Page 13 - Gujarat

143 flyers from 47 nations participate in International Kite Festival

Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Saturday inaugurated the four-day International Kite Festival, which has drawn 143 participants from 47 countries. Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister said Gujarat has a 65 per cent share of the country's kite market, with exports to countries like the US, UK, and Canada. The 'International Kite Festival-2025' is being organised at Sabarmati Riverfront in Ahmedabad from January 11 to January 14. Apart from Ahmedabad, the festival has also been organised at the Statue of Unity (Ekta Nagar), Rajkot and Vadodara on January 12 and Surat, Shivrajpur, and Dhordo on January 13. State Tourism Minister Mulu Bera said this year, 143 international kite flyers from 47 countries and 52 kite flyers from 11 states in India are participating in the festival. Patel said as the then chief minister of Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced modern elements to the festival by integrating it with tourism. "Thus, this kite festival has given .

Govt lab confirms HMPV infection in 8-yr-old; cases in Gujarat rise to 3

An eight-year-old boy from Gujarat's Sabarkantha district has contracted human metapneumovirus infection, taking the number of HMPV cases in the state to three, an official said on Friday. The boy, who belongs to a family of farm labourers from Prantij taluka, was found positive for HMPV in a test run by a private laboratory but health authorities had sent his blood samples to a government lab for confirmation, he said. The child, who is currently admitted to a private hospital in Himmatnagar town, had been considered a suspected HMPV case until now. The government lab on Friday confirmed that the boy is infected with HMPV. He is currently under treatment and his condition is stable, said Sabarkantha District Collector Ratankanvar Gadhavicharan. Doctors at the hospital told reporters that the boy was on a ventilator. Gujarat recorded its first case of HMPV on January 6, when a two-month-old boy from Rajasthan was found to be afflicted with the viral disease, which has symptoms lik

First HMPV case in elderly reported in India amid China's recent surge

The patient, an 80-year-old man in Gujarat, is infected with virus. He has no travel history abroad, say officials

80-yr old man with no travel history tests HMPV positive in Ahmedabad

An 80-year-old man tested positive for human metapneumovirus (HMPV) infection in Ahmedabad city of Gujarat on Thursday, officials said. The patient is currently receiving treatment at a private hospital and he does not have any travel history abroad, a statement issued by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) said. He was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday and his samples tested positive for HMPV on Thursday. The man has been suffering from asthma for some time and his condition is stable at present, it said. Gujarat recorded its first case of HMPV virus on January 6. A two-month-old boy from Rajasthan was found infected and discharged after undergoing treatment at a hospital here. On Wednesday, a suspected case was reported in Himmatnagar town of Sabarkantha district. The blood sample of the patient - an eight-year-old boy, who is currently on a ventilator in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a private hospital in Himmatnagar - has been sent to a government hospital for ...

Gujarat govt planning guidelines to restrict mobile use among children

The Gujarat government on Thursday said it will introduce guidelines restricting the use of mobile phones and social media for children, underscoring that too much screen time is not good for them. The aim is to keep the kids away from the devices and bring them to playgrounds and study tables, State Minister of Education Prafful Panseriya told reporters. The guidelines will be brought out after consulting experts, he said. We had earlier issued a government resolution banning mobile phones (for children) in primary schools. That resolution will be strictly followed from now on, he said. Teachers, students and parents will be made aware of the guidelines and the state will promote the initiative as a campaign, the minister said. Recently, Australia banned the use of social media for children aged under 16. The central government also plans to incorporate parental controls for data usage instead of a blanket ban on mobile phones for children under 18.

Rescue ops on for second day to save Gujarat teen who fell into borewell

Hectic efforts continued on Tuesday to rescue an 18-year-old girl, more than 24 hours after she fell into a deep borewell at a village in Gujarat's Kutch district, officials said. The incident took place at around 6.30 am on Monday at Kanderai village in Bhuj taluka of the district. The teenager was stuck at a depth of 490 feet in the 540-foot-deep borewell, they said. "Rescue efforts continued through the night, and we have not met with success so far. The girl is not showing any movement, but we are continuously supplying her with oxygen and making all efforts to bring her out," Kutch Collector Amit Arora said. The borewell has a diameter of one foot, and the fact that the girl is grown up and stuck deep into it is making the rescue efforts difficult, the collector said. Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Border Security Force (BSF) were working along with the fire department personnel of Bhuj municipality, local emergency response team, police and officials

HMPV outbreak: 5 children test positive, Nadda says 'no reason to worry'

Five infants tested positive for the Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV) in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Gujarat on Monday, the first reported cases of the virus in India. Union Health Minister J P Nadda sought to assuage fears, saying the government is closely monitoring the situation and there is no reason to worry. HMPV is a globally recognised respiratory virus that recently gained attention after its outbreak was reported in China. It is a viral pathogen that causes respiratory infections in people of all age groups. While the Karnataka, Gujarat, and Maharashtra governments assured that there was no cause for alarm, the Delhi government directed all hospitals in the capital to remain fully prepared to manage a potential surge in respiratory illnesses with former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal urging the Centre to act swiftly to prevent a potential health crisis. Two cases were detected in Karnataka by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) through routine surveillance for .

Two-month-old infant in Ahmedabad hospital tests positive for HMPV; stable

A two-month-old boy admitted to a private hospital in Ahmedabad has been detected with Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV) infection, an official said Monday. The infant, who hails from Dungarpur in Rajasthan, was admitted to the hospital, located in Chandkheda locality here, on December 24 with symptoms of respiratory infection. After tests, he was found positive for the HMPV, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation's in-charge medical officer of health Bhavin Solanki said. "HMPV (infection) was detected in the patient on December 26, but we learnt about it today as the private hospital reported it to us late," Solanki said. The patient was kept in isolation, the official said. Earlier, the child was kept on a ventilator, and his condition is stable now, Solanki said. Before this, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has detected two cases of HMPV in Karnataka through routine surveillance for multiple respiratory viral pathogens. The Union health ministry emphasised that HMPV is alre

Woman booked for allegedly abetting husband's suicide in Gujarat's Botad

The Gujarat police have registered a case against a woman for allegedly abetting her husband's suicide after he left behind a video asking his family to teach her a lesson for causing his death, police said on Saturday. According to the police, Suresh Sathadiya (39) was found hanging from the ceiling of his house at Zamrala village in Botad district on December 30. His family members found a video recording on Sathadiya's mobile phone, in which he has urged them to "teach his wife a lesson for causing his death", an official from Botad rural police station said. Based on a complaint by the Sathadiya's father, a first information report (FIR) was registered on Friday against the deceased man's wife, Jayaben, he said. The complainant has alleged his daughter-in-law mentally harassed his son by frequently quarrelling with him and going to her parents' place every now and then. The FIR stated that Sathadiya had gone to his in-laws' place to persuade his wife to return home. But when s

Mosque trustee, 8 others held for evicting shopkeepers in Rajkot under Waqf

A trustee of a mosque in Gujarat's Rajkot city and eight others have been arrested for allegedly evicting three shopkeepers by citing a Waqf Board order, the police said on Friday. The shops, rented out by the trust to Hindu traders, are situated on the ground floor of Nawab Mosque in Danapith area. On December 31, a mob led by mosque trustee Farooq Musani allegedly broke the locks and took possession of the shops by throwing out all the merchandise onto the road, a police official said. When one of the shopkeepers, Virendra Kotecha, confronted Musani and others, they cited a Gujarat State Waqf Board order asking the mosque trust to take possession of the shops. Kotecha told reporters that his family had been running the shop since 1962, and no prior notice was served to him by the trust. Musani, on the other hand, told reporters before his arrest that the shopkeepers were evicted as per the Waqf Board's order, copies of which were given to them. State Waqf Board member Asif Sal

A burnt body and mismatched DNA: How police foiled Gujarat hotelier's plan

The Gujarat police foiled a hotelier's plan to escape his mounting debts, which led him to fake his own death with help from friends and family members in Banaskantha district

Ponzi scheme operator Zala collected Rs 450 cr from 11k investors: Police

Alleged ponzi scheme operator Bhupendrasinh Zala collected Rs 450 crore from 11,000 investors through 17 offices he set up across Gujarat between 2020 and 2024, a police official said on Monday. Zala, a resident of Himmatnagar town of Sabarkantha, was held from Mehsana district on December 27 after being on the run for almost a month. He is in police custody till January 4. During interrogation, it was revealed that Zala, through his entity BZ Financial Services, collected Rs 450 crore from unsuspecting investors by offering them unusually high returns on deposits, said Deputy Inspector General of Police (CID-Crime) Parikshita Rathod. "He opened 17 branches across Gujarat to target investors. Our investigation has found he collected Rs 450 crore in four years and then purchased movable and immovable assets worth Rs 100 crore. Moreover, he did not pay Rs 100 crore to depositors as promised," she told reporters in Gandhinagar. "So far, we have learnt that nearly 11,000 individuals ..

4 die after inhaling toxic gas at chemical unit in Gujarat's Bharuch

Four workers died after inhaling toxic fumes following a gas leak at a chemical plant at Dahej in Gujarat's Bharuch district, police said on Sunday. The company said all four were given immediate medical care but could not be saved. It has announced Rs 30 lakh ex gratia to the kin of each victim. A company employee and three contractual workers fell unconscious after poisonous fumes leaked from a pipe at a production unit of the Gujarat Fluorochemicals Limited (GFL) on Saturday night, Dahej police station inspector BM Patidar said. They were rushed to a private hospital where all four of them died, he said. The bodies were sent for postmortem and further probe into the incident was underway, the official said. The deceased have been identified as Rajesh Kumar Maganadiya (48), (hailing from Bharuch), Mudrika Yadav (29) (from Adhaura in Jharkhand), Suchit Prasad (39) and Mahesh Nandlal (25) (both from Sonbhadra in Uttar Pradesh), police said. In a media statement, GFL said the inci

Reliance's first-ever refinery at Jamnagar completes 25 yrs of operations

When Reliance founder chairman Dhirubhai Ambani wanted to pursue his long-cherished dream of setting up a refinery, he was offered land in the barren and desolate region off Jamnagar

Gujarat CM launches 'SWAR' platform to overcome language barriers

SWAR (Speech and Written Analysis Resource) platform was launched on the occasion of Good Governance Day on December 25

Sebi punctures Bharat Global's 10,000% stock rally over fake disclosures

Shares of the Gujarat-headquartered company surged over 10,000 per cent in the 12-month period ending November as it announced forays into market-fancied sectors

Double engine govt becoming symbol of good governance, says PM Modi

PM Modi further lauded CM Bhajanlal Sharma for 'giving new momentum and direction to Rajasthan's development'

Guj properties law: Presumption of constitutionality attached to enactment

There is a presumption of constitutionality attached to every enactment, the Supreme Court on Monday said and dismissed a plea against a Gujarat High Court order refusing to suspend certain provisions of a 1991 state law over properties in disturbed areas. While hearing the challenge, Justices Dipankar Datta and Prashant Kumar Mishra, asked, "How can, by an interim order, certain provisions be suspended?" "There is a presumption of constitutionality attached to every enactment," it observed. The high court on October 28 rejected an application seeking suspension of certain provisions of the Gujarat Prohibition of Transfer of Immovable Property and Provisions for Protection of Tenants from Eviction from Premises in the Disturbed Areas Act, 1991. The law prohibits the transfer of immovable property in the disturbed areas of the state. The high court noted as far as the relief prayed for the suspension of certain provisions of the 1991 Act -- vires of which were challenged in the wri

Ambuja Cements commissions 200 MW solar power project in Gujarat

Ambuja Cements, part of Adani Group firm, on Friday announced the commissioning of a 200 MW solar power project in Khavda, Gujarat, to supply green power to 20 cement plants. The Khavda project is part of Adani Cements' plan to have 1 GW of renewable power from solar and wind projects, along with 376 MW from WHRS (Waste Heat Recovery Systems). "The balance 806 MW capacity from this project is at various stages of commissioning and expected to start transmitting in phases between March 2025 and June 2025," said a statement. Of the remaining 806 MW capacity from this project, 156 MW of wind power from Khavda and a further 300 MW of solar power from Rajasthan are expected to be commissioned by March 2025 in phases. The balance of 350 MW of solar power is expected to be commissioned by June 2025. This will "positively impact the company's EBITDA" as this development leads to an impressive 70 per cent savings compared to current power cost, it added. The company is spending around Rs

Gujarat faces alarming malnutrition rate despite Rs 2,879 cr central aid

Gujarat continues to grapple with high malnutrition rate and widespread anaemia, despite receiving Rs 2,879 crore from the Centre under the Poshan Abhiyaan