HEALTH

SAS Nagar to have spinal injury centre
Tribune News Service

SAS NAGAR, Aug 9 — The Punjab government will soon set up a Rs 5 crore spinal injuries centre, first of its kind in the country, at SAS Nagar for the management of spinal cord patients. This was stated here today by Mr Gobind Singh Kanjla, Social Security and Development for Women and Children Minister, Punjab, after the meeting of the governing body.

Mr Kanjla stated that the centre had been allotted to Punjab by Prime Minister Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee in view of the personal initiative and consistent efforts of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. Punjab Urban Planning Development Authority ( PUDA) has allotted 5 acres of land in Sector 70, SAS Nagar.

A panel of architects has been invited to finalise the site plan for the centre, which would be finally approved by the five member's committee. The construction would be started soon and it would be completed within record period of one and a half year.

Mr Kanjla said that the Punjab Government had received the first instalment of Rs 50 lakhs from the Government of India for the construction of the centre and machines worth Rs 20 lakhs would be soon procured from Italy as the centre was being set up in collaboration with the Italian Government.

Maj A.P.S. Ahluwalia, Chairman of the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre, New Delhi, informed that the incidence of spinal injuries was very high in Punjab and the neighbouring states and if specialised care was not made available to them in time, the simple cases could also become complicated. According to the WHO statistics, 8 per cent of the total population in India is disabled. Of the total 72 million people, 60 per cent happen to be locomotor disabled.

According to Major Ahluwalia, who has been working for the cause of spinal injury patients, the centre would be a boon for the management of spinal injuries and locomotor disabled. He is associated with nearly 43,000 patients who became disabled following spinal injuries. In order to provide the patients the best possible treatment, he has entered into collaboration with the Government of Italy, which provide grants for their treatment, rehabilitation and for generating awareness among the public.

He said after setting up this centre at SAS Nagar, two more centres will be opened in Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh) and Bareily (Uttar Pradesh).

Among those who were present in the meeting are Major Ahluwalia, Mrs Romila Dubey, Secretary, Social Security; Mr R.S Kalsia, Director; Mr P. H. Vaishnav, retired Chief Secretary, Punjab, Mr G.S Preet, Director Health Services; Dr H. S. Chhabbra, deputy medical director, ISIC and Col M.S Randhawa, N.S Paraplegic Home.

SPORT

Soccer title for Sanjay school 
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Aug 9 — Sanjay Public School, Sector 44, wrapped the sub-junior title in the Chandigarh Football championship for the DAV Trophy which concluded here this evening at the Sector 17 Football Grounds by overpowering DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8 by two goals to nil.

In this six-day tournament, Sanjay School players never let their opponents dominate in any of the match they played.The chief architect of today’s victory was Harmohabbat Singh who scored both the goals.

The first goal came in 30th minute of the first half. The half time score was 1-0. In the second half, another goal was scored by Harmohabbat in 37th minutes. Two players of both teams were also shown yellow cards. Mr Ravinder Talwar President of the Chandigarh Football Association, gave away the prizes.

ADMINISTRATION

59 MC employees transferred
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 9 — The Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC) has transferred 59 employees of the Engineering Wing, who had been handling “sensitive” posts for the past over three years.

According to sources, the transferred employees included 21 JEs of the Public Health(PH) Wing and 17 of the Building and Roads(B&R) Wing. Besides six Draftsmen of the PH wing and two Draftsmen of the BR wing were also shifted. The rest of the transferred staff belonged to the clerical cadre.

Room for Deputy Mayor: The MCC has written to the Chandigarh Administration to provide a room to the Deputy Mayor, Mr Mohinder Singh.

The Assistant Commissioner-1, Mr Ashok Vashist, on behalf of the Commissioner, Mr M P Singh, has written to the UT Home Secretary (HS), to provide office room of the Deputy Election Commissioner to the Deputy Mayor in accordance with a resolution of the corporation. The office room is situated in the block which is meant for the elected body of the corporation. Incidentally the Commissioner is also holding the additional charge of the Home Secretary.

The latter urged the Home Secretary to allow the corporation to shift the office room of the Deputy Election Commissioner at some other place within the New Deluxe Building so that the said room was allotted to the Deputy Mayor.

Pre-paid phone card facility extended
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 9 — The facility of pre-paid phone cards has been extended to subscribers in about 200 villages around Chandigarh, SAS Nagar, Panchkula and Ropar area. This was a long-standing demand of the villages.

The pre-paid cards are available in denominations of Rs 105, 210 and 525 to make local, national or international calls from any phone. The cards can be purchased from various customer centres in Chandigarh. Now the sale of such cards has been extended to Morinda, Kurali and Chamkaur Sahib, Principal General Manager Telecom (PGMT) Prithipal Singh said.