Gandhinagar: With summer setting in, the Narendra Modi government does not want to take any chances with rural folk in an election year. In a massive drive to make full use of Narmada waters across Gujarat for drinking purposes, complete plans have been worked out to ensure that not only do they reach in all parts of Gujarat, but also to as many as individual households as possible. Funds have been made available, and administrative sanction obtained, to begin tens of big and small projects.

AHMEDABAD: At least nine leopards have been killed by villagers in Saurashtra, Banaskantha and Dang in the last five years. Of these, five were killed in Saurashtra region alone.

"Leopards are being killed in the region where people take care of another big cat - the Asiatic lions. Even if a farmer sees his cattle being attacked by a lion, he would not interfere, but if a leopard is involved, they will attack it," said a senior forest officer.

Gandhinagar: Closely following the draft Gujarat Water Policy 2011 sent to the chief minister’s office (CMO) for finalization, a fresh high-level document, prepared for the Planning Commission of India, has proposed major water reforms in rural Gujarat.

This document proposes introducing availability of water 24x7 through water meters at the individual household level. Suggesting that this can be done on a pilot basis in 50 selected villages in the first year of the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17), the document says other villages can follow “based on results and response of the community towards water usage.”

A quake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale hit Gujarat at 10.49pm on Thursday. The epicenter of the quake was near Vanthli in Junagad. Tremors were also felt in Saurashtra, Kutch, Surendranagar, Bhavnagar and Amreli.
Director of meteorological department, Gujarat, Kanwaljit Ray told TOI: “The tremor was felt at 10.49pm and measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale at a depth of 10 km.”
People, especially those staying in highrise buildings, rushed out of their homes. However, no casualties were reported. In Ahmedabad, it revived memories of the earthquake of 2001. TNN

AHMEDABAD: The three-day wildlife census revealed that the population of sloth bears and leopards has increased by 18.62% and 8.41% respectively during a five-year period.

Releasing the data on Monday of the census that concluded on May 18, S K Nanda, principal secretary, forest and environment, said that there were 1,160 leopards in the state with the highest density being in Junagadh district

Ahmedabad: An environmental activist, Amit Jethava, was shot dead outside the Gujarat High Court on Tuesday night.

Vijaysinh Parmar | TNN

Rajkot: In order to provide the fast-growing dairy industry in various districts of Saurashtra with more milk-yielding indigenous breed of cattle, Junagadh Agriculture University (JAU) in Junagadh will soon establish a Bull Mother Farm for indigenous Gir cattle and Jaffrabadi buffaloes at Amreli.

Sawarkundla (Amreli): A pride of lions was captured in the lens of wildlife photographer Dilip Jiruka as they swaggered along a road passing through Bhuva village in Amreli on Saturday afternoon. The stretch falls in the Gir sanctuary area.

Gandhinagar: The 2010 census has found 74 lions in the revenue areas of Amreli, Bhavnagar and Junagadh.
Forest department officials said that the figure could have gone up to about 85-90 as those in the revenue area around Sasan were included in the count for Gir National Park. They said the state government is in process of developing new sanctuaries, including the Barda Dungar in Porbandar.