When the lockdown was lifted last year, Rasikbhai Kotadiya, who runs a powerloom unit in the Kim-Pipodara industrial area on the outskirts of Surat, was left with only four workers out of the 48 that he used to employ to run his 128 looms. Though the economy had been unlocked, his textile unit, and that of thousands of others, struggled to resume operations. By the last week of May, nearly 700,000 of Surat's 1.2-1.5 million migrant workers, left high and dry with no pay during the lockdown, had returned home. In Laskana, another textile weaving hub in Surat, the powerlooms were all but silent, with only 2,000 of the total 55,000 looms churning out grey cloth at a snail's pace.
Since he lives locally, Harish Patel is one of the luckier migrant workers in Surat - in that his employer was able to squeeze in a single shift for him at the weaving unit in Kamrej in Gujarat - unlike others who went home for Holi and other festivals just as the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic was waxing and ended up stranded in local lockdowns.
The workers were inside the dyeing factory, located in Sachin industrial area, when the incident took place, Surat Municipal Corporation's in-charge chief fire officer Basant Pareek said.
as Diwali approaches, homes and markets across India come alive with colour, light, and excitement.
A Delhi court has ordered framing of charges against banned terrorist organisation Indian Mujahideen's (IM) co-founder Yasin Bhatkal and several of its operatives, including Mohammed Danish Ansari, in a case of conspiring to wage war against India in 2012.
India's leading real estate developers are accelerating their push into plotted development, a segment once dominated by unorganised players but now reshaped by branded offerings, faster cash flows and evolving buyer preferences. This strategic shift is visible across markets such as Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Gurugram, peripheries of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and even Tier-II cities.
And when in Gujarat, the CSK players were ready to feast on the state's delicacies -- dhokla and fafda, which no doubt the nation's premier Gujarati likes very much too!
Surat and Dahej can soon get a makeover thanks to Japanese help.
'Grassroots-level corruption, which disrupts the last-mile work, cannot be ignored in your enthusiasm and drive to get going to complete the project.' 'Like it was in MGNREGA, in some states, it is the case with the Jal Jeevan mission.' 'The last minute levels of corruption can ruin the intent of the project itself.' 'When you see that people can game a particular well-intended and well-crafted project, you need to correct that.'
A sessions court in Surat on Thursday said it would pronounce on April 20 its order on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's plea for a stay to his conviction in a criminal defamation case over his "Modi surname" remark.
Meghalaya's Akash Choudhary hits record eight consecutive sixes to make 11-ball fifty in Ranji
The Enforcement Directorate has issued fresh summons to Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani to appear before it on November 17 in a FEMA case after he skipped his scheduled date on Friday.
SMC will work with Microsoft and its partners to bring solutions for water management and urban planning
Police investigating the suspected suicide of model Tania Singh will send a notice to cricketer Abhishek Sharma as the preliminary probe revealed the duo was friends and she had sent him a message on WhatsApp chat which was not responded to, a Surat police officer said on Wednesday.
Panic gripped Surat as the police on Tuesday recovered nine live bombs, one after another within a span of four hours, from different parts of the Varacha area where most of the diamond units are located.
'The BJP will win comfortably if the Congress and AAP fight separately -- though not with 162 seats.' 'But if they form an alliance, it will become a major problem for the BJP. That's precisely why this expansion is happening now.'
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday sprang surprises with its first list of 71 candidates for the Bihar assembly polls, denying a ticket to Speaker Nand Kishore Yadav, a seven-term MLA, while fielding Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary in a direct election after over a decade.
The NCP also asked the Income Tax department and the Enforcement Directorate to find out the source of "black money" involved.
Reader Nirav Trivedi sent us a picture od Saina Nehwal from Surat.
Post global slowdown scenario, Surat's diamond industry is gaining momentum in demand from the domestic, international and emerging markets like China, industry sources said today.
A father-son duo from Gujarat and a tourist from Surat were among the 26 people killed in a terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir. Yatish Parmar and his son Smit were in Kashmir to attend a religious discourse, while Suresh Kalathiya was on vacation with his family. The Gujarat government has expressed condolences and is providing support to the families of the victims.
It's pouring in many parts of India, but at the Sarthana Nature Park in Surat, this tiger and leopards are trying to beat the heat.
Recent defaults have made a section of traders contemplate moving towards promissory notes.
The Surat diamond industry is likely to face a loss of around Rs 8,000 crores in next two months as Hong Kong, which is a major export destination, has declared a state of emergency due to the coronavirus outbreak in China, say experts. Hong Kong is a major business hub for the Surat diamond industry, but schools and colleges have been closed there till the first week of March and even businesses are seeing a dip in view of the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
Despite receiving so much love from Gujarat, Modi didn't bother to visit the bereaved parents of those 22 children who lost their lives in Surat, points out Jyoti Punwani.
What is required is boring leadership that ensures that the basics are right and not genius leadership that dreams of bullet trains, says Aakar Patel.
There was no confirmation from the district administration of reports that the fire was apparently caused by a rupture in the 36-inch Uran-Mumbai gas pipeline.
On Wednesday, Surat airport remained operational for an extra one hour waiting for the landing of an Air India Express flight that took off more than an hour late from the national capital.
The blaze ripped through the interior design coaching centre located in Takshashila Arcade in Surat's Sarthana area, claiming at least 20 lives.
It's a busy week for film folk, as they mix business and pleasure on their travels.
Besides Surat, which will also be the world's fastest growing city during 2019-35, the other nine cities are Agra, Bengaluru Hyderabad, Nagpur, Tiruppur, Rajkot, Tiruchirappalli, Chennai and Vijayawada.
Surat -- Gujarat's diamond city and the epicentre of the Patidar quota movement -- is set for a tough assembly poll battle as the Congress has added the face of the Patidar agitation Hardik Patel to its arsenal this time.
The industry's estimated losses stand at Rs 5-6 crore per day.
Zakir the bearded, cheerful auto man who meets us at Surat railway station has not heard about the eclipse.
The proposed exchange is likely to be almost as big as Mumbai's Bharat Diamond Bourse, now said to be fully occupied.
For the first time ever in the country, investigating agencies found that microcontrollers were used as timer devices in the bombs found in Bengaluru and Surat.
A live bomb was found on Friday near Amroli Bridge in Katargam area of Surat, taking the total number of explosive devices found from the city to 25 in the last fortnight.
