Gujarat Confidential: Win-win situation

Tough stand

Cosmoplex multiplex in Rajkot stood out as Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s movie Ram Leela was released on Friday last week. The other two multiplexes in the city,Cinemax and Big Cinemas,did not dare paste posters of the movie,against which the Khastriya community has been up in arms till Thursday. But Cosmoplex had a Ram Leela poster right on its main hoarding in spute of its booking office being vandalised on Thursday evening. “Such incidents (of attack on office) are quite unusual for us,” said an official at Cosmoplex. After all,Assembly speaker Vaju Vala’s family is believed to have stakes in this multiplex.

Earning an extra buck

With their profits coming under pressure,nationalised banks have devised innovative ways to earn extra income,based on charges that should have been abolished by now in this time of electronic banking done in real time. One such charge is cash-handling charge,ie,counting of currency notes at the time of depositing cash. Some banks charge for counting cash beyond Rs 1 lakh,some charge for cash beyond Rs 5 lakh; but they do charge the customer even after introduction of cash counting machines. The justification given by the apex body of nationalised banks in Gujarat is naively simple: This has been left to banks by RBI and so,they can do so as per their discretion. It is another thing that all banks have chosen to use the discretion without an exception.

Anti-social activities

Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB),which keeps facing flak from different quarters for its alleged ineffective implementation of environmental laws,recently announced that the board had initiated a number of legal actions against a chemical unit in Kalol of Mehsana district. The most interesting action taken by GPCB against the unit owner was a request to the Principal District Judge and Superintendent of Police of Mehsana district to consider imposition of Prevention of Anti-Social Activities Act (PASA) against the unit owner jeopardizing the public tranquility and public interest by carrying out the anti social activity of polluting the environment. Interestingly,he kept operating the unit under different names,like Ms Ashtavinayak Industries,Omkar Intermediates and Devikrupa Chemical. The board also added that based on its request,the police department had been carrying out an inquiry. The unit owner,according to GPCB,was manufacturing chemicals on agricultural land and releasing the untreated effluent in the nearby open land,thus polluting the ground water. Apart from the request for imposition of the PASA provisions,GPCB also invoked provisions of the Water Act,Indian Penal Code and Forest Laws against the unit owner. SBI’s ATM stolen Ahmedabad: Some unidentified miscreants made away with an ATM machine of the State Bank of India in Odhav area. The locals called the police after they realised that the whole machine,located near Shantivan Society on Kathwada Road,was missing. Police said the bank officials have lodged an FIR,stating that there was more than Rs 6 lakh in cash in the machine at the time it was stolen. This is the not first time miscreants have targeted SBI ATMs. Similar incidents have taken place in the Maninagar locality recently,while the police had recorded several instances of similar attempts.

Sachin fan commits suicide

Rajkot: Hours after Sachin Tendulkar retired from th world of cricket,a physically challenged man,Vijay Maheshwari (25),who was a resident of Varli village in Bhuj taluka of Kutch,allegedly committed suicide on Saturday. Police said Maheshwari hung himself to death while other family members were away around 7.30pm. He was rushed to GK General Hospital in Bhuj,where doctors declared him brought dead. Maheswari’s father Govind told police that his son was an ardent fan of Tendulkar and that he could not bear the shock of the cricketer’s retirement.