News in brief from across Gujarat

Gandhinagar/Ahmedabad

– Gujarat government has finally okayed allotment of 25 acre land for setting up a regional hub of National Security Guard(NSG) at Ranasan near Gandhinaar. State cabinet meeting on Tuesday gave its nod for allotment of Rs 490 crore land that was chosen by NSG teams for token rate of Re 1.

– The second Gir Safari park is likely to open in the first quarter of next year at Ambardi in Saurashtra region of Gujarat. At present there’s only one Safari park for Lions which is located at Devaliya. Ambardi is located near Dhari in Amreli district. The new safari park is spread 4,000 ha land. The government is likely to spend over Rs 5 crore for this project. Some permissions regarding lion safari are still pending.

– Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation(GSRTC) will operate 302 mini buses, each with 33 seats. Total 302 mini buses will be operated by the end of January in all 16 zones across the state. Of them 60 buses are arrived and will be on roads by 25 December.

– One more lion has been killed due to electric current of fencing in farm at Nitli village which comes under Kothria round of Tulsishyam range. Forest department has detained the owner of this farm. The lion was 9-year old. The farmer accused of electrocuting it is identified as Ravji Patel. About six month ago another lion had died due to electric shock in Kotharia round.

– One of the members of rescue team of forest department was attacked by a lioness at Samadhiyala-2 village of Khambha area in Saurashtra region of Gujarat. The rescue team was in attempt to push lions outside the village on receiving call from villagers. The injured tracker was referred to Amreli based medical facility for treatment.

– Govindpura village in Gujarat has become the first ‘smokeless village’ of Gujarat. The village is in Kadi taluka of north Gujarat with 143 households, all of them shifted to LPG as their source of fuel. They were earlier using traditional fuels like firewood and kerosene for cooking and other needs.

– General Motors in Halol has requested the Gujarat government that the decision on their closure application of Halol car manufacturing facility be put on hold until further intimation while the company consider options for the future of the Halol facility. The company had three months ago asked permit for closure of its Halol facility in central Gujarat, but now has written a letter seeking suspension of its request. One option for company is to sale the plant to another operator which also could be SAIC General Motors China. It should be noted that the company has increased the number of shifts and production of Tavera cars at its Halol plant for last few days.

– The Gujarat government is likely to announce bonus in addition to Minimum Support Price(MSP) for cotton farmers shortly. The state BJP had demanded such arrangement from the government yesterday.

– Gujarat Chief Minister will inaugurate Saurashtra Leuva Patel Samaj operated late Kaliben Madhabhai Rajabhai Gondaliya guest house in pilgrim town Dwarka on December 27. The guest house is located opposite Bhadkeshwar Mahadev. It has been built on 70,000 sq ft plot. The guest house has 60 AC rooms, 3 halls and parking. Viththal Radadia is key person behind this initiative.

– Girnar mountain descending ascending competition will be held on December 27. Total 1170 youths have applied for participation in this annual state level competition.

– Air India has agreed to deploy 180-seat Airbus 319 aircraft for Rajkot-Delhi route. At present the national air carrier runs 72-seat plane. The new aircraft once deployed on this route will take lesser time compared to present one.

– DeshGujarat