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THE news-item “Restart quality centre: industry” (June 13) does not give a correct picture of the scientific instruments industry. It gives a misleading picture of the Instrument Design Development and Facilities Centre (IDDC), Ambala Cantt.

The IDDC was established with the active cooperation of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), New Delhi, and the Government of Haryana. UNIDO contributed machinery and equipment worth Rs 2 crore to establish the centre. The IDDC was established to promote the design and development of new instruments and to provide infrastructural facilities to the industrial units in Ambala Cantt. In the last 15 years eight small-scale industrial units of Ambala Cantt have got the ISI mark for manufacturing microscopes due to the technical support of the IDDC.

The IDDC has developed guidoscope to find the trajectory of missiles. This instrument was awarded a national award by the Government of India on Republic Day in 1991. In addition, the IDDC has rendered valuable design and development support to the prestigious defence organisations like Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, the Indian Space Research Organisation, Bharat Electronics Limited and Instrument Research and Development Establishment in their efforts to fabricate sub-assemblies of laser-range finder electronics instruments and X-ray machines.

The IDDC is already an approved calibration laboratory of the National Accreditation Board of Laboratories of the Government of India, New Delhi. The IDDC is providing valuable services in lens polishing and grind to almost 80 small-scale industrial unit of Ambala Cantt. It is providing calibration services to small-scale units in entire northern India. Two industrial units of Ambala Cantt have received ISO 9000 certification in electronics and electrical instruments due to the IDDC calibration support.

Therefore, it is wrong to allege that the engineers of the IDDC never visited industrial units. It is also wrong to say that the testing instruments are lying idle. Rather the IDDC is maintaining calibrated instruments, and most of its instruments are maintained at regular intervals with the help of manufacturers.

ANIL JAIN
President,
Ambala Scientific Instruments Manufacturers’ Association
Ambala Cantt

Sants’ procession

This refers to the news-item “Sants’ procession stopped” (June 14).

The police was fully justified in its action as the villagers had reportedly blocked the ingress to the “dera” and there was an apprehension of a clash between the two groups.

It was not a “procession”, which is generally taken out in a formal manner as a religious ceremony or on a festive occasion, but a protest march led by some leaders of different Akali factions and representatives of the Gurmat Sikh Sidhant Pracharak Sant Samaj against the arrest of Sant Baba Darshan Singh of Dhakki Sahib Maksoodaran (Ludhiana) in a land grab case.

As per the report, “Tohra’s defence of sant hypocritical” (June 7), some SAD leaders said that a few months ago Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra had criticised the Baba and asked the villagers to demand the return of the land.

However, after forming a separate Akali Dal, accompanied by Mr Kuldip Singh Wadala, Mr Jasbir Singh Rode and some representatives of the Sant Samaj, he submitted a memorandum to the Punjab Governor against the arrest of the sant and threatened to organise a march from Ludhiana to Chandigarh. Had the sant all of a sudden became an angel?

Akali leaders and representatives of the Samaj threatened to launch a “dharam yudh” if the sant was not released. Have they forgotten the disastrous results of the earlier “dharam yudh”, which led to the most unfortunate Operation Bluestar? They should not try to disturb the peace in the state, when war clouds are hovering over the Indo-Pak border.

It would have been better if they had passed a resolution condemning Pakistan for creating trouble in the Kargil and Dras sectors of Jammu and Kashmir.

It is the season for sowing paddy and other crops. Farmers should not waste their precious time and energy by participating in protest marches and pursue their agricultural operations.

BHAGWAN SINGH
Qadian

This is in response to the news regarding the demolition drive by HUDA in Panchkula.

The basic idea behind the setting up of HUDA is urban development and not demolition. The residents of Panchkula are helping HUDA to develop open spaces in front of their houses. In fact, HUDA has failed to recognise the role of citizens in developing a town, and demolition has been ordered without any thought to space utility. Of course, it is encroachment if the land is used for commercial purposes, or if there is any objection by the residents.

However, many people do not bother about public inconvenience and are motivated by self-interest. They are required to leave two metres of space along the road berms to facilitate pedestrian movement and vehicular traffic, or guest parking. The violations are: (1) The corner houses have grown tall hedges upto road berms, causing the narrowing of the road and making it a dangerous and blind curve for turning vehicles. (2) Many have even demolished their front boundary walls to extend their lawns upto the road berm separating it with a tall hedge and barbed wires. I feel it is the duty of residents to feel for others instead of self-satisfaction. The authority has to act to remove such violations.

In the interest of beautification and open space development HUDA should make it mandatory for all residents to leave two metres of space from the road berm and allow tow wall upto 0.30 metre to control soil erosion during the rains. This tow wall may have angle iron poles upto 1.5 metres from the road level and allow wire netting in between the angle poles to prevent the movement of cows and dogs. This should give a clear vision of the boundary wall, flowers and the lawns.

The residents should not do anything if the space between the road berm and the boundary wall is two metres or less. The drive way is the property of the owner. The tow wall along the drive way should not be touched.

The people of Panchkula have already faced a lot of harassment and inconvenience owing to the activities of the Telecom Department for breaking and digging their drive-ways almost every three years. The department has also not asked even once for any damages.

So far so good HUDA should act as a friend and not just as a legally constituted authority to demolish the government-citizen relationship.

	M A I L B A G	Monday, June 21, 1999
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