(The details given under 1, may be useful for small industries).
Electric power supply[]
This was from small diesel stations located at a suitable place as there were not many major industries.
Diesel station[]
There was one in Junagadh town itself which used to cater for the lighting.
After the formation of Surashtra Government, the then government decided to put a steam turbine plant at a village near Junagadh known as Shapur. There was a very close by village to this, named Vanthly(may be it does not exist or name changed now). The Shapur power station was started during 1956/57 and now heard that this station has been sold as being very old and too small for the present requirement and other big power stations coming up.
Details of this power station[]
There used to be two units of 500KW each of Swiss make. Since the units were small the condensers had the provision for running to atmosphere through a Non return valve.
Others[]
Shipment:
This involved sea transport of heavy packages from Switzerland etc. The Sikka port was nearby in Gujarat, but had no facility, at that time, for big cranes on rails etc. in the port. Therefore, the only way was for ship's cranes to directly unload these heavy packages on to the open railway wagons, which were ready at the docs whenever the ship arrived.
Condenser cooling[]
Since these were small units there used to be a spray pond for condenser water cooling. In this pond water level was designed to be at higher level than the condenser circulating water pumps. This is because the pumps will never run dry and also they can be primed easily.
Boilers[]
The boilers were of English make and they were spreader stoker type. In this type the grate travels from back to front and the coal at the inlet is thrown to the back.
Coal supply[]
The coal used to come from collieries through waggons and used crushed coal storage, compacted.
Switch gear[]
This is of English make with all the required protection and facilities.
Others[]
Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji visited the first and the only public utility Thermal Power Station in that State, at that time located at Shahpur, near a village Vanthaly (near Junagadh). As this power station was using crushed coal as fuel for boilers and chlorination for the cooling water system, which normally polluted the local atmosphere. He wanted to see personally the working conditions and the amenities provided for the villagers housing and the recreation facilities.
The adjacent photograph shows the traditional welcome given by the villagers by drum beating, pipe music etc.
General information[]
Bandit in Girnar forests[]
There was one person named Bhupat, a bandit, wandering in Girnar forests when Saurashtra Government was formed. It is said that he used to plunder rich people like princes and help the poor. He was like, one Veerappan, a bandit in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu forests in India, whom these Governments finished after some encounters. This Bhupat ran away to Pakistan when Government of Gujarat was formed. Nothing is heard about him afterwards.