News from across Gujarat in brief

Ahmedabad: Amit Shah and Smriti Irani who recently elected from Gujarat as Rajya Sabha members today took oath as Rajya Sabha member in Delhi. Vice President Venkaiah Naidu administered the oath.

– Four-day nursing strike of Ahmedabad’s Cancer hospital has ended after compromise arrived between the health department officials and the employees on strike. The employees were on strike demanding benefits of pay commission. It should be mentioned here that the management of Cancer hospital had asked four nurses who were leading the strike to vacate the quarters and had even cut the water supply connection of those staff units.

– Gujarat Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki has clarified that upcoming assembly polls in Gujarat will be contested between the state unit of BJP and the state unit of Congress. He said Congress will not go to polls on Narendra Modi vs Rahul Gandhi plank but focus on local issues. Solanki is quoted by a Delhi based Mail Today as saying:”CM Rupani and state BJP chief Jitubhai Vaghani are such weak personalities and feel so intimidated here by the Congress that instead of taking us on directly, they are bringing in Modi and Amit Shah to rescue them. But the Congress will fight only on local issues and it will be me versus Vaghani. We will not contest this election pitting our national leaders with theirs.”

– Nationalized, cooperative and private banks are on mini vacation from today.The banks are observing holiday of Ganesh Chaturthi and Jain Samvatsar today. Tomorrow is fourth Saturday and then there’s Sunday. Those who deposited their cheques on Thursday will only get it cleared on Monday.

– Police arrested 13 youths of Ahmedabad’s GLS college for holding liquor party at Radhe Residency in Kudasan area near Gandhinagar. The accused were produced in court on Thursday. 7 youths were sent to judicial custody. The girls were however released on bail. The raid was conducted by Infocity police. Most of those held are non-Gujarati students.

– 600 trees that are to be uprooted due to Ahmedbad Metro rail project will be relocated to Gujarat University campus. On Thursday, Mayor of the city and Vice Chancellor of Gujarat University kicked off the drive by planting a Pipal tree near University Staff Quarters.

– August 2015 violence fame Hardik Patel has been banned from entering Mehsana district of North Gujarat by the court since he was released on bail. Hardik had requested court nod to enter Mahesana district in the past but court had denied him nod. Now Hardik has submitted plea in the Gujarat High Court seeking modification in conditions of bail and permit him to enter Mahesana district. Meanwhile in another development, Hardik and his organization PAAS has organized a public meeting of supporters on August 26 at Patan in North Gujarat. This is believed a desperate attempt to display the strength of the two-year old agitation which has almost died down.

– Bhoomi Pujan of Ahmedabad – Mumbai bullet train project is likely to be held at Sabarmati Athletic ground on September 14 in presence of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe.

– President Ram Nath Kovind will be on visit to Gujarat on September 3 to attend a function organized to mark 83rd birth anniversary of Jain monk Acharya Padmasagar Surishwarji Maharaj Saheb. Kovind will attend the function at Simandharswami Jain Sangh in Mahesana. Governor of Gujarat Shri OP Kohli, Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister and leading personalities from Jain community among others will also attend the function.

– Probe panel led by ADGP Mohan Jha which is probing the incident of stone pelted at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi’s car at Dhanera in Banaskantha district of North Gujarat has taken statements of Special Protection Group(SPG) which protects Rahul Gandhi. The probe in its final stage and report will soon be handed over to the State government. One BJP youth wing office bearer who was arrested in this incident is out on bail. However MoS Shankar Chaudhary who is also MLA from Banaskantha district has in his statement in the assembly indicated that the type of stone pelted at Gandhi’s car is not found in Gujarat. It was brought from Rajasthan. Chaudhary had indicated that the act was masterminded by Congress party. It should be mentioned that Rahul had visited Rajasthan prior to his Gujarat visit that day.

– Gujarat cadre IPS officer of 2011 batch, Abhishek Kumar Singh from Bihar has been sacked from the service by Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India for being absent without leave or explanation. Singh was appointed ASP of Junagadh in 2014 but he didn’t join the duty.