Botanical Garden to get facelift
By Varinder Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 12 — The Botanical Garden of the Panjab University here, which boasts of having some rare species of plants but has been lying neglected for a couple of years, is all set to get a facelift soon.

The garden, spread over 16.4 acres, has more than 700 plant species. It had been lying in a state of neglect, primarily due to lack of funds, for past six to seven years.

Mr S.P. Vij, Head of the Department of Botany, says the process of revival and beautification has began with clearing of wild grass and relaying footpaths. "We are doing it in a phased manner and the first phase has almost been completed," he adds. He says Rs 8 to 10 lakh are being spent on the project during the current financial year.

In the next phase, a spice section will be added to the garden with introduction of cinammon, cloves, 'dalchini', cocoa and coffee plants to it. "Work on this section will start after winter is over," Mr Vij says.

According to him, broken panes of the glass house, which has 303 varieties of cacti, will be changed. The glass house faced a hailstorm about five years back. "Towards this end, we have prepared an estimate of Rs 3.5 lakh," he adds. He says the university is likely to spend Rs 50 to 60 lakh on the beautification project within two years.

In addition to nearly 90 new species of plants, universities authorities plan to employ a watchman and a curator. "Though it has been treated as a museum, we are going to give it a better look. For this, benches will be set up in the garden," Mr Vij says. Water systems of most of these green houses have been lying inoperational. He says the project will culminate in setting up of a plant laboratory.

The garden continues to be liked by nature-lovers. One can enjoy ferns, coniferous trees, palms, lotus flowers and bamboo trees.

Lukewarm response to migrant registration drive
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 12 — The drive of the Chandigarh police to get migrants register themselves has evoked a lukewarm response, going by the number of persons who have come forward to do so at various police stations.

Faced with a large-scale influx and a corresponding reflection on the crime rate, the police had launched a special week-long drive on October 7. According to figures available with the department, about 4,600 persons have filled the forms till the past evening.

This figure also includes tenants and domestic servants in some areas. About 25,000 forms were distributed to police stations in this context.

An order issued by the District Magistrate on October 1 says, "Many persons are visiting the city to earn their livelihood by engaging in trades and services such as plying of rickshaws, rehri, auto-rickshaw or running business like phari, dhobi and cobbler etc, or by offering contract labour service. Interrogation of criminals reveals that some of them or their accomplices are from among the migrant labour."

"As an emergency measure, persons visiting Chandigarh to seek employment should provide their particulars to the nearest police station. Any breach of the order will invite action under Section 188 of the IPC," the order stated.

Consequent to the order and going by the dismal follow-up record in the past many years, the police this time, decided to go in for a special drive to check the menace. According to orders by the SSP, all the stations would have an NGO and another personnel to help migrants fill the forms. These officers were rarely seen and it was largely left to constables and head constables on duty to carry out the task.

Police sources said the drive was a step in the right direction as this would leave no scope for political parties to shield those who were flouting the law with impunity.

The largest number of forms, more than 1,100, have been filled by personnel at the Sector 34 police station, while the lowest number, less than 50, have been turned in by the Mani Majra police station. The former has Colony Number 5 and Burail in its jurisdiction, while the latter has Mani Majra, Mauli Jagran and many other colonies in its jurisdiction.

Other police stations which have turned in a large number of completed forms are Sector 19 (about 900), Sector 39 (about 700), Sector 17 (650), Industrial Area (about 450) and Sector 31 (400).

At many other police stations, a number of forms were got filled by the beat staff, while at others migrants presented themselves for the purpose. At some stations, photographs of the migrants were yet to be supplied.

It is also being felt that the time has come to draw a line and save the city form its changing character. The administration has also taken a serious view of the matter. The UT Administrator is said to have expressed his concern at the rising number of migrants in the city and rampant encroachments in the periphery, at a meeting held recently.

Sources said action against defaulters was on the anvil as violators could be arrested and could face imprisonment, a fine or both, in case they were convicted by the court.

School van in bad shape: parents
From Our Correspondent

SAS NAGAR, Oct 12 — Agitated parents of students of DAV public School in the Industrial Area gathered here today on the institution premises over the failure of the management to provide transport or other facilities.

The parents protested that despite their having paid the transport and other dues, the children were not getting the necessary facilities. They alleged they had been cheated by the school authorities. There are 380 students on the rolls, of which 215 avail themselves of the transport facility.

Mr Harjinder Singh, father of a class III pupil, said the principal, Mr Balbir Mahajan, left the school around three months ago and there had been no replacement. This had adversely affected the school functioning.

Mr Ashok Sharma, another parent, said the vans hired for the transport of children were in bad shape. On one occasion the van door opened on its own and his child almost fell out. In the absence of van conductors, older children were “doing this job”.

The parents said there was shortage of accommodation and classrooms were overcrowded. They expressed doubts whether the institution was really being run by the DAV management.

The parents complained in writing to the police alleging cheating and fraud with the students.

Mr P.K. Talwar, Principal of DAV Senior Secondary School in Chandigarh’s Sector 8 and manager of the local school, told The Tribune that the problem in connection with the transport facility had arisen because of some misunderstanding with the transporter. However, it had been sorted out.

Mr Talwar said there could be overcrowding in one or two sections, but on the whole the position was all right.

New mobile rates prompt activity
By Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 12 — A change in the way mobile phones are used is in the offing. With less than three weeks to go for the free incoming call service to commence, operators are preparing to invest crores to meet the rush.

Users are waiting for the new charging scheme to begin as their bills are going to be low. At present, an average mobile phone owner avoids receiving calls as he has to pay for it. From November 1, the calling party will pay for the call.

Sources see it as a jump in the number of mobile phone users. The Department of Telecommunication (DoT) is reportedly entering the market with its cellular service.

The Managing Director of Spice Telecom, Mr Sean Dexter, says, "The scheme is good but certain things in it are not as they should be." He opines that incoming calls will rise and be close to 70 per cent of all calls.

At present, incoming calls comprise 55 per cent of the traffic. The balance of incoming and outgoing calls has to be maintained or else effective rate is reduced as collections from incoming calls are going to lessen.

Due to the rise in traffic, the systems will have to be augmented, inviting investment in crores within the next two months. This will not result in realisation of money faster. The revenue sharing of incoming calls to mobile phones has been fixed in slabs divided among cellular operators and the DoT.

At present, cellular operators keep incoming call money to themselves, while the DoT keeps the revenue it earns from its subscriber, who uses a DoT line to call on a mobile phone. From November 1, cellular operators will get a share. The calling party will pay Rs 2.40 for the first minute. Out of this, Rs 1.60 will be the share of cellular operators and the rest will be the share of the DoT.

According to Mr Dexter, in its initial proposals the TRAI had fixed the charges from the calling party at Rs 3.90 per minute. Out of this, around Rs 3.05 was to be payable to cellular operators. The reduction in share of cellular operators is one of the aspects that should have been rectified, he adds.

Even as operators are debating the pros and cons of the scheme, the user is waiting with bated breath, while several potential users are in the line. Spice Telecom expects to touch the 1 lakh base by March next year, while the DoT is hoping to launch with a bang. Exact dates of the latter are not clear yet.