Junagadh District Saurastra News

Junagadh primary school chosen Gujarat’s best this year.

Government schools with established standards of education are hard to come by. But the primary school at Bhiyal village in Junagadh taluka is one exception.

The school was recently adjudged the ‘Best Primary School’ by the state government.

The school has not only developed its own website, but has also been running piggy bank saving schemes for schoolchildren for the last seven years. The money thus saved now stands at Rs 7 lakh.

Apart from the school curriculum, students are also given lessons in moral values.

There is a tuck shop in the school that has no attendant; the students buy things from there and deposit the printed price in the cash counter themselves.

School Principal Bharat Joshi said: “We started the tuck shop on August 15, 2007. Although there is no attendant at the shop, we have never come across an incident where the money collected has been less than the selling price. Our aim behind this shop was to impart moral education among students.”

According to Joshi, since 2002, the school has been running piggy bank student saving schemes.

“Students make savings as per their convenience, from Rs 50 to Rs 300 per month. When the scheme began, the total deposits amounted to Rs 5,000 per month; today, the figure has doubled. We have connected the scheme with the post office recurring deposits scheme. At present, the savings amount has crossed Rs 7 lakh,” he said.

The school was awarded the ‘Best School Award in 2005-06; and in 2008-09, the school was chosen as the ‘Best Quality Education Providing School’.

The school has 127 students at present, and is supported by the villagers and the gram panchayat. Although it is a government school, a new classroom was constructed with funds provided by the villagers.

Veraval Junagadh District(Saurastra) Monsoon Varsad News

Residents wading through knee-deep water, commuters pushing their vehicles through water logged streets are common sight in Gujarat's Veraval District, where floods have led to massive water logging.

The residents struggle to reach offices on time. Much of the city went under water.

"Water has filled my house up to four feet. The administration is blind to our problems. There is food scarcity. We cannot even go to market," said Ashagar Husein, a resident.

The State administration is doing its utmost to provide relief to the flood-hit locals.

Machines have also been installed in various areas to flush out flood water.

Incessant rainfall for over a week had inundated many low-lying areas in this port city, submerging houses and other buildings.

Floods have ravaged many districts in Gujarat and over 3,000 families have been shifted to safer places in Junagadh, Porbandar and Jamnagar districts.

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

Junagadh City News - Barclays Bank

Barclays Bank PLC today inaugurated its first branch in Ahmednagar in Maharashtra.

The lender is the first multinational bank to open its doors and offer customers a complete range of products and services in Ahmednagar. Ahmednagar's large industrial belt encompasses companies that are leaders in pharmaceuticals, sugar and milk factories, as well as manufacturers of various engineering goods. With this launch, Barclays Bank PLC now has six branches across the country (Mumbai, New Delhi, Junagadh near Rajkot, Kanchipuram near Chennai and Nelamangala near Begaluru) and 13 ATMs (including Ahmednagar). Barclays Plc also launched Barclays Finance, a non banking finance company in March 2008, to bolster its footprint in the country by offering a host of products and services. Barclays Finance currently has over 110 distribution points through its network of branches across the country.

Barclays GRCB business has built a strong franchise in India over the past two and a half years with over 900,000 clients and customers. Recently, Barclays Bank Plc has started mobile banking facility to its credit card customers who can now access their accounts through SMS. This facility will be offered free of cost by Barclays Bank to both existing and new credit card customers.

Girnar Hill Mountain Parvat Temple Junagadh(Saurastra) Gujarat

Cracks appear in Sudarshan pond parapet.

Reports of cracks appearing in the parapets of Sudarshan pond sent officials of district administration and Junagadh Municipal Corporation into a tizzy on Wednesday. Inspection on the site did reveal cracks, however, no calamity was reported.

According to district administration officials, incessant rains in the valley of mount Girnar from Wednesday morning inundated Sudarshan pond, located at Bhavnath.

"Residents around the pond were asked to evacuate and the road from Girnar Darwaja to Bhavnath was blocked for some time. However, a major calamity was averted as the rains stopped," said JMC commissioner R M Sharma.

Meanwhile, a retired officer of roads and buildings department of JMC attributed the damage to the wall to random digging by the JMC. "In the past, JMC officials had done substantial amount of digging around the parapets of pond for creating parking lot or erecting stage for cultural programmes during fate. This has done great damage to the pond, causing near calamity like situation," said J N Vasavada.

Somnath Temple-Mandir Veraval Junagadh News

Pilgrims throng Saurastra temples. The new moon day of this year's solar eclipse also marked the beginning of the Shravan month considered as the most auspicious month of the Hindu calendar.

With this, thousands of pilgrims, including those from non-resident Gujarati community, have started flocking to various temples of Saurashtra, Somnath and Dwarka being the main attractions.

"Pilgrims from across the country as far as Chhattisgadh and Bengal have arrived at the temple to offer their prayers.

About 1,000 Bramhins have come from Rajasthan to offer their services for ritual," said Somnath temple priest Dipak Trivedi.

The ceremony started with the ritual of "Mahapuja" in which 130 devotees of Lord Shiva offered "Bili Patra", a sacred leaf. The temple management had organized an online show of this event to facilitate those pilgrims abroad who could not come.

Shravan month was also celebrated in Amreli with thousands of pilgrims visiting Nagnath Mahadev, Bhimnath Mahadev and Jivanmukteshwer temples. Ritual of Mahapuja was the highlight of Swayambhu Jadeshwer Mahadev temple in Wankaner and Sureshwer Dhareshwer Mahadev temple in Gondal.

Meanwhile, Jamnagar district collectorate of Dwarka and management board of Jagat Mandir in Dwarka have begun preparations for the Janmashthami celebrations.

Devotees have already started thronging the town to attend the celebrations. In a recently convened meeting attended by Rajya Sabha MP and Dwarkadhish Devasthan Samiti chief Parimal Nathwani and collector VP Patel, preparations for the big day's events were discussed.

"We will make provisions for the security of the temple and devotees, special arrangement for lodging, boarding and transportation of devotees like, extra bus services and trains," said a district official. Also on the agenda was the elaborate and ornate decoration of the temple building by Nathwani and the town's Nagarpalika chief.

Junagadh, Jamnagar,Bhavnagar District(Saurastra) Development News

Gujarat seeks World Bank aid to develop infrastructure.

The Gujarat government has sought an Rs.705-crore ($146-million) aid package from the World Bank to upgrade urban infrastructure in 10 townships, a senior government official said Monday.

The official at the department of urban development said the amount, if sanctioned, would be used to upgrade infrastructure in the towns like Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Junagadh and Veraval so that these areas could attract more industrial investments.

The state government has already told the World Bank that it would invest Rs.30 crore to upgrade infrastructure in these townships.

The government has earmarked Rs.400 crore in the budget for 2009-10 for upgrading civic amenities.

Junagadh District Saurastra Monsoon News,Samachar

Rains stop in Junagadh after 72 hrs.

After 72 hours of downpour, the district breathed easy as rains finally halted on Friday.Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi took an aerial view of the flood-hit areas of the district vise Mangrol, Keshod and Veraval talukas, in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, two persons lost their lives during the rains on Thursday in separate incidents. According to officials, due to the rains, a huge tree was uprooted and crushed one Chhaganbhai Koli (55) to death.

The incident occurred at Badalpur village near Bilkha town, some 15 kilometres from Junagadh.

In another incident that occurred on the outskirts of Loiyej village in Mangrol taluka, 26-year-old Hardas Pithiya was electrocuted when he accidentally came in contact with a live electric wire in his farmland, said sources.

According to official sources, various teams have been dispatched to the flood hit areas to carry out a damage survey. In Ghed, soil erosion has been spotted in farmlands in an area of over 50 square kilometers, sources added.

Junagadh District Monsoon Rain News – Shree Narendra Modi, Gujarat Chief Minister

Narendra Modi undertakes aerial survey of rain-hit Junagadh City District.

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today undertook an aerial survey of rain-battered Junagadh district, where hundreds of people have been shifted to relief camps.

The CM arrived at Keshod airport from where he flew to the worst-affected Mangrol and Veraval towns, official sources said here.

Modi also met Junagadh district authorities to get first hand information on the rescue operation in the aftermath of the heavy showers, they said.

Mangrol was inundated following torrential rains that have been lashing the district for the past four days.

Hundreds of people have been evacuated and shifted to safer places, while road and rail traffic was disrupted.

The town received more than 900 mm rainfall in the past four days. The district authorities had to keep Army on standby, while displaced people were moved to relief camps.

Junagadh District - Mangrol Saurastra Monsoon Rain News

Heavy rains lash Gujarat, Over 850 families in Junagadh shifted.

Over 850 families in Veraval and Mangrol talukas of Junagadh Districts were shifted to safer and higher places following incessant rains for the past couple of days, district officials said today.

Relief camps have been set up for the displaced families where food packets and other necessary items were being distributed, they said, adding that water in many parts of Mangrol and Veraval have started receding since today morning.

"Four hundred families in Veraval taluka were shifted to higher grounds last night following heavy rains. In Mangrol over 480 families have been shifted till today," district officials said.

The Army has been on the stand by since yesterday in Junagadh district.

Till 0800 hours today, Junagadh district received 216 mm rainfall, Mangrol recorded 614 mm rainfall, while Veraval received 514mm, Malia 423mm and Sutrapada 322mm.

Junagadh Civil Hospital City (Saurastra) News- H1N1(Swine)Flu Patient

Suspected H1N1 flu patient in Junagadh City

A patient of suspected (H1N1) influenza was reported from Bilkha town, 20 km off Junagadh city on Monday. A 19-year-old girl, who had supposedly come in contact with some H1N1 patients some days ago, was admitted with fever and brought to Junagadh Civil Hospital of the city.

"We have sent blood samples of the patient to National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), Ahmadabad for examination and kept her in an isolated ward," said a doctor from civil hospital.

Meanwhile, another doctor, who made a tour to Bilkha and checked up on the family of the woman said, “The flu is at a very primary stage. This person had come in contact with some foreign relatives on July 8 during a social occasion. As four days later, she suffered from fever; we did not want to take any chances and shifted her to an isolated ward."

This is the second case of suspected swine flu in Saurashtra. Previously, a 50-year-old patient in Rajkot had proved negative. Kutch reported two cases, of which one foreign sailor was diagnosed positive and discharged after cure.

Junagadh Tourism District Saurastra News

Fresh inflow in dams reverses Saurashtra’s water crisis Moderate to heavy rains in Saurashtra have brought much awaited respite for the residents of the region.

While most of the120 dams in the region were about to hit rock bottom because of scant rain in June, half of them have now registered fresh inflow even as 11 dams have been put on high alert.

As per the latest status, the water crisis is almost over for Porbandar and Jamnagar Districts and is relaxed for rajkot and Junagadh.

In the past three days, 58 dams have registered fresh inflows.

These include 39 in Rajkot, Jamnagar and Surendranagar and 19 in Amreli, Bhavnagar and Porbandar.

In all, 129 irrigation projects have recorded fresh inflow bringing respite to farmers during this sowing time.

According to Gujarat Water Supply and Sewage Board sources, 120 dams in the region were left with only 20 per cent of water quantum and most of them were about to hit the rock bottom.

With several dams in Rajkot district having registered fresh inflow, the district has received fresh water quantum of over 3,000 million cubic feet (MCFT). With Nyari-I dam receiving significant amount of fresh inflow, Rajkot residents have heaved a sigh of relief.

With over 300 MCFT fresh quantum of water, the water level in the dam has touched 8 feet. “While this dam was about to hit rock bottom, now it has received quantum of water bringing respite to the citizens.

This water quantum is expected to last more than four months,’’ said RMC city engineer N H Waghela. As many as 11 dams in various districts have been put on high alert.

These dams include Sorthi, Vartu, Khodapipar, Sonmati, Bhansar, Fodala, Fulzar, Pingali, Sonmati-2, Dayminsar and Fodar Nes.

“These dams are now holding water quantum to the tune of 80 per cent of their capacity,” said a GWSSB official.

He said an alert has been raised in many villages located in the downstream of these dams.

Junagadh (Saurastra) District Gujarat India- Groundnut News

NCDEX unveils new deal for groundnut.

National Commodities & Derivatives Exchange Ltd (NCDEX), one of the leading commodity exchanges in the country, has launched on its Futures trading platform a new contract for groundnut (in shell) on Friday.

The new contract will be offered for groundnut originating from Bikaner in Rajasthan.

The new contract is scheduled to run along with the old futures contract for groundnut (in shell), based on delivery from Junagadh Gujarat.

Introduction of one more futures contract for groundnut in shell (ex-Bikaner) will help commodity traders to hedge their risk in an efficient way and also lead to a better price discovery in the physical market, said NCDEX in a press statement.

Initially, the contract expiring in the months of August 2009, November 2009 and December 2009, will be available for trading on July 10, 2009.

Currently, it offers futures trading in 57 commodities in agriculture, energy, metals, plastics and carbon credits.

Junagadh District News-Mangrol Taluka Rainfall Samachar

Highest Rainfall in Gujarat at Mangrol,Junagadh District in July,2009 Mangrol records 33“rainfall, the highest so far in Gujarat.

Torrential rains threw life out of gear in the port city of Mangrol in Junagadh District on Saturday. Mangrol received 325 mm (13 inch) rainfall in the last 24 hours.

With this, the total rainfall recorded in Mangrol touched 825 mm (33 inch), the highest in Gujarat. The heavy rains led to water logging in several low-lying areas as a result of which road traffic was also disrupted.

According to sources, six Mangrol villages namely Nagichana, Taloda, Farangta, Zariyawada, Chandwana and Menaj were flooded after the rains.

Though there were no reports of any casualty, flood waters have wiped out agriculture land and destroyed crops in these villages.

Three persons, who had taken shelter under a tree on the outskirts of Zariyawada village, were rescued by officials. Besides, some 50 people from downtown Mangrol were also evacuated to safer places.

Apart from Mangrol, someone dozen villages located in adjoining Ghed area has also been marooned.

Ghed is located on a low-lying area, and has to bear with water logging during the monsoons particularly during the high tide in Arabian Sea.

Heavy rains were also reported in other talukas of Junagadh district. Veraval received 146 mm, Manawadar 140 mm, Maliya 87 mm, Sutrapada 45mm, Kodinar 35 mm, Talala 33mm, Bhesan and Keshod 30 mm each, Junagadh 23 mm, Mendarada 17 mm, Vanthali 13 mm and Una 10 mm of rainfall.

Rajkot Surendranagar Amreli Junagadh Jamnagar Bhavnagar(Saurastra) Districts News

Rain revives Saurashtra farmers' hope.

Moderate rainfall in parts of Saurashtra, particularly in Surendranagar, Rajkot and Amreli districts, on Thursday night has revived the hope of farmers in the region.

They will be able to save their crops if rains continue.

In the past 24 hours until Friday, Surendranagar district has received 55 mm rainfall, Rajkot district 17 mm, Junagadh district 11 mm, Jamnagar district 13 mm and Bhavnagar district 8 mm, flood control room sources said.

However, they said there has been no significant inflow of rain water in most of the dams in the region which were full only up to 10 per cent of their total capacity.

Junagadh Fort Saurastra Samachar

Wildlife board clears sanctuary land for Power Grid, Adani Transmission line.

The state Wildlife Board will soon send a proposal to the Centre requesting it to allow some industrial houses as well as government agencies to use forestland for non-forest purposes in the four protected sanctuaries in the state.

These four include the Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary, the Wild Ass Sanctuary in the Little Rann of Kutch, Velavadar Blackbuck Sanctuary and the Narayan Sarovar Bird Sanctuary.

A decision to send the proposal was taken at the state Wildlife Board meeting here on Saturday under the chairmanship of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Among the main items cleared at the Board meeting were a proposal for diversion of 89.74 hectares of land in the Wild Ass Sanctuary for the power transmission line of Adani Power Limited, and another 241.59 hectares for the state-owned Power Grid Corporation’s transmission lines in the same sanctuary.

The Board also cleared a proposal for the diversion of 7.29 hectares in the for Usha Breco Limited (UBL) for power Girnar Sanctuaryropeway construction, and another 0.450 hectares each for Vodafone Gujarat Ltd and Reliance Communication Gujarat Ltd for laying fiber-optic lines in the famous Narayan Sarovar Bird Sanctuary.

It also cleared the proposal of the State Road Development Corporation, seeking the diversion of 4.40 hectares of land in the Velavadar Blackbuck Sanctuary for laying a six-lane Sarkhej-Vataman-Bhavnagar Road, and BSNL’s proposal for 0.315 hectares diversion In Balaram Ambaji Sanctuary for laying fiber-optic lines.

Pradeep Khanna, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), told News line after the meeting: “All these proposals seeking clearance under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 will now be sent to the National Wildlife Board which, in turn, will forward it to the Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee for consideration.

The apex court will take a final decision on the proposals.” Khanna said the Board meeting also approved other proposals, including a 265 km-long “garland road” to be laid around the Gir Sanctuary, the setting up of Leo-genetic lab for Gir lions and other wild animals at Junagadh,

Besides creating a communication network for surveillance, management and protection of animals in the Gir Sanctuary.

Junagadh District Saurastra Monsoon Samachar

Dams in Saurastra, Kutch dry up Dams across Saurastra and Kutch are drying up fast with rains getting delayed.

The first week of July has passed but most dams in the region are empty as there is no inflow of rain water. According to government sources, on an average there is only 11.17 per cent water stored in 131 schemes across the Saurastra.

In Kutch district, there are 20 schemes in all, which have an average 4.72 per cent water of total capacity.

"Absence of inflow of fresh water in all these dams is a major concern. Apart from coastal villages, major parts of Saurastra and Kutch are yet to get good rain," said a government official. "31 dams in Rajkot district are only 7.3 per cent full. If there is no fresh influx, coming days will be worse for people, as the city is already facing drinking water crisis," he added.

The delayed rain has affected pre-monsoon crops and forced farmers to go for other crops. According to Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority's official data, as on July 7, Surendranagar District received 9.86 per cent of its total annual rainfall, Bhavnagar and Kutch districts have got 10.47 per cent and 13.20 per cent respectively.

Porbandar and Junagadh districts were comparatively better off having received 43.96 and 29.44 per cent of their annual rainfall respectively.

Junagadh News – Girnar Mountain Temples Wildlife Sanctuary

Gujarat to denotify forest land for industrial projects

he Gujarat government will denotify 345 hectares of forest land in wildlife sanctuaries in the state and make it available for various industrial projects, utilities and fibre optic lines for private telecom operators.

The proposal was finalized at a high-level meeting presided over by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi here Sunday.

The proposal will be sent to the National Wildlife Board and the Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) to be forwarded to the apex court for final approval, a top official in the chief minister’s office said.

The CEC was set up to monitor and ensure the compliance of the orders of the Supreme Court on subjects relating to forests and wildlife.

The 345 hectares proposed to be denotified are in Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary, Wild Ass Sanctuary, Narayan Sarovar Bird Sanctuary (Kutch), Velavadar Black Buck Sanctuary and Balaram-Ambaji Sanctuary.

Junagadh District Monsoon Rainfall News

Much-awaited showers bring relief to people in city.

The much-awaited showers on Friday brought some relief from the scorching heat. It was cloudy for most part of the day before the city got rain in the afternoon. The city has been reeling under water crisis since June. The showers have raised the hopes of the people, particularly farmers of a satisfactory monsoon.

Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority's July 3 data says Rajkot district, barring Morbi and Lodhika talukas, has so far received 6.71 per cent of its annual rainfall. Morbi and Lodhika have remained dry. Many parts of Saurashtra namely Khambha (22 mm), Mangrol (25 mm), Junagadh City (16 mm), Mendarda (50 mm), Gariadhar (12 mm), Jamkandorna (21 mm), Padadhari (73 mm) and Dhoraji (15 mm) have recorded rains in past two days. The showers have raised the hopes of the farmers who now are optimistic about the survival of their crops, sources said.

Junagadh News- Girnar Mountain Parvat Ropeway Project

Girnar Mountain(Temples) Ropeway gets clearance from Gujarat Govt.

Gujarat government has given final nod for setting up a ropeway parallel to the staircase on Girnar Parvat.

Chief minister Narendra Modi, in a meeting with the state wildlife board, had approved the project which was originally mooted in 1989.

"The state wildlife board and CM have approved the project and now we will recommend it for final clearance from the Central Board of Wildlife (CBW)," principal secretary environment and forest S K Nanda said.

He said that work for the proposed rope way will begin once the CBW gives its clearance as the forest department of the Central government had already cleared the proposal around 8-9 years back.

He added that Usha Braco has been given the contract to build and operate Ropeway to be built parallel to the staircase.

According to Nanda, the company will be required to make investment of around Rs 90-crore for setting up around 1.5 km ropeway line on the mountain.

The state government sources said that ropeway will boost tourism sector in Junagadh, as Girnar is the highest mountain in the state and the city is a hub of tourism activities.

Junagadh News - Junagadh International Tourism Circuit

New international tourism circuit in Junagadh.

The state government has decided to develop the Junagadh international tourism circuit on the lines of the Saurashtra and Gandhian circuits, at a cost of Rs 600 crore.

This was stated by Gujarat State Finance Minister Vajubhai Vala during his budget 2009-10 speech in the state Assembly on Tuesday.

Vala told the House that the Tourism Department has been preparing an action plan in cooperation with other departments for the overall development of Junagadh city as well as the district, the last abode of the Asiatic lion.

The minister said the Tourism Department is developing the Narsinh Mehta Lake, Uperkot Entrance, Adi-Kadi Vav, Circle Chowk, Sardar Patel Darwaza, Diwan Chowk and Majewadi Darwaja, apart from modernising the Junagadh library and developing Buddhist pilgrimage sites.

As part of the Junagadh Circuit, the state government is also developing Junagadh-Somnath-Porbandar Dwarka highway as a tourism highway.

Vala added that renovation of district buildings, expansion of the Junagadh Agriculture University, development of ports at Chhara/Simar and strengthening of urban infrastructure like water supply had also been taken in hand as part of the scheme.