Gujarati News: March 2007

Agitation for separate state of Kutch has rised
Thursday, March 29, 2007 | AY

Close on the lines of the Kutch Jal Sankat Nivaran Samiti which has now moved Supreme Court in its 20-year fight for adequate allocation of Narmada water, another organisation has joined the crusade by threatening to launch an agitation for separate state of Kutch if the long-pending Narmada water issue is not settled by the State Government as per ‘rightful demand of its water starved people’. The increasing support of people for the campaign had surprise reactions from BJP leaders who had earlier spearheaded this cause, he said, adding that the Kutchis want more share of water to irrigate their vast barren land and bigger canal to carry water from the Narmada dam through gravity fall instead of lift system.

Jet Airways flight to London from Ahmedabad
Wednesday, March 28, 2007 | AY

Jet Airways will start a direct flight to London from Ahmedabad from April 3.Initially this flight will be twice a week and from May 1 this will be turned into thrice a week flight. Jet Airways said that this is part of expansion mode of the company which will have flights to Toronto, New Jersey and other places during the next year. The Jet Airways filight will operate from Ahmedabad on Tuesdays and Wednesdays while in the return direction, the flight from London Heathrow to Ahmedabad will be on Tuesdays and Sundays from April 3 to April 30.

Acting school by Anupam Kher in Ahmedabad
Tuesday, March 27, 2007 | AY

Renowned actor Anupam Kher has opened his acting school "Actor Prepares" in Ahmedabad. The School, part of his Mumbai school, will start in June this year. Announcing this, Kher said that the School will also have a course "The Change Within" in addition to the regular acting course. The new course is a kind of a personality development course where students will be equipped with various skills like art of expression, diction, grooming, conversational English and Hindi with right accent, dress sense and accessories. For the School, Kher has tied up with a local infrastructure entrepreneur T S Anand and the School is being developed near Nirma University on the SG Highway. The fee of each course is Rs.40,000 plus per month and the duration of the course is three months.

Employment oriented programmes for van bandhus
Monday, March 26, 2007 | AY

Chief Minister Narendra Modi today announced that the government would implement an employment-oriented package for 5 lakh van bandhus. He said that the the government had in the past five years worked towards the development of tribal communities and announced schemes that would increase their income. Under this scheme, a tribal possessing five guntha land, is given financial assistance to increase production of fruits and grains. He further announced setting up of medical, engineering and polytechnic colleges in the tribal belts of Gujarat.

High-level inquiry against NBA
Sunday, March 25, 2007 | AY

The Gujarat Government has sought a "high level" inquiry into the allegation that the Medha Patkar-led Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) was illegally receiving funds from abroad. The State Government, in its affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, supported an NGO's demand seeking a probe by the CBI into the NBA's activities and contended that the protest against the Sardar Sarovar Project could not be conducted without access to substantial funds. The State Government was responding to a PIL filed by the Ahmedabad-based NGO National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL), which alleged the NBA was acting at the behest of foreign powers and creating political instability in India on the strength of foreign funds.

Lignite gassification project by ONGC in Surat
Saturday, March 24, 2007 | AY

Public Sector oil exploration behemoth Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd (ONGC) is expected to start its pilot project for underground gasification of lignite near Vasthan area 20 kms away from Surat in Gujarat within a year. Not only that, the company has also identified three other sites in Bhavnagar district of Saurashtra for similar projects. ONGC had entered into a MoU with the Gujarat government owned Gujarat Mineral Development Corp (GMDC) for underground gasification of lignite near Surat. ONGC has also identified three sites in Bhavnagar for studying the possibility for undertaking similar projects. Bhavnagar has a sizeable amount of lignite reserves and after the pilot project, the company will look at the three sites in Bhavnagar district for undertaking commercial production of natural gas through the gasification of lignite.

Pollution control vessel launched by Surat co
Thursday, March 22, 2007 | AY

With the completion of the first of a three-vessel-contract of making Pollution Control Vessels (PCVs) for the Indian Coast Guard (ICG), Surat-based ABG Shipyard says that they are now ready to make a foray in the very specialised field of defence vessel production. ABG Shipyard, a public listed company with the BSE, is a major player in construction of ships related to the oil and gas sector. The three PCVs, after they are commissioned in active Coast Guard service, will render an increased tier rating (three tier) for ICG in connection with control and prevention of oil spills. When not managing oil spills, the 94 meter and 1,250 tonnes vessel would assist the ICG in their usual patrolling duty. The unique propulsion system and the hull design of the ship will make it convenient to take care of oil spills while cruising at very low speed and during high-speed chases.

World’s largest pumping station
Wednesday, March 21, 2007 | AY

The world’s largest water pumping station by volume’ started its operation by releasing 230 cubic meters of water per second (cumecs) into the parched Saurashtra region of the State on Tuesday. This would also provide drinking water to more than 4500 villages. It would also produce 30 MW electricity through the three hydro power plants. This will increase to 410 cumecs after expansion of phases III and IV, with the total five-station system pumping 5,40,000 lakh litres of water per day into Saurashtra when completed. It will irrigate 5.4 lakh hectares of area in Saurashtra that constitutes about one-third of the total command area of the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP). Chief Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the phase I and II of the Saurashtra system of the Narmada project at Kadu chainage of the Saurashtra Branch Canal (SBC) in Surendranagar district.

Tap into Narmada water to get nod for building plans
Tuesday, March 20, 2007 | AY

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, in association with Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA) has decided to link the approval of new building plans with obtaining Narmada water connection in all schemes coming up henceforth. The reason behind the new plan was to spread the usage of Narmada water network which was set up at a huge cost and it was observed that people in the newly merged areas were not too keen to go for Narmada connection and instead were digging their own bore wells to skip the water connection charges. People in AMC areas were using TDS bore well water which was harmful to their health in the long run.

Ahmedabad to have world-class railway station
Monday, March 19, 2007 | AY

Union Minister of State for Railways Narain Rathwa said that the city will soon have a world class railway station built at a cost of Rs 100 crore. The city was among the 18 cities in the country that were chosen for the high-class railway station by the Railway Ministry. The design of the station is ready, he said adding it would not come up in Kalupur area, where the present station is located as it is a congested location. He said the project costing Rs 25,000 crore was being done with the consultation of Japanese experts. There would be one such train connecting Ahmedabad and Mumbai. The train will take just three and a half hours to reach Mumbai. It will be fenced on both sides along the route.

Amma in Gujarat
Sunday, March 18, 2007 | AY

Mata Amritanandamayi Devi will be in Ahmedabad on her regular annual visit of Gujarat. Her Satsang, Bhajan, Dhyan and Darshan programme will be held at Ahmedabad Education Society Ground on March 21 in the evening. Her programmes in Ahmedabad include distribution of pension to destitute and handicapped, distribution of sewing machines and release of souvenir.

Parshwanath comes up with new strategies
Saturday, March 17, 2007 | AY

One of leading real estate developers in the country, Parshwanath Developers Ltd, on Friday announced the launch of its Rs 250 crore project including setting up of a five-star hotel and multiplex-cum-commercial mall project at Vejalpur in Ahmedabad. Spread over a total area of 22,365 sq meters, the project will have a five- star hotel and commercial mall as well as multiplex and the project is slated to be completed and start operations within two and a half year.

Jet Airways To Inaugurate Non-Stop Flight On Ahmedabad-London-Ahmedabad Sector
Thursday, March 15, 2007 | AY

Jet Airways India Ltd on Tuesday announced the introduction of its new international flight between Ahmedabad and London Heathrow with an objective to cater the large number of NRIs and Gujarati community. The Mumbai-based company will operate two flights per week effective April 03, 2007 and the frequency would be enhanced to three flights per week from May 2007. Ahmedabad will be fourth city in India to be linked with London Heathrow by the company. The maiden flight 9W125 will depart from Ahmedabad at 1410 hours local time and arrive in London Heathrow at 1905 hours - local time. In the return direction, flight 9W126 will leave London Heathrow at 2235 hours local time and arrive in Ahmedabad at 1145 hours local time the next morning.

Gujarat emerging as energy hub of the country
Wednesday, March 14, 2007 | AY

Gujarat will be the production hub of energy using different type of fuels like crude oil, imported coal, domestic gas, LNG and wind energy. Surplus energy will be exported to other states. This was stated by Minister of State for Energy Saurabh Patel while speaking on demands of his department. He said that Gujarat was the only state with two LNG terminals with installed capacity of 7.5 million tones. State owned GSPC along with Adani Energy and Essar energy were planning to set up two more LNG terminals. With this almost 100MMSCMD of gas will be imported through the coast of Gujarat, which would be enough to produce 20,000 mw of electricity. Even if 50 percent of this LNG is used for power, it could generate 10,000 mw of electricity.

VCDs of hit films released
Tuesday, March 13, 2007 | AY

The VCDs of hit films like Machchu Tara Vahata Paani and Panetar No Rang were released recently. While Machchu Tara Vahata Paani is directed by Vibhakar Mehta and produced by Amar Kumar Jadeja and Raju Bhatt stars Upendra Trivedi, Snehalata Arvind Trivedi, Ramesh Mehta and Chandrakant Pandya, Panetar No Rang, starring Raj Goswami, Pallavi Navrekar, Padmarani, Chandrakant Pandya and Ramesh Mehta, is directed by Prakash Jadhav. The other films in the offing are producer Govindbhai Patel’s hit Jede Rahe Je Raj,starring Naresh Kanodia, Deepika, Jagdeep and Rajnibala as well as the Naresh Kanodia-Sneha-starrer Ladi Lakhni Saybo Sava Lakhno. This film was produced by Govindbhai Patel and directed by Mehul Kumar and both the films had music by Mahesh-Naresh. There’s also the devotional Gujarati film, Meera Ke Girdhar, starring Upasna Khosla, Himani Shivpuri, Renuka Israni and Parikshit Sahani can also be enjoyed.

Heritage walk at Gandhi Ashram
Monday, March 12, 2007 | AY

Gandhi Ashram here which attracts tourists from world over has a new tourist attraction from today, the day when Gandhi had started his famous Dandi March 77 years ago. A walk in Gandhi Ashram will now be a regular show between 9 am and 1 pm. The walk will cover 12 different places within the Ashram and it will also have a slide show and a book guide to provide all necessary information about the Ashram. It will begin at Gandhi Sanghrahalaya and end at the Ashram library. There will be four such yaatras daily in the Ashram. The idea is to provide detail information to visitors about the importance of different places associated with Ashram.

Common Entrance Test forms from March 22
Sunday, March 11, 2007 | AY

The forms for the Gujarat Common Entrance Test will be available from March 22 in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. In other districts the forms will be available from March 28. Announcing this chairman of the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board R K Pathak said that the last date for submission of the forms is April 14 and the examination will be held on May 3. Pathak said that intensive coaching programme has been arranged at different places in Gujarat with the help of Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications and Geoinformatics , Gandhinagar.

Salary packagesof IIMs students in crores
Saturday, March 10, 2007 | AY

As the campus recruitments are on a high, students of IIMs have grabbed offers from international companies with pay packages ranging in crores. This year around 20 companies including Barclays, BCG, Bain Consulting and Fischer Jordan visited IIM Ahmedabad campus in slot zero, and gave job offers to 50-60 graduates. McKinsey made 5-7 offers of Rs 16 lacs to freshers. Edelweiss Capital has made around 10 offers. Consulting firm Value Partners has made 5 offers. The highest pay package offered to IIMA graduate was $225,000 which is equivalent to Rs. 1.01 crore.

NIIT Imperia to launch five new courses
Thursday, March 8, 2007 | AY

After its foray into executive management education last year under 'NIIT Imperia', NIIT is set to launch five new programmes in March 2007. In its first phase of operations, the company had offered executive management education programmes through the Indian Insitutes of Management (IIMs) at Ahmedabad, Calcutta, and Indore but is now looking at the Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) and around five other top management schools in the country for possible collaborations. The company will also roll out programmes like management programme for software development, retail management, HR and finance. The cost for the new programmes vary from Rs 56,000 for the six month programme on strategising HR to Rs 1,50,000 for the one-year programme on Retail Management, which has seen the maximum number of applicants.

Rajkot civic body is homing in on 30,000 low-cost residences
Wednesday, March 7, 2007 | AY

With 1,500 low-cost houses for the urban poor in their final stages of completion, the RMC is now building up pace for meeting a target of 30,000 houses and thereby making Rajkot a zero-slum city, by 2012. The Rs 300-crore housing scheme has been undertaken under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). It plans to construct the houses with a new technology called MASCOT, which would help the civic body meet its 20 houses-a-day target. The project involves four stages: survey of urban poor, their identification by way of bio-metric cards, construction, allocation of units to genuine beneficiaries. Under the scheme, the homeless, those who do not have facility for drinking water within 500 feet of their house, the illiterate, semi-literate and OBC/SC/STs have been classified as urban poor.

Final Solution
Tuesday, March 6, 2007 | AY

The premiere of the Gujarati version of the much acclaimed film ‘Final Solution’ was held here at Mehndi Nawaj Jung Hall in Paldi under the on-going series of programmes ‘Sach Ki Yadein Yadon ka Sach’ to mark five years of 2002.The film divided in two parts is based on Godhara riots. The film which weaves brutal incidents and political developments in Gujarat has eyewitness accounts of the attacks on Gulbarg Society and Naroda Patia. It has been screened in over 80 international film festivals and has won several accolades from across the globe. It did not get clearance from the Censor Board for a long time, which only came in October 2004 after a sustained campaign all over the country.

Design of Sabarmati River Front project perfect
Sunday, March 4, 2007 | AY

Tests by National Institute of Hydrology and Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee have confirmed that the design of Sabarmati River Front development project is perfect and it can withstand worst fury of Sabarmati River. The project at the same time has invited global tenders for the second part of the ambitious scheme first of its kind in the country. He said that the test have proved that the structure can withstand flow of 4.75 lakh cusec of water. The study has suggested that there should be dredging in the Sabarmati River to maintain uniform level. It has also suggested that a gauge station should be set up to measure water level at the point where canal meets Sabarmati River.

Somani bags AMA-Zydus marketing award
Saturday, March 3, 2007 | AY

Ahmedabad Management Association-Zydus-Cadila Marketing Man of the Award-2006 was conferred on Bhagwati Banquets & Hotels Ltd Chairman and Managing Director Narendra Somani here on Friday. The award was instituted by Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) and sponsored by pharmaceutical major Zydus-Cadila Healthcare Ltd. Somani was selected for this award in recognition of his significant contribution in developing a successful hospitality business through his innovative and marketing strategy.

Budget brings good news to Gujarat
Thursday, March 1, 2007 | AY

Budget 2007 presented by Union Finance Minister P Chidambram on Wednesday appears to have enough for Gujarat to cheer about. From textile to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to special fund allocated to Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad to giving shine to the gem and jewellery industries in the state, there are many budgetary proposals that are reason for industrialists to smile. On the occasion of the centenary year of the Satyagrah Movement spearheaded by Mahatma Gandhi, the Union Finance Minister has allocated Rs 30 crore for four important Gandhian institutions in the country, one of which is Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad. With the state having more than 3,000 Small and Medium Enterprises, heavy sop on SMEs will give major boost to these enterprises in the state. Service tax exempted for small service providers and surcharge on income tax on all firms and companies with taxable income of Rs 1 crore or less removed, SMEs will be able to move ahead with confidence. Giving pipelines an infrastructure status and tax concession to them for 10 years has also been a cheering factor for the state. With tax duty down on Chemical and Plastic units from 12.5 to 7.5 percentage, units in Vapi, Ankleshwar and, Vatwa and other places in the state will reap benefit.