3THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2016

GUJARAT

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VADODARA

AHMEDABAD PSI BOOKED FOR ‘FRAUD’A PSI from Ahmedabad was booked by the Sayajigunj police in Vadodara on Wednesday for al-legedly deceitfully cohabiting with a 23-year-old primary teacher from Vadodara by promisingmarriage and causing miscarriage. The PSI , Mehul Rathod, met the teacher on Facebook.

A cow walks on a dry lake at Ratanpura in Ahmedabad on Wednesday. AP

Number of state’s landlessagricultural workers rises

Nine Congress workersarrested, released on bail

Rajkot: Pakistan has reportedlyarrested 10 Indian fishermen offJakhau coast in Kutch and im-pounded two boats, a fishermenforum said Wednesday. The de-velopment came at a time whenPakistan was in the process ofsending back 22 Indian trawlers.

“The Pakistan MaritimeSecurity Agency seized fishingtrawlers Shana and DevnandanTuesday morning near the no-tional International MaritimeBoundary Line (IMBL) at ArabianSea,” said Manish Lodhari, gen-eral secretary of the Gujaratchapter of National FishworkersForum. “The two boats wereseized and 10 fishermen onboard were detained. The seizedboats belong to Porbandar,”Lodhari told The Indian Express.

With this, the number ofIndian fishermen arrested by thePMSA has gone up to around 500

and the figure of seized trawlershas touched around 80, Lodharisaid. However, state fisheries de-partment officers said they werein the process ofverifying the in-cident. “So far, we don’t have anywritten communication fromowners of the boats, or the asso-ciation. Lodhari has said that in-formation will be made availableby Thursday morning. Therefore,we are in the process of verify-ing the news,”said Rakesh Bajpai,assistant director of fisheries atPorbandar. “This is a blow to thefishermen as the fishing seasonis almost drawing to a close. Therelease of 22 Indian trawlers byPakistan is also getting delayedas the matter is stuck up at thehigh-level. Our information isthat Pakistan has demandedrepatriation of 100 fishing boatsthat are in the custody of India,”Lodhari said. ENS

Pakistan arrests 10 fishermen off Jakhau, seizes two trawlers

Ahmedabad: The V S Hospital su-perintendent on Wednesday is-sued showcause notice to fourresident doctors and an associ-ate professor, all attached withthe department ofmedicine, forallegedly not admitting a 11-year-old boy who was in a criti-cal condition and later died dueto lack of medical attention.

Shoeb Sama, who was fromKutch district, was brought tothe hospital around 3 am onTuesday and died around 8 amin the outpatient department(OPD). He was suffering frombrain fever or inflammation ofthe brain. Hospital superinten-dent Dr S T Malhan issued thenotice under instruction from

mayor Gautam Shah, who is ex-officio chairman of the V SHospital Board of Management.The notice were issue to DrDhara Roy, associate professor inthe department of medicine,and resident doctors NilPalkhiwala, Priyank Patel, VivekPatel and Nirav Chovatiya.

Shah said further actionwould taken after their repliesto the showcause notice.

“A video clipping shows thatthe patient was taken in theemergency ward for 15 minutes,and then he was sent out,” Shahsaid. The boy’s father allegedthat the residents doctors onduty “shooed” him away thricefrom the emergency ward. ENS

PRESS TRUST OF INDIANEW DELHI, MAY 11

THE DROUGHT assessment sys-tem of Gujarat governmentWednesday came under sharpattack from the Supreme Courtwhich said the state did not optfor early declaration of drought,and rather chose the route thatwas “palliative and relief-cen-tric”.

“The purpose ofan early dec-laration ofdrought is preventive,but the route taken by Gujarat ispalliative and relief-centric. Riskassessment and risk manage-ment gives way, in Gujarat, tocrisis management. This ishardly ofany advantage to thosewhose distress can be avoided,”a bench comprising Justices M BLokur and N V Ramana said.

The bench also said that thesystem followed by Gujarat inassessing such a situation did notmeet the manual or guidelinesand expressed displeasure overits response in declaring droughtin several parts.

“The system followed by

Gujarat clearly does not meetwith the approval of the manualor the guidelines. As noticedabove, drought was declared in526 villages in Gujarat only on1st April, 2016, and in 468 vil-lages thereafter. As per the man-ual and the guidelines, this isclearly too late for those in dis-tress,” it said.

The apex court also said thatit was known in October 2015that several districts in the statewere facing varying degrees ofdrought “yet, no preparatorysteps appear to have been takento tackle a possible disaster”.

It also expressed displeasureover the response of the statewhich declared drought in 994villages only last month.

“Ironically, towards the fagend of the hearing, Gujarat fi-nally admitted the existence ofa drought in five districts — a factthat could have been admittedmuch earlier,” the bench said,adding “but at least, it is betterlate than never”.

“Perhaps more areas inGujarat might need to be de-clared as drought-hit,” it said.

ENS & PTIGANDHINAGAR, MAY 11

THE GUJARAT government onWednesday declared 121 morevillages in parched Saurashtra,north Gujarat and Kutch regionas scarcity-affected. The decisionwas taken by a cabinet sub-com-mittee on drought after holdinga meeting here that was chairedby Chief Minister AnandibenPatel.

Out of the 121 villages, 58 arefrom Nakhatrana, Anjar andBhuj talukas ofKutch, 52 villagesfrom Vav, Tharad, and Sui-Gamtalukas of Banaskantha and 11villages are from Jam-Jodhpurtaluka of Jamnagar.

A government release saidthat so far 1,115 villages of thestate have been declared eithersemi-drought affected orscarcity-affected. Whereas17,366 cattle are sheltered at cat-

tle-ponds or cattle camps inKutch, Jamnagar, Rajkot,Devbhoomi Dwarka andPorbandar.

Among the 121 villages de-clared “partially scarcity-hit”, 58are in Kutch, 52 in Banaskanthadistrict in north Gujarat and 11in Jamnagar district inSaurashtra region, the releasesaid.

The decision to put these vil-lages into the “affected” categorywas taken in a meeting of a sub-committee ofministers to assessthe scarcity situation. The sub-committee is headed by educa-tion minister BhupendrasinhChudasama.

As per government, adequatemeasures are being taken to pro-vide water and fodder for cattlein affected regions. At present,891 villages and adjoining local-ities across Gujarat have beenprovided water through 504tankers.

121 more villages declaredscarcity-hit, total at 1,115

SC finds faults with droughtassessment system in state

PRESS TRUST OF INDIAAHMEDABAD, MAY 11

IN A scathing attack, BJP MPVitthal Radadiya Wednesdaytermed Patidar Anamat AndolanSamiti (PAAS) leader HardikPatel as “mentally unstable” andsaid he was trying to projecthimself as a “hero” of the Patelcommunity from jail. The re-marks by Radadiya, who onceworked as a mediator betweenPatel quota agitators and Gujaratgovernment, came a day afterHardik virtually termed him a“traitor” of Patel community,saying Patidars did not need thePorbandar MP anymore.

“It seems Hardik has lost hismental balance in jail, that is whyhe talks such nonsense like amad person. He was not consis-tent in his views and keepschanging his statements. I think

he only wants to become a heroof the (Patel) community whilebeing in jail,” said Radadiya, aprominent Patel leader of theSaurashtra region.

“There was a time when he(Hardik) used to say thatVitthalbhai is a very respectableperson. And suddenly, I have be-came a traitor to him. I don’teven want to see the face ofsucha person who has lost his men-tal balance and calls me a traitor.Otherwise, I am always with the

community and will come for-ward whenever my services areneeded,” he said. Radadiya hadearlier announced that his roleas a mediator had come to anend in the wake of the state gov-ernment carving out a 10 percent quota for the poor amongunreserved category, includingPatels. He added that the quotashould be at least 20 per cent.

Against the backdrop ofRadadiya’s statement, HardikTuesday told mediapersons out-side Surat court that his commu-nity “does not want people whobetray their own community.We don’t want VitthalRadadiya.”

“Political leaders are not hispersonal property. We are notelected through his vote,” saidRadadiya, adding that Hardikwas “arrogant” who only “tookleadership of an agitation, noth-ing else”.

Ahmedabad: Hardik’s close aideleader Mahesh Savani who metthe PAAS convener in LajporeCentral Jail Wednesday claimedthat his remarks on Radadiyahave been “misinterpreted” bythe media.

Savani has been named asnew mediator for PAAS. “Today,I met Hardik at Lajpore Jail inSurat. Hardik told me that henever said anything againstVitthalbhai. He told me that hisstatement before media hasbeen misinterpreted,” saidSavani.

During the meeting, Hardikalso handed over a letter ad-dressed to Gujarat ChiefMinisterAnandiben Patel. “Hardik gavethis sealed letter to us during themeeting. We will hand it over tothe CM in coming days. We arenot aware about the content, asthe letter is in sealed cover,”added Savani. PTI

Day after, Radadiya hits back:Hardik has lost mental balance

Vitthal Radadiya

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICEAHMEDABAD, MAY 11

ANJANA PATEL, wife of SardarPatel Group president Lalji Patel,has moved the Gujarat HighCourt, seeking formation of aspecial investigation team (SIT)to probe violence in Mehsana onApril 17 during the jail bharo andolan.

Petitioner’s lawyer B MMangukiya said the petition hasbeen moved as his client doesnot have “faith” in the investiga-tion done by the Gujarat policein the case.

“The petition was slated forhearing today, but it could nothappen. So, we are going to men-tion it before the court tomor-

row for hearing,” Mangukiyasaid. The jail bharo stir waslaunched by the Sardar PatelGroup in Mehsana to push forquota benefits to the Patidarcommunity and demand imme-diate release of Patidar AnamatAndolan Samiti leader HardikPatel, who was arrested follow-ing the violence.

Lalji Patel’s wife seeks SIT probe into Mehsanaviolence, moves HC

Traitor remarkmisinterpreted:Patidar leader

Lalji Patel

ATTACK ON GANDHINAGAR MAYOR

ENS & PTIAHMEDABAD, MAY 11

NINE CONGRESS workers whowere booked for allegedly at-tacking newly-electedGandhinagar mayor Pravin Patel,who defected to the BJP recently,have been arrested, police saidWednesday.

The incident happenedTuesday at the GandhinagarMunicipal Corporation (GMC)office. Patel, who crossed over toBJP moments before the generalboard meeting of GMC’s electedmembers on May 6, was al-legedly abused and manhandledby a group of Congress leadersand workers, said inspector ofSector-7 Police Station K MPriyadarshi. “As many as nineleaders were arrested late lastnight. All of them have been re-leased on bail early this morning(Wednesday). Some ofthem alsosustained minor injuries,” the of-

ficer said, adding Patel wasbriefly hospitalised after thebrawl. In his FIR, Patel hadnamed nine Congress workers,including two women. Theywere Shailendrasinh Bihola,Padmaben, Suryasinh Dabhi, DrKaushik Shah, Nishit Vyas,Durgesh Gadhvi, Jayaben,Ishwarbhai Desai and TejabhaiDesai. The nine are facingcharges for rioting, unlawful as-sembly, voluntarily causing hurt,criminal conspiracy, criminal in-timidation and preventing apublic servant from discharginghis duty.

However, Congress allegedthat they were beaten by Pateland some other BJP corporatorsat the spot. “We were stagingpeaceful protest outside themayor office. It was Patel whomanhandled one of our femaleworkers and threatened us.Sadly, police took only Patel’scomplaint and refused to takeours,” said Nishit Vyas after bail.

11-year-old’s death: Noticeto 5 doctors of V S Hospital

Ahmedabad: During the ten-yearperiod between 2001-11 whenthe number of landless agricul-tural workers decreased in stateslike Kerala and Goa, it rose instates like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.

As per the Census 2011, thereare about 14.43 crore landlessagriculture workers in the coun-try, of which 68.39 lakh are inGujarat, Union Minister of State(independent charge) for Labourand Employment BandaruDattatreya told the Rajya SabhaWednesday in reply to a ques-tion by MP Parimal Nathwani.

The number of landless agri-cultural workers in Gujarat in-creased from 51.61 lakh in

Census 2001 to 68.39 lakh in2011. The highest — 1.99 crorelandless workers — are in UttarPradesh, followed by Bihar (1.83crore), Andhra Pradesh (1.69crore), Maharashtra (1.34 crore)and Madhya Pradesh (1.21crore). Interestingly, during thisten-year period, the number oflandless agriculture workerswent down in Kerala, Goa,Puducherry, Andaman &Nicobar Islands and Daman &Diu, the minister said.

In 2014-15, the governmentspent Rs 5,721 crore under nineschemes formulated by theGovernment of India to providesocial security cover to the unor-ganised workers, he said. ENS