News Analysis India

Tag: Ahmedabad

  • Wagh Bakri Tea Group scion Parag Desai dies post dog attack near Ahmedabad residence

    By Online Desk

    Wagh Bakri Tea Group executive director Parag Desai passed away on Monday, the company announced on social media. “With profound grief, we regret to inform the sad demise of our beloved Parag Desai,” the company said in an Instagram post.

    On October 15, when Desai was trying to fend off street dogs during his morning walk near his residence in Ahmedabad, he slipped and fell, sustaining severe injuries.

    Media reports said he was taken to Shelby Hospital first and then was moved to Zydus Hospital for surgery where he is believed to have died on Sunday.

    Desai was the son of Rasesh Desai, Managing Director of the Wagh Bakri Tea Group, which is reportedly India’s third-largest packaged tea brand. The company was founded by Narandas Desai (he used to own tea gardens in South Africa) in 1892.

    He is survived by his wife Vidisha and daughter Parisha.

    Desai, an MBA-holder from Long Island University, USA, was heading the sales, marketing and export departments for the Wagh Bakri Tea Group. The company’s website described Desai as “an expert tea taster and evaluator”.

    Gujarat Congress chief Shaktisinh Gohil tweeted his condolences. “Very sad news coming in. Parag Desai, Director and owner Wagh Bakri Tea passed away. He had a brain haemorrhage following a fall. May his soul rest in peace. My condolences to the entire Wagh Bakri family across India.”

    Very sad news coming in. Parag Desai, Director and owner Wagh Bakri Tea passed away. He had a brain haemorrhage following a fall.May his soul rest in peace. My condolences to the entire Wagh Bakri family across India. pic.twitter.com/Md0xLppL2X
    — Shaktisinh Gohil MP (@shaktisinhgohil) October 22, 2023
    Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp

    Wagh Bakri Tea Group executive director Parag Desai passed away on Monday, the company announced on social media. “With profound grief, we regret to inform the sad demise of our beloved Parag Desai,” the company said in an Instagram post.

    On October 15, when Desai was trying to fend off street dogs during his morning walk near his residence in Ahmedabad, he slipped and fell, sustaining severe injuries.

    Media reports said he was taken to Shelby Hospital first and then was moved to Zydus Hospital for surgery where he is believed to have died on Sunday.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    Desai was the son of Rasesh Desai, Managing Director of the Wagh Bakri Tea Group, which is reportedly India’s third-largest packaged tea brand. The company was founded by Narandas Desai (he used to own tea gardens in South Africa) in 1892.

    He is survived by his wife Vidisha and daughter Parisha.

    Desai, an MBA-holder from Long Island University, USA, was heading the sales, marketing and export departments for the Wagh Bakri Tea Group. The company’s website described Desai as “an expert tea taster and evaluator”.

    Gujarat Congress chief Shaktisinh Gohil tweeted his condolences. “Very sad news coming in. Parag Desai, Director and owner Wagh Bakri Tea passed away. He had a brain haemorrhage following a fall. May his soul rest in peace. My condolences to the entire Wagh Bakri family across India.”

    Very sad news coming in. Parag Desai, Director and owner Wagh Bakri Tea passed away. He had a brain haemorrhage following a fall.
    May his soul rest in peace. My condolences to the entire Wagh Bakri family across India. pic.twitter.com/Md0xLppL2X
    — Shaktisinh Gohil MP (@shaktisinhgohil) October 22, 2023
    Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp

  • Delhi-bound Akasa Air plane suffers bird hit; aircraft grounded for inspection

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: An Akasa Air plane coming from Ahmedabad to Delhi suffered a bird hit on Thursday but landed safely in the national capital and the aircraft has been grounded for a detailed inspection.

    The airline said the Boeing 737 Max aircraft landed safely and all the passengers were deboarded on arrival.

    This is at least the second incident of bird hit involving an Akasa Air aircraft.

    On October 15, a Bangalore-bound Akasa Air plane from Mumbai returned to the city airport due to a burning smell in the cabin, which later turned out to be due to bird strike.

    On Thursday, a senior official at aviation regulator DGCA said the aircraft VT-YAF operating flight QP 1333 had a bird strike during the climb out passing 1,900 feet.

    “Akasa Air flight QP 1333 flying from Ahmedabad to Delhi on October 27 suffered a bird hit. The aircraft landed safely and all passengers were deboarded,” the airline said in a statement.

    However, the airline did not share the number of passengers.

    The aircraft has been positioned (grounded) for a detailed inspection and the subsequent flight has been impacted, the statement said.

    According to the DGCA official, random damage was observed during the post landing inspection of the aircraft.

    “Our customer service team is assisting passengers and arrangements are being made to accommodate their journeys,” Akasa Air said in the statement.

    MUMBAI: An Akasa Air plane coming from Ahmedabad to Delhi suffered a bird hit on Thursday but landed safely in the national capital and the aircraft has been grounded for a detailed inspection.

    The airline said the Boeing 737 Max aircraft landed safely and all the passengers were deboarded on arrival.

    This is at least the second incident of bird hit involving an Akasa Air aircraft.

    On October 15, a Bangalore-bound Akasa Air plane from Mumbai returned to the city airport due to a burning smell in the cabin, which later turned out to be due to bird strike.

    On Thursday, a senior official at aviation regulator DGCA said the aircraft VT-YAF operating flight QP 1333 had a bird strike during the climb out passing 1,900 feet.

    “Akasa Air flight QP 1333 flying from Ahmedabad to Delhi on October 27 suffered a bird hit. The aircraft landed safely and all passengers were deboarded,” the airline said in a statement.

    However, the airline did not share the number of passengers.

    The aircraft has been positioned (grounded) for a detailed inspection and the subsequent flight has been impacted, the statement said.

    According to the DGCA official, random damage was observed during the post landing inspection of the aircraft.

    “Our customer service team is assisting passengers and arrangements are being made to accommodate their journeys,” Akasa Air said in the statement.

  • Flood-like situation in Ahmedabad after heavy rainfall

    By ANI

    AHMEDABAD: Heavy rainfall resulted in severe water logging and a flood-like situation in Ahmedabad on Monday. The Meteorological Department predicted light to moderate rainfall in the entire state for the next five days.

    Extremely heavy rainfall is expected in many districts of South Gujarat, Saurashtra and Kutch.

    “For the next 5 days, light to moderate rainfall is expected in the entire state. Extremely heavy rainfall is expected in many districts of South Gujarat, Saurashtra & Kutch. The intensity of rainfall will reduce by July 15,” said Dr Manorama Mohanty, Director, Meteorological Department.

    Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday assured all possible help to Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Rajnikant Patel as heavy rains caused flood-like situations in the state’s various areas.

    In a telephonic conversation with Gujarat Chief Minister, the Home Minister also took stock of the situation in the state that arose due to heavy rains affecting several villages.

    “With reference to flood-like situations arising due to heavy rains in various areas of Gujarat, I have spoken to Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and assured all possible help from the Modi government,” Shah said in a tweet.

    Gujarat administration, State Disaster Response Force and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are engaged in providing quick help to the affected people, the Home Minister further said.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi also assured Gujarat Chief Minister to provide all necessary help including NDRF to tackle the situation from the Centre to mitigate the sufferings of the people affected by the flood in the state.

    According to Gujarat CM PRO, Modi had a telephonic conversation with Patel to enquire about the dire situation created by widespread and heavy rains in the state.

    The Gujarat Chief Minister gave full details to the Prime Minister about the heavy rains that have lashed out across the state in the last 48 hours, especially in the South and Central Gujarat region and the situation that has arisen as a result of the same.

    Several villages in Gujarat have been cut off, prompting officials to deploy helicopters to rescue people. Several people have lost their lives so far due to the floods.NDRF teams are working to rescue people. Over 2000 people have been evacuated from various areas. Efforts to rescue more are on.

    The Meteorological department said that Gujarat’s situation is due to flash floods. The state received 18 inches of rainfall in just four hours. People are now struggling to procure even essential items.

    Gujarat’s capital Ahmedabad was inundated with a record of 115 mm plus rainfall in just three hours on Sunday, setting the highest record in the past five years in a single day in July. 

  • Banners, posters put up for Parshuram Jayanti removed in Ahmedabad; four held

    By PTI

    AHMEDABAD: Police arrested three miscreants and detained a minor for allegedly tearing banners and posters put up on the occasion of Parshuram Jayanti in the Vasna area of Ahmedabad in the early hours of Tuesday, an official said.

    Residents of Vasna had organised a ‘maha aarti’ at a temple to celebrate Lord Parshuram’s birth anniversary and put up posters and banners announcing the same in the area on late Monday night, he said.

    “When they were putting up banners in Chamunda Nagar part of Vasna, some local youths raised an objection as they did not want those banners near their locality. During early hours, these youths, out of that grudge, tore apart some banners, posters and also broke a plaque on which Parshuram Chowk was written,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bhagirathsinh Jadeja.

    After receiving a complaint from the organisers, police checked the CCTV footage and identified four miscreants, one of them a minor, said Jadeja.

    Three of them were arrested, while the minor was detained and all four were booked under IPC section 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), the DCP added.

  • Gujarat: 9 held for violence on Ram Navami in Khambat, Section 144 imposed in Himmatnagar 

    By PTI

    AHMEDABAD: Police have arrested nine people for their alleged involvement in violence and stone-pelting during a procession on Ram Navami at Khambat in Gujarat’s Anand district, while CrPC Section 144 has been imposed in Himmatnagar town of Sabarkantha following a similar incident there, officials said on Monday.

    Gujarat Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi called a meeting of top police officials in Gandhinagar late Sunday night over these incidents and gave necessary orders, they said.

    One person was killed in the clashes in Khambhat town on Sunday.

    Nine people allegedly involved in the violence and stone-pelting have been arrested so far, according to Anand’s Superintendent of Police Ajit Rajian.

    “The situation in Khambhat town is under control. We have already arrested nine suspects and started further investigation,” he said.

    As per police sources, those arrested include some local maulvis (priests).

    In similar violence in Himmatnagar town of Sabarkantha district, stone pelting and clashes were reported between two communities on the occasion of Ram Navami on Sunday.

    Sabarkantha Collector Hitesh Koya in an order issued on Sunday evening imposed Section 144 of CrPC, which prohibits gathering of more than five people, in some sensitive areas of the town, including Chhaparia area where arson took place.

    The prohibitory orders will remain in force till April 13.

    Personnel of the Rapid Action Force, local police and the State Reserve Police conducted a march in Chhaparia area. 

  • Arvind Kejriwal, Bhagwant Mann hold meetings with local AAP leaders on concluding day of Ahmedabad visit

    By PTI

    AHMEDABAD: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann on Sunday offered prayers at the Swaminarayan temple in Ahmedabad and later held meetings with local leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) before concluding their two-day visit to the city.

    Notably, Kejriwal, who is AAP’s national convener, and Mann had paid obeisance at a temple in Nikol area of the city on Saturday and held a roadshow, virtually launching the campaign for the Assembly elections in BJP-ruled Gujarat, due in December this year.

    On Sunday, the two AAP leaders started their day by visiting the Swaminarayan temple in Shahibaug locality, where they offered prayers with state party leaders Gopal Italia and Isudan Gadhvi by their side.

    Later in the day, they met the party’s top leaders in the state, members of core committee and frontal organisations, where they discussed the AAP’s state-level organisation and current political situation, a party spokesperson said.

    They also held indoor meetings with the people associated with different political and social organisations as well as talented people from different walks of life, he said.

    Among those who met the two chief ministers included some Congress leaders, he said.

    Kejriwal and Mann left for Delhi in the evening.

    On Saturday, the duo had started their Ahmedabad tour by visiting the Sabarmati Ashram and offering tributes to Mahatma Gandhi.

    Later in the day, they had held a roadshow in the city’s Nikol and Bapunagar locality with a large turnout of party members and supporters.

    With Congress in disarray, the AAP, which currently rules Delhi and Punjab, is looking to present an alternative to the voters in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where the BJP has been ruling since 1995.

  • Man with lungs damaged by COVID undergoes transplant after donor organs brought from Ahmedabad

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: A 55-year-old man, whose lungs had been damaged due to the coronavirus, underwent a bilateral lung transplant at a private facility here after donor organs were transported 950 kilometres in three hours, according to a statement.

    The surgery took place at Max Hospital, Saket, and the hospital said it is the first time in North India that a bilateral lung transplant has been done with the help of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, (ECMO) support.

    The patient, a resident of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, was suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

    His lungs were damaged due to Covid and he was too unstable and desaturating badly, said the hospital in the statement.

    “He was on high flow oxygen and required intermittent BIPAP support. Only option that could save his life was a lung transplant,” it said.

    At the hospital, he was evaluated in the past and had been put on the waiting list for lung transplant by a heart lung transplant team led by Dr Rahul Chandola, the statement said.

    On December 22, the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization notified about a brain dead donor at Ahmedabad.

    This patient was a 44-year-old man who died due to brain haemorrhage.

    The team following the notification then went to Ahmedabad to harvest his lungs, the statement said.

    A green corridor was made between the Civil Hospital and the airport at Ahmedabad, and then between the IGI International Airport here and the Max Super Specialty Hospital at Saket to get the organs promptly, it said.

    Covering a distance of 950 km in three hours, the lungs were transported without a glitch, it said.

    This entire process ensured the retrieved lungs to be transplanted within the critical eight-hour chest to chest period.

    Talking about the patient’s condition, Dr Vivek Nangia, Principle Director and Head of Pulmonology in Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket Complex said, “This patient had come to us with bullous lung disease, where the lung had already developed multiple bullae or balloon like structures and the patient was finding it difficult to breathe.”

    “He had been on oxygen for almost about a year now and was not improving and there was no other treatment for it,” he said.

    Chandola said that the patient required extended ECMO life support for 10 days post operatively and was gradually weaned off from ventilator subsequently.

    “It was a very complicated surgery and we performed this double lung transplant on extended ECMO life support for the first time in North India. Now the patient has completely recovered and both the lungs are working perfectly,” he said.

  • No vaccine, no entry: Ahmedabad bars those not inoculated from using public transport, other facilities

    By ANI

    AHMEDABAD: The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has from Monday banned those who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 from using public facilities, like civic transport service and from entering public buildings.

    Jignesh Patel, Director Parks and Garden, AMC told ANI that everyone above 18 years must carry physical COVID vaccination certificate or an e-copy in their mobile and that these certificates will be checked at the entry of facilities.

    “Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service (AMTS), Bus Rapid Transit System, Kankaria lakefront, riverfront, libraries, gymnasiums, sports complex, swimming pool, city civic centre are closed to non-vaccinated people from today,” said Jignesh Patel.

    He further said that the decision was taken to speed up the vaccination process and overcome possible hesitancy among people.

    “Vaccine is the only weapon against the COVID-19 pandemic. Those who are not vaccinated will be barred from entry into the parks and gardens. Those who have taken the first dose and are dur for their second will also be not be allowed to enter into vehicles of the civic transport service and buildings,” he said.

    Several people lauded the administration’s decision. “This is a good initiative. This kind of strict decision of government and administration will encourage people to take the vaccinations. If everyone gets vaccinated, it is good for us. We welcome the decision of AMC,” said a visitor inside the park.

    Deepak Gehlot, another visitor said, “This is a very good decision, as many people are still not following the COVID-19 guidelines. They are roaming without masks. If government and corporation are strict people will definitely follow the rules and vaccine is the most important to make our country COVID free.”

    According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, as of now, Gujarat has 136 active cases. 

  • Three workers die of suffocation in snack making unit in Ahmedabad

    By PTI

    AHMEDABAD: Three people working in a city-based unit manufacturing vegetable puffs died of suffocation after apparently inhaling smoke accumulated in the premises overnight, police officials said on Tuesday.

    The unit is located near a school in KK Nagar, a sprawling residential enclave in Ghatlodia area of Gujarat’s Ahmedabad city. As the unit’s main door remained shut in the morning, locals suspected something amiss and alerted the police control room, inspector VR Vaghela said.

    The Ghatlodia police, who rushed to the spot and opened the door, found three people lying unconscious on the floor and called the fire brigade to check if there was a gas leakage in the premises, fire officer Jayesh Khadia said.

    The three persons were later declared dead, Khadia said, adding that an inspection by the fire brigade team revealed that there was no gas leakage or fire in the unit during the night.

    Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone-1, Ravindra Patel said as per primary investigation into the incident, the three workers, who used to sleep inside the unit at night, might have died after inhaling smoke.

    “It appears that the workers might have died due to suffocation following the accumulation of smoke inside the unit during the night. We have sent the dead bodies for postmortem and also called in forensic experts to ascertain the exact cause of the deaths,” Patel said.

    The deceased have been identified as Ibrahim, Aslam and Hasan, the police said.

  • Rajasthan CM Gehlot decries decision to modernise Sabarmati Ashram

    By PTI

    JAIPUR: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot Friday said the decision to modernise the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad by altering its original form is wrong.

    He alleged the Centre and the Gujarat government are trying to erase the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi by tampering with the Ashram’s basic structure.

    “The decision of the Central government and the Government of Gujarat to destroy the original form of Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad and modernise it is completely wrong. This decision is being criticised not only in India but all over the world.

    With this decision, the simplicity and purity of Sabarmati Ashram will end, he said in a series of tweets. He said that Mahatma Gandhi led a simple life and devoted it to the freedom struggle and to the service of humanity.

    “Creating state-of-the-art and luxury infrastructure in the ashram of the Mahatma who lived a simple life is contrary to the originality of his life. Bapu’s thoughts and principles are reflected in the Sabarmati Ashram,” he said.

    “All the intellectuals have opposed this move by writing a letter to the Central government. I again appeal to the Central government not to tamper with the original form of Sabarmati Ashram. Instead of trying to earn money from it, let it be a centre of contemplation,” he said.

    The Gandhi Ashram on the banks of the Sabarmati river, also known as Sabarmati Ashram, was where Mahatma Gandhi lived between 1917 and 1930 as he led the freedom struggle.

    It is now managed by the Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust.