IT Chandigarh

Chandigarh: PARKING blues at the only five-star hotel in city — Hotel Mountview in Sector 10, run by Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Corporation (CITCO) — are apparently going to last some time.

While the Board of Governors of CITCO, in its recent meeting, has approved the plan for underground parking with a capacity of 175 parking places at the hotel, the UT Administration, on the other hand, has not accorded its approval to the CITCO plans and has sent them to UT Administrator S F Rodrigues for his consideration. The reason: CITCO’s proposals require a complete relaxation in the building by-laws which have not been permitted by the UT administration so far.

As per the CITCO’s ambitious proposal, the basement parking would be constructed beneath the front lawns of the hotel in 56,000 sq feet of area for accommodating 175 cars along with a separate segment for two-wheelers. Of the Rs 10 crore proposed to be spent on Mountview’s expansion and renovation, Rs 5 crore alone is set aside in the estimates for the underground parking. While the CITCO has several times approved the project in its Board meeting, senior officials in the administration say that since the plan requires a complete relaxation of the by-laws, the administration has no choice but to reject the proposal. In a recent move though, the proposal has now been sent to the Administrator for his final approval.

“Under the existing building by-laws, the basement can be made only under that area on which the building is constructed. In case of basements, the administration has allowed a relaxation of up to 10 per cent, but 90 per cent of the underground basement has to be under the constructed area of a building. The CITCO’s proposal is rejected time and again as they want the basement parking beneath the lawns and not under their hotel building,” said a senior official.
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She has played a major role in popularizing the sport among Indian women and bringing world attention to it.

Try talking to Champika Sayal about her personal life, and all you get is golf, more golf and, at last, a short recollection of her childhood—although, even then, she was playing golf.

Now 44, with three grown-up children, the sport Sayal picked up as a 12-year-old using hand-me-down clubs and stray balls is what keeps her going.
In her own words, “I’ve dedicated my life to golf.”

It’s fitting and understandable, then, that women’s golf in India revolves around Sayal. Secretary general of the Women’s Golf Association of India for professional players, she is the force behind spreading the sport among Indianwomen—and bringing world attention to it, those who know her say.

Her biggest achievement as an administrator so far has been to organize the first-ever women’s Indian Open, just held in March at the DLF Golf & Country Club in Gurgaon. Professional players from 17 nations competed for an impressive $100,000 (Rs42 lakh); next year’s prize money will be doubled.

The India Open is not just about an international pro tournament coming to the country. It’s about the world recognizing that Indian women’s golf has matured from sari-clad, parasol-clutching socialites putting on the greens to young, confident women playing against the best for money.

It’s also a metaphor for the progress of business women, gaining green ground in an elite sport known for helping seal deals.
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CHANDIGARH: The Sanchar Nigam Executives Association (India) has launched country-wide demonstrations and day-long dharna at SSA/CGM/Corporate office headquarters on Monday to protest against ‘threatening, unwarranted, continuing and completely unacceptable delay in procurement of 2G/3G GSM equipment.

Giving details of the association’s action, Amarjit Singh Chauhan, Circle Secretary of Sanchar Nigam Executives Association, Punjab Telecom Circle Headquarters, Chandigarh, disclosed that the lunch-on dharna would culminate into a day long dharna on June 29.

Amarjit said that BSNL had been facing an extremely critical and precarious situation in terms of having reached a point of saturation in the mobile sector for the last 8 to 9 months. “No action for placement of purchase order for procurement of 45.5 million GSM lines, tender for purchase of which has been approved more than 10 months before.”

Amarjit and other other SNEA office-bearers alleged that the BSNL management did not take further action for procurement of the order due to “sheer inept and unprofessional handling of the cases filed by the Motorola in Delhi High Court by the counsels representing Union of India and BSNL as respondents. It resulted in loss of crucial period of about eight months which was obviously and fully exploited by the private operators to expand their customer base and substantially enlarge their market share.

In a communication, dated June 1, 2007 to the Minister of Communication and IT, Mr A Raja, the association has pointed out that Motorola has withdrawn the case from the Delhi High Court but for the purchase order for procurement of the first phase of 45.5 m lines was yet to be placed. “This only adversely reflects the state of affairs in which the interests of BSNL are being treated, jeopardized and undermined.”
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CHANDIGARH: The turnover on commodities exchanges has surprised even the experts as it crossed Rs 20,000 crore mark in just three years. In Punjab and Chandigarh the daily turnover on commodities exchange is about Rs 210 crore a major landmark and indicator of bright future for these exchanges.

In comparison the stock exchange turnover crossed Rs 60,000 crore in 100 years. Experts opine going by the brisk activity on commodities exchange, it appears certain this would cross Rs 60,000 mark in next three years and match the present turnover of stock exchanges. However in five years, the turnover on commodities exchanges would cross Rs 1,00,000 crore mark.

Enquiries from commodities exchange stock brokers by FE revealed, in Punjab and Chandigarh the daily turnover on commodities exchange is about Rs 200 crore. In comparison the turnover of stock exchange is about Rs 600 crore.

Leading stock broker, V Kumar from Vikson Finance says the response to commodities exchange is tremendous and he is sure it would surpass stock exchange in next three to five years. Adding he said this would necessiate a strong mechanism and a regulatory body. He said in the absence of a regulatory body with teeth and powers to prosecute, the commodities exchanges will be susceptible to frauds and manipulation as witnessed with stock exchanges. At present Forward Trading Commission looks after the functioning of these exchanges.

Kumar says the world over commodities exchanges turnover is four times more than the stock exchanges. Since in India the commodities exchanges are new, they are yet to catch up with the trend world over.
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