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Thousands protest in Gujarat’s Palanpur for water reservoirs

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Thousands of farmers on Thursday gathered in Palanpur of the Banaskantha district in north Gujarat to demand the state explore the possibility of filling the water reservoirs — Karmavat Lake and Mukteshwar Dam with Narmada water to resolve water shortage of the area.

More than 20,000 farmers of 125 villages of the Vadgam and neighbouring Taluka joined the protest rally. “People of the area are facing severe water shortage for more than two decades as annual rainfall is less and underground water is depleting. The only solution is — these two reservoirs should be filled with Narmada water,” said M.M. Gadhvi, member of the farmers protest organising committee.

Giving details about the water reservoirs, farmer leaders said that Karmavat lake is spread over 98 hectares, Mukteshwar dam water capacity is around 30 million cubic meter. If water is drawn from Narmada canal, from Didrol village of Sidhpur Taluka, the pipeline can be first laid up to Mukteshwar dam and from the dam to Karmavat lake. At present the underground water level is at 800 feet.

“Their demand is genuine, the region has been facing water crisis for a long time. There is no permanent solution, as it is rain fed. Annual rainfall is very less due to which the water shortage has become acute,” said Shankar Chaudhary, BJP leader, chairman of the Banaskantha District Milk Producers Union (Banas dairy).

He added that in crisis, farmers have to purchase water tankers to feed domestic animals. If these water reservoirs are filled with Narmada water, it can recharge underground water, because of which groundwater level can increase.

He said Banas dairy too has launched a programme to dig lakes in the region with people’s participation. This will reduce dependency on Narmada waters, if there is good rain.

“Technical possibilities will be explored, such as how to lift water from the Narmada canal and take it up to the said reservoirs,” said Anand Patel, Banaskantha Collector.

A meeting was chaired by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Wednesday, in which irrigation and water supplies engineers too were present. They were asked to work on technical possibilities. Soon the problem will be addressed, said Anand Patel.

disaster

Mumbai’s Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Sudhakar Pathare, who was posted in the Port Zone, passed away in a road accident on Saturday.

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Pathare had visited Hyderabad for training. He was on his way to visit a temple with a relative when the accident occurred. Both Pathare and his relative lost their lives in the crash.

Mumbai Police have been informed about the incident.

More details are awaited.

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Maharashtra

Order to demolish the tomb of Hazrat Syed Bale Shah Baba in Mira Bhayander

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Mumbai: The state government has issued an order to demolish the four hundred year old dargah of Hazrat Syed Bale Shah Peer Rahmatullah Alaih located in Mira Bhayander. Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation has sent a letter to the collector declaring this dargah illegal and ordered action against it. As the dargah is located on forest land, communalists had started demanding the demolition of the dargah. In the House, Darranjan Daukhre had also demanded action against the dargah, after which now the state government has ordered to run a bulldozer on the dargah. An order has also been issued to remove and demolish the dargah by May.

Dargah trustee Amjad Sheikh said that this dargah is ancient and this order is illegal in itself. In this case, communal forces had launched a campaign against the dargah, after which this order was issued.

There is a dargah on the beach and citing the threat of terrorist and illegal activities and the presence of terrorists here, there was a demand to demolish the dargah. The dargah is close to the sea and in such a situation, the threat of a terrorist attack on Mumbai from the sea has been expressed, while the dargah administration has clearly denied this and said that communal organizations are running their agenda against the dargah and there is no such threat. Muslims have opposed this decision of the government and Muslims have also expressed their displeasure and anger over it.

The trustee says that this dargah is ancient and earlier the collector and the municipal corporation had given a notice, after which the illegal shed and other premises were demolished here and the dargah administration has taken this action at its own level. Now an order has been issued to demolish the dargah itself.

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Maharashtra

Haji Ali Dargah will be closed for pilgrims for a few hours on Eid due to rising sea level

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Mumbai: Due to rising sea level at Haji Ali Dargah in Mumbai, the dargah will be closed for pilgrims for a few hours on Eid. On March 31, the dargah will be closed for pilgrims from 12 noon to 3 pm. During this time, entry of pilgrims to the dargah will be restricted. The dargah will be closed on Tuesday, April 1 from 12:45 pm to 3:45 pm and on Wednesday, April 2 from 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm.

Therefore, we have appealed to the pilgrims not to gather at the dargah during these hours. This information has been released by Tahir, administrative officer of Haji Ali Dargah. Pilgrims visit Haji Ali Dargah on Eid-Basi and Tiwasi, but due to the rising water level of the sea, water gets accumulated on the way to the Dargah and entry to the Dargah is prohibited and the gate of the Dargah remains closed during these days, due to which there is a lot of crowd there. Therefore, pilgrims have been requested to come to the Dargah only at the scheduled time.

The police also remains vigilant at the Dargah during the rising sea level, as there is a crowd of pilgrims here during Eid and festivals. The Haji Ali Dargah administration has said that on the occasion of Eid, lakhs of pilgrims visit the Dargah of Haji Ali (RahmatullahAlaih). These pilgrims include pilgrims from the country and abroad, so the Dargah administration has also claimed special security arrangements on Eid. Spiritual scenes are also seen at Haji Ali Dargah during Eid prayers.

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