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Wednesday,
November 20, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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VSNL ends
row with BSNL, MTNL Access
regime of TRAI opposed PWD, PIDB
lock horns over bridges Board puts
pharma firms on notice |
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MRP row:
Haryana refuses to bow IA
offers package for Nepal
Monto
Motors to launch 150cc bike
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VSNL ends row with BSNL, MTNL
New Delhi, November 19 The issue, which saw intervention of Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani and Communications Minister Pramod Mahajan who several times held negotiations with the top brass of the Tatas and BSNL to reach an early agreement, came to an end after a series of hectic discussions over the last three days. Both PSUs in fact had signed the interconnection agreement with the two other private operators, Bharti and Data Access, and had threatened VSNL that they would start diverting traffic to private carriers in case the Tata group-controlled company failed to offer competitive rates. Commenting on the development, S.K. Gupta, Managing Director, VSNL, said “these agreements signed by VSNL today follow several months of negotiations with BSNL and MTNL.” VSNL was privatised early this year and was acquired by the Tatas. the government after disinvestment holds a 26 per cent equity in the company while the Tatas hold a 45 per cent of the equity. As per the shareholders agreement at the time of disinvestment, VSNL was to be considered preferential carrier over other operators but with a condition that VSNL offered competitive rates. Gupta said VSNL could now look forward to securing its core international telephony business and aggressively implementing its ambitious growth plans in other telecom service areas such as domestic long distance and Internet telephony. “These agreements provide the basis for traffic settlement between the companies, underlined by the commitment of BSNL and MTNL to route all their outgoing traffic through VSNL,” Gupta said. The statement issued by VSNL, however, did not mention the rates offered by them to BSNL and MTNL.
PTI
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Access regime of TRAI opposed
New Delhi, November 19 Access charge relates to a levy that a cellular subscriber is forced to pay while calling a fixed line or a WLL Limited Mobility (
WLL-M) telephone. Under the prevailing regulation, cellular operators are forced to collect this levy from the subscribers and pass it along to fixed line and
WLL-M operators. TNS
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PWD, PIDB lock horns over bridges Chandigarh, November 19 Informed sources told TNS today that the PWD authorities have put their foot down as far as the handing over of the construction of railway overbridges to the PIDB in the state concerned. Upset over the attitude of the Finance Department over making funds available for the overbridges, the PWD authorities have reportedly sent a note to Capt Amarinder Singh, who has asked the Chief Secretary, Mr Y.S. Ratra, to examine the issue. The PWD wanted that all issues pertaining to the development of infrastructure should be settled once for all by doing away the near monopoly of the PIDB over projects worth several hundred crores. The PWD has requested the Chief Minister to restore the old status of its department which had been pruned ruthlessly over the years by setting up several construction wings in various government departments. As many as 65 overbridges are to be built in three phases. In the first phase, the PWD authorities have planned to start work on 25 overbridges shortly. The Railway Minister has agreed to pay Rs 100 crore, that is half of the total cost. The remaining Rs 100 crore is to be contributed by the Punjab. The PWD authorities had approached the Finance Department to either provide Rs 100 crore or stand guarantee to the loans, which PWD wanted to raise from either Hudco or Nabard. However, according to the sources, the Finance Department has told PWD officers that the overbridges would be constructed by the PIDB if the funds to be arranged by the Finance Department. The PWD authorities have told the government that already a statutory body— the Punjab Roads and Bridges Corporation was in place. What was the need of setting up of the PIDB which has put extra burden on the state exchequer. The PWD wanted that the administrative control of the PIDB should be given to the PWD or it should be merged in it. The PWD Minister, Mr Partap Singh Bajwa, said he had nothing to say on this issue. " I have taken up the matter with the Chief Minister", he said refusing to give detailed account in this connection.
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Board puts pharma firms on notice Patiala, November 19 This decision was taken at a recent meeting of representatives of pharmaceutical companies, which was presided over by Punjab Pollution Control Board Chairman Satish Chandra at the board headquarters here. The pharma companies have also been directed to set up a digital integrated type water meter on each water source and final outlet of their respective treatment plants by tomorrow so that the quantity of water used and waste water discharged by them can be measured. The companies have also been directed to form a representative body and depute its two representatives to visit the Jeedimetla Effluent Treatment Plant at Hyderabad along with board officers. Sources stated that in the past the board had granted consent to the pharma industry to discharge non-treatable stream of their effluent into solar evaporation ponds because of high cost of technology to treat this stream. The ponds are rudimentary affairs being mainly bricklined with a thin plastic sheet being placed below the bricks. Due to this policy the industry started discharging whole of its waste water, including easily treatable stream with or without treatment, into these solar ponds. The sources said as the tanks were not impervious ground water had been contaminated at Toansa in Nawanshahar district and, the Dera Bassi area where the majority of the pharma industries were situated. The board had also received complaints that some industries, which had installed solar evaporation ponds, were discharging their effluent into nearby drains, which was causing damage to underground water. Board Chairman Satish Chandra, while reviewing the status of each industry at the meeting, found that many of the industries had not even installed water meters to measure the quantity of water used and waste water discharged by them.
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MRP row: Haryana refuses to bow Chandigarh, November 19 Officials, behind the move, are confident that after shifting sales tax on medicines from first stage to last stage, retail chemists will not be able to evade taxes. For instance, says a senior official, till recently the state was losing sales tax on medicines worth Rs 60 to Rs 80 crore annually due to large scale tax evasion. However, after the imposition of sales tax on MRP, a consumer may have to pay at the most one per cent additional price of medicines but it will wipe out a source of corruption from the state. The officials alleged that according to the Drug Control Act, 1995, the MRP of the patented medicines is mentioned on the carton/levels which covers central excise, local taxes and profit margins of retailers. The state was getting lower amount of tax through sales tax on the first stage as wholesalers used to quote a lower price for retailers thus evading tax. However, chemists used to charge an additional amount on MRP. The government has just corrected the anomaly.
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IA offers package for Nepal New Delhi, November 19 Termed as the “Mega Kathmandu holiday package”, the offer will be on from now till March-end next year. The package will be a four-day affair and include return airfare, bed, breakfast and sight-seeing tours. “Nepal is one of the few destinations where Indian Airlines has launched such attractive packages and this package will benefit and the Nepal Board as the major component of tourists to Nepal are from India,” IA’s Station Manager in Nepal Nirbhik Rai Narang said in a statement. The package rates varied according to the ratings and facilities of the hotels. The packages range from Rs 7,300 for a three-day trip from Kolkata to Rs 31,875 for a four-day one from Kochi. The Delhi package works out to an all-inclusive rate — from Rs 10,115 to Rs 14,080.
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More women hold top jobs
New York, November 19 Women hold 15.7 per cent of the corporate officer positions in the Fortune 500 companies, according to Catalyst, a non-profit research and advisory organisation. Catalyst loosely defines corporate officers as those who represent companies in making major decisions — the most visible executives often referred to as "corporate insiders." That 15.7 per cent — or 2,140 out of 13,673 corporate officer positions — is up from 12.5 per cent in 2000 and 8.7 per cent in 1995 when Catalyst first started counting. And the growth is continuing despite a downturn in the economy that has triggered a rash of layoffs across the nation. "I am heartened to see the progress despite the gloomy economic outlook," said Sheila Wellington, President of Catalyst, which works to advance women in business. Catalyst forecasts that true parity in those high-level positions could be reached by 2041 — if Corporate America chugs along at the same slow, but steady, pace. Wellington, however, isn't ready just yet to talk about whether women will see equality in upper management. "I am focused on continued growth, when we are close enough to see 50-50 (split between women and men), then we can talk about it," Wellington said. Women call the shots at six of the Fortune 500 companies, an improvement over 2000 when just two women occupied the position of chief executive officer at Corporate America's biggest and best companies and an advance over 1995 when just one woman claimed the top spot. The six companies, which span a broad range of industries, include energy merchant Mirant Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., Lucent Technologies Inc., Xerox Corp., beauty products company Avon Products Inc. and West Coast bank Golden West Financial Corp. The fat paychecks that come with the top corporate jobs remain as elusive as the high-level positions themselves. Women comprise just 5.2 per cent of top-earning corporate officers, compared with 4.1 per cent in 2000 and 1.2 per cent in 1995. "The question is: 'What kind of officers are they?' There you are led to the difference between profit and loss responsibilities and staff support responsibility," Wellington said. "By and large, men are in profit and loss jobs, and, by and large, women are in support jobs." Catalyst plans to do another study on the number of women occupying corporate officer positions in Fortune 500 companies in 2004.
Reuters
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