June, 2002

30-06-02

Baby Dies In House Collapse: A four-month-old baby died when a house in the Moti Khadki locality of Ladwada partially collapsed due to heavy rains on Saturday (29th June) morning. While other members of the house and its neighbouring premises managed to escape, the child was caught in the rubble. The child’s parents were also under the rubble, but the fire brigade managed to pull them out. A 40-year-old man was also electrocuted to death. Heavy rain had continued to lash Vadodara district for the fifth consecutive day on Saturday. The water levels in various reservoirs inched upwards as the rains continued. Sayaji Sarovar was at 62.8 metres, and the levels in the Pratapura reservoir as well as Asoj feeder have also increased. The Vishwamitiri river had a level of 4 feet. Kadana Dam has recorded a level of 107.68 feet. The Narmada is flowing at the 2.35 metres level at the Golden Bridge.

29-06-02

Monsoon Mayhem Continues: It isn’t raining, it’s pouring. Heavy rains continue to affect normal life. Some snippets:

• Vadodara district recorded 132 mm of rain on Friday.
• A 70-year old lady died when the slab of an old house caved in at Ghadiyali Pol.
• The number of rain related casualties in the last four days has risen to three.
• Almost 12,000 telephone connections have been ‘rained out’ of order, mostly in the City and Panigate exchanges.
• The worst affected areas are Panigate, Ajwa Road, Subhanpura, Gorwa and Alkapuri.
• With train services unlikely to resume before 2nd July on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad section private bus operators are having a busy season. The demand for taxis has also increased.
• The heavy cancellation of train reservations and the total halt of traffic has clipped Western Railways’ earnings by Rs. 50 million everyday.
• Jet Airways has introduced a third flight daily between Vadodara and Mumbai to handle the increased passenger traffic.

Lecture At BSM: The Baroda Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya (BSM) has organised a lecture by retired Geography lecturer Prof. V.R. Shastri on the ‘Timing of Lord Ram’s Birth and Earth’s Rotation Orbit’ at 10.30 am on July 2. Prof. Shastri will cover the yug and the geographical and astronomical situation of Ayodhya when Lord Ram was born.

Yoga Camp: The Gujarat State Youth Board of Vadodara district will conduct a yoga camp for men and women aged 15 to 35 in the fourth week of July. Those interested should contact the Entertainment Cell, C-4, Narmada Bhuvan, Jail Road.

28-06-02

Monsoon Mayhem: Normal life in Baroda continues to be disrupted following the heavy rains over the last three days. Roads are hopelessly waterlogged, telephone and electric services are severely affected in several areas and many large trees have been uprooted by the heavy winds and the rain. As in every previous monsoon, this year too the absence of preventive measures is glaringly evident everywhere. Train services have been affected between Mumbai and Delhi. Passengers were stranded at the Vadodara railway station after the cancellation of at least a dozen trains due to a breach in the tracks between Vadodara and Mumbai. Extensive damage to a railway bridge in the Palghar-Dahanu Road section has added to the trouble. Normal rail services may not resume till 2nd July. On another front, though, there is reason to cheer: the farmers are rejoicing because the heavy rainfall raises hopes of a good harvest. The highest rainfall in the last 24 hours Vadodara district was in Sankheda taluka (82 mm), followed by Savli taluka (43 mm) and Vadodara taluka (35mm). The forecast for the next 48 hours suggests equally heavy rainfall.

Young Artists’ Show: Nazar Art Gallery is showing works by promising art students who have just graduated: Heena Gajjar, Sandip Daptargi, Vishwa Shroff, Vaishali Solanki, Shatrughan Thakur and Niharika Patel (Nasreen Mohamadi Award winner). The show is on till July 3.

Bal Bhavan Programmes: Bal Bhavan will conduct recreational activities for children (age 3 to 16) from July 1: courses in spoken English and computers, edutainment club and some other special programmes. Interested children should contact the Bal Bhavan office behind Sayajibaug between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Digital Art Courses: The Academy of Digital Arts & Communication (ADAC) is offering part-time diploma courses to suit professionals and beginners. Please contact the academy at First Floor, B Wing, Manubhai Towers, Sayjigunj, or call 224639.

27-06-02

Heavy Rainfall Lashes City: The monsoon seems to have arrived finally in Baroda as heavy rains lashed the city from Tuesday evening accompanied by strong winds. The city had 83 mm of rainfall on Tuesday evening and a total of 132.6 mm in the last two days. Life has become difficult for people, especially in the low-lying areas. Many areas were plunged into darkness due to power cuts and traffic was disrupted in several parts of the city as over 100 trees were uprooted. Some trains from Mumbai going towards Delhi were cancelled and several others delayed due to a breach that had developed in the track between Safala and Vaitrana in the Mumbai division of Western Railways.

Herbivores Increase At Sayaji Zoo: Though a lion and a tiger have died recently at the Sayaji Zoo, the herbivores (barking dears, black bucks or four horned antelopes and others in the family of grass eaters) are steadily increasing in number. As a matter of fact, the zoo authorities have had to resort to keeping the male and female species separate to prevent them from mating. The number has reached 165 (86 spotted dear, 41 black bucks, 18 sabars and a few hog deer and barking deer). In the last two years 20 spotted deer have been born in the zoo.

VMC Cracks The Whip: Municipal Commissioner Mahapatra has ordered Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) staffers to maintain a minimum 85 per cent attendance or face a pay cut. He has directed them to be regular, and warned that the salaries will be deducted in case they were absent without proper authorisation.

25-06-02

Astronomy Park At Sayajibaug: The Sardar Patel Planetarium plans to set up the ‘Sardar Patel Astronomy Park’, a special science park for children, at the Sayajibaug by September 2002. Fifteen exhibits sent by the Nehru Centre in Mumbai will be installed in the Sayajibaug near the planetarium. The park will be designed to help children understand elementary principles in physics and astronomy through play-way methods developed by the Research & Development Department of the National Council of Science & Museums (NCSM). Vadodara Municipal Corporation plans to set up a full-fledged science centre with help from the NCSM, with a life science park, a health park (an indoor health museum already exists in Sayajibaug), an auditorium, etc.

Vishwamitri’s Crocodiles: The Vishwamitri crocodiles, the oldest inhabitants of the river, are growing in number. Four female crocodiles in the river are active and are about lay eggs soon. They have created nesting space at two places along the river's banks: one in the middle of Sayajibaug and the other near the Navlakhi compound. The Vishwamitri may be the only river in the world that passes through a thickly populated city and yet has a substantial population of crocodiles. In 1995 the number was just 22 and by last year it had increased to 70 (in a 15-km stretch of the river between Sama and the Vadsar bridge). The crocodiles in the Vishwamitri belong to the genus Crocodylus and species Palustris and they are commonly known as Mugger. The experts say that that the crocodiles living in the Ajwa reservoir on the outskirts of Baroda are also likely to multiply this breeding season.

Balram Passes Away: Balram, a 19-year old lion, died at the Sayajibaug Zoo on 23rd June, apparently of heart attack. Balram was born in the zoo on September 10, 1983. With his death, the number of lions in the zoo has come down to 12.

Laboratory Technology Course: A Medical Laboratory Technology course is being organised for Science graduates by the Ambalal Sarabhai Foundation. The course begins in July. Those interested may collect the admission forms at the foundation office at First Floor, Bombay Shopping Centre, R.C. Dutt Road, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

24-06-02

Baroda Bar’s Plea On New Court Dismissed: The Gujarat High Court has dismissed a petition filed by the Baroda Bar Association seeking allotment of land for a new Court Complex at Vadodara instead of the century-old Nyaya Mandir. The petition was filed to seek directions to the Vadodara Collector to acquire for this purpose 8.5 hectares of land situated north of the Central Jail at Baroda at Yavteshwar Mahadev Compound.

Buyer’s Market For Phone Services: The telephone consumer in Gujarat is seeing new brands, cutthroat competition, attractive prices and value added services. There are now about 485,000 cellphone users and 3 million landline phones in Gujarat. Market rumours even suggest that Reliance may offer a Re. 1 per minute tariff for a Reliance-to- Reliance phone call anywhere in the country. The players: Celforce, Bharti, Idea and BSNL (Cellular); Tata, Reliance and BSNL (Basic); Tata, Reliance and BSNL (WiLL).

Engineering Students Without Seats: According to the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), Gujarat does not have enough engineering colleges and institutions imparting technical education. The state has only 25 degree engineering colleges with a total of 9,091 seats. Maharashtra has 140 degree engineering colleges with 40,090 seats, and Karnataka has 80 degree engineering colleges with 30,152 seats. For years now there has been talk of establishing an IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) at Ahmedabad, but it’s just been at the talk level. Besides, it seems that the IIM (Indian Institute of Management) at Ahmedabad is thinking about an expansion project in Mumbai!

School’s Fun, Tuition’s Where You Learn: This is the headline of a recent Times of India report on tuition classes. The report goes on to say that "today top-notchers attribute their success not to their schools but to tutorials. Schools are where you go to have fun, meet friends, learn about life, shape your personality and take exams. Tutorials are where you are prepared for competition."

22-06-02

MSU Commerce Results: The girls have done better than the boys in the recently declared MS University final year B.Com results. The break-up:

Total number of students: 4974 (2581 boys, 2393 girls)
Students who appeared for the exam: 4884
Students who passed: 2389 (1045 boys, 1344 girls)
Students who secured First Class With Distinction: 7 (5 girls, 2 boys)
Students who secured First Class Honours: 214 (169 girls, 45 boys)
Students who secured Second Class Honours: 989
Students who secured Pass Class: 1179
Failed: 1342
Students whose results will be declared later: 1153

Yoga Classes: Ambalal Sarabhai Foundation and Yog Niketan will jointly organise a yoga session in July. The yoga classes will be conducted from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Interested persons should contact the office of the foundation at 1st Floor, Bombay Shopping Centre, R.C. Dutt Road.

21-06-02

Pavagadh Tourism Affected: Shri Mahakali Shakteepith – popularly known as Pavagadh Maa – situated at 2,730 feet on the summit of Pavagadh Mountain in the Panchmahal district, roughly 50 km from Vadodara, has seen a drop in the number of pilgrims and tourists due to the recent riots in Gujarat. The flow of incoming traffic is down by almost 85 %. According to the panchayat-run Pathikashram (state guest house) at Manchi in Pavagadh, 2.5 million pilgrims and tourists used to visit this spot every year, generating economic activity worth Rs. 2,000 million.

BSNL Phone Instrument: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited is offering for Rs. 990 a new telephone instrument with enhanced facilities like caller identification, hands-free dialing, number display, memory for frequently called numbers, call duration indication, etc. The instrument is available at the Customer Service Centre, Karelibaug.

New Head Of Railway Staff College: G.K. Garg, an IRSE officer of the 1967 batch, has taken over as the Director General of the Railway Staff College (RSC) at Vadodara, replacing S.C. Gupta who moves to East Central Railway as its General Manager. Before joining the RSC he was the Chief Administrative Officer in the NE Railway at Gorakhpur.

Masti Dahi: Sugam, the Baroda Dairy brand name, will soon attach itself to another milk product – ‘Sugam Masti Dahi’, 250 gms of pouched curd for Rs. 5.

Workshop On Telescope Making: The Amateur Astronomers’ Association of Vadodara and Sardar Patel Planetarium will organise a workshop on ‘Conceptual Newtonian Telescope Making’ on July 6 and 7 at the planetarium. It will include sessions on basics of concave mirrors, finding focal length, construction and the physics of Newtonian telescopes. Students can register at the planetarium between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. by June 30.

Photography Workshop: Venus Art Academy is organising a photography workshop from 2nd July. If interested, please contact the academy at Ishwarnagar Society, Behind Charbhuja Complex, Karelibaug, between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Vocational Courses For Women: The last date to apply for courses run by the Regional Vocational Training Institute for Women (RVTIW) at its Tarsali ITI campus is July 8. RVTIW runs dressmaking, hair and skin care, electronics and secretarial practice courses for which the minimum eligibility is SSC pass and age between 14 and 25 years. The maximum age limit for widows and separated women is 35 years. All the courses are approved by the Ministry of Labour of Gujarat. The course fees are Rs. 20 (SC/ST students are exempted). For more details, please ring up +91-265-642678.

19-06-02

City Bridge Re-opened: The bridge linking Karelibaug to Nagarwada has now been widened and it was re-opened by mayor Bharti Vyas on 15th June. The original nine-metre-wide bridge has now been expanded to 13.5 metres, which includes the 10.5 metre carriageway and a 1.5 metre footpath on either side. The contractor took six months and 16 days to complete the project, against a 12-month deadline.

Stealing ‘For Fun’ Turns Serious: The Makarpura wing of the Vadodara city police chanced upon a strange group of vehicle lifters on 16th June – boys from reasonably well-to-do families, all students of Baroda High School (ONGC) who have only recently cleared their SSC examinations with over 65 % marks. Eight stolen vehicles were apparently recovered after questioning the boys, who were released on bail the next day. The boys claim that they lifted the vehicles only for fun and did not intend to sell them. Thanks to the prevailing tensions the police have stepped up the routine checking of vehicles, and this is how two of the boys ran into the police near Baroda Dairy on a vehicle whose papers they did not have. A little questioning led the police to two other young vehicle lifters.

Bicycle Mounted Mahapatra Surprises Octroi Staff: Vadodara Municipal Corporation Commissioner G. Mahapatra occasionally rides a bicycle as part of his morning exercise. On Monday, 17th June, he changed his route a bit and rode his bicycle into the Atladra Octroi Post. The hour being early, the staff at the post were caught sleeping on the job. He has asked Deputy Municipal Commissioner J. Sevak to look into the matter.

Khakhi Uniforms Banned: The Vadodara city police has issued a notification to the effect that private security personnel should not wear khakhi uniforms because they are then mistaken by common people to be policemen.

SSG Drug Bank: Vadodara’s SSG Hospital is getting a drug bank in association with an NGO, Lifeline Foundation, and an alumnus, Subroto Das. Medical Superintendent Kamal Pathak claims that the hospital manages drug disbursements of about Rs. 50 million annually, half from the Central Medicines Depot at Gandhinagar and the rest purchased locally. Still, SSG gets about 50,000 outpatients every year and many go without drugs and doctors have to prescribe drugs from outside. Subroto Das had observed that drugs are often wasted at many dispensaries and that these drugs could be utilised. This is how the idea of collecting from doctors the free samples given to them by pharmaceutical companies took shape. It seems that some 600 medical representatives in Baroda distribute about one million medicine samples to practicing doctors, and barely half of these are used. Lifeline Foundation plans to collect at least 40 % of these, which would be enough to help 6,250 patients every month.

Paediatricians’ Website: The Association of Paediatricians of Vadodara (IAP Vadodara) plans to launch their website <www.iapvadodara.org> which will give comprehensive information on childcare and a list of all city paediatricians with their hospital or clinic details, timings and phone numbers.

14-06-02

SSC – Harsh Pandya & Harsh Shah Top In Baroda: Girls again led the way in the Gujarat SSC examination results that were declared on 13th June. Ahmedabad’s Helie Raval was the state topper with 95.5 % marks. Girls had also topped earlier in the HSC Science and Commerce examinations. Overall, 61 % of the girls and 54 % of the boys passed. Among the top 24, 11 are girls. Eight of the top 24 are from Ahmedabad, five from Vadodara, three each from Anand and Surat, two each from Rajkot and Patan and one from Gandhinagar. This merit list may change when the June supplementary examinations result are declared (the supplementary exams were conducted as the Supreme Court had ordered them for students who missed the earlier ones due to the communal riots). Of the 502,267 regular students who had registered for the SSC examination from 429 centres around the state, 494,635 had appeared and 281,576 passed. The Karamsad centre topped with an average of 94.94 % while Ranavav was last with 16.74 %. For those who have failed in one subject (about 58,000), the re-examination is being scheduled for July.