According to the Powergrid Corporation's chairman and managing director, R P Singh, a new 200 KV transmission line is being erected from Faridabad to DLF City to feed Gurgaon with stable electricity from two sides, thus ensuring that at no time of day or night Gurgaon goes without power.

Another two 400 KV transmission lines are in the process of being erected for Kaithak and Sirsa.

The transformer capacity at Ballabgarh is being augmented to enhance availability of power in the Faridabad-Gurgaon area. Transmission capacity too will be augmented. The 220/66 KV sub-station at Ballabgarh is to be connected directly to Gurgaon's network to directly feed power from NTPC's gas-based project at Palli (Faridabad) into this circuit. The DLF City sub-station would provide another feed-point to the Gurgaon-based 66 KV ring of the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam.

The Powergrid Corporation's chief estimated that Rs 925 crore would be invested in Haryana during the next five years. The corporation's corporate office and a residential complex are coming up at Sector 43 in Gurgaon.

The foundation stone for the complex was laid last week by the Haryana chief minister, Om Prakash Chautala, in Guragon's Sector 43.

Speaking on the occasion, the Union energy minister, Suresh Prabhu, said that the state government should explore the possibility of distributing power through cooperatives. Gurgaon could be made a model district in this regard, he said.

Barcodes welcomed
Industry in Haryana is happy with the introduction of barcodes for packaged goods. According to a Gurgaon-based exporter of labels, Mr P C Jain (of Great Eastern Impex): "European and US exporters had been using barcodes (though differently named) for well over 25 years. Being a signatory to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), India too was under obligation to prescribe to such a code from April 1." But for various reasons, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) delayed issuing a notification in this regard." Executives of SmithKline Beecham and Nestle hope that by adopting barcodes, Indian food and pharmaceutical products would be more competitive.

Both SmithKline Beecham and Nestle, have, it may be recalled, set up their corporate houses in Gurgaon-based DLF City. Bambino Agro Industries, which sells its vermicelli and macaroni in several countries, says that it has long wanted mandatory barcodes so as to be internationally competitive.

D S Brar of Ranbaxy in Gurgaon's Sector 18 said: " The Union commerce ministry deserves kudos for introducing barcodes for pharmaceutical products. Unaided by the barcode, even smaller European pharmaceutical groups often recommended their medicines against those made by the best of groups in India, only because in those countries, they retail under the code."

One of the very few ISO 9002 automotive cable and brake shoe manufacturers of India, Remsons India, has been in the export business for long. And its products are, in many markets, preferred to those made in the US or Europe. With barcodes, Remsons no longer has to worry about fakes being sold under its name in the Indian market.

KC Lakhani of Lakhani Shoes, Faridabad, has called upon the manufacturers of leather goods to enter the world retail market with bar codes.

To D K Jain of Cosco (India),the DGFT's notification will give a great fillip to India's sports goods industry.