The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Gaiety, fervour mark Dasehra celebrations
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, Oct 7 — Dasehra, the festival marking the triumph of good over evil, was celebrated here with traditional gaiety and fervour. Special programmes were organised at different places, where the effigies of Ravana, Meghnada and Kumbhkarana were set on fire amidst lighting up of crackers and fireworks.

The main function was organised at the Daresi grounds, where thousands of people watched the burning of effigies amidst the shouts of Jai Shri Ram. Three huge effigies of Ravana, Meghnada and Kumbhkarana had been erected. It took about an hour for the three effigies to get burnt and crumble before the devotees could rush to pick up the remnants.

It also marked the culmination of the nine- day Ramlila programmes organised in every nook and corner of the city. The entire megacity whether the old and walled areas of Daresi or the modern and posh areas like Aggar Nagar was witness to joyous celebrations. People had come out in thousands to watch the function.

The Dasehra celebrations also coincided with the conclusion of the nine-day Navratras and Durga Puja celebrations. During the navratras, thousands of devotees fasted. All the temples in the city were specially decorated for the occasion. For the entire period, special satsang and kirtans marked the celebrations.

With each passing year, people have come to celebrate in a different manner, while at the same time, maintaining tradition. At most of the places, child artists staged brilliant performances re-enacting the last scene of the Ramayana when Sri Rama killed Ravana to set his consort Sita free from his captivity.

Cutting across religions and classes people as well as politicians belonging to different political parties attended most of the functions. Leaders of almost all the political parties, including the Shiromani Akali Dal-Badal, the Congress, the BJP and All-India Shiromani Akali Dal, attended atleast one of the functions. They asked people to take inspiration from the Ramayana where good always triumphs over evil.

Cyber criminal US-based?
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, Oct 7 — The controversy over the pornograhic website that has embroiled most of the rich and famous of the city today, took a new turn with the police now claiming that the website could have been created by a resident of New York in the USA.

This has further delayed the filing of a First Information Report for the first ever cyber crime detected in the city. In spite of the police taking a serious view of the website, the lack of knowledge about cyber crimes or the provisions for booking the accused under the Information Technology Act, 2000 by the local police or the district legal experts had been a major deterrant in booking the creator of a pornographic website, the visitors to the site and the Internet Service Provider (ISP).

The SP City I, Mr G.S. Sandhu, when contacted said that they had traced the address of the creator of the website to New York. However, the address could not be verified and the police is still exploring other possibilities," he said. He said that after the legal nuances of the Information Technology Act were clear, they would register a case in this regard.

However, there seems to be little possibility of the website being created by someone in New York as the day to day updating of the site by the creator could not have been done by someone sitting so far away. The site, which has now been withdrawn, was giving day to day accounts of the who's who of the city and the places where they were spotted. Highly placed sources in the police department say that one of the six complainants in the case could also be behind the creation of this website. Without wishing to be quoted, the police officer maintained that they were working on this angle after a few of the other complainants had expressed their suspicions against this person.

Meanwhile, Mr S.K. Sandhu, the Deputy Commissioner, had formed a committee and marked the inquiry of the case to the SP City I. He has further marked the inquiry of the case to Mr Harmanbir Singh Gill, DSP Sarabha Nagar.

It is learnt that the police today had called Vikramjeet, the person whose name had been given on the website for reference. However, the police says that it had found the said person to be innocent during the preliminary investigations and he has now been let off.

However, the police has till date, not summoned anyone from the Internet Service Provider, Satyam Infoways, for questioning. DSP Gill said that today and tomorrow being a holiday, the offices of the said company were not open. They would approach the officials of the company after the two holidays, he assured.

More dengue cases reported
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, Oct 7 — The number of patients suffering from dengue continues to swell amidst reports that a team of experts was being sent by the central government to take stock of the situation.

The team headed by the Deputy Director, Malaria wing of the Department of Health Government of India, will reach the city on Monday to gather report about the level of outbreak of the dreaded disease.

While senior officials of the Civil Surgeon office could not be contacted , another official of the department speaking on the condition of the anonymity confirmed the reports about the arrival of the team. He said the team inspects any area in the country where dengue cases are reported.

Two more patients were admitted to the DMC here today. According to sources more patients arrived in CMC also but official figures were not available. The number of ‘officially’ confirmed cases have gone up to five with two cases testing positive in DMC.

Unconfirmed reports said the Health officials were facing a serious shortage of kits to test dengue. An official press release from the Civil Surgeon office, however, claimed that a machine ‘cryofuse 6000’ was available in the Civil hospital and dengue test can be taken here free of cost. The release also pointed a finger towards the Municipal Corporation for insanitary conditions, making dengue virus breed in the city.

The release said MC has to maintain the sanitary conditions in the city. It claimed that proper health services were being provided by the Department of Health.

Meanwhile, Dr Gursharan Singh, President of the IMA in the district, demanded supply of dengue-testing kits at subsidised rates to the private practitioners in the city. He said even though private doctors or clinics had gone ahead in providing latest medical services to the city residents, the District Administration or the Municipal Corporation had never involved them in preventive measures of the outbreak of such diseases.

Fake currency seized
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, Oct 7 — The anti-goonda staff has busted a counterfeit currency racket involving a government school teacher and seized currency worth Rs 860 from the accused.

According to the information available, the police had laid a trap for the four-member gang, alleged to be involved in making and selling counterfeit currency, after they had received secret information. The staff incharge, SI Gurpreet Singh, said they had arrested two of the accused, Prithvi Raj, a teacher in Government Primary School, Dadowal, and Prem. The kingpin in this gang, Pankaj, and another accused, Vijay, alias Bunti, were absconding.

The police seized a computer, a printer, a scanner, one note of Rs 500 denomination, three notes of Rs 100 denomination, one note of Rs 50 denomination and three notes of Rs 10 denomination. The accused had taken a room on rent in Aman Nagar.

The police had received information about this gang being involved in making fake currency. A policeman had posed as a customer and struck a deal with the accused by providing fake currency worth Rs 4500 in exchange of Rs 2000. But the accused, in order to satisfy his customer, had given him genuine currency worth Rs 4500. They had again struck a deal for exchanging fake currency of Rs 3 lakh for a sum of Rs 1 lakh. It was here that the police nabbed the culprits.

Several injured in clash at gurdwara
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, Oct 7 — Tension is brewing up in the Gurdwara Nanaksar following a clash between followers of two rival leaders of the same sect. Several persons were reportedly injured in the clash. The warring groups used all types of weapons, including firearms.

According to reports received here today, the supporters of Sant Sadhu Singh and his rival Sant Kundan Singh clashed with each other when the supporters of the former tried to prevent one of the disciples of the latter from performing the scheduled ardas.

Both, Sant Sadhu Singh and Sant Kundan Singh, have reportedly drawn up a schedule for performing the ardas at the dera. Yesterday it was the turn of Sant Kundan Singh for performing the ardas. However, he was reportedly not keeping well and he assigned the job to one of his disciples. This was resisted by the followers of Sant Sadhu Singh. They maintained that it should be Sant Kundan Singh himself, who should perform the ardas and not his disciple. This infuriated the followers of Sant Kundan Singh, which resulted in a clash.

The two groups reportedly used sharpedged weapons against each other. Some rounds were reportedly fired in the air by both the groups. The injured were rushed to the hospital.

When the news spread in the surrounding areas and among other supporters of the rival factions they gathered at the dera in the early morning today. This once again led to clashes. Several people were injured in today's clashes also.

The Senior Superintendent of Police, Jagraon, was not available for comments. He was reportedly camping at the dera as the siutation was tense there. The police sources disclosed that adequate security arrangements had been made at the to prevent any further clashes.

Hello Ludhiana! Lines are busy
By Manoj Kumar
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, Oct 7— In the era of Internet and dot com companies when the government and planners are talking about e-commerce, and e-governance, more than 50,000 telephones under Transport Nagar and Mata Rani exchange including Sunder Nagar, Sector 39, are 'virtually deada' as far as their utilisation is concerned.

However, according to the Telecommunication Department, "there is dial tone". Do not bother if on dialling the same answer is repeated " lines are busy."

Mr Jiwan Dhawan, Chairman, Modinagar United Factories Association, while narrating the problem says," For the past one year we have been suffering a lot of problems in the telephones. Phones are functional when one dials a number within the same exchange. However, the moment one dials a distant number there is the same irritating reply "the lines are busy."

" We have been complaining continuously but without any tangible results. For some time the phones may become functional but soon the problem emerges again. On making complaints the department functionaries make a call from the same exchange. The moment the user picks up the phone ( since it is already functioning within the same exchange), the complaint is declared 'attended' though the problem has not been rectified ," he adds.

Sources said that the Transport Nagar exchange is too old to bear the load. About two years back the industrialists of the area had held a demonstration, which lead to some temporary improvement in the service. The sources also pointed out that while the imported machinery worth crores meant for the upgradation of such old exchanges was lying useless in the stores, the consumers were suffering uncalled for agony.

Some phones have been lying dead from the past 15-20 days.Mr Narender Bhambra, General Secretary, Fasteners' Manufacturers Association of India, said," Despite number of complaints in writing to different officials. my phone has not been functioning for the past one month. When I faxed a complaint to the Communications Minister, Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, the phone became functional, but only for four days. Now tell me what can I do ? ''It may be mentioned that Mr Paswan, on a visit to the city last month, had promised that there would be monthly meetings chaired by the Chief General Manager, Chandigarh, to resolve telephone problems. Till now, no such meetings had been called and no action taken.

The scenes of hanging telephone wires are quite common in the industrial area which are often broken by moving trucks leading to the disconnections. Mr Dhawan remarked," What can we do without proper communication networks? Our customers fail to contact us on phone, fax or through e- mail. In case of emergency, we can not even call fire tenders."

Mr V.S. Srivastava, the other GM who is looking after the exchange, when asked about the continuing problem, said," I am not the in charge of the area. But I am ordering my subordinate officials to look into the matter."

Industrialists are quite worried about the problem. Some of them are seriously contemplating to get phone connections from the private operators who are about to enter the market.

Modern toys for the modern child
By Asha Ahuja

LUDHIANA, Oct 7 — In the good old days, mothers used to make ‘guddiyas’ and ‘patollas’ from rags left over after stitching their garments. The girls were happy with these and the boys played marbles, “gulli-danda”, or things like that. No fuss, no expense. Those simple people with simple tastes have vanished. Today’s toys are more modern and more expensive.

Anshul is standing at a toy shop whining, “Menu ai Khilona lena hi hai.” He whines and whines and the mother has to purchase him a costly toy car. He is a collector of toy cars and has over 200 of these at home. But he is always hankering for more. He can tell the difference between a Tyota and an Astra.

If the mother does not oblige, he throws tantrum. And this mother is not the only victim of such “blackmail.” According to the shopkeeper, most of the children throw tantrums and the parents are forced to buy the toy the children want.

The toy shops offer an amazing collection for children of all ages. The newly-born can have rattles. These come in sets of six. A rotating jhoomer on top of the crib draws the attention of the infant.

A two-year-old learns to enjoy walking with ‘pull along toys’. These toys with their attractive colours and shapes encourage him to walk.

These days, parents have become ambitious. Moreover even the entrance tests at ‘play-way’ schools have become tough. Blocks that teach the alphabets and colour distinction come handy for this purpose.

At the age of three or four a boy starts getting crazy about cars. There are many models of cars on the road. So he hankers for different kinds and shapes. The girls are crazy for Barbie dolls. Barbies can have extra sets of dresses and several accessories.

When seven or eight years old, the boys become cricket fanatics particularly when India is playing one-dayers or Test matches. Outdoor activity does them a world of good.

Girls in this age group are still involved in their Barbies. But those who want to use their grey cells, can choose from variety of board and dice games. The latest to hit the market is the ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ which asks questions and the player has to give the right answers. The other one is ‘Wriggle Bounce’. As the name suggests, it has worms that bounce and one has to match them with the card. There are of course all-time favourites such as ludo, snakes and ladders and chess.

According to a toy-seller, “Business Board Game” remains the favourite. Of course, people also buy Scrabble, Pictionaty, Life Game, Scotland Yard, Beeline, Monopoly, Hang Man, and Daffy Dolphins.

Among the battery operated toys ‘police car’ is the hot favourite. Other popular battery operated toys are cars, trains, mini trains, dancing dog, smoking train, travelling bus, etc.

Kitchen sets and doctor sets, Hit Me, soft toys and pistols (all time boys’ favourite) have always been popular with children of every generation.

According to a toy-seller, the import of toys is hilting the Indian toy manufacturing companies. Imported toys are cheaper and many toy companies are folding up.

Children up to the age of eight years go in for toys. The older children play computer and video games.

There are games on every topic and every theme under the sun. Parents have to spend a good deal of money to buy computers to satisfy their children.

CITY SCAN
Model Town should maintain itself
M.S.CHEEMA

IN an age of glamour, glitz and glare with modelling being the in-thing, literary terms such as contents, form, style, design and trend are falling victim to consumerism and commercialism. If models on the ramp are coming up fast, models of cars are not far behind. But the model towns that we have in this part of the country are models as well as towns. And thereby hangs, not a tale, but a story, rather history of half a century!

When India became a British colony, cantonments appeared, giving rise to several types of ‘lines’. To differentiate army quarters, the Civil Lines were christened as such by way of necessity. While developing municipal functions, town and small town committees made progress. The first Model Town (near Lahore) appeared on the map as a kind of a modern township borrowing the best from the East and the West.

Hell looked like cold-storage when compared to the fires of Partition. The migrants found temporary camps or shelters — the local Jawahar Nagar (camp) remained a tent-settlement for a few years. Refugees and their rehabilitation posed a national challenge as serious as war. For the urban migrant middle class, a scheme of Model Towns was envisaged and executed with rare speed. Soon, there appeared kothi-like houses in Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana, Khanna, Sonepat, Gurgaon, Rohtak, etc. Because of Jalandhar, being the functional summer capital of the state, because of the establishment of the Department of Relief and Rehabilitation, there its Model Town took the lead.

Ludhiana’s Model Town grew fast. To start with, it had plans for 250 units, about 240 were completed. The units were of four types, i.e., A, B, C and D to clarify the graded increase in the covered area. The cost of a unit ranged approximately from Rs. 12,000 to Rs 14,000. The cost of land was Rs 1,353 per kanal (500 sq. yards approximately). The per yard price of land was less than Rs 3 Do not be surprised. At the time of the first sale in the autumn of 1948 through public auction, the highest bid of (Rs 12,000) was made by Dr Gurbakhsh Singh, and drew the cheque upon the Imperial Bank of India (the predecessor of SBI). Mr N. Sehgal, ICS, Deputy Commissioner, was surprised when told that the doctor was a double refugee, who had migrated from Rangoon in 1942 and within five years left Sargodha and Lahore. About 10 bidders could offer about 20 per cent of the cost. Money was scarce. A thousand rupees then meant a fortune!

Slowly and steadily, the Model Town expanded. New plots were carved out and developed. The number of units increased to 642. A modern market (Gole Market) with 24 shops started working from August 5, 1950, when Sewa Ram opened his legendary sweet shop.

Model Town grew in area — several nagars, colonies, markets, etc. merged with it. The sprawling Model Town Extension as well as Model House evidently prove that expansion happened. Old residents sometime ponder upon the progress made. What is model about it?

Expansion is lateral. Model Town is indeed so in this respect. In academic terms, it beats several records. Its resident, Bhai Jodh Singh, was the founder Vice-Chancellor of the Punjabi University, whereas Prof B.S. Samundri was the same for GNDU, Amritsar. Almost the entire faculty of Punjab Agricultural College resided here. The scholars in the fields of literature, culture, language, science and research give it a solid academic face. Dr Sher Singh, Dr Trilochan Singh, Prof S. S. Sekhon, Dr V.B. Arun, Dr Piar Singh, Dr Goswami, Dr G.S. Bedi, Dr Hazara Singh and many more are assets to the academic world.

The founders of industrial houses Hero Cycles/Honda (Munjals), Avon, (Pahwas), Ralson (Pahwas), Bhogals of Metal Fabric and a dozen more carry a good international image. The present and ex-speaker of Punjab Assembly in addition to ministers and political heavy weights residing here lend it a political dimension. Being close to the bus stand, over-bridges and the railway station make it a central site.

Model Town has several educational institutions: Two post-graduate women colleges, a sprawling Gujjar Khan Campus, and a dozen schools, including well-established public schools. It has half-a-dozen banks and charitable hospitals, in addition to a score of nursing homes. It has the highest percentage of educated residents. Most of them carry professional degrees. A large number holds executive jobs.

It has many places of worship, some with big halls. Model Town Welfare Council is its oldest socio-cultural organisation, running a Public Library and a Community Centre, paralleling a marriage palace. It is currently developing public-parks. However, parking is a serious problem here.

When will the residents take lead in fighting pollution, maintaining public parks, looking after drainage, obeying traffic rules and teaching kids not to drive to kill or get killed. As an optimist I hope Model Town residents will endeavour to maintain its image. Remember, Lahore had a real Model Town.

COMMUNITY

Convention against globalisation
From A Correspondent

DORAHA, Oct 7 — A district level convention was organised by the Marxist Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India, ML (Liberation ) against the globalisation, here.

The convention was collectively presided over by Mr Krishan Kumar Kaushal, Secretariate/ Member, MCPI, and Ramesh Kumar, District Secretary, CPI, ML (Liberation). More than 400 activists participated in the convention. Mr Lakhwinder Singh Boani, District Secretary, MCPI, read the paper regarding globalisation and its effects on the Indian economy.

Addressing the convention, Mr Jagjit Singh Lyallpuri, All-India General Secretary, MCPI, elaborated the history of imperialist globalisation and traced the collaborationist attitude of Indian ruling classes with the multinational and transnational corporations in promoting imperialist loot. He said, "Globalisation is destroying the domestic small scale industries in India and posing a great danger to hard-earned sovereignty." He called upon the people to liberate the country from economic slavery.

Mr Rajwinder Singh Rana, State Secretary of CPI,ML (Liberation) in his address called for a joint struggle against imperialist globalisation which is affecting almost all spheres of Indian economy.

In another resolution the parties took a pledge to stop the lootings and robberies being committed in Punjab. Further they urged the government to take immediate steps to hasten the pace of the procurement of paddy so that the farmers may get their right due.

Telecom Dept to pay compensation
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, Oct 7 — The District Consumer Redressal Forum has directed the General Manager Telecom to pay a compensation of Rs 2,000 to a complainant, Ms Santosh, and also ordered the department to restore the telephone connection within a month.

The complainant had in a petition before the forum alleged that she was being constantly harassed by the department which was not sending her telephone bills. Later, the department withdrew the facility for non-payment of bills. She claimed she had paid the bill of Rs 845 in February,1999, but was given another bill of Rs 1,740 which she again deposited. However her telephone connection was not restored.

The department, however, denied that it had not sent the bills to the complainant in time. However, the forum ruled in favour of the complainant and said the department was required to give notice to the complainant before disconnecting her phone.

The most polluted city is the dirtiest as well
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Oct 7 — The industrial capital of Punjab, has of late, acquired the dubious distinction of not only being the most polluted, but also one of the dirtiest cities in the region. There seems to be a total breakdown of the civic machinery, responsible for sanitation. Even the breakout of several epidemics like cholera, gastro-enteritis and dengue in the city repeatedly, have failed to move both the district health and municipal administration into action.

Contrary to popular belief, it is not only the slum areas or the underdeveloped colonies or the old city localities, which are totally neglected and people are forced to live under insanitary conditions, but even posh colonies like Sarabha Nagar, Gurdev Nagar, Model Town Extension, Civil Lines, Model Gram, Tagore Nagar, Kitchlu Nagar, Dugri Urban Estate, Rajguru Nagar, Maharani Jhansi Road, Major Gurdial Singh Road and many others are no better.

Heaps of garbage on main roads, streets and lanes, stagnating water on dug out roads and footpaths, stinking garbage dumps and containers and on the top of it all, lack of regular cleaning and garbage removal, make the lives of the residents miserable. What is most disturbing, according to residents of many colonies, both in the old city and other areas, is the total indifference and unresponsive attitude of the councillors.

During a visit to many localities in the city, people from all walks of life expressed their anger and helplessness at the prevailing insanitary conditions and callous attitude of the authorities concerned. The majority opinion was obviously loaded against the municipal corporation, whom the residents held responsible for turning the city into a heap of dirt and garbage. As a result, most of the colonies were facing serious health hazards in the form of garbage dumps that proved happy hunting grounds for stray cattle, dogs and pigs breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

In many colonies, the residents complained, the sweepers were hardly ever seen and even during their occasional appearances, they confined their cleaning operations to the main roads or markets, for the simple reason that the shopkeepers paid them on a regular basis. The mechanised cleaning vans put into operation by the civic body with much fanfare, proved to be a cosmetic touch and were of no use in the congested and thickly populated areas of the city, which really needed to be cleaned.

Similarly, the sanitation scheme implemented by the MC under which the welfare committee or the sudhar committee, comprising residents of respective localities, recruited safai workers on a contract basis for sanitation work and functioned under the supervision of respective councillors had, more or less, become a big racket, with the concerned councillor, along with the office-bearers of the welfare committees, being the sole beneficiaries.

Highly placed sources in the MC revealed that every thing about the scheme was a fraud. Without exception, bogus lists of safai workers were prepared, bogus attendance sheets were produced and work was shown to have been done by non-existing workers while the funds made available by the civic body were pocketed by those at the helm of affairs, including certain senior officers of the MC. While the entire scheme was ‘’stinking with corruption”, except for the hapless people of the city, every one else involved with it, was happy, the sources added.

The most unfortunate part of the situation is that people have lost all hope. “When the administration is unresponsive, elected representatives are least bothered about the fate of the people, who voted them to power and were out to make money at the cost of the city residents population, what else can you expect?” asked a retired teacher, while commenting on the fate of the residents in the wake of alarming levels of air pollution and abject insanitary conditions prevailing in the city.

CRIME

One held with CDs, floppies
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, Oct 7 — The police has arrested one person and seized audio compact discs, jukeboxes, master CD computer floppies, empty CDs, stickers and the computer set on which these were being duplicated by the accused.

According to the information available, the accused, Uttam Singh, owner of a music shop in Kochchar Market, has been booked under Section 420 of the IPC and Sections 51, 52, 63, 66 and 68 of the Copyright Act on the complaint of the manager of T-Series and the Indian music industry representative, Mr Joginder Singh.

The accused was duplicating original audio CDs on his computer, making stickers by duplicating through scanning and selling these at low prices, with a CD being sold at between Rs 70 and Rs 100, informed SHO Santokh Singh.

Drugs seized

The Sarabha Nagar police seized a large quantity of opium from Om Prakash during a special naka last night. The SHO, Mr Pawanjit Singh, informed that that they had laid a naka near Pakhowal Road, from where the accused was arrested. In another incident, the Model Town police seized 15 kg of poppy husk from Ravi Kumar during a special naka near Shamshan Ghat.

Cash snatched

Four armed scooter-borne persons took away Rs 18,000 from the employees of a gas agency from outside the agency. According to the information available, the four came to a trolley of gas cylinders stationed outside the gas agency and fled after snatching a bag containing the money, vouchers of refill sale, other papers and mechanical equipment.

BUSINESS

Cycle parts industry at cross-roads
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, Oct 7 — The 50-year-old cycle industry employing a workforce of more than two lakh and with an annual production of more than Rs 10,000 crore is facing a scenario of global competition, full of opportunities as well as threats. Till recently, cycle and cycle parts manufacturers were frightened with the news of entry of Chinese cycle in the Indian market, which claimed to sold at price Rs 700-800 per piece in the market. However, the imposition of anti-dumping duty ensured, at least for the time being that they could heave a sigh of relief. But due to the indifferent attitude of the central and state governments, the increasing costs of raw material and poor quality of the products are some worrying signals that may affect the future of cycle industry in Punjab.

The introduction of new models and investment in technological upgradation by the big manufacturers ensured their smooth growth in the market. But the small and medium manufacturers were worried regarding the export potential. Mr G.L. Pahwa, president of United Cycle and Parts Manufacturers Association claimed that the cycle and parts exports which were Rs 724 crore in 1995-96 drastically declined to Rs 470 crore in 1998-99 but it picked up in 1999-2000 to Rs 600 crore as the industry had taken various measures.

It may be mentioned that 90 per cent of cycles in the Indian market have their origins from Ludhiana. Mr Pahwa claims that there are few big units like Hero, Avon, Safari who supply cycles but about 1500 registered small and medium scale units, and about 10,000 unregistered units in the city also play a crucial rule in the production cycle. He claims about 50 per cent production of small and medium size units is utilised by the large scale cycle manufactures and the remaining half is sold as spair parts in the whole of country. China and Taiwan are the two main competitors in the international market . Mr Avtar Singh of Swarn Singh and Sons, and General Secretary of the Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings is of the view that China is the leader in low cost cycle production and Taiwan is the leader in the quality cycle market. The average weight of Indian cycle is 16.5 kg costing about Rs 1100-1300 in comparasion to the Taiwaniese cycle that weighs just 6.5 kg and costing as heigh as Rs 18,000 to 25,000 . But the Chinese are able to produce cycle as cheap as Rs 700-800, he says.

On being asked the causes of differences in the prices Mr Avtar Singh pointed out,” the cost of our raw material was much higher. For example, the mild strip made round strips costed Rs 14,000 per MT as compared to Rs 11,000 in China. Similarly, the CR strips costed Rs 25,000 per MT in India while it cost Rs 16-18,000 in China. The rates of other materials like nickle, paints and electroplating chemicals were about 30 per cent higher in comparison to them.” The stringent labour laws, 4 per cent sales tax, dead R&D centres and lack of adequate awareness among the manufacturers had further aggravated the situation.

What were the future prospects of small and medium units? Mr G.L. Pahwa lamented the government’s indifferent attitude. He said,” After signing the GATT agreement it was almost sleeping for four years. We were not provided any information about WTO or its implications. No one felt it necessary to provide us any guidelines about how to cope with the emerging threats.” Any way, opening of the domestic market in April, 2000 and some visits to the foreign countries made us conscious.”

“We are ready to face the competetion provided the government support our efforts. The Government should ensure internationally competitive interest rates, about 7 per cent, lower import duty on raw material especially on nickle. The import duty on nickle is 40 per cent,” said Mr P. S. Panesar,a leading manufacturer and exporter of bicycle chain wheel and crank set pedals.

Mr G.L. Pahwa also disclosed that the their association is also planning to open quality control centre and organising seminars and training programmes for the association members to face the challenge in a Punjabi spirit.

New software for consolidating accounts
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Oct 7 — Wings 2000, manufacturers of accounting software, have launched a new version ‘Wings Company Consolidator’. It consolidates data of various companies and branches of the company for a corporate user. The flexibility of the software allows the user to choose a particular set of companies or its branches at will.

Mr Aneesh Soni, local dealer of the company, said, ‘‘The new version of the software allows the user to pick data from different entities without physically merging them. The accounts of a particular year of a company can also be consolidated”. Further stating its advantage for the common users, he said, ‘‘The accounts of individual family members, which have been maintained separately, can also be consolidated by using this software.’’

Exporters honoured
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Oct 7 — The export award function of the Wool and Woolens Export Promotion Council was held recently in Delhi to felicitate exporters for their outstanding performance during the years 1998-99 and 1999-2000.

The Union Textile Minister, Mr Kashiram Rana, and the Minister of State for Textiles, Mr V. Dhananjay Kumar, gave away the prizes. About 45 members of the council received awards.

Mr Ashok Jaidka, Chairman of the council, informed that council had registered 7.5 per cent growth in dollar terms as compared to 1998-99. He said the target of $ 315 million will soon be achieved.

Mr Kashiram Rana, praised the Indian woolen exporters that in spite of decline in production and worldwide exports of woolen items, the export of Indian woolen products had increased. He stressed that the industry should maintain quality, design, finish and fashion in view to the WTO challenges and hoped that the industry will rise in the next few years.

Special awards were given to Mr Shyamal Ghosh, and Mr S.P. Srivastava for their outstanding services and support to the cause of exports. Mr Surinder Singh, Vice-Chairman of the council delivered the vote of thanks.