Lions’ roar to echo in Porbandar's Barda Sanctuary

 Apr 4, 2012, 

Gujarat's 'pride' was so far limited to Gir alone, but if the plans work as per design, the big cats' roar will now echo loud and clear in Porbandar's Barda Sanctuary too from this August.

As many as eight Asiatic lions of Gir will make the sanctuary their home by August, 2012 as the state forest department has decided to shift four pairs of lions in the newly-developed gene pool centre in Barda Forest around 160 km away from Gir.

The principal secretary, state environment and forest department, SK Nanda said, "We will be shifting lions from Gir to Barda Sanctuary very soon. It is part of our gene pool programme for making the breed genetically very strong and to develop genetic diversity amongst big cats."

Confirming the developments additional chief conservator of forest, HS Singh said, "We are already having gene pool programme in Rampara vidi near Wankaner of Rajkot district. We have been successful in lion conservation programme, as three cubs have been born at Rampara vidi. Now, we will be shifting four pairs of lions to Barda Sanctuary post-monsoon, by August."

Singh further said that the present hot weather is not conducive for shifting the cats to a new location. "Lions find it extremely difficult to adjust to new environment. Therefore, when weather conditions become more favorable for lions post-monsoon season, we will shift them," he said.

Member of National Board for Wildlife in India, Divyabhanusinh Chavada said he is very happy that the lions have been moved to Barda Wildlife Sanctuary. "This is very good, but what's next? The lions are happily multiplying. Today, they are 411, tomorrow they'll be 500. Where will they go next? Gujarat government needs to conserve their traditional corridor. The land needs to be immediately acquired and conserved," he said.

The forest department, which has distributed the lion families in different grids, will ensure that those shifted to Barda have different family genes. "It is set process of selecting the animals for gene-pool conservation programme. We will be shifting lions and lionesses having different family genes for the breeding. So the genetic diversity can be maintained. Further, we will be picking lions who barge into human habitat often for shifting to the new place,” said Singh.

To feed these lions, a prey base has also been developed in Barda Sanctuary. "There has been a breeding centre for Sambar deer (Rusa Unicolor) at Killeshwar temple in Barda Sanctuary. This place was the forest reserve of erstwhile king Jamsaheb of Jamnagar.”

In 2 days, 24 Pak nationals held off state coast

 Mar 31 2012

As many 24 Pakistani nationals have been arrested and their four boats seized from Indian waters by security agencies in two different incidents in the last 24 hours.
On Friday, Indian Coast Guard apprehended three trawlers off the Porbandar coast and arrested 20 Pakistani fishermen.
In another incident, reported on Thursday night, four Pakistani nationals were arrested off the Kutch coast.
According to reports, all of them have been taken to Okha in Jamnagar district for joint interrogation by various agencies, including police, coast guard, navy and customs.

Porbandar–Kochuveli train will run via Mangalore

MANGALORE: The inaugural run of special train Porbandar-Kochuveli (No. 09262) is on Saturday. It will leave Porbandar on Saturday at 9.30am and reach Kochuveli at 12pm on March 19. In the return direction, Kochuveli-Porbandar special train (No. 09261) will leave Kochuveli at 4.10am on March 20, and reach Porbandar at 4am on March 22.
The regular service of Porbandar--Kochuveli weekly express will commence from Porbandar on March 22 at 6.20pm and will reach Kochuveli at 3.30pm on March 24. In the return direction, Kochuveli-Porbandar will leave Kochuveli at 10.40am on March 25 and reach Porbandar at 10.30am on March 27. The trains will halt at Wansjaliya, Jamnagar, Hapa, Rajkot, Surendranagar, Viramgam, Ahmedabad, Anand, Vadodara, Ankleshwar, Surat, Vasai Road, Panvel, Ratnagiri, Madgaon, Karwar, Udupi, Mangalore Junction, Kasargod, Kannur, Kozhikode, Tirur, Shoranur, Thrissur, Ernakulam Jn, Alappuzha, Kayamkulam and Kollam.

Porbandar flyover collapse: Two booked

Rajkot, Wed Feb 22 2012

Police have booked two persons on Tuesday after a police case was registered against a supervisor and labourers in connection with collapse of under-construction split-flyover in Porbandar. One person was killed and four were injured in the incident.

Based on a complaint by a labourer, Dharmendrasingh Ravidas, the Porbandar police have booked supervisor Nazir Shiekh and labourer Rajesh Rai Ekka for negligence on duty.

The complainant claimed that not due to poor construction quality but the flyover collapsed due to human error.

On Friday, a labourer, Gopikumar, on site of the flyover connecting Porbandar-Rajkot to Porbandar-Dwarka highway, died and four others were injured when a slab collapsed. The State Road and Building Department has been carrying out construction at cost of Rs 64 crore.

It was second incident of collapse for the same flyover in less than 30 days. However, in the first instance nobody was injured.

The project has been funded under Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission. Though it is not a corporation, Porbandar, being birthplace of Mahatma Gadhi, has been selected as Mission City for which total grant to the tune of Rs 800 crore for various infrastructure development projects will be sanctioned in 10 years.

Saurashtra - The Land of Thousand Kingdoms

Saurashtra, as the name suggests, is indeed a region of one hundred kingdoms. It is indeed one of the most picturesque regions in Gujarat. Due to the princely history, its rich in antiquity and abundant in wealth. Well sculptured temples, forts, mosques and glittering palaces...all remind us of the glorious past. Their love for colour and artistry has touched every aspect of their lifestyle, and the handicrafts of the region enjoy the patronage of all the states of India. When I got an opportunity to visit this place, I just grabbed it. My father's sister and her husband were planning a tour to this side and they suggested that, it would be fun if we joined them. One more couple (their family friends) was also coming with them. The more, the merrier. The best part was that they were going to do the entire booking through Gujarat Tourism. If there is a small group of 6 or so, the tourism dept arranges for a vehicle like qualis, with a knowledgeable driver. Residence and food arrangement is made at their own hotels/restaurants. What more do you want ? Our whole group agreed on the point that we did not want fancy hotels as we would be spending hardly any time at the hotel. I made a quick survey of the spots they were covering and found it quite satisfactory. There was not going to be any night driving.

Our first travel was from Pune to Baroda. We were going to stay there for a couple of days. It was diwali time, so we packed lot of chaklis, karanjis, ladoos, and other varieties for our tour. The morning of our departure dawned and we were all ready at the doorstep. The family friends were also there in time and within minutes, we were on our way to Rajkot. There was a lot of travel anticipated on the first day itself. After this long journey, the other destinations were nearby.

Porbandar - Porbandar is not much of tourist significance. But it is of historical importance due to through its association with Mahatma Gandhi who was born here. The home of Gandhi's childhood is now open to visitors. Another reason why it is famous is that it is believed to be originally the Sudama Puri, the place where Shri Krishna's closest friend, Sudama lived. There is a temple dedicated to Sudama here. We visited the Sudama temple first.