Antenna-based phones for UT planned
CHANDIGARH, Sept 25 — Faced with restrictions on digging up Sector 17 market place for laying of telephone cables, the local Telecom department will bring in a sophisticated technology that will not require cables.

Shopping centre
beset with woes
CHANDIGARH, Sept 25 — Shopkeepers of Sector 22-C shopping centre are facing numerous problems owing to the indifferent attitude of the civic authorities.

CITCO changes its
liquor policy
CHANDIGARH, Sept 25 — The Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Corporation, while changing its liquor policy, has decided to give credit and discount to the corporate houses.

Antenna-based phones for UT planned
by Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 25 — Faced with restrictions on digging up Sector 17 market place for laying of telephone cables, the local Telecom department will bring in a sophisticated technology that will not require cables.

Telephones installed with this technology will function like a sophisticated wireless system having all facilities of a conventional phone. An antenna will be fixed at the place of a subscriber to catch signals emitted from the main antenna installed in the exchange thus eliminating the need for cables and frequent digging.

The technology is called Wireless In Local Loop (WILL) and is now being tried in Delhi and Mumbai.

A trial with 250 such telephones will soon commence in Chandigarh, the Principal General Manager, Chandigarh Telecom District, Mr Prithipal Singh said. Only the equipment at the exchange needs to be installed.

The busy commercial area of Sector 17 has been chosen for the initial testing. The demand for phones in this sector is maximum while augmenting the existing cable network is not possible as this requires frequent digging, Mr Prithipal Singh added.

The knowhow is one among the three new technologies that will become functional in Chandigarh by the end of the financial year, officials said.

Describing the WILL technology, Mr Prithipal Singh added that the phones would have a roaming facility besides having the fixed line facility of conventional phones.

This will enable a subscriber to also use it as a cordless telephone within the range of 3 km to 5 km. The range will depend upon the equipment installed in the exchange.

The department has planned to have 3,000 under the WILL technology by the end of the financial year. These will be available through the existing exchanges in Sectors 17, 34 and 37. Separate equipment will be installed in these exchanges.

The cost will be mainly of the set installed at the subscriber's base and the rental will be a bit more than that of conventional telephones. The General Manager said he could not give the exact cost of the set as the economics of the same were being worked out.

Another new technology will be used in the villages surrounding Chandigarh, Panchkula and SAS Nagar. The technology is called Point to Multi Point (PMP) access. A main antenna will be installed in the respective exchanges while smaller antennae will be set up in villages .

A system like this already exists but expensive batteries are required to keep it operational and charging of the batteries is cumbersome. The new system eliminates the need for batteries and the phones will not require any equipment at the subscriber's end.

Meanwhile, Chandigarh may become one of the few cities where government-run cellular services is being planned. A project report in this regard has been submitted to the Ministry of Communication and its approval is awaited. Meanwhile efforts are on to get the equipment and carry out trails, it was learnt.

Shopping centre beset with woes
by Varinder Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 25 — Shopkeepers of the Sector 22-C shopping centre are facing a number of problems such as insanitation and inadequate parking space owing to the indifferent attitude of the civic authorities.

What has been causing inconvenience to them and the visitors to the market is lack of proper parking space and its poor maintenance. It is one of the busiest shopping centres of the city. As a result of this , the place has been slowly turning into one of the most congested and dirtiest points of the City Beautiful.

The main reasons for shortage of parking space, the width of which is just about 35 feet, is that a major portion of it goes in the central verge dividing it from the carriageway. The 15-ft pavement outside the showrooms is of no use to the shopkeepers, who feel that two-thirds of its should be added to the parking lot.

The vice-president of the Himalayan Marg Merchants' Association, Mr J.D. Gupta, complained that even shopkeepers find it difficult to park their vehicles due to "unauthorised parking of a large number of buses and taxis of tourist companies operating from the market. "Scores of these heavy vehicles stand in the parking lot for a major portion of the day, thus leaving little space for vehicles belonging to us or visitors to the market for making purchases," said Mr Gupta. He was also unhappy that blockade of the view of their shops by vehicles also had an adverse effect on their business.

Mr Bhola Singh, an active member of the association, also complained that the parking was not being maintained properly by the authorities as it was infested with potholes and heaps of garbage. He alleged that the area was stinking due to spillage of garbage out of a bin placed in front of showrooms. But nothing was being done to clear it for days together.

The president of the association, Mr Amar Nath Budhiraja, said a huge heap of construction material, which obstructed the flow of traffic, had not been removed by MC officials for five years. He alleged that there was no proper arrangement for cleanliness of the area and sweepers were not visiting the market for days together. "Even if they came, they do not remove garbage. Usually they are not equipped for their job." He complained that the parking area had not been carpeted for the past 12 years due to reasons best known to the authorities. He regretted that despite a number of representations to the civic authorities and the local MP, nothing had come out of it.

Mr Bhola Singh and Mr Bajaj, an old shopkeeper, demanded that, an open space between the market and the adjoining Bajwara market should be developed as a parking area, which will also connect both markets. They also sought a ban on the parking of tourist buses and taxis in the area and reducing the size of the divider.

Another problem faced by visitors and shopkeepers is that there is only one toilet in the market, which is insufficient, said Mr Gupta while demanding an additional toilet for the market. The toilet meant for ladies remained locked. He alleged that after a number of representations, a meeting was fixed by the MC authorities for September 2. It was, however, postponed without assigning any reasons.

CITCO changes its liquor policy
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 25 — The Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Corporation (CITCO), while changing its liquor policy, has decided to give credit and discount to the corporate houses.

Under the revised liquor policy, the guests will be allowed to bring their own liquor for the banquets parties at two CITCO hotels — Hotel Shivalikview and Hotel Mountview-— on payment of corkage charges at the rate of Rs 175 a bottle. This follows a number of representations from the guests, who felt that the policy was too rigid and had little flexibility.

The Managing Director of CITCO, Mr Satish Chandra, told The Tribune today that the revised policy was in line with the policy followed by the hotels in the country and abroad. He conceded that the policy which was followed from 1996 till now had affected the business of CITCO hotels.

Through another important decision, CITCO has decided to give three weeks' credit and a 10 per cent discount on room tariff to public sector undertakings and limited companies having head offices and branch offices in Chandigarh.

The decision follows representations from industrial associations, particularly the Confederation of Indian Industry(CII) and PHD Chambers of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI), which complained that in the absence of credit facilities, a number of corporate tourists faced a number of problems, Mr Chandra added.

Moreover, CITCO will provide one complimentary vegetarian dish for the banquet functions having 300 and more guests and one complimentary dish and snacks for functions having more than 450 guests.

Engineer K.B. Sharma surrenders in court
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 25 — K.B. Sharma, Superintending Engineer with the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, today surrendered in the court of the Judicial Magistrate, Mr Jasbir Singh.

The magistrate remanded him in judicial lock-up until October 8.

Sharma moved an application before the magistrate, praying for providing him B class facilities in the jail. The magistrate accepted his request and directed the Jail Superintendent to provide him B class facilities in accordance with the provisions of the Jail Manual.

The magistrate also accepted another request made by Sharma that he might be got medically examined at the Sector 16 General Hospital. The hospital authorities have been directed to conduct the medical check up of Sharma tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the Chandigarh Administration has moved an application in the court of the Judicial Magistrate, praying for preponing the next date of hearing and producing Sharma in his court tomorrow.

The magistrate issued notice to counsel for Sharma for tomorrow.

The vigilance department of the Administration wanted to arrest Sharma in connection with the ongoing kickbacks case registered against certain officials of the engineering department.

He was first granted ad interim bail by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. However, after hearing detailed arguments from both sides, the high court had turned down his request for confirming his bail.

Sharma had gone in appeal against the high court order to the Supreme Court. The apex court, too, had stayed his arrest. However, it too refused to confirm the anticipatory bail after hearing arguments on September 23.

Having left with no option, Sharma appeared before the magistrate during the lunch break, and surrendered.

Panel recommends higher honorarium
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 25 — A committee of Panjab University has recommended a hike in the rates of honorarium to be paid by the colleges to the Vice-Chancellor's nominees and subject experts on the selection committee .

Nominees of the VC on the panel for selection of a college principal will now receive Rs 500 a day. The earlier rates were Rs 200, a day .

Nominees on the panel for selection of a lecturer will be paid Rs 300 a day instead of the existing rate of Rs 100 a day. Subject experts will get Rs 300. They are now getting Rs 100 a day.

Members of the inspection committee will also be paid Rs 300. The rates of inspection team were raised from Rs 50 to Rs 100 in 1995.

All these rates will be in addition to TA/DA.

The committee was constituted after it was pointed out that the honorarium rates were not tune with the nature of job involved. Members of committee included the Dean University Instructions as chairman, the Registrar, the Dean College Development Council, Prof Charanjit Chawla and Mr Tarsem Bahia, among others.

Seminar: A seminar on 'perils of pollution and polythene' was organised by Yuvsatta, a social organisation, here on Friday. The main speakers were Dr R.C. Sobti, Department of Biotechnology, Dr P.D. Sharma, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Dr M.L. Sharma, Chairman, Gandhian Studies. Dr Anirudh Joshi, a former Dean, Student Welfare, presided.

Winners of a slogan writing contest were awarded prizes. They are Suman; Department of Library Sciences Ashok Kumar, Department of Business Management; Harneet Kaur, Department of Public Administration; Rishi Kaushal, Department of Law; Daksh Trivedi, Department of Mathematics; and Vikram Juneja, Department of Public Administration.

Teacher robbed by car-borne couple
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 25 — A Maruti-borne couple allegedly snatched a gold chain , a pair of ear- rings, bangles and Rs 4000 in cash from a woman teacher in Sector 46 yesterday afternoon.

Mrs Gurmeet Kaur, a resident of Sector 46, is teaching in the Government High School in the same Sector. The incident occurred when she was walking back after school hours.

According to the police, she was approached by the couple in car and they asked how they should proceed to Sector 27. The woman was then asked to part with her ornaments.

Though the car's registration number could not be noted down, a case under Sections 356 and 379 of the IPC has been registered.

Driver drugged: A driver of Maruti van ( PB--11-G--5101) had to part with his vehicle when someone offered him a glass of lassi laced with a drug that put him to sleep. Navjeet Singh of Partap colony Patiala had come to Satsang Bhawan in Sector 26 when the glass of lassi was offered to him. He woke to find his van missing. The police has registered a case under Section 328 of the IPC.

Arrested: A resident of Sector 28 has been arrested by the police for allegedly harassing his wife over dowry. Ms Meena had accused her husband, Uttam Singh, of allegedly harassing her.

A case under sections 406 and 498-A of the IPC has been registered. Burglary: A TV , VCR, clothes and several household articles have been stolen in three separate cases of burglary in the city in the past 24 hours. Mr Amarjit Singh of Sector 21 reported that a TV and a VCR were stolen from his house. Harbhajan Singh, a cloth merchant in Sector 47 alleged that new clothing material had been stolen from his shop on Thursday night. Meanwhile Ms Padma Gupta of Sector 11 has reported that household articles had been stolen from her residence.

Manhandled: A woman living in Mani Majra has allegedly been manhandled by two persons on Thursday night. The woman, Ms Harniv Sandhu, is living separately from her husband. She was allegedly attacked by Gurbachan Singh and Pamma inside her flat.

A case under Section 324 and 34 of the IPC has been registered.

Seven injured: As many as seven persons have been injured in six separate road accidents in the city since Thursday night. All have been admitted to the PGI . The scooter driven Mr Prashant Chadha skidded near the inter state bus terminus in Sector 17. Ashu Verma fell off from a moving rickshaw in Sector15. Ms Sashi Burjee was riding a scooter when an unknown vehicle hit her in Sector 7. A cyclist, Rana, was thrown off his bicycle when he was hit by unknown vehicle near the Chandigarh Club. Amit Mittal, a resident of Sector 22 and Bhadur Singh, a resident of PGI campus were riding a scooter when they collided with a car near the Sectors 15,16, 23 and 24 roundabout. Lastly a cyclist, Arshpreet, a resident of milk colony Dhanas was hit by a motorcycle.

PANCHKULA

Four booked: Four persons have been booked by the police for allegedly abducting a minor girl from Dabkori village on Wednesday.

The father of the girl, Arjun, in complaint lodged with the police alleged that his daughter had gone to their fields in the village when the four youth — Alamgir, Taju, Najid and another one — abducted her.

The girl returned home the next day following which the complaint was lodged with the police.

The police has registered a case.

Alamgir and Taju have been arrested.

People's panel case before another Bench
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 25 — A Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court consisting of Mr Justice R.S. Mongia and Mr Justice S.S. Sudhalkar today directed that the public interest litigation filed by Mr Sudershan Goel, an advocate, contesting the functioning of the People's Commission constituted by Justice Kuldip Singh, a former judge of the Supreme Court, with Justice D.S. Tewatia, a former Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, be listed before some other Bench.

Meanwhile, Mr Justice A.S. Bains, also a former judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, and Mr R.N. Kumar, an advocate, who is chairman and convener of the Committee on Disappearance in Punjab, mover an application before the Bench for becoming interveners in the case.

In their application Mr Justice Bains and Mr Kumar stated that there were large-scale violation of human rights in Punjab. The SAD-BJP combine in their election manifesto had promised to set up a commission to investigate these violation.

Mr Surjit Singh Sood, an advocate from Jalandhar, also moved an application for becoming an intervener in the case. In his application Mr Sood stated that the Tewatia Commission was constituted with Justice Kuldip Singh's blessings. He was counsel for the Jodhpur detainees who were arrested after Operation Bluestar from the Golden Temple. He claimed that he had been involved in the release of these detainees and protected their human rights.

Ministerial's trial transferred

Our Legal Correspondent adds: Mr Justice R.L. Anand transferred the trial of Mr Maheshinder Singh Grewal Punjab's Minister for Medical Education, and others from the court of Mr Jaspinder Singh, Judicial Magistrate (Ist Class), Ludhiana, to the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Jalandhar, in case filed by Mr Gurbir Singh president of the Guru Nanak Education Trust, Ludhiana.

Counsel for the petitioner argued that the trial against the minister was not making headway and was awaiting the framing of charges for the past two years as the case was repeatedly adjourned without valid reason because of under influence exercised by the minister.

It was further contended that the District Attorney (Prosecution), Ludhiana, was a close relative of the minister while his co-accused brother, Gurinder Singh, had issued letters to counsel for the petitioner directing them not to appear on his behalf. Therefore, the petitioner had reasonable apprehension, that a free and fair trial of the minister was not possible in Punjab. Counsel for Mr Maheshinder Singh agreed that the petitioner was an influential person and being a son of former Chief Minister Gurnam Singh, was no disadvantage to him.

After hearing counsel for the parties Mr Justice Anand transferred the trial which would come up for hearing on October 15.

Sectional officers hold rally
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 25 — Members of the U.T. Sectional Officers' Union held a rally at the Sector 17 Housing Board roundabout here today.

The union is demanding reinstatement of officials suspended in the Engineering Department kickbacks case and who have not been served any charge sheet so far.

The general secretary of the union, Mr Avtaar Singh Bhatt, said the union members would continue to wear black badges as a mark of protest till a decision was taken.

The union also endorsed the decision taken by various employees' unions of the municipal corporation to hold a rally on October 28 and to observe a strike on November 11 to press for their demands.

Diploma course in PR planned
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH , Sept 25 —  Public Relations Society of India is likely to commence a diploma in public relations from the coming session. The courses will be managed by its chapters in various cities under the supervision of an academic council.

This was stated by Mr N.D.Rajpal national president of the society ,while talking to the TNS here today.

Mr Rajpal is in the city in connection with a meeting of the national council scheduled for tomorrow.

He said the courses would aim at bridging the vast gap that existed between those taught in universities in contrast with the actual working conditions. An on-job training in corporate offices would be an integral part of the course.

Mr Rajpal said the role of a PR man had undergone changes with the initiation of the process of liberalisation. A PR man had to study the economic scenario and guide management. The inter-dependence of the media and public relations had gone up as both demand a more indepth approach these days. The president of the society said nearly 12,000 foreign collaboration proposals had been cleared in the past few years involving approximately $ 38 billion.

Mr Sewa Singh Sekhwan, Minister for PR, Punjab, will be the chief guest at a lecture on "PR challenges and opportunities in the next minimum" at Punjab Bhavan tomorrow.