The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

IT bigwigs to meet UT Admn today
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 1 — Top Indian companies — a total of eight and all of them major players in the telecom and information technology sector — will be engaged in a meeting with the officials of the Chandigarh Administration tomorrow.

This meeting is scheduled to decide upon the final selection of companies for the futuristic ‘’wired city ‘’ project, which entails provision of top-class connectivity through optical fibre cable link to city residents.

Out of these eight companies, a consortium of four or five will be picked up to collectively provide an optical fibre cable (OFC) backbone for the network. These eight have been selected after screening of ‘’expressions of interest’’ submitted by 40 companies.

Senior government officials, who are part of the empowered committee, will hold discussions with these eight companies before finalising the list. Though officials are tight lipped, sources in the IT industry say working parameters laid down by the Administration will guide future such projects in the country which entail OFC links carrying phone, cable and internet connectivity through one line. Though some kind of connectivity between cities is available in Andhra Pradesh, the concept of wired city is the first in the country.

The list — that is not yet rated according to any preferences or merits — is, RPG , a Chennai-based telecommunication giant; Larsen & Toubro, another Chennai-based IT major; Zee, a popular television channel broadcaster; BPL, that operates a cellular service in a prime telecom circle, besides being into telecom hardware; Bharti telecom, which is into basic telephony and into telecom hardware.

Hathway, is another company on the list, it has a network in the southern and western states. Also on the list is HFCL, which already has licence to provide basic telephony in Chandigarh and the eighth company on the list is Spectra net that is providing a optical fibre cable backbone in Gurgaon and Delhi.

Sources added that the Administration will prefer a consortium of four to five companies to avoid any monopoly of a single company. Among the finer aspects of the contract will be that digging up of city berms will be carried out only once as spare ducts will be put in place in one go.

Another pre-condition will be that the rights will be on a non-exclusive basis and the Chandigarh Administration will be given free access for its ‘’e-governance ‘’ project, which entails connectivity of all government departments. Each company in the consortium will be allowed to have its own duct for better competition. Once these companies are in place then internet connectivity can be through cable and the need to dial up using phone lines will be eliminated, however, the option for subscribers to use either of the options will remain.

As per Government of India’s instructions the companies wiring up the city for information technology network will get free right of way. This means they have to pay no royalty or fee to the local Municipal Corporation. To start with, every two sectors will have one node from where the last mile till the subscribers homes will be covered by coaxial cables. For this the companies can also tie up with local cable operators to provide internet connectivity through television sets.

The Chandigarh Administration also proposes to fix a time limit for the completion of the project. Sources said by this time next year the project should see the light of the day with OFC laid in all sectors.

MCC plan to install display boards for posters
By Pradeep Sharma
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 1 — Defacing of the buildings and public utilities by pasting posters may become a thing of the past, following a proposal by the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC), to install display boards for posters in different markets of the city.

It is learnt that the UT Chief Architect has given a go-ahead to the proposal of the civic body to install display boards for pasting posters on the V-4 roads. In a letter to the corporation, the Chief Architect agreed in principle to the MCC proposal. However, the Chief Architect has not agreed to the installation of display boards on V-5 roads.

While approving the designs of the boards, measuring 12 feet by 7.5 feet, the Chief Architect has urged the civic body to get the locations of display boards cleared from the Finance Secretary-cum-Chief Administrator under the provisions of the Chandigarh Advertisement Control Order,1954.

Earlier, the corporation had written to the Chief Architect to give permission to install display boards for the education of the general public. Since pasting of the posters was an effective way of reaching the general public, there was a need to regulate them. In the absence of any clear-cut policy regarding sticking of bills, posters were being pasted on government and private buildings, trees and other vital installations so far.

Besides presenting an ugly sight, this practice concealed vital public information as the bills were sometime pasted on road signs and sector-guide maps.

Corporation sources said the city was likely to be divided into various zones and tenders would be invited soon. Private parties entrusted with the jobs would be allowed to charge a nominal amount for the display of the advertisement through pasting of the bill. It would be the responsibility of the private parties to see that the bills were pasted only at the authorised display boards.

A majority of the display boards would be put up in the markets, as the V-4 roads faced the markets.

New telecom chiefs for Punjab, Chandigarh circles
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 1 — It will be a virtual hot seat for the new incumbents of the Punjab Telecom Circle and Chandigarh Telecom District, who took charge of their respective postings this morning. Several prestigious projects launched by their predecessors will have to be finished, while the Punjab Government and the Chandigarh Administration are jumping into IT in a big way.

Already, the Punjab Government has been complaining about poor connectivity from SAS Nagar and the demand for phones has been growing of a very fast pace. In Punjab, the project, to have internet nodes in all districts is going on, while in Chandigarh a DoT-run mobile service has been cleared, but is yet to be started. A similar service is in the pipeline for Ludhiana. DoT is in the midst of corporatisation that will add another angle.

With a major media explosion taking place in the city, both the new incumbents will be under spot-light. While talking to The Tribune this morning Mr Vaish said he would continue all projects launched by Mr Prithipal Singh. He added that it was his first posting in this area of the country and it would take a few days to settle down and understand the functioning.

Mr S.C. Choudhary, an officer of Indian Telecom Services, has taken over as Chief General Manager of Punjab Telecom Circle, following the retirement of Mr R.N. Sharma yesterday. Meanwhile Mr R.C. Vaish, on his promotion has taken-over as new Principal General Manager Telecom, Chandigarh as Mr Prithipal Singh, has been promoted and transferred to Rajasthan Telecom Circle as Chief General Manager Telecom, Rajasthan Circle.

Mr Choudhary is an ITS officer of 1966 batch, and has a 32 year experience covering all activities of the telecom services. He has worked in long distance telephony, in Western Telecom Projects Mumbai, in MTNL Mumbai and Maharashtra Telecom Circle, Mumbai. He has also worked in the policy making body of the Department in New Delhi. Prior to taking over as Chief of the Punjab circle, he had been Principal General Manager, Ahemdabad.

Prior to this assignment, Mr Vaish was working as General Manager (Quality Assurance), in New Delhi. He has put-in more than 32 years of service in the department and has worked in various capacities at Calcutta, New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Ahmedabad.

Former city student becomes star in NASA
By Sanjeev Singh Bariana
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 1 — A US-based Indian scientist, who has his roots in the city, is part of a team of three scientists who have discovered the youngest pulsar in the universe. This young achiever used to live on the Punjab University campus.

The pulsar is about 700-year-old and is 30,000 light years away from Earth. One light year is the distance that light travels in one year. The pulsars identified earlier are more than a million-year-old.

Son of a Panjab University professor, Dr Gautam Vasisht of the USA’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), shares the credit for the discovery, with Dr Eric Gotthelf of Columbia University and Dr Kenichi Torri of the Tsukuba Space Centre in Japan.

Dr Gautam Vasisht grew up in the city and was a student of the local DAV College before he joined the IIT at Kanpur. He had topped the merit list of candidates from the region. Most members of his family are also successful scientists.

His father, Dr S.K. Vasisht, is a senior teacher in the PU Department of Chemistry. He has received the prestigious Alexander Vom Humbold Scholarship from Germany and specialises in “long chain and unsaturated systems” which constitute the basic research for the advanced study of giant molecules and polymers. Dr Gautam’s grandfather, Prof B.R. Vasisht, is a botanist and his maternal grandfather a doctor. One of his uncles has been a Principal of the local Government College, one a Zoologist and another a pathologist in the PGI.

Dr Gautam’s mother, Dr Parmod Vasisht, is a Zoologist. Since his childhood, Dr Gautam has been a keen astronomer.

A major part of Dr Gautam’s Ph.D thesis is about hardware design, fabrication and assembly of twin analog flexible filter banks.

He discovers pulsars that have in their core, remains of giant stars that were once at least ten times bigger than the Sun. A pulsar emits periodic bursts of radiation, X-Rays and radio waves. On the depletion of all its nuclear fuels, it collapses. In the process, it ejects most of its material to form a colourful glow that is visible for several millennia.

The pulsar that he has discovered, is remnant of a dying star Kesteven 75. It is 200 years younger than Crab Pulsar discovered in 1054 AD. The findings were presented at a meeting of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in Manchester, UK, recently.

With Interstellar dust and gases that surround the pulsar, finding it was not a simple job. The pulsar has an unusually high magnetic field and provides answers to many cosmological queries. Dr Gautam said, “The team did not expect it to be the youngest pulsar. The pulsar, obscured by interstellar dust, possesses unusual properties that may make scientists reconsider how pulsars are created and evolved.”

Dr Gautam is also trying to combine the world’s largest ‘Keck’ telescopes as an interferometer. These telescopes are separated by about 100 metres each on the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. An interferometer makes two or more telescopes operate as one, increasing its capability. These will be used in the search of extra-solar planetary systems.

His father says, “The mysterious world of stars was my son’s passion even when he was a student of electronics in the IIT.”

COMMUNITY

City youth find space on Net
From Our Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, Sept 1 — A website dedicated to the city youth was launched here today. It has been designed by seven students of the local Punjab Engineering College.

The creators of this website chose a unique way to launch the portal. Instead of a celebrity or politician, they found local boys and girls for the purpose. “The site is dedicated to the city youth and every boy or girl is a celebrity,” said Akhil Verma, a third-year student of PEC. Several boys and girls of various city colleges and Panjab University gathered at the venue for the launch. “This site is unique,” said Mohita, one of the invitees. She said, “on the other website one chats with strangers scattered all over the globe, but here, one can interact with the locals.

You can check e-mail, chat, search, update your homepage, do online-shopping, send e-greetings and read news, besides many other things on the website. LOVECHANDIGARH.COM is here to stay, says Harwinder of the website’s technical team.

“The website comes as a whiff of fresh air in the flooded dotcom world,” said Romita, another invitee.

“We have tried to integrate almost all Internet services on our website,” said Nidhi, one of the creators of the website. She said, “You can use it for online dating, chatting, sending love messages or flowers, super relevant web search and many more things.” “Negotiations are underway with big players in the field to be partners in the venture,” says Akhil.

The team includes Harwinder Sidhu and Rahul Jindal (webmasters), Harjinder Kochhar and Sachin (marketing) and Nidhie, Smisha and Disha (creativity and content)

Roofs collapse after rain, two hurt
From Our Correspondent

MULLANPUR-GARIBDAS, Sept 1 — Two persons, including a woman, were injured when the roof of their house in Harijan Colony here caved in this morning after overnight rain. The roofs of adjoining three houses also collapsed, but no other person was injured.

At about 4.30 a.m., the roof of the house of Nachittar Kaur caved in, injuring her and her son, Ranjit Singh. The commotion that followed, woke up the neighbours. Within minutes of this, the foors of the adjoining houses also collapsed. Luckily, occupants of these houses had rushed outside before this to see what had happened to the first house.

“I was sleeping when I heard my mother crying,” said Ranjit Singh. He said, “It took me no time to realise the danger. We ran to save our lives.” Himat Singh and Nakshatar Kaur suffered minor injuries.

Occupants of the other three houses had similar tales to tell. “The roof suddenly fell, luckily, we were outside,” said Sukhwinder Singh. Their utensils and the other household items were still under the debris when The Tribune team visited the site.

All the affected families are yellow-card holder labourers. They are demanding compensation from the government for their loss. One of the affected persons, Balbir Singh, said the families had asked the Sarpanch of the village to meet the Deputy Commissioner regarding their demands. The Sarpanch was not available for comment.

Controversy shrouds student’s death
From Our Correspondent

PANCHKULA, Sept 1 — Controversy shrouds the alleged suicide of Mattru Ram, a local student, here yesterday. Family members of the deceased have alleged that his wrongful detention by the police had deeply depressed him, leading him to commit suicide near the Sector 19 police station, minutes after he was let off.

According to sources, the deceased was a student of Class X at the Government High School, Sector 7, and was staying with Mr Babu Ram, his brother-in-law, for the past three months in Rally village.

He committed suicide by jumping before a train on the Kalka-Ambala railway track on Thursday afternoon, after being released from the Sector-19 police station.

The root cause is stated to be the alleged ‘illicit relations’ between the deceased and his cousin, Ms Prem Vati, who lives with her husband, Mr Om Prakash in the same locality. The two families frequented each other’s house even though their respective parents, living in Uttar Pradesh, were not on good terms.

Some of the family members alleged that Prem Vati’s parents did not want their daughter and son-in-law to enjoy good relations with the family of Babu Ram. Therefore, they falsely implicated Mr Mattru in a case alleging that he had ‘‘illicit relations’’ with Prem Vati.

Following a complaint by an aunt of Prem Vati, Mango Devi, and her husband, Durgee Prasad and residents of Azad Colony, the SHO of Sector 19, police station, illegally detained and tortured Mattru, complained Babu Ram.

He further alleged that Mango Devi and Durgee Prasad had hired some contract killers who attacked and beat them on Tuesday night. They also bribed the police personnel to detain Mattru, he added.

However, Mr Satish Mohan, SHO, denied the allegations. He claimed that Prem Vati’s parents had complained that Mr Mattru and Mr Om Prakash had forced Prem Vati into the flesh trade and were sharing the money which she used to earn.

A compromise was reached between both parties in the police station on Thursday, but the boy committed suicide.

After the post-mortem examination at the Civil Hospital, Kalka, the body was cremated by the family members today.

	Election process reviewed Tribune News Service CHANDIGARH, Sept 1— Mr Harikesh Bahadur and Mr Y. Chaurasia, Chairman and member, respectively, of the Pradesh Election Authority, constituted by the All-India Congress Committee to conduct the party’s organisational elections in the UT, visited the city yesterday and reviewed the ongoing election process. According to a press note, all complaints received during the first phase of the organisational elections have been resolved and report of the scrutiny committee submitted to the election authority.
	The changing interiors of houses By Chitleen K. Sethi Tribune News Service CHANDIGARH, Sept 1— Comfort, convenience and class are the watchwords, as far as the interiors of the houses in the city go. The focus is now on how to utilise every inch of space in the house while not missing at on convenience. The owner indulges himself to the extent his pocket permits. As far as the interior plans go, the basics have remained the same. The two-bedroom, kitchen, drawing, dining and store concept continues to be the basic model everywhere. “What has changed is our lifestyle. Now less space is being wasted in making stores etc, very few people want spaces to store large trunks and petis. More space is required in kitchens and bedrooms,” says P.S. Chawla, an architect. “What has become important in each house is not the drawing room or the bedroom but the living room.” “Among Indians, it is tradition to sit together and eat and watch TV together in the evenings. The maximum used portion of the house becomes the living room. Chairs of all varieties, maybe a low diwan in a corner, a centre table, a light shade on the walls, good lighting and a simple but sturdy wall unit for TV and books would be the basic formula for a comfortable living room. The rest can be worked out keeping in view the specific demands of the family," says Meenakshi, an interior designer of the city. The kitchen is the place where maximum change is visible. Since a large number of women end up spending most of their day in the kitchen, there is a rising demand for more space, better facilities for storage of food items and utensils. Some women also prefer to have space for their washing machines, as it saves time. “The kitchen is the most important part of my house. I have gone in for an all-around slab for work and in the middle I have made space for a small family dining table. Many a times, rather most of the times, we end up having our lunch and dinner in the kitchen. In winters, it is warm and nice in here," says Mrs Garcha of Mohali. The kitchen fittings have also revolutionised. The kitchens look neater and more organised simply because the range of fittings available is quite wide. Dishwashers, electric chimneys, plastic cabinets, polyvinyl sinks and storage drawers are the in thing. “The latest introduction to the kitchen are the hob cooking ranges. These are built-in ranges and are much more convenient to use and clean. Then there is also the option to keep the gas cylinder outside the house. The inside walls are painted in shades which would be considered loud if not atrocious just a few years back. There are new range of paints called textured paints, which can give that wooden or sandstone finish to the walls.” As far as roofs are concerned, the drawing rooms are now decked up using intricate patterns with plaster of paris (POP). It give a a royal touch to an otherwise simple house," says Dr Inderjit Kochar, a retired eye-surgeon from Ludhiana.”POP is also now being used in bedrooms and in some houses, even in bathrooms. It all depends on the amount one is ready to spend on these luxuries. POP paneling is otherwise merely aesthetic," says Navneet Ghuman, a builder of the city. The bathrooms have also got a new look, thanks to the endless variety available in tiles and toilet fittings. “The taps are sleek looking and easy to use. The bathroom tiles can be matched with other designs and the effect is stunning," says Kuljit Kaur, owner of a palatial house in Sector 9. There is a rising demand for tubs and jacuzzi, andshower-cubicles in the bathrooms,” says Harbans Singh, a hardware store owner of Sector 35. “The bedrooms are more luxurious with people going in for the latest in night lamps, furniture and a small seating arrangement for guests who are allowed inside,” says Kritika Mehta of Sector 45. Bedrooms are now considered incomplete without a built-in almirah, as many people do not have stores. They prefer to use that space for children. The kids room, if there is one, has bunk-type beds and study tables to match. “Now even kids want TVs in their rooms and now with portable ones available, its simply impossible to refuse them” laments Harsha of Sector 42. The doors are more or less the same, what has changed is the size of the windows. You can virtually have almost a wall as a window. Sliding doors and windows had been in fashion for some time, but then people started reverting to the traditional design in spite of the fact that sliding doors occupy much less space,” says Taranjit Singh, a builder of Mohali. (Concluded)
	Reschedule budget: ZP Tribune News Service CHANDIGARH, Sept 1 — The newly elected Zila Parishad met for the first time on Wednesday and demanded that the budget for the villages in the Union Territory be rescheduled. The members demanded that since the parishad had no scope for any kind of income the budgetary support should be enhanced. The parishad also decided that it would have its office in Sector 17. Another demand was to provide power and water connections to the houses outside the lal dora. Members also said that the Municipal Corporation should pay rent for the use of the Zila Parishad building in Mani Majra. Later members met the Deputy Commissioner, Mr M. Ramsekhar, and urged him to reduce water charges for villages.
	CAPE releases geese into Sukhna Tribune News Service CHANDIGARH, Sept 1 — The Children’s Alliance for Protection of Environment (CAPE), in a function organised in association with the Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation (CITCO), released a gaggle of geese at the Sukhna Lake today. Children from the eco-clubs of the Moti Ram Arya Senior Secondary School and St Kabir School, Sector 26, led by Ms Varsha Joshi, Managing Director, CITCO, released 12 geese, brought from Calcutta, Luckhnow and Hyderabad into the waters of the lake. CAPE, on June 5, last year had released 30 white ducks into Sukhna Lake. However, 26 of them had disappeared because of a lack of familiarity with the area. Recently, 24 more ducks were introduced into the lake, taking care to familiarise them with the lake’s island, as a natural habitat. CAPE is also making efforts to procure more birds, including geese, for the lake from Chennai and Calcutta. Ms Joshi, while speaking on the occasion, said that the birds added to the natural beauty of the lake, which helped to promote tourism in the city. Mr A.K. Malhotra, General Manager, CITCO said efforts were underway to beautify the Sukhna environs. Mr S.K. Sharma, President of the Environment Society of India, said that efforts by the society had helped attract peacocks and other birds to the forests around the lake.
	School named after martyr Tribune News Service PANCHKULA, Sept 1 — Government Senior Secondary School (Boys), Sector 7, here has been renamed Shaheed Major Sandeep Sagar Government Senior Secondary School in memory of Major Sandeep Sagar, who laid down his life during Operation Vijay in the Rajouri sector on June 25 last year. Maj Sagar, who was born on May 10, 1973, was commissioned in the Jammu and Kashmir Rifles in January 1994. He was a resident of Sector 8 of the township.
	Relief material despatched Tribune News Service CHANDIGARH, Sept 1 — A truck-load of relief material for flood-affected people of Himachal Pradesh was despatched by the Punjab branch of the Indian Red Cross Society yesterday. According to a statement issued here, the total value of material is more than Rs 1,50,000 and includes tents, clothes, sheets and rations. An additional amount Rs 10,000 has also been collected for the flood affected people. The truck was flagged off by Dr G.S. Preet, Director, Health Services, Punjab.

Fluctuating wheat prices criticised
Tribune News Service

PANCHKULA, Sept 1 — The frequently changing government stand on wheat prices in the market, came in for strong criticism at a press conference organised by the Haryana Roller Flour Mills Association held here today.

Contending that the instability had led to absence of working capital with the flour mill owners, the presidents from Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh, said their only appeal to the government was to declare one price, however low, so that the owners are able to work out the losses and devise ways to manage their business.``We are against the government’s move of taking panic decisions. They must declare the price and stick to it till the end of the financial year. We feel betrayed by the government,’’ Mr C.P. Gupta, said.

The mill owners suggested that the only way out for the government in the face of easy-availability of wheat was that the wheat it should be moved to other states where storage space was available, export the surplus by providing export subsidy to match international prices or offload wheat in the market on current prices by tender or auction, the last being far the best option.

Mr G.B. Gupta said that the minimum support price must go and farmers should be conveyed the message that farming is like any other business, with all its risks. If the present state of affairs continues, we will be completely out of the world market. The farmer has to grow globally, ready to compete in the market without any support price,’’ Mr D.D. Kuthiala added.

From Chandigarh, Mr Vinod Mittal said that the government had an additional wheat stock of 134 lakh tonne, which had created problems of space and more so when the procurement season would commence in October. He urged the government to analyse reasons for the present low-price environment and take remedial measures.