Swaminarayan’s vishwa darshan enthrals Bhuj

 Apr 27, 2012

The town is in a festive mood on account of a unique 'Vishwa Darshan' exhibition organised by the Maninagar Swaminarayan Gadi Sansthan as part of the golden jubilee celebrations of its Bhuj temple.

The 10-day-long exhibition, which has items of spirituality as well as modernity, was inaugurated by gadi sansthan chief Acharya Purushottam Priyadasji Maharaj in the presence of a large number of devotees from India and abroad on Wednesday evening. Both Acharya and the founder of the sect, Abjibapa, hail from here.

Swami Bhagwatipriyadasji, senior saint of the gadi sansthan, said that in the spirituality section of the exhibition the life and work of Lord Swaminarayan and his incarnation Abjibapa, Muktajivan Swamibapa and present sect head had been aptly shown with huge exhibits. Along with these there are exhibits of the world's best monuments, including the wonders of the world.

In fact, the entrance to Bhuj city opposite a newly built Rs130 cr hospital has a huge new emblem depicting a globe held in the hands wrapped with a wooden rosary. The main religious function will begin from Sunday. Many NRI devotees have already arrived here to participate in the celebrations.

Road blockade by jewellers

Apr 4, 2012, 1 Rajkot

The ongoing jewellers' strike took a new turn on Tuesday, when around 200 jewellers sat on a protest at NH no. 8 at Kamrej. This resulted in heavy traffic jam for more than four hours. Police intervened and freed the highway. They also detained 47 people.

Since early morning, jewellers and jewellery workers gathered at Sainath Hotel in Navi Pardi in Kamrej taluka of Surat district. At 10 am, 200 people obstructed NH no. 8 with stones and tyres on both sides. Later protesting jewellers sat in the middle of highway and started chanting slogans against UPA.

The protest created problems for vehicles, as vehicles up to five kmlined up on the highway. Surat rural police forces were sent to disburse protesting jewellers. Initially police tried to negotiate with jewellers, but when situation did not come under control, cops resorted to light lath-charge. Later, cops removed stones and tyres and traffic movement was restored at noon. Police had to work for more than four hours to bring situation back to normal.

A case was registered against jewellers and 47 were arrested. They were produced at a local court in Kathor late in the evening. Kamrej police are investigating into the matter.

Lathicharge in Rajkot, Morbi

Protests by jewellers across Saurashtra intensified further as the strike against imposition of excise duty on non branded jewellery entered its 18th day on Tuesday. Jewellers also vowed to vigorously continue its protest in coming days, sources said. As part of the ongoing protest programme, 'Rasta Roko' was organised at various places including Rajkot, Junagadh, Keshod, Gondal and Porbandar. "To control the crowd police had to take into custody 60-odd protestors in Junagadh. Jewellers had assembled at Sabalpur Chokdi, the main entry for visitors coming from Rajkot in Junagadh city. They closed the traffic for some 20 - 25 minutes. After the police action protestors withdrew from the area," police said.

In Rajkot, 16 jewellers have begun their indefinite fast against the budget proposal. "On the second day of the fast, two of them have developed some illness. Doctors had been called for the check up where their condition had been declared out of danger," says Bhayabhai Saholiya of Rajkot Gold Dealers Association.

In a separate incident, jewellers had also organised a 'Rasta Roko' and 'Rail Roko' at Rajkot. “Rasta Roko lasted for 25 minutes at Greenland Chokdi on the National Highway 8A. Police have detained 10 in connection with the demonstration," a jeweller said.

Meanwhile, police had to resort to lathicharge on a railway crossing on state highway connecting Rajkot and Morbi. “Demonstrators were trying to stop Saurashtra Mail from passing the line," said a source.

Gold ornaments stolen from temple near Bhuj

 Mar 20, 2012

BHUJ: Gold ornaments worth over Rs two lakhs were stolen from a Swaminarayan Mandir for women at Surajpar village near Bhuj on Monday.

Police said villagers suspect two women aged between 25 years and 30 years to have stolen the ornaments. The women had reportedly conducted a recce of the temple a fortnight ago and their movements were also suspicious. These women had come to the temple on Monday and managed to decamp after lifting all ornaments on Lord Ghanshyam Maharaj's sacred idols. Vinubhai Patel, Surajpar village sarpanch, said that a lady wearing a black Punjabi dress had come to the temple and tried for arranging an interview with a Sankhy Yogini of the temple.

Pakistan scholar to deliver lecture in Bhuj today

RAJKOT: Hundreds of Muslims are on their way to Bhuj to listen to Pakistan scholar Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, who will deliver a lecture on Wednesday evening.

According to sources, Dr Qadri reached Bhuj on Tuesday evening. However, the programme to inaugurate a Muslim Education High School had to be postponed till today because of overcrowding.

Dr Qadri is on a tour to India and recently participated in the function in Karjan near Vadodara. The lectures are being organized by Minhaj-ul-Quran International, which he founded in 1981 in Lahore, Pakistan.

ATM stolen in Bhuj city

Ahmedabad, Wed Feb 29 2012

An ATM machine of a private bank was stolen in Bhuj city of Kutch district on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday, police said.

Preliminary investigation showed there were no security guards posted or CCTV cameras installed for this ICICI ATM machine in RTO Renovation Site area. Police said the machine was just put on a table like a television set. “The matter came to light only this morning,” said police inspector J J Dharnga of the Bhuj Rural police station who is investigating the matter.

Bhuj's Maninagar Gadi Sansthan to celebrate 50 years

 Feb 27, 2012,

The Maninagar Gadi Sansthan, a swaminaryan sect which has its roots in Kutch has decided to celebrate the golden jubilee of its Darbargadh temple in Bhuj in a big way this April. The temple organisers expect huge participation from lakhs of its devotees in the Patel community (locally known as Kanbi) and other non-Patel communities like Lohana and Bhatia from home and abroad.

''Our Bhuj-based temple is also a big educational institute which houses modern facilities along with hostels for students. Since this institute is also completing 50 years of existence, it will therefore be a huge double celebration. The institute was set up five decades ago by great visionary saint Mukatjivan bapa who had himself studied in English medium and whose father, was a British government servant, disclosed Mahant Bhagwatipriyadasji, second in command at the Gadi Sansthan.

"The April celebrations would comprise a big yagna as well as plans to give school buses worth Rs50 lakh to various schools in the district. The celebrations would be attended by our devotees in UK and East Africa. Top Kenyan politicians and social leaders including key ministers from the Kenyan government are likely to attend the celebrations, he said.

Incidentally it was Muktjivan Bapa who had advised the Indian communities to leave Uganda for UK when he sensed trouble for the community there and other African countries. He had also asked Kutchis to settle in Karachi in undivided India and as a result there was huge Swaminaryan temple opposite the Karachi municipal corporation building having hundreds of devotees flocking to the temple every day.

Bhuj govt hospital stays with Adani group

A division bench of the Gujarat high court comprising acting chief justiceBhaskar Bhattacharya and justice JBPardiwala rejected the PILchallenging the state government’s decision to hand over Bhuj’sgovernment hospital to the Adanigroup for its medical college.

The petitioner, Adam Chaki, had submitted in his PIL that the government hospital was destroyed in the 2001 quake and rebuilt with advanced facilities using money from the Prime Minister’s rehabilitation fund. But the state government had handed it over to the Adanigroup on a lease of 99 years. The petitioner had demanded that the government cancel the lease for the sake of poor people. Giving details of the high court judgement, government pleader PK Jani said that the court had observed that the idea of public-private partnership is the latest concept of our time. It allows the government to retain its ownership of the hospital,Jani said.

“The high court has also accepted our contention that the income of the hospital would also be used to pay the expenses of the hospital and its upgrading. The name of the hospital would not be changed,” Jani said.

The petitioner had listed events which had allegedly exposed how the state government handed over the administration of the hospital without following any procedure, including inviting other interested parties. According to thePIL, GK General Hospital of Bhuj was rebuilt after it was destroyed in the quake of 2001.

The hospital is situated in a district that touches the border with Pakistan. The PIL further stated that the hospital had provided medical facilities and treatment during emergency situations such as quake, hurricane, flood and other natural calamities.

The government’s decision to hand over the hospital’s administration to a private party could affect the treatment offered to poor people, the PILsaid.The government has spent more then Rs100 crore on the reconstruction of the hospital and had handed it over to a private group on 99 years’ lease.

Mumbai-Bhuj private train in the pipeline

 

AHMEDABAD — After a prominent businessman recently submitted to the railway ministry his plans for a private train between Mumbai and Shirdi, a popular religious shrine 300km away, a study is being conducted on the feasibility of a proposal to start a private train between India’s commercial capital and Bhuj in Kutch district of Gujarat.

The demand for a Mumbai-Bhuj private train was raised by a group of Mumbai-based wealthy Kutchi businessman when they went to New Delhi and met Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi, also a Gujarati and technocrat Sam Piroda, adviser to the railways.
A local railway official told Khaleej Times that there had been scattered efforts and proposals in the past from various businessmen and individuals, but it was the first time that the ministry is exploring various options with Pitroda having already asked railway experts to prepare a detailed project on the 860km route.

38-day-long Rannotsav to begin from December 9

The Great Rann of Kutch will start buzzing with tourists from December 9 when this year’s 38-day- long Rannotsav begins near Dhordo village. The festival in the white Rann will be set into motion with display of artistic performances at colourful ‘Kutch Carnival’ on the banks of historic Hamirsar Lake in Bhuj on December 9.
On Wednesday, the state government announced that this year’s festival will begin on December 9, 2011 and end on January 15, 2012. This year’s attractions will be hot-air balloons and all-terrain vehicles, and some stars and film crew from Bollywood.
State tourism minister Jay Narayan Vyas said, “The response from tourists from all over the world this year is overwhelming. All the tents for the first three days have been booked while for the rest of the days, 80% of booking has already been done.”
“Last year, some 800 tourists visited Kutch while this year about 32,000 visitors have visited the place,” the minister said.
Talking about the plans to make Kutch a preferred location for film shooting, principal secretary of tourism department, Vipul Mitra, said: “We have received calls from actors like Suniel Shetty and Gulshan Grover expressing their keenness to visit Kutch during the festival. Shetty has been to Kutch earlier for his films like ‘Border’ and ‘Refugee’. Further, the crew of film-maker Vishal Bharadwaj will also be visiting the festival to explore the location for their next film.”
Apart from hot-air balloons and all-terrain vehicles, there will be other attractions like camel safari, desert car rally, horse ride and food court. Cultural programmes showcasing the culture of Kutch will also be there.
The government has announced a special package keeping in mind Christmas and New Year celebrations. As many as 440 AC and non-AC tents have been erected at Dhordo. The traditional eco-friendly houses of Kutch known as ‘Bhunga’ will also be made available to tourists. The government will organise beach festival on the seashore of Mandvi and a special kite festival will be organised in the white Rann.
At ‘Kutch Carnival’ in Bhuj, about 32 artiste-groups will perform on the banks of Hamirsar Lake.

Canals sucked dry before water reaches Rajkot, Bhuj

GANDHINAGAR: Large-scale pilfering of Narmada water by thousands of farmers along the canals branching out towards the Saurashtra-Kutch region is giving nightmares to top Sachivalaya officials for the second time in a year. Not only is no water is available for irrigation to the end-users more than 100 km away, major cities of the huge region as well as thousands of villages are being deprived of the Narmada drinking water.
In all, 1,700 to 1,800 million litres per day (MLD) are pumped at Dhanki in Surendranagar district into the canals to Malia in Jamnagar district and Vallabhipur in Bhavnagar district. The waters reaching the two points is so short even against the allocation of 700 MLD for drinking, a mere 330 MLD is available. "This has forced the Gujarat Supply and Sewerage Board (GWSSB) to use underground sources to meet local requirements", said state water supplies secretary H K Dash.
As things deteriorated, on Tuesday, Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd (SSNNL) MD S Jagadeesan and joint MD G R Aloria rushed to the Dhanki-Malia area for inspection.
"We have stepped up patrolling by State Reserve Police (SRP) along the canals and geared up local engineers for daily monitoring. Farmers up to five km away sink diesel pipelines into the canals and illegally siphon waters to irrigate fields. Many pumps have been removed. Things will improve now," Jagadeesan said.
In June, ahead of monsoon, when a similar situation arose, Gujarat government began a campaign to root out diesel pumps illegally sunk into the Narmada branch canals. About 150 pumps were seized and more than 1,000 connections snapped. Just like this time, when farmers need water for sowing the winter crop, things were particularly bad in the 121-km-long Dhanki-Malia stretch in June.
"As against 400 MLD of water allocated for drinking, just 230 MLD is available at Malia", one official said, adding, "This has affected water supply to cities like Rajkot, Jamnagar and Bhuj as also 821 villages of Kutch district, 688 villages of Jamnagar district and 541 villages of Rajkot district. There is no permanent solution to the problem."
While state water supplies department officials say they have written several letters to the Narmada department but "there is no response", a Narmada department official said.
"Earlier, farmers of the area used to take just one crop. But now they take three crops. Cotton and jeera, both cash crops, earn them huge margins. And all of Narmada water is illegal and free," he added.

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