Sluggish progress on name of earthworm mascot

Ahmedabad ranked 14 among the cities of the country in cleanliness, under the Swachch Bharat Mission, a campaign whose emblem is Mahatma Gandhi's spectacles. However, much Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched his campaign in 2014, Ahmedabad's municipal commissioner Guruprasad Mohapatra had launched a year-long cleanliness drive in early 2013. The mascot chosen then was an earthworm.This friendly worm was chosen to symbolize the 'Three Rs' of waste management -Reduce, Recycle and Reuse. Since Mohapatra and his colleagues were yet to finalize a name, the new posters carried the earthworm mascot without a name. A year later Mohapatra was deputed to Delhi, and the onus of giving naming the earthworm fell on the new municipal commissioner. The worm however got sidelined when Gandhji's spectacles were adopted. A senior official in the solid waste department then suggested, "Why don't we make the earthworm wear Bapu's spectacles. It wll turn mainstream and hopefully also get a name."
Gabbar go back
In early March a drunken Pulkit Vyas, the BJP councilor from Isanpur, became a major embarrassment for the party, by getting into a fight with roadside food vendors outside AMC's South Zone office. A video showing Vyas, allegedly inebriated, went viral on social media. He was seen being boorish with the food vendors and when they said that they would approach the mayor and CM, Vyas dared them to. This effectively anointed Vyas as 'the Gabbar' of his ward. Some ten days later, posters were put up all over Maninagar and especially near the South Zone office, declaring "Gabbar Go Back! You are a tyrant for business here". Though most businessmen here have voted for them, BJP is yet to take a decision on Vyas and have chosen to remain silent on the issue.
'God wanted us to succeed'
A murder and rape mystery was nagging at Ahmedabad rural police officials for almost eight months. The body of a woman was found at a temple in Ahmedabad district but cops had no clue to the woman's identity, except a few tattoos on her hand. When it became evident that the accused and victim were connected with Hadakvayi Mata - a deity believed to cure dog bites and protect from rabid dogs - the officials made an offering at her temple in Gandhinagar district. "We are not superstitious but we surely have faith. Believe it or not, soon after the visit to temple, one after another clues started emerging which led us to the killer - also a priest of the Mata. Surely god wanted us to succeed," remarked an official.
Donkeys detained
Madhavpura police station on Friday registered an unusual complaint under Gujarat Police Act Section 90A, the penalty for allowing cattle to stray on to a street or to trespass on private or public property. An assistant sub-inspector became the complainant, after getting complaints about two donkeys straying into Master Colony near Shahpur Darwaja. The donkeys were detained by AMC and a complaint registered with police before the owner - Damuben Odh, 56, a resident of Juna Vadaj - freed the animals.