In Brief

Sugar stock at Kandla Port has led to rise in prices: Pawar
Ahmedabad: Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday refuted statements by the Kandla Port Trust that “not a grain of refined or raw sugar” was lying on its premises. The State Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories too had earlier said sugar was lying at the port.
According to reports from Mumbai,Pawar,while discussing the hike in sugar prices,said: “The problem has arisen as nine lakh tonnes of raw sugar is lying idle at Kandla even today. The Uttar Pradesh government is not allowing the processing of imported raw sugar.” He said: “This has sent a wrong signal. These are sensitive issues and that is why the prices have shot up. Fortunately,they (the prices) are going down.”

RSS pracharak cremated
RAJKOT: The last rites of senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pracharak Natwarsinhji Vaghela were performed here on Wednesday. The 88-year-old RSS leader had died on Tuesday at his residence here.
Chief Minister Narendra Modi flew down to Rajkot to pay homage to the Sangh leader.
He said: “He (Vaghela) dedicated 60 years of his life to social service. He played a major role in building many pracharaks like me.”
Senior leaders of the state BJP and RSS were present at the funeral. Born at Limbdi in Surendranagar district in 1922,Vaghela became RSS pracharak in 1945. To boycott the import of sugar from Mauritius during the Second World War,Vaghela stopped having sugar and never consumed it again till his death.

DCB busts sex racket at city hotels
AHMEDABAD: The Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) arrested sex workers,managers and agents at two hotels here on Wednesday.
Sub-Inspector K D Nakum,who conducted the raids,said the DCB officers went as customers to the Uday Palace Hotel at Paldi. He added: “We called the agent,Ramlakamb Sahu,who usually got sex workers,at the hotel. He got us two girls and booked the rooms. We went inside and called the police constables,including women constables,and detained the sex workers. The hotel manager and the agent were also arrested.”
Later,the DCB officers raided Hotel Shiv Shankar at Satellite. There,the police arrested Ishwar Ramlal,the manager and Mohan Mali,the agent from the hotel. They even nabbed one customer,Ankit Shah,a resident of Sarjan Apartments at Paldi. The officers arrested two sex workers there.

7 dead in past 2 days,H1N1 toll rises to 225
Vadodara: The death toll due to swine flu in the state reached 225 with seven deaths across Gujarat in the last two days. Over 12 patients tested positive on Wednesday.