Noida: The Uttar Pradesh Tennis Association (UPTA) has asked the All India Tennis Association (AITA) to allow it to host the India-Australia Davis Cup tie at the Tennis Complex in Noida.

The Indian players want to play the tie, starting May 8, on hard courts rather than the traditional grass courts against a tough team like Australia.

UPTA secretary CP Kackar confirmed he had approached AITA secretary-general Anil Khanna. “We are hopeful of getting a chance to host the important tie in Noida,” said Kackar.

The UPTA has hosted five Davis Cup ties in the past with the India-Lebanon tie at Lucknow in 2000 being the last one. Prior to that, it had hosted India’s ties against Thailand (1962), Sri Lanka (1971), Japan (1974) and New Zealand (1975). “We have developed synthetic courts in Noida and that’s the perfect venue to host the India-Australia tie,” said Kackar.
Meanwhile, a top AITA official said the hosts should take full advantage of playing at home.

Noida: Parents in the National Capital Region (NCR) Monday held demonstrations against the hike in school fees of their children in the times of recession.

A group of about 150 parents held an agitation outside Ryan International and Sommerville schools in Greater Noida while in Noida the demonstration was held outside the Delhi Public School to demand a roll-back of fee hike.

In Ghaziabad, a protest was organised at the Dehradun Public School.

The protesters asked the schools to revoke the hike and threatened to boycott the Lok Sabha polls if their demands were not met.

Most private schools in the capital and nearby townships have increased the fees in view of the hike in salaries of government employees on the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission. To pay the arrears to the teachers, the schools have passed off the burden to the parents.

“We are already going through tough times. Many of the parents have also lost their jobs during current recession. The schools, instead of understanding this, have passed off the entire burden on to us,” said Anup Khanna, general secretary of Gautam Budh Nagar Guardians’ Association.

“This is really pinching our pockets. Only we know how we are managing the entire finances,” Khanna said.
“The schools are humiliating us during these tough times. We have decided not to pay the arrears that the schools have demanded from us,” said Khanna.

Noida: The curtain will go up on the flower show 2009 from today. As every year, the sprawling grounds will once again blossom into one of the most happening venues. Yes, the time has come to experience the fragrant spectacle of floral and landscaping displays at the Vasant Utsav from February 27 to March 1 at the Noida Stadium, Sector 21A.

The New Okhla Industrial Development Authority in association with the Floriculture Society is hosting the popular annual event, voted to be one of the largest shows in the country, for the garden lovers and enthusiasts in and around Noida, Delhi and its surrounding areas. The participants over 100 in number will include some well-known green experts. With over a hundred varieties of flowers, 40 categories will compete for a favored position during the show. Special classes for the competition will include bonsai, cacti and succulents, bottle gardens, roses, bulbous plants, a large section of foliage, hanging baskets, cut flowers and vegetables and much, much more. A lecture on medicinal plants will be held on February 27 between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.

The highlight of the event is a special competition for arranging an ’on-the-spot Japanese garden’ while the theme flower of this year is ’Cineraria’ which is a unique, sweet-scented and beautiful flower. It is a pot plant grown for its impressive heads of daisy-shaped flowers, each about three inches wide. They vary in height and colour. The most common floral pattern is a pastel shade of red, blue, mauve or purple, surrounding a typical daisy centre, but some are in single colour.

Special attractions of the show will have unique flower displays, cut flower displays and foliage arrangements to refer to a few. Various commercial stalls related to floriculture and horticulture will be set up by different states of the country. Apart from the flowers, which undoubtedly are the attraction, several stalls selling organic manure, seeds, fruit plants, pottery, ceramics, traditional medicines, aromas for therapy, bonsais, cacti etc will be worth checking out.

Bahar, a cultural programme is slotted for February 27 from 8:30 p.m. onwards and a Kavi Sammelan is scheduled on the evening of February 28. An on-the-spot painting competition for children is planned on March 1 at 9:00 a.m. While the show will be declared open by the Noida Authority chief executive officer, Mohinder Singh at 3:30 p.m. on February 27, the Noida and Greater Noida chairman, Lalit Srivastava, will distribute the prizes on March 1 at 3:30 p.m. The show timings are from 10 a.m. through 9 p.m. and the entry for visitors from gate no: 3, is free.

Noida: The Noida Authority Board in its recent 159th meeting has decided on executing a host of development projects meant for strengthening infrastructure in the city. The nod was given for accomplishing the tasks with an aim to give a facelift to the city. Says Mohinder Singh, NA Chief Executive Officer (CEO), “The pace of development of various projects will be accelerated so that all the facilities are in place by 2010 for the Commonwealth Games.” On the anvil is widening of roads, building of under passes, construction of over-bridges, installation of CCTV cameras, providing the police and fire department with modern equipment, foolproof drainage systems, automated multi-level parking lots and much more.

“Unless the city knows where it has to reach over the next few years, no amount of effort will help,” says the chief of NA detailing a few of the plans.

Multi-level parking
In order to address the problem of shortage of parking space, underground parking lots will be built under ’green spaces’ or parks in the city. All parks measuring an area of 5,000 sq m or more will be earmarked for the purpose. Explains the CEO, “More than 50 parks, in both developed and upcoming sectors of the city will have underground parking facilities.” He adds, “With land getting scarce, the idea is to build multi-level underground, automated parking lots under parks which will mean optimal utilization of space while dealing with the problem of parking.” The parking lots will be constructed on the basis of bidding and developers will also be allowed to run some commercial activities to make the venture profitable. Currently three bids have already been received for building the parking facility in Sector 18. Once decided, the developer will run and maintain the parking lot for 20 years on BOT basis.

Tech-smart city
Noida will be brought under electronic surveillance. All major traffic intersections, commercial hubs and other places of prominence will soon be monitored through closed circuit television cameras (CCTVs) at a centralized control room. They will also have the night vision facility. Moreover, the surveillance system will also click close-up photographs of the person at the wheel and transmit it to the control room. “Latest technologies like GPS, general package radio system, advanced vehicle tracking system and geographical information system would be incorporated into the system for providing effective security and safety in the city,” says Singh. The authority plans to install alarm units at shopping malls, cinema halls, residential complexes and along the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway for people in distress. In case of an emergency, the person can press the alarm and a patrolling vehicle would reach the spot for help.

Putting in a new spark
NA has promised to provide a long-awaited boost to the city’s fire department. The enhancement in the infrastructural facilities of the department has fired up the personnel of the fire brigade. Citizens can now heave a sigh of relief, for a plan to make the city fire safe is clearly being chalked out. The Noida board has cleared a proposal for the NA to procure vital fire-fighting facilities for the fire department. This will mean the purchase of a 32-metre-high hydraulic platform to carry out fire-fighting and rescue operations in high-rise buildings. The NA will also procure two 12,000 liter water bowsers, three 5,000 liter and three of 2,500 liter water tenders each. One water cannon along with two foam tenders with a capacity of 5000 liters each will also procured.

Noida: It was meant to be a day when children valiantly fighting a dreaded disease could forget about their pain, even if momentarily. Yes, we are talking about the recent visit of the Punjabi pop star Shankar Shawney to the city. On the occasion, he belted out popular numbers urging all present to tap their will power to overcome cancer.

Organised by the Cancer Patients Aid Association (CPAA), the day was earmarked for laughter and fun at the World of Wonder, Amusement Park located at Sector 38A. More than 50 cancer patients, some terminally ill, enjoyed the park rides and were regaled with a magic show. Gifts were also given to all the patients present on the occasion. Singer Shankar crooned hot favorites like ’Kudi Kurmari’ and ’Dekha Jo Tujhe Yaar Dil Mein Bajee Guitar’ and many more.

Speaking on the occasion, Kiran Hukku of CPAA appealed to people to support cancer patients in whichever way possible. “We are just trying to bring a ray of sunshine into their lives.” She added, “We just wanted them to forget their pain and relieve them of stress. The singing and dancing along with the gifts they wished for are just a means of doing so.” CPAA provides medical aid, food, toys, books and counseling to cancer patients. Moreover, the organization is involved in several activities at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), at Loknayak Jayprakash Narayan (LNJP) and Safdarjung Hospitals.

Noida: Industrial rents in Greater Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi, posted a growth of 25% year-on-year in 2008, the eighth highest annual growth in the world, according to a report by real estate advisory Cushman and Wakefield Inc.

The annual report, titled ‘Industrial Space Across the World’, provides a detailed analysis of prime industrial property rental performance and occupancy costs across the globe. The latest report is based on a survey of 135 locations.

Greater Noida, which falls in Uttar Pradesh, was planned with an aim to attract medium and large-scale industries. Industrial rents in the city primarily moved nothwards last year because vacancy levels were marginal and there was limited supply that came into this market. So demand overpowered supply in the area. Also, sectors such as engineering goods, electronic goods, auto and auto ancillary showed interest in setting up units in Greater Noida and the area was promoted as an ideal campus location.

Peenya Industrial Area and Bommasandra Industrial Area, both in Bangalore, recorded the 12th and 16th highest annual growth, respectively, in the report, which ranks London’s Heathrow as the most expensive industrial location in the world.

“Traditionally expensive industrial locations like Mumbai, Pune, Chennai have seen a slowdown due to high price points and large scale development in recent years,” said Harleen Oberoi, executive director, industrial services, at Cushman and Wakefield. “Slowdown in the economy has affected the general uptake of industrial spaces, especially by large multinational corporations who were in the recent years keenly looking at India.”

GREATER NOIDA: Three women were killed and 22 persons injured, five of them seriously, when a speeding Honda City car crashed into a mini truck on Sunday.

Official’s wife Surbhi who was staying in sector 27. Police sources said the incident took the death toll on the 5-year-old Noida-Greater Noida Expressway to over 70.

The collision occurred about two kilometres from Pari Chowk when both the vehicles were heading towards Greater Noida. The collision threw the mini truck off the expressway after breaking through the divider. The Honda City car also somersaulted.

Kasna police station chief, Ajay Chowdhary, said, “We found some bottles in the car and Ali Zahir of sector 50 an executive with an FM channel had consumed beer. He was the one who appeared to have been driving.”

The mini truck, carrying a party of mourners from a funeral in Noida, was hit from the rear. While 16 victims were rushed to Kailash Hospital, six were taken to Sharda Hospital. Doctors at Kailash Hospital said five of the them had serious head and other injuries and were on life support system. Zahir was also admitted to the intensive care unit of the hospital.

A police officer said, “We have booked the car driver for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. This was far from a simple case of rash and negligent driving,” he added.

Greater Noida: A railway passenger was attacked by robbers who set him ablaze for refusing to part with his money and valuables and then threw him out of the train, the police said Wednesday.

The critically injured passenger was taken to the Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi with 40 percent burns.

The incident occurred at the Dadri railway station in Greater Noida.According to railway police, Mohammed Rafique Ansari of Jharkhand was travelling in a Howrah bound train when he was attacked by the robbers between Ghaziabad and Dadri and made to part with his money – Rs 6,500 - and other belongings.

When he resisted, the robbers set him afire and threw him out of the train at the Dadri railway station. The attackers then fled the spot.

Ansari remained unattended for about an hour at the railway station. An anonymous caller informed the police, who rushed Ansari to a government hospital.