Jamnagar Rajkot City District News Samachar Gujarat India

“Rajkot City's own H1N1 testing lab within week”, said health minister.

Taking a serious note of H1N1 death toll across Saurashtra, Gujarat State heath and tourism minister Jay Narayan Vyas in his second consecutive address in the city on Wednesday said, the state government is going to set up a laboratory for H1N1 virus testing in Rajkot City Gujarat India.

"The laboratory will be operational within a week. It will help reduce the time lag of test results of suspected cases of Saurashtra,'' Vyas said. At present the region's hospitals send samples to BJ Medical College in Ahmedabad. He also said that new ventilators will be provided at all isolation wards of hospitals treating case in Saurashtra.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, one more death of a suspected swine flu patient Sulochana Ravi, 30, a pregnant woman from Rafaliya village of Wankaner taluka was reported from PDU hospital in the city. At present there are 33 patients out of which six are in critical condition, four are on ventilators.

As per government reports, 18 more cases were reported from the state on Wednesday six from Ahmedabad, five from Rajkot, one each from Vadodara City and Amreli City, two from Jamnagar, and two from Bhavnagar.

The state death toll is 162, with one death of Ghansham Patel, 28, in Ahmedabad Civil Hospital while on Tuesday, two deaths were reportedseven-year-old girl Vali Karshan in Guru Gobind Singh Hospital Jamnagar City and 47-year-old woman Rukya Fakir in Sir T General Hospital in Bhavnagar City.

Ravindra Jadeja Jamnagar Cricketer City News Samachar Gujarat India

There are many good memories connected with this ground.

Last year when the Madhavrao Scindia stadium in Rajkot City hosted an international Cricket game, Ravindra Jadeja was in the stands, cheering along with the chorus that greeted Yuvraj Singh’s 78-ball 138 against England. A Team India hopeful at that time, the left-handed Jadeja tried to emulate the southpaw at nets the following morning, but decided to switch back to his own style once he saw he couldn’t make much headway. And sticking to his strengths has seen Jadeja move from the stands to the field within a year’s time as international cricket returns to his hometown.

Though he hails from Jamnagar, Rajkot was the witness to the high points in the 21-year-old’s early cricket career. “There are several memories connected to this ground and now I have the opportunity to add one more. This will be really special as so many of my friends and family will be watching,” Jadeja told The Indian Express.

“We watched the India-England game sitting in the stands and I never thought the next time when India travel here, I would be on the other side. From watching Yuvraj and trying to be like him, here I am sharing a dressing room with him and the other big names of Indian cricket.”

Long wait

The locals are also excited and it is understandable. The last player from the region to represent the country was Karsan Ghavri, the left-arm pacer who shared the new ball with Kapil Dev in the 70s. But Ghavri did not get the chance to play an international game at home.

Fresh from a few decent Ranji outings and a surprise call for the second T20 game as a late replacement for Sreesanth makes Jadeja confident of doing well in the opening one-dayer against Sri Lanka. But as he looks back, a few unfortunate episodes from the one-day series against Australia come to his mind.

Jadeja said he needed to make amends for the run out during the Hyderabad match, where India’s late-order batsmen faltered after Sachin Tendulkar’s 175 had put the team on the brink of a historic win. “I need to be more consistent so I can cement my place in the Indian team. I need to contribute more, and I’m trying my best. I know that if I had not been run out, we would have won in Hyderabad,” Jadeja said.

Jamnagar Junagadh Bhavnagar Rajkot City Saurashtra News Gujarat India

Gujarat frames regulations for Pvt townships in urban areas.

Gujarat government has framed regulations for integrated townships to be set up in urban areas to encourage large housing projects which can offer quality houses at competitive prices in the state, officials said on Monday.

The regulations will be announced shortly, officials in the urban development department said.

As per the regulations framed by the urban development department, private developers can build residential townships in the seven Municipal Corporation and urban development authorities’ areas like Ahmedabad City, Surat City, Rajkot City, Vadodara City, Bhavnagar City, Jamnagar City, Junagadh City.

The minimum prescribed area for setting up a township is 40 hectares where the developer will have to build necessary infrastructure like roads, drainage system, gardens and open space, water, schools, hospitals and shopping complexes within the township.

According to a senior official in the urban development department, in the integrated township projects, the developers will be allowed 70 meter height of the buildings, which means more than 20 storied buildings.

Moreover, the builders can also buy 0.5 per cent more FSI (floor space index) to raise the building up to 25 floors in the specified zones, the officials said.

The officials, elaborating on the infrastructure to be developed in the townships, said the developers will have to maintain a proper green cover with at least 200 tress per hectare and also quarters for servants and other weaker sections.

Asked how many proposals are pending before the department for setting up such large townships, a top official said, and “Three proposals by Adani group, Applewood group and Godrej group are pending before the department."

All the three projects will come up in 50 hectares area each, he said.

The developer will also have to maintain the township for first seven years and subsequently the management can be handed over to the residents' association, the official added.

Rajkot Jamnagar City News Samachar Saurashtra Gujarat India

Valjibhai Bhalodia passes away.

Renowned educationist and top industrialist in Saurashtra Valjibhai Bhalodia passed away in Rajkot early on Thursday.

Admitted at a private hospital, 96-year-old Bhalodia was suffering from multiple complications.

Bhalodia, a leading social figure in the region, gave the city a chain of schools and colleges under the umbrella of Bhalodia and Galaxy group. His last rites will be performed on Friday morning at the family’s farm house near Targhadi on the Rajkot Jamnagar highway.

Rajkot Gandhidham Jamnagar Swine Flu News Saurashtra Gujarat India

Two more women succumb to H1N1 Flu in Gujarat State. Two more persons succumbed to the H1N1 pandemic in Saurashtra-Kutch Distict region in the past 24 hours. With these deaths, the toll has risen to 43 in the state.

On Monday, reports of samples of two persons sent to Rajkot tested positive for the flu. These include a 37-year-old man under treatment at Wockhardt Hospital in Rajkot and a 60-year-old woman at GG Civil Hospital in Jamnagar.

Resident medical officer of Rajkot Civil Hospital, G Mackwana, confirmed the death of a patient in the hospital at 3 am on Tuesday. A source in the hospital identified the deceased as Manu Gohel, 45, a resident of Slumquarters in Rajkot. "This is the fourth death in Rajkot.

Presently, there are five patients at the civil hospital under treatment for swine flu," Mackwana said. A 40-year-old woman, living in railway colony of Gandhidham, died of the diseases at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital on Monday night.

Hemlata Rajvansh, 40, was first admitted on November 2 to a private hospital in Gandhidham with flu symptoms. As there was no improvement in her condition, she was shifted to Rajasthan Hospital in Ahmedabad and later to the civil hospital.

Her condition had worsened on Saturday and she had to put on ventilator, a hospital source said. Epidemic officer of Kutch district health department B L Dabhi said, "About 57 person, who had come in contact with the deceased have been identified and been put on Tamiflu medication." A source said Hemlata had recently entertained guests from a village in Rajasthan at her house. Officials suspect that she might have caught the virus from them.

This is the second death in Kutch district.

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.

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.