Bhavnagar Jagannath Rath Yatra 2011 – 26th June rolled out on Sunday

Even as the 26th Jaganath Yatra in Bhavnagar is all set to roll out in on Sunday in the city, it is all decked up for the auspicious occasion.

Bhavnagar rath yatra is the second-largest procession in the state after that of Ahmedabad.

Security has been beefed in Bhavnagar for the 17-km long religious procession. Deputy inspector general of police (DIG), B K Shreemali, Junagadh range is camping in the city.

"We have made all the preparations for the rath yatra.

There will be 100 trucks, five jeeps, 15 chhakdas, various mandlis from the region, six horses, five elephants and members of the akhada who will demonstrate various skills during the day-long yatra,'' said Harubhai Gondaliya, president of Jaganath Rathyatra Mahotsav Samiti. He further said that for the first time a van showcasing the history and importance of Somnath temple will also be part of the yatra.

About five lakh devotees are expected to converge on the entire route of the yatra during the day in Bhavnagar. Elaborate security arrangements have been made for the yatra's smooth passage. Police and other security forces have carried out a flag march on the route.

"There are in total 4,000 security personnel deployed on the rath yatra route.

Eleven deputy superintendent of police, 30 police inspectors, 100 sub-inspectors, 1,500 home guards jawans, 2,000 constables, six companies of SRP and two companies of Rapid Action Force have been pressed into service,'' said B K Shreemali, DIG, Junagadh range.

"We have erected 12 watch towers in sensitive areas in order to keep a vigil. In addition, the route will also be videographed. We have put barricades at various places along the route. Two DSPs have been assigned to keep a tight vigil on the main rath." Shreemali said.

The yatra will begin on Sunday morning at 8 am from Bhagvaneswar Mahadev Temple in Subhashnagar and pass through Ghogha Circle, Rupani Circle, Devarajnagar, Radha Mandir, Marine Society, Nilam Baug Chowk, Nirmal Nagar, Jasonath Chowk, Haluriya and Khar Gate among others.

"We have made a list of people who might disturb the peace in the city; if anything goes wrong, we may detain them. But it is all for preventive measures,'' the DIG said adding, "However, there has been no untoward incident reported during last one decade during the rath yatra.''

Earlier, a blood camp was organized by the committee and 350 bottle of blood was collected.

Gujarat State Inter City Air Connectivity - Fuel to be cheaper for flights

To give civil aviation a major boost in Gujarat, the state government has brought down the Value Added Tax (VAT) on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) substantially from 30% to 4%.

However, this relief on VAT on ATF will apply only to the operators who will run flights within the state and also to non-scheduled operators.

The reduction in VAT will mean people will get to fly within the state by paying low airfares.

It was a policy decision by the state government. This will give a boost to civil aviation in the state. Now, more airlines can plan their flights between major cities of the state.

At present, there are a very few flights connecting these cities. As the state government has reduced the VAT on ATF from 30% to 4%, it will bring down the cost of operation for the small carriers as fuel cost is the major expense for the airlines.

However, this reduction in the tax will be applicable only to those flights operating within the state.

Now, flights between cities like Ahmedabad City, Bhuj City, Bhavnagar City, Jamnagar City, Rajkot City, Vadodara City and Surat City are not available. But with this move, it will be feasible for the airline companies to operate small flights between these cities in the state.

The airfare for such intra-state flights is likely to be around Rs 3,000, which is almost same as private taxi fare between these cities.

The official said that the government was taking such initiatives to develop Ahmedabad and Surat as major aviation hubs, where the airlines would be attracted because of reduction in VAT on ATF.

He claimed that Gujarat States was the first state in the country to slash the VAT rate on ATF.

While a private company has already decided to start flights between major cities of the state, officials of another airline will soon meet state government officials to chalk out the details.

Gujarat State Inter City Air Connectivity - Deccan Charters Flights Launch to be delayed

The Deccan Charters Limited is likely to delay the operational launch of the intra-state commercial air services from Surat and Ahmedabad following the non-clearance of the aircraft by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

Earlier, the flag off ceremony of the inaugural flight by Chief Minister Narendra Modi on April 29 was put off pending aircraft clearance, but chairman of Deccan Charters Limited, Captain GR Gopinath had announced there would be no delay in the operational launch of the intra-state air services connecting important cities in Gujarat from May 7.

Official sources said the DGCA and the Union ministry of civil aviation are busy tackling the Air India pilots' strike.

However, the clearance of the aircraft is pending without which the company is unable to begin the commercial air services from May 7.

Jamnagar Rajkot Students will attend Duke University in United States this year

90 students from the across the India have been selected to attend a semester at Duke University in US this year. Out of 90 pupils 15 are from Gujarat State Schools from various cities like Ahmedabad City, Rajkot City and Jamnagar City.

They will now participate in a 21 day initiation workshop at Infosys' Mysore campus from May 15.

Now want to tell in detail about this event,

This Talent Identification Programme identifies and nurtures students' natural talent, is a 30-year-old programme that came to India a couple of years ago.

Initially offered only to selected schools across the country, this year the competition was open to all; more than 1 lakh students participated. After rigorous selection process, 90 of them made the cut.

City based Educational Initiatives (EI) has joined hands with Duke University for the purpose as EI conducted ASSET scores will be valid for the selection process. The test is undertaken biannually to determine conceptual clarity and overall understanding.

"This year, around 90 students will attend this workshop. And those participating don't belong to just metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Ahmedabad, but also from smaller towns like Rajkot, Jamnagar , Nasik, Guwahati, Ajmer, Bernala, Dehradun, Siliguri and Mysore," said an EI official.

Students are offered topics such as environmental engineering, entrepreneurial leadership, Java for video games and forensic science.

Gujarat State Inter City Air Connectivity – Jamnagar Rajkot Porbandar Cities get benefit

From Gujarat Day, there are strong possibilities that two planes will start flying between 11 cities in the state as per developments in this regard.

The two planes will be stationed at Surat and Ahmedabad and will fly to other nine cities.
Air Deccan founder Captain GR Gopinath will visit Gujarat shortly and meet chief minister Narendra Modi to finalize the project. Gopinath runs his new company ‘Deccan 360’ which will run the services in Gujarat.

Under the concept of hub and spoke for the project, Ahmedabad and Surat will work as hubs while the nine other cities — Vadodara City, Rajkot City, Bhavnagar City, Porbandar City, Bhuj, Mundra, Jamnagar City, Gandhidham and Junagadh City — will become the spokes.

Once the project is finalized with the chief minister, ‘Deccan 360’ is expected to begin the services of connecting 11 cities of Gujarat from May 1.

“For this, ‘Deccan 360’ has already bought two small planes. Both are ATR turbo 60-seater planes. One each will be stationed in Ahmedabad and Surat,” said an official.

He added that with this, all the cities where the airstrips have been developed will give air services to people of Gujarat. Talking about the airfare, the official said that it would be economical as the planes are small in size.

“For example, the fare for flying between Ahmedabad and Rajkot will be equal to the expense made by a single passenger travelling in his car. It could be around Rs3,000 but it would save a lot of time,” he said.

According to another source, the principal secretary (tourism and civil aviation) of Gujarat government was recently in Bangalore to visit the Air Show.

“Over there, he negotiated with Gopinath and made the deal. Now, Gopinath is expected to visit Gujarat to meet the CM to begin the services in the state soon,” said the official.

The state government is also expected to release the aviation policy on May 1. “The aviation policy has already been drafted and is at the examination stage. The government is planning to release the aviation policy on Gujarat Day,” said the official.

Railway Budget 2011 – Aa vakhte Jamnagar Porbandar Rajkot mate koi navi train nahi

Jamnagar ane aeni aaspass Ni biji important city jevi ke “Porbandar, Rajkot ke Junagadh” ne Hal na Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee na thi koi khas phayado nathi thayo, pan jo hu all overRailway Budget Gujarat ni Vaat karu to e sara News Kahi sakay apart from budget jemke,

Jamnagar & Porbandar Saher: - the Porbandar-Howra and Surat-Jamnagar trains have been extended to Mahuva. The budget also failed to impress people in Saurashtra and Kutch.
For Ahmedabad City: - got a new Duronto Train

For Vadodara City (Baroda) :- did not get a new train upsetting many a Barodians, the promise of setting up a new polytechnic college under an MoU with the ministry of human resources development.

Surat Town: - get benefit of three new trains started between Mumbai, Amdavad and (BhujKachchch), developing city as the world-class railway station.

As per Latest former railway consultant committee member Mr. Harikrishan Joshi, he said that,

"Rajkot-Surendranagar gauge conversion was announced last year and we will get benefit only if the work is completed. On the whole, the budget fails to meet the expectation of people in Saurashtra."

Anand: - budget promised a multi-function complex (MFC) with budget hotels at Anand Railway Station.

Moreover, the new gauge conversion work between Miyagam-Dabhoi-Samlaya proposed to be taken up next year will benefit both passenger and freight traffic as goods train that come from Mumbai side will be diverted from Karjan to Dabhoi to reach Samlaya and thereby they will bypass Vadodara.

The new express trains proposed, include Ahmedabad-Yesvantpur AC Express (weekly), Bhavnagar-Kochuvelli Express (weekly), Bhuj-Dadar Express (bi-weekly), Porbandar-Kochuvelli Express (weekly), Puri-Gandhidham.

Jamnagar Rajkot City News – Online Voting from this year

The Gujarat Government and State Election Commission have decided to introduce e-voting in the next local body elections becoming the first state in the country to enable citizens to cast their franchise online.

"This will be for the first time in the country that in any official election the method of online voting via internet will be used, beginning with Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation polls scheduled in mid-October followed by Rajkot City, Vadodara City, Surat City, Bhavnagar City and Jamnagar City local body elections," SEC Secretary, P H Shah said.

"A task force has been formed to cover all the aspects of e-voting headed by Gujarat State Election Commissioner K C Kapoor," Shah said.

Also, Gujarat's urban development department has issued a draft notification asking for objections and suggestions on the issue last week, he said.

"The purpose for introduction of online voting is to make affluent class people vote, who generally avoid going to polling booths and standing in long queues to vote. Besides, youths will be attracted to vote in this manner," he added.

"We are planning to rope in top IT firms of the country to give end-to-end services as it involves finer aspects like secrecy of vote, authenticity of the voter, ensuring that no bogus voting takes place," Shah said.

Vadodara Jamnagar Medical Colleges News Gujarat India

Some good news for wannabe doctors in the state.

Gujarat State government has proposed an increase of 255 seats for postgraduate medical courses in three medical colleges in the state.

The primary beneficiaries of this seat increase will be government-run medical colleges like NHL Municipal Medical College Ahmedabad where 100 seats will added, Vadodara Medical College where 70 seats will be added and government medical colleges in Jamnagar which will get 75 more seats, taking the total number of PG seats to 255 in these colleges.

According to sources, Gujarat State Health minister has called a meeting of deans and medical superintendent of medical college to decide on increase in staff strength and policy changes in recruitment process in the colleges.

Speaking about NHL Municipal Medical College which falls under Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, municipal commissioner IP Gautam said, "We have sent a proposal for increase of 100 seats at NHL.

The pre-requisite of bed capacity of 1,200 at VS Hospital and Shardaben Hospital is fulfilled as per Medical Council of India (MCI) guidelines for the addition of seats."

Jamnagar Ahmedabad Vadodara City gets Tata Docomo Gujarat News

Tata Docomo has announced the launch of its GSM mobile services across the state of Gujarat starting today. The service has started in all areas of the state except for Ahmedabad City, Baroda City (Vadodara) and Jamnagar City. The official announcement is yet to be made.

However, the official Tata Docomo Twitter account has tweeted about this news.

The Tata Docomo website has also added "Gujarat" to its list of circles and has given tariff and other details for future consumers of Tata Docomo across the state. Tata Docomo now joins the likes of BSNL, Reliance (GSM and CDMA), Airtel, Tata Indicom (CDMA), Idea Cellular, and Vodafone who are already big players in the state.

To keep it simple, Tata Docomo's tariff plans in Gujarat are the same as that offered in the other circles where it operates. The plans include the Tata Docomo life time prepaid card priced at Rs. 49 and the "pay as you go" scheme, with a pulse of one second, and a charge of 1 paisa per second.

My Name Is Khan Rajkot Jamnagar City Cinema News Gujarat India

Saffron brigade's threats of disrupting the screening of My Name Is Khan (MNIK), protests and appeals against viewing it through SMSes, did not deter people from thronging cinemas in all major cities of the state where the Shahrukh Khan Starrer movie ran to packed houses on Friday.

The movie got a mixed response in Ahmedabad City where VHP workers protested in the morning and burnt posters of Shahrukh Khan near a multiplex on Ashram Road.

The first two shows were cancelled at all multiplexes in the city owing to the threat by various groups. However, with good response from audience and assurance from police, multiplex and film hall owners went ahead with screening.

Heavy police bandobust at cinema halls in Surat City, Vadodara City, Rajkot City and other major towns and cities ensured that nothing untoward happened.

However, in north Gujarat cinema halls in some towns, including Himmatnagar, Deesa and Patan, did not screen the movie fearing violence.

At least 40 VHP workers were rounded up in Navsari City, 22 protesters, including some from Bajrang Dal, were detained in Sabarkantha and Banaskantha districts and 50 were arrested in Bharuch City and Ankleshwar City.

In Himmatnagar, protesters entered Neelam cinema hall during the interval and manhandled some viewers forcing the management to cancel the show and shut down the theatre for the day. Fans in Mehsana had not trouble in viewing the film.

In Rajkot and Jamnagar City, after initial protest Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal and VHP activists chose to let SRK fans enjoy the movie.

However, in Bhavnagar City theatre owners chose not to release the film despite police assurance.

Protesters' bid to burn a Pakistani flag in Rajkot was foiled by the police. In a pre-emptive move the VHP city office near Bombay Market in Surat was surrounded by the police from morning to prevent the workers from carrying out any violent activity to protest against the screening of the movie.

On Thursday, VHP had circulated SMSes requesting people to avoid watching MNIK, according to Utkarsh Patel, joint secretary south Gujarat, VHP. On Friday, VHP workers called up theaters and multiplexes and requested not to screen the movie. However, the theater and multiplex owners did not pay any heed to this. Bharuch town was the sole exception in south Gujarat where the movie was not screened.

Elaborate police security was maintained at all theaters and multiplexes in Vadodara where the movie was screened released in five multiplexes and four cinema halls.

Gondal Rajkot Jamnagar Bhavnagar Porbandar City News Samachar Gujarat India

About 125 artists from all over Gujarat gathered at Saputara Hill Station Gujarat and painted daily life and natural scenes of southern Gujarat’s hilly and tribal Dang district during four-day long residential camp.

The event was organized by Gujarat Kala Pratishthan during 4-7 January. Some artists from Maharashtra also participated in the event along with the artists from Rajkot City, Porbandar City, Jamnagar City, Gondal City, Bhavnagar City, Ahmedabad City, Vadodara City, Surat City, Navsari City and Vapi City.

On one day, the artists captured the scenes of interior village named Jakha on canvas. The rural houses, the forest, the tribal life, every single subject was interesting for the artists. The other day they visited Malegaon. Every evening they exhibited their paintings in the hotel of Saputara.

Jamnagar Ahmedabad Vadodara City Swine Flu News Samachar Gujarat India

Three die of swine flu in Gujarat India, death toll reaches 216 Swine flu has claimed three lives in Gujarat, taking the toll due to the deadly virus to 216 in the state, health officials said today.

Eleven fresh cases have also been reported, they said, adding so far, 1,155 people have tested positive of the virus.

20-year-old Kokilaben Chhaganbhai died at civil hospital in Ahmedabad today while two persons -- Rudi Bharwad (30) and Gulabbhai Vidhalani (52) -- died of swine flu at SSG hospital, Vadodara(Baroda) and general hospital in Jamnagar, respectively.

Bharwad and Vidhlani died yesterday. Meanwhile, fresh cases of swine flu were reported from Ahmedabad City, Jamnagar City, Rajkot City, Anand City and Vadodara City.

Jamnagar Rajkot City Municipal Corporation Development News Gujarat India

The state government is planning to allocate Rs500 crore to Ahmedabad City in the upcoming budget of 2010-11. Surat City will get Rs400 crore while Vadodara City and Rajkot City will get Rs200 crore each in the budget.

Nitin Patel, state urban development minister, announced this on Tuesday while addressing a meeting of the state planning committee attended by the mayors, standing committee chairmen and municipal commissioners of the corporations in the state.

A total of Rs1, 300 crore will be given to the four municipal corporations. Patel said this will be allocated under the chief minister's golden jubilee urban development scheme.

He asked all the corporation authorities to concentrate on projects of sewerage and water supply among others. He asked them to plan and execute things keeping in mind the human development aspect. He said that a substantial budget will be allocated to Bhavnagar City, Junagadh City and Jamnagar City Municipal Corporation and 159 municipalities of the state.

Saurabh Patel, minister of state for planning, finance and industry also attended the meeting.

Swine flu Jamnagar Bhuj Kutch City District News Gujarat India

Swine flu toll mounts in Delhi, Gujarat.

At least two more death from swine H1N1 flu was recorded in Delhi, health officials reported. The total number of fatalities in the capital is now up at 69.

According to a health official from the city one of the deceases was a 23-year-old man who had been admitted to the Safdarjung hospital where he succumbed. The details of the other person are, as yet, unavailable.

Delhi has seen 62 new cases of swine flu, with 18 of these being children. There have been a total 9,260 cases in the city so far. Concerned officials claimed that the number of newer cases has dropped over some days.

Meanwhile in Gujarat, swine flu has reportedly causes at least ten deaths over the last two days taking the state’s casualty figure to 100. Of these, 92 deaths were of people from Gujarat while the remaining 8 were of people from Rajasthan who were being treated in hospitals in Gujarat.

Gujarat health authorities also announced that at least 16 new cases were reported, taking the total number of cases to 647. Out of a total of 2,613 suspected cases, 1,966 had tested negative, they confirmed. The new cases were registered from Ahmedabad City, Rajkot City, Vadodara City, Bhuj City, Jamnagar City and Bhavnagar City.

Swine Flu Ahmedabad Jamnagar City News Gujarat India

Swine flu claimed nine lives in two days in Gujarat as two more people succumbed to H1N1 virus in hospitals across the state on Tuesday with the total death toll climbing to 73.

On Monday, seven people had succumbed to swine flu. On Tuesday, the H1N1 virus claimed two more lives as Kaushal Gupta, 69, died in Sterling Hospital in Ahmedabad City while Ramlal Mavadia, 76, succumbed in GG Civil Hospital in Jamnagar City. At least three more people died on Tuesday due to suspected swine flu but their test results are yet to be ascertained.

The high number of deaths has sent alarm bells ringing as health officials urged private medical practitioners to follow renewed World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines and administer Tamiflu to suspected swine flu patients in the initial days of symptoms to avoid complications.

In Gujarat, it has been noticed that most patients who died in public hospitals were being treated for viral infections and pneumonia and brought for swine flu treatment when severe complications had set in. “It is important that private doctors take up the challenge of simple management of flu patients. Many patients are first treated for simple fever even pneumonia delaying H1N1 treatment which can prove fatal for patients. If doctors suspect that patient may have swine flu, they should start Tamiflu, said health secretary Rajesh Kishore who said swine flu was expected to worsen in winter. While a surge in swine flu was expected in winter season, public congregations like Unjha fair, the IIM festival and the forthcoming Kankaria Carnival are feared to expose more people to the virus.

While the government had installed thermal scanners at Navratri and Ambaji festivity venues, it curiously will not be scanning lakhs of people who will throng Kankaria. “Six medical team with eight doctors will be put to monitor swine flu. The check-ups will be voluntary and not mandatory for visitors,” said AMC medical health officer Suhas Kulkarni.

Meanwhile, infectious diseases specialist Dr Atul Patel said most doctors in other districts are not even aware that Tamiflu is now available in their region on prescription. “More awareness needs to be created. Also government might think of importing vaccines which will help stem the onslaught of swine flu,” said Dr Patel.

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.