400 shows of play in December
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 5 — A local theatre group, Theatre for Theatre, plans to stage 400 shows of ''Court Martial'' continuously at a single venue from December 1 and 31, "to link both the centuries through this play".

In a project report, prepared by this theatre group, Mr Rajiv Mehta, President, said to give added attractions to the play, film personalities and cricket stars would also be invited to be part of the production.

''Court Martial'', which has already been staged by the group in April in the aid of the visually handicapped, has been penned by Swadesh Deepak and directed by Sudesh Sharma. The play tells the story of a jawan who despite winning laurels for the nation is maltreated by his seniors as he belongs to the lower caste.

Seasonal vegetables cheaper
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 5 — The prices of seasonal vegetables such as lady's finger, ''tori'' and gourd has come down in the local market during the past four days.

During a survey of sector markets, it was found that a kg of lady's finger, priced at between Rs 12 and Rs 14 four days back, could be purchased today at Rs 10. The wholesale price of the vegetable came down from Rs 45 to Rs 38 per 5 kg.

Similarly, a kg of ''tori'', priced at Rs 16 three days ago, could be had at Rs 12. The wholesale price came down from Rs 60 to Rs 45 per 5 kg. likewise, a kg of gourd, which was available at Rs 16 last week, was priced at Rs 10 today. Its wholesale price dipped from Rs 60 to Rs 40 per 5 kg. The same was the case with brinjal as a kg of the vegetable could be had at Rs 10 in retail and Rs 40 per 5 kg in the wholesale market.

According to traders, the prices of seasonal vegetables have come down owing to brightening up of arrivals from parts of Punjab and Haryana.

Cauliflower has also become cheaper during this period. A kg of the vegetable could be purchased today at Rs 25. In the wholesale market the price decreased from Rs 130 to Rs 105 per 5 kg. Traders attributed the fall to the onset of arrival of the advance variety of the crop in the market from Himachal Pradesh.

On the other hand, beans became costlier as their price increased from Rs 20 to Rs 24 a kg in retail and Rs 80 to Rs 100 per 5 kg.

There was no change in the prices of some of the vegetables. A kg of cabbage still could be purchased at Rs 15, while the same quantity of squashgourd was priced at Rs 20. Cucumber lovers could had it at Rs 15, while a kg of radish was priced at Rs 16. Potato and onion were also available at their old prices of Rs 5 and Rs 10 a kg, respectively.

Good omen

RAIN before an event is considered a good omen. And Chandigarh has been lucky on that account. Some parts of the city had showers on Saturday afternoon and virtually the entire Union Territory had some rain on Saturday night or early Sunday morning.The rain, however, did not disturb the election process.

It was a slow and cool start to the polling on Sunday with only enthusiastic youngsters, many of them not even qualified to be voters, taking up their duties at party booths outside polling stations. Many of them got up early in the morning, fixed party banners and flags and were all set to receive the first voter before 7.30 a.m.

The newsmen and news photographers covering the elections were flooded with calls, inviting them to cover casting of votes by one VIP or the other. The usual enthusiasm associated with polling was, however, missing in the first half of the day. It gradually picked up as the turnout improved.

It is for the first time that electronic voting machines were used in the city. Many went to cast their votes just to have a feel of the new device. The polling officers were unable to say whether the EVMs really speeded up voting or not. In some cases, they said, they took long to explain to a voter how to use the machine but in many other cases, they felt the queues were considerably shortened as the polling was far quicker than before.

The candidates, accompanied by their polling agents, visited almost all polling stations to make sure that everything was going on smoothly.

Chandigarh normally witnesses 55 per cent to 65 per cent of voting. In the last elections it was a little more than 53 per cent while in 1996 it was 58 per cent. The maximum was in 1985 when the polling touched 68 per cent.

There are fewer candidates this time. Against 48 contestants in 1996, the number came down to 18 in 1998 and this time it is 16. For the first time, there was not even a single woman employee on election duty in the Union Territory.

Not three but four

Of the 20 candidates who filed their nomination papers for the lone Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat, there were four, and not three, Principals, says a reader. In a letter to Sentinel, the reader says that after rejection of nomination papers of Principal Gurbachan Singh of the Nationalist Congress, three principals were left in the fray and their names appeared on the ballot machines. The fourth Principal is none other than Mr S.M. Bhatti, who retired as Principal of Kendriya Vidyalaya after 34 years of distinguished service. Besides, he had seven other years in private educational institutions as a teacher. He is contesting these elections as an Independent and a representative of the Christian community. Other Principals in the fray are Mr Mata Ram Dhiman (Bahujan Samaj Party) and Mr Ram Pal Hans (New Congress Party).

While Mr Krishan Lal Sharma (BJP) was the oldest candidate in the fray here, Ms Palac Shri, a model, was the youngest. Of the three women contestants, Mrs Gurvinder Kaur Sodhi had retired in favour of the Congress candidate, Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal, who is contesting this seat for the fourth time.

IT workshop

Recognising the need for information technology, the National Social Sciences Documentation Centre in collaboration with the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development is organising a four-day training workshop on "Access to Social Sciences Information" at the Sector 19-A CRRID from Monday. The workshop is sponsored by the Indian Council for Social Sciences Research and the Netherlands Foundation for Advancement of Tropical Research, The Hague. It has been specially designed to benefit social scientists, university teachers, research scholars, information specialists and librarians. Mr TKA Nair, Chairman, Public Enterprises Selection Board, will inaugurate the workshop.

If you must, drink milk

There has been a lot of hue and cry over the supply of liquor by principal candidates to voters in villages, colonies, slums and other areas. The police seized huge quantities of country made liquor and cheap brands of Indian Made Foreign Liquor. An enterprising worker of a national party, however, had different ideas. He had more than a quintal of milk which he distributed in one of labour colonies. This, he said, does not violate the election laws or the model code of conduct. There was a long queue of those wanting hot and sweetened milk, both on September 4 and 5 at his special stall for the voters.

Mrs Renu Khanna

The Haryana chapter of the Indian Institute of Architects was inaugurated here on August 29. Mr Jatinder Saigal from Faridabad and Mrs Renu Khanna from Panchkula were chosen Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the 16th chapter of the IIA.

Mrs Khanna has several innovations in group housing schemes to her credit. She was behind the Mahatma Gandhi Awas Yojana, Haryana; the Agriculture Cooperative Training Institute, Jalandhar; and the Vardhman Industrial Complex, Baddi. But among non-technical persons she is better known as the architect who designed former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal's palatial house in Panchkula. She is a product of the Chandigarh College of Architecture.

Light and sound

While crossing the traffic lights at the bifurcation point to Patiala on the Chandigarh-Delhi National Highway at Zirakpur, the sound "red light; ruk jaao" diverts the attention of the road user. The Punjab Traffic Police is controlling the traffic in an unusual way here.

The sound system following the light signals installed here often alerts the road users about road safety. Perhaps this is the first sound system installed to control the traffic on National Highway-22.

The system has not only proved helpful in controlling the heavy traffic on the highway, but has also reduced the rate of accidents for the last two months. But in case of power shutdown, the sound system stops functioning and puts the traffic to great inconvenience. The road users then throw the traffic rules to winds and cross the road in a haphazard manner.

The monsoons form an integral part of Indian culture and their coming is celebrated in many ways. The image of the peacock showing off its splendid plumage has become now so familiar that one forgets where one actually first saw it. Was it in reality or a scene from a film or maybe an early painting? Nature is at its spectacular best during the rains with an atmosphere of fertility present all around.

What often does go unnoticed is the river beds and other marshy and wet areas covered in a sea of endless white plume-like flowers. This is the season in which the family of grasses begin to flower lasting for almost three months till the middle of September.The grass family (called Poaceae in the scientific world) has amongst its members many varieties that have since times of civilisation become a staple part of our diet like wheat, maize, rice and bajra. The species shown in the photograph on top of the page by Gautam Singh belongs to the Genus Saccharum. There are a few species belonging to this genus that grow in this region around Chandigarh. This particular one is called Saccharum Spontaneum.

Its cousin called S Benghalense which flowers in November is of a greater economic value being of a far more robust nature than this one in the photograph. It is used for making thatching for huts, supports for many garden flowers like sweet pea and in making stools. S. Spontaneum is a species that is not as strong but it still has its uses. The grass serves as fodder for cattle and thatching for the roofs of huts. It is also being used by florists for flower arrangements after its ostrich like snow-white plumes are given a new colour.

Economic uses aside, the sight of a river bed (this location being the Patiali choe) covered with this beautiful grass in flower is a sight that is quite breathtaking to behold. Now its season is coming to an end and the sight of these delicate flowers taking to the air in little puffs of fluff remind one that the monsoons are now ended.

Godrej Club lift Bathany Cup
By Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, Sept 5 — Godrej Cricket Club won the final of the 12th Bathany Cup Cash Prize Cricket Tournament after beating Life Insurance Corporation of India XI by 14 runs here at the CRPF grounds today.

Batting first, GCC lost two of its wickets early. Rajesh Patha and Arun Tuli consolidated the position. The former made 33 runs and the latter scored 58 runs. GCC made 146 runs for the loss of eight wickets in 25 overs.

In reply, LIC XI started well with Dinesh Mongia hitting 38 runs, followed by Rahul Panta who scored 23 runs. It was Vinod Binta who wrecked the LIC innings as he claimed five wickets for 23 runs, followed by Arun Tuli who took three wickets for 22 runs. LIC were bundled out for 132 runs.

Rajesh Patha was declared the man of the series, Dinesh Mongia, the man of the match, Ajay Sikka, the best allrounder, and Vinod Binta, the man of the match.

Brief scores: GCC — 146 for eight in 25 overs (Arun Tuli 58, Rajesh Patha 33, Rahul Panta 3 for 21, Dinesh Mongia 2 for 26, Yoginder Bhandari 2 for 31, Amit Uniyal 2 for 27).

LIC XI — 132 all out (Dinesh Mongia 38, Rahul Panta 23, Lakshay 21, Amit Uniyal 18, Vinod Binta, 5 for 23, Arun Tuli 3 for 22).

School cricket

St John's School, Sector 26, will organise the second Blessed Edmund Rice Inter-school Knockout Limited Overs Cricket Tournament in the under-12, under-14 and under-16 categories for school boys from October 17 to 30 at the school premises.

This tournament will be for school teams of Chandigarh, Panchkula and SAS Nagar and a maximum of 16 teams in each age group will be allowed to compete.

According to Brother CD' Abreu, Principal of the school and the man who took active interest in organising this tournament for the first time last year, said the entry forms would be available at the school office from tomorrow onwards till September 18 during the school hours.

The last date for the receipt of entry forms along with photographs of members of participating teams is September 25. The draws for the same will be taken out on October 2.

The age group for the players will be determined as follows: Under-12 — upto Class VI and must be born on or after January 1,1988; under-14 — upto Class VIII and must be born on or after January 1, 1986; under-16 — upto Class X and must be born on or after January 1, 1984.

When is National Sports Day?
By Arvind Katyal

Chandigarh, Sept 5 — September 5 was celebrated as Teachers' Day all over the country. Similarly, February 14 every year is known as Valentine's Day, March 8 as Women's Day and so many others at the national and state levels. But, when is the National Sports Day? This question would find most sportslovers ignorant of the answer.

For those who do not know Sports Day is on August 29. Few state governments and sport organisations know this thing. Sports Day is celebrated to mark the birth anniversary of hockey wizard late Dhyan Chand. The day was dedicated to him only last year by the Centre.

The National Institute of Sports at Patiala (a premier sports institute of the country), on that day conducted hockey matches, since it is synonymous with Dhyan Chand. Later in the evening, a colourful cultural programme was organised at the NIS where the North Zone Cultural Centre, Patiala, brought a troupe from Rajasthan to perform. Punjabi singer Harbhajan Mann, who stays at Patiala, was the guest of honour. He sang popular Punjabi numbers on the request of a large number of sportspersons present there. Col Raminder Singh, Director for Sports of Punjab, was also present at the Patiala function.

When contacted on August 30, Mr J.P.S. Sidhu, Joint Director for Sports of the Chandigarh Administration, said that he had not received any formal communication from the authorities concerned which may be due to the ensuing elections.

Similarly, the Director of the Himachal Pradesh Sports Department, Mr Jagdish Chander, when contacted on phone at Shimla, did not have and idea about the day. He said it might be a prerogative of the Sports Authority of India to organise celebrations.

He further said that regular sports events in the state were on. Moreover, he said he had joined the present position as director only a few days back.

Villages face garbage disposal problem

IT is disheartening to note that villages in Chandigarh face the threat of some epidemic breaking out in the absence of a garbage disposal system. Khuda-Lahora, 1.5 km from the PGI, is one of these villages.

I want to draw the attention of the Municipal Corporation/Chandigarh Administration towards the condition of Khuda-Lahora village. Heaps of garbage can be seen on the road and at many other places in the village. There is no proper arrangement for its disposal. A nullah has become a nuisance and health hazard for the residents, as it remains filled with slush and garbage, because of absence of safai karamcharis, posing a threat to the health of the people. The nullah was not been cleaned by safai karamcharis for the past one year and it is totally covered with small trees, grass and bushes.

Villagers dump waste and cowdung in streets and open spaces, because of non-availability of proper dumping place. Heaps of cowdung can be seen on the main road of the market. These garbage/cowdung dumps have become breeding places for insects and mosquitoes. Stray dogs, cows and pigs always roam there in search of food and scatter garbage here and there. During rainy season, there are a number of cases of viral fever and malaria, but no attention is paid to improve the situation in the villages.

More than 100 sweepers are working for removing garbage from 18 villages, but this number does not fulfil the requirement, as the population of the villages is growing day by day. The authorities should make some permanent arrangement for the disposal of garbage. The Municipal Corporation should place dustbins in the villages and there should be proper arrangement for lifting garbage from these sites. The Administration should provide allowances to the panchayats, so that they can appoint more safai karamcharis to tackle the problem.

Sunil Kumar Dogra
Chandigarh

Defence personnel

Lieut-Gen (retd) Harwant Singh discussed in detail hardships being suffered by defence personnel, including problems faced in the matters of pay and pension, in his article “Lionised Army jawans —victims of delusion, deception” in your paper.

Since armed forces personnel retire from the services at a much younger age than their counterparts in the police and civilian jobs the best and a natural course would be to shift them to the police and suitable civil appointments in the central and state governments. They should not be retired, but shifted and allowed to serve up to the age of 58.

This would have two major advantages, apart from justice, to the men in olive green. First, the police and other government departments would get trained and disciplined. Also, the police would not be required to spend much on training men from the Army. Secondly, the central government would save the money which it has to pay for pension of all ex-servicemen between the age of say 35 to 58, as they would be shifted to some or the other department.

No doubt, this arrangement would reduce the direct employment in government departments, but the nation cannot afford wasteful expenditure, and public money must be put to best possible use. And lastly, it would not be fair to blame the BJP, as it remained in power for a very short period, and that too under great push, pulls and arm-twisting.

Anand Prakash
Panchkula.

Zero-base budgeting

In these days of fast growing business networks, various companies should adopt the zero-base budgeting formula of material management for enhancement of their business web. The formula states that companies should not invest in material in advance for their annual requirements, which results in huge inventory carrying costs, fear of obsolescence etc.

Instead, storage shelves of various suppliers can be used by paying extra charges for hiring their extended storage space, manpower etc.

This technique drastically reduces the expenses for employing store’s manpower and inventory carrying costs. The expertise of persons already working in government/private/public sector set-ups may be utilised by paying some extra honorarium (the honorarium means a recurring or non-recurring payment made for a special work of an occasional or intermittent character). By adopting this technique, the magic takes place in enhancing business web of the hirer company. Now the hired executive will watch for the interest of the hirer company instead of his employer. In other words he will become the honorary representative of the hirer company while sitting on his employer’s expenses.

Since we are on way to next millennium, it is right time that we should employ the zero-base budgeting formula both on material as well as manpower. Companies should employ persons already working as chief/executives in various set-ups. This will surely bring more results in the cash-flow charts of the entrepreneurs.

Yash Pal
Chandigarh

Real poll issues

In the present election campaign, the Election Commission has asked political parties to exercise restraint and follow some code of conduct in attacking their opponents. The Press and the electronic media have over reacted by projecting some cheap and lewd stories. One doubts the authenticity of such stories and sees political bankruptcy in the washing of dirty linen in public.

There is nothing wrong in extolling the virtues of one’s leader but that should not be the sole campaign point. No doubt leaders are important but more important are the policies which they follow.

Nearer home, there is no dearth of issues facing the two states of Punjab and Haryana. However, there is little sign of any meaningful debate on the methods which the rival parties intend to adopt to tackle fundamental problems of poverty, unemployment, poor health and sanitary facilities, apart from trans-border terrorism. Has not the last one put the hands of the clock of prosperity back by at least a decade?

Talking of prosperity, is not the falling level of the ground water in these states playing havoc with the working of our 14 lakh tubewells which have been the backbone of the Green Revolution in these states? It is not on the agenda of any political party to solve this problem. Why?

S.P. Malhotra
Panchkula