News in brief from across Gujarat

-An earthquake of magnitude 3.8 hit Gujarat’s Surat city early Saturday morning at around 1 AM, however, no casualty or damage had been reported. According to the reports from the Surat district collector’s office said the epicentre of the earthquake was around 22 km away in the city’s Hazira area.

-No large change in minimum temperatures during next 24 hours; thereafter fall by 3-4 degree celsius during subsequent 2 days, thereafter no large change very likely over, said Meteorological Department

-63 of the 66 municipalities of Saurashtra haven’t paid their electricity bills to PGVCL. These 63 municipalities owe the PGVCL electricity bills totalling 316.89 crores for water works and 31.40 crores for streetlights.

-The Gujarat government plans to introduce a bill in the upcoming budget session for the establishment of a medical university. As a result of the creation of this medical university, all the medical colleges and institutes operating in the state can be administrated in a unified manner.

-The Vadodara Planetarium will soon reopen to the public as the authorities have completed the successful repair work and trials of machines and equipment. The Planetarium was closed on 27 December 2022 due to some technical issues.

-Ahmedabad and Surat have received 8th, and 10th ranks respectively, in the list of top ten educated cities of India. Bengaluru, Pune, and Hyderabad occupied the top 3 spots.

-Botad Police nabbed six accused of another religion for killing a Hindu youth in Dhankaniya village and took out a procession. The Hindu youth was killed by these 6 people as he protested the construction of a toilet near a temple, claims VHP.

-The Nadiad POSCO court sentenced Maulana Irfanmia Naseermia to five years in prison for kidnapping a 17-year-old minor. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on Maulana and ordered him to pay compensation of Rs. 30,000 to the victim.