For a state government that pats itself for having turned Gujarat into a power-surplus region by connecting all the urban and rural areas to the electricity grid, the census data of 2011 — that shows over 11 lakh households without electricity — could come as a shock. The housing data of the census points out that there are over 11 lakh residences that do not use electricity in a state that has a power generation capacity of over 14,000 MW (mega watt) and claims to have 2,000 MW of surplus power.

IN NOVEMBER last year, the Supreme Court directed the Gujarat government to pay Rs 3 lakh each as compensation to the families of 238 tribal migrant workers from Madhya Pradesh who died of silicosis, a fatal respiratory disease caused by inhaling silica dust, while working in the state’s factories. The state government has refused to comply with the apex court’s order and made no effort to survey or acknowledge the deaths of tribals in villages of Gujarat from the same disease.

Yoginder K Alagh

AFTER reserving the mining of limestone and bauxite for stateowned GMDC, the state government on Friday decided to reserve the lignite mines too for the PSU.

The latest move is expected to expedite underground coal gassification projects in JV with Reliance Industries and ONGC as well as other long-term supply contracts inked by GMDC.

Saeed Khan | TNN Ahmedabad: Gujarat government might have got a reprimand from Centre for not implementing the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in a proper manner, but residents in a distant Naroda village of the Panchamahals district found a new pressure tactic to get the scheme implemented systematically.

the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (gpcb) served a closure notice to a plant of Alembic Ltd in Panelav village of Panchmahal district, Gujarat, on August 25, 2006. It manufactures bulk drugs and