A 600 MW solar power park, touted as Asia's first and largest, was on Thursday dedicated to the nation by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the state's Patan district, in a boost to India's efforts towards low carbon growth.

The solar power park with a power generation capacity of 600 MW, covering approximately 3,000 acres of wasteland bordering the Rann of Kutch, will generate two-thirds of India's total 900 MW of solar power production.

Solar power projects with a total capacity of 600 Mw will soon be commisioned at a ceremony at Gujarat Solar Park at Charanka village in Radhanpur, officials of Gujarat Power Corporation said here on Sunday.

The projects at Solar Park currently has an aggregate capacity of 214 Mw.Twenty one new projects generating 210 Mw of solar power would be commissioned at the Solar park on April 19 by Chief Minister Narendra Modi, while other projects have been developed at Anand, Banaskantha, Jamnangar, Junagadh, Kutch, Porbandar, Rajkot, Surat, and Surendranagar, they said.

500 HA Land Earmarked Near Lodhwa Village

Gandhinagar: Government of India conveyed to the Gujarat government on Thursday that it is all set to begin the procedure for setting up the second ultra mega power plant (UMPP) in the state within three months. Central government officials in Gandhinagar on Thursday told state officials that time has come for the latter to be ready with offers on cost of land and infrastructure facilities like water, port and permissions like right of way and right of use, needed to implement the Rs 20,000 crore project.

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.

Ahmedabad: Lions and leopards killed at least 10 persons in Junagadh district in the past one year. The state government has revealed that 1,966 attacks on cattle and 60 attacks on humans have been reported in the same period.

In a written reply to a question by MLA Dhirsinh Barad, the government said that in the 60 attacks, 10 people died and 52 were injured in the year ending January 31.

The Gujarat high court directed police on Thursday to register an FIRin thecaseof 23thalassaemic children being given HIV-infected blood during transfusion in Junagadh. Parents of the infected children had approached the high court demanding directions to the cops to investigate negligence by the Junagadh Civil Hospital authorities. Advocate Girish Das has filed another PIL demanding investigation and Rs 5 lakh compensation

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

An earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale jolted Gujarat tonight but there was no immediate report of any casualty or damage.

The epicentre of the quake of moderate intensity, which shook the state at around 2248 hours, was 20km south east of Sasangir near Vansthli town in Junagadh district, said Indian Met Department.

Cotton, groundnut sowing likely to be affected if the clouds don

AHMEDABAD: Of the total 1,160 leopards in the state, 207 are staying outside jungles, close to people. What`s more, this number is constantly going up. The recently concluded census found that this number of leopards shifting out of the jungle has risen by more than 40 per cent since the last census conducted in 2006.

Of the 207, 136 were found in Junagadh district alone.