No ring in Zirakpur phones
From Our Correspondent

ZIRAKPUR, Dec 12 — Telephone users of more than half-a-dozen villages connected with this exchange are resentful on an account of the problems they have been facing for the past one week.

Telecom services in Zirakpur and its adjoining villages went haywire on Monday and have since not returned to normal. Subscribers complain that dead phones have become a regular phenomenon and the department was doing little about it, despite their complaints.

Businessmen in the area complain that they are suffering losses. A cement dealer maintained that in the absence of any communication, he was loosing more than Rs 7,000 per day as his clients were unable to contact him.

"Every time one dials a number, a pre-recorded voice declares 'all the routes on this line are busy'. You dial again and get the same response, and it goes on and on," they lament.

Both incoming and outgoing calls take a long time, complains a subscriber. One has to go all the way to Panchkula to make a call. Moreover, the local subscribers are unable to get the paging and cellular services, he added.

Public call office (PCO) owners of the area also complained of a fall in their business. A PCO holder said that due to faults in the lines, their telephones remain non-functional for long periods.

The East inspires them
By Sonoo Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 12 — What happens when an aerospace engineer, a computer programmer, a world traveller, a teacher of French literature, a pharmacist, a merchandiser and a business analyst, all of who happen to be young Indian professionals working in the West, take time off their professions and start working together here in this country? Well, nothing very predictable, instead all these young persons joined a non-government organisation (NGO), called FATEH (Fellowship of Activists to Embrace Humanity), which functions as a human development organisation with an emphasis on education. And education which focuses on various issues ranging from cultural education to language issues, to counselling, to creative learning, to youth empowerment.

Working from an office based in Gurdwara Kanthala Sahib, Industrial Phase II, these seven full-time volunteers for FATEH are either from the USA or the UK, who have simply taken time off their busy but comfortable lives to make a difference to the lives of the under-privileged of this land — the land where their roots emerge from. In the age group of about 20 to 30 years, these professionals have arrived here without knowing the language, and in some cases also the culture of this place, to assist and work with human development organisations.

The organisation, which was set up in the city in September last year, has set its general objectives so as to respond to the needs of the indigent through spiritual, physical, mental and educational development and uplift without distinction to caste, creed, gender or religion. The NGO, otherwise, is even hesitant to talk much about its work or the people involved with the work since there seemed to be this ambience of youthful zeal and faith of ''making a choice from within to do this kind of work''. Also, the organisation insists that not only are they a very new set-up but they still have loads of work to do. With these youngsters having given away some of the ''best years of their lives'', and to some extent their resources that they had saved over the years of their professional careers to development work, it is quite evident that all of them are very publicity shy.

Talking to the TNS, Harinder Singh, one of the coordinators, said: ''Our role is to create a network or a platform in order to form a bridge between the human development organisations and volunteers from mainstream populations”.

Since FATEH basically acts as a consultant, an information source, an evaluator and as volunteers to respond to the needs of society, one of their present programmes is providing their services to an orphanage in Kharar. Also the organisation has now been running empowerment camps, every two months in the city schools.

Every Saturday, they have also started an ''open forum'' for college students which would provide a platform for them to talk and discuss any issues pertaining to them.

When asked whether it was just a coincidence that most of these students happen to be from the Sikh community, Navleen Kaur, another coordinator, replied that the organisation was certainly not a religious body, but a development organisation which did get its inspiration from the Sikh Gurus.

Interestingly, the NGO does not only implement various development projects for the indigent individuals of society but is also involved in learning the culture and the language of their country. For the time being these youngsters have a Punjabi language teacher and a classical music teacher to ''sensitise us to the culture of the land''.

About their experiences here they said: ''It is amazing how culturally different things are here from the West, but then all this has been quite a bit of a learning experience for all of us. In the end, we all learn to survive''. A very candid Harinder added that this was not a long-term thing that most of them could do, ''but all this experience could certainly be used back in our own fields of work, where we could run our own projects, maybe with the minimum of resources''.

But how did their parents react? All these youngsters did have to face the initial hurdles of making their parents believe in their own beliefs, but then they all added that after a couple of months of seeing their work, the parents themselves became their biggest supporters. An inspiration for youngsters here to devote some of their time, energy and resources in community development work?

Meanwhile, FATEH has also been created to render any social, moral, medical and financial assistance to the poor and needy. The organisation would also aid or establish any institution or adopt any means for promoting the fields of art and science, or to promote self-help programmes to increase the skills of the disadvantaged sections of society.

This NGO could be reached at PO Box 1409, chandigarh or e-mailed at m2000@fatehworld.org.

Endless wait for land
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 12 — The Kanthala Oustees Rehabilitation Welfare Committee will submit a memorandum to the Administrator of Chandigarh, Lieut-Gen J.F.R. Jacob (retd). A decision to this effect was taken at a special congregation held at Gurdwara Kanthala Sahib, near The Tribune intersection, today.

The committee maintained that residents of eight villages, including Kanthala, who were ousted after acquisition of their land by the Chandigarh Administration for the Capital Project on December 13,1969, have been moving from pillar to post to get the status of oustee and rehabilitation thereafter on its basis.

The committee has demanded rehabilitation of the Kanthala oustees on a priority basis, maintaining that its members are original Chandigarhians and cannot be compared or equated with migrants from other states for whom various rehabilitation schemes are being announced from time to time.

The society has demanded that the rehabilitation of the Kanthala oustees should be done on the basis of a Cooperative House Building Society formed by members of the society. The committee wants that land should be allotted to this society at the same rate at which the land was acquired in 1969.

The society further said that the Administration could either allot its members freehold residential or commercial property by earmarking a special sector so that the oustees get properly compensated.

Another alternative suggested by the committee was carving out an independent colony for Kanthala oustees.

The committee also wants that oustees of Kanthala be declared refugees or oustees as per the Refugee Act.

Development projects taken up
From Bipin Bhardwaj

DERA BASSI, Dec 12 — Under its development programme, the Dera Bassi Municipal Council has taken up various projects such as beautification of the town, installation of lights along the national highway and in streets of the town and laying of sewerage lines in different colonies falling within the municipal limits.

As many as 500 electricity poles will be installed in the town. Of these 50 electricity poles will be installed on the road dividers, a stretch of 1 km of the national highway near from DAV High School to Adarsh Nagar, and the rest will be installed on the streets of the town.

The Municipal Council has a proposal to lay sewerage system in Gulabgarh area, which will cost nearly Rs 3.75 lakh. The civic body has already deposited some amount with the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board, sources said.

According to Mr Jagjit Singh Dalli, President of the Municipal Council, it will spend Rs 10 lakh on the installation of 50 electricity poles along the national highway alone. All electricity poles will be fitted with sodium bulbs. About the installation of electricity poles in the streets of the town, the civic body will enter into an agreement with the authorities of the electricity department.

The civic body has a proposal to dig two deep-bore tubewells to meet water shortage in the area. The Municipal Council has already made representation to the Punjab Government. After completing the digging of the tubewells, sewerage pipes will be laid in Sarswati Vihar, Preet Nagar and Shakti Nagar, Mohan Nagar and Adarsh Nagar, said Mr Dalli.

A pucca road from Ram Temple to GT road crossing through the local Anaaj Mandi will be constructed soon. The road crossing the town via Acharya Atama Ram Model School till DAV High School would be recarpeted, he claimed.

The civic body has started the construction of a cremation ground on the Dera Bassi- Saidpura road which will come up at a cost of nearly Rs 4 lakh. In addition, the civic body has almost completed the construction works of the Ravidas Bhavan and the Municipal Saini Bhavan.