In brief

US Consul meets state officials
US Consul General in Mumbai Paul Folmsbee on Tuesday met senior government officials in Gandhinagar and reiterated Washington’s commitment to further economic ties with Gujarat.
Accompanied by Vice-Consul for political affairs Prasanth Rajan,Folmsbee met Chief Secretary AK Joti,Principal Secretary (Industries) Maheshwar Sahu and other officials from the Industries Department.
The officials briefed Folmsbee on various developments in the state as well as the 2011 Vibrant Gujarat Summit.
Folmsbee spoke about the work on the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC).
Joti mentioned that Gujarat is keen to widen the avenues of collaboration with the US,especially in the knowledge industries,infrastructure,Information Technology,bio-technology,nano-technology and processed food.

Petrol pump employees assaulted
A group of youths reportedly assaulted the employees of Deepak Petrol Pump at the Paldi area in Ahmedabad on Tuesday. The police said the youths were in an inebriated state and had created nuisance over paying money. When petrol pump employees protested,the youths left the place. After some time,two unidentified youths came on a bike and stabbed petrol pump employees Mansinh Tomar of Naroda and Jitendra Marwadi from Khoraj village. They were later shifted to the V S Hospital. According to the police,the two unidentified youths had argued with the petrol pump employees before stabbing them. The police have registered a case of attempt to loot and begun investigations.

Centre rejects Poshitra port project
New Delhi: The Centre has rejected Poshitra port project on ecological grounds,Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said on Tuesday asserting his ministry is not a “rubber stamp” which will blindly pass all projects.
“We give approval only where it is required. Rejection and acceptance is not done blindly,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a function here. He said the Standing Committee of National Board of Wild Life chaired by him at a meeting on Monday rejected four proposals in various states.
The Committee refused permission to carry out environmental impact assessment and risk assessment for establishment of a port at Poshitra in Jamnagar.
“The proposal was rejected on the ground that the proposed project site is within parts of the Gulf of Kutch Marine National Park which is very rich in marine biodiversity and is in a highly ecological fragile area,” the ministry said in a statement.

HC orders closure of 22 units in Saregam
Acting on a PIL Gujarat High Court,on Tuesday,ordered closure of 22 industrial units of Saregam in Valsad district till further orders. The PIL has been demanding directions to authorities to stop industrial units from releasing untreated chemical effluents into sea. Petitoner lawyer,Bhushan Oza,said that the HC has also ordered that 14 industrial units will be allowed production for three months on trial basis whereas,two other units have been allowed only 50 per cent production on three months’ trial period. The HC order came in the wake of an affidavit submitted by Gujarat Pollution Control Board recommending actions against 39 polluting units in the region. Oza said that these industrial units’ performance will be monitored by Surat-based Sardar Vallabh National Institute of Technology and further orders will be passed subsequently.

PTI &ENS