Conference on eye disorders
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, February 14
In India there are around 18 million people who cannot see. Out of the total, around seven per cent blindness is caused due to retinal diseases. This was disclosed during the 11th annual conference of the Vitreo Retinal Society of India.

The two-day conference is being organised by the Sector 32 Government Medical College and Hospital's Department of Ophthalmology and the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research on the hospital campus.

According to the organisers, was the discussion was held on “Blindness due to posterior segment (retinal) diseases”. The major cause of blindness due to retinal diseases, as per the speakers, were “diabetes mellitus”, age related “macular degeneration” and “retinopathy of prematurity”. Diabetic retinopathy occurred in four to 38 per cent of the diabetic population. The blindness was preventable if diagnosed and managed at proper time with the help of laser treatment.

Age-related macular degeneration affected 25 per cent of the population in the age group of 70 to 74 years. Retinopathy of prematurity is emerging as a major cause of childhood blindness. It affected 37 to 46 per cent of the premature babies in India.

The organisers added that the purpose of the conference was to make the delegates aware of the problems and its effective management. The latest trends in diagnosis and management were being discussed in the conference, they added.

RSB, Chennai outplays Haryana
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, February 14
RSB, Chennai, outplayed Haryana 3-0 in the women team championship of the All India Civil Services Table Tennis Championship, which began here today at TT hall, Sector 23. Earlier, the seven-day meet was inaugurated by Mr Virendra Singh, IAS, Adviser to the UT Administrator. In other women matches of the day, the CCSCSB, Delhi beat AP State 3-0 while Gujarat outclassed AP 3-0.

In the men team championship, RSB, Kanpur defeated MP State 3-0, RSB, Ranchi, beat Goa 2-0, Karnataka defeated Chhatisgarh 3-1, RSB, Patna, beat West Bengal 3-0, RSB, Hyderabad, defeated Orissa state 3-0, RSB, Kanpur, beat Kerala State 3-0 while RSB, Indore, defeated NCT, Delhi 3-0. As many as 32 teams in both men and women sections are taking part in this meet. 

ADMINISTRATION

PUDA ordered to remove meat market, 100 kiosks
Tribune News Service

SAS Nagar, February 14
The Vidhan Sabha Committee has ordered the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA) to remove the 20-year-old Mohali meat market along with over 100 kiosks shops on the fringes of Mohali village and Phase I here.

The decision of the committee, according to sources, has come at a rather inopportune time and is likely to cause an already volatile situation to develop into a major furore among the shopowners. The shopowners are not ready to shift their location claiming that had they settled in the area long before even PUDA came into existence.

Last week, residents of Phase I and the village had forced the meat and fish selling shops to close down for causing filth and nuisance. The residents had blocked the traffic on the road for days and given up their protest only when around 15 of these kiosks that sold meat and fish closed down.

The closure of meat shops was followed by a counter-protest by the shop owners demanding that they be given alternative sites on the ground that they had been operating for over 20 years and the licences they were issued still hold good. The shopowners had also given a memorandum to the effect to the Minister for Animal Husbandry and Fisheries, Mr Jagmohan Kang. They had also staged a dharna in front of the Estate Office here.

The market mainly comprises kiosks and occupies the fringes of both Mohali village and on the opposite side a corner of the HL and HM houses. The committee formed on a complaint by a resident of one of the HL houses in Phase I has already ordered the Municipal Council and PUDA to remove vendors on the roadside and some other stalls from the area. Another decision of the same committee was to get a junior engineer of PUDA suspended for dereliction of duty in not removing the encroachments when they were coming up. This was followed by the suspension of an PUDA SDO for the same reason.

Sources have also pointed out that the Vidhan Sabha Committee is showing undue interest in the removal of the encroachments specially when encroachments and defaults of much higher order have rarely been taken notice of by the sabha. A kiosk owner also hinted that a senior official of the sabha was living in the area and ‘‘was out to deprive us of our livelihood.’’

The meeting of PUDA officials called by the Vidhan Sabha Committee was held yesterday. According to sources, the committee members directed the Secretary PUDA, Mr Rakesh Singh, who was heading the team of PUDA officials, to ensure that all the shops were physically removed from the area immediately. None of the PUDA officials who attended the meeting could be contacted for comments.