AMONG THE events that Gujarat DGP Ashish Bhatia attended during his visit to Vadodara on Friday was a stage programme organised by the city police department to hand over “lost and found” items belonging to residents of the city. Bhatia handed over a total of 82 lost items worth Rs 10.55 lakh, found by the Vadodara Crime Branch to the respective owners. This included five gold ornaments, one silver item, 36 motorcycles and 37 mobile phones, one sedan and two auto rickshaws. Bhatia handed over the keys of the vehicles to their respective owners in a ceremony, in the company of Commissioner of Police Shamsher Singh. DCP Jaydeepsinh Jadeja said, “The idea is to bridge the gap between the citizens and the police.”

Covid woes for BJP
A WEEK after several top BJP leaders joined the annual ‘Shivji ki Savari’ in Vadodara to mark the occasion of Mahashivratri on March 11, organised by BJP Manjalpur MLA and Cabinet Minister Yogesh Patel, several party leaders have tested positive for Covid-19. The list includes Lok Sabha MP Ranjan Bhatt, Dabhoi MLA Shailesh Mehta, leader Shabdasharan Brahmabhatt, at least eight members of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation, including three elected BJP corporators. Bhatt had taken the first shot of a Covid-19 vaccine on March 4. Bhatt, who took to social media on Saturday to urge her contacts to be cautious, started showing primary symptoms a couple of days ago. As many as seven BJP leaders are currently Covid-positive . Meanwhile, the party lost former corporator Shakuntala Shinde from Ward 18, who had also tested positive for Covid-19 and was admitted at Gotri hospital, where she passed away on Saturday morning.

Sending A message
AFTER SURAT municipal commissioner B N Pani, during a visit to the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) headquarters at Muglisara, found that social distancing norms were flouted at the SMC canteen and two health department officials were spotted without masks. PANI ordered the staffer to shut the canteen for violating social distancing norms and to set an example, the health officials were each penalised Rs 1,000.