dustbins their abode. Naseem, a mother of six children, said the dustbins were extremely filthy and they had to scrape out the dirt to make them fit for living. Naseem and other women work as domestic helps in neighbouring sectors.

Minni, a resident of the make-shift colony, said they usually use water from a tubewell in the Cactus Garden. Stray dogs literally share their 'rooms', Munni and her husband, along with their five children, have been living in the place for the past four years.

children in the colony, who are 25 in number, are left to fend for themselves all through the day. Their parents, who are mostly daily wage labourers, leave early in the morning and come at night. The children have predictably enough never stepped inside a school. The older lot not only has to look after their siblings, they also have to protect their homes and belongings. Beena, aged 15, said that HUDA had grounded their 'jhuggis' on September 29. Munni added that three of their beds had also been forcefully taken away by the authorities. Though the authorities leave no stone unturned to uproot these migrant labourers from their colonies, they make no efforts to rehabilitate them elsewhere.

is it too much to ask for better living conditions for these dust bin dwellers? Don't they deserve the dignity of human life which we all enjoy? These questions warrant serious thought.

Tree plantation plan in police lines
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 2 — "To provide a green cover in the northern states, the Worldwide Wildlife Fund (WWF) has decided to launch a massive tree plantation programme, which will take off with plantation of indigenous trees on the premises of police lines in Punjab."

Stating this at a tree plantation function organised by the WWF at the Sector 42 Food Craft Institute as part of its Habitat Week programme, Ms Babli Brar, Chairperson of the WWF, said her organisation had intitated a plan to give a practical shape to the programme.

She said work on the project had started with the plantation of 5000 trees of indigenous trees at Police Training College at Phillaur during last fortnight with the active support of the Punjab police authorities. She said under the next phase, a similar plantation drive would be launched at Police Training Centre at Jahankhelan in Hoshiarpur district and other police lines at different district headquarters.

She said police premises had been chosen for wide open spaces available there. the organisation has also decided to plant trees in different parts of the state." We are contemplating to revive the concept of 'birs' (small forest areas) in rural areas by planting local trees like neem, peepal and banayan trees," she said, adding that a similar drive would be launched in the states of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh from February.

Ms Brar said the organisation would pressurise the government to prevent wildlife violations in the region, particularly in the Semi Shivalik belt of Hoshiarpur and Ropar districts, where poaching was said to be done in an organised manner.

Meanwhile, Taranjot Singh and Harkiran Kaur of Shivalik Public School, SAS Nagar, bagged the first position in an inter-school debate organised by the WWF at the Sector 41 Shivalik Public School here.

Gandhi's ‘spiritual values eternal’
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 2 — For many people, both in India and all over the world, Gandhiji, was a 'man of the millennium' , said Mrs Vineeta Rai, Adviser to the Administrator, Chandigarh.

Presiding over the 130th Gandhi Jayanti celebrations at Gandhi Samarak Bhavan, Sector 16, the Adviser said that every lesson that Gandhiji taught us was based on truth, non-violence and the highest spiritual values. His belief in these determined the way in which he tackled every problem and every aspect of life. He fought against problems like social injustice or every day ones like sanitation.

Mrs Rai said that Gandhiji taught us that great goals could be achieved by non-violent means. He taught us that we must never use wrong means even to achieve the right ends. She said that Gandhiji's moral and spiritual values were eternal — transcending age, time, space or country. They remain as relevant today as they were in his lifetime, she added.

The Adviser said that Gandhi's dream was to wipe every tear from every eye. "Today, 36 per cent of the world's poor live in India. The infant mortality rate remains 71 per thousand. Only 53 per cent of our adults are literate and over half of our children under five are malnourished", she remarked.

The Adviser also paid floral tributes to Gandhiji's portrait and announced a grant of Rs 35,000 to Gandhi Samarak Bhavan from her discretionary fund. She also inaugurated a khadi and gramudyog exhibition at Gandhi Samarak Bhavan which will remain open till December 31, 1999. A total of seven stalls on khadi, silk, polyvastra and gramodyog have been put up at the exhibition.

The Chandigarh Freedom Fighters Association presented a cheque of Rs 40,850 to the Adviser for the welfare of the families of the martyrs of Kargil, while the Punjab Freedom Fighters Association presented a cheque of Rs 1,540.

Meanwhile, the Department of Gandhian Studies, Panjab University, organised a special lecture. Prof B.M. Sagar of the Sheikh Baba Farid Chair, Panjab University, spoke on the subject ''Understanding Gandhi today''. He dwelled upon the life of Gandhiji and said that it was Gandhiji's achievement that he creatively used our culture in dealing with political and social problems. "We shall celebrate his achievement by acquiring moral integrity and fighting against unjust laws and social malpractices,"he declared.

The Mazdoor Sudhar Sabha organised a prabhat pheri in Sectors 32 and 33 this morning. On this occasion around 200 residents took an oath not to consume liquor. The Indian Public School in Sector 37 organised a poetic, elocution and public speaking competition for children of their school.

The Akhil Bhartiya Bharat Joro Sangathan organised a meeting of educationists and social workers at S.A.S. Nagar to celebrate Gandhi Jayanti .

The All Labour Colonies Welfare Association also organised a prabhat pheri in Janata Colony in Sector 25.

Meanwhile, in Panchkula , the State Bank of Hyderabad in association with the Residents Welfare Association organised a free medical camp in the Sector 4 market. More than 600 patients attended the camp and a team of doctors examined them .

Experts for mammography
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 2 — Women in the age group of 40 to 75 years should go in for mammography to detect chances of breast cancer at least once every two years. Women whose mothers, daughters or sisters have had breast cancer comprise the high risk group.

This was disclosed today by experts on the second day of the sixth National Conference of the Indian Association of Radiological Technologists at the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research here. It is being organised by the Department of Radio-Diagnosis and Imaging.

Prof Sudha Suri, Head of the Department of Radio-diagnosis, PGI, said there were a lot of myths about getting oneself tested for this cancer. She added that women needed to be educated about these tests, since mammography would detect any chances of breast cancer at least three or four years in advance.

Dr Madhu Gulati contended that most women were not aware of mammography. "After cervix cancer, breast cancer is the second most common cancer affecting women. There needs to be an aggressive approach towards education and awareness of this disease," she said. She added that studies had shown that countries where mammography was made popular, the death rate from this cancer has fallen by 43 per cent.

Mr S.C. Bansal, Organising Secretary of the conference, said it should be remembered that the earlier cancer was detected, the better would be the chances for survival. He added that the equipment in mammography could be used for radiological study of the breast using the soft tissue technique. He said there was no risk of unnecessary radiation only in automated machines.

Dr D.P. Singh explained the availability of modes for treatment of breast cancer. Various sessions on radiation protection, in radio-diagnosis and radio-therapy, were held.

Dr M.M. Rehani stressed on the need for full awareness regarding the recommendations of the International Commission on Radiation Protection so that radiological technologists who were working with various types of X-ray equipment could implement these. Dr J.P. Sharma highlighted the risks involved while not following proper measures with radiation equipment.

Mr R.K. Munjal stressed on the need for registration council so that proper teaching curriculum on uniform pattern could include all precautions. Mr Sampat K. Dhawan explained the methods and the use of various tools for quality assurance programme.

In the post-lunch session, papers were read on topics like angiography, digital radiography and precision radio-therapy.

In the evening, a cultural programme was organised at the Bhargava Auditorium by the North Zone Cultural Centre.

City boy aiming for Olympics
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 2 — Back from the Kathmandu SAF Games with a haul of one gold and one silver medal, city lad Abhinav Bindra is not willing to rest on his laurels. He has his eyes set firmly on the Sydney Olympic Games, scheduled to be held in September next year.

At Kathmandu, Abhinav Bindra, along with Chetan Deshmukh and Jaspreet Dhaliwal, helped India win the team gold in the 10-metre air rifle ISSU event. Abhinav shot 586/600 to set a new SAF Games record, the score recorded by Chetan Deshmukh as well. With both Indians tied at an identical score for the individual gold, there was a shootout between Abhinav and Chetan. While Chetan had scored 10.2 to claim the gold medal, Abhinav who had a score of 10.1, had to settle for the silver.

But then, age is on Abhinav's side. Just 17 and preparing for his Class XII board examination from the local St Stephen's School, Abhinav knows that his time will come, sooner than later. His mental approach in a sport which is totally individualistic is firm and he has his eyes set on representing the country in the next Olympic Games.

For his good work, Abhinav is thankful to his father, Dr A.S. Bindra, who has gone out of his way to get his ward the best of equipment and coaching. Time permitting, the elder Bindra also travels to places where his son is shooting in a championship to give Abhinav the much-needed moral support. Abhinav is also thankful to his school for permitting him to take part in international competitions in spite of missing classes and then helping to make up with extra lessons.

The 586/600 he shot at Kathmandu was not the best scorecard returned by Abhinav. In the pre-SAF Games trials at Bangalore, he shot 594/600 which was even better than the existing world record. He knows that he has to shoot a score of around 590 if he has to qualify for the Olympics.

This year, Abhinav has had a very busy schedule, starting the end of April, when he travelled to Germany to train under Astrid Harbeck. After his training, he took part in two European junior meets, at Munich and then at Suhl, also in Germany. In the first meet, he had a scorecard of 582/600 but in the second he had a score of 589/600 to claim the title.

After this, Abhinav took part in three World Cups — at Munich, Milan and Atlanta. In the first meet, he had a score of 580, followed by scores of 578 and 572 in the meets at Milan and Atlanta, respectively. At all three places, the winner had a score of around 590 and Abhinav is aiming to get to such a score.

Coming back from Atlanta, Abhinav headed straight for the national camp at Bangalore where he trained under Laszlo Szucsak of Hungary.

Abhinav will be in Chandigarh this month where he will try to catch up with his studies while practising in the shooting range he has in his own house. Next month, he will leave for the Commonwealth Shooting Championships at Auckland and then the Oceanic Championships at Sydney.

Once he finishes his board examination in March next year, Abhinav will go to Texas in the USA to undergo advanced training in mental management while preparing for the Sydney Olympics.