The Hindu : New Delhi News : Briefly

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Briefly

Travel fair opens on February 25

NEW DELHI FEB. 22. The 42nd Travel and Tourism Fair (TTF) and Outbound Travel Mart (OTM) open at the Ashoka Hotel here on February 25. Travel and hospitality industries comprising hotels, resorts, travel agents, tour operators, airlines, cruise lines, railways, credit cards and travel insurance, national and State tourism organisations would participate in the three-day event.

Over 200 participants from 13 countries would be taking part in the fair, including Austria, Bhutan, China, Cambodia, Egypt, Hong Kong, Italy, Macau, Nepal, New Zealand, Switzerland, Thailand and Turkey.

The morning hours have been reserved for travel trade.

Sheila inaugurates Kisan Haat

NEW DELHI FEB. 22. The Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, today inaugurated the Capital's first Kisan Haat at Andheria More in South Delhi. The Kisan Haat, a unique project to encourage direct selling of the produce by farmers, is spread over an area of 9,000 sq yards and has been built at a cost of Rs 3 crores. It would provide space to 300 farmers to sell their produce to the consumers directly.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said that the market had 99 small shops, four big ones and a restaurant with all the modern facilities. The main objective of the Kisan Haat was to eliminate the role of commission agents and ensure remunerative prices to the farmers who could in turn provide fresh vegetables and fruits to the consumers at reasonable rates. The Food and Supplies Minister, Raj Kumar Chauhan, and the Outer Delhi Member of Parliament, Sajjan Kumar, were also present on the occasion.

Smart card payphone service

NEW DELHI FEB. 22 . MTNL is launching its smart card payphone service. The service provides the user the facility to use to make Local/STD/ISD calls using chip-based smart cards. The smart cards are to be used through special payphone instruments. Initially, 200 payphones will be installed in Delhi.

One can make a call by inserting the smart card into a special slot provided in the payphone. The payphone displays the initial balance of the units available in the card. As soon as the call starts, the number of units starts decrementing according to the pulse rate.

The smart cards are available in the denominations of Rs.100 and Rs. 200 inclusive of service tax. The call charges are Rs.1.10 per pulse. VCC cards can also be used from these payphones. The system also supports credit cards for making calls. However, this feature will be provided later on.

Rs. 25 lakhs for tsunami victims

NEW DELHI FEB. 22. The schools and institutions run by the Apeejay Education Society have demonstrated what the youth of the country can do when the nation faces a calamity. A group of students of Apeejay Education Society recently met the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, and handed over a cheque for Rs.25 lakhs for the tsunami victims, An initial contribution of Rs.5 lakhs had been made to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund on January 11 itself by the Society's management.

Immediately after the tsunami struck on December 26 last, Stya Paul, the Founder President of the Apeejay Education Society, had issued an appeal to all its principals, staff and students to come forward and contribute in anyway they could. Expressing his happiness over the overwhelming response to his appeal, Dr. Stya Paul said: "It gives a feeling of immense satisfaction to see that our students, who are the future citizen and leaders of the country, have once again demonstrated strong sense of humane values.''

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