NEW DELHI: In a first, Gurajat is planning to build an over the sea dam in the northern portion of the Gulf of Khambat (Cambay) with an investment of over Rs 50,000 crore.
The 35-kilometre dam project named Kalpasar Dam Alignment would lead to a sweet water reservoir. Besides, it will also have a road and rail overbridge, which will reduce the distance between Bhavnagar and Surat by 200 kilometre.
While, the main dam help generate tidal power, the reservoir is expected to supply water for drinking and agricultural purposes.
"The project envisages dam and road and rail overbridge from just north of Bhavnagar in the west coast of Gulf of Cambay to Alandar in Dahej in the east coast. Though final cost is to be worked out in detail, it will be over Rs 50,000 crore," a senior state government official said.
The timeframe will be decided once the environmental and other clearances come.
The Gujarat government has already set up a dedicated department for the project -- the Kalpasar department.
"Besides creating a fresh water reservoir in the northern portion of the Gulf of Khambat, the road and rail overbridge will reduce the distance from Bhavnagar and Surat to 150 kilometre from the existing 350 kilometre," the official said.
Travelling between Bhavnagar in Saurashtra and Surat in South Gujarat currently require a long detour through Ahmedabad.
The dam is also expected to take thousands of square kilometre in the northern coast of the Gulf of Khambat out of Coastal Zone Regulation (CZR) rules.
"This will allow development activity in a zone, which has high salinity and also create fishing opportunity in the envisage area," he said.
With the construction of the dam, which is 160 kilometre from the Pipavav port, the nearby port of Bhavnagar is also likely to be upgraded as a prime port. The Dholera Special Investment Region lies close to the proposed dam area.
"The State Maritime Board is studying the proposal for upgradation and expansion of the Bhavnagar port," the official said.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
LeT commander,held in Kerala by Karnataka Police
Umar Farooq, 35, of Parappanangadi in Malappuram, Kerala, and Ibrahim Moulavi, 50, of Vellimunda in Wyanad, Kerala, werearrested by the anti-terrorist squad of the central crime branch police.
City police commissioner Shankar M Bidari said Farooq was arrested from Ajmer in Rajasthan, while Moulavi was held at Kasargod in Kerala. Both of them were brought to the city on Saturday, and a city magistrate remanded them for 13 days in police custody.
Both of them were suspected terrorists and were being interrogated at an undisclosed location.
“The investigation into the serial blasts revealed the involvement of Umar and Ibrahim. Further probe will reveal their exact roles in the incident,” Joint commissioner of police (crime) Alok Kumar said.
Police claimed that the men were actively involved in the July 25, 2008 blasts which killed a woman and injured several others. They had visited Bangalore before the blast and were involved in the criminal conspiracy to plant explosives in the city, police said.
As many as 32 persons were named in the chargesheet. The 31st accused, People’s Democratic Party leader, Abdul Nasser Madani was arrested from Kerala’s Kollam district in August.
Police sources said they had been monitoring Farooq and Moulavi for the past six months, and succeeded in nabbing them on the same day from two different states.
Farooq was picked up from the Ajmer railway station, where he had gone to drop off a friend travelling to Ernakulam.
Police refused to reveal the identity of Farooq’s friend.
Farooq had been absconding ever since the Bangalore blasts.
He had stayed in Ajmer for some time before going to Tamil Nadu and other parts of India to escape arrest.
A police team comprising assistant commissioners HM Omkaraiah, SY Hadimuni and NH Siddappa rushed to Ajmer on learning that Farooq had returned to that place.
Moulavi was arrested from Badiyadukka in Kasargod district by a CCB team headed by inspector Nagaraju. Police said the accused had also absconded after the blasts, and returned to Kerala recently.
Police sources said both of them were active in recruiting youth for terror training camps. An additional charge-sheet against them had been filed earlier before the court. A warrant was also pending against Farooq.
City police commissioner Shankar M Bidari said Farooq was arrested from Ajmer in Rajasthan, while Moulavi was held at Kasargod in Kerala. Both of them were brought to the city on Saturday, and a city magistrate remanded them for 13 days in police custody.
Both of them were suspected terrorists and were being interrogated at an undisclosed location.
“The investigation into the serial blasts revealed the involvement of Umar and Ibrahim. Further probe will reveal their exact roles in the incident,” Joint commissioner of police (crime) Alok Kumar said.
Police claimed that the men were actively involved in the July 25, 2008 blasts which killed a woman and injured several others. They had visited Bangalore before the blast and were involved in the criminal conspiracy to plant explosives in the city, police said.
As many as 32 persons were named in the chargesheet. The 31st accused, People’s Democratic Party leader, Abdul Nasser Madani was arrested from Kerala’s Kollam district in August.
Police sources said they had been monitoring Farooq and Moulavi for the past six months, and succeeded in nabbing them on the same day from two different states.
Farooq was picked up from the Ajmer railway station, where he had gone to drop off a friend travelling to Ernakulam.
Police refused to reveal the identity of Farooq’s friend.
Farooq had been absconding ever since the Bangalore blasts.
He had stayed in Ajmer for some time before going to Tamil Nadu and other parts of India to escape arrest.
A police team comprising assistant commissioners HM Omkaraiah, SY Hadimuni and NH Siddappa rushed to Ajmer on learning that Farooq had returned to that place.
Moulavi was arrested from Badiyadukka in Kasargod district by a CCB team headed by inspector Nagaraju. Police said the accused had also absconded after the blasts, and returned to Kerala recently.
Police sources said both of them were active in recruiting youth for terror training camps. An additional charge-sheet against them had been filed earlier before the court. A warrant was also pending against Farooq.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Modi's big day: BJP sweeps municipal elections
Press Trust of India, : October 12, 2010
Ahmedabad: Ruling BJP has swept the polls to six municipal corporations in Gujarat retaining power with two-thirds majority in all but one of them, in a big victory for Chief Minister Narendra Modi who put all his might behind the civic election campaign.
Besides Ahmedabad, the BJP won the civic polls in Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot and Bhavnagar with a two-thirds majority. The party, which decimated the Congress, got a simple majority in Jamnagar.
Savouring the win, Modi profusely thanked the people of Gujarat for reposing faith in the party.
He said BJP bagged 80 per cent of the votes in almost all the places with the remaining being accounted for all the other parties and Independents put together.
The poll victories came just a few weeks after the BJP won Kachlal in Anand district in a bye-election, bagging the assembly constituency - a Congress bastion - for the first time in the history of the state.
Senior BJP leader L K Advani congratulated Modi for the spectacular showing for the party and noted that the Congress has been wiped out.
On-line voting was introduced for the first time in the civic polls.
Over 2,100 candidates were in fray for more than 558 seats for elections in six municipal corporations in Gujarat.
Ruling BJP as well as Opposition Congress had campaigned extensively and had also roped in national leaders for the polls.
The BJP had won all the six municipal corporations in the last elections held in 2005
It had made the arrest of Amit Shah, close aide of Modi, by CBI in Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, as one of the main issues, as all its national leaders alleged that the arrest amounted to misuse of CBI by the Congress and asked people to give its mandate through the ballot papers.
During the campaign, Modi also took a swipe at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the tardy pace of preparations for the ongoing Commonwealth games in Delhi.
Congress on the other hand had focussed more on local issues saying that the corporation polls were about civic amenities and highlighted assistance given to the state under Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission for development of infrastructure in cities.
In Ahmedabad, the BJP has so far won 129 of the 156 seats declared with results for remaining 33 seats yet to be announced.
The saffron party notched 95 of the 114 seats in Surat while it bagged 61 of the 75 in Vadodara.
The Rajkot Municipal Corporation where BJP won 58 seats in the 69-member house was the only civic body where it could not get a two-third majority.
The Congress bagged the remaining 11 seats and improved its tally by one from 10 it had won in the 2005 elections. Among the winners were Mayor Sandhyaben Vyas of BJP.
Modi had campaigned extensively in Rajkot addressing three public rallies in the last week of campaigning.
Accepting defeat, local Congress leaders said they had expected a good show in the RMC polls by the party as it had wrested the Rajkot Lok Sabha seat from the BJP after many years during the 2008 parliamentary polls.
BJP retained its two-third majority in the Bhavnagar Municipal Corporation (BMC), bagging 41 out of the 51 seats with Congress winning the rest.
BJP, which had won 39 seats in the 2005 BMC elections, improved its tally by two, while the Congress saw its seat strength reduce from 12 to 10.
The ruling party had emerged as a clear favourite in Bhavnagar due to infighting and absence of strong local leaders in the Congress.
Elections to the BMC were held two months earlier than scheduled, as the BJP decided to go for the polls along with the other five other municipal corporations in the state on October 10.
BJP retained a clear majority in the Jamnagar Municipal Corporation (JMC) pocketing 35 seats out of 57.
Opposition Congress won 16 seats, while Independents (3), NCP(1), BSP (1), and SP (1) bagged the remaining seats.
Ahmedabad: Ruling BJP has swept the polls to six municipal corporations in Gujarat retaining power with two-thirds majority in all but one of them, in a big victory for Chief Minister Narendra Modi who put all his might behind the civic election campaign.
Besides Ahmedabad, the BJP won the civic polls in Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot and Bhavnagar with a two-thirds majority. The party, which decimated the Congress, got a simple majority in Jamnagar.
Savouring the win, Modi profusely thanked the people of Gujarat for reposing faith in the party.
He said BJP bagged 80 per cent of the votes in almost all the places with the remaining being accounted for all the other parties and Independents put together.
The poll victories came just a few weeks after the BJP won Kachlal in Anand district in a bye-election, bagging the assembly constituency - a Congress bastion - for the first time in the history of the state.
Senior BJP leader L K Advani congratulated Modi for the spectacular showing for the party and noted that the Congress has been wiped out.
On-line voting was introduced for the first time in the civic polls.
Over 2,100 candidates were in fray for more than 558 seats for elections in six municipal corporations in Gujarat.
Ruling BJP as well as Opposition Congress had campaigned extensively and had also roped in national leaders for the polls.
The BJP had won all the six municipal corporations in the last elections held in 2005
It had made the arrest of Amit Shah, close aide of Modi, by CBI in Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, as one of the main issues, as all its national leaders alleged that the arrest amounted to misuse of CBI by the Congress and asked people to give its mandate through the ballot papers.
During the campaign, Modi also took a swipe at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the tardy pace of preparations for the ongoing Commonwealth games in Delhi.
Congress on the other hand had focussed more on local issues saying that the corporation polls were about civic amenities and highlighted assistance given to the state under Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission for development of infrastructure in cities.
In Ahmedabad, the BJP has so far won 129 of the 156 seats declared with results for remaining 33 seats yet to be announced.
The saffron party notched 95 of the 114 seats in Surat while it bagged 61 of the 75 in Vadodara.
The Rajkot Municipal Corporation where BJP won 58 seats in the 69-member house was the only civic body where it could not get a two-third majority.
The Congress bagged the remaining 11 seats and improved its tally by one from 10 it had won in the 2005 elections. Among the winners were Mayor Sandhyaben Vyas of BJP.
Modi had campaigned extensively in Rajkot addressing three public rallies in the last week of campaigning.
Accepting defeat, local Congress leaders said they had expected a good show in the RMC polls by the party as it had wrested the Rajkot Lok Sabha seat from the BJP after many years during the 2008 parliamentary polls.
BJP retained its two-third majority in the Bhavnagar Municipal Corporation (BMC), bagging 41 out of the 51 seats with Congress winning the rest.
BJP, which had won 39 seats in the 2005 BMC elections, improved its tally by two, while the Congress saw its seat strength reduce from 12 to 10.
The ruling party had emerged as a clear favourite in Bhavnagar due to infighting and absence of strong local leaders in the Congress.
Elections to the BMC were held two months earlier than scheduled, as the BJP decided to go for the polls along with the other five other municipal corporations in the state on October 10.
BJP retained a clear majority in the Jamnagar Municipal Corporation (JMC) pocketing 35 seats out of 57.
Opposition Congress won 16 seats, while Independents (3), NCP(1), BSP (1), and SP (1) bagged the remaining seats.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Muralidharan appears on Congress platforms
06 Oct 2010
Thiruvananthapuram: With local bodies' elections around the corner K Muralidharan has started appearing the platforms of Congress campaigns. Murali's official re-entry into Congress appears to be a mere formality now.
Murali knew that Congress needed his support for a UDF victory in the Malabar region. In Kozhikode many candidates came to him for blessings before filing nomination papers.
Getting the message top brass from the district Congress committee, including the president K C Abu and people like N P Moideen, A Sujanapal, P Sankaran and Muslim League leader Mayin Haji came to Murali's house to invite him for campaigning. Murali obliged.
Thiruvananthapuram: With local bodies' elections around the corner K Muralidharan has started appearing the platforms of Congress campaigns. Murali's official re-entry into Congress appears to be a mere formality now.
Murali knew that Congress needed his support for a UDF victory in the Malabar region. In Kozhikode many candidates came to him for blessings before filing nomination papers.
Getting the message top brass from the district Congress committee, including the president K C Abu and people like N P Moideen, A Sujanapal, P Sankaran and Muslim League leader Mayin Haji came to Murali's house to invite him for campaigning. Murali obliged.
NII researchers develop once-in-3-month insulin to treat diabetes
Indian scientists at the Delhi-based National Institute of Immunology have developed a new technology that could produce once in 3-month insulin injection for diabetic patients.
Currently, insulin is injected multiple times a day to control blood sugar in diabetes patients.
The new insulin formulation follows a simple technique in the hormone is clumped together into complexes called oligomers.
These oligomers are then injected into rats, mice, and rabbits with chemically induced diabetes. A single injection maintained basal glucose levels for up to 3 months, whereas other diabetic mice needed daily injections.The diseased mice mice not given insulin died within 40 days.
The NII researchers tested the oligomer insulin on mice and rabbits using bovine and recombinant human insulin. A single dose using bovine insulin was able to give coverage for over 120 days while that with recombinant human insulin sustained over 140 days.
The oligomers act like “an insulin depot” at the injection site, releasing a steady, low insulin dose, according to Dr Avadhesha Surolia, director of the National Institute of Immunology here, who led the research team.
“The just above basal level of human insulin released in a sustained manner has been found to be effective in not only controlling the upsurge in the level of blood glucose after meals, but also in preventing the dreaded early morning hypoglycaemia, which is caused by low glucose levels,” stated Dr Surolia.
The oligomer technique primarily involves getting individual molecules of insulin to come together and form multi-molecular or supra-molecular assemblies.
Oligomer insulin utilizes the basic principles of protein folding to harness the inherent aggregative property of insulin molecules to generate a form that exhibited a controlled and sustained release of the molecules over prolonged periods, explained Dr. Surolia, who is also a professor at the Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Science’s Molecular Biophysics Unit.
Since oligomers do not lead to the activation of enzymes that destroy insulin, it does not cause cancer which many currently available insulin analogues are associated with.
The researchers observed no side effects in the animal studies.
NII has transferred the technology to Life Science Pharmaceuticals in Darien, Connecticut for further development including clinical trials. The US firm plans to launch clinical trials to test the oligomr insulin later this year.
If it comes out successfully through all clinical testing, the oligomer based insulin could be available in the market in about six years after, Dr Surolia hoped.
A major issue with diabetes management with the current practice of multiple injections in a day was the fear of pricking oneself. This often lead to the patient not adhering to the treatment in toto, resulting in complications such as diabetic cardiopathy, cataract and nephropathy.
Currently, insulin is injected multiple times a day to control blood sugar in diabetes patients.
The new insulin formulation follows a simple technique in the hormone is clumped together into complexes called oligomers.
These oligomers are then injected into rats, mice, and rabbits with chemically induced diabetes. A single injection maintained basal glucose levels for up to 3 months, whereas other diabetic mice needed daily injections.The diseased mice mice not given insulin died within 40 days.
The NII researchers tested the oligomer insulin on mice and rabbits using bovine and recombinant human insulin. A single dose using bovine insulin was able to give coverage for over 120 days while that with recombinant human insulin sustained over 140 days.
The oligomers act like “an insulin depot” at the injection site, releasing a steady, low insulin dose, according to Dr Avadhesha Surolia, director of the National Institute of Immunology here, who led the research team.
“The just above basal level of human insulin released in a sustained manner has been found to be effective in not only controlling the upsurge in the level of blood glucose after meals, but also in preventing the dreaded early morning hypoglycaemia, which is caused by low glucose levels,” stated Dr Surolia.
The oligomer technique primarily involves getting individual molecules of insulin to come together and form multi-molecular or supra-molecular assemblies.
Oligomer insulin utilizes the basic principles of protein folding to harness the inherent aggregative property of insulin molecules to generate a form that exhibited a controlled and sustained release of the molecules over prolonged periods, explained Dr. Surolia, who is also a professor at the Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Science’s Molecular Biophysics Unit.
Since oligomers do not lead to the activation of enzymes that destroy insulin, it does not cause cancer which many currently available insulin analogues are associated with.
The researchers observed no side effects in the animal studies.
NII has transferred the technology to Life Science Pharmaceuticals in Darien, Connecticut for further development including clinical trials. The US firm plans to launch clinical trials to test the oligomr insulin later this year.
If it comes out successfully through all clinical testing, the oligomer based insulin could be available in the market in about six years after, Dr Surolia hoped.
A major issue with diabetes management with the current practice of multiple injections in a day was the fear of pricking oneself. This often lead to the patient not adhering to the treatment in toto, resulting in complications such as diabetic cardiopathy, cataract and nephropathy.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Petition of Madani's relative dismissed
01 Oct 2010
Kollam: A local court here has dismissed a petition filed by a relative of PDP leader Abdul Nasser Madani alleging that
the Karnataka police had not adhered to procedures during the arrest of Madani in connection with the Bangalore blasts case.
Kollam Chief Judicial Magistrate Soundaresh dismissed the petition by Abdul Salam, a relative of Madani, against Bangalore city assistant police commissioner Omkaraiah and Kollam SP police Harshitha Attaluri.
The petitioner argued that Madani should have been produced in a local court before being taken to Bangalore after his arrest on August 17.
Dismissing the petition, the Court said the charges in the petition was ill-intentioned. The Court also approved the arguments of the counsels for Omkaraiah and Attaluri that Madani could be produced before a judge in Bangalore within 24 hours of his arrest.
Madani, who was arrested from Anwarssery near here at 1.20 pm was produced before was produced before the Bangalore judge the same night at 11.20 pm, the cousels for the police said. PTI
Kollam: A local court here has dismissed a petition filed by a relative of PDP leader Abdul Nasser Madani alleging that
the Karnataka police had not adhered to procedures during the arrest of Madani in connection with the Bangalore blasts case.
Kollam Chief Judicial Magistrate Soundaresh dismissed the petition by Abdul Salam, a relative of Madani, against Bangalore city assistant police commissioner Omkaraiah and Kollam SP police Harshitha Attaluri.
The petitioner argued that Madani should have been produced in a local court before being taken to Bangalore after his arrest on August 17.
Dismissing the petition, the Court said the charges in the petition was ill-intentioned. The Court also approved the arguments of the counsels for Omkaraiah and Attaluri that Madani could be produced before a judge in Bangalore within 24 hours of his arrest.
Madani, who was arrested from Anwarssery near here at 1.20 pm was produced before was produced before the Bangalore judge the same night at 11.20 pm, the cousels for the police said. PTI
Palakkad municipal chairperson P Devyani joins BJP
01 Oct 2010
Palakkad: Municipal chairperson P Devayani from Palakkad has resigned from the Congress and joined the BJP. Devyani will contest as a BJP candidate in the coming LSG polls. Devyani held discussions with the BJP leaders on Friday morning and the latest move is an outcome of this.
It is learnt that Devyani was unhappy with the leadership for not giving the reserved seat of her choice. She had asked for Ward 7 but offered Ward 14 by the Congress under the general category instead of a reserved seat.
The BJP party has decided to offer the seat of her choice. She told mediapersons that as she was offered a seat under the general category by the Congress she has decided to join the BJP. She also alleged that she had been offered Ward 15 without her knowledge. She also added that she would contest Ward 15 under the BJP ticket.
Palakkad DCC president P V Balachandran said that Devyani had not officiallly announced the resignation to the DCC.
Palakkad: Municipal chairperson P Devayani from Palakkad has resigned from the Congress and joined the BJP. Devyani will contest as a BJP candidate in the coming LSG polls. Devyani held discussions with the BJP leaders on Friday morning and the latest move is an outcome of this.
It is learnt that Devyani was unhappy with the leadership for not giving the reserved seat of her choice. She had asked for Ward 7 but offered Ward 14 by the Congress under the general category instead of a reserved seat.
The BJP party has decided to offer the seat of her choice. She told mediapersons that as she was offered a seat under the general category by the Congress she has decided to join the BJP. She also alleged that she had been offered Ward 15 without her knowledge. She also added that she would contest Ward 15 under the BJP ticket.
Palakkad DCC president P V Balachandran said that Devyani had not officiallly announced the resignation to the DCC.
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