AHMEDABAD: In a show of solidarity, Gujarat University (GU) has decided to take a token amount of Rs 1 lakh from state government for using its
ground for 20 days during Vibrant Gujarat Navratri festivities this year.
The daily rent of university ground comes to around Rs 51,000, amounting to Rs 10 lakh for the duration of the event. This move is likely to prompt protest from syndicate members who had opposed last year as well when GU had acted in similar manner.

“The event is not being organized for generating charity for the poor. It is a platform of interaction for rich and affluent industrialists and NRIs,” said a syndicate member. Students are also irked over the fact that invitation cards of this event mention GU ground as that of Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC). “I’ve registered strong protest with the government, urging it to mention the name of university in the invitation and asked government not to make this mistake again next year,” said GU vice-chancellor Parimal Trivedi.

About the issue of token fee, Trivedi cited cooperative attitude towards the government. “Had the function belonged to any NGO or private organization, GU would have charged it Rs 51,000 per day. But as this event belongs to the government, we have to be reasonable,” he said.

Gujarat Global News Network, Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad is the tenth most affluent of the country according to a survey of lifestyle and consumption habits of people of different cities. The survey has Delhi as number one followed by Bengaluru. The glamour city Mumbai ranks third in the survey.

The survey Upper Middle and Rich (UMAR) has been conducted by the Nielsen. The others in the top ten in the survey are Chennai (4th) and Hyderabad (5th).Kolkata (6) Kochi (7) Pune (8) and Jaipur (9).The survey has initiated a new method of defining ‘affluence’, based on lifestyle and consumer durables’ ownership of a household rather than monthly income and education.

Three distinct segments of affluence emerged by such lifestyle and consumer durables mapping - upper middle, upper-upper middle and rich and are quite distinct in their consumption habits, the survey said. The grouping was based on the ownership of a car, a computer, an LCD, and a holiday abroad, the survey said.

VADODARA: The developments in Rajasthan over the royal property of Rajmata Gayatri Devi of Jaipur are coming as a bitter reminder of the similar tussle in Vadodara after Rajmata Shanta Devi of Baroda passed away in 2002. As granddaughter of the erstwhile Baroda state’s Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III and Maharani Chimnabai Rajmata Gayatri Devi had a distinct connection with the Gaekwad’s of Baroda. Just like Gayatri Dev’s stepsons and grandchildren are expected to enter into legal battle to make their claim over the royal property running into hundreds of crores that she has left behind, the scions of erstwhile rulers of Baroda great grandsons of Sayajirao, Sangramsinh Gaekwad and Ranjitsinh Gaekwad, are still fighting legal battles over the royal property which is estimated at Rs 10,000 crore.

Gayatri Devi’s mother was Princess Indira Raje of Baroda, the only daughter of Sir Sayajirao Gaekwad III who was engaged at a young age to Madho Rao Scindia, the then Maharaja of Gwalior, but later got married to Maharaja Jitendra of Cooch Behar. As second daughter of the Maharani of Cooch Behar, Gayatri Devi who even as Princess of Cooch Behar had attained celebrity status, got married to Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II of Jaipur as his third wife which in turn made her Rajmata of Jaipur.

When Maharaja Sawai Man Singh in 1970 died, the title of Maharaja was passed on to Bhawani Singh, the son of his eldest wife. Now, after Gayatri Devi passed away at 90, the fate of her legacy including stakes in around 17 palaces, forts, hotels and houses plus a famous jewellery collection (roughly estimated at Rs 4,800 crore) is unclear even as suspense is growing over her will.

“The royal feud of Jaipur is almost similar to that of Baroda. It was in early 1990’s that first signs of dispute over ownership rights between royal scions and grandchildren of Sayajirao Sangramsinh and Ranjitsinh emerged,” said a lawyer, who is well conversant with the royal feud of Baroda scions.

It was after Rajmata Shanta Devi passed away at the age of 88 in May 2002 that the dispute took ugly turns with series of litigations filed over Shanta Devi’s will. Even in the case of Jaipur’s royals, Rajmata Gayatri Devi’s son Jagat Singh had a dispute with the new Maharaja Bhawani Singh over ownership dispute that went to high court and resulted in some royal belongings being placed in care of receivers in 1992. Now even as Jagat Singh has passed away, the ownership issues are set to take ugly turns as Rajmata’s will is yet to be read out, he said.

Many might not know that the last years of both Rajmata Shanta Devi and Rajmata Gayatri Devi’s life were soured by disagreements and legal battles within the family.

JAIPUR: A day after the body of a girl was found on the Jaipur-Beawar bypass near Ajmer, the police believe it to be a case of rape-cum-murder.The victim, identified as 22-year-old Ritu Agarwal, was a student of fashion designing and a native of Ahmedabad.

According to the police, she was a second-year student of fashion designing at Pearl Academy of Fashion Designing in RIICO industrial area in Jaipur. A resident of Raghukul Colony at Sahibag area in Ahmedabad, she was staying in a rented accommodation at Moti Doongri area of Jaipur for the past one-and-a-half years.

The girl had left her room on Saturday evening, telling her roommates that she was expecting some visitors from Ahmedabad and would return in few hours. “When she didn’t return, her maternal uncle Subhash Lohiya, a resident of Bani Park in Jaipur, was informed. He lodged a missing complaint with the police on Sunday morning,” said Narayan
Lal, incharge of Moti Doongri police station in Jaipur.

The doctors, who conducted the post-mortem, have confirmed rape and murder. Meanwhile, the victim’s family members told police about her closeness to a boy in Ahmedabad before she came to Jaipur for study. The police, however, have refused to divulge the identity of the boy.

Ahmedabad: The speciality of the Ahmedabad Janmarg is that the best marketing strategy has been chosen, that of introducing free trials. The people of Ahmedabad get to see the bus operations and provide feedback well before the launch of the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS).

The best awareness campaign should have three elements — the abilities to enable, educate and enforce. And this should not be the other way round. The convention method of raising awareness, by raising hoardings in order to educate people about something, may not work as it may not explain the infrastructure of the system. The best way to make people understand something like this is by making them part of the infrastructure.

There is a need to improve the Ahmedabad BRTS on some points. Among these are the waiting space at intersections, safety of pedestrians while crossing the road, traffic engineering etc. But I believe the Ahmedabad Janmarg Ltd (AJL) has already been working on these. I hope these matters will be remedied soon.

Unlike the experiences in Delhi and Pune, the drivers in Ahmedabad have been properly trained. During my visit, I saw them docking the BRTS buses at the platforms and stopping at the stations properly and there was no jerk when they started the buses — which means they are trained properly.

Globally, the BRTS has a distinct image of having better buses than other bus services. The buses that are currently used to travel in are built on truck chassis and their standard is not up to the mark. We need to change the image of public transport, through the BRTS, which has been funded by the central government under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

And there is no controversy regarding the BRTS buses bearing the JNNURM logo as they were not purchased using JNNURM funds. We had provided funds to buy 580 buses and 100 others, but these are yet to arrive. When they do arrive, the officials will place the JNNURM logo on the buses and BRTS stations.

I would give the Ahmedabad BRTSseven or eight on a scale of 10 points, as observed the operations while the work was till on.

New Delhi: An oil spill off the coast of Gujarat that no one’s taking responsibility for is causing a big worry for fishermen. The black oily sludge has now spread more than 100 kms across the coastline of south Gujarat, right from Navasari to Tithal and even up to Daman. Locals as well as tourists are wondering where the foul-smelling chemical comes from.

Coming out of the shadows after almost a year, the contours of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious Rs 73,000-crore Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) project have started emerging in a big way. The state government has roped-in American networking and technology giant Cisco Systems as one of its strategic partners.
“We have signed an MoU with Cisco to make an investment in GIFT today and help us evolve our technology platform. The American giant is likely to invest over $2 billion in the project,” a top government official of GIFT said. Cisco is also expected to pick up some stake in the project. However, the details are still being worked and it will take about three-four months to finalise the deal, the official added.

When contacted, a Cisco spokesperson declined to comment on any investment-related or stake-related matters.

“All we can say is that we have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with GIFT,” he said. Under the MoU, Cisco will collaborate with GIFT Company Ltd in achieving its vision of becoming a world-class financial service centre with infrastructure and facilities that benchmark to global standards.

Cisco will bring together a portfolio of products, services, partners, platforms, solutions and make appropriate investment. A joint task force will be constituted to work out the legal, technical and financial aspects of the co-operation, sources said. While Cisco will acquire space in the project to set up its operations, it will also bring its existing business partners to set up their projects in GIFT, sources said. The project, a 50:50 joint venture between Gujarat Urban Development Corporation (GUDC) and IL&FS, is envisaged to come up over 1,000 acres of land at Shahpur village, located between Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad. The real estate cost of the project is Rs 34,774 crore.

A diamond-faceted, steel-and-glass clad GIFT building overlooking from a height of 350 metres (about 100 storeys) is to take concrete form here. A special economic zone for IT is also a part of the hub. Several allied business entities including clearing houses, depositories, regulatory bodies, banking institutions, financial service firms, state and Central government bodies, exchanges, technology, knowledge and education support providers are planning to have their setups here.

The entire ‘city’ is proposed to be self-sustainable with various segments, such as International Financial City, Domestic Financial City, e-Technology Park and an integrated township. A string of MoUs have been signed by different companies in the past to set up their operations here, including the Kotak Mahindra group that is planning to set up a financial centre in the area.

London-based financial advisor Chescor Capital’s has shown interest in acquiring 2 million sq ft, whereas Singapore-based Sembawang Engineers and Constructors (a subsidiary of Punj Lloyd) and Fairwood Consultant have inked pacts for 1 million sq ft each. Orix Corporation from Japan has also signed an MoU for 1 million square feet in the project.

According to the Times of India, 588 deals were made to sell protected forest plots located within and around Gir, Gujarat to hoteliers, builders and politicians; however, this illegal sale came to light when one of the buyers, Anil Chudasama, was prevented from building on his land. Chudasama appealed to the Gujarat High Court about the same. Construction on some plots has begun, although it is illegal on protected land.

The protected land was initially awarded to the Maldharis or ness (settlement) inhabitants when they were asked to move from the only home of Asiatic lions to these compensatory plots in Gir Sanctuary. At first, the Maldharis were not allowed to sell their land, but gradually the revenue department reinstated the old laws, which allowed sale to individuals. Apparently all the plot buyers have obtained permission from all authorities for the land. Revenue and forest officials are being questioned by Justice M R Shah of the Gujarat High Court. Justice Shah has demanded records of all the deals.