Hotels, hospitals and malls beef up security

These places have initiated steps even though they have not been briefed by the police.

After the LeT’s letter received by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) mentioning the possibility of bomb blasts in 17 places in Gujarat, public places like city malls, hotels, hospitals and multiplexes have beefed up security for the safety of their patrons.

Most of these places that have scores of people walking in every hour have increased the number of security personal on their respective premises for better vigilance even though none of them has been communicated the threat perception and asked to strengthen security.

The PMO had handed over the May 18 letter to the Central Intelligence Bureau (CBI). Gujarat State Intelligence Bureau (SIB) received the letter and immediately declared high alert.


The state police are high on vigilance and have put certain places under the scanner. There is a slight confusion over certain parts of the intelligence inputs. One of the inputs mentioned the date of likely terror strike as May 25, another input said the day will be Wednesday.

PERIPHERAL AREAS TOO UNDER VIGILANCE
Iscon Mall has increased its security personnel’s strength by close to cover 20 per cent in order to cover peripheral areas as well.

Mall manager Aakash Singh said, “After the media reports we felt that the security should be increased in order to have better check than what we had. Therefore, along with the car parking area we have also increased security outside. The security staff are checking each and every individual coming in.”

Apart from increasing the security, hospitals are also of the opinion that if needed planned surgeries could be postponed.

Dr Nitin Shah of SAL Hospital told Mirror, “Post LeT threat we have received no communication from the polices commissioner’s office to strengthen the security. Yet we have ordered restrictions on the movement of visitors to avoid unnecessary rush.”

He added, “If we get any communication from the CP’s office we may think of postponing planned surgeries for the convenience of the patients concerned. of course with their consent. The emergency operations will continue as they cannot be stopped.”

Hotel owners say that so far they have not seen any cancellation of room-booking.  Yet, considering the previous serial blasts in June 2008 they have tightened the vigilance system.

A highly placed source in Courtyard by Marriot Hotel in Ramdevnagar said, “The number security layers around the property has been doubled. Gunmen are keeping a close watch on the movements on the periphery of the property and will inform the local police in case of suspicion.”

Narendra Somani of Grand Bhagwati Hotel is of the opinion that most of the hotels are following strict vigilance system post 2008 serial blasts in Ahmedabad. Hence, there hardly is any chance of any accident.

Read More

Interlink at airport may be opened for public

To generate revenue and commercialise India’s first underground interlink between the domestic and International Airports, the AAI is planning to open it for everybody at a nominal cost.

If everything goes as per the plan of Airport Authority of India (AAI) officials at Ahmedabad airport, people coming to receive or see off their loved ones could get a feel of the Rs 80-crore, 400-metre long interlink, India’s first underground link between both the domestic and international terminals, at a nominal cost.

It was in July 2010, when the swanky international terminal costing Rs 310 crore was thrown open, the interlink which connects the international terminal (T2) with the domestic terminal (T1) was also inaugurated. But till date the interlink is lying idle. Now, the AAI officials are planning to open it for the general public that comes to the airport. The original idea was to allow only passengers who have connecting domestic or international flights from the airport to use the interlink.

“In 2010, when the building was inaugurated, the AAI expected effective utilisation of the interlink because in the first two months of the financial year 2010 Ahmedabad airport registered a growth of 27.8 per cent compared to the national average of 16.2 per cent. The authority is now planning to open the interlink for the general public as they are not getting enough passengers who genuinely need it and it’s just lying idle. AAI has spent Rs 80-crore on it and they need to generate the income,” said an airport official.

                                              
The interlink which has six travellators installed, three on each side, is 11 metres wide. The fully  air-conditioned   interlink also has place on both sides for people who wish to walk


 Also at evening time, hundreds of people come to the airport to take a walk. The greenery in the area and the well-maintained gardens are an attraction. They too might be interested in experiencing the underground interlink, the official believes.

The interlink which has six travellators installed, three on each side, is 11 metres wide. The fully air-conditioned interlink also has place on both sides for people who wish to walk. The three travellators are installed as some distance from each other so that if a person wants to stop for a while in between he can exit the travellator and later on get on to the next travellator. Attractive false ceiling and a water body on one side of the travellator are added attractions.

Read More

First look: The new AMTS bus

The bright-red buses have built-in features like GPS system, LED screens, passenger information system and pneumatic ticketing doors]]

The Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service services has procured the first 10 hi-tech buses of its new fleet comprising 400 buses. These are painted red and have a saffron stripe. AMTS Chairman Pravin Patel said: “We have placed orders for 400 CNG-run, non AC buses and expect to get the first hundred by month-end.”

Initially the vehicles will be put on the routes on which few buses ply. Some of these routes are 58, 151, 151/3 and 50. Patel said: “By April, AMTS will get all the buses. This will enable us to enhance our coverage and complement BRTS in a better manner.”

The buses have built-in facilities like GPS system, pneumatic ticketing doors, LED screens, passenger information system and power steering. It has a seating capacity of 35. As many as 50 people can stand in the bus.

The cost of one such bus is nearly Rs 23 lakh. AMTS received funds under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission(JNNURM) for the new buses. The AMTS has a fleet of 900 buses, 400 of which are owned by it. Deputy Municipal Commissioner M S Patel said: “With the arrival of new buses we will gradually replace our diesel buses with the environment-friendly CNG-run vehicles.”

According to sources, the AMTS will also stop depending on private operators to run the new buses. At present the public transport has to rely on private operators to cover 466 square kilometre area of the city. Nearly 300 buses are run by private operators.

Read More

Coming soon: Double-decker buses to be back on Ahmedabad roads

Ahmedabad: Remember those red-coloured double-decker buses ferrying passengers between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar a few years back? Yes, these buses which are an integralpart of the Mumbai and London traffic scenario, will be back on the city's roads very soon, if the plans of the Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service (AMTS) go through. The transport body of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation wants to introduce double decker buses as part of its schemes to attract more tourists on its coaches.

Very few people are aware of the AMTS's tourist coach service. Though this facility attracted more visitors in 2009 compared to 2008, the figure is only marginal. Only 7,689 persons used the tourist package in 2009 and AMC earned just Rs4.61 lakh as revenue from it. The figures for 2008 were 6,447 and Rs3.86 lakh.
"Not many people in the city know that such a service is available and that too at an affordable cost for sight seeing in the city," an AMTS official said. He added that the tourist coach is run even if there are only a couple of passengers in it — which is the case most of the time.

The major reason for the failure of this coach could be lack of interesting places covered on the route. The course of the tourist coach is Sidi Saiyad Ni Jali, Balvatika, Gandhi Ashram, Sardar Patel Smarak, Hutheesing Temples, Shreyas Foundation and LD Museum.

AMTS chairman Praveen Patel agreed that the route needs to be revamped.

"We are planning to introduce double-decker coaches like the ones seen in European countries," he said. Patel also said that new places such as Sarkhej Na Roja, Tri-Mandir and the Adalaj step-well will be included on the route. Later, the Sabarmati Riverfront could also be one of the stops, he added.

The transport body obviously needs to focus on the marketing strategy of the coach to attract more tourists. If the state government is planning to boost tourism in the state, the tourist coach needs to be popularised. An AMTS official said, large number of hotels are coming up in the city. So AMTS could have a tie-up with them to get more passengers for the tourist coach. In that way, the coaches will be a source of revenue and not suffer losses, as is the case right now.

Read More

Unveiled Kankaria's Red Ride

Atal Express is almost black, but the second mini-train at the lakefront will be blood-red. The new train will arrive in the city from UK in September

Red  That’s going to be the colour of the second mini-train at Kankaria lakefront. The train will arrive in Ahmedabad from the UK in September and is likely to be christened ‘Swarnim Express’.

Mirror, on April 21, reported that the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) had placed an order for another mini-train following the popularity of Atal Express, which has made the civic body richer by Rs 2.5 crore.

A senior civic official said that Atal Express and the second train would chug on the same track. “Once the new train arrives, we will try to begin rides as quickly as possible,” he said.

UK-based firm Severn & Lamb, which manufactured Atal Express, will also deliver the second train. The civic body will pay Rs 2.25 crore for this train, about Rs 11 lakh more than it did for the first one.

Like the first one, the new model is also a Lincoln Locomotive. It has the look of the bygone era, but it’s efficiency matches modern-day machines. One can steer and control its speed with the same lever.

While the AMC will not lay another track for Swarnim Express, it will provide it a separate shelter. In fact, it is in the process of issuing a tender for construction of the shelter.

Atal Express, which makes 22 trips every day, began its journey at Kankaria lakefront on December 25, 2008. It has contributed Rs 2.5 crore to the civic administration’s coffers. 

New ride, same fare

It won’t cost you more to take a ride on the red mini-train that is expected to arrive at Kankaria lakefront in September. Tickets for children aged between 3 and 12 will cost Rs 10 each. Students above 12 years will get a discount of Rs 5. They, however, will have produce their ID card to be avail the discount. People of other age groups will have to pay Rs 25.

Read More

‘I thought of suicide for a whole night’

Bruised and broken PTC lecturer, who was allegedly raped by 3 male teachers, tells Hemington James she sat under a tree on Saturday night thinking of killing self

It was Mukesh Patel, a teacher at Narsinpura primary school in Kadi, who got me my first job. He was pretty friendly with me. But when Mukesh asked me to sleep with him, I refused. He called me up several times, asking me to meet him near a deserted canal in Kadi.

He kept insisting, and I thought there was no harm in meeting him. However, when I met him at the said spot, he tried to force himself on me. When I pushed him back, he got violent and started beating me up. He kept hitting me till I fell unconscious. Mukesh then clicked my nude pictures on his cellphone and left the place. After gaining consciousness, I wore my clothes and went back home.

He again called me up twice asking me to meet him. When I refused, he said he had my nude pictures and that he will show it to my parents and relatives if I ignored him. He also threatened to shame my father in front of our community members and said he will see to it that I don’t get married.



Mukesh had shown the nude pictures to his friends Ketan and Dinesh, who are also government school teachers. All three of them started harassing me. Not only Mukesh, even his two friends raped me near the canal several times in the past eight months.

Scared they will show my nude pictures to my parents, I kept mum and kept meeting them whenever they summoned me. Every time they raped me and hurled abuses at me. Once, Mukesh hit me so hard that my left ear started bleeding. I went to a doctor who said that my ear drum was damaged.




I stopped talking to the three men last month. I felt it was better to die than surrendering to those devils.

On Saturday [June 19], Mukesh called me up in the morning on my cellphone and started abusing me. I was in the college at that time. He threatened me with dire consequences if I dared to open my mouth. I shot back saying I will inform his school principal about his misdoings. He laughed at me and told me that he and his friends will easily prove me a liar if I went against them. I got scared and started crying.

My colleagues sensed something was wrong and asked me whether I was in trouble. I told them I had fever and left the college. A lady teacher dropped me home.

At home, I kept thinking how to deal with this and finally made up my mind. I left for Mukesh’s school in Kalyanpur to register a complaint against him with his principal. But Mukesh saw me entering the school and started screaming at me, asking me to leave.

Sensing trouble for himself, he said that he and Dinesh were from the same community and she won’t be able to do anything against them. Fearing a scene, I left the place, went home and told everything to my parents.

That day, around 2 pm, I and my parents went to meet Mukesh, Dinesh and Ketan at Kalyanpur. My father scolded Mukesh for troubling me. But he was unrepentant and felt humiliated in front of his friends. He told my father that he would come to our village and break his bones.

As soon as we came back home, my father started getting calls from my relatives who asked him whether I was being a bother to him. Mukesh had called them up and spoken ill about me. My father broke down and said: ‘My reputation is gone’.

I couldn’t take that and decided to leave home. Around 10 pm on Saturday, I left my house with a purse in hand. I walked 10 kilometres and reached Chhatral. Tired, I sat under a tree, thinking what to do. Images of the three men who had made life hell for me conjured up in front of my eyes. Till 5 in the morning, I did not move from that spot. At dawn, I hired a chhakda that had two other passengers in it. After dropping both of them, the driver asked me where was it I wanted to go. I asked him to take me to Ahmedabad. He dropped me at Rakhial. It was 7 am. I called my father to inform him I will never come back. I even called up Mukesh and told him he had tortured me a lot and I will never forgive him.

I hired another auto and left for ST bus depot at Geeta Mandir. I got into a bus to Kalol at 8.45 am. I bought a pesticide from a medical store.  Next, I checked into a hotel named Amrit, hired a room and consumed poison. Worried, the hotel staff may have to face tough questions from cops if I collapse there, I checked out. I reached Kalol ST stand. I was thinking of getting into a bus to Kadi when I began feeling dizzy and collapsed unconscious. Onlookers managed to contact my parents since I had an identity card and my father’s phone number in my cellphone contacts list.
___________________________________________

Cops get 6-day remand of the two accused
The two accused in the Kadi rape case — Dinesh Patel and Ketan Thakar — who were arrested by the cops, were sent to six days police custody by the district magistrate of Mehsana on Wednesday. Kadi police are on the lookout for Mukesh Patel, the key accused in the Kadi gangrape case. He is the only person who is still at large in this case.

“My men are on a lookout for Mukesh. He will be caught anytime. The remand of the two accused will give us some vital clues in this case. We are hopeful of solving the case soon,” said G V Barot, police inspector, Kadi police station.

Meanwhile the victim, who is undergoing medical treatment at a private hospital in Kalol, will be shifted to Mehsana Civil Hospital on Thursday morning. She has been given police protection. The victim has alleged that she was repeatedly raped and sexually abused by three teachers of government school.

Read More

Episode 9 – Ahmedabad Auditions – Star Anchor Hunt.

Star Anchor Hunt – Episode 9th June 2010. Ahmedabad auditions round of Star News’ reality show Star Anchor Hunt.

Read More