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.

Nyari Dam Rajkot City – overflows for this season “Good News”

Because of heavy good rainfall, few days ago, Nyari Dam which is almost main water supply for Rajkot City overflowed

Rajkot Municipal Corporation Chief Engineer Vijay Unadakat said that,"Presently, Nyari dam has 986 MCMFT water against it capacity of 944 MCMFT.''

Apart from Nyari, Aji dam and Bhadar dam, too, received a good inflow of fresh water which is provide drinking water for Rajkot.

The rain figures, as reported by the flood control room officials, are: Dhoraji (15 mm), (20 mm), TalajaUna (10 mm), Visavadar (10 mm) and Amreli (7 mm).

Manavadar Village (Junagadh Taluko) had received heavy rainfall over 12 inch (more than 300 mm) rainfall before few days ago.

Junagadh District room officials said that the situation is now normal and no casualty has been reported as rain stopped.

Jamnagar Junagadh Porbandar Bhavnagar Mahuva beaches development by TCGL

After choose and promoting Gujarat tourism by Amitabh Bachchan as the brand ambassador, the state government has now to develop beaches.

Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Limited (TCGL), a state government venture, will now develop 16 'eco friendly' beaches in the state instead of the 10 that were planned earlier.

Gujarat Beaches like Nargol and Tithal in Valsad, Dandi in Navsari, Suvali in Surat, Gopnath in Bhavnagar, Bhavani beach in Mahuva, Sarkeshwar in Amreli, Ahmadpur Mandavi in Junagadh, Mayani in Porbandar and Shivrajpur in Jamnagar will to be developed.

It had appointed five consultants to plan beaches development.

The six new additions to the list include Okha Madhi, Bet Dwarka in Jamnagar, Pingleshwar and Mandavi in Kachchh and Umargam and Poshitra.

The government will spend Rs160 crore that is Rs10 crore for the development of each beach.

As per Latest Anoop Shukla Interviews who is TCGL managing director, said that, "We are concentrating on developing these beaches in a unique way that could also attract private players.

Our focus is to improve the quality of tourism in the state.

We have appointed architects for landscaping and designing of other infrastructure on the beaches.

But the operations of the same will be given on contract.

On each beach, a two kilometer stretch will be developed by the corporation for promenade, walk ways, cycle track, food court and other facilities. We want to develop these beaches to set an example for other private players to come up and invest in tourism infrastructure in the state."

Rajkot Jamnagar Junagadh Districts Water Shortage News Saurashtra India

Water Resources Minister Nitin Patel had recently announced in the Assembly that the Gujarat State government had made Gujarat “free of tanker water supply”. But people in Saurashtra can still be found waiting for tankers for their share of water.

With the onset of summer, as many as 21 small cities in Rajkot District, Jamnagar District and Amreli District in Saurashtra are being supplied drinking water on alternate days.

Besides, the Junagadh Municipal Corporation has started to cut the water supply twice a week and Jodiya in Jamnagar district is getting supply once in three days. The situation in Amreli city is no different.

Last year’s inadequate monsoon coupled with scorching heat in the beginning of this summer has led to 40 of the 55 dams in the region hitting rock bottom. With the water level in wells and borewells also going down, people have been left with on option but to wait for water tankers provided by the local administration.

Rajkot District Collector H Patel said: “Water tankers have been pressed into service in three talukas (Wankaner, Jasdan and Jetpur) and the collectorate is ready with action plan for each village. At some places, where underground water is still available, the administration is installing hand pumps and borewells.”

He added that two control rooms — one each at Rajkot City and Morbi City— will be set up soon, and that more tankers will be allotted based on requirement.

Meanwhile, Rajkot Municipal Commissioner Dinesh Brahmbhatt has ordered to stop the sale of Narmada water for commercial purposes. According to Corporation officials, water in three major dams in the city will last up to June.

In Jamnagar district, the administration has begun supplying water through tankers in nine villages. One of the three dams supplying water to Junagadh city has dried up. From Thursday, JMC is supplying water five days a week. It has also started supplying tankers in areas like Joshipara, Timbavadi, Sargwada and Sabalpur, which depended on underground water.

Amreli city has been the worst-hit as it is getting supply once in 10 days. “The Collectorate has prepared an action plan. Villages will be supplied water by tankers as per the requirement,” said Amreli District Collector R R Raval.

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.

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.

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 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.

Jamnagar District Monsoon(Varsad) News

Gujarat flood relief work in full swing

Personnel of the National Disaster Management Force (NDMF) on Sunday distributed food packets to people in flood-affected areas in Gujarat.

Over 40 NDMF personnel have been involved in rescue and relief activities in Porbandar district, where several villages have been marooned by floods.

The personnel also distributed food packets to people in marooned Gosa, Madhavpur, Chikasa and Rajpur villages in the district through helicopters.

"Rescue operations have started and we have distributed 40,000 food packets. We have also distributed 50,000 packets through two helicopters, which have been put in to use.

In Porbandar city, 20 pumps of 920 horsepower have been installed to dewater marooned areas," said M.B. Parmar, collector Porbandar district.

The State authorities have also dispatched medical teams to the areas.

Over 3,000 families in Junagadh, Porbandar and Jamnagar districts have been shifted to safer places.

According to sources heavy rains have led to overflowing of almost all the dams in the Jamnagar region, leading to flooding in the nearby areas.

The water has also inundated the roads, culverts and bridges, disrupting transport and cutting off the region from rest of the state.

Agricultural lands with sown crops have been badly damaged. The overall losses caused by the heavy downpour are estimated to be millions of rupees.