Ahmedabad: Gujarat foresters are dealing with a new threat to the Gir wildlife sanctuary. Scarcity of fodder on the periphery of the sanctuary is forcing politicians to pressure the forest department to permit Maldharis to bring their cattle inside the sanctuary for grazing.

Forest officials said that MLAs from the ruling party were trying to ensure that the Maldhari community around the sanctuary was allowed into Gir, Girnar, and Mitiyala sanctuaries. Sources said the pressure was constant.

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat high court on Monday sought complete details from the state governm ent on availability of facilities in Primary Health Centres (PHC), doctors, trained nursing staff and infrastructure across the state.

The bench of Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice J B Pardiwala has asked the government to furnish details within 15 days. This was in connection with a nine-year old PIL filed by Dr Leela Trivedi seeking direction to the state government to take measures so that maternal mortality ratio (MMR) in the state can be brought down. The PIL sought recruitment of doctors and trained nurses besides enhancement in the infrastructural facility in PHCs for delivery.

With Mundra incurring losses and resolution of higher costs not likely soon, stock could feel pressure

The Tata Power stock has underperformed broader markets in the current quarter, a trend likely to sustain, going ahead, due to concerns over its Mundra power project and stock valuations. Against a two per cent rise in the Sensex, Tata Power’s stock is down almost six per cent in the quarter so far. The 4,000 Mw Mundra ultra mega power project (UMPP) (set up under Coastal Gujarat Power Limited (CGPL) reported a net loss of Rs 165 crore in the June 2012 quarter, which was ahead of analysts’ estimates.

AHMEDABAD: Even as 14 of Gujarat's 26 districts reel from a deficient monsoon, the babudom in Gandhinagar is consuming the most drinking water per capita in the country. The capital consumes 310 litres per capita per day (LPCD). Most of this water comes from the Narmada network. You'd be mistaken to assume that the bureaucrats are on hydrotherapy, it's their gardens that are to blame.

To stop this criminal waste of a precious resource, the roads and building department is setting up a water treatment plant with a capacity of 10 million litres of sewage water per day, just to supply to gardens in Gandhinagar. The plant is currently under construction, behind Infocity campus.

SSNNL-Sponsored Survey Flies In The Face Of State Govt’s Claims Of Drought

Gandhinagar: A just-published study, sponsored by Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd (SSNNL), suggests that even the existing incomplete canal network should have considerably eased the current scarcity conditions, claimed to be prevailing in large parts of Gujarat. The study acquires significance, as it comes almost about the same time when the Gujarat government regarded “lack of rains” as the chief criterion to declare 91 out of 225 talukas as “scarcity hit”. Based on the same, the state has demanded Rs 18,000 crore from the Centre as drought relief.

New Delhi: Countering Gujarat’s opposition to lion translocation project, the Madhya Pradesh government told the Supreme Court that a second habitat for Asiatic Lions in Kuno — cleared by National Board of Wildlife — was mandatory to avoid Tanzania’s disastrous experience in Serengeti where an epidemic outbreak almost wiped out the entire lion population.

Madhya Pradesh met with disdain Gujarat’s apprehension about safety of lions. The Shivraj Singh Chouhan government did not deny the past lapses allowing poachers to wipe out the entire tiger population in Panna, but said the new model of wildlife protection had got it laurels from many quarters and its efforts were being replicated by other states.

Their Children Have Dropped Out Of School In Many Villages

Rajkot: A native of Sinchor village in Pavi-Jetpur taluka of Vadodara district Kiran Nayak (16) enrolled himself in Ambardi village high school in Gondal taluka of Rajkot this year as his family has been living here for the last five years. His father Bhima Nayak hoped that Kiran would get good education along with employment. However, fate has something else in store for him.

AHMEDABAD: Drumit Shah recently woke up with acute pain in the chest. He woke up his father who instantly took him to a physician. The doctor carried out an ECG and concluded that Drumit was suffering from a heart attack. The shocker is that Dhrumit is only 20 years old and is currently studying in third year BCA!

Dr Shamik Brahmbhatt, interventional cardiologist at Krishna Heart and Super Specialty Institutes said that Drumit's main artery supplying blood to the heart was completely blocked. The blockage was removed and a stent was put to restore blood flow to his heart even as he suffered a heart attack.

Ahmedabad Gujarat Housing Board (GHB) would launch seven projects offering 6,300 residential units for people under various income groups, a decision which comes close on the heels of opposition Congress announcing a housing scheme for women ahead of the Assembly poll.

"A decision to launch seven housing projects - three in Ahmedabad, two in Rajkot and one each in Surat and Vadodara - was taken during a Board meeting held today," Chairman of GHB, Jayantilal Barot said. These projects would have around 6,300 units in three categories LIG (low income group), MIG (medium income group) and HIG (high income group), for which applications forms shall be available from August 27, he said.

Gandhinagar: In a systematic blow to high accolades Gujarat received from the Centre over the “net increase in the mangrove cover”, reports from Jambusar in Bharuch in south Gujarat suggest that things may now be moving in the opposite direction. The reports point to the coastal areas in Gulf of Khambhat where the Gujarat Ecology Commission (GEC) and NGOs jointly developed dense mangroves plantations.

The government has received a complaint from a civil society activist, who happens to be a member of the state-sponsored Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority, that heavy mangroves plantation is in the danger of being wiped out.