EXPRESS

GUJARAT 5
NOVEMBER 11, 2012

Firecrackers market gutted in Vadodara

No casualties; two injured, 150 vehicles damaged

Shah panel sweeps cricket body polls

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
AHMEDABAD I NOVEMBER 10

FORMER minister of state (home) Amit Shah on Saturday tasted his first electoral victory since his recent return to the state after a long exile when he and his panel swept the election to Central Board of Cricket, Ahmedabad (CBCA), an affiliate of Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA). No one had filed nomination from the rival camp of Congresss Narhari Amin till

November 5, the last day of filing papers. Shah is also the vice-president of GCA. Besides the 18-member body, Amit Shahs panel also bagged all the three individual member seats, which were won by Vikas Shah, Hiren Hathi and Vatsal Parikh, according to Bharat Dudhia, an official of the GCA to which CBCA is affiliated. Dudhia said Amins group had approached the High Court on Friday for a stay on the election in view

Amit Shah outside the Sports Club of Gujarat on Saturday. JAVED RAJA of legality of the election agenda meeting. He said Amins panel did not want to contest this election at all and therefore, they did not

turn up with their nominations on November 5. Hitesh Patel of Amins group, meanwhile, gave a memorandum to the CBCA office on Saturday challenging the poll while terming it unconstitutional because there was no minimum gap of 15 days between the agenda meeting and election. Around 40 people had accompanied Patel when they went to CBCA office at Sardar Patel Stadium in Navrangpura. Patel also questioned the

CBCA sitting on audit and elections for three years and hurrying for the same on return of Amit Shah. Amin, himself a former GCA president, said Shahs panel might claim victory in the poll but the election is subject to final outcome of the court case against the holding of election. The court has not granted a stay order on the election but the case is still going on. Therefore, the election result will be subject to final court order, Amin said.

More than 50 firecracker shops were destroyed on the Exhibition Ground in Vadodara on Saturday. PTI EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
VADODARA I NOVEMBER 10

A FIRECRACKER market on Exhibition Ground of the city was gutted as a major fire broke out injuring two persons and burning more than 150 vehicles parked in the area on Saturday. The fire broke out at the market near Kirti Stumbh at 3.30 pm and engulfed the whole complex of 50 shops within minutes as stall-owners and customers ran out for their lives. A fire-tender parked on the ground responded immediately and also alerted fire and emergency response services of Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC). However, fire spread to all the 50 shops despite three water-bowsers from nearby Dandia Bazaar fire station reaching the spot within a few minutes. We do not know the exact cause of the fire but peo-

ple have said it started after somebody from stall no-6 went to stall no-7 and lit it. Since we were on standby, we responded immediately. However, traffic was jammed and this made it difficult for emergency vehicles to reach the spot instantly, Hitesh Taparia, Chief Fire Officer of the city, said. Jigar Jani, owner of stall no-8, said, I heard noise of bursting a cracker in stall no7. However, within a wink, the stall was on fire. Three persons were reportedly trapped in the fire and received minor burn injuries before emergency services personnel could rescue them. They sustained minor injuries and were asphyxiated. They have been rushed to SSG Hospital, Vadodara district collector Vinod Rao said. As the fire started from a corner of the complex, major blasts were heard leaving trails of fire in the sky, eye

witnesses and people living around the ground said. Though stall-owners and visitors managed to escape, more than 150 vehicle, most of them two-wheelers, a few cars and auto-rickshaws parked on the ground were damaged, police said. The fact that no casualty has been reported means safety measures were fullproof. Two persons have received minor injuries and more than 150 vehicles have been damaged. We are in the process of registering a case of accident, city police commissioner Satish Sharma said. The commissioner and chief fire officer said the stallowners had requisite permissions to set up stalls and sell firecrackers. Fire and emergency service department of VMC pressed 27 fire tenders and around 150 firemen into the service and controlled the fire within half-an-hour.

GU V-C sues ex-deputy CM for defamation

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
AHMEDABAD I NOVEMBER 10

GUJARAT University (GU) Vice-Chancellor Adesh Pal has filed a defamation case against former deputy chief minister and Congress leader Narhari Amin for allegedly making derogatory remarks against him through media. The court has ordered a police inquiry and asked Pal to record his statement on December 1. According to Pals complaint lodged before a met-

ropolitan court on Friday, Amin, who is also a member of the GUs executive council, accused him of pocketing Rs 15 lakh when he had conducted international workshops as a faculty at North Gujarat University. Amin had also criticised Pals appointment as ViceChancellor about two months ago as saying he had eloped with his student. In his complaint, Pal said these were personal allegations without basis.

About corruption charges, the university concerned had conducted an independent inquiry and the audit report also gave me clean chit. But Amin levelled charges to damage my personal and professional life and to gain political mileage, Pal said in his complaint. In October, Pal had filed a similar court complaint against Modhwadia for calling him characterless, corrupt and drunkard. The proceedings in the case are going on.

GNLU plans special course on sea laws for armed forces

GANDHINAGAR: The Gujarat National Law University is going to conduct a special course for the armed forces personnel on laws of the sea in March next year. The short-term course will be funded by the Indian Navy. The announcement was made by the GNLU director Bimal Patel during the release of a book on Saturday. The 15-seat maritime law course for armed forces would include officers from the Navy, Army and Air ENS Force, Patel said.

Insurance firm told to foot medical bill of over Rs 1 lakh

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
AHMEDABAD I NOVEMBER 10

Lovelorn cousins commit suicide

AHMEDABAD: Two lovelorn cousins allegedly committed suicide by jumping from Gandhi Bridge in the city on Saturday. 21-year-old Gumansinh Vaghela, resident of Sidhupr in Patan district, and his cousin Anita had run away from home three days ago after their families disapproved their love, police said. ENS

THE Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Ahmedabad (Additional), has directed the state-run Oriental Insurance Company to pay a health insurance policyholder Rs 1.17 lakh for expenses incurred by him on his medical treatment. The amount includes compensation of Rs 10,000 for his mental agony and Rs 2,000 towards the litigation cost, said the Consumer Education & Research Society (CERS), a co-litigant, in a statement. Sanghavi, a Crohns disease patient, in 2005 was treated at a local hospital, but did not make any claim as the company was not liable to pay any cost for treatment taken during the first six months. He had purchased the policy just a month before his treatment. In August the following

year, Sanghavi renewed the policy and in September, he underwent treatment again. Upon being discharged, he claimed reimbursement of Rs 1,50,299. The insurance company settled only part of the claim, i.e. Rs 44,826, saying the treatment did not require hospitalisation and so the entire cost was not payable. When Sanghavi, aided by CERS, approached the forum, the insurer apparently cited the opinion of a doctor from a third party agency (TPA) that since no side effects had been noticed when Sanghavi had been treated for the first time, hospitalisation was not required during the second time. The forum observed that the opinion of a doctor treating the patient was more important and ordered the insurance company to pay Rs 1.5 lakh, Rs 10,000 for mental agony and Rs 2,000 each to him and CERS towards the litigation cost, CERS said.