Porbandar Jamnagar Junagadh District Monsoon News Gujarat India

Fresh rains give state new hope.

Neighboring state Rajasthan may have declared drought in 26 out of 33 districts, but the fresh spell of rains for the past couple of days has given a new hope to Gujarat.

What is more encouraging is that the present level of water in Sardar Sarovar Narmada dam, which is the lifeline of the state, is 120.87 m.

The crest level of the dam was 121.92 m. Officials said with Narmada brimming, the drinking water problems in the state have been solved.

Officials said the situation of Gujarat was better than any other part of the country. Though south, north and central Gujarat have received deficit rainfall, Saurashtra and Kutch were the only area in the entire country which had excess rainfall.

According to India Meteorological Department, till August 26, Saurashtra and Kutch on an average received 39.11 cm rainfall.

However, the rest of the state has received 44.26 cm of deficit rainfall.

The state average rainfall was around 96.09 cm. Officials said that just before the fresh spell of rains, there were 11 districts which had received rainfall less than 40 per cent of its average annual rainfall, but this decreased to just five per cent on Friday.

Officials said three districts have already received over 100 per cent of their annual rainfall. Porbandar has received 183.84 per cent of its annual rainfall, followed by Junagadh (124.99 per cent) and Jamnagar (120.01 per cent).

The parched region of Kutch has also received over 96.88 per cent of its average annual rainfall. On Friday too, rains continued to lash several parts of the state. Of the nearly 225 talukas, 107 talukas received heavy to moderate rainfall.

The highest rainfall reported was 10.4 cm in Songadh in Tapi region.

Salaya Jamnagar District News Samachar Gujarat India

Monsoon weddings for sailors.

The rains have brought smiles to the faces of sailors of Salaya in Jamnagar district. Monsoon being the off season for them, many have taken the opportunity to plunge into matrimony.

Around 300 marriages have taken place in the past two months in this tiny coastal town of 35,000 people!

Amin Hassan, 19, came home from sea to be married at his hometown. He is here for only two months and will leave his new bride with his family and go back to sea, only to return after 10 months.

His family is happy and busy with wedding preparations like so many others. Seher Qazi or the main priest at Jamma Masjid is on his toes registering at least 12 nikahs a day.

Aziz Sumbhaniya, owner of country made vessel Sahere Madina' with whom Amin works, said, "As most men are working on country made vessels, or businesses related to them, monsoon is the only period they get a vacation of two months."

Sumbhaniya lives in Dubai, while his family lives in Khambhalia in Jamnagar district, 13 km from Salaya. He starts his sea journey in mid-August when vessels sail to Dubai and returns home 10 months later after trips to Mogadishu, Muscat and ports of Saudi Arabia.

Omar Abbas Says, "During monsoon, the sea is rough and it's not advisable to sail. Most of us work as seamen as this is our traditional business. There is no other industry or employment opportunity at or around Salaya. Most boys become good swimmers even before they pass high school and start working with their fathers." He points to the sea and adds: "This is our high school."

Imran Anwar, who got married last year, came back in June to see his wife and family after a terrifying ordeal. His vessel had been hijacked by Somali pirates. "It was very scary. When they tortured us, I thought I would never get to see my wife again."

Most sailors and their families face this fear. Rashida Imran Says, a newly-wed, "We know about the danger but have no option but to send them to sea as this is our only source of income."

The season also brings cheer to people involved in businesses related to weddings. Such as, canopy or mandap lenders, flowers sellers and music band owners. Ishak Bandwala comes to Salaya every season all the way from Dhoraji. He and his banjo band stay for two months and earn good money.

Reliance Refinery Industries Ltd (RIL) Jamnagar News Gujarat India

RIL appoints two talented professionals as Executive Directors.

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), major player in the Indian petrochemicals sector, on Friday announced that it has appointed two new Executive Directors.

The Company appointed its senior executive Mr. PMS Prasad, who directs its upstream and refining business, and Mr. R Ravimohan, former Chairman and MD of Crisil, the premier credit ratings organization, as executive directors on its board with immediate effect.

These appointments bring the RIL board's strength to 14 members with 7 members being independent directors.

Mr. Prasad, a leading energy industry professional, has been working with RIL for more than 28 years. The project of Jamnagar refinery and petrochemical complex was headed by him.

Mr. R Ravimohan has been intimately involved with the development of Indian financial system and has pioneered the era of electronic stock markets in India.

Mr. Mukesh Ambani, RIL Chairman and MD, stated that Mr. Ravimohan is one of the best financial and risk management minds of the world, whereas Mr. Prasad has played an integral role for the growth of RIL and for its achievements. He looks ahead to the contributions of these 2 talented professionals to bring the company forward on a sped up growing track.

Shares of Reliance Industries (RIL), on Friday, closed at Rs 1,928.65, up 1.61% or Rs 30.65. The total quantity of shares traded was 772,522 on the BSE.

Swine Flu Jamnagar News Samachar Gujarat India

Government revises swine flu toll to 28.

After days of denial, the central government Wednesday revised the number of swine flu deaths to 28 from 25 though no fresh deaths were reported. The country also reported 216 new cases of Influenza A (H1N1), taking the total number of infected people to 2,243.

The cumulative deaths reported till now are 28 - Pune (13), Bangalore (5), Mumbai (3), Nasik (3), Ahmedabad (1), Chennai (1), Vadodara (1) and Thiruvananthapuram (1), the health ministry said.

The addition in death toll was one from Mumbai and two from Nashik. However, the ministry did not give details of the deaths. Till Tuesday, the health ministry had maintained that there were only 25 deaths.

It also said that 216 laboratory confirmed cases were reported Wednesday of which Mumbai had 48, Pune, 36, Nashik, Aurangabad, Rajkot and Latur three each. While Nanded reported two cases, Nagpur had 13 and Dhule had five fresh cases.

Similarly, Ratnagiri and Beed reported 2 cases each, while Buldhana Ahmednagar, Kolhapur, Satara, Dibrugarh, Jamnagar, Vadodara, Ahmedabad and Daman reported one case.

Down south, Chennai reported 30 cases, Coimbatore nine, Bangalore 17 and Mangalore one case. In Delhi, 25 fresh cases were reported and Gurgaon had three cases. Two people were tested positive for the virus in Surat.

The health ministry said so far 11,724 people have been tested out of which 2,243 are positive for Influenza A (H1N1). Of the total positive cases, 758 have been discharged.

Jamnagar District News Samachar Gujarat India

Further delay in rains harmful for crops: Irrigation dept.

Rains have given the state a miss in August as well and a further delay will lead to damage to crops. Farmers are now resorting to drawing water not only form check dams but also from main irrigation dams with nearly 96 percent sowing completed.

Irrigation department officials said that 5461 million cubic feet (MCFT) of water has been released from dams since July 30. According to data there was 238518.21 MCFT of water on July 30, but since August 19, water in the dams has reduced to 233056.75 MCFT, a fall of 5461 MCFT. They added that this decrease was only from the major irrigation dams as data for check dams was not available.

Any further delay in rains will definitely affect ground nut and cotton crops, adding that, if there was a good spell in the next couple of days it would ensure a bumper crop.

CA Patel, deputy director, irrigation says, "There is no fear of crop failure, however, further delay of monsoon will definitely deteriorate the quality of crop."

According to data available cotton has the highest sowing area of 25.84 lakh hectares. A senior officer said maximum sowing was done in Surendranagar district with 7.12 lakh hectares.

Other areas where major sowing was done included Rajkot (7.07 lakh ha), Jamnagar (6.07 lakh ha), Amreli (5.51 lakh ha) and Bhavnagar (5.44 lakh ha) and Banaskantha (5.34 lakh ha). Of the 25 districts, there were three districts where sowing was below 1 lakh hectares. In Ahmedabad district, the sowing was around 4.34 lakh hectares. Officials said Saurashtra and Kutch account for over 55 per cent of total sowing in the state.

Jamnagar Surendranagar District Tarnetar Fair Swine Flu News Gujarat India

With the fairs and festivities of last week supposedly causing the sudden spurt in cases of H1N1 flu in Saurashtra, Surendranagar district health officials are trying to prevent the spread further in the forthcoming Tarnetar Fair to being on August 22 in the district.

Chief District Health officer of Surendranagar district, Dr BR Solanki said, "We have set up 14 teams for on the spot screening of people who will attend the Tarnetar fair, which will be held 9 km away from Than is ancient Trinetreshwar temple from August 22 to 25."

Anybody suspected of swine flu will be taken to Mahatma Gandhi Hospital in Surendranagar and treated there, Solanki added. More than 5 lakh people are expected to visit this annual festival held at Tarnetar no Melo during the five days.

This apart, across the seven districts of Saurashtra, three of which have already reported positive cases, district health authorities are gearing up to deal with the situation. Seven positive cases have been reported from Rajkot, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar in last two days.

In Rajkot, after a 19-year-old student of Vivekanand Institute of Hotel and Tourism management tested positive, the district health authorities paid a visit to the institute late on Tuesday evening. A team of civil hospital doctors also paid a visit and checked the condition of other students. As two of them showed certain symptoms of the flu, they were sent to civil hospital for precautionary check up.

Ramesh Morani, Chairman of the institute said, "We have taken all necessary steps to be safe. We have asked the students to go home if they wish to and we are also ready to shut the institute if the situation warrants." The total number of suspected cases from Rajkot is now at 19. Four of them have tested positive and nine are negative.

In Jamnagar, of the five suspected cases one has been reported positive, whereas in Bhavnagar both suspected cases are reported positive.

Jamnagar Junagadh Bhavnagar Government Ayurvedic College News

A government run Ayurvedic medical college in Gujarat has been denied permission to admit students this year.

The Central Council of Indian Medicine denied permission to Sheth J P Ayurvedic College, Bhavnagar since the college has no proper infrastructure.

Principal of the College BD Parmar said that the new building of the College was ready, but its possession had not been taken.

The admission process for admissions to Ayurvedic Colleges is to start on August 25.

However, this is not new to Ayurvedic colleges in Gujarat.

Last year two Ayurvedic colleges in Gujarat were denied permission. These colleges were in Jamnagar and Junagadh.

Jamnagar,Bhavnagar,Rajkot Saurashtra Swine Flu News Samachar

Saurashtra first confirmed swine flu case detected in Bhavnagar.

The first confirmed case of swine flu in Saurashtra has been reported from Bhavnagar where a nursing student has tested positive with the deadly H1N1 virus.

Besides, test reports in more than half-a-dozen suspected cases from Rajkot and Jamnagar are awaited.

So far, swine flu has claimed three lives in the state, one in Vadodara and two in Ahmedabad.

More than a dozen suspected cases have been reported mainly at Rajkot and Jamnagar districts, but this is the first case that has tested positive.

Authorities at the Sir Thaktsinhji (ST) Hospital in Bhavnagar have confirmed that one of the two students, whose blood samples had been sent to the B J Medical College, has tested positive. “The student has been quarantined at home and is being given proper treatment.

He has been showing signs of improvement,” said a doctor with the S T Hospital. The patient is a resident of Shardanagar area in Bhavnagar and is a third-year nursing student at the Bhartiya Vidyapith in Pune.

He, along with other students from the state, returned after schools and colleges in Pune were shut down owing to the swine flu scare. Apparently, when he and other students did not get train tickets, they hired a taxi all the way to Gujarat.

Last Sunday, the boy and another student were taken to the S T Hospital for tests.

They had shown symptoms like high fever, cough and cold and their blood samples were sent to Ahmedabad for testing the same day.

Meanwhile, test reports of three other cases at the Rajkot Civil Hospital are now awaited. The patients include a neurosurgeon and a youngster, who had just been on a trip to Lonavala.

In the last two days, five suspected cases have been reported at the G G Hospital in Jamnagar.

Authorities at the G G Hospital said that while reports of two cases have come out negative, in other three cases, the reports are still awaited.

Jamnagar City News Samachar – Swine Flu Nature Cures Gujarat India

Nature Cures More Herbs for Swine Flu.

The tradition of Ayurveda offers us yet another natural, herbal approach to stave off flu and "swine" flu.

Next to the Lotus, Basil is perhaps the most sacred plant of India. Basil opens the heart and mind.

Basil gives the protection of the divine by clearing the aura and strengthening the immune system.

"The anti-flu property of Tulsi has been discovered by medical experts across the world quite recently. Tulsi improves the body's overall defense mechanism including its ability to fight viral diseases. It was successfully used in combating Japanese Encephalitis and the same theory applies to swine flu." Dr Bhupesh Patel, a lecturer at Gujarat Ayurved University, Jamnagar City is also of the view that Tulsi can play an important role in controlling swine flu.

"Tulsi can control swine flu and it should be taken in fresh form. Juice or paste of at least 20-25 medium sized leaves should be consumed twice a day on an empty stomach." This increases the resistance of the body and, thereby, reduces the chances of inviting swine flu," believes Patel.

Jamnagar City District News Samachar - Rajkot BRTS

Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) has been completed 27 per cent work of phase one of the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) known as blue corridor.

The local authority is hopeful to complete the entire phase one by August 2010.

Under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), RMC started BRTS project in August 2008. The whole project has been divided into three parts called blue, red and green corridors. The blue corridor surrounding Rajkot, spans around 29 km.

The cost of phase one is estimated to be around Rs 110 crore. Currently, work is on at the 150 ft ring road which connects Gondal road and Jamnagar road national highway. Moreover, three flyovers will be constructed on this 10.70 km stretch. Work on the flyovers has been completed upto 18 per cent so far, RMC officials said. The whole of BRTS project in Rajkot covers an area of 67 km.

"We will complete phase one of blue corridor by August next year and all projects will be done by 2012. Due to monsoon work is going slow but overall speed is going well.

The other two corridors, red and green, will begin after 2010 and these two projects will be completed by 2010," said, Chirag Pandya, city engineer in-charge, JNNURM Cell.

Blue corridor's length covers around 10.70 km at Gondal road to Jamnagar road, while other phases will cover 9.16 km from Jamnagar road to Greenland cross road and 9.14 km road from Greenland cross road to Gondal road highway.

Jamnagar City District Saurastra News Samachar

Not a single testing center in Saurashtra-Kutch region yet A 42-Year-OLD resident of Khambhalia in Jamnagar district was shifted to Ahmedabad on Friday after she reported high grade fever.

Doctors at Krishna Hospital in Khambhalia had no other option but to send her to Ahmedabad, as there is not even a single testing center for swine flu in the entire Saurashtra-Kutch region.

The woman had reportedly returned from London.

Though the Central as well as the state Health ministry’s are issuing guidelines on the disease, residents in eight districts of Saurashtra-Kutch, including Rajkot, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Porbandar, Surendranagar, Amreli, Bhavnagar and Kutch, have to wait for at least 42 hours to know whether the H1N1 virus has affected them or not.

The region has several ports, which are destination for ships and crew from across the world, including from countries affected by swine flu. So far, the samples of suspected cases are sent to New Delhi for tests. “We have created a special isolation ward with 10 beds at the Pandit Din Dayal Hospital in Rajkot,” said Rajkot District Collector H S Patel.

He added: “All the guidelines issued by the Union Health Ministry and the WHO have been strictly followed.” G G Hospital(Guru Govind Singh Hospital) in Jamnagar has also made facilities to treat swine flu patients.

Patel, however, admitted that with no testing facility available, there is no option but to send the samples to New Delhi for tests. “We have been sending the samples to New Delhi by air,” said S Santhilnathan, Chief Medical Officer at Kandla Port Trust.

The port had received two suspected cases last week. They were quarantined for three days before laboratory reports confirmed them as negative.

Jamnagar City News Samachar - Swine Flu

Three test negative for Swine Flu in Gujarat.

Three suspected swine flu cases, one staff nurse and two others who travelled from Kuwait, tested negative for swine flu today, government officials said.

They were admitted in the civil hospital here while the results of three samples sent to Delhi yesterday are still awaited.

"We have still not got the result of three samples sent to National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). These three samples were sent from Baroda and Surat," principal secretary of health department Ravi Saxena said.

Meanwhile, a report from Jamnagar District added that one blood sample of a woman who came to the city from London have been sent to NCDC in Delhi to check for swine flu after she developed symptoms.

Saxena added that the state health machinery is fully equipped to handle the situation and there was no need to panic.

Jamnagar News Gujarat India

Jamnagar man gets Gujarat NSUI reins.

With the announcement of Hardik Trivedi, president of Jamnagar City unit of National Students Union of India (NSUI), as the Gujarat state president of the student body, on August 3, the suspense hanging over the coveted post has come to a close.

Apart from this, Gujarat state general secretary of NSUI, Shahnavaz Shaikh, who was also amongst top four final candidates for the state president's post, has been promoted to all-India level and given responsibility as the all India general secretary. Interestingly, both Shaikh and Trivedi come from non-political backgrounds.Rahul Gandhi had taken personal interest in the selection of the candidates for the two posts and was closely monitoring the process. The whole exercise covered a long span of nearly 12 months.

Trivedi's father is a state government employee. Many insiders of the NSUI believe that Trivedi is a close aide of Vikram Madam, sitting member of parliament from Jamnagar. Sources also allege that Trivedi did not have much experience, at least the amount required for such a top post. On the other hand, Shaikh is a student of third-year BCom and associated with NSUI for the last six years, his father Dr Abdul Raheman is a practicing general physician in Vadaj.

In the selection process for NSUI state president, 70 members were shortlisted after rounds of talent hunt and after further filtration process and training, 13 and eight candidates, respectively, were shortlisted.

"In final round of selection four candidates that included NSUI Ahmedabad city unit president Vinaysinh Tomar, Shahnavaz Shaikh, Hardik Trivedi and Devsi Modhwadia from Porbandar, were shortlisted. Rahul Gandhi had interviewed all four candidates and finally selected Trivedi for the top post."

Jamnagar District News Samachar – Poshitra Port

Environment Ministry opposes port at Poshitara Port Jamnagar.

Noting that the proposed port at Poshitra in Jamnagar would destroy crucial marine bio-diversity in the Gulf of Kutch, the Environment Ministry has asked the private developer to look for an alternate site to protect the precious aquatic life.

The Environment Ministry's Standing Committee for National Wildlife Board at its recent meeting also shot down Gujarat Government's proposal to conduct an environmental impact study of the upcoming project stating that a national-level study is already underway for such projects.

"The Minister observed that a study to assess the cumulative impact of all the forthcoming port projects on the Indian coastline is already underway.

"Hence, he was of the view that till the report is received, it would perhaps be not appropriate to consider this proposal.

Jamnagar District News Samachar

Soya protein to resurrect Gujarat farmers crippled by delayed rains.

Delayed monsoon has led to the introduction of a new crop in Gujarat—soyabean. Cultivation has been done on an area of over 1.5 lakh hectares; and for farmers, this seems to be a good alternate crop, for soyabean does not only require less rain and time to grow, it also rakes in profit as much as groundnut, if not more.

“As monsoon was delayed by 20-30 days, farmers have tried soyabean as an alternative, replacing groundnut,” said Bhartiya Kisan Sangh president, Praful Sengalia.

He added, “It has been done mostly in Junagadh and some parts of Jamnagar district, touching a total sowing area of around 1.5 lakh hectares, which is good for a new crop.”

Pulses and sesame have also been a choice of farmers in case of less or erratic rains, but this is for the first time that soyabean cultivation has been done at this scale.

Junagadh Agriculture University Vice-Chancellor, K Patel, said: “Soyabean grows faster than groundnut and requires less water. That was the reason many farmers chose it when rains were delayed.” But following heavy rains from the second week of July, sowing of groundnut and cotton—the primary crops—took the centre stage.

Until now, farmers did not consider soyabean, as in Gujarat, groundnut oil is consumed much more that any other edible oil like sesame, castor or soyabean. Besides, there are around 900 groundnut oil mills in the total seven districts of Saurashtra.

“Although soyabean consumption is less in Gujarat, the farmers seem to be confident to find buyers in other states and get good returns like groundnut,” said Sengalia.

Patel and other farmers like him say soyabean cultivation requires less water and time, which means relatively lower cost of production. “This can help in getting better profit margins,” said Patel.

However, except soyabean, there has been little change in the sowing pattern in Saurashtra, which is a hub for groundnut and cotton.

According to the Agriculture Department, by Sunday, sowing in Saurashtra has been done over 37.17 lakh hectares, which is nearly 90 per cent of the total cultivation area in the eight districts of Saurashtra-Kutch, including Rajkot, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Porbandar, Surendranagar, Bhavnagar, Amreli and Kutch. This includes cultivation of groundnut in nearly 15 lakh hectares and cotton over 13 lakh hectares.