Cleanliness drive of Indian Railways - Surat, Rajkot and Bilaspur cleanest

Indian Railways is determined to remain in the good books of those who matter and railway minister Suresh Prabhu is leaving no stone unturned to remain in the news to prove his worth. The latest in this venture is the naming of the cleanliest railway stations - needless to say that two of the top three are Surat and Rajkot. Both are in the state of Gujarat and no one should read too much into this.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 18 March 2016.

The latest results are - Surat, Rajkot and Bilaspur are among the cleanest while Solapur, Mumbai Central and Chandigarh follow - this is as per a preliminary survey commissioned by the Railways for 75 A1-category stations. Next comes Bhubaneswar and Vadodara.
At the other extreme are Pune, the dirtiest station, followed by Mughalsarai, Guwahati, Nizamuddin (Delhi), Sealdah and Kanpur Central alongwith Bhopal, Muzaffarpur, Thrisur, Raipur, Varanasi and Delhi.
Among the top 10 cleanest stations in 'A' category (332 stations) are Beas (Punjab), Jamnagar, Gandhidham and Vasco-Da-Gama (Goa) while least cleanest stations in Category 'A' stations are Shahganj, Ballia and Janghai (Uttar Pradesh), Madhubani and Bakhtiyarpur (Bihar) and Raichur (Karnataka).
All the 75 A-1 and 332 A category stations across 16 zonal railways were surveyed based on passenger perception on cleanliness at the stations. As the railway minister has said - the basic idea is to make the entire rail network clean and a beginning has been made. The objective is to bring all stations on par with a particular standard. The move is aimed at improving cleanliness at 8,000 stations across the country and take forward the 'Swachh Rail, Swachh Bharat' mission.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Diamond trader of Surat arranges mass wedding of 151 couples

This is what a good Samaritan of Gujarat has been doing for several years. He is a diamond trader of Surat named Mahesh Savani and, every year, he arranges fr marriage of fatherless women through a mass wedding. This time there were a total of 151 couples who tied the knot thanks to this gentleman.
The brides were dressed in traditional red and gold embroidered saris and the grooms wore long tunics and turbans. This has been reported in ibnlive.com dated 7 December 2015.

Mahesh Savani had first stepped in to play the role of the father in 2008, when one of his employees died a few days before the weddings of his two daughters and, since then, every year he has paid for the weddings of young women from poor families who have lost their fathers.
The total cost of the wedding and gifts for the 151 couples would cost him more than Rs 5 crore and there would be around ine lakh guests who will participate in the three days of festivities. The program was held in a school ground where the mass wedding was held was decorated with flowers and lights.
Mahesh Savani has made his fortune in diamond trading and real estate, said he perceives himself as a "foster father" to the young women. He gave each of the brides gold jewelry, clothes, and pots and pans to set up her new home, much like the dowry given in traditional weddings.

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At least 34 dead in heavy rains in Gujarat – Rajkot and Amreli face floodlike situations

Gujarat is in the grip of the monsoons and at least 34 deaths have been reported, as a result of heavy rains coupled with squally winds parts of Gujarat like Rajkot and Amreli are faced with flood-like situation, besides claiming 34 lives due to continuous downpour.
In Ahmedabad, the heavy rainfall has left many parts inundated while few of the areas are worst-affected due to water-logging.
This has been reported in zeenews.com dated 24 June 2015.

Teams of NDRF, Indian Air Force and SRP have been pressed into service at Rajkot and Amreli to rescue the stranded people. The heavy rains have led to disruption of electricity supply in many villages. Approximately 1,500 people have been shifted to safer locations.
The Met department had already cautioned earlier that a "depression" had formed over the Arabian Sea, a second time in a month, which could turn into a "deep depression" and bring heavy rains in the state of Gujarat. Districts of heavy rains include -- Gir Somnath, Amreli, Rajkot and Ahmedabad. The city of Surat recorded more than 100 mm rain-fall and Ahmedabad, more than 200 mm.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Pet Pomeranians of Surat married off, 500 wedding guests enjoy the feast

It was a puppy love with real life canines in Surat that culminated in marriage. There were 500 guests who joined in the celebrations and enjoyed a grand feast as reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 27 April 2015. After all marriage of Pomeranians do not happen every day and it was an occasion to celebrate with the traditional 'band-baja-baraat'.

The story goes that two pet owners got their Pomeranian dogs married in a grand style because, of late, the male and female of the species had developed a liking for each other during the past few months.
The female belonged to a young couple of Orissa – they were childless but treated the female dog as their child. However, a male dog in the neighborhood developed a liking for it. Hence, they decided to get it married off.
The man worked as a laborer in a textile weaving unit and he located the owner of the male dog and even cautioned him to keep his dog on a leash. But, love knows no boundaries and, so, there was this unusual marriage where over 500 guests were treated to a sumptuous meal.
The ‘groom’ (male dog) got a gift of a gold chain of three gram while the ‘bride’ (female dog) got new clothes, jewelry and beauty products meant for dogs. There were vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes for lunch accompanied by music in the background.
The total cost of the marriage came to Rs 80,000 and it was shared by both the families.

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