QAhmedabad: City to See Rain in Coming Days & More

Here is your round-up of the top stories from Ahmedabad.

1. Relief From Humidity, Ahmedabad, South Gujarat to See Rain in Coming Days

The city reeling under humidity can finally look forward to some cooler days ahead. Ahmedabad is likely to get some rains in the coming days, as per Met department reports. South Gujarat is also likely to get good rains, although Saurashtra will have to wait for some more days.

The Met department in a release said that light to moderate rain and thundershowers are likely at a few places in all the districts of South Gujarat region and North Gujarat, except Banaskantha, Patan and Mehsana.

It has also warned of rains at isolated places in the Saurashtra, Kutch namely Bhavnagar, Amreli, Gir Somnath, Junagadh, Kutch and Diu.

The city on Thursday, 27 June, recorded a temperature of 36.8 degree Celsius while the minimum temperature was 27.8 degree Celsius. However, the humidity level in the city was at 79%. The city has so far received 103 mm of rainfall since the beginning of monsoon which is 13% of its annual average rainfall of 793 mm.

(Source: DNA)

2. Disqualification Case: Resignation by Whatsapp Should Not Be Considered, Alpesh Thakor Tells Gujarat HC

Replying to a petition moved by the Congress seeking his disqualification from the state assembly, Alpesh Thakor told the Gujarat High Court on Thursday, 27 June, that he had not resigned formally and thus the question of disqualification does not arise.

In his affidavit submitted on Thursday, Thakor claimed that the petitioner, Congress’ state whip Ashiwin Kotwal, was not entitled to raise the dispute in court as the matter was pending before the Assembly speaker.

He stated that his resignation dated 10 April had been misinterpreted, and while he had resigned from all posts, such as convener of Gujarat Pradesh Congress Campaign Committee, member of the media coordination committee, and secretary of the Bihar unit of the All India Congress Committee and four other positions, he had not given up primary membership of the Assembly.

(Source: The Indian Express)

3.Rajya Sabha Election Case: Gujarat HC Dismisses Second Application Moved by Ahmed Patel

In another blow to senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel, the Gujarat High Court on Thursday, 27 June, rejected an election application filed by him asking that the copy of an election petition that he received in September 2017 be checked by the Forensics Science Laboratory, to check if it indeed was a true copy.

Mincing no words, Justice Bela Trivedi called Patel’s application as one containing “absolutely incongruous and inconsistent averments”. Patel’s application cast doubts whether the copy of the election petition he received along with the court summons in 2017 contained the original signature of the petitioner BJP leader Balwantsinh Rajput on all the pages or whether the signatures were “photocopies of Rajput’s signatures”.

(Source: The Indian Express)

4. Rs 2,150 Cr Spent on Drought a Burden on State’s Finances

Drought relief measures taken by the state has taken a major toll on the government’s budget expenditure, with Rs 2,150 crore having been spent in the current financial year. Notably, this year, the state government procured a record 15 crore kg of fodder to be distributed for livestock in regions affected by drought or scarcity in the state.

This year, Gujarat is facing a severe water crisis and 96 talukas of 17 districts in the state have been declared either drought affected or scarcity affected. Sources said that 51 talukas declared drought affected have been provided relief in terms of agriculture crop input subsidy, financial assistance for running cattle camps, gau shalas (cow shelters) and panjrapols (homes for abandoned animals), fodder for livestock and so on, at a cost of Rs 950 crore. A part of this cost is being shared by the Central government.

(Source: The Indian Express)

5. Loose Shrikhand Can Cause Loose Motions, Says Ahmedabad-Based CERC After Testing

The tasty shrikhand you are buying from your neighbourhood mithaiwala could cause diarrhea, vomiting, allergic reactions, gastric and respiratory problems, says a conducted by Ahmedabad-based Consumer Education and Research Centre (CERC). It recently tested samples of the sweet from independent local shops and found the content of yeast and mould to be much above the prescribed mark.

It is not known whether there have been alarming instances of people falling sick or being hospitalised due to shrikhand consumption. Local shopkeepers say that the cold chain needs to be maintained to ensure the quality of product.

CERC tested 10 samples of loose shrikhand, sourced from different areas of Ahmedabad city, for coliform, yeast and mould count as specified by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). These indicate deterioration and decomposition of the product.

(Source: DNA)