Chandigarh, April 11
More than 200 units in the Industrial Area of the city face resumption because of altering the use of the industrial plots without permission and not paying the conversion charges. The Land Acquisition Officer has served a notice to explain why "the lease of the site be not cancelled and 10 per cent premium of the site and ground rent be not forfeited".

Industrialists fear that the exercise has been initiated because of the failure of the administration in evoking any substantial response to its "much publicised" conversion policy. It has been pointed out that the administration had assured them that no notices would be given for at least two years till the validity of the policy to give them sufficient time to convert their trade.

It is worth pointing out that a survey in 2003-04 had indicated that 45 per cent of the units in industrial area had either closed down or had shifted to other trade. It was also pointed out that at least 163 units were running business "illegally," which means not the business originally opted for by them.

Sources in the Land Acquisition Office said that the notices had been served as part of the exercise to ensure proper utilisation of the industrial plots as per the bylaws. "The industrialists can present their version of the case during the hearing which will also have the administration's side. We shall decide accordingly", a senior officer said.

The notice says that "in event of the continuance of the misuse, the occupier or the owner will be liable to pay monthly charges from the date of issue of the notice till the removal of the misuse as a residential or commercial premises" engaged in alternate trade. The rates have been fixed separately for the partial, complete, ground, first floor and the open space areas in the plots.

Industrialists pointed out that the administration had recently announced allowing conversion of trade for all the commercial establishments in the city, except the Industrial Area. Over the years a number of industries, particularly in the the ancillary and certain other trades, had closed down. They are demanding conversion on the similar lines as in the city.

Mr M.P.S.Chawla, president of the Chandigarh Industrial Association, said:"We have had meetings with the senior UT officials and have received positive indication for a lenient view to accommodate the view of the industrialists. The needs of the industry have changed tallying with the changing demands of the changing times. The administration needs to understand the issue in a new perspective. I met Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal, the local Member of Parliament, along with a delegation of 200 industrialists, recently. He has assured us to take up the matter at the higher level of the administration."

Mr Chawla said: "In case the administration made certain relaxations for the local industrialists, the conversion can be a major success. The entire policy needs a relook to attract more people for participation in its success. Till date, the administration has not received response from even five industrialists who would be constituting a committee for recommending the future growth of the area."

Chandigarh, April 11
To ensure that Meerut-type incident is not repeated in Chandigarh, the Administrator, UT, Gen S.F. Rodrigues, today asked the senior officers of the Chandigarh Administration to implement the Fire Safety Act strictly. Interestingly, the post of Chief Fire Officer, who can rightfully implement these orders, has been lying vacant in the city for the past two years.

The last Chief Fire Officer in the city was Mr G.S. Bajwa, who retired in 2004. Ever since then the post has been lying vacant. Officials state that despite asking for names from Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and even Delhi to fill the post, nobody has been found suitable.

Moreover, the Fire Safety Department too is not fully equipped and it is acquiring new equipment. Besides, it is computerising data to keep a record of fire incidents in the city.

Meanwhile, the ongoing Chandigarh shopping fair in the parade ground saw fewer visitors today. The organisers and the authorities concerned, however, seemed to have taken all fire safety measures with a fire engine present at the venue.

Talking to Chandigarh Tribune, Mr Sandeep Chabbra, organiser of the fair, informed that they had ensured all exit points remain open and no stalls blocked them. Besides a fire engine, other basic fire fighting equipment was also present at the venue. Moreover, the material used for putting up pandals was fire proof. “We have ensured full safety,” he stated.

While the fair organisers may have taken all fire safety measures, the city is not immune to a major fire incident happening. A few days ago a major fire gutted 43 jhuggis in Colony No.5. Last year too a fire in Sector 18 rehri market had caused heavy losses. The presence of rehri markets in almost all sectors also posed a constant threat of a fire breakout.

Major buildings in the city too do not observe fire safety measures, putting the lives of people visiting there in danger. A recent example is the fire in the business arcade of Hotel Shivalik View. Panjab University too has been served notices recently, but it continues to flout the fire safety rules.

Meanwhile, expressing profound grief over the loss of life and property in the tragic fire incident at Meerut last evening. General Rodrigues has offered all medical assistance to the affected people in Chandigarh hospitals.

Chandigarh, April 11
The electricity wing of the engineering department of the Chandigarh Administration will undertake a complete revamp of its complaint redress system.

This was decided at a meeting held here today under the chairmanship of Engineering Secretary S.K.Sandhu, in which the Chief Engineer and all officers of the electricity wing were present. According to a press note, delayed redressal of consumer complaints was one cause of increasing court cases and hence, the electricity wing, besides ensuring uninterrupted power supply in the city, would respond to and redress promptly billing-related complaints.

It was decided at the meeting that all billing-related complaints would be addressed to the SDO of the area concerned, who would look into the complaints without marking those to his subordinate staff and redress the complaints within three days.

The consumer could approach the Executive Engineer concerned after three days and the Superintending Engineer after seven days.

If the complaint still remained unresolved, the consumer could meet the Chief Engineer. It was also decided that consumers should be made aware of departmental dispute settlement committees, which had been constituted for consumers not satisfied with responses of SDOs to billing-related complaints.

It was decided to provide SDOs with personal computers to facilitate SDOs in prompt redressal of complaints and the computers would be networked so that all billing details of consumers were available online.

Court cases were reviewed at the meeting and it was found during discussions that out of the 76 cases decided during the past one year, 52 had been decided in favour of the department.

Chandigarh, April 11
Encroachment on public land in front of flats at Modern Housing Complex in Mani Majra has surfaced again due to the apathy of the Chandigarh Housing Board.

A few days after the board’s anti-encroachment drive to remove unauthorised occupation of vacant spaces adjoining ground floor flats, occupants of ground floor flats have started fencing open spaces again in the name of maintaining gardens and mild steel railings have been erected.

This has been causing difficulty to occupants of first, second and third floor flats in parking vehicles.

Residents affected lament that they are forced to park vehicles on main roads and the space provided by the board for parking is not adequate. Though the board has issued notices to residents who have opened gates on the rear of houses, no action has been initiated by board officials.

This encroachment has led to an increase in the number of accidents near corner flats.

Sources in the board say the problem has arisen due to differences between it and the municipal corporation.

The maintenance of the complex is with the board, but the area belongs to the corporation and sanitation and water supply is with the corporation.

Mohali, April 11
The president of the local Block Congress Committee, Mr Kuljeet Singh Bedi, today alleged that some persons having political links had cut the photograph of Mrs Lakhwinder Kaur Garcha, OSD to the Punjab Chief Minister, from hoardings that had been put up at various places in the town.

In a press note Mr Bedi said after Mohali was given the status of a district, supporters of Mrs Garcha had put up hoardings to thank the Punjab Chief Minister in this regard.

The hoardings had the photographs of Mrs Sonia Gandhi, Dr Manmohan Singh, Capt Amarinder Singh and Mr Shamsher Singh Dullo on the top while a photograph of Mrs Garcha was there on the lower part of the hoardings. Mr Bedi alleged that the photograph of the OSD had been deliberately cut from there by some political rivals.

Mr Bedi said he and a number of others leaders condemned this act. He said such activities would not reduce the popularity of Mrs Garcha.

Zirakpur, April 11
With the summer setting in, certain colonies in the township are already facing a power crisis.

Residents of the Shaheed Flt-Lt Bharat Sharma Preet Vihar Welfare Association, Baltana, in a representation, said power cuts were putting residents to inconvenience.

Though Mr Hardyal Singh Kamboj, a member of the Punjab State Electricity Board, had announced the installation of a substation at Dhakauli about six months back, nothing had been done so far, the representation alleged.

Similarly, the proposal to lay Phase III electricity lines in the Preet Vihar here had been hanging fire for a long time, it added.

The situation in the colonies adjoining the Preet Vihar was equally bad, it added.

Panchkula, April 11
The driver of a Baddi-bound canter was injured when a truck coming from the opposite direction collided head-on with the vehicle on the busy Panchkula-Naraingarh highway, near Ramgarh, this evening.

According to the police, Zameel, the canter driver was admitted to General Hospital, Sector 6. The police has registered a case and further investigations are on.

BUSINESS

Brewers’ body appeals to Admin over prices
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 11
Reacting to the statement of liquor licence holders that manufacturers had increased the price of liquor, the All-India Brewers’ Association (AIBA) today said it was a misinformation that was being spread by certain vested interests which were against the new licensing policy of the Chandigarh Administration.

The AIBA, an industrial body representing India’s beer manufacturers, has urged the administration to intervene in the on-going confusion over the retail pricing of liquor products.

The vested interests among the retailers would abnormally hike the prices. Mr Sundeep Kumar, director of the AIBA, said, “In the past, taking advantage of monopolistic circumstances, retailers have been charging margins in excess of 100 per cent, compared to the national average of less than 15 per cent. Such retailers wanted to continue with the same despite the changed competitive scenario.”

“Even though a 4 per cent VAT has replaced the previous 22 per cent sales tax, the total tax component has only reduced by about Rs 2 per bottle due to changed incidence of other taxes like excise, assessment fee etc,” said Mr Kumar.

The new policy also removes wholesalers from the chain and requires manufacturers to directly supply to retailers. In the process, manufacturers incur increased distribution, transportation and manpower cost, which, in addition to higher credit risks, were being included in the landed price.

The AIBA said there was a 10 per cent increase in price, the first in three years despite increasing input costs such as power and fuel. Despite this, the landed cost to retailers has remained unchanged from about Rs 30 per bottle. Retailers can easily sell mild beer at Rs 35-40 per bottle and strong at Rs 40-45 and still earn a margin of 30 to 40 per cent.

This would bring beer prices down by a staggering 40 per cent from last year’s levels of Rs 60 for mild and Rs 70 for strong.

Mr Kumar said despite the forward looking change in excise policy, the consumer was being denied the full benefits of the policy changes, due to vested interests amongst certain sections who wanted to continue to sell at exorbitant prices. “We would urge the government to ensure that beer prices are kept in check,” he said.

Chandigarh, April 11
The search for better home aesthetics, smaller dwelling units without balconies and decreasing cost differential between window air-conditioners (AC) and split ACs has led to the latter segment registering one of the fastest growth rates among consumer durables.

Consumer durable majors in the country say compared to a growth rate of 25 per cent in the AC market, growth rate in the split AC segment is over 50 per cent.

Fuelled by this growth, almost every company is now focusing on split ACs and has come out with multiple variants in this segment for this summer.

With the decrease in prices of split ACs, ranging from Rs 16,000 to Rs 30,000, these are now considered affordable.

While Onida has come up with 19 split AC models, TCL has launched 15 models.

Samsung has launched five models and Godrej has introduced two variants with i-Trec technology.

LG has come up with new variants in this segment and Voltas has launched two window ACs, mainly for semi-urban and rural consumers.

Whirlpool has decided to get aggressive regarding its split AC variant.

Mr Arvind Uppal, managing director of Whirlpool India, says the company has decided to launch an aggressive marketing campaign soon.

Mr Nitin Malhotra, manager sales with Onida, says the company has realised that split ACs are preferred by those buying ACs for the second time, and so, the company has launched multiple variants in this segment.

Agrees Mr Rajiv Bakshi, area sales manager, “With a price differential ranging from Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 between window AC and split AC, the latter is preferred, mainly because living spaces are getting reduced”.

Four-day fair Coolex 2006, which had at least 22,000 visitors, concluded on a buoyant note yesterday, generating business enquiries worth around Rs 12 crore.

Chandigarh, April 11
Leading Indian agent of Western Union Money Transfer in South Asia, Paul Merchants, is targeting an 85 per cent growth this year. The company will open as many as 90 branches across the country and 8,000 franchisee locations.

These branches and franchisee locations will be allocated in accordance with the new regulations of the Reserve Bank of India. The net worth of the sub-agent should be at least Rs 5 lakh, and he should have infrastructure for setting a proper office, besides credibility in the market. Tea stall vendors or other such kiosk owners can no longer be appointed as sub agents - as was the practise earlier.

Talking to TNS here today, Mr S. Paul, Chairman cum Managing Director of Paul Merchants, said that 45 per cent of the total money legally remitted in Punjab through Western Union in the last fiscal, was done by his company.

“This year, we hope to increase our share to over 60 per cent. In the last quarter of the financial year 2005-06 (January to March), we registered a growth of 30 per cent, as compared to the corresponding period last year,” he added.

He said inspite of the measures taken by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to convert all illegal remittances by bringing it in the legal framework, only 20 million USD was being remitted through banks and private international money transfer companies in India.

“Over one million USD was remitted through Western Union last year. Western Union has been registering a growth of 100 per cent all over the country, though their growth in Punjab is only about 65 per cent. Interestingly, as compared to the USA, Canada and the UK being the only channels for getting inward remittances in Punjab, with Punjabis now settled in West Asian countries like Dubai and the UAE, a good share of money is now coming from these countries,” said the CMD of Paul Merchants.

Mr Paul pointed out that majority of money was still being transferred through illegal means, especially in Punjab.

According to rough estimates more than 50 per cent of the inward remittance is still through illegal means, though the inward remittances are now growing, he said.