GANDHINAGAR: Gujarat government has decided to increase water supply through the Narmada canal-based pipelines, from 80-crorelitres to 120-crorelitres per day, in the wake of water scarcity in Saurashtra and Kutch.

This was decided by the state cabinet at its meeting on Wednesday which was chaired by chief minister Narendra Modi. A government spokesperson said water is being supplied through tankers to 523 villages even as a Rs 133.74-crore contingency masterplan has been prepared for implementation in villages likely to face shortages in the coming days.

Citizens Must Not Lower Guard Yet, Maintain Caution: Experts

Ahmedabad: The death toll due to swine flu in the state reached a staggering 180 on Tuesday, with the maximum casualties recorded in Rajkot, Ahmedabad, Kutch, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar.
Officials claimed the deaths and number of swineflucaseshave gradually gone down in the past few weeks, raising hopes that the worst might be over with the onset of summer. However, Tuesday’s unseasonal rains have brought back fear in the hearts of the citizens.

Regulator sets up panel to work out compensatory rates in a month; stocks of all power firms light up

In a landmark order, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), the country’s power sector regulator, has allowed a “compensatory tariff” for Adani Power’s imported-coal-based power project in Mundra, Gujarat. The Gautam Adani-led company had sought a revision in tariff, citing increased capital cost, since a recent change in regulation governing coal imports from Indonesia had made the fuel dearer.

New Delhi: The film grabbed one’s attention. It showed a billboard spouting water out of thin air. It seemed just the answer to the drought in India’s western regions.

New Delhi: Months after stopping Adani Group from setting up an 1,840-hectare special economic zone (SEZ) in Mundra, the commerce department is set to re-notify the enclave and let the edible oils-to-electricity conglomerate make it contiguous with an existing 6,500 hectare zone.

Sources told TOI that the proposal for re-notification has received the bureaucratic green light and is awaiting a final go ahead from commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma. In the first stage, the plan is to let Adani set up the SEZ. Subsequently, the group will seek “de-notification” of a part of the zone for which approval is in place and then the two would be made contiguous.

Rs 15,000-crore aluminium park stuck as both parties ponder setting up of smelter

Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC)’s ambitious Rs 15,000-crore aluminium park in Kutch, Gujarat, is again staring at hurdles. GMDC wants to set up a one-million-tonne alumina refinery and a 50,00,000-tonne aluminium smelter. However, its partner, National Aluminium Company (Nalco), is wary of the smelter, as converting alumina into aluminium requires mega power generation.

Rajkot: A number of eligible bachelors in the drought-struck Dedan village near Amreli are ruing their luck.

The PIL contends that if the road was to be built many date palm trees will have to be chopped off and local farmers would face heavy loss

Gujarat high court on Thursday issued notice to the Centre over a public interest litigation (PIL) objecting to laying down of a road in Mundra block in southern Kutch. Petitioner Sulaiman Turk has questioned the construction of 9.6 km long road from the Adani group owned Mundra Port to the National Highway No 8A.

The Union Government has declared 17 districts in Gujarat as drought-affected, Rajya Sabha MP Parimal Nathwani has said.