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City needs more policemen to put order in traffic: JCP |
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Written by priyank
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Saturday, 04 February 2012 03:49 |
City needs more policemen to put order in traffic: JCP
With 950 traffic cops to man 27.6 lakh vehicles plying on city roads daily, the cop-vehicle ratio is about 1: 30,000
Hemington.James
Posted On Friday, February 03, 2012 at 02:27:46 AM
Ahmedabad was never known for its smooth traffic. Visitors would attribute the pandemonium on streets to the lack of traffic sense of the Amdavadis. Lack of adequate number of traffic cops only adds to the chaos.
City has more than 4 lakh four-wheelers, including school buses, police vans, trucks tractors and ambulances
According to official figures, the city traffic police are functioning with 30 to 35 per cent fewer staff than the sanctioned strength even as the population and the number of vehicles on roads grow geometrically. Little wonder, they are overburdened, unfocussed and stressed besides suffering from lung diseases, as a recent survey revealed.
There are only about 950 traffic cops in the city as against the sanctioned strength of 1,353. This includes police inspectors, sub inspectors and constables. Now, compare this with the number of vehicles plying on road daily — 27.6 lakh — and you get a vehicle to cop ratio of 1:30,000.
There are about 20 lakh two-wheelers in the city and more than 4 lakh four-wheelers, including school buses, police vans, trucks tractors and ambulances. Auto-rickshaws number a few lakhs. Owing to the shortage of staff, including women cops, the department has not been able to enforce traffic rules effectively.
“Yes it is true that we have shortage of staff and the work is affected due to that. We are managing with the existing staff, but we need more hands,” said in-charge Joint Commissioner of Police (traffic) Nilesh Jajadia.
“The work is badly affected. Traffic police are needed not only on junctions but also to patrol interior streets. At junctions we need a few of them as some manage the traffic while others catch the offenders. Yet, there are junctions where traffic police are absent as we just don’t have enough hands to manage such a big city,” he said.
Jajadia said that patrolling the interior parts of city was affected due to lack of numbers. “We need more man power to put city traffic on track,” said Jajadia. |
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MG wins Rs 1.4-cr bid to provide data on natural resources |
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Written by priyank
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Saturday, 04 February 2012 03:48 |
MG wins Rs 1.4-cr bid to provide data on natural resources
GMDC awards contract to science institute to carry out topographical survey, geological mapping and to assess bauxite reserves in 31 villages of Jamnagar
Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Saturday, February 04, 2012 at 01:41:09 AM
It is a shot in the arm for research in the state. For the first time in Gujarat, and probably in the country, the government has awarded a commercial tender to provide data on quality and quantity of natural resources to a single department of an educational institute. This will not only boost research at M G Science Institute, which has won the contract, but also encourage other science colleges to follow the same path. It will also give fillip to interaction between industry and academic institutes.
The GMDC Science & Research Centre awarded the Rs 1.4-crore project to the geology department of M G Science to carry out topographical survey, geological mapping and reserve estimation of bauxite, laterite and limestone deposits in Jamnagar district.
Students and teachers of the institute will carry out survey and mapping of about 7,000 hectares of land in 31 villages of Jamnagar district. The assessment of the mineral reserves has to be carried out with the help of satellite images, exploration data and GIS techniques within six months.
R D Shah, head of the geology department, said, “We bid for the tender after GMDC floated the e-tender on its website in June 2011. It was in two parts: a technical bid and a price bid. Of the 15 companies that sent their technical proposals, 11were selected, including us. However, on the price front we quoted Rs 2,200, which was the lowest and won the contract.”
This project will not only help students and teachers get hands-on experience, but also get paid for the work.
M G Science Principal B K Jain said, “Of late, fewer number of students have been pursuing pure science, which offers many opportunities, especially research. Private companies are earning crores of rupees through research. With the GMDC awarding such type of commercial work to a single department of an educational institute for the first time in the state, this will surely encourage students to research.”
Around 100 BSc and MSc 100 students will be directly on indirectly involved with the work. They will get a stipend for it, Jain said.
Of the total money, some amount will be spent on sourcing satellite images from NASA, while analysis will be done using GIS software procured from private companies. Digital mapping will be outsourced, but students will be involved with it, Jain said. The remaining money will be spent on further research and sourcing equipment at the institute.
“Once this project is completed, we will bid for other commercial projects. We will also help other colleges if they need out support in such endeavours,” he said.
Will MG live up to its promise?
The one pertinent question that bothered the GMDC was whether the institute would be able to carry out such a huge task. To find out things if were moving in the right direction, the managing director and board members of the company visited the institute to check its laboratory and the work they had done in the past. Only after they were convinced that the institute would live up to its claims did the company go ahead with the project.
D U Vyas, general manager, geology and technical department, GMDC, said, “We have followed all the tender procedures that were online. Technical experts selected companies based on their bids. M G met the criteria. Then the price bid was considered. Since the institute had quoted the lowest price among all 11 companies, they were considered. Thereafter, the tender committee negotiated with the institute, which lowered the quoted amount by Rs 200. We have full faith that the institute will do quality work in the stipulated time.”
It is a shot in the arm for research in the state. For the first time in Gujarat, and probably in the country, the government has awarded a commercial tender to provide data on quality and quantity of natural resources to a single department of an educational institute. This will not only boost research at M G Science Institute, which has won the contract, but also encourage other science colleges to follow the same path. It will also give fillip to interaction between industry and academic institutes.
The GMDC Science & Research Centre awarded the Rs 1.4-crore project to the geology department of M G Science to carry out topographical survey, geological mapping and reserve estimation of bauxite, laterite and limestone deposits in Jamnagar district.
Students and teachers of the institute will carry out survey and mapping of about 7,000 hectares of land in 31 villages of Jamnagar district. The assessment of the mineral reserves has to be carried out with the help of satellite images, exploration data and GIS techniques within six months.
R D Shah, head of the geology department, said, “We bid for the tender after GMDC floated the e-tender on its website in June 2011. It was in two parts: a technical bid and a price bid. Of the 15 companies that sent their technical proposals, 11were selected, including us. However, on the price front we quoted Rs 2,200, which was the lowest and won the contract.”
This project will not only help students and teachers get hands-on experience, but also get paid for the work.
M G Science Principal B K Jain said, “Of late, fewer number of students have been pursuing pure science, which offers many opportunities, especially research. Private companies are earning crores of rupees through research. With the GMDC awarding such type of commercial work to a single department of an educational institute for the first time in the state, this will surely encourage students to research.”
Around 100 BSc and MSc 100 students will be directly on indirectly involved with the work. They will get a stipend for it, Jain said.
Of the total money, some amount will be spent on sourcing satellite images from NASA, while analysis will be done using GIS software procured from private companies. Digital mapping will be outsourced, but students will be involved with it, Jain said. The remaining money will be spent on further research and sourcing equipment at the institute.
“Once this project is completed, we will bid for other commercial projects. We will also help other colleges if they need out support in such endeavours,” he said.
Will MG live up to its promise?
The one pertinent question that bothered the GMDC was whether the institute would be able to carry out such a huge task. To find out things if were moving in the right direction, the managing director and board members of the company visited the institute to check its laboratory and the work they had done in the past. Only after they were convinced that the institute would live up to its claims did the company go ahead with the project.
D U Vyas, general manager, geology and technical department, GMDC, said, “We have followed all the tender procedures that were online. Technical experts selected companies based on their bids. M G met the criteria. Then the price bid was considered. Since the institute had quoted the lowest price among all 11 companies, they were considered. Thereafter, the tender committee negotiated with the institute, which lowered the quoted amount by Rs 200. We have full faith that the institute will do quality work in the stipulated time.” |
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HC reserves its order on Sadbhavna case |
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Written by priyank
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Friday, 03 February 2012 03:42 |
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HC reserves its order on Sadbhavna case Hearing a petition on alleged misuse of govt treasury for the fasts, court said it has no power to control or dictate expenses of an elected govt Posted On Friday, February 03, 2012 at 02:20:15 AM | | | GS_googleAddAdSenseService("ca-pub-8048660860005691"); GS_googleEnableAllServices(); GA_googleAddSlot("ca-pub-8048660860005691", "MM_ROS_468x60_Top"); GA_googleFetchAds();  | | The court earlier disposed of two petitions questioning huge expenses incurred on Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s three-day Sadbhavna fast | Gujarat High Court on Thursday reserved its order in a case seeking details of expenses on Sadbhavna fast observed by Chief Minister Narendra Modi. A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice J B Pardiwala made a few observations while reserving the order.
The court said that it has no power to control the expenses of the elected government nor can it dictate the same. It is not within the purview of the court to decide on how much expenditure has been incurred. It further said, “It is for the people to decide and they can take a call on it during elections.”
The court was hearing a petition filed by Ratna Vora, who had alleged misuse of government treasury in Sadbhavna fasts. The court had asked Vora to provide the court with some proof on record.
The court had earlier disposed of two petitions questioning the huge expenditure incurred on Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s three-day Sadbhavna fast with severe criticism. The court held that the petitions were without any foundation and based only on newspaper reports.
Rs 60 crore spent
The PILs were filed on the basis of media reports that an amount of nearly Rs 60 crore was spent on this event. The petitioners wanted to know if the money flowed from public treasury.
The petitioner had also contended that if the event was a personal or party function or a sponsored one, then why should the state government functionaries sanction the amount or the government machinery be used.
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Modi’s pic pips Tendulkar’s T-shirt in auction |
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Written by priyank
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Friday, 03 February 2012 03:41 |
Modi’s pic pips Tendulkar’s T-shirt in auction
The World Cup T-shirt was sold for Rs 1.11 lakh while Modi’s pic got a bid of Rs 2.5 lakh
Ahmedabad Mirror Bureau
Posted On Friday, February 03, 2012 at 02:20:15 AM
Tendulkar had gifted his 2003 World Cup T-shirt, with number 10 printed on its back, to Modi through Vadodara-based former cricketer and friend Atul Bedade, last year
What is common between cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and Chief Minister Narendra Modi? Their belongings and gifts can fetch the highest bids, if put under the hammer for a cause.
This became evident during an auction in which Tendulkar’s T-shirt was bought for Rs 1.11 lakh. The bid was won by Vishal Chiripal, one of the directors of Chiripal group.
“We are glad to have won the bid. But more than anything it is for the purpose of charity, that we bought it,” said Chiripal.
Tendulkar had gifted his 2003 World Cup T-shirt, with number 10 printed on its back, to Modi through Vadodara-based former cricketer and friend Atul Bedade, last year.
But what took organisers and several of master blaster’s fan by surprise, was that the highest bid was made for a photograph of Modi. With a backdrop of Mahatma Mandir, the photograph attracted a bid of Rs 2.51 lakh.
According to Ahmedabad District Collector Vijay Nehra, as many as 1,399 items were displayed for the auction for which 2,255 bids were received. A sum of Rs 2.4 crore has been collected from the auction which will be donated for the girl child welfare and education schemes, he informed.
The Ahmedabad Textile Processors’ Association (ATPA), president Nitin Thakkar said, the members of his association exhibited interest in making the bids as they found it an honour to be part of such a noble cause. The association made a number of bids to buy swords, turbans and memento from the auction.
The money received from the auctions of the gifts has been used for girl child welfare programmes for last several years.
“We have participated for the first time in this auction and it was an honour to be part of such a charitable work,” he said.
Gift items, which were presented to Modi at various public functions, were earlier exhibited at city’s Ravishankar Raval Art Gallery last week. A list of gifts that were exhibited for auction included 208 objects of gold and silver, 377 mementos, 154 turbans, 328 shawls and 225 photo frames and paintings. Besides, Tendulkar’s T-shirt was also part of the exhibition.
Visitors were given a form, in which they had to write a code number of particular piece, its base value, its bid value, and their own particulars such as address, phone number and signature. The highest bid makers were informed through a phone call.
According to Nehra, entire auction was videographed and a transparent procedure was followed. The response to the exhibition, he said, was overwhelming.
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