Junagadh News – Girnar Mount Climbing Contest

Girnar - Junagadh (Saurastra) climbing contest turns tougher.

The decision to push the starting point of national Girnar Mount Climbing Contest, to be held on February 1 here, by 200 metres at Girnar Darwaja has not gone down well with participants.

Representations were made recently to the district sports officer to revert to the original starting point.

Climbers are not happy as the stretch has been increased by 400 m (200 m both ways). Earlier, the stretch was 145-m-long. Now, it will be 345 m, almost three times.

About 226 participants from 16 states are gearing up for the event. For men, it is 5,000 steps and for women 2,200. The first national meet was held in last April, but this year it has been scheduled for February. So far, 27 state contests have been held, but this is the second national-level event.

Junagadh District Collectorate sources said, all arrangements are being made for the climbing contest. "A notable entry is that of an NRG from Canada, Gendis Patel, 29, who is representing Maharashtra at this event," said an official.

Binani Cement Plant Sutrapada Junagadh District

Binani Cement to set up INR 825 crore plant in Gujarat.

Projects today reported that Binani Cement has signed a MoU with the Gujarat Government to set up a Greenfield cement plant of 2.5 million tonne per annum capacity in the state.The plant entailing an investment of INR 825 crore will be set up at Lodhva Village in Sutrapada district of Junagadh(Saurastra).

However, the land requirement for proposed plant is 188 hectare and for mining is 1,532 hectare.The new facility will manufacture Ordinary Portland Cement and Pozzolona Portland cement in various grades.The project will be completed by December 2010 and the commercial production will commence from April 2011. As per report, the cement from this Binani plant will be supplied to the markets in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Middle East. Binani will also be required to the pay INR 17 crore per annum as the royalty and cess on limestone to the state.

Junagadh News- Girnar Mountain Parvat Parikrama 2011

Girnar Parikrama registers record number of devotees.

More than one million devotees have already participated in Girnar Mountain(Parvat)'s annual Parikrama during the last five days, the highest figure in the history of the event.

According to forest officials, while 10 lakh people have already completed the 36-km-long Girnar Parvat Parikrama, a huge number of devotees are still visiting the place from across the state.

M R Vyas, Junagadh ST depot manager, said, “We are running more than hundred extra services to different destinations across Saurashtra(Kathiyavad) region."

According to Vyas, state transport buses are ferrying over one lakh passengers every day from the Junagadh(Saurastra) depot.

Railway officials said, on an average, 20,000 people have used the Railways as the means of transport in the last five days alone.

In order to ensure a comfortable journey to the people, railway officials, along with a local NGO, have started ‘Annashetra’ (free food facility) for passengers. Around 70 ‘Annashetras’ have been opened along the Parikrama route.