Yogesh Avasthi

The Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar-Ahmedabad MEMU is back on track even though it fails to generate even one-thousandth of the daily expenditure of Rs 1.2 lakh required to run it By Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Monday, August 24, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20City&sectid=3&contentid=2009082420090824030752281ccc23a8a ) The ghost train is back on track after the Railway Board did a flip-flop on its decision to withdraw the local train plying between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. In an order dated August 10, the Board ordered the train, which failed to generate even one-thousandth of the daily expenditure of Rs 1.2 lakh required to run it, off the tracks from August 12. However, on the morning of August 12, railway authorities here received another Board notification revoking the earlier order. The latest missive stated the Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar-Ahmedabad MEMU will run till further orders are issued. Asked why the train was...

Ahmedabad railway station authorities prefer to abandon wheelchairs with minor defects than getting them repaired By Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Monday, August 24, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20City&sectid=3&contentid=200908242009082403075031d7c03079 ) Ahmedabad railway station authorities on Saturday received three wheelchairs from Dhiren T Shah Charitable Trust, but that doesn’t guarantee hassle-free movement to physically challenged persons on the station premises. For, they might vanish after de veloping minor defects. Sounds strange, but Ahmedabad station authorities prefer to abandon wheelchairs after detecting defects instead of repairing them. At least 25 wheelchairs requiring minor repair have been discarded by railway authorities. All of them have been dumped in the station superintendent’s storeroom (see picture). The picture points out that there is no dearth of wheelchairs at the station. Yet, s...

Booked to capacity, the special train of IRCTC promises hassle-free journey to passengers By Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Sunday, August 23, 2009 Bharat Darshan train will give people a chance to travel in comfort on a limited budgetDivisional Railway Manager Ashok Garud on Saturday flagged off the Bharat Darshan Special Tourist Train of IRCTC. The train having “no room” started its journey from platform number one of Ahmedabad railway station at 1 pm sharp.Overcoming the swine flu scare, around 300 passengers boarded the train from Ahmedabad. Around 170 more would join them from Vadodara and Surat. More : (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20City&sectid=3&contentid=200908232009082318505270368acdcb1 )

By Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Saturday, August 22, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20Latest&sectid=2&contentid=20090822200908220342415154f56e249 ) This is one tour offer that only the Railways can afford. For tourists, there can’t be anything better. Railways’ IRCTC is inaugurating a 10-day ‘Bharat Darshan’ tour covering 10 cities across the length and breadth of the country for Rs 500 a day from Ahmedabad today. It comes with a little rider — the trips begin bang in the midst of the swine flu epidemic, not the best time to travel. The first tour. The flu scare notwithstanding, the Bharat Darshan tour has been a hit with tourists, what with the low fares, accommodation and sight-seeing provided by the railways for a ticket worth Rs 5,160. All 470 berths were lapped up in the first few days of the offer opening. The special eight-bogie train will be sleeper class. Pravin Parmar, regional director IRCTC Gujarat s...

GRP, RPF conducting separate probes into the case By Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Friday, August 21, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20City&sectid=3&contentid=20090821200908210303437654def9adf ) In a shocking incident, a lady RPF constable was allegedly molested at Ahmedabad railway station by a porter last week. The RPF and GRP are investigating into the case. According to sources, the lady constable was on duty on platform No. 12 of the station on August 12 from 5 am. She was deployed there to scan passengers and their luggage. When she intercepted a porter to check the luggage he was carrying, the latter refused to stop. A verbal duel ensued and the porter, Rashid Khan, misbehaved with the lady constable and allegedly molested her. Soon after the incident, the lady constable approached her duty officer and police inspector DS Patel to complain against the porter, but neither allegedly showed interest to take a...

The last bell rings and students rush out of their school gates straight onto busy city roads. Yogesh Avasthi checks out some institutes where traffic bottlenecks are common and fatal accidents are just waiting to happen Posted On Thursday, August 20, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20City&sectid=3&contentid=2009082020090820024421593f5f32537 )

Deceased Matafar Yadav’s kin allege that he was not getting salary for the past 36 months By Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Wednesday, August 19, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20City&sectid=3&contentid=2009081920090819032306203ef73e212 ) Pass the buck tactics of the district education officer (DEO) and authorities of Utkarsh Higher Secondary School in Hatkeshwar over disbursement of salary of an English teacher of the institution allegedly led to his death on Tuesday morning. The teacher, 46-year-old Matafar Yadav, was leading a life of penury since DEO had stopped disbursement of his salary after he was nabbed on the charge of peddling brown sugar five years ago. Though he was given clean chit by a court two years later and resumed duty, his salary remained suspended. He allegedly developed several ailments, including diabetis and cardiology problems, owing to financial hardship. After suffering two heart-attack...

College receives TY BA marksheet of ‘Ahluwalia Anil Bulandigpal Singh’ from Mumbai company for the third time in the year By Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Tuesday, August 18, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20City&sectid=3&contentid=20090818200908180503483289e609f8a ) Three months after a marksheet sent to LD Arts college by a Mumbai company for verification hinted at a fraud, the college recently received another marksheet from another firm bearing the same man. The case relates to TY BA marksheets of a certain Ahluwalia Anil Bulandigpal Singh, who’s been trying for a job in Mumbai on the basis of fake marksheets but runs into trouble each time the marksheet is sent to LD for verification. This time, however, the college authorities have stumbled upon a clue that could reveal the identify of the elusive owner of the marksheet. AM had reported of the fraud on June 20. Eight days ago, LD Arts received FY, SY and TY...

Govt-run medical colleges, which wanted to add the seats this year, miss deadline for submitting applications to Medical Council of India By Yogesh Avasthi and Dilip Patel Posted On Tuesday, August 18, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20City&sectid=3&contentid=20090818200908180503415311ea776dd ) Six medical colleges run by the state government won’t be able to increase the number of post-graduate seats until next year. The state government had earlier announced that the colleges would add 150 more PG seats this academic year. However, the Medical Council of India (MCI) is unlikely to approve increase in seats because the medical colleges have failed to submit their proposals on time. According to the Supreme Court’s guidelines, a medical college has to submit its application for increasing seats to the MCI before June 30 every year. The medical colleges in Gujarat, according to sources, sent their applications...

What happens when those caught spitting are forced to counsel at least five other offenders? Railway officials and AM ’s YOGESH AVASTHI find out Posted On Thursday, August 13, 2009 Minders of every railway station in the country will tell you that preventing people from spitting on platforms/tracks is a task impossible. On Wednesday, the Railway authorities here decided to try an innovation — introduced by the Western Railway in Mumbai earlier this month — wherein anyone caught spitting at the railway station will be forced to spot and stop at least five other offenders. The script had several twists, as a lot of people had trains to board and urgencies to attend. Since it was day one of the drive — which will last a fortnight — they were let off, but with a warning.The drive lasted almost five hours, and netted more than 20 offenders. We list the experiences of six men, two of whom were from the Railways itself. (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=artic...

Getting a swine flu test done at the Civil Hospital is one hell of a tough task By Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Wednesday, August 12, 2009 at 03:49:01 AM (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20Latest&sectid=2&contentid=20090812200908120349011566b8348eb ) The state government claims it is taking all possible measures to arrest swine flu spread in the city— it announced setting up of a special OPD at the Civil Hospital where people with flu-like symptoms could undergo medical screening and testing for H1N1 beginning Monday. However, if the ordeal of four people who arrived at Civil Hospital on Monday to get themselves checked is anything to go by, the officials in charge of swine-flu check here are not in a position to handle the rising tide of patients. A lack of communication between the doctors in the swine flu OPD and the patients, saw them waiting outside the isolation ward for a good seven hours before they finally too...

Over 7,500 people were expected to attend the event planned by Tripada School on Thursday By Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Wednesday, August 12, 2009 at 02:46:15 AM (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20City&sectid=3&contentid=20090812200908120246155316b3727db ) Doctors from Sterling hospital visited Nirman High School in Vastrapur to give students precautionary tips about swine flu With second swine flu death being reported in state on Tuesday, a city school has cancelled an event it had planned to mark Janmashtami. In a circular, Tripada School, located in Ranna Park, has informed its students and their parents that it would not organise the event at Tagore Hall on Thursday.More than 7,500 people, including parents and students, were expected to the attend the event. “The participants of the event were mostly nursery students, who are more prone to the influenza. We don’t want to take any risks, so we have cancelled the ...

Caught spitting on the railway premises? Pay fine of Rs 500 and then spot five offenders to reform. Drive begins tomorrow By Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Tuesday, August 11, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20City&sectid=3&contentid=2009081120090811032519140f1206f20 ) Be wary of spitting anywhere on the premises of Ahmedabad railway station. If you are caught not only will you have to pay the usual fine of up to Rs 500, but also reform five other offenders before you will be let go. The Ahmedabad division of Western Railway is launching a campaign on Wednesday against spitting. You will be charged under Section 145 of the Railway Act, if found spitting on the premises. A team headed by a railway judge will decide on the punishment to be meted out. Those trying to argue much may be slapped with more severe punishment if it is established that they committed the offence. The railways have decided to go on the offen...

Host colleges of all five zones, consisting of 325 affiliated colleges, complain Gujarat University’s contribution for youth festival trials and selections inadequate By Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Sunday, August 09, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20City&sectid=3&contentid=20090809200908090256028439705b b86 ) Gujarat University has kicked off preparations for its annual youth festival scheduled for October 2-4. With 325 colleges affiliated to it, GU has divided the entire lot into five groups based on their location for easy management. Colleges leading each of the groups is made the host for all colleges in that zone. The host college — one each in Ellisbridge North zone, Ellisbridge South, Ahmedabad city, South zone I and South zone II — will conduct selections in September from among 6,000-odd contesting students. The top teams and individual performers from each zone will participate in the university’s int...

It is also expected to take over catering job on another popular train, Shatabdi, from private agencies By Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Friday, August 07, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20City&sectid=3&contentid=2009080720090807031514203a4c94a19 ) The quality of food served on Rajdhani Express and Shatabdi Express is likely to improve, with the Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) reportedly planning to handle catering operations on the two popular trains. Currently, private agencies prepare and serve meals and snacks on the trains. While presenting the rail budget last month, Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee had said that catering operations on the two trains would be taken over by the IRCTC. Sources in the Ahmedabad railway division said that the decision had been taken as Rajdhani and Shatabdi were two of the most profitable trains. “The the Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Cor...

GU foils Government Dental College dean’s bid to help four ineligible students appear in the second year examination By Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Wednesday, August 05, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20City&sectid=3&contentid=20090805200908050322498906e9f9a3f ) Pulling up the Government Dental College dean for his alleged attempt to favour four second year students of his institution, the Gujarat University (GU) has served a showcause notice and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on him. The dean, Dr Girish Parmar, had allegedly cleared the favoured-four for the second year exam even as they were ineligible for the test. The dean allegedly resorted to delaying tactics to let them appear in the exam. According to sources, he sent the filled-in examination forms of the second year students of his college to the varsity at the eleventh hour apparently leaving little time for GU authorities to check them. The strategy ha...

The passengers were labourers who said their contractors had supplied the forged tickets By Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Tuesday, August 04, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20City&sectid=3&contentid=200908042009080418535715fd30e0d1 ) Eleven labourers were caught travelling with fake tickets by the railway ticket checking squad of Ahmedabad division on Monday. The checking staff raided the general coach of 6631 Ajmer-Sikanderabad express between Sabarmati and Mehsana and seized 11 bogus tickets. All the 11 passengers caught, who were travelling to a small station called Gutkala near Hyderabad, were taken to Ahmedabad railway station. The tickets were made by overwriting on the original tickets. Rajeev Karial and R D Soni of the checking squad also seized blank paper tickets from the labourers. The labourers said the tickets had been forged by a resident of Gutkala, for which their contractor had paid Rs 3,800. Aft...

St Xavier’s school lightens the burden of class I-IV students by letting them keep their school bags in classrooms after school By Yogesh Avasthi, Hemington James Posted On Monday, August 03, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20City&sectid=3&contentid=200908032009080303275168726857cb ) Three-year-olds slouching under bags twice their size are a common sight outside schools. A school in Mirzapur, however, has decided to lighten the burden of young students by letting them their stacks of school books in the school itself. St Xaviers School gives students of class I-IV the option of leaving behind their school bags and books in their classrooms.Students and parents alike are happy with new facility which was introduced in June. Principal Father Pedric Rebello said, “We believe in ‘bhar vinanu bhantar’ (education without burden). We have deduced from experience that 30 to 45 minute lessons on a subject are suffici...

Centre for Development Communication, which admits 22 students every year after conducting an entrance test, had to accommodate Narendrasinh Zala following Gujarat University V-C’s advice By Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Friday, July 31, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=N ews%20-%20City&sectid=3&contentid=2009073120090731033711437651c5d7d ) The Gujarat University (GU), it seems, has separate rules for admitting students and youths associated with political groups. The varsity’s vice-chancellor, Parimal Tr ivedi, recently issued an edict to an institute affiliated with the GU to offer admission to a member of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) by creating an extra seat. The Centre for Development Communication (CDC), which admits 22 students every year after conducting an entrance test, was asked by Trivedi to accommodate NSUI member Narendrasinh Zala as the 23rd the student. Narendrasinh, who is a former senate me...

Well-known Gujarati writer Gunvant Shah miffed at not being consulted by GSHSEB; declines to be on its 15-member education reforms panel By Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Thursday, July 30, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20City&sectid=3&contentid=2009073020090730032050765cfaa86d7 ) The Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board’s (GSHSEB) attempt to cobble up a 15-member committee to suggest crucial changes in the examination system has run into rough weather. All because the GSHSEB went about it in a roughshod manner, sans consulting the parties concerned. Trouble with the committee is that one of its members, thinker and well-known Gujarati writer Gunvant Shah, has snubbed the Board by declining to be on the panel. Talking to AM, Shah, a resident of Vadodara, said he was surprised to know from his friends two days ago that the GSHSEB had appointed him on the education reforms panel. “The Board never ...