It seems the global meltdown will have an impact on placements at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) this year, too. There was a general air of disappointment at the institute on Wednesday - Day Zero of final placements for 2009 - as only 9 companies had turned up for recruitment.

Sources said this was 16 companies less than the number that had turned up for recruitment at IIMA on the first day of placements last year. Placement officials at the institute, however, declined to confirm or deny the figures.

Last year, 25 companies had arrived on Day Zero and 65% (i.e., 161 students) of the graduating batch had either received job offers or opted out by the end of the day.

The incident took place in front of Juna Wadaj police chowki

One killed and two, including a five-year-old boy, sustained serious injuries after a speeding AMTS bus rammed into them near Juna Wadaj police chowki on Wednesday morning.

The deceased has been identified as Sonu Suryavanshi, 18, a resident of Hanuman ni Chali, Juna Wadaj. Suryavanshi along with the two injured, Ankit Marwadi, a minor and Virendra Mishra, autorishshaw driver, were rushed to the VS hospital. While Suryavanshi succumbed to her injuries, Marwadi's condition is reported to be critical.

The incident took place at around 10 am when a 40/3 AMTS bus plying between Gayatri Mandir and Bhoot Bhawani Mandir hit an auto-rickshaw near Juna Wadaj police chowki.

Municipal councillor Bipin Patel & ex-councillor Chunilal Prajapati arrested

Former second inspector of the Naroda police station, VS Gohil surrendered before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Wednesday. The move came after metropolitan magistrate GM Patel rejected an application submitted by him, saying he wanted to surrender before court.

In his application, he said Gohil had reported an excellent performance as a police official, that he had not gone absconding, but had been on sick leave, and that his mobile phone had been switched off since February 6. Gohil further submitted that he had filed the application fearing he would be declared an absconder.

This is a news the guys in Ahmedabad may rejoice over. A staggering 97 per cent girls in the city believe that a cellphone is the best way to keep in touch with men. The ratio in other big five cities is much less — 93 per cent for Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, and 91 and 87 per cent for Pune and Chandigarh respectively.

A survey, conducted by AXE Research Lab, has shown Amdavadi girls in a new light. It revealed that they are sexually more liberated nowadays, do not hesitate in making advances if they find the men attractive enough and are willing to ignore the social code meant for the conservative, traditional Amdavadi girls.

Two people were killed and one sustained serious injuries when portions of a wall of an underground sewage collapsed in Danilimda on Tuesday evening. The deceased have been identified as Viru Singh Rukma, (22), and Uday Bhai, both belonging to Rajasthan.

Sources said the incident occurred close to Danilimda police station where construction of an underground sewage was going on. Labourers were digging pit when a portion of the sewage wall collapsed, killing two labourers. Another worker, Tola Ram, sustained critical injuries.

City traffic cops' awareness drive is bearing fruits. Since the Ahmedabad traffic department started classes on road safety in December 2008, the number of cases of road accidents involving minors has come down drastically from 30 in December to nine in January. The department had organised 3,200 lectures on traffic rules in December, followed by 3,500 the next month. Students, teachers and parents of those kids who had violated traffic norms participated in the special classes.

The department believes that the awareness classes played an important role in the decrease of accident cases. Traffic department officials told DNA that the minors were booked for rash driving, triple ridding and driving without proper documents.