Poll panel notifies
new civic wards Objections could be raised with State Election Commission in 10 days
DI L I P PATEL
The State Election Commission
(SEC) has issued a notification
increasing the number of wards
in the city to 64 from its present
43. Accordingly, the number of councillors
to be elected in the Ahmedabad
Municipal Corporation election scheduled
for October this year will be 192.
Commission Secretary P N Shah
said, “We have carried out the delimitation
of wards on the basis of population.
According to the census conducted
in 2001, population in 64 wards
was 45 lakh. We have tried to divide
the population equally in each ward,
but there could be 10 per cent variation.
Each ward will have about 77,000
people as against about 63,000 earlier.”
The increase in the number of wards
will also result in corresponding increase
in the number of corporators to
192 from the earlier 139. There is a provision
of 33 per cent reservation for
women. Accordingly, at least 64
women will get elected to the civic
body.
The new wards are mostly the 30
gram panchayats and 19 municipalities
that were merged with AMC three
years ago. They are: Gota, Chandlodia,
Kali, Chandkhera, Ranip, Ghatlodia,
Bodakdev, Noblenagar, Meghaninagar,
Bodekdev 2, Sarkhej, Jodhpur, Ambawadi,
India Colony, Krushnnagar,
Viratnagar, Vejalpur, Akahbarnagar,
Vastral, Mahavirnagar, Lambha, Isanpur,
Ghodasar and Ramol.
Three wards have been merged with
the existing wards of Gandhigram,
Potaliya and Baghefirdaus.
If any person has any question, objection
or suggestion, he or she can
write to the commission office at
Gandhinagar Sachivalaya, Block No. 9
within 10 days, the notification said.
After 10 days, the commission will
issue the final notification. A fresh voters
list will be compiled by the collector
office in about three months. For
the first time, the voters list will include
photos of the voters.
Also for the first time, voters will
have an option of e-voting. the commission
has already issued tenders for
developing the entire system and software
for e-voting.
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NO PULP FICTION THIS: MANGO THAT WEIGHS 1.6 KG!
Navsari Agricultural University has grown on its campus mangoes weighing five times more than normal yield
Anand varsity produces Kuchi dates using tissue culture
DILIP PATEL
The Navsari Agricultural University (NAU) has grown a hybrid variety of mangoes each weighing up to a staggering 1,600 gm, or 1.6 kg. Normally, mangoes weigh between 150 and 300 gm.
The vice-chancellor of the varsity, A R Pathak, on Monday delivered a box of the ‘bulky’ mangoes to State Agriculture Minister Dileep Sanghani, who will send them to the chief minister.
“There are two mango trees on our campus. This year’s yield is their first,” Pathak said. “The mangoes that they have produced are each 18 to 22 cm long.” Each tree, he said, had produced more than 120 kg of the summer fruit.
“Our mangoes are not very sweet, which makes them the ideal ingredient for pickles,” Pathak said.
Apart from NAU, the Anand Agricultural University (AAU) also showed its “wonder yield” to Sanghani. AAU has produced Kutchi dates using tissue culture techniques. The university claims this is the first time in India that this variety of dates has been produced using tissue culture methods.
“To grow such dates, we began an extensive research in 2000. After 10 years, our efforts have bore fruit,” the vice-chancellor of the institute, M C Varshneya, said. There are 2,000 date plants on AAU’s campus. Varshneya said that they produce 5,000 Kutchi dates a year.
“With the help of methods we have used, these dates can be grown even in Saurashtra and north Gujarat,” he said. “Many farmers import date plants, each costing Rs 3,000, from Arabian countries. By using methods we have employed, they will be able to save this money.”
Dates produced by AAU have low fibre content and have a rich colour (see picture). The varsity says they can be used for preparing wine.
“For the first time in India, Kutchi dates have been grown using tissue culture. Such techniques will help increase date output,” the state agriculture minister said. These type of dates are most sought after in Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
People who have tasted the variety produced by AAU said that dates were not only sweet, but also soft. “One rarely gets to see such good variety of the fruit,” Bhavna Patel said.
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PHEW!
Just three more days of this sweltering heat
DILIP PATEL
Respite from searing heat is round the corner. A cyclone is brewing in the Arabain Sea that will usher in rain and squally wind in the state’s coastal districts. Lower temperature in Ahmedabad will be the offshoot, say experts.
Mercury that breached 45 degrees Celsius and killed 55 in the city over the past few days will dip to around 36 degrees on June 3. After that the cyclonic storm and the imminent monsoon will ensure the mercury stays below 40 degrees.
JUNE 3
• Cyclone building in Arabian Sea, around 1,000 km from Mumbai
• Met dept officials say depression in the sea likely to hit south
Gujarat and Saurashtra coast on June 3, bringing with it rains
JUNE 2
• City will see 40 °C for the last time this summer on this date
JUNE 3, 4, 5
• Thundershowers predicted in city, chances of rain on these days: 60% Max temp: 36, 34, 38 respectively
Rain to visit state by June 3: Weatherman
Says Ashok Patel, the director of the state’s first private weather station Ring Road, “On Thursday and Friday, temperature will go down by up to four degrees due to clouds. If it rains temperature will slide down further.”
Patel’s forecast was reaffirmed by the US weather web site www.weather.com which had correctly predicted mercury hitting 46.8 degrees in the city on May 21. The site forecast temperature rising to 38 degrees on June 5 but said it would stay well below for the rest of the summer.
An ISRO scientist, earlier attached with the weather bureau, said it is natural for the temperature to fall due to formation of cloud as it cuts the sunrays.
“You can expect the temperature to fall by up to four degrees Celsius, thanks to the cyclonic clouds,” he said.
According to Indian Meteorological Department, coastal Gujarat is likely to experience rain in the next three days and with monsoon arriving in Kerala on Monday people in Gujarat can expect rains soon.
Latest satellite imageries and surface observations indicate the formation of a depression in the Arabian Sea about 1050 km southwest of Mumbai and 1050 km south-southwest of Naliya in Kutch at 5.30 pm on Monday. The depression was moving northwestward and likely to hit South Gujarat and Saurashtra coast on June 3 after correcting its course.
“The current environmental condition and numerical weather prediction (NWP) models suggest that the system would intensify gradually into a cyclonic storm and continue to move initially in a northwesterly direction for the next 48 hours and then recurve northeastwards towards Gujarat and adjoining Pakistan coast,” the Indian Meteorological Department said in its weather bulletin on Monday evening.
The system will usher in fairly widespread rainfall with very heavy rain at some places over the coastal Gujarat on June 3. Squally winds with speed reaching 55 kmph would hit the coast a day earlier, the met report said.
The state disaster management authority has taken note of the bulletin and alerted collectors of the coastal district.
Said Sanjay Joshi, the CEO of the Gujarat State Disaster Control Room, “The Met Department has warned of a cyclone. Even if the intensity of the cyclone lessens, Saurashtra and south Gujarat will experience heavy rain under its influence. The IMD warning has been forwarded to the districts and all collectors concerned have been alerted.”
The IMD bulletin also warned of very rough seas along and off the Gujarat coast from June 2 and advised fishermen not to venture into the sea during that period.
After a year of drought, the eagerly-awaited seasonal monsoon rains have reached Kerala, the weather office said.
“South-west monsoon has reached Kerala and we expect it to cover coastal Karnataka within a day,” Ajit Tyagi, IMD Director General announced in New Delhi earlier in the day.
However, Tyagi said due to the storm brewing in the Arabian Sea, the progression of the monsoon was expected to be along the western coast and interior parts of the peninsula would get rains later.
The onset of monsoon over Kerala sets the stage for the fourmonth rainy season. The IMD has forecast normal monsoon rains for the season beginning June 1.
A good monsoon could help in sowing of rice, sugarcane, soybean and corn and lead to a rebound in the agricultural output.
The current environmental condition and numerical weather prediction (NWP) models suggest that the system would intensify gradually into a cyclonic storm and continue to move initially in a northwesterly direction for the next 48 hours and then recurve northeastwards towards Gujarat and adjoining Pakistan coast
– the Indian Meteorological Department
You can expect the temperature to fall by up to four degrees Celsius, thanks to cyclonic clouds which cuts the sunrays
– An ISRO scientist
On Thursday and Friday, temperature will go down by up to four degrees due to clouds. If it rains, the temperature will slide down further
– Ashok Patel, the director of the state’s first private weather station Ring Road
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Big B visits Kala Dungar, feeds foxes at temple
Bollywood icon now heads for Gir after shooting in Kutch for three days
AHMEDABAD MIRROR BUREAU
Concerned with the lack of greenery in Kutch, Amitabh Bachchan on Sunday contributed his mite by planting a sapling at main town of Bhuj. Sunday was the last day for Big B in Kutch where he was shooting an advertisement for Gujarat’s Tourism Department. Bachchan spent most of the time at Kala Dungar, a hill off Bhuj city.
Bachchan attended a Forest Department function and planted a sapling there. He said there should be more plantation drives to increase the green cover.
He also offered his prayers at Duttatreya temple at Kala Dungar, and distributed prasad to foxes, a tradition at the temple. The priest of the temple makes a special sound hearing which foxes from nearby areas assemble at the temple and have prasad given by him.
Bachchan also took a look at the Indo-Pak border through a binocular. He saw an Indian checkpost of the Border Security Force which was 25 km away and the India Bridge which is the way to go to the border. Later in the evening, he started shooting on the life of Kutch villagers after which he left for Gir in Junagadh district.
BIG B’S BLOG
DAY 768 SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend Posted on: May 30, 2010 - 1:01 am
Bhuj, Gujarat. Damn ! the alarm did not go off at the appointed hour and that had severe repercussions ! Charged off as I was to the shoot ! Nothing embarrassingly wrong with that, but still ..
It was still dark as we steadily made our way through barren roads. The police pilot GP flashing its orange rotator light ahead and behind, more security - we are just a ‘rann’ away from the Pak territory !! Moon was out shining at 6 in the morning and the entire region looked surreal. There is something uncanny about nothingness. That is what one felt as one strutted about on the salt laden muddy terrain, the wind so harsh even the vanity van shook and quivered.
Within a couple of hours around 8 am it was beginning to indicate to us what the rest of the day would be like in the sun, and the very thought of it was frightening. So we did what was best done. Wrapped for the morning to assemble again by the evening. And so we did and so we did. The normal general look and then the traditional as far as the clothing goes.
The script flew away from my hands as I was reading it and a couple of unit hands sillily ran after it as it bounced away at rapid speed. It was a strange site.A white stark bunch of papers flying off ahead chased by a couple of unit hands, until they became a tiny spot in the horizon and still no where near catching up with the sheet of paper. Until …smart production incharge Mr Kumar did his deed for the day - got on to a bike, readily accessible there as the only machine transport allowed on the Rann and drove off behind paper.
We looked at this site with great amusement and jeered as this chase kept unfolding in front of us, wary of course with the fact that any longer and paper and Kumar would become prized possessions of Pakistan !! We are really just 60 kilometers away from the border… and it can be seen across the Rann !!
That over, shoot over, we are back in the room and turning in early for tomorrow on another early start. In schedule and somewhat satisfied with the results the crew seemed content.The ladies looked less worried.The director, Shoojit of Johnny Mastana fame, gave his typical reserved look and the decorated camels pounced about in the breeze. Breeze or strong wind was incessant but not quite as strong as in Jomsom in Nepal when we were shooting for Khuda Gawah. That wind was awesome. You could actually lie back on it while standing and catch a few winks !! Incredible !!
Power ’s gone off !! Will post and slumber and remember in the number ..
Breathe in the Rann of Kutch !! Come breathe in a bit of Gujarat !
Avo jo !!
Amitabh Bachchan
T13: Just back from a grueling day of some really interesting shoot.. will fill you in asap ..how to put pics on tweet ?
T12: Following request from follower changed background image.. this is Kuch chi dress from Gujarat, where I shoot for their tourism promo
T12: In the Rann a man, a common man, now famous in his own right - he teaches and educates young girls through his own resource..incredible
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AIR EMPLOYEE ASSAULTS COLLEAGUE IN OFFICE
Yogesh Pandya alleges in his complaint that Amul Ahuja also threatened to kill him in front of staff members
AHMEDABAD MIRROR BUREAU
Asenior official of All India Radio has filed a complaint of assault and threat to life against a news reader.
According to the complaint to the Navrangpura police by Yogesh Pandya, news reader Amul Ahuja beat him up, hurled abuses at him in front of members on the staff, broke his chair without any provocation and threatened to kill him.
Pandya heads the Regional News Unit of All India Radio, Ahmedabad.
Ahuja, who Pandya said was transferred from Delhi, shares office with him at All India Radio office at Income Tax Circle.
WHEN IT ALL BEGAN
ON MAY 27, Ahuja picked up a quarrel with Pandya when Pandya intervened in an office routine.
There was no peon in the office as it was a holiday. Pandya asked fellow Sindhi language news reader Heena Agnani to fetch news faxed from Delhi so that it could be translated in Sindhi.
Ahuja allegedly stopped Agnani from doing so and assaulted Pandya.
‘HE ABUSED ME’
“HE ALSO hurled abuses at me and said that he had come from Delhi and would kill me without anyone noticing it,” Pandya said in his complaint in faxed to the Navrangpura police in Gujarati.
According to Pandya, Ahuja had quarrelled with him in April, too, after he demanded joining report from the former.
The latter had joined duty on April 11, but not submitted the same. However, as Ahuja apologised for the incident, Pandya did not file any complaint.
Pandya claimed that he had informed the Director General of News from New Delhi of the incident and had obtained his sanction to file the FIR.
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DANDI HERITAGE ROUTE PROJECT
Valsad village wants inclusion
Four people died, 450 were injured in salt satyagraha that Gandhi planned at Dharasana soon after Dandi event
DILIP PATEL
The people of Dharasana, a village associated with Gandhi’s Salt Satyagraha, are demanding its inclusion in the Central government’s Dandi heritage route project. They have formed a trust that also wants the government to renovate the structures that have survived since the colonial days.
Four people had died and about 450 were injured in an event that Gandhi planned at Dharasana in Valsad district as a follow-up to the defiance of the infamous Salt Act at Dandi.
Dharasana, a village of about 700 people, was the hotspot after Dandi. Soon after breaking the Act that prohibited people from making salt, Gandhi announced that the satyagrahis or volunteers would take control of the stock of salt at the government factory at Dharasana, about 22 km away.
Gandhi assigned the leadership of the seizure event to Sarojini Naidu and wrote a letter to the British government informing it of the volunteers’ intention. However, Gandhi and many of his followers were arrested on May 5 at Karadi where he had stayed for about three weeks after the Dandi event.
Naidu, who was in Kolkata those days, arrived at Dharasana on May 14, 1930, to lead the agitation, but she was arrested the very next day at the village as nearly 2000 people assembled at the small village.
Imam Abdul Qadir Bavjir took over the leadership and went ahead with the seizure programme on May 21. A total of 897 villagers and volunteers formed several groups and marched to the factory.
The cops welcomed them with a hail of canes, killing three of them and injuring about 450. The cops let amok their horses who crushed many volunteers under their hooves. As many as 40 people became unconscious after getting seriously injured. One of them died at the hospital the next day, taking the death roll four — Bhailalbhai Patel (Kheda), Bholabhai Nayak (Navsari), Narottam Patel (Surat) and Hulla (Solapur).
Says Mahesh Kothari, 73-year-old Gandhian and chairman of Dandi Meetha Satyagraha Trust, “Dharasana should be included in the heritage route project because the village is an inalienable part of the Dandi March. The villagers and the volunteers presented to the world the perfect display of Gandhian way of protest: bear the worst assault but don’t react violently.”
Dandi heritage route is a centrally-funded project that envisages connecting Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, from where Gandhi began his Salt March, to Dandi in March 1930. The project includes, widening of road and creating memorials to the events associated with the march.
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DON GETS INTO ACTION
Big B begins shooting for films on Kutch; will head for Gir next
DI L I P PATEL
The Don is here,” the large crowd erupted as as Gujarat’s tourism ambassador Amitabh Bachchan stepped out of the Bhuj airport where his chartered jet landed at 2.50 pm on Friday. The megastar got out of his car to wave at the crowd and shake hands. As the crowd got uncontrollable, his guards, fearing security breach, usher him back into the car. Sources informed that the star snacked on Kutchi mangoes and some pulav before a brief rest at a friend’s guest house in Kukma village, 12 kms from Bhuj. A scene similar to the one at the airport greeted him at Hotel Ilark at 5 pm where his still shoots were scheduled. Bachchan posed for pictures dressed in kurta pyjama, shirt and trousers and the traditional attire of Kutchi maldharis. He returned to the farm house after the shoot ended at 8 pm. Sources said that on Saturday, Bachchan will be Ghordo Gaam before sunrise for a short film White Desert that will also capture the area’s picturesque sunset. In between, he will be in Kala Dungar to promote its treasure of tree and dinosaur fossils. After shooting at Mandvi beach till Sunday afternoon, he is scheduled to leave for Gir. From June 1 to 4, he will be in Sasan and Somnath to shoot three films, on the Somnath temple, Gir lions and Bhalka Tirth, the place where is it is said Lord Krishna died. Sources say that the megastar will shoot with the lions. Bachchan will then head for Dwarka where a special set, a replica of the Dwarkadhish temple, has been erected for the shoot. His next visit to the state will be in June-end when he will visit Ahmedabad and also shoot at the Adalaj step-well and in Gandhinagar, Patan and Modhera. This is not an all-expenses paid trip. The tourism ambassador has refused hospitality facilities from the state government.
T11: Off to have Gujju dinner .. the desert winds make me hungry and rough and determined .. my determination will come from you and you ..
• T11:Tomorrow morning call at 4 am !! The Rann gets inceredibly hot and dusty beyond 10 or 11 AM .. so need to do those early shots !!
• T11: Dressed up as the typical ‘Kutch i’, everyone loved it. Reference was my dress in SRK film Paheli .. ShahRukh you reading ?
• T11:Almost 90% of this city was devastated in the terrible earthquake some years back.. now fresh constructions abound ..
• T11: Bhuj .. where Abhishek gave his first shot for film career.spoke to him in Istanbul, was getting nostalgic.. will visit the spot later
• T11: back from first few hours of shoot in Gujarat, Bhuj ... interesting .. so much history, glory, diversity.. will describe detail in blog
• T11: Flying over sea and land incredible patterns below of my beautiful country.. places look unexplored untouched, as nature made them...
• T11: Landed in Bhuj ! Strong winds, dry arid land but smiling screaming enthusiastic crowds at the airport. Off for the shoot immediately ..
• T11: In a few hours Gujarat and the campaign for its Tourism.This trip Rann of Kutch, Somenath, Gir lions ... love to all and for all..
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Beginning today, state to count hoofed animals
DILIP PATEL
The state embarks upon its first ever counting of hoofed wild animals today. Except wild ass, all animals that form part of the food chain of the cat family will be counted.
The state had undertaken a similar exercise of ungulate animals in 2006 but it was limited to blue bulls who numbered 96,000.
The Forest Department began the survey on Thursday across the state, employing almost all its field staff. The actual three-day counting will begin on Friday in which wildlife wardens, van mitras (friends of forests) and hundreds of volunteers from NGOs will take part, said Conservator of Forest (wildlife) AV Gamit. “We are conducting the count to ascertain the carrying capacity of our forests and check the number of animals available for lions and leopards. We will be ready with the count in about 15 days,” he said. The count will also help the department to plan and manage wildlife sanctuaries, he added.
Incidentally the state had counted its lions last month and found there were 411 of them. The animals to be counted include black buck, chinkara or Indian gazelle, four horned antelope, barking deer, sambar, spotted deer, and blue bull. Of these spotted deer and blue bull are expected to number more than a lakh each and black buck about 50,000, according to forest officials.
Nilgais and spotted deer are expected to number more than a lakh each
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LEOPARD DESERTS CUBS, INDRODA PARK ADOPTS THEM
The 30-day-old cubs were found in a sugarcane field near Navsari by farmers and handed over to the Forest Department who fed goat milk to keep them alive
DILIP PATEL
Two leopard cubs deserted by their mother at a village in Navsari have been provided special care at the Indroda Nature Park in Gandhinagar by the Forest Department. Brought three days ago at the park, the 30-day-old cubs are the youngest in the wildlife gallery.
Farmers working at a sugarcane field in Bodvak village of Chikhli taluka in Navsari came across one of the cubs on April 29.
At first they thought it was a kitten, but once they brought it out of the farm they realised it was a leopard cub. Worried that the cub’s mother would come looking for it, they handed it over to the Forest Department.
On May 9, the farmers found another leopard cub from the place. This baby too was handed over to the Forest Department.
Interestingly, none of the cubs had even opened their eyes when they were found by the villagers. After taking charge of the cubs, forest officials started looking for the cub’s mother.
On May 11, forest officials kept meat in a cage and placed it in the area where the cubs were found. Their plan to catch the leopard worked and it was caught. Subsequently, the officials placed the cubs in the cage. However, the leopard showed no intimacy or emotion towards the cubs. She did not even allow the babies to suckle, literally rejecting them.
Worried about the survival of the cubs, Range Forest Officer K Gharia and his team took them away and fed them goat milk for 10 days. The entire incident was brought to the notice of Chief Wildlife Warden A Asari in Gandhinagar, who directed the officials to bring the cubs to the Indroda Park. Simultaneously, the leopard was set free at the Vansda National Park, near Navsari.
SPECIAL CARE
INDRODA PARK’S wildlife keeper Rasik Patel said, “The cubs are around 30 days old and need special care. They are kept in separate rooms and anyone coming in contact with them have to be sanitised first with potassium permanganate. We have been giving vitamins, egg yolk, milk and cream to the cubs. They are our youngest guests. We are all very attached to them. Though separation from their mother has affected their weight, there is no medical complication and we are taking good care
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Mitsubishi to develop ‘smart community’ city in Gujarat
AHMEDABAD MIRROR BUREAU
Japanese major Mitsubishi Corporation plans to develop smart community and eco-friendly township
project in Sanand and Changodar industrial areas on Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) near Ahmedabad.
Keiichi Nakagaki, CMD of Mitsubishi Corporation of India Pvt Ltd, on Wednesday called on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to apprise him about the project for which survey work will begin very shortly.
“The company will build advanced infrastructure facilities like waste water recycle plant, industrial waste recycle plant, logistics park, electric bus and advanced transportation facilities,” a senior official of the state government said.
According to him, survey work for the project, which will be spread in 50 square kms area and will be expanded at later stage, will be over by the end of this year.
Moreover, Mitsubishi has also submitted a proposal to set up a state-ofthe-art and environment-friendly ship breaking and recycling yard in Alang in partnership with Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB). GMB and Japan Development Institute (JDI) are currently preparing detailed project report for the project in Alang.
