Saurashtra-Sorath Kathiyavad News Samachar Gujarat India

MP demands statehood for Saurashtra, Gujarat Congress says its personal opinion.

Even as Congress’ Porbandar MP Vithal Radadiya has demanded a separate state of Saurashtra, the state Congress has washed its hands off the issue.

Senior party leaders in Ahmedabad made it clear that it’s Radadiya’s personal opinion and the party would discuss the matter with him.

Two days after the UPA government gave its nod for a separate state of Telangana, Radadiya said: “I will formally represent the matter before the Center next week. We will do everything required to make the proposal.”

The Saurashtra Lokhit Sangathan Samiti, which was led by a former Congress minister, Mansukh Joshi from Rajkot City, had raised the issue for the first time many years ago.

According to Radadiya, the region consisting of seven districts — Rajkot, Porbandar, Junagadh, Jamnagar, Amreli, Surendranagar and Bhavnagar — has never been accorded just treatment.

Even though the region makes the biggest contribution to the exchequer, it has not seen much development. Barring petrochemical refineries in Jamnagar, the rest of the region is still industrially underdeveloped, he said, adding that the state government cannot take credit for Jamnagar’s development.

Whatever development has taken place in Kutch is due to foreign aid and tax holidays announced after the 2001 earthquake, his added. The MP said: “Even though the region’s economy is largely dependent on agriculture, there is still no proper irrigation facility. Besides, the future development of industries is limited between Vapi and Ahmedabad and not in Saurashtra.”

Bhavnagar MLA, Shaktisinh Gohil, who is also a Congress strongman from Saurashtra, refused to comment on the issue.

State party president Siddharth Patel called it Radadiya’s personal view not shared by the party.

Junagadh News - About Chorwad municipality

Chorwad municipality holds a people’s congress to discuss woes.

Chorwad, just about 70 kilometer from Junagadh, created history of sorts with its civic body convening a general body meeting in presence of hundreds of people.

The meeting was also attended by 21 elected municipal members who passed resolutions regarding the town’s development.

The town, which has a population of around 30,000 people, is riddled with innumerable civic problems.

The public meeting began on a positive note with the common people also attending it.

They put forward their questions, made suggestions and welcomed the civic chief’s move to hold the meeting in public.

Junagadh City Kotak Mahindra Branch Gujarat India

Junagadh(Saurastra) will have Kotak Mahindra Branch in future.

The fifth largest private sector bank Kotak Mahindra on Tueasday announced its expansion plan in Gujarat.

The Group-head of Retail Liabilities and Branch Banking, K V S Manian told reporters here that the bank would be opening more branches in the state by the end of current Financial Year.

"Looking at the response we got from customers in Gujarat we have decided to expand our network from the current 33 branches to 45 across 22 districts and 34 locations by the end of this fiscal year," said Manian, who was here to inaugurate the bank's first branch in Gandhinagar.

"Gujarat is one of the properous states in the country and a key market for us and we see immense potential for growth and expansion here. If we look at our all-India business, 15 per cent is from Gujarat," Manian added.

The places where Kotak Mahindra Bank will open its new branches in the state includes Puna, Vyara, Palsana and Sachin in Surat district, Dahod, Palanpur in Banaskantha district, Kakoshi and Siddhpur in Patan, Junagadh, Amreli and Junagadh.

Manian said the expansion is part of its nation-wide initiative to set up over 100 branches at the cost of over Rs 200 crores in the current financial year.