In brief

Two deaths reported from Ajwa,cause not ascertained,says VMC
VADODARA: A day after large number of diarrhoea and vomiting cases were reported from Ramdev nagar area in Ajwa,two deaths were reported on Saturday. However,the Health department of Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) is yet to confirm that the deaths were due to cholera. “We have sent the reports for further investigation. However,we are yet to know the cause of the deaths,” said Dr Dilip Asari,medical officer,Health,VMC. A 65-year-old woman and a 60-year-old man were reported dead on Saturday. “The woman was first admitted in Jamnabai Civil Hospital and was later transferred to SSG hospital. However,on Friday she took a discharge against the medical advice. On the other hand,the other deceased has a history of being an alcoholic and we assume he died of reasons other than cholera,” said Asari. A door-to-door survey in the area reported 10 new cases of diarrhoea and vomiting on Saturday. While the water supply in the area has been stopped,the Health department has ascertained contamination of drinking water to be the reason behind the eruption of the cases. “The water supplied in the area is contaminated and now we are providing water through tankers here. However,the cause of contamination is yet to be confirmed by the concerned department,” said Asari. A team of medial officers has taken up chlorination and door-to-door surveillance activities.

Four suicides in Ahmedabad
AHMEDABAD: Four suicides were reported in the city on Saturday of which three were of women. The city police have started probing the cases.
Krishna Bodhani (20),a resident of Odhav,hanged herself from the ceiling fan in her room. In Motera,55-year-old Usha Shah consumed poison at her home. She was taken to Apollo Hospital where she was declared dead. The police are yet to find the reasons for the two suicides. Pratiksha Jani (33) of Sattdhar Crossings ended her life as she was angry with her husband. The police said her husband had not come home for two days and she knew nothing of his whereabouts. She suspected him of cheating on her,and took the extreme step. Elsewhere at Ambedkar Road,a youth jumped off a bridge into the river. He was rescued by the fire officials and taken to the V S Hospital,but doctors there pronounced him dead. The deceased was later identified as Ismail alias Harooq Sheikh (24). The police said that commuters on the road saw him getting down from the autorickshaw,but they did not suspect anything. It all happened in a flash.

City youths to attend summit for hearing impaired in US
VADODARA: Two differently-abled youths representing NGO Mook Badhir Mandal will showcase their attempts to empower the hearing impaired at a global expo in the US. Rajesh Ketkar and Virbhadrasinh Rathod will be attending a week-long conference next month at Las Vegas,organised by the Deaf Nation World Expo and Conference (DNWE). With the global exposure,the duo plans to study the constitutional provisions for the differently-abled in various countries so that the same may be proposed in India.
The two have earlier made several short films,feature films and compiled an online dictionary for the hearing impaired. They had also attended a similar expo in Spain three years ago. They will also present a paper on “How to solve problems of deaf through Indian Sign Language Films” at the expo.
The meet will have conferences,seminars,tutorials,technical papers and exhibition involving participants from 215 countries. Ketkar said: “American Sign Language is a recognised language in the American Constitution. In the UK,there are various theatre groups and art groups that regularly release films.”
The duo also want to visit the Gallaudet University in Washington DC,which offers higher education to the hearing impaired.