AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat high court on Thursday issued notice to the National Aids Control Organization (NACO) over a PIL demanding a change in standard testing method for detection of HIV prior to blood transfusion. It demanded adoption of a faster method of detection.

One Babulal Thakkar filed the PIL citing a TOI report on the new method of testing. Thakkar has identified himself as a lecturer from Ahmedabad. He requested the court to direct the authorities including NACO to do away with the present method of detecting HIV in India, which through the Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test or the anti body test.

New Delhi The Supreme Court has rejected a salt manufacturer's plea, thus paving the way for its eviction from over 16,000 acre of the Kandla Port Tust (KPT) land in the Kutch region of Gujarat.

A bench headed by Justice DK Jain dismissed as withdrawn the Shree Krishna Salt Industries' (SKSI) plea seeking stay on the Delhi High Court's May order that directed the Estate Officer as well as a trial court in Gujarat to complete eviction proceedings against the firm and others within three months. However, it asked the HC to consider the firm's plea on merits.

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi today expressed his resolve to provide housing to all safai kamdars ( sanitation workers), contrary to canards spread by elements spreading lies that his government does not care about the poor.

Dedicating 1,024 houses to safai kamdars at a function here, he said that Gujarat Safai Kamdar Vikas Nigam and Ahmedabad Mahanagar Seva Sadan have jointly undertaken the job of constructing 1,924 houses for Valmiki Samaj in Ahmedabad under Dr Ambedkar Safai Kamdar Awas Yojna.

“Serious social and environmental violations,” says group

An independent fact-finding team has called for suspension of work related to the upcoming 4,000 MW Tata Mundra Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) in Gujarat, citing “serious social and environmental violations”. The team, led by former Chief Justice of Sikkim S.N. Bhargava, released a report –‘The Real Cost of Power’- and presented the findings from the ground. “The project has disproportionately high social, environmental, and economic costs.

An independent fact-finding team led by Sikkim Chief Justice S.N. Bhargava (Retd) has accused Tata Mundra Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP), located in the ecologically-fragile area of Kutch, of destroying livelihoods of the local communities living in that area.

Releasing a report titled “The Real Cost of Power”, the team warned that “large stretches of mangroves, dry-land forests and bio-diversity creeks have been destroyed for the construction of the project’s inlet and outfall channels”.

AHMEDABAD: Three public buildings in the city will use solar power to meet their daily energy needs by the end of the year.

Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation will have its south zone office in Maninagar, Memco sports complex and west zone office in Usmanpura using rooftop solar power. The purpose is to show Amdavadis that with high electricity prices, solar systems ensure handsome savings in the long run. The pay off period - time to recover investment in the power unit — can be less than two years, claim AMC officials.

Gujarat High Court on Thursday issued notice to the Union government on a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging notification giving Pune bench of National Green Tribunal (NGT) jurisdiction for cases from the state of Gujarat.

A division bench of acting chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice J B Pardiwala also issued notice to the NGT and has scheduled next hearing after a fortnight.

AHMEDABAD: In a unique initiative the agriculture department will distribute special Tricho-cards' for free amongst farmers in the state. A special pest control laboratory in sector-15 in Gandhinagar will be the nodal agency in the effort.

With practically no biological side-effects, tricho-cards are an efficient way of controlling pests in fields and minimizes or even eliminates the use of artificial pesticides. Maize, rice, sugarcane, millets are some of the crops that can be saved because of the tricho-cards.

After the state government restricted fresh issuance and renewal of lease for mining in the state, bauxite miners in Porbandar area of Gujarat are facing tough times.

According to industry sources, over Rs 1,000 crore worth of investments of bauxite miners are believed to have been blocked due to the government's restriction. Porbandar District Chamber of Commerce and Industries officials maintained that about 8.3 million tonnes of bauxite stock is waiting for a dispatch permission from the authorities for past three years.

AHMEDABAD: The recent price rise may be pinching your pockets, but for the price conscious Amdavadi here is some good news. The city has been rated by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) as 19th in the world, in terms of economic strength.

Apart from this, the only other Indian city ranked in the same sub-category is Bangalore at 16th. Of the 20 cities listed by EIU under the category of economic strength, 15 cities belong to Asia, while Ahmedabad and Bangalore are the only two Indian cities.