Junagadh District police stations - CCTV cameras in Saurashtra

Rajkot District police have installed high resolution closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras, which also have night vision capability, in all the police stations under their jurisdiction to keep an eye on the officials and also the accused in the lock ups.

As per Latest Interviews who is Superintendent of police Premvir SinghRajkot rural said that, “The CCTV cameras have been installed in all the 21 police stations in the district.

"There are three CCTV cameras in a police station -- at the offices of police inspector (PI) and police station officer (PSO) and the lock-up."

"This will facilitate remote base monitoring system in each police station helping even the PSO and the PI to keep an eye on the accused."

The CCTV cameras at the police stations are connected to the DSP's office.

These will help the SP to monitor the happenings in each police station in the district.

"The basic idea is not distrust of the police officials, but to ensure they behave nicely with complainants and maintain discipline always. Past experiences suggest that this has helped a lot in improving discipline among the officials.''

"There have been many complaints about police officers' reluctance to lodge first information reports (FIRs) and also allegations of misbehavior against them. The CCTV cameras to a great extent will solve this issue and will be helpful to the police officers as well as the common people."

"We will cover all the police stations in Jamnagar and Surendranagar in a phased manner. The project is being implemented on public-private partnership (PPP) model.''

"CCTV cameras will be also installed on main entry points, major traffic junctions, vital installations, markets and crowded places in the towns of Rajkot, Jamnagar and Surendranagar districts.''

As of now, the CCTV cameras are installed at the police stations in Bhavnagar, Junagadh and Porbandar districts in Junagadh Police range.

Saurashtra Rainfall News - has got only 6% rainfall till now

5th July 2011, Tuesday - It rained in parts Districts of Saurashtra, including Rajkot, Jamnagar, Surendranagar, Amreli and Bhavnagar.

Saurashtra region has received only 6.13 per cent of its average annual rainfall till July 5 according to the disaster management authority which is not enough to begin agricultural operations in the region.

Junagadh Districts and Porbandar Districts have received good rainfall in comparison with other districts.

Meanwhile, India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials said that light to moderate rain or thundershowers would occur at few places in all the districts of Saurashtra region, Diu and isolated places in Kutch district.

Weather officials said rainfall activity would increase in the next two days.

The worst-hit districts are Bhavnagar and Surendranagar, which hardly received 11 mm rainfall till date in this season.

According to flood control room officials, on Wednesday, major rainfall was reported in Vanthali (22 mm), Savarkundla(12 mm), Visavadar (7 mm), Amreli (3 mm), Junagadh (3 mm). On Tuesday evening, the first showers lashed Rajkot city and 20 mm rainfall was recorded.

Girnar Mountain Climbing Competition 2011

At 3rd January 2011, 17th Open Girnar Mountain Climbing Competition 2011 will be held in Junagadh City Saurashtra Gujarat.

Some 1,673 participants have registered for this unforgettable event.

As to win and beat others some have already started practicing before months ago.

Let’s know in detail from Nayan Thorat who is District sports officer, he said that,

"Participants from Junagadh, Rajkot, Amreli, Jamnagar, Surendranagar, Kutch and other districts of the state have sent their entries."

One of the biggest main role in to organize this events like, state sports, cultural and youth affairs department and district administration.

To review competition arrangements, District collector Banchha Nidhiyani, met to district officers of various departments.

One famous place name “Mahant Mangalnathji Ashram Bhavnath” from where this event will start.

Rajkot Junagadh Amreli District Received Untimely Rain Hailstones

Amid the heat wave in the state, some parts of Saurashtra, including Rajkot District, Junagadh District and Amreli District, received untimely showers and hailstones on Thursday late evening.

While roads in Jetpur City in Rajkot District were covered by hailstones, traffic was disturbed in Dhoraji City following uprooting of trees on the state highway. The fall of hailstones, which lasted nearly half an hour on Thursday, took the Jetpur City residents by surprise.

The fall of the hailstones brought down the temperature in the town which was reeling under the scorching heat of 41 to 42 degree Celsius. Jamkandrona, also in Rajkot district, also saw fall of hailstones. Following the high speed wind and showers, many trees were reportedly uprooted on the state highway between Dhoraji and Jamkandorna.

According to the district police control room, it took a couple of hours to move the uprooted trees and clear the road for traffic on the highway. According to Met department reports, several villages in Jamkandorna, Jetpur and Dhoraji talukas received 0.5 to 0.75 inch rainfall.

Bagasara Town in Amreli district also received showers along with high-speed wind. Following a heavy shower, the roads in the town were flooded with water. Besides, Dhari and Kukavav in Junagadh District also received a sharp spell of showers.

Junagadh Ahmedabad Rajkot Surat Vapi Cities Pollution Gujarat India

According to a recent report on pollution, Gujarat State - the second most polluted state in India after Uttar Pradesh - has nine places including Ankleshwar City, Vapi City, Vatva Ahmedabad, Ahmedabad City, Bhavnagar City, Junagadh City, Vadodara City, Rajkot City and Surat City which figure in the "severe level of pollution" areas.

And climatologists say that the rising level of pollution is becoming one of the key factors that affects climate variability and occurrence of extreme weather conditions like heat waves and heavy rainfall, in Gujarat. Rising temperature in the state is one of the major concerns that Gujarat State is facing right now, data collected by the city's India Meteorological Department (IMD) shows.

Meteorological records compiled over the past 40 years by IMD notes that the majority of the trends which include increase in frequency of heat wave conditions, both seasonal and annual, showed increasing levels in temperature.

The results of an in-depth-study conducted by IMD reveal that Gujarat showed a significant increase in minimum temperature during winter and annual mean temperature of Gujarat as a whole has also increased.

The IMD had gridded data of minimum temperatures over entire Gujarat during the period 1969 to 2005 and the results show an increasing trend of normal temperatures increasing by 0.107 degree Celsius during the past 40 years.

North and south Gujarat were analyzed separately and in general the rise in temperature was found to be highest in Saurashtra and Kutch, as compared to the north. And this conclusion becomes clear when the recent report of the most polluted spots shows that nine regions in Gujarat have reached a critical level of pollution.

"Pollutions certainly affecting and supporting rising temperature," confirms Dr. Kamaljit Ray, director of IMD, Ahmedabad. "Pollution certainly can be one of the prime factors for this temperature increase. Due to pollution, there are more gases in the air which trap more heat and the greenhouse affect keeps multiplying," adds Ray.

IMD's research notes that while frequency of heat waves conditions is on the increase, cold wave conditions have decreased drastically over the past decades.

Property Cards Gujarat – Junagadh Ahmedabad Surat Rajkot Vadodara News

The Gujarat State Government has started a pilot project in seven municipal corporations of the state under which, from May 2010, all registration of new property will be done only through ‘property cards’. The seven municipal corporations chosen for the project, named Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, Surat Municipal Corporation, Rajkot Municipal Corporation, Vadodara Municipal Corporation, Jamnagar Municipal Corporation, Junagadh Municipal Corporation and Bhavnagar Municipal Corporation.

It may be recalled that, in December 2009, the state government had decided to make use of ‘property cards’ mandatory for authenticating the ownership of property in urban areas. It had also announced that all property ownership records in the urban areas would be converted into property cards.

The government was forced to take this decision because of illegal use of the ‘7/12 forms’ - a document used to decide ownership of agricultural land - in authenticating ownership of property in urban areas.

Much of the land and property in today’s urban areas was once rural property for which the ‘7/12 forms’ were sufficient. But use of the ‘7/12 forms’ became illegal once they were declared to be urban property. A senior officer in the state revenue department said the project to convert all ‘7/12 form records’ into ‘property cards’ was nearly over in AMC areas.

Rajkot Junagadh Kutch Porbandar Water Shortage Summer News Gujarat India

Cultivation area for summer crops like sesame and pulses has shrunk by 1 lakh hectares.

The Saurashtra region and Kutch region, which is reeling under a drinking water scarcity, is now facing the problem of unavailability of irrigation water, leaving the farmers high and dry.

The total cultivation area for summer crops like sesame, pulses, millet and groundnut has shrunk by one lakh hectares, implying the yield will go down by at least 50 per cent.

Sowing in — Rajkot District, Jamnagar District, Junagadh District, Amreli District, Surendranagar District, Porbandar District, Bhavnagar District and Kutch District — has been over. The total cultivation area has touched the 1.62 lakh hectare mark, nearly 1 lakh hectare less than the previous year. Last year, the cultivation area for the main summer crops remained around 2.64 lakh hectares.

Bhartiya Kisan Sangh Secretary Laxman Patolia said: “Water is not available to the farmers either through bore wells or the pipeline supply. Farmers cannot even think of sowing and cultivation.”

A senior agriculture department official said on condition of anonymity that the water crisis has led to a shrinking of the area under cultivation.

“The farmers are going to miss one season. For the past 5-6 years, the rainfall had been good; the farmers could take summer crops also. But this is not the case this time, which means a big revenue loss for the agriculture sector,” Patolia added.

Sesame cultivation has been the worst affected. The sowing area has gone down by 67 per cent — from 63,772 to 21,077 hectares. In the last couple of years, sesame has emerged as one of the best cash crop for farmers in Gujarat. But this time, the water scarcity has changed the scenario a bit.

Junagadh City tops the list of areas under sesame cultivation at 6,785 hectares followed by JamnagarCity and Surendranagar City. These were the districts that received better rainfall.

In other districts, sesame sowing has remained between 500 and 1,500 hectares. Cultivation of black gram (urad dal) has gone down by 66 per cent — the sowing area has shrunk from 1,771 to 598 hectares. In case of groundnut, the sowing area has shrunk by 55 per cent.

The sowing of millet has been reduced by 15 per cent, from 17,592 to 15,094 hectares. In Junagadh and Surendranagar districts, millet has been sowed on 4,750 and 3,975 hectares, which were 6,785 and 5,550 hectares last year.

Solar Industry Ahmedabad Rajkot Junagadh Baroda Surat News Gujarat India

In a bid to boost use of clean energy, the Gujarat government is planning to frame guidelines for introduction of solar power lit billboards in the state, a top official said here today.

"We are thinking to introduce solar power lit billboards in seven big cities of the state to reduce consumption of energy generated from coal-fired power plants," Principal Secretary Forest and Environment S K Nanda said.

"The idea is to give a push to solar industry in the state," Nanda said, on the sidelines of a FICCI seminar.

Major cities like Ahmedabad City, Vadodara City, Surat City, Rajkot City, Jamnagar City, Junagadh City and Bhavnagar City are likely to be covered.

"With big-ticket advertising coming into play, especially after mega events like IPL, introduction of solar power lit billboards will be a feasible option to promote clean energy concepts," Nanda said.

Departments of Forest, Energy and Urban Development would meet soon to take this idea forward, he said adding, "A state-level steering committee could be set up to frame guidelines for this project."

BT Cotton Seeds Amreli Bhavnagar Junagadh Rajkot District News Gujarat India

Monsanto study says crop in four Gujarat districts showed susceptibility to pest.

The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) is learnt to have received a report confirming pink bollworm developing resistance to BT cotton in four districts in Gujarat. The apex regulator of genetically modified (GM) crops is likely to consider these findings by Monsanto and Mahyco scientists in its next meeting.

Monsanto has revealed that in 2009 it had found BT cotton crop in four districts — Amreli District, Bhavnagar District, Junagadh District and Rajkot District — demonstrate unusual susceptibility to pink bollworm.

“During field monitoring of the 2009 cotton crop in Gujarat, Monsanto and Mahyco scientists detected unusual survival of pink bollworm in first-generation single-protein Bollgard cotton. Testing was conducted to assess for resistance to Cry1Ac, the BT protein in Bollgard cotton, and pink bollworm resistance to Cry1Ac was confirmed in the four districts,” Monsanto stated in a press statement issued in Mumbai on Friday.

“Gujarat is one of nine states in India where cotton is grown. Till date, no insect resistance to Cry1Ac has been confirmed outside the four districts,” he stated.

Single-protein Cry1Ac products continue to control bollworm pests other than pink bollworm in the four districts in Gujarat. In addition, no instance of insect resistance in any of India’s cotton growing states, including the four districts in Gujarat, has been observed in case of Bollgard II.

“Pests developing resistance is an expected event for a dynamic system. However, scientists now need to look into the spread of this and get behind the reasons and the nature of resistance,” Dr K C Bansal of National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology, IARI, Delhi, said.

With the debate on allowing commercial cultivation of BT-brinjal raging, this development has created a challenge for scientists working in the field of agricultural bio-technology. BT corn and BT soya crops have not yet demonstrated such resistance anywhere in the world.

Incidentally, this pest resistance has been observed in Gujarat, where spurious Bt cotton was reported to have got into the fields much before the GEAC approved the first such GM crop in the country.

“Resistance is natural and expected, so measures to delay resistance are important. Among the factors that may have contributed to pink bollworm resistance to the Cry1Ac protein in Gujarat are limited refuge planting and early use of unapproved Bt cotton seeds, planted prior to GEAC approval of Cry1Ac cotton, which may have had lower protein expression levels,” Monsanto expressed its apprehensions and left the matter to be examined by GEAC-approved panel for the same.

Junagadh Ahmedabad Rajkot Vadodara City News Gujarat India

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) is likely to lift the eight-month moratorium on environmental clearance for new industries in most of the seven Gujarat cities.

According to reliable sources in the state government, the central board has responded favorably to representations made by the business communities of Ahmedabad City, Rajkot City, Bhavnagar City, Junagadh City and Vadodara City.

The seven Gujarat cities are among the 88 industrial hubs identified as ‘critically polluted’ by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest, in an environmental assessment of industrial clusters made late last year. Ankleshwar, Vapi and Vatva were identified as among the most polluted of the 88 cities in the ‘critical’ list. But the blanket ban on clearances for new industries in entire areas of cities had upset the state’s business community.

Responding to the moratorium, industrial associations had made representations to the GPCB and the state environment department.

Narendra Modi Bhartiya Janta Party Junagadh Saurashtra News Gujarat India

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi readies young team for civic polls.

In a bid to get a sweeping verdict in the upcoming state civic polls, chief minister Narendra Modi has fielded youngsters in most of the districts. The party declared its organizational commanders of 33 districts on Friday and Saturday.

For the first time BJP has put faith in the young brigade. Most of the district and city heads have been nominated by the state leadership. "We now have a team with an average age of 45 years," said Bharatsinh Parmar, Bhartiya Janta Party general secretary who is looking after the entire election process. "It goes without saying that they have to form a strong team to strengthen the party organization," he added.

The newly appointed presidents of the districts and city units have been ordered to form teams with strong organizational network, and they have also been asked not to look back until the civic polls, which are scheduled to be held at the end of this year. Out of 33 districts, the party has selected eight MLAs to hold responsibilities for key districts.

The responsibility of all major cities has been given to candidates who are at the most 45 years old. Ahmedabad city is in the hands of young MLA Rakesh Shah, who was elected for the first time, from the Ellisbridge constituency. Vadodara and Surat have been handed over to Bharat Dangar and Purnesh Modi respectively.


Rajkot city has been allotted to Dhansukh Bhanderi, former mayor. There is a big responsibility on the shoulders of Jitu Hirpara, who has been nominated for Junagadh city. He has to strengthen the BJP which lost the Junagadh municipal corporation poll last year.

There are eight MLAs nominated as the chiefs of district organizations. Pragji Patel, MLA from Mandal, has been elected as the president of Ahmedabad district, Mohan Kundaria (Tankaria), is the head of Rajkot district. Rushikesh Patel (Visnagar), has to look after Mehsana and Jayanti Bhanushali (Abdasa), is head of Kutch district.

The responsibility of Kheda district is on Bimal Shah, MLA from Kapadvanj, while Mulu Bera, an MLA from Jamnagar, will look after Jamnagar district's party organization. Praful Patel, MLA from Himmatnagar, has been assigned the responsibility of Sabarkantha.

Rajkot Junagadh City Sorath News Saurashtra Gujarat India

Rajkot college director wins national award.

Ayaz Khan I Babi, the director of Rajkumar College, Rajkot City, has been conferred with the Guruvar Award 2009 for lifetime achievement. Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal recently presented the award to Khan in New Delhi. The award carries prize money of Rs 10 lakh.

Khan, who belongs to the princely family of Parvin Babi from Panjod (Junagadh District), did not apply for the award, but his former students ensured that he got 62,000 nominations. Khan’s students include slain Maharashtra cadre IPS officer Ashok Kamte and Kenyan cricketer Hitesh Modi among others.

Guruvar Award is a Vareky Gems Foundation initiative that has started from this year. Four teachers from four zones of the country have been selected for four categories of the award. The Guruvar award is given for lifetime achievement, outstanding Indian teacher, young teacher and teacher for children with special needs.

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.

Porbandar Junagadh Rajkot Saurashtra District News Gujarat India

Pace of peace to pick up from Bapu's land.

Peace activists, writers, religious leaders and senior police officials are all set to go to grassroots level to spread the message of peace in the society.

A Shanti-sadbhavna and Samvad Yatra' is being taken out by Sadbhavna Forum from Mahatma Gandhi's birthplace Kirti Mandir in Porbandar to Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad. The (vehicle) yatra will be flagged off on December 14 by religious leader Morari Bapu. The forum is an open platform of people who work for peace and communal harmony in the state.

"During the 20-day yatra, former member of Parliament (MP) Ramjisinh, Narayan Desai, Gunvant Shah, Kumarpal Desai,Maulana Abbas Sahib Khui, Anna Hajare, Shahbuddin Rathod, Chandrasekhar Dharmadhikari, Kulinchandra Yagnik, PK Laheri, Mehbub Desai, director general of police SS Khandvawala, deputy inspector general of police (DIG) Hasmukh Patel, Sanath Mehta, Swami Agnivesh, Vidyut Joshi and writer Narrottam Palan among others will interact with people,'' said one of the organizers Sanjay Bhavsar.

Bhavsar and his wife Tula have devoted their life to work for peace in the state through Vishwagram' at Jagudan village in Mehsana district.

The yatra will pass from Junagadh City, Amreli City, Savarkundla City, Mahuva City, Bhavnagar City, Sanosara, Rajkot City, Surendranagar City, Deesa, Palanpur, Mehsana, Visnagar, Himmatnagar, Modasa, Gandhinagar City and Ahmedabad City.

"At each station, dignitaries will interact with local people, students and teachers about conflict issues. The speakers will try to resolve their perception towards certain communities and other issues. A street play Parth ne kaho utare ban, have Buddh ej kalyan' will be performed at every place,'' Bhavsar said.

"The aim is to work for peace. Generally we rush to places like fire fighters when riots break out, but after that we forget about it. But after 2002 riots, we realized that we need to work more during the peace time and strengthen it at grassroots level by establishing peace committees,'' Bhavsar added.

Kutch Saurashtra Cities Districts Latest News Gujarat India

Dew drops in Saurashtra, Kutch Districts.

Asphalt roads in the city were awash with dew drops as cold wave swept across Saurashtra and Kutch on Thursday. However, the mercury dipped only in early morning and before sunset. The day temperature remained between 26 and 31 degree Celsius in major cities.

"There is a difference of 16 degrees in temperature. While nights and early mornings are cold, it becomes somewhat sweltering during the day. The dew drop generally occurs where there are clusters of trees," said weather expert DD Sahu.

Apart from Rajkot, fog enveloped Jamnagar City, Amreli City and Junagadh City. Cities with minimum temperature include Bhavnagar City (14.6 degree Celsius), Amreli (14.8), Jamnagar (16.1), Junagadh (16.2) and Rajkot (17.7).

Rajkot Junagadh Jamnagar Saurashtra Kutch Districts Winter News Gujarat India

Foggy Thursday morning sets in winter pace.

A fog enveloped several cities in Saurashtra and Kutch in the wee hours of morning and late evening on Wednesday. The lowest temperature was recorded in Deesa in Kutch, which recorded 13.1degrees Celsius, followed by Gandhinagar 13.2, Naliya 14.6.

The minimum temperature recorded in Rajkot city was 17.7, while the maximum was 32.1 degrees Celsius. Bhavnagar recorded maximum temperature at 31.0 and minimum at 14.6 degrees Celsius. Amreli was shivering at minimum of 15.8 while it recorded maximum of 32.6 degrees Celsius.

Cold wave seemed to have skirted Porbandar, which recorded the minimum temperature at 21 and maximum at 32.5 degrees Celsius. Similarly, Junagadh also remained at the minimum temperature of 21.8 degrees Celsius.

However, woolens were out in Jamnagar where the minimum temperature remained at 16.1 while the maximum temperature was recorded at 30 degrees Celsius.

In Bhuj, the minimum temperature was at 19, while the maximum was at 32.0 degrees Celsius.

Junagadh Jamnagar Railway News Samachar Saurashtra Gujarat India

Okha-Howrah rail service flagged off.

Okha Port Gujarat of Jamnagar district was allotted a long distance rail service. It was connected to Howrah via Okha-Howrah Link Express. The service was flagged off with fanfare on Sunday.

The train no 2905A/2906A Okha Hapa Howrah Link Express will be linked to the existing train no 2905/2906 respectively.

The train no 2905A will leave from Okha three days a week Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday at 5.05 am and reach Hapa at 8.52 am and Howrah on the third day at 3.35 pm. Train 2906A will leave Howrah every Friday, Saturday and Tuesday at 10.55 pm and reach Hapa at 3 pm and Okha at 7.50 pm on the third day.

This train will pass by Dwarka, Khambhalia, Jamnagar City and Hapa. It will have one AC coach, two sleeper coaches and one general coach.

In addition to this, after repeated demands for a train connection to Mumbai, people of Veraval town of Junagadh district have finally been provided a direct rail service between Mumbai and Veraval from November 23.

Officials of Western Railway, Mumbai, said a link express had been started from November 21. Two sleeper class coaches will be attached to 9005/9006 Saurashtra Mail and will be taken up to Rajkot where these coaches will be detached and linked to Rajkot Veraval fast passenger (train no 259/260) on November 23. Train 259 will leave Rajkot daily at 11.10 am to reach Veraval at 3.30 pm and train 260 will leave Veraval daily at 1.05 pm to reach Rajkot at 5 pm.

Junagadh Rajkot Porbandar Amreli Kandala Port Kutch Winter News Samachar Saurashtra Gujarat India

Cold wave grips Saurashtra, Kutch Districts.

Cold wave swept Saurashtra and Kutch on Friday, and Naliya in Kutch recorded the lowest temperature of 9 degrees Celsius. Bhuj recorded the minimum temperature at 15.4 degrees Celsius.

According to the state meteorological department, the cold wave precipitated by heavy snowfall in Jammu and Kashmir is affecting several parts of Saurashtra region including Jamnagar City, Junagadh City, Rajkot City and Amreli City.

Jamnagar was the second coldest city with the minimum temperature recorded at 12.6 degrees Celsius. In Junagadh, the maximum temperature was 33.5 degrees Celsius, while the minimum was 13.2 degrees Celsius.

Woolens were taken out in Rajkot City with the mercury dipping at 15.2 degrees Celsius. Also, shivering with cold were people of Bhavnagar City (17.2 degrees Celsius), Kandala Port (17.6 degrees Celsius), Veraval City (18.4 degrees Celsius) and Porbandar City (19 degrees Celsius).

Junagadh Rajkot District Groundnuts Markets News Gujarat India

Groundnuts flood markets.

Amid contradictory reports of production of groundnuts in the state this year, various market yards of Saurashtra have started receiving good supply.

The season has started on a high note as 35,000 sacks of groundnuts arrived in the yards of Rajkot, Gondal, Keshod, Junagadh, Jetpur, Visavadar and Kodinar.

"About 20-25 oil mills started work of extracting oil from the nuts on Dussehra day. Till Diwali, it's expected that income from groundnuts will continue to rise on a daily basis. By then, all 700 mills of the region will start functioning on full scale," said an oil miller.

Producers expect good crop in Junagadh District and Jamnagar District too. On the first day, Rajkot yard received 8,000 sacks, Gondal 9,500, Jetpur 2,500, Junagadh 4,500, Keshod and Visavadar 2,000 each and Kodinar 5,000.

"Along with fresh produce, stored nuts have also started coming into the market. This resulted in a total of 50,000 sacks in Saurashtra on the first day," said a wholesaler of Rajkot yard. But, he also said that as prices are high, selling pressure will continue for a few weeks.

It remains to be seen how much farmers will get once supply increases.

Junagadh Jamnagar Saurashtra News Samachar Gujarat India

Groundnut yield plummets, hits 800 oil mills.

India's groundnut bowl is shrinking, both in terms of the area under cultivation and the yield.

On stake is the survival of more than 800 oil mills in the Saurashtra Kutch region, which accounts for 35 per cent of the country’s total production of five million tonnes of groundnut oilseed.

The slide began a couple of years ago, and this season, the plummet was steep and unchecked. The scanty rainfall has accounted for an all-time low yield this season.

The Saurashtra Oil Millers Association (SOMA) estimate the fall at over 45 per cent, which is now likely to hasten the en masse closure of mills, with groundnut oil prices expected to touch Rs 1,500 per 15 kg by Diwali.

“Owing to the shortage of kernels, groundnut is likely to touch Rs 1,500 by Diwali,” said SOMA president Ukabhai Patel. At present, groundnut oil costs Rs 1,100 per 15 kg. SOMA secretary Samir Shah said, “More than three out of four of the 800 mills will remain shut this season.”

With only 25 per cent of mills likely to reopen the coming season, SOMA wants the government to lift the ban on groundnut exports in a bid to encourage the cultivators.

Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are the major producers of groundnut oil in the country. The coastal belt of Saurashtra tops this list. Besides, groundnut is also grown at Vadodara, Bharuch and Surat districts.

At its Annual General Meeting on Sunday, SOMA estimated groundnut yield this season to be between 9.5 to 10 lakh tones, 45 per cent less than the 17 lakh tones yield in the previous year.

The area under groundnut cultivation in Saurashtra-Kutch has also gone down from 26 lakh hectares in 2002 to 19 lakh hectares, reducing production from 26 to 19 lakh tonnes.

According to the government agriculture department figures, the area under groundnut cultivation stood at 17 lakh hectares this season.

This year, barring Jamnagar and Junagadh districts, the yield in the other six districts including Rajkot, Amreli, Surendranagar, Bhavnagar, Porbandar and Kutch is not even 40,000 tonnes on an average. For both Junagadh and Jamnagar, which recorded more than average rainfall, the yield is expected to be around three lakh tonnes.

Incidentally, the politically-powerful SOMA, which once decided the composition and course of the state governments, has now been reduced to pleading with the government to increase the import duties on other oils, for their sheer survival.

Soma had once rocked the Chimanbhai Patel Government, forcing the then minister Ashok Bhatt to resign when the industry was not happy. But, with the License Raj no longer in existence, the industry has lost its clout. The plummeting yield has made matters only worse for it.

“We are going to make a representation to the Centre to allow exports of groundnut and to impose import duty on other edible oils that have flooded the market,” said Ukabhai Patel.