Rain-related incidents claimed nine more lives in Gujarat, taking the death toll to 16 in two days, while another 8,500 people were relocated and rescued from flood-affected areas with rains continuing to lash some parts of the state for the fourth consecutive day on Wednesday, officials said.
A 42-year-old tantrik arrested for allegedly conspiring to murder a businessman died in police custody in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, after confessing to killing 12 people by giving them drinks laced with sodium nitrite. Navalsinh Chavda was arrested on December 3 and died on Sunday after falling ill. Police are investigating his occult practices and possible involvement in human sacrifices.
'Modi and BJP have fooled us enough by creating a Hindu-Muslim divide. Our anger is about jobs and farmers getting a good price, but Shah needs to be taught a lesson for betraying us.'
'Every year, the marble industry is shrinking due to tiles. It has already decreased by 20-25 per cent in recent years.'
Morbi has evolved from scratch to the second largest tile manufacturing cluster in the world in just 18 years.
Campaigning for the first phase of the Gujarat assembly elections to be held on December 1 ended at 5 pm on Tuesday.
India recorded around 16 per cent more rainfall than normal in August, with rainfall over Northwest India recorded at 253.9 mm, the second highest in August since 2001, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Saturday.
The victim, Nilesh Dalsaniya, lodged a complaint, based on which Morbi city's 'A' division police on Thursday registered a first information report (FIR) against the woman, identified as Vibhuti Patel aka Raniba, and others including her brother Om Patel and manager Parikshit, said Pratipalsinh Zala, Deputy Superintendent of Police (SC/ST Cell).
The administration is geared up for more showers as the India meteorological department has warned of heavy to very heavy rains with isolated extremely heavy rains in several districts of the state till Thursday morning.
Gokhale on December 1 tweeted a news clipping about information purportedly obtained through the Right to Information claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Morbi after the bridge collapse cost Rs 30 crore.
The more than a century-old bridge in Morbi caved on Sunday when it was crammed with people.
According to media reports, around 500 people were on the suspension bridge when it caved in.
Some youths started shaking the bridge intentionally, making it difficult for people to walk.
The cyclone will make a landfall at around 9:00 pm to 10:00 pm on Thursday
The prime minister further alleged that the work of Congress while in power was mere pretentiousness.
There was a rush of people on the bridge, which was reopened for the public just four days ago following the renovation work, when it snapped around 6.30 pm, officials said.
The game zone had fire safety equipment but action taken to control the fire was not sufficient, leading to the tragedy on Saturday, a senior police officer said on Sunday, a day after the tragedy.
When the Bharatiya Janata Party's Mukesh Dalal was declared elected unopposed to the Lok Sabha from Surat on Monday, he became the first candidate to achieve the feat from Gujarat since its formation 64 years ago though the erstwhile state of Saurashtra saw a similar instance in 1951.
The Gujarat high court on Monday refused regular bail to Trinamool Congress (TMC) spokesperson Saket Gokhale in a case related to alleged misuse of money collected through crowd-funding.
It will also be the third cyclone to hit the western state in June since 1965, the meteorological office said.
The statue is the second of the four statues being built in the four directions across the country.
One of the teams rescued two lion cubs that had fallen into an open well in Jasadhar Range of Gir East division during the cyclone's landfall on Thursday evening, the official said.
The rains were being caused due to a cyclonic circulation lying over north east Arabian sea and adjoining Saurashtra and Kutch regions, the IMD said in its bulletin.
Officials in coastal Devbhumi Dwarka said around 1,300 people have been shifted to safer places so far.
A total of 788 candidates are in the fray in the first phase of the elections on 89 seats spread across 19 districts of South Gujarat and Kutch-Saurashtra regions.
The Opposition party also sought financial and medical assistance from the government to all those affected.
The India Meteorological Department has said that the landfall process of Cyclone 'Biparjoy' has started in Saurashtra and Kutch regions of Gujarat. The landfall process will carry on till midnight with wind speeds reaching a maximum of 140 kilometres per hour, the IMD said.
Gujarat has registered a voter turnout of 64.33 per cent for the recently-concluded elections to 182 assembly seats, a drop of more than 4 per cent as compared to the turnout registered in the 2017 polls.
The very severe cyclonic storm 'Biparjoy' intensified into an 'extremely severe cyclonic storm' and is likely to cross Saurashtra-Kutch and adjoining Pakistan coasts around the afternoon of June 15 as a 'very severe cyclonic storm (VSCS)', the India Meteorological Department said on Sunday.
Corporate margins and profits in India remain vulnerable to changes in crude oil prices in the international market. Historical quarterly data from listed companies (excluding banks, finance and insurance, oil and gas, and power sectors) indicate an adverse correlation between corporate margins and crude oil prices.
The cyclone is expected to make landfall on Thursday evening as a 'very severe cyclonic storm' with maximum wind speed reaching up to 150 kilometres per hour, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
The state government has begun preparations to deal with the fallout of the cyclone as it will bring very strong wind and heavy rainfall in the region, officials said.
Heavy waterlogging was witnessed in several towns and cities, while roads were closed in rural areas on Friday morning due a heavy spell.
A total of 33 teams have been earmarked by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to undertake relief and rescue operations in Gujarat and Maharashtra ahead of the expected landfall of cyclone 'Biparjoy' near the Jakhau port in Kutch district, officials said on Wednesday.
Stocks of the country's bigger tile and ceramic makers were major gainers over the past week. The leaders in this space -- Kajaria Ceramics and Cera Sanitaryware -- were up 7 per cent each. In the past three months, Kajaria Ceramics and Somany Ceramics were up 29-32 per cent, while Cera Sanitaryware gained 22 per cent.
The recent bridge collapse in Morbi in which 135 people were killed may have an impact on BJP's electoral fortunes.
A reference to Morbi bridge collapse of Gujarat was on Friday made inside the Bihar assembly by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who alleged that states not ruled by Bharatiya Janata Party got an unfair portrayal in the media.
Apart from 15 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and 12 teams of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), personnel of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Indian Coast Guard and Border Security Force (BSF) are deployed for relief and rescue operations, officials said.
Cyclone Biparjoy has left a trail of destruction in Gujarat's Kutch and Saurashtra regions as some 1,000 villages are still without power with hundreds of electric poles getting damaged, while several coastal villages were flooded due to heavy rains and incoming seawater, officials said on Friday, a day after the storm made landfall.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances