Rajkot Jamnagar Junagadh City Swine Flu News Samachar Gujarat India

Confirmed, suspected, Swine Flu cases reported.

One positive and one suspected case of swine flu were reported in Rajkot City even as a death of a suspected swine flu patient was reported from Jamnagar City.

Rajkot Municipal Corporation Health officers said both patients have been admitted to Wockhardt Hospital on Kalawad Road.

Hospital authorities said Hetal Faldu (24), a resident of Mendarda town in Junagadh district was shifted to Rajkot two days ago with complaints of high fever, cough and cold.

Her swab samples were sent to the B J Medical College in Ahmedabad, which later turned out to be positive.

She is taking treatment at the isolation ward and her condition is reported to be stable, said hospital authorities.

But authorities are still awaiting the test results of one more patient admitted at the hospital with swine flu symptoms. A resident of Saurashtra Kala Kendra in Rajkot, Meghna Udani (34) has been treated for swine flu.

A total of eight swine flu cases have been reported from Rajkot.

Meanwhile, Bhavesh Kanjaria (28), who was admitted with swine flu symptoms at the Guru Govind Singh Hospital in Jamnagar on Wednesday, died on Thursday night.

Jamnagar Civil Hospital authorities said the blood and cough samples were sent to Ahmedabad.

Kanjaria, however, died before the test reports could be available, they said.

Dwarka Temple President Pratibha Patil Visit Jamnagar News Gujarat India

Dwarka Mandir Jamnagar District gears up for President's visit. The district administration of Porbandar and Junagadh and police authorities have only one job at present.

To make foolproof arrangements for President Pratibha Patil's scheduled visit to the region starting October 2.

Authorities have even prepared a helipad near Dwarka temple. Special care is being taken at Dwarka and nothing is being left to chance. "We have to make all arrangements as per the book of guidelines. We have arranged for a bedroom, sitting room, dressing room and dining hall.

Special air-conditioners are fitted in every room," said an official. As many as 13 rooms of Dwarka circuit house have been equipped with new air-conditioners and a special shamiyana is being put up for dinner for 100 people who will accompany the President.

Chiefs of Indian Army, Navy and Airforce will be present to welcome her on her arrival along with representative of the Gujarat government, energy minister Saurabh Patel.

Rajkot Range IG police, SPs of Jamnagar and Vadodara, 5 DySPs, 20 PIs, 40 PSIs and 400 jawans of SRP will be present.

They will provide security along the way from circuit house to Dwarka helipad and other temples of the holy town. As per schedule, she will first visit all the temples of Dwarka and reach the circuit house.

The President will be accompanied by her family members in her visit to the holy town.

After lunch, she will leave for Sasan Gir(Gir National Park, Junagadh District).

Jamnagar Navratri Garba Festival Mahotsav Events News Gujarat India

In Jamnagar City, its heritage theme this Navratri Garba Events.

Navratri is celebrated in myriad ways.

Summair Sports Club in the city is celebrating the vibrant festival with a heritage theme this year.

The organizer has given a heritage touch to all parts of the ground. The entrance resembles Khambhaliya Gate of Jamnagar, dancing area has structures like the entrance gates of the palace and seating arrangements are truly royal!

The background of the stage is decorated like Darbargadh of Jamnagar. The entire theme has been planned by committee members of the club.

"More than 300 photographs were taken of various historical places in the city by Samir Shah at different times," said Raju Sheth, president of the club. These were used to create the heritage look.

"We have tried to combine our ancient culture with modern Navratri," said Parag Shah, convener of the Navratri Mahotsav at the club.

More than 1,000 families play raas garba at the 74-year-old club. It has been organizing the festival for the last 28 years.

Reliance SEZ Jamnagar News Gujarat India

Jamnagar SEZ exports to cross Rs 50,000 crore.

Coming out of the shadows after facing a slump in the global petrochemicals market, Reliance Industries’ (RIL) special economic zone (SEZ) in Jamnagar is likely to emerge as one of the largest SEZs in the country.

“Reliance SEZ is expected to export goods worth at least Rs 50,000 crore by March 2010.

This will be the largest in terms of exports compared with any other SEZ in the country,” Reliance Jamnagar SEZ Development Commissioner Upendra Vasishth Business Standard. In 2008-09, exports from all SEZs in India had been pegged at Rs 99,500 crore, of which exports from SEZs in Gujarat stood at Rs 26,000 crore.

This financial year, exports from all the SEZs are poised to touch Rs 1,70,000 crore, according to Vasishth. The Rs 25,000-crore Jamnagar Export Refinery Project (JERP) located in the SEZ became functional on December 25, 2008. But it became fully operational only in July this year.

Exports from the refinery have already touched Rs 18,000 crore till August 31. JERP has added nearly 20 per cent to the country’s refinery capacity and has made RIL the largest crude oil refining company in India. The refining capacity of JERP is 29 million tons per annum and its exports are primarily aimed at the US and European markets.

The refinery produces about 31 kilo tones a day (ktpd) of diesel, 25 ktpd of petrol, along with sulphur, pet coke, fuel oil and naphtha. The polypropylene plant in the SEZ also has a capacity of about a million tones per annum and the plant is working full throttle to cater to heavy export orders, according to company sources. Reliance is also in the process of setting up a C2/C3 cracker unit in JERP to produce downstream products like methyl ethyl glycol (MEG), low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and low-low density polyethylene (LLDP), sources said.

The global economic slowdown had hit RIL’s petrochemical business last year, forcing the company to cut 50 per cent of the production at its polypropylene plant located outside the SEZ in an export-oriented unit (EOU) facility.

Jamnagar District News Samachar Gujarat India

Gujarat to hire 600 marine commandos for coastal security.

To strengthen its security apparatus along the 1600-km long coastline in the state, Gujarat government has decided to create a marine commando unit and recruit 600 personnel for it.

A senior official in the state Home Department said that the marine commando unit will be created and it’s headquarter will be located in Jamnagar district in Saurashtra region.

"We have finalized the details of the project and also framed the criteria for recruitment of the commandos," he said.

According to him, recruitment of commandos will begin very soon and retired officials of Navy and Coastguards will be engaged to train them.

The state Home Department has also sent a proposal to the Central government for setting up 12 coastal police stations in the state.

Rajkot Jamnagar BRTS Road City News Samachar Gujarat India

More than 60 properties are slated to face the axe of land acquisition in Mavdi Chowkdi area as Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) has put the launch of phase 1 of Bus Rapid Transport System known as Blue corridor project in top gear.

According to RMC officials, under the phase one of the project, the blue corridor is being planned on the track of 10.70km from Gondal Road Chowkdi to Jamnagar Road. "Once implemented, this Rs 100 crore project will see metro buses plying on this track.

A 8 metre-wide road is allotted for motor vehicles, while 2.20 metre-wide road is meant for cycle track on both sides of the track.

There will be a footpath of 1.80 metre width on the both sides of the track, with 4.50 metre width service road," said AH Dave, additional town planner of West Zone.

In order to prepare a feasibility report of the project, a survey was conducted on the stretch of Gondal Road Chowkdi and Madhapar Chowkdi on Jamnagar Road.

Dave, who headed the survey with his team members -BP Vaghela and MD Sagathiya, found 60 properties blocking the way of BRTS project.

"We've issued notices of land acquisition to the owners of these properties, instructing them to vacate the plots," Dave said. At the end of the deadline, if properties are not vacated, RMC will launch a demolition drive, a source said.

RMC started BRTS project in 2008 with funds from Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and his hopeful of completing it by 2010.

The project has been divided into three parts called blue, red and green corridors. The blue corridor surrounding Rajkot spans around 29km.

Porbandar Jamnagar City Swine Flu News Samachar Gujarat India

Courier man Porbandar's first swine flu suspect.

A native of Porbandar, who works for a courier company in Pune, became the first suspected swine flu patient from this port town on Saturday night.

The 21-year-old, who was admitted to Porbandar government hospital, has been shifted to GG Hospital in Jamnagar as his condition got worsened.

Meanwhile, his throat swab samples and blood samples have been sent for testing, the reports of which are to arrive on Monday morning.

Sources said the man works in a private courier company in Pune where swine flu cases were reported and had returned home recently on leave.

"He was admitted to isolation ward of Bhavsingh Hospital in Porbandar on Friday night as he had high fever," a hospital source said. He added, "His condition is stable now.

We are monitoring his temperature and trying to control it. We are awaiting reports, which will come on Monday morning."

Jamnagar Bhavnagar Medical College News Gujarat India

Govt revokes decision to de-register 40 docs.

The state Health Department has decided to cancel the de-registration of over 40 resident doctors (members of the Gujarat Association of Resident Doctors).

The medicos’ registration was cancelled following non-compliance with the state government’s directive to resume duty with immediate effect.

The doctors had resorted to a strike over low stipend.

The Health Department decision to cancel the deregistration has come a month after the medicos’ strike was called off.

Twenty-six resident doctors from NHL Municipal College, Ahmedabad, six from B J Medical College, Ahmedabad and eight from Jamnagar and Bhavnagar medical colleges had faced the wrath of the state Health Department.

The medicos had gone on strike from July 21July over the issues of hike in stipend, working hours and living conditions. The strike continued till August 3 when the state government gave a written assurance to the core committee of GARD that all the concerns of the resident doctors will be taken care of.

The medicos had agreed to call off the strike following the government’s assurance of hastening up of the decision on the stipend and restoration of the registration of the medicos de-registered earlier.

The state Health Department has now decided to revert back the cancellation of registration in case of 32 of the 40 doctors. Six out of the total 40 resident doctors whose registration was cancelled are from the Civil Hospital of the B J Medical College, Ahmedabad.

Dr P D Makkad, the Director of Post Graduate Studies (Gujarat University), said, “The de-registration of the residents at the BJMC has been reverted this week and the intimation has been sent to the college.”

All the de-registrations of the resident doctors of the NHL College have been reversed two weeks back. The NHL College had recorded the highest number of de-registrations.

NHL College Dean Dr Pankaj Patel said: “The de-registration of all the 26 resident doctors from our medical college has been reverted by August-end.” Meanwhile, the restoration of registration of the remaining eight resident doctors is in the process. The state government confirmed that the remaining registrations would be restored as well.

Science exhibition train in Jamnagar City News Samachar Gujarat India

Science exhibition train to chug from Gandhinagar.

The science exhibition train which rolled out twice from Delhi earlier would begin its third journey from Gandhinagar, on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, next month.

The science express, as it is popularly known, started its journey for the first time in 2007 from Safdarjung station. The 16 coach train, a virtual exhibition-on-wheels, was started by the Union ministry of science and technology.

Railway officials said that the train will leave from Gandhinagar and will be stationed there for nearly 14 days before coming to Ahmedabad.

Then it would move to Jamnagar, Gandhidham, Anand, Valsad and Navsari.

BB Shukla, administrative officer at the Vikram Sarabhai Community Science Centre (CSC) said the train will be stationed at Ahmedabad from October 16 and leave for Jamnagar on October 20, adding that the exhibition will be organized and manage by CSC in the state. And, then the train will leave for Maharashtra.

Officials said that this time there will be coaches specially explaining climate change and careers in science to create awareness about other careers apart from engineering and medicine.

The train is expected to cover a distance of around 18,000 km and halt at 55 stations. The science express features over 300 large format visual images, 150 video clips and multimedia exhibits. The exhibition provides information right from the origin of the universe, the origin and development of life, advances in technology, environment and its problems and the solar system.

Officials said that the Joy of Science Lab developed by VASCSC allows the participants to perform hands-on activities and experiments in science and mathematics. The lab is equipped with material useful for performing more than 50 interesting experiments and activities for different age groups.

Jamnagar City News Gujarat India - Richard Hyde,UK Deputy High Commissioner

UK Deputy High Commissioner in search of his roots in India.

For Richard Hyde, the head of the newly-opened British Deputy High Commission here, his mission in India also includes a search of his roots.

Hyde's grandfather was born in Jamnagar in Gujarat and his father lived in Goa before moving to the UK, making him a person of Indian origin, though he was born in Britain.

And now he plans to visit Goa and Gujarat to see if he can find his extended family members in the two states.

"My father did not spend much time in Goa as a child. He left India when he was 15.

He was blind as well and left India for education. The rest of his immediate family - brothers, sisters and parents - also left after some years," Hyde said.

He said he is keen on searching for his cousins. "But the problem is they moved around as well.

My father's sister was born in Mumbai and brother was born in Karachi. He (my father) was born in Dhaka.

So it was a transient family." Hyde headed the British Trade Office here and in Hyderabad in the past two years, but did not get time to visit Goa and Gujarat because of hectic work.

"My family keeps telling me I must go. I plan to go with the family to Goa soon. I have committed to my family. I hope to find my roots. I need to go to Jamnagar also," he said.

Reliance Refinery Industries Jamnagar District News Gujarat India

RIL's Jamnagar refinery likely to get CISF cover from September

After having a second thought, the Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has conveyed to the home ministry that it was keen to take CISF security cover for its Jamnagar refinery for its foolproof protection which is likely to be given next month.

"The Reliance has conveyed to us that they are now keen to take CISF security cover. The CISF personnel are likely to be deployed in Jamnagar sometime in September," a top Home Ministry official said. The RIL, which was among the first private companies to seek protection from the Central Industrial Security Force after the government's announcement that the paramilitary forces would be available for guarding private installations, had informed the Home Ministry last month that the company was reconsidering the request.

However, the official said, the company has recently made up its mind and subsequently informed the Ministry that it was ready to take the CISF security cover. The world's biggest Greenfield refinery got the in-principle clearance from the home ministry in this regard about three months back.

Central security agencies carried out exhaustive survey of the installation and decided to provide 100 personnel for it. Besides guarding, these personnel will provide training to security personnel of Reliance. The need for security cover to vital private installations was felt following intelligence reports that Pakistan-based terrorists might try to target these establishments by launching surprise attacks similar to the one in Mumbai last year.

The Centre has expanded the role of CISF from guarding government establishments to providing security to private installations in the wake of the 26/11 attack. Jamnagar refinery of Reliance is close to the Indo-Pak border in Gujarat which makes it vulnerable to terrorist attacks from the neighboring country.

Two schools are among the 77 organizations which have been asking security cover from the CISF. The government has already provided CISF security cover to the Bangalore premise of the Infosys. The demand for providing security net to private companies was felt after the Mumbai terror attack prompting the government to enact a law enabling the private sector to avail itself of CISF cover to guard against terror attacks.

Jamnagar City Rainfall Monsoon News Gujarat India

No heavy rains in state for a few days.

Monsoon has taken a break for a couple of days from the state. The state has so far received 65cm of rains against the national average of 96.09cm.

Kamljit Ray, director, India Meteorological Department, Ahmedabad, said, "For next two to three days, the state won't receive heavy rain. The existing system which was giving rains to the state has weakened. However, due to high moisture content in the atmosphere, thunderstorms and light showers will continue in isolated parts."

IMD officials are pinning hope on the next system which may develop in Bay of Bengal by September 2.

Rains also took a break from the city with only the new west zone and west zone receiving 0.15cm and 0.1cm rains respectively. There was no rain in any other part of the city, said a report from Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation control room. The city has so far received 45.75cm of rainfall.

In the state, in the last 24 hours ending at 8am on Sunday, Jodiya received 19.2cm of rain followed by Kalyanpur with 17cm. Both these talukas are in Jamnagar district. Apart from these, eight talukas received over 10cm of rainfall, while another 26 received more than 5cm of rain but less than 10cm. Till Monday morning, 43 talukas in the state had a dry day.

On Monday, from 8am to 4pm only 36 talukas received rainfall but it was less than 4cm. Of the total 26 districts, 11 haven't still received 50 per cent of their total annual rainfall.

Dams have 47.59 per cent water. Of the 193 dams in the state 46 are either overflowing or full, while another 20 have over 90 per cent of water of their storage capacity. There were still 31 dams in the state which had less than 20 per cent of water.