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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).