PESHAWAR, May 15: The Chowk Yadgar Underground Market Association has expressed concern over opening an underpass to traffic which has resulted in noise and air pollution in the area. In a press release issued here on Sunday, the shopkeepers and the car-parking management have asked the government to immediately close the underpass for traffic.

They stated that after the construction of the new design for Chowk Yadgar it was seen that it was not feasible to open the underpass for traffic as it would result in excessive pollution.

They said that due to the same reason the road was closed for traffic and only vehicles which needed to be parked there were allowed entrance.

They said that previously the road was only used by pedestrians.

The shopkeepers and car-parking management said that the underpass portion of Chowk Yadgar was constructed in a manner which made it unsuitable for vehicles, especially rickshaws, as the noise reverberated all around disturbing the peace of the area and affecting the hearing ability of shopkeepers.

They said that several shopkeepers had started suffering from various diseases, including chest and ear infections, because of the air and noise pollution.

BRAINSTORM 2005: The Brainstorms Group, Peshawar, and E-Commerce Gateway, Singapore, are jointly organizing an IT exhibition and a conference in Peshawar in which major information technology, office computer equipment, mobile phone, computer software and hardware companies and banks are participating.

A Memorandum of Understanding regarding the joint venture of IT exhibition and conference was signed between the two groups at the office of Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (Smeda) here on Saturday.

Zafarullah Khan, director, Brainstorms Group of Colleges, and Attiqur Rehman, director, E-Commerce Gateway, signed the documents, said a press release.

The event includes an IT conference in which IT professionals from all over Pakistan and particularly from the NWFP will deliver papers on the use of information technology and its advantages.

Brainstorm-2005 is being held on 28th and 29th May, 2005 at a local hotel.

The event will consist of an exhibition of Software, Hardware, Telecom and educational services; software and quiz competitions, and a conference on call centre and ITES, Telecom and Networking.

The event aims at gathering of IT stakeholders from all over Pakistan.

This is part of an effort to boost the local IT market and provide students better technology opportunities.