AHMEDABAD: The 57th Republic Day celebrations in Gujarat were punctuated by "Shradhanjali" ceremonies at different places to pay tributes to those killed in the earthquake on this day five years ago.

This year, the celebration was held at Rajkot where Governor Nawal Kishore Sharma,hoisted the national flag and took the salute in the presence of Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

The Republic Day and the Independence Day, are being celebrated in rotation at different centres to involve people in the cities away from the State capital.

Several developmental programmes and special sanctions were awarded to Rajkot on the occasion while a number of people-oriented schemes were also launched to mark the day. Some 5,000 girls took out a rally in the city to create awareness among the people against female foeticide.

The Chief Minister launched an e-village integration project to connect distant villages through computers.

But the urban centres such as Ahmedabad, Surendranagar and Morvi and almost the entire Kutch district, which had suffered the maximum casualties in the earthquake, there were more "Shradhanjali" camps than flag hoisting ceremonies. Many people complained that even after five years they had not received adequate compensation from the Government.

In Ahmedabad, the city civil court has ordered the attachment of the property of the managing trustee of the Swaminayarayn School where 32 students of higher secondary classes were killed in a building collapse.

The court ordered the attachment after parents of some deceased children filed a complaint that the building collapsed due to the negligence of the school authorities and the builder, who was also the managing trustee of the school.

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