1. Buses Collide Near Statue of Unity: 20 Tourists Injured, Driver Held
The Kevadia police on Sunday, 25 August, arrested the driver of a luxury bus that collided with another bus near the Statue of Unity site on 24 August, injuring 20 tourists.
Arvind Nayak, driver of the bus that hit another tourist bus from behind, was arrested. Haider Sheikh (22), driver of the overturned bus, stated in his complaint that he was ferrying tourists on his bus from View Point One towards Kevadia, when the other bus hit his vehicle from behind and overturned it.
The two luxury buses collided and one of them overturned at Navagam in Kevadia colony, about 2 kilometers from the Statue of Unity. The incident occurred on Saturday afternoon when over 25,000 footfall was recorded at the site.
Twenty passengers from both the buses were injured. While six of them were rushed to Vadodara Civil Hospital, around 90 km away, the rest of the injured were taken to the Garudeshwar Referral hospital for first-aid.
(Source: The Indian Express)
2. Two Dead, Four Injured in Clash Between Two Communities
Two persons were killed and four others injured on Sunday, 25 August, in a clash between members of two communities in Gujarat's Anand district, police said.
According to police, violence broke out following an argument over money between the groups of the Patel and Molesalam Garasiya (Muslim) communities in Undel village in Khambhat taluka in afternoon.
"The clash left two dead and four injured. Sharp weapons were used in the fight," said Deputy Superintendent of Police (Khambat) Reema Munshi.
Four to five persons from each group were involved in the violence, the officer said. "The injured have been hospitalised in Karamsad and Vadodara," said the Dy SP.
No arrests have been made so far. "A police contingent has been deployed at the site to maintain law and order and for investigation," Munshi added.
(Source: PTI)
3. School Van Driver Arrested for ‘Kidnapping’ Girl
A 30-year-old man was arrested by the Gorwa police on Sunday, 25 August, for abducting and confining a 16-year-old girl for two days. The accused identified as Riyaz Sheikh, works as a van driver at the same school where the girl studies. Based on the girl’s parents’ complaint, the accused was booked under IPC sections 363 (Punishment for kidnapping), 365 (Kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person) and under relevant sections of the POCSO Act (2012).
According to the police, the girl was taking a stroll outside her house on 21 August , when Riyaz approached her and forcibly took her to his sister’s house. The family had approached the Gorwa police and lodged a missing person’s complaint. Two days later, on Friday, the girl returned home and informed her parents about the kidnapping. In her statement to the police, she has alleged that she was forcibly taken by Riyaz and kept in confinement for two days, but kept safe.
(Source: The Indian Express)
4. ‘Land Degradation, Desertification May Increase Warming Levels by 2-3 Degrees’
High levels of land degradation and desertification in the western India, especially Gujarat and Rajasthan, could lead increase the warming levels by 2-3 degrees in the mid-2030s with an increased rainfall intensity, NH Ravindranath, professor Centre for Sustainable Technologies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, said.
He was one of the reviewers for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special report on ‘Climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems’ released this month.
“This is also stated in the Space Applications Centre (SAC) 2016 report (degradation and desertification). The land degradation and desertification is very high, affecting water supply to communities, agriculture on one hand and food production on the other. It is linked to global climate in many ways. Degradation and desertification means they have increased emission from soil, cutting and overgrazing… The climate change we have been witnessing will get more severe in the coming years,” said Ravindranath on the sidelines of a conference on climate change organised by Ahmedabad University’s Global Centre for Environment and Energy.
According to the report, there could be severe floods, high rainfall events similar to what Rajasthan, Kerala and Karnataka witnessed this year. Extreme drought or severe floods are the characteristics of climate change, it said.
(Source: Indian Express)
5. FMCG Dealers Won't Buy From Manufacturers or Sell to Malls
Distributors of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies in many parts of the state have stopped buying from manufacturers and have started selling to malls and supermarkets directly. Soon, the players in the business said, they would stop selling to retailers as well.
They claim that recent tactics by the companies and organised retail have shrunk margins of dealers and distributors. If the situation does not improve, they will be out of their business, creating widespread and large scale joblessness, they warned.
The dissent with the organised retailers and manufacturers has been brewing for the past few months, but the trigger of selling directly to some of the malls has resulted in a sharp reaction from the dealers.
(Source: DNA)
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