Sakkarbaug Zoo Junagadh City News Samachar Gujarat India

Sakkarbaug Zoo Junagadh City, which has the distinction of housing two pairs of African Cheetahs, has removed the felines from public view due to illness.

The animals have been put under critical care for the second time since their arrival from Singapore in March 2009. Zoo officials said on Monday that three of the four cheetahs — a male and two females— have taken ill, and that the condition of one of them is critical.

Zoo Superintendent Y J Rana said the animals have developed infection in the respiratory system and swelling in the liver. Besides local veterinarians, an expert from Anand City Gujarat India has been called in. They are also in constant touch with experts from the Singapore Zoo.

Sources, meanwhile, said that two cheetahs have responded well to the treatment and have reportedly started taking food, while one has not taken food for the last two days.

The Gujarat State government had brought the four felines from Singapore in exchange of three Asiatic lions. To take proper care of the animals, zoo officials were imparted training in Africa and Singapore.

Una Taluka Junagadh District Saurashtra News Samachar Gujarat India

Over 80 kids fall ill after consuming midday meal in Junagadh.

Over 80 children of a primary school in Una taluka of Junagadh District suffered from food poisoning, after eating food served to them under midday meal scheme today, district officials said.

The incident took place in the primary school of Dudhada Village in Una Taluka where students started vomiting and complained of stomach ache after consuming mid-day meal, they said.

"Around 85 student of the Dhudhada primary school has been admitted to the Una government hospital after they suffered food poisoning," Junagadh collector AM Parmar told PTI.

"The food poisoning seems to have been caused due to food given to them under the midday meal scheme," he added.

Parmar said that students are under observation and are being treated at the Una hospital.

Police said that a case has been registered and further investigation in the matter was on.

Kesar Mangoes Keri Productions Junagadh District News Saurashtra Gujarat India

“Kesar Mangoes (Keri) ripen in December” farmers, scientists baffled.

There is a brighter side to everything, and the saying also applies to global warming.

Even as global warming is being debated hotly in Copenhagen, mango farmers like Chandubhai Ghesadiya are smiling in mid winter as a fully ripe crop of the famous Kesar mango (Keri) in December has come as a pleasant surprise for farmers in Junagadh State.

"It's a miracle. I have never seen this before. For the first time in 2009, I have seen this occurrence," says mango farmer Chandubhai Ghesadiya.

Chandubhai's fellow farmer Vipul Akbari is equally puzzled.

"Original mangoes normally ripen in May or June," points out another mango farmer Vipulbhai Akbari.

Kesar mangos are grown over 1, 10,000 acres in Gujarat and the annual production is in excess of 12,000 metric tonnes. But the mango is extremely sensitive to climate changes and their ripening in December is a dangerous trend.

Agriculture research scientists are now looking at possible ways to make the Kesar variety more resistant to climate changes.

"There is a need for new research for mango. It's a challenge for the scientist community. We have started research for a resistant variety to global warming," Research Scientist in Junagadh Agricultural University says Dr RR Viradiya.

For the moment though, farmers like Chandubhai are happy, as the off-season mangoes are selling at Rs 1700 for a box of 10 kilos, 10 times the normal price.

Sutrapada Taluka Village Coast Junagadh District News Saurashtra Gujarat India

Whale shark saved off Sutrapada Coast Junagadh District.

A whale shark weighing five tones was rescued from off the Sutrapada coast in Junagadh district and released in the sea unscathed in a joint mission by the forest officials and local nature club members on Tuesday.

Dinesh Goswami, president of the Nature's Club told TOI, "We received a message about the whale shark being caught in the net in the morning and rushed there along with forest officials."

The animal was saved by cutting as many as 15 nets of Ratnasagar boat owned by Bhaidas Jadav. "It was at least 25-feet-long shark, a male and weighed five tones. It took us three hours to de-tangle the nets and let it go. However, the animal was not injured at all," said Goswami who was accompanied by Jignesh Gohil in the mission.

Assistant conservator of forests PH Babariya said, "We received a call from Goswami and rushed a team of forest officials to the spot. They left in three boats and got out the animal safely."

Incidentally, this is the second incidence of whale shark rescue in this season. Earlier, one had been saved on November 23 from the same region. Nature club has been involved in saving 112 of these animals.

The cause of saving this endangered species, which come to the Gujarat coast, has been ongoing since the past few years. The cause of "Save the Whale Shark" had been taken up by religious guru Morari Bapu along with the forest department.

Bapu had administered a pledge to his followers to consider the whale, which comes to the Indian coast to give birth, as their daughter who has come home for child birth and guard them.

The whale shark, which migrates in winters from Africa to Gujarat coast, was placed under schedule I of wildlife (Protection) Act in 2001.Over 171 sharks have been saved off the Gujarat coast since 2005.

Junagadh Kutch Main Diwali Tourist Attractions Gujarat India

Junagadh District, Kutch see tourism boom in Diwali.

Gujarat’s two districts; Junagadh and Kutch are having great tourist rush this Diwali vacation.

Most of the hotels and guest houses are booked. There are long queues at temples and taxis are over booked.

Junagadh district located in Gujarat’s Saurashtra area has three major tourist attractions to offer: Somnath Jyotirlinga temple, Sasan Gir Lion Sanctuary and Girnar Parvat Hill.

Junagadh’s Sakkarbaug zoo which is the largest and oldest zoo of Gujarat known for its Asiatic Lion and cheetahs is witnessing thousands of visitors; Ambaji temple located atop Gujarat’s tallest Girnar Mountain Hill is also full of visitors according to its priest Tansukhgiri Maharaj.

In Somnath, all residual facilities were booked and long queues were formed for Lord Somnath’s darshan at Aarti time to accommodate extra rush in the evenings. In Sasan Gir Lion Sanctuary tourists faced shortage of hotel rooms. Some tourists had to stay in Junagadh to visit Sasan Gir due to unavailability of Hotel room in Sasan Gir proper. Some tourists who wanted to visit Sasan Gir safari also faced one day waiting period.

Another hot and proven tourist destination in Gujarat this Diwali is Kutch district in this Diwali vacation. Destinations such as Matano Madh and Narayan Sarovar-Koteshwar are witnessing inflow of thousands of tourists. Bhuj based Gujarat’s oldest Kutch Museum is also witnessing great rush of visitors.

Major tourist attractions in Kutch include Bhuj, Kalo Dungar, Dholavira Harappan archaeological site, Narayan Sarovar-Koteshwar, Lakhpat fort, Banni, Chhari Dhand, Rann of Kutch, ethnic villages, Jain religious places etc.

Kutch is now worldwide known tourist destination for rural tourism. This year’s Rann festival in Kutch will be organized in December.

Veraval Junagadh District News Gujarat India

Cement firm accused of illegal mining in Junagadh.

A leading cement company has been accused of illegal limestone quarrying over 320 hectares in Junagadh District over three years.

The Junagadh collector recently issued notices to the cement company as also farmers who had leased the land for the purpose without permission.

According to the notice, the Gujarat-based company quarried limestone on 120 hectares of farm land and 200 ha of cattle grazing land belonging to the gram panchayat.

Sarpanch Somabhai Chavda of Rampra village of Veraval Taluka in Junagadh lodged the complaint in a local court against the mining. He said the company encroached grazing land in the village to start its illegal operations.

Following the complaint, the state government’s geology and mining department sent a team to survey the claim and assess the extent of mining.

Team member R H Patel said the survey revealed that limestone mining had been illegally done on 120 ha of agricultural land under survey no. 87/P/9 and 87/P/7. Sources said, according to rules, the government is entitled to a royalty of Rs 2 crore for every hectare of land put under limestone mining.

Thus, the cement company which allegedly carried out mining on 320 hectares in Junagadh district would be liable to pay the government as much as Rs 640 crore in royalty.

Farmer and local BJP leader Razak Isabhai said he complained to Home Minister Amit Shah about the illegal mining on five occasions in the past.

Following this, he claimed he got threat calls from officials of the cement company.

Isabhai said he then wrote to the collector and sought police protection. He said he took up the matter as the illegal quarrying was causing the government a loss of about Rs 700 crore.

The survey report said the cement company also mined minerals from several plots of farm land and covered up the craters with rubble weighing at least 1,500 tonnes. Sources said the government plans to itself pursue the issue with the company after illegations of inaction by the district collectorate.

Junagadh GIDC District News Samachar Gujarat India

JSW power plant in Junagadh, relocated to Dahej Bharuch District said Dhanuka.

The proposed coal-based 2400 MW power generation plant of in Simmar near Sajjan Jindal led JSW EnergyJunagadh district, has now been relocated to Dahej, in Southern Gujarat, a company official said today.

"The coal fired power plant proposed to come up at Simmar with an investment of Rs 10,000 crore has now been relocated to Dahej in district Bharuch," JSW Energy Senior Vice President VK Dhanuka said here today.

JSW Energy had signed two MoUs with the Government of Gujarat for setting up two power plants having generation capacity of 1,400 MW and 1000 MW respectively at Simmar in Junagadh.

The group had proposed to set up 2 X 800 MW power generation units in first phase, and later for capacity addition of another 800 MW in second phase of the project, he added.

"We have urged the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation to allocate us 1500 acres of land for our proposed power plant at Dahej," Dhanuka said.

According to a study conducted by experts it was found that Simmar was not an ideal location for developing a port, he added.

Since large quantity of coal is required its feasible to set up a power plant only nears a port.

But once Simmar was found unfeasible we decided to relocate the plant, Dhanuka said.

Junagadh District News Samachar- Mangrol Port

Gushing sea inundates shores, fishing hamlet risks being washed away

For the last 20 days, gushing seawaters have inundated several hundred meters of the Sheriyaj-Bara village coast. The small fishing hamlet is located on the Arabian Seashore some five kilometers from Mangrol Port in Junagadh district.

The Arabian seawaters have never been this rough, and the abnormality has put the 4,000 members of the 500 odd-families of this village in a fix.

More than 20 kuchcha houses along with a concrete road built parallel to the coastline have been washed away. Besides, the engines of some 10 fishing boats valued at Rs 35,000 each have been swept away in the gushing waters.

Elderly village fishermen have said the community has been living here since decades but have never seen or witnessed such strong sea waves in their lifetime.

Abdulla Patel, president of the fishermen community said: “We have seen never such rough seas in our entire life. If the situation remains the same, we will be forced to abandon this place.”

A fisherman said: “The waves have forced us to withdraw our small fishing boats which earlier remained anchored on the shore. We cannot put our lives and boats in danger. Unless adequate action is taken soon, mass exodus cannot be ruled out.”

Patel said they had repeatedly pleaded to the concerned authorities to construct a dyke along the village, but to no avail. Most of the fishermen families here are living below the poverty line, but none have any BPL cards, he added.

Community leader Ayub Buchani said: “We have informed the district collector and the mamalatdar in this regard in writing, a week ago, but no official has bothered to visit us.”

Junagadh City News- Bahauddin Govt. Arts & Science College

Staff crunch affects students in Saurashtra largest college.

The Bahauddin Science and Arts College of Junagadh, the biggest college in Saurashtra region, is facing a teaching staff crunch, which has had a severe impact on education here. On Tuesday, the students observed a bandh under the banner of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI).

According to NSUI office bearers, the posts of some 22 adhoc lecturers and professors are lying vacant and the college is running without adequate teaching staff.

In the science faculty, some 11 adhoc professors working with the departments of Physics, Chemistry, Botany and English have been laid off, while in the Faculty of Arts, another 11 professors teaching subjects like Hindi, Gujarati, History, Psychology, Sanskrit and English have been shown the door.

NSUI office bearer Kartik Thakar said: “Students have repeatedly demanded that the vacancies be immediately filled up, but in vain. This has put the students’ career at stake.”

He added that instead of filling the vacancies, the state government is laying-off adhoc staff, and unless the issue is resolved, agitation will be initiated.

R P Bhatt, Principal, Bahauddin Science College, said: “We have informed the government in writing regarding the shortage of teaching staff, and the process of filling up all the vacancies is under progress. Shortly, all vacancies will be filled up; in fact some six lecturers will join duty in the science faculty within a week’s time.”

According to Bhatt, some 1,100 students are studying in this college, which has a capacity to accommodate some 1,200.

He said: “Due to the contract system, teachers express unwillingness to continue here and join private organizations. But we are dealing with the issue in an appropriate way and it will be resolved soon.”

Junagadh City District Tourism News

Gujarat will lead in tourism in next five years

Tourism Minister Jay Narain Vyas today claimed that pro tourism policies of the state will make Gujarat a leading state in the country in next five years. He said that massive investment was being made in infrastructure and tourism circuit development which will take Gujarat to the top position.

Vyas was talking at launch ceremony of newly formed Gurjarat Tourism Development Society. The organization has been set up by people with passion for tourism with sole objective to promote tourism in Gujarat and among Gujaratis.

He said that it was a fact that Gujarat was not among first five states in the country in the field of tourism. It was not because of any problem but because of the fact that after its formation in 1960, Gujarat had to concentrate on other priorities. But tourism is Gujarat’s priority now, he said.

Giving details of the steps the government had been taking, he said that the budget of tourism department which was less than Rs 50 crore has now been Rs 160 crore. In addition to this there were scheme for the development of tourist destinations with budget of billions of rupees. For instance, he said that for Junagadh area along there was a scheme of Rs 600 crore.

Tourism offers more employment than other industries, he said. An investment of Rs ten lakh in agriculture generates employment for 59, in industry for 45 people but tourism gives employment to 89.

Talking about circuit tourism, he said that it existed in India for hundreds of years. Chaar Dham yatra and such pilgrimages were the best examples. But, Indian never looked at them from business point of view. Change in the approach would make circuit tourism very paying, according to Vyas.

Junagadh District Saurastra -Veraval Keshod Mangrol Samachar

Moderate to heavy rain forecast in Junagadh.

Moderate to heavy rain has been forecast across Junagadh following a depression in the Arabian Sea off Veraval coast, to the extent that the danger signal no 3 has been sounded at the Veraval Port.

Fishermen have also been warned against venturing out into the sea.

B A Jethva, Port Supervisor, Veraval, said: “The depression in the Arabian Sea is located 10 degree north latitude and 71.5 degree east longitude. It might get converted into a deep depression followed by cyclone. Alert has been sounded and Signal no 3 have been hoisted at the Veraval Port.”

Since the last 24 hours ending Tuesday, rainfall has been reported in eight talukas in Junagadh district. According to the district flood control room, maximum 55 mm rainfall has been reported in Maliya town, followed by Keshod, 23 mm; Talala and Una 21 mm; Bhesan 15 mm; Visavadar 12mm; Junagadh 11 mm; and Manawadar 2 mm.

But the three talukas of Veraval, Mangrol and Mendarada are yet to receive rain.

With the beginning of rainfall, power supply was disrupted in Junagadh city for three hours on Monday evening.

Besides in Bhesan, rain accompanied by wind was reported and power supply was disrupted in some 117 villages. Power supply was, however, restored later, officials said.

Three incidents of lightning were reported at Najapur, Koyalana and Bhalgam village in Junagadh district. No casualty has been reported so far, but two domestic animals were reportedly killed in lightning strikes.

Junagadh Talukas - Evenagar Padariya Plaswa Vijapur

New admission drive fails to gain momentum in village school.

The three-day new admission drive has been initiated in the aided primary schools in villages across Gujarat to improve literacy rate in general and female literacy ratio in particular.

But despite all support from the government machinery, the move, which began on Thursday, has received lukewarm response in many villages in the district.

V D Varu, the deputy primary education officer and in-charge deputy collector (Mid-day meal scheme), said: “On first Day, I visited five villages namely Evenagar, Padariya, Plaswa, Vijapur and Sodwadar of Junagadh taluka. In Evenagar, 73 new admissions were registered in Class I. However, the response was below expectations. Surprisingly, not a single male guardian turned up. Eight female guardians came for the admission of their wards.”

According to Varu, the situation was not different in the other four villages he visited.

Following this, he has instructed school authorities to hold teachers-parents meeting at least once a month and that too during evenings to ensure better attendance by laborer parents.

“The state government provides free education, uniforms, text books, school bags and mid-day meals. Now it is the people’s responsibility to extend support to this drive and help create education awareness in the society,” said Varu.

According to official data, 16,309 girls and 18,051 boys have taken admission in aided primary schools in the district during the three-day drive.

Senior government officials have been deployed to spread education awareness in villages across the state.

Junagadh District Saurastra Monsoon News - Junagadh Agriculture University JAU

Delayed monsoon spells trouble for cotton, groundnut farmers.

Farmers who have sown cotton and groundnut may suffer heavy losses if it does not rain in the next 10 days.

Farmers in the state fear a major damage to their crops if it does not rain in the next 10 days. Majority of the farmers feel that over 30 per cent yields of groundnut and cotton will be destroyed in the absence of timely rain.

Praful Senjalia, Bharatiya Kishan Sangh president, said, “If there is no rain in the next 10 days, I will suffer a heavy loss. I will not only lose what I have spent on sowing, but the entire season will be delayed.”

Gujarat has a total cultivation area of nearly 60 lakh hectors each for cotton and groundnut farming.

According to Agriculture Department reports, sowing, mostly for cotton, in around 30 per cent area has already been done.

This process of sowing cotton before rains is called koru (dry). It is usually done some 10 days before the expected arrival of monsoon.

The late monsoon is not only likely to damage the sown cotton crops, but also delay the cultivation cycle of groundnut.

“Monsoon should have arrived by now. But still we can wait for 10 more days,” said N C Patel, Vice-Chancellor, Junagadh Agriculture University. He is of the view that if there is no rain by June 25, the farmers would need a contingency plan, like change in the crop pattern.

Agriculture scientist with the university, K L Dobaria, endorsed Patel’s view, saying, “If it does not rain in the coming days, the farmers will have to cultivate bunch groundnut instead of the running type.

The running crop needs good irrigation.”

The fact that little underground water is available and most of the reservoirs have hit rock bottom has worsened the situation. “There is hardly any water left in wells, and there has been no supply of irrigation water,” said Harshad Patel, a farmer from Ghanteshwar, a village on the outskirts of Rajkot city.

Junagadh City Information – Girnar Mountain Parvat Ropeway Project

Will Girnar ropeway hit vulture breeding sites?

The proposed ropeway to the religious shrine atop Mount Girnar has outraged environmentalists who believe that the decision to promote Junagadh tourism will come at a huge cost to endangered wildlife such as Asiatic lions and vultures.

However, the forest department, expressing equal concern for the fauna's well-being, is confident that the ropeway will not disturb the wildlife in the region. If anything, the department argues, it will only ease the pressure on the wildlife created by visiting devotees who currently pass through the jungle to reach the holy shrine atop Girnar.

Naturalist Manish Vaidya, who had filed a petition in Gujarat High Court contesting the decision to build a ropeway nearly a decade back, had contended that the ropeway would disturb the lion and vulture habitat. Last month, the wildlife board cleared the project, which has now been sent to the Union ministry of environment and forests for approval. In a letter written to state foresters, environmentalists from the region said the ropeway project would bring more crowds to the mountains for picnics. "The picnicker will bring along plastic pouches and bottles and most probably throw them around here. Strong winds will then take the plastic to the forest area," they said.

"If the ropeway passes through the trees housing vulture nests, it will be a disaster. According to the last census, 79 vultures were counted in the region. Isn't it alarming enough that the vulture population has reduced to half of the 2005 in the 2007 estimate?" Vaidya said.

Another environmentalist from the region, closely involved in the vulture counting process along with the forest department, said, "We had noticed a spectacular breeding colony of long billed species of vultures on Mount Girnar. If the ropeway passes through their colonies, the vultures would certainly be disturbed," he said. The foresters, however, claim that they are conscious of the vulture breeding colony there and a detailed study conducted long back when the ropeway was first proposed says vulture colonies will not be affected.

"The ropeway will also ease the pressure on the lions, as thousands of devotees spending five-six hours climbing through the forest to the shrine cannot be controlled right now," principal chief conservator of forest Pradip Khanna said. In fact, he pointed out that Gujarat was perhaps the only state in India that has taken intensive projects for vulture conservation. Information supplied by the forest department under the Right to Information Act had revealed that Rs84 lakh has been spent by the state over the past five years through grants received by state and central government.

"A huge chunk of this has been spent on the vulture breeding centre in Junagadh through the Sakkarbaug Zoo," Khanna added.

Junagadh District News – Sasan Forest,Gir Sanctuary

Gir Sanctuary to be closed from June 16 to Oct 15.

Schools have reopened and people are trudging back to routine lives.

But, it's now the turn of Asiatic Lions of Gir to go on vacation as Gir sanctuary will be closed from June 16 to October 15 for visitors.

"According to Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, all sanctuaries and national parks are closed for visitors for a certain period," explained Conservator of Forests M M Sharma.

"Apart from the fact that jungle tracks are not conducive for vehicle travel in monsoon, the main reason for closure is that this period is mating season for lions," Sharma added.