The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

Nature Cure Centre attracts many
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, September 23
The nature cure centre at Kalagram in Mani Majra, which was opened on June 14, has been providing all sorts of treatment for obesity and various chronic diseases. With the opening of the centre, Kalagram has recorded a rise in the number of visitors.

The centre, which functions under Dr Bindu Gupta, Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS), and a B.Ed in yoga offers treatment for obesity, hypertension, arthritis, depression, skin diseases, asthma, cervical, diabetes and various chronic diseases.

“We use traditional methods like mud treatment, water treatment and medicated oil massages in combination to treat various problems,” said Dr Gupta. A patient is given a two-hour sitting every day and charged Rs 80 per sitting. “We start here with oil massage for a thorough blood circulation, mud treatment and finishing with oil bath, steam bath, foot bath or hip bath, depending on the requirement of the patient.

In a single sitting, there are other fringe offerings. Herbal tea, yoga and old melodies are offered to produce an unwinding effect. The centre is also offering monthly package deal for Rs 2000.

Though the centre started with only one unit for women, the North Zone cultural centre (NZCC) soon added a separate section for male patients. The centre operates in two shifts — the first shift is from 7am to 12 noon and second from 4 pm to 7 pm.

A majority of patients visiting the centre are women with obesity problem, said Dr Gupta. “We are also planning to start full-fledged yoga classes,” she added.

Manav Mangal boys are table tennis champs
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 23
Manav Mangal High School, Sector 21, clinched the title in the under-14 boys category in the inter-school Table Tennis Tournament being organised by the UT Education Department, at the Table Tennis Hall in Sector 23 here today.

In a well-contested semifinal between MMHS-21 and DAV-8, the game was tight and tough competition was observed. Sameer of Manav Mangal lost to Rajan of DAV, 8-11, 11-8, 11-6, 9-11 and 8-11 in the first game.

Sachin of MMHS beat Manik, 12-10, 11-6, 11-13, 11-4. The third game was lost by Himanshu of Manav Mangal to Chetan Singla of DAV, 7-11, 9-11, 8-11. Sachin of MMHS-21 put Manav Mangal on a par by winning the 4th game from Rajan by 1-6 12-10, 11-6. In the final game, Sammeer of MMHS beat Manik, 11-7, 12-10, 4-6, to enter the final.

In the second semifinal, Stepping Stones beat New Public, 3-0, to enter the final. The final between MMHS-21 and Stepping Stones-38 was a one-sided match with Manav Mangal boys beating Stepping Stones, 3-0.

In the under-17 boys category, Manav Mangal High School beat Bhawan Vidyalaya, GMSS-35 beat GMSS-19, MDAV beat Stepping Stones and AKSIPS beat Moti Ram to enter the semifinals.

The semifinal and final matches for this category will be played tomorrow.

Results: Boys (under-14): final: Manav Mangal High School-21 beat Stepping Stones-38, 3-0, (Sameer beat Rizul, 11-8, 11-6, 9-11, 12-10; Sachin beat Tarun, 11-6, 11-5, 12-10; Himanshu beat Ishan, 11-8, 11-8, 11-9).

Third and fourth position: DAV Public School beat New Public, 3-0, (Rajan beat Nishant, 11-3, 11-1, 11-1; Chetan beat Salman, 11-4, 11-3, 11-2; Manik beat Jatin, 11-3, 11-2, 11-3).

First semifinal: Manav Mangal High School, Sector 21, beat DAV-8, 3-2, (Sameer Singla lost to Rajan, 8-11, 11-8, 11-6, 9-11, 8-11; Sachin beat Manik, 12-10, 11-6, 11-13, 11-4; Himanshu lost to Chetan Singla, 7-11, 9-11, 8-11; Sachin beat Rajan, 11-6, 12-10, 11-6; Sameer beat Manik, 11-7, 12-10, 11-6).

Second semifinal: Stepping Stones-38 beat New Public-18, 3-0, (Ishan beat Nishant, 11-3, 11-6, 11-4; Rizul beat Salman, 11-3, 11-5, 11-5; Tarun beat John, 1-3, 11-1, 11-1).

First quarter-final: Manav Mangal High School beat Bhawan Vidyalaya, 3-0, (Vipin beat Pranav, 11-7, 11-3, 14-12; Sumit beat Sahil, 11-3, 11-2, 11-5; Deepak beat Amrinder, 11-1, 11-3, 11-2).

Second quarter-final: GMSSS-35 defeated GMSSS-19, 3-0, (Suryanshu beat Aniket, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-8; Rohan beat Sulabh, 11-6, 11-6, 11-8; Anshuman beat Abhishek, 11-7, 7-11, 11-5, 9-11, 11-7).

Third quarter-final: MDAV High School-22 defeated Stepping Stones-38, 3-1, (Vijay lost to Abhishek 3-11, 8-11, 4-11; Sandeep beat Suyash, 11-8, 11-9, 11-7; Tribhuvan beat Akshat, 11-6, 11-4, 11-6; Sandeep beat Abhishek, 12-10, 12-10, 11-7).

Fourth quarter-final: AKIPS-41 defeated Moti Ram-27, 3-1, (Amanpreet beat Himashu, 11-6, 11-6, 11-8; Gurpreet beat Sidharth, 12-14, 11-7, 11-8, 11-3; Himanshu lost to Ankur, 11-9, 5-11, 7-11, 11-5, 9-11; Amanpeet beat Sidharth, 11-5, 11-9, 11-5).

Pool championship

Gaurav Nagpal learnt the hard way that it is detrimental to become complacent in pool. He was leading 4-1 against D. Rajkumar in the race to five. Nagpal missed a straightforward chance and his opponent closed the lead to make it 4-4. Thereafter, Nagpal missed an unbelievable sitter on the 9th ball to surrender the match rather tamely. D. Rajkumar won by 5 racks to 4 in the third Chaudhary Vishnu Pal Singh Memorial National Nine Ball Pool Championship at the Chandigarh Club here today.

The same saga continued in the R. Loganathan and Bhupinder Singh match. The latter raced to an early lead of 3-0. Suddenly, Loganathan applied brakes to his opponent’s potting spree to make it 3-3. Bhupinder then coolly wrapped the 7th rack to put his nose in front. Loganathan then played a difficult plan on the 9th ball to make it 4-4. He played a terrific pot on the 7th ball and was perfectly poised for the 9th, which he potted gleefully. He won the match by 5 racks to 4.

Dhruv Verma defeated Anju Uppal by playing an exceptional game. He won by 5 racks to 4 in an interesting match.

The lone woman cueist, Geetika, who was pitted against Vishal Gupta, surrendered the early initiative to lose her match in the decider.

Results: Aman Bhasin (Hry) b Purab Patel (Guj) by 5 racks to 1; Sunil Sharma (Kar) b Navin (TN) by 5 racks to 1; Harpreet Singh (HP) b M. Verma (Bih) by 5 racks to 1; Anish Bhandari (Guj) b Honey Chadha by 5 racks to 4; Sonu (Del) b M. Verma (Bhi) by 5 racks to 4; Prashant Soni (Guj) b Tarun Kumar (Chd) by 5 racks to 3; Vishal Gupta (Chd) b Ajay Singla by 5 racks to 2; Pushpinder Singh (Del) b Nishant Azad (J & K) by 5 racks to 2; Amit Makkar (UP) b Nirmal Shah (Guj) by 5 racks to 2.

Sunny Jain (Guj) b Anil Sharma (Hry) by 5 racks to 4; Vijay Kumar (AP) b Mukesh Chandra (HP) by 5 racks to 1; Manav Dhavan (Chd) b Pradeep Kinger (Hry) by 5 racks to 2; Lucky Vatnani (AP) b Karan Sarda (Mah) by 5 racks to 3; Edward Kenedy (TN) b Rajesh (Del) by 5 racks to Nil.

Applications invited

An inter-school state-level tournament in the discipline of basketball, handball, volleyball, softball, kho-kho, kabaddi, hockey, football for boys and girls (under-14, under-17) and under-19 (only for girls) will be organised by the secretaries (boys and girls) of the Inter-School Tournament Committee from October 7.

The last date for receiving entries is October 3. All city schools interested to participate in the above said disciplines may send entries to the Secretary, Inter-School Tournament Committee, Mr Karan Singh, Principal, GMSSS-33, Chandigarh, for boys and the Secretary, Inter School Tournament Committee, Ms Rajesh Mihans, Principal, GMSSS-18, Chandigarh, for girls.

Chess meet

The Chandigarh Chess Association will organise the under-7 and under-9 chess championship for boys and girls on October 2 and 3 to select teams to represent Chandigarh at the nationals to be held in Chennai and Calicut, respectively.

The venue for the championship will be St. Xavier’s Senior Secondary School, Sector 44, Chandigarh. Entries close on October 1.

TT tourney

The second Chandigarh State Ranking Table Tennis Tournament is being organised by New Public School, Sector 18-B, Chandigarh, and the Rotary Chandigarh Central, under the Aegis of the CTTA, from October 1 to 3 at the Sector 23 table tennis hall in Chandigarh. The events for the tournament are: cadet boys and girls (under-12), sub-junior boys and girls (under-14), junior boys and girls (under-17), men and women. Only Chandigarh player can participate in the championship.

Trials

The Sports Department, Chandigarh Administration, is conducting selection trials for the National Sports Festival for Women, to be held at Jalandhar from October 19 to 22. The trials will be held at the following places — handball at Government Model High School, Sector 42, Chandigarh on October 26 at 3 pm; hockey at Hockey Stadium, Sector 18, on October 30 at 3 pm; and tennis at the Lake Club on October 30 at 4 pm.

KU Cross Country

Ambala: SD College has won the six-km Kurukshetra University Cross Country Championship for the sixth time.

The college Principal, Dr Desh Bandhu, said 16 teams had participated in the championship. While Balwinder Kaur stood first by clocking 22.42 minutes, Neena stood second with a time of 23.52 minutes. Anuradha stood fourth, Neha was eighth and Pooja was 12th.

SD College team stood first, DAV College, Pundri, was second and Khalsa College, Pundri, was declared third. The SD College team has now been selected for the Inter-University Cross Country Championship.

City to host national triathlon meet
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, September 23
Chandigarh is all set to host the 12th Senior National Triathlon Championship at Sukhna Lake on September 28. It is for the first time in the history of the city that a senior national meet in this sport is being conducted here.

Giving details of the meet, Mr H.C. Sharma, Honorary Secretary of the Chandigarh Triathlon Association, said the event would involve one and half km of swimming in the lake, 40-m cycling and a 10-km run on the lake road.

He said three players each from men and women sections and from 24 teams affiliated to the Indian Triathlon Federation would take part in the three-hour meet.

He said the meet would be held from 6 am to 9 am, which was the time limit as per the rules of the sport.

The prize distribution function would be held on the same day at 11 am.

He said, “Normally, this meet is held along the sea shores. Since Sukhna Lake has hosted various rowing competitions, the national federation was kind enough to allot this event to Chandigarh.”

It may be recalled that in the year 1994, Chandigarh had played host to the National Sub-Junior and Junior Championship. It was held on the Panjab University campus.

Mr Bret Mace, Australian coach attached with the Indian Triathlon Academy, Chennai, would also be in the city in this connection. The Indian probables for the forthcoming Asian Triathlon Meet to be held in Chennai from November 2 would also be selected during the meet.

In the year 1996, Chandigarh senior men had won the gold medal, while women had bagged the bronze in the senior national championship. The players would start arriving on September 25, he said. They would be housed in the Sector 42 sports complex.

Meanwhile, a five-member team has been announced for the meet. The players are: Bhupinder Azad, Puneet Rana, Harsimran Brar, Abhimanu Tiwari and Rishi Dev Raj.

ADMINISTRATION

BJP councillor secured 20.50 lakh for development
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 23
When it comes to “spending” public money on development projects in the city, businessmen operating from the major commercial hubs of the city, certainly need to be happy. Also the political differences between the ruling Congress group and the BJP did not prove a deterrent for the latter in securing funds for development.

A senior leader of the BJP in the House, Mr Gian Chand Gupta, managed to get Rs 20.50 lakh for the development works in his ward. In the most debated North-South divide over the execution of the development works, it seems that the businessmen of Sector 17 and 22 have been among the beneficiaries, thanks to their “keen” councillor, Mr Pardeep Chhabra.

Touted as a close confidant of the Mayor of the corporation, Mr Chhabra, was able to secure at least Rs 20.46 lakh of the total Rs 3.03 crore sanctioned for development works in all 20 wards of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation between December 2001 and September 2003. The Mayor, Mr Subhash Chawla, himself got Rs 18.20 lakh — though it is a different matter that he got funds from the MP Local Area Development Fund (LAD) for the development of his ward, comprising Sectors 23 and 24

The figures were today tabled in the review meeting of the Ward Development Council, held in the office of the municipal corporation. The development works of the 10 wards were reviewed in presence of the councillors concerned.

Interestingly, heated arguments between the ruling groups and the opposition in the General House meetings did not affect the sanctioning of the development works funds.

If the statistics are to be believed, a BJP councillor, Mr Rajesh Gupta from Ward No. 12. comprising Sectors 18, 19 and 21, managed to secure Rs 16.85 lakh — the highest among the BJP councillors. However, the leader of the Opposition in the house, Mrs Kamla Sharma, got Rs 16.42 lakh for her ward.

The scene for the supporters of the ruling group, councillors of the Chandigarh Vikas Manch, Mr Vijay Singh Rana and Mrs Harpreet Kaur Babla, managed to secure Rs 14.87 lakh and Rs 16.29 lakh, respectively.

The statistics reveal that it was again Mr Pardeep Chhabra who secured Rs 4.73 lakh for development funds out of the Mayor funds. Mr Chander Mukhi , a councillor from Ward No 1, stands second by securing Rs 4.17 lakh from the Mayor fund. The Leader of the Opposition, Mrs Kamla Sharma was given Rs 2.90 lakh from the Mayor fund. The maximum ceiling on the development fund was Rs 20 lakh — 10 lakh for a year.

Corporation loses lakhs as taxi stands mushroom
Monica Sharma

Chandigarh, September 23
Taxi mafia, operating in the city, is causing loss running into lakhs to the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh. As per an estimate, the mafia as of now has almost 35 to 40 unauthorised taxi stands in the city. There are currently 43 authorised taxi stands in Chandigarh.

According to sources in the Corporation, the modus operandi of the mafia is not so complicated. Sources claim that the land is initially encroached upon by parking one or two vehicles. Gradually the number of taxis increase, so does the area under encroachment. Within a gap of few days, public land is converted into a full fledged taxi stand.

The matter was recently brought to the notice of the city police by a municipal councillor. In a letter addressed to the Superintendent of Police in charge of the traffic, the councillor alleged that the stands were not only causing a loss to the exchequer, but also inconvenience to the public at large.

Giving details, the councillor claimed that the unauthorised stands had encroached upon parking lots next to the markets. As a result, the residents were encountering difficulties while leaving behind their vehicles.

Describing the lots as “eyesore”, the councillor had added that the drivers in at least some of the stands were also causing nuisance. They were not only lying “half naked”, but were also bathing in the open.

This was not all. They were disturbing the peace by playing music at full volume. Some were also playing cards. At night, some of the sites were converted into “ahatas” with liquor flowing freely.

Requesting the police officer to “enforce a discipline”, the councillor further asked him to preserve the beauty of City Beautiful”. Along with the letter, a list of the unauthorised taxi stands was also enclosed.

A senior police officer, when contacted, said they were looking into the complaint. The officer added that a verification drive was on and action, in accordance with law, would be taken against the guilty.

Meanwhile, another councillor blamed the Corporation for not acting against the ones running illegal taxi stands in the city. “If the Corporation can challan the rehri-pheri wallas for carrying out their business without valid licences, why can’t they take action against the unauthorised taxi stand owners?” he questioned.

The councillor added that there were a number of conditions which the drivers parking their vehicles at the stands had to abide by, besides paying the rent.

However, the ones leaving their taxis at the unauthorised stands were neither bound by such conditions, nor were they paying any rent.

The presence of unauthorised stands was also causing “resentment of sorts” among the members of the authorised taxi stands. “Why should we pay the rent and electricity charges while our counterparts were enjoying the facilities free of cost?” a taxi operator commented.