THE TIMES OF INDIA, AHMEDABAD FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 2015 4 TIMES CITY 13th Death Anniversary LATE SMT. SHREEDEVI K. NAIR 21-8-2002 Time has not dimmed your memories nor erased our deep grief. We always feel your presence. Near & Dear Ones. Ahmedabad: After high dra- ma during the elections of Raj- path Club, another showdown is in the offing as Karnavati Club goes to the polls on Friday. The club is holding elec- tions after three years. The elections for seven board of di- rectors at the 26th annual gen- eral meeting (AGM) will be held on Friday. The board of club comprises 36 members in- cluding six co-opt members. In- terestingly, the election at the two-and-a-half decade old club is being held after Rajpath Club elections were held earlier this year. Insiders claim that unex- pected majority win by Mem- bers Power Panel (MPP) in Raj- path Club this year pushed the authorities at Karnavati Club to hold elections which has been pending for last three years. In the Rajpath Club elec- tions, President Panel support- ed by Girish Dani (current president of Karnavati Club) had lost by huge margin to new- ly formed Members Power Panel (MPP led by Jagdish Pa- tel) in March this year. In the Karnavati Club elec- tions, once again both panels are facing each other. Progres- sive Panel led by Girish Dani and MPP, each have fielded sev- en candidates. Both the panels have been aggressive in their campaigning. The 1,100 corpo- rate or institutional votes of around 100 corporates in the upcoming elections of Karna- vati club has become a bone of contention between the con- testing panels. It is expected to be a game-changer. Karnavati set for poll showdown today TIMES NEWS NETWORK Corporate Votes Expected To Be Game-Changer TOI ■ Simon (Bateman) and Robyn (Hall) are a young, well-to-do couple who move from Chicago to Los Angeles after Simon lands a fancy job there. Simon and Robyn’s lives begin to change, ever so gradually, after a chance encounter with Simon’s high school acquaintance Gordo (Edgerton) one day. Gordo becomes overly-friendly and showers the couple with gifts. Behind all the gift-giving though is the memory of a horrifying past incident that manifests itself in the present day. Y ou get the feeling that you’re in for a treat right from the first few frames of The Gift . Aided by Eduard Grau’s stunning cine- matography (Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans’ chilling music score is superb too), Edgerton—who has also scripted the film—ratchets up the intensity with Hitchcockian skill. Simon and Robyn move into their plush new home and are quick to settle into the neighbourhood. Gordo makes his way into their lives with regular visits, and of course, a succession of gift-wrapped goodies. And yet, it’s pretty obvious by his demeanour that something is not quite right. It’s enough to make Simon deeply suspicious of Gordo’s motives. Does he want to seduce Robyn? Or is he some kind of psychopath? Simon makes no attempt to hide his hostility towards Gordo. Robyn though is less cynical about Gordo and his generosity. She, in fact, begins to get curious about why Simon is so agitated about Gordo. Bateman, Hall and Edgerton are, in a word, fantastic. Cliches are studiously avoided in this bone-chilling little gem of a thriller. Instead, the goosebumps are provided by the twists, red herrings and a sense of unsettling uncertainty that is constant throughout. “The past is not done with you,” Gordo cautions Simon in one scene. That neatly encapsulates the essence of the movie as it simmers to a boiling climax. The Gift is uniformly intense without being heavy. Not for one second does it drag. If you enjoy psych- thrillers, there will be plenty to think about long after the end credits have rolled. Do not miss this one. — Reagan Gavin Rasquinha CINEMA OF THE WEEK SMS YOUR MOVIE REVIEWS/RATINGS Type rev <space> short code of movie as given under each movie name <space> your name <space> your rating (choose from 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5 or 5). <space> add your comments and send to 58888 e.g. rev gif neha 3 super movie To read/rate the movie, you can also go to review.timesofindia.com ● The Gift (gif) 58888 Codes for movies The Gift (Thriller/Mystery) ★★★★ Cast: Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall, Joel Edgerton, Allison Tolman, Tim Griffin, Beau Knapp Direction: Joel Edgerton Duration: 1 hour 48 minutes Language: English (A) 58888 code: gif POOR★ AVERAGE★★ WATCHABLE★★★ VERY GOOD ★★★★ OUTSTANDING ★★★★★ RATING SCALE GOOD ★★★★ VERY GOOD +★★★★★ Ahmedabad: Worried by the rising prices of onions in the retail and wholesale markets, the state government has asked officials to take stock of the situation and convened a meeting to chalk out remedies to control the skyrocketing prices. The price of onions in the retail market has touched Rs 90 per kg and will soon cross the Rs 100 mark. The whole- sale price of onion has — for the first time ever — touched a high of Rs 50 per kg. A kilo of onions is now more expensive a litre of diesel in Gujarat. A litre of diesel costs Rs 48 while the wholesale price of onions is Rs 50 per kg. Onions are re- tailing at Rs 80-90 per kg. Pric- es are expected to rise further as stocks are limited and de- mand more or less constant. Food and civil supplies minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasma said: “We are aware of the rising prices and have asked secretaries of the department to take stock. We will soon meet and chalk out ways to control the price of on- ions even in the retail mar- ket.” On average, the city has been receiving nearly 160-180 tonnes less than the normal requirement of onions. Prices which were around Rs 35 per kg last week have touched Rs 50 on Monday — an increase of about 42%. This is the steepest rise this season. According to officials, this is the first time the wholesale price has tou- ched Rs 50 per kg. APMC market sources are expecting a further rise in September. “The market may even find onions disappearing by mid-September as stocks in cold storage may be exhaust- ed,” says Ghyanshyam Patel of Mahuva APMC. Patel says there is shortage of onions in the market following rains in Rajasthan and Maharashtra. Patel says that even the stock in storage is seeing greater amounts of spoilage, due to the rains and high humidity. The tonnage of the crop coming in from Saurashtra is falling by the day and this is why there has been an in- crease in prices. In areas like Satellite, Vastrapur and Jodh- pur, onions are retailing for Rs 60-65. “The rising prices have worried me as onion is one vegetable I use extensively. I fear the prices may touch Rs 100 this season. I have already cut down my usage and any further increase will force me to stop consuming onions,” said Kiran Shah, a resident of Memnagar. She said she earli- er used about two kilos of on- ions a week, but is now using just one. Rising onion prices in the city leave consumers teary-eyed Ahmedabad: As many as 149 peo- ple — 143 passengers and six crew members — had a narrow escape on Thursday morning after their Delhi-bound flight suffered a bird strike and had to make emergen- cy landing at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International airport. IndiGo’s Ahmedabad-Delhi flight 6E-158 took-off at 6.15am from the city airport and at 6.30am reported a bird-hit, follow- ing which it made an emergency landing. Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials confirmed that the aricraft’s engine 1, on the left wing, suffered minor damage This is the first major bird-hit in- cident in 2015. The aircraft was grounded for more than five hours before it was repaired and flown back to Delhi. IndiGo called in engineers from Delhi for the re- pairs. “An inspection carried out by the on-ground engineering team revealed an engine fan blade was damaged beyond allowable lim- its. The aircraft was immediately withdrawn from service for main- tenance at Ahmedabad airport. The aircraft became serviceable for operations at 1.30pm,” said an IndiGo spokesperson. Meanwhile, the passengers were flown by an alternative air- craft to Delhi after a delay of over 3 hours. IndiGo had to cancel a few flights due to non-availability of this aircraft for a long duration. “Birds are a menace at many Indian airports and pose a risk to aircraft operations. We again write to the authorities to control bird activity around air fields to prevent such bird hits and pre- vent these huge costs to aircraft operators as well as mitigate pas- senger inconvenience,” added the IndiGo spokesperson. Last monsoon, two major inci- dents of bird-hits were reported at Ahmedabad airport in second week of August including one to an IndiGo flight. In both the inci- dents, the aircraft suffered dam- age and had to be grounded. Both these flights were bound for Mumbai. TIMES NEWS NETWORK Airline To Write To Authorities About Bird Menace Birds from Kotarpur water works often come in the way of aircraft TOI Bird-hit grounds Delhi-bound flight THE D DAY ➤ Progressive Panel (led by Girish Dani) | Saurin Shah, Mahendra Desai, Sanjeev Chajjer, Jagdish M Patel, Saumil Purohit, Raman Patel and Nimesh D Patel. ➤ Members Power Panel (led by Jagdish Patel of Rajpath Club) | Manoj Patel, Ketan Patel, Bhavesh Patel, Amrish Patel, Raxesh Satiya, Jayesh Modi and Sadhnaben Shah Candidates in fray ➤ Polling | from 9am to 5pm on Friday ➤ Counting | From 6pm ➤ Results | Likely by late Friday night (Officially to be announced at AGM on Saturday morning) Membership ➤ Total Members | 10,000 approximately ➤ Ordinary/Regional (individual) members | 8,500 ➤ Corporate Members | 1,100 O ut of 10,000, around 4,000 members are expected to cast their vote in the polls on Friday. Club insiders claim that since Friday is a working day, voting is expected to be on a lower side than expected and may hardly touch 50%. The members have been asked to bring their smartcard and ID proof for voting. Also a counter will be set up to help members clear their dues before voting. TNN Less than 50% voting expected K arnavati Club held its annual general meeting (AGM) on Thursday and completed all the procedures in just one minute. Club president Girish Dani said, “In the AGM, balance sheet was approved, auditor was appointed for the next year and names of the candidates fighting the elections were announced. Also, we increased the mutual fund budget from Rs 35 crore to Rs 50 crore. All these decisions were taken in one minute.” TNN AGM ends in 1 min The club is holding elections after three years The price of onions in the retail market has touched Rs 90 per kg and will soon cross the Rs 100 mark PTI Himanshu.Kaushik @timesgroup.com Gujarat high court has transferred 18 district judg- es, including some of those who have been discharging their duties in special CBI courts in the city. The judge who delivered verdict in the Godhra carnage case, P R Patel, is likely to be appoint- ed as the principal district judge at the Mirzapur rural court. Order on NRI quota reserved Gujarat high court complet- ed hearing on the petitions challenging the recent amendments made in provi- sions for admission of stu- dents in medical courses in NRI quota by giving prefer- ential treatment to students from Gujarat as their native. Students from other states argued that this is a vio- lation of the constitutional provisions for right to equal- ity of opportunity. HC per- mitted the admission com- mittee to prepare a merit list, but it would be subject to the outcome of this case. The judges hearing the case commented that for those living abroad, entire India is their motherland and they are identified as non- resident Indians and not as non-resident Gujaratis or non-resident Punjabis. SPIPA’s UPSC drive With an aim to create awareness about Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) among students, Sardar Patel Institute of Public Administration (SPI- PA) on Thursday organised a session for college stu- dents amidst the presence of IAS officers and IAS top- pers at the training in- stitute. CITY DIGEST Judges transferred Ahmedabad: Ahmedabad University (AU) on Thursday set up a chair professorship in the memory of late Shrenik Lalbhai, the long-serv- ing chairman of Ahmedabad Education Society (AES), the sponsoring body of AU. Professor Howard Spodek of Philadelphia- based Temple University has been selected as the first incumbent by members of a committee con- stituted by the university’s board of governors. As the selected chair professor, Prof Spodek will further the university’s mission of develop- ing students as responsible citizens besides im- parting knowledge and skills in their chosen field of study. Through chair professorships, institutions at- tract the best minds to enrich the academic envi- ronment. The ‘Shrenik Lalbhai Chair of Manage- ment of Social Organisations’ is awarded to recognize outstanding individuals teaching, re- searching or otherwise working in the area of civ- il society initiatives. TNN AU sets up chair in Lalbhai’s memory FOR NEW GARBA TUNES TOI RIL Group president and Rajya Sabha member Parimal Nathwani, CM Anandiben Patel, musician Gaurang Vyas and Asha Bhosle at the launch of Garba album ‘Taalima Kanku Veray’ in Ahmedabad on Thursday HC quashes DV case against hubby’s girlfriend: A woman cannot charge her husband’s mistress with domestic violence and torturing for not fulfilling dowry demands. Gujarat high court observed this on Thursday while quashing such complaints in two different cases recently. In this case, one Kavita Sindhi from Anjar in Kutch booked her husband Haresh Sindhi, his relatives and the husband’s girlfriend too under section 498A of Indian Penal Code and Dowry Prohibition Act apart from levelling other accusations of beating and causing insult to provoke breach of peace. TNN Ahmedabad: For the first time the state tourism department and FICCI organized a special workshop for women to be trained guides for heritage walks in the city. In the first batch close to 30 participants were part of the elaborate three-day workshop conducted at City Heritage Centre in Sankhedi Sheri at Manek Chowk. On day one, for- mer tourism department officer Kirti Thakk- er introduced partic- ipants to Ahmeda- bad’s rich heritage, its pols and commu- nity living of the Walled City. While heritage walk expert Girish Gupta gave a detailed presentation on ‘Kranti Yatra’, a special walk that chalked the unique history of Mahatma Gandhi’s associ- ation with the Walled city, where he used to visit for the first 15 years of his movement in India, was carried out. Apart from Kranti Yatra, the participants were intro- duced to the main ‘Mandir se Mas- jid tak’ walk of Ahmedabad. The two-hour walk in- troduces citizens to Ahmedabad’s ar- chitecture which is truly secular in spirit. “Islamic structures, tall Hindu temples, grand Jain derasars, hundreds of havelis, unique minarets, pol houses, and stunning stepwells co-exist here,” Gupta said. “Scores of structures, which blend Hindu, Jain, and Islamic influences, exemplify the liber- al outlook of the city. TIMES NEWS NETWORK In the first batch, 30 took part in three-day workshop TOI Now, woman guides for heritage walks Prohibition cases highest in Gujarat T he NCRB report says Gujarat registered 586 cases under Arms Act out of which 1/5th were from Ahmedabad alone. Gujarat alone reported 2.37 lakh cases or 50% of India’s total cases of violation of prohibition laws. (Kerala, Maharashtra, Telangana and Tamil Nadu collectively registered as many cases.) State police and other agencies registered 47 cases under NDPS Act. A total of 250 cases of atrocity against SC/ST were registered and 89 were lodged under Juvenile Justice Act. The state police received 1.63 lakh oral and 2.60 lakh written complaints in 2014, the report says. Parth.Shastri@timesgroup.com C ities in Gujarat man- aged to keep violent crimes in check but the state as a whole reported a slight rise in such crimes in 2014. This is revealed by the report, ‘Crimes in India-2014’, prepared by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). The state witnessed 9% rise in murder and attempt to mur- der cases in 2014 over the pre- vious year. The report says that in 2014, a total of 1,172 people were reported killed in 1,124 cases. For the second time in a row, Surat registered the highest number of murders with 85 cases followed by Ahmedabad (82) and Rajkot (43). Ahmedabad topped in at- tempt to murder cases fol- lowed by Rajkot and Surat. Rajkot reported 35% rise in attempt to murder cases. Vishal Goswami gang had caused panic in the city in 2013 by targeting jewelers. On January 15, 2014, the city wit- nessed a major robbery at Shivranjani crossroads in which Hitesh Zaveri, a bullion trader, was shot dead. A Good Samaritan tried to intervene but suffered bullet injuries. He later succumbed to these injuries. Kirti Gemar, a city- based gangster, targeted quacks in Patan and killed three when they refused to pay him ransom. Ten murders were commit- ted by firearms in Gujarat – four by licensed firearms and six country-made guns, says the report. Love affairs topped the reason for murders in 2013 but in 2014, the main cause was personal enmity followed by love affairs. Serious offences City Murder Murder Kidnapping Grievous Extortion attempt Hurt Ahmedabad 82 61 367 245 28 Rajkot 43 43 99 92 17 Surat 85 41 263 355 9 Vadodara 24 32 93 106 14 Gujarat 1,124 756 2,722 3,363 185 49 30 16 355 203 22 Age-group of murder victims Below 6 years 6-16 16-18 18-30 30-45 45-60 Above 60 years SAFER Urban Areas 497 Reasons for murder in Gujarat Personal enmity Love Affair Property dispute Gain Illicit relationship Witchcraft Dowry Rape Kidnapping Political Honour killing Casteism Other 136 121 79 57 23 10 8 8 4 3 2 2 651 Crime moves out of cities 20 died daily in road accidents TIMES NEWS NETWORK F or the first time, NCRB compiled data of cases registered under IPC Sec- tion 304A (causing death by negligence) in various states. It is the same section under which Vismay Shah was sent to prison. The report men- tions that 7,132 people died on Gujarat’s roads in 2014 and 29,677 sustained injuries. Most of these incidents took place in smaller towns or dis- tricts as only 13% of the cases were reported from the four major cities. Amit Khatri, a city-based road safety trainer, said the figures are startling. “How- ever, the bigger question is how to prove negligence or rash driving in court,” he said. “If speed could be a rea- son for accidents, there are other factors such as road condition, weather and light- ing and so on.” LIVES CRASHED Deaths and injuries by negligence, rash driving/road rage City Death Injuries Ahmedabad 324 1,756 Rajkot 137 626 Surat 244 656 Vadodara 199 2,946 Gujarat 7,039 29,677 Murder, Bid To Murder Cases In State Rose By 9%: NCRB Source: Crime in India 2014, NCRB