THE TIMES OF INDIA, AHMEDABADSATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 20154 TIMES CITY

Ahmedabad: Gujarat highcourt on Friday suggested thestate government to form acommittee to look into com-plaints by dalits and tribalsthat they were allotted agricul-ture land as part of land re-forms, but the allotments haveremained only on paper.

A bench of acting ChiefJustice Jayant Patel and Jus-tice N V Anjaria also soughtthe government’s opinionwithin 15 days on whethersuch an exercise could fulfilthe purpose of extending bene-fits of reforms to the sup-

pressed class of people. The judges opined for such

investigation committee be-cause it would be difficult forthe court to adjudicate thecomplaints of non-allotment ofland by beneficiaries as such

type of complaints would bethousands in number.

The court asked the author-ities to undertake this exercisein response to a PIL filed threeyears ago by one Jignesh Me-vani, who has sought direc-tions to officials to furnish in-formation on allotment ofwasteland to the poor and land-less farmers in Ahmedabadand Surendranagar districts.

The PIL also demandedthat due procedure for allot-ment of land for agriculturepurpose should be followedand the benefits should reachSCs and STs.

Mevani stated that the Cen-

tre declared that 56,873 acregovernment land was allottedto members of SCs and STs be-tween 2007 and 2010. However,when inquired, governmentoffices did not furnish thenames of beneficiaries.

Mevani argued that inmany cases, land was allottedto those people who were not el-igible for the benefit. He sub-mitted that due to negligenceand lethargic approach on thepart of the authorities, thepoor cannot reap the benefits ofgovernment schemes and eachbeneficiary suffers an approxi-mate loss of Rs 1.75 lakh everyyear.

HC Issues Order In Response To A PIL Filed Three Years Ago

‘Form panel to probe landallotment to dalits, tribals’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad: With PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hardselling his ‘Make in India’ ini-tiative, the city’s tallest Ganpa-ti idol at Dakshini Society inManinagar is encouraging de-votees to support the conceptto make the country a manu-facturing hub for domesticand foreign companies.

The 28-foot Ganpati is hold-ing the Make-In-India lion lo-go with a rope in his left land.The logo is a striding lion

made of cogs, symbolizingmanufacturing, strength andnational pride.

The fibre idol has been in-stalled by Shiv Shakti YogMandal of Dakshini Society,which has been invoking Ga-nesha in their society for thepast 65 years.

Modi may have moved toDelhi after becoming thePrime Minister, but his strongpresence still looms large overGanpati festivities.

As hundreds of devoteesare thronging different pan-dals in the area, this pandalhas put up a grand poster of thePM promoting yoga. The post-er also depicts Modi takingGujarat forward on bullet andMetro trains.

From Modi to BJP stalwartLK Advani and chief ministerAnandiben Patel, DakshiniSociety has been getting high-profile guests every GaneshChaturthi over the past fewyears. In 2013, it decided not toimmerse the idol and keep itintact to preserve the environ-ment. For worship and immer-sion, the residents place an-other 1.5-foot idol of clay.

Ganpati idol at Dakshini Society; (below) Ganpati presented as a bullock cart driver

TOI

City’s tallest Ganpatipromotes Make in India

Ankur.Tewari@timesgroup.comAhmedabad: A team of stateanti-corruption bureau(ACB) conducted a surprisechecking at Shamlaji checkpost early on Friday morningand recovered Rs 46,800 froman assistant inspector withRTO which he had allegedlycollected as bribes.

The money was collectedby the Gujarat Industrial Se-curity Force (GISF) person-nel deployed at the checkpost, said investigators. Thearrested include two GISFpersonnel, two data entry op-erators and two private per-sons.

According to the ACB offi-cials, a team led by inspectorM J Christian was sent toShamlaji where they gavemoney to one of the truckdrivers to ascertain whetherthe driver, who was followingall the norms, is stopped.“When his turn came on theweighing bridge, the truckload was under permissiblelimits. Even then, the staffasked for Rs 100 from him. Ateam soon swung into actionand detained the persons onthe booth. They pointed to-wards D R Prajapati, assist-ant inspector with RTO at thecheck post as the person re-sponsible,” said an ACB offi-cial.

When the officialschecked Prajapati, sleepingon a room nearby, he wasfound in possession of Rs46,800 for which he did nothave satisfactory answer. TNN

7 held for graftat Shamlajicheck post

Ahmedabad: The stategovernment has disbursedRs2.28-crore aids for treatmentand operation of 521 patientssuffering from critical diseasesof kidney, cancer and heart.The government has, so far,provided cash-less healthtreatment worth Rs38.65 croreto 19,840 patients under thegovernment’s Amritam-Mascheme. TNN

Govt provides aidworth ̀̀ 38.65 cr toover 19K patients

Gujarat bagged four nation-al tourism awards for 2013-14 in special categories in afunction held in New Delhion Friday. The state was be-stowed awards in four cate-gories - best state award forcomprehensive devel-opment of tourism, best ru-ral tourism project for RannUtsav, best tourism promo-tion publicity material for‘Gujarat’s 50 Golden Desti-nations’ coffee table bookand best film promotionfriendly state. In 2014, morethan 3.09 crore domestictourists visited Gujarat, an

increase of 12.77% com-pared to 2.74 crore touristsin 2013. State’s tourism sec-retary S J Haider receivedthe awards from PresidentPranab Mukherjee at thenational tourism awards2013-14 in a function orga-nized in New Delhi on Fri-day.

20 MSMEs getGCCI honourIn a forum on micro, smalland medium enterprises(MSMEs) organized at GCCIhere on Friday, around 20MSMEs were awarded GCCIMSME Excellence Awards invarious sectors. A panel dis-cussion was also held on‘Continuing MSME Mo-mentum in Gujarat’.

CITY DIGEST

Gujarat bags 4national tourismawardsThe other block houses 1,500

families from both com-munities. The 4,000-unit colo-ny was constructed five yearsago by the Ahmedabad Munic-ipal Corporation (AMC) andallotted along communal linesat the owners’ request.

Rakhial police inspectorBarkat Ali Chavda said, “Thewriter wrote Pakistan as theaddress in FIR because it wasdictated to us by the city con-trol room. This is quite normalhere. Those who live there alsoidentify themselves as resi-dents of Pakistan”.

In AMC records, the mixedblock is called Sadbhavna Na-gar while the entirely Muslim

block is called ‘Vasant Gajen-dra Gadkar Nagar’ after a localicon of communal harmony. Inthe middle of ‘Hindustan’ and‘Pakistan’, a police post namedSadbhavna chowky was set uptwo years back after an inci-dent of stone-pelting.

“We are used to this, evenauto-rickshaw drivers askwhether we want to go to ‘Hin-dustan’ or ‘Pakistan’”, said alocal resident, Samir Sheikh.

“Complainants many atimes dictate information insuch loose manner. However,cops should have cross-checked before making it partof the FIR. After all, during in-vestigation, such anomaliesare removed,” said secretary(home), G S Malik.

‘Control room to blame for error’ �Continued from P1

A PIL soughtdirections to officialsto furnish informationon allotment ofwasteland to poorand landless farmersin Ahmedabad andSurendranagardistricts

TOI

The 28-ft Ganpatiis holding theMake-In-India lionlogo with a rope inhis left land. Thelion in the logosymbolizesmanufacturing,strength, pride

FAIRGAME

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Gandhinagar: Gujarat chief min-ister Anandiben Patel on Friday participated in the annual Tarnetar folk fair adjoining the famous Tri-netreshwar temple near Than in Surendranagar district as chief guest. Several foreign tourists also enjoyed the event.

Patel took a keen interest in folk arts, crafts and performances. She visited the stall displaying various merchandises.

The chief minister also talked to foreign tourists attending the fair. The tourists cheered and mingled with the local populace. They were visibly impressed by the colourful folk culture and heritage of the Bhatigan of the Saurashtra region. A young German tourist said she was impressed by the confluence of religion and social carnival with entire families visiting the fair. A tourist from South Africa attending the fair for the second time liked people’s amiable nature and enthu-siasm.

Patel also watched the 12th ‘Gramin Olympic Sport’ organized by the Sports Authority of India, Gujarat, and the Surendranagar district administration. She watched the tug of war in which Gandhinagar-based Charada team beat Mithapur-based Tata Chemi-cals team.

Ahmedabad: NID Film andVideo senior MDes studentsTanumoy Bose and MustaqeemKhan’s documentary project films‘Sagar Manav’ and ‘Madarsa’respectively have been selected tobe shown in the studentcompetition section at theprestigious Film Southasia FilmFest to be held in Kathmandubetween November 19 and 22. TNN

NIDians’ films to bescreened in Nepal

Academic leadership

workshop: Indian Institute ofTechnology, Gandhinagar(IIT-Gn), along withVishwakarma GovernmentEngineering College (VGEC)and Commissionerate ofTechnical Education (CTE), willorganise a workshop on“Academic Leadership & BestPractices” for principals andheads of the departments ofengineering colleges of Gujaraton Saturday. TNN

Ahmedabad: Gujarat highcourt on Friday asked thestate government to pro-vide all investigation pa-pers by Tuesday in connec-tion with the murder case ofseven-year-old Lukman Pa-tel in Padra town in 2009.

The court has called for

documents after the kid’sgrandfather Ismail Patelfiled a petition and demand-ed an independent probe ei-ther by CID or CBI in thiscase. Ismail Patel had al-leged that the local copsnever bothered to probe thecase sincerely. TNN

Man moves HC for furtherprobe into grandson’s murder

The fact that an FIR inAhmedabad refers to a

predominantly Muslim localityas being situated in Pakistanought not to be taken lightly. Itwould be mistake to view itmerely as an error by a lowlypoliceman. If the police, which issupposed to uphold the law, getsimbued with such a communalmindset and if such adevelopment is treated casually,it can only lead to furtheralienation of the Muslims, theconsequences of which wouldbe disastrous. Exemplary actionmust be taken to show that thestate does not condone such acommunal mindset.

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