Aditya Birla group’s Indian Rayon Industries Ltd. today announced acquisition of Madura Garments, readymade garments division of Madura Coats Ltd., including rights for its premium brands in SAARC and Middle East regions for a total consideration of Rs. 236.23 crore.

The acquisition of Madura Garments and International Brands such as Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly, Byford, Peter England and SanFrisco would catapult the Indian Rayon group as India’s largest branded apparel company.

Indian Rayon will acquire Madura Garments from Madura Coats, a subsidiary of Coats Viyella Plc, UK, together with all the employees, brand licences, distribution and manufacturing networks for a consideration of Rs. 189.23 crore and will become the owner/licensee for India for the premium brands.

DSP Merril Lynch acted as the investment banker to Indian Rayon for the acquisition, while Ernst & Young carried out the due diligence.

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Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib and Anandpur Sahib has honoured Pran Sabharwal and Sunita Sabharwal for their Punjabi musical production "Odak Sach Rahi", based on the life and teachings of 10^th Guru Gobind Singh Ji at a drug de-addiction conference that concluded here.

The play that emphasises on the need for emotional integration and drug-free society was earlier presented by 50-member team of National Theatre Arts Society (NTAS), Patiala, at the conference. Prof. Manjit Singh presides over the function and presented mementoes to the artistes.

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Calling for a more tax-payer friendly approach on part of the income Tax Department, the Director-General (Investigation), Mr. S.C. Parija, said that no harassment would be meted out to the assesses during survey and seizure and the assets, cash and jewellery already declared by the assess to the Income Tax Department would not be seized during search operations.

Mr. Parija was addressing a meeting of the District Taxation Bar Association (direct taxes). He also said that the Income Tax Department would not force any assessee to surrender any amount during search.

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KRIBHCO and the Agriculture Department organised a co-operative conference at Padhri Kalan village, which has been adopted under the Integrated Rural Development and self-employment Scheme. About 250 employees and officials of the co-operative, agriculture and other departments concerned participated.

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HUDCO has sanctioned Rs. 3.95 crore to the Punjab Police Housing Corporation for the construction of 157 houses for police personnel at the local Police Lines. Official sources said the release of funds had been held up because the government guarantee had not been received and the executing agency had not signed the loan agreement.

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Department of Telecom Services today said it would provide STD facility in all village public telephones (VPT) with all the rural exchanges being upgraded for meeting this requirement. An internal committee set up by the department has recommended induction of wireless in the local loop to increase telecom penetration in rural areas, satellite terminals to reach out to remote areas and installation of VPTs in village grocery shops, Communications Minister Ram Vilas Paswan announced.

The committee, headed by Minister of State for Communications Tapan Sikdar also recommended that security deposit to provide STD on VPTs should be reduced from Rs 500 to Rs 250 and the minimum guarantee of minimum monthly revenue of Rs 100 should be removed.

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Thirty MPs belonging to various political parties to day urged the Union Home Minister to intervene to stop the alleged "forcible and illegal collection" by Delhi Police and Transport Authority personnel from taxi drivers of Punjab at Indira Gandhi International Airport.

In a letter to the Union Home Minister. Mr L.K. Advani, signed jointly by the MPs cutting across party lines, said taxi owners from Punjab who run their vehicles from Punjab to IGI airport had made a representation that Delhi traffic police and traffic authorities of Delhi were extorting money from them despite their having the required papers.

The MPs said most of the taxi owners were unemployed educated youth and plied taxis by getting loans through self-employment schemes.

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The Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, today announced that a master-plan for the all-round development of this historic town would be prepared in two months. This would be made in consultation with the local residents. Mr Badal was addressing a religious congregation organised on the occasion of the Shaheedi Jor Mela held at Gurdwara Katalgarh Sahib.

He said that he would send a team of renowned architects and town planners here for the purpose. They would prepare schemes as per the desires and requirements of the residents. He also announced that after the preparation of the master plan, the development work would start on a war footing.

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The Parliament today passed a Bill for amending the Copyright Act, 1957, seeking to extend the term of protection of performers' rights from 25 to 50 years with the Lok Sabha approving it by a voice vote.

The Copyright (Amendment) Bill, 1999, already passed by the Rajya Sabha, seeks to provide for powers to government to extend the provision of the Act to broadcasts and performances made in other countries provided those countries give similar protection to broadcasts and performances made in India.

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The Supreme Court has lifted the ban on night viewing of the Taj Mahal for three days. State Tourism Minister Ashok Yadav told that the final decision on the court's stay order would be taken on the next hearing. The Supreme Court had earlier stayed the government plans to open the Taj for night viewing following a writ petition filed by environmentalist M.C. Mehta. Meanwhile, a report from Agra said the Taj Mahal was opened to visitors at 8.30 p.m. today, a total of four hundred tourists would be allowed inside the Taj premises in four batches.

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A book "Gur-Sikhi Jeevan" written by Mr Surinderjit Singh Pall, Commissioner of Income Tax, Amritsar and Jammu and Kashmir, was released by Mr H.S. Soch, vice-chancellor, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.

The book describes important ceremonies, rules and regulations which should be followed by a Gur-Sikh in accordance with the tents enshrined in Guru Granth Sahib.

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"Close-Up Web Antakshri", India's first multi-user graming concept, was launched by Antakshri TV musical anchor Annu Kapoor.

The gaming concept, conceived and hosted by youth and entertainment portal "hungama. com" is targeted at youth, who are getting more technology savvy these days, and it is centred around the nation's favourite pastime Bollywood, Hindustan Lever, Ltd senior Product Manager Sanjay Gupta said.

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Power distribution will be privatised in Chandigarh for this the Union Power Ministry has appointed a committee to undertake the privatisation work and appoint consultants to do valuation of the distribution assets in the city.

As per the Ministry figures, Chandigarh does not have power shortage. From April to October, 1999 Chandigarh's power requirement was 659 million units, which was fully met. Chandigarh gets most of its power from the Bhakhra hydel project at a cheap rate.

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The Punjab government would introduce a uniform rate of sales tax from January 1 next year as per the decision taken at a meeting of the standing committee of the Finance Ministers from six states.

Punjab Finance Minister Capt Kanwaljit Singh, who is a member of the standing committee, said the standing committee would meet again on January 10 to review compliance by all the states and the union territories.

The defaulting states would not be favoured for central assistance. Moreover, the implementation of the new simplified tax structure was in accordance with the SAARC decision to have free trade in the region by 2001. It would also plug tax evasion.

Petrol and the Indian Made Foreign Liquor would now be available at the same rate in Punjab and the Union territory of Chandigarh. Presently, petrol and IMFL are cheaper in Chandigarh. New industrial units would not be eligible for sales tax concession now. This would help check the shifting of trade. However, infrastructure concessions would be given.

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The Punjab government has chalked out an integrated programme for the conservation and preservation of the three designated wetlands at Harike, Kanjli and Ropar.

The state government has already submitted a Rs 48.5 crore scheme for eco-development of the Harike wetland to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests for World Bank funding.

The proposal seeks to strengthen the ongoing environmental programmes including afforestation, protection of wildlife, control of water hyacinth and other weeds, conservation of soil and introduction of ecotourism.

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Work at the Khalsa Heritage Memorial Complex (KHMC) at Anandpur Sahib would commence in March, with three companies being finalised for the project. The three companies were approved by the famous architect Moshe Safdi and their names and the tender documents were presented to the Punjab Chief Minister.

Ninety-seven companies had applied for the project out of which nine were shortlisted. After interviews, the list was reduced to three, namely Larsen and Toubro, Tirath Ram and S.K. Ahluwalia.

Tender for the project is expected to be out on Monday and the project is expected to be over in two and a half years.

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The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee has decided to honour prominent Dhadi and Kavishar jathas, a press statement said. According to the release, a Dhadi Darbar would be organised by the Dharam Parchar Committee of the SGPC at Madhoke Brarar village on December 29 and 30.

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Escotel Mobile Communication Ltd. has introduced the 'India Card’; whereby a person can dial and receive calls fran anywhere in India. Its beneficial for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) who on short business trip have to be in touch with a given contact number through the Escotel mobile phones. The India Card comes under two time schemes, one is for 15-day period costing about Rs 2100 while a 30-day India Card cost Rs 2625.