Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
Police Nakabandi City police bosses took a review of the security arrangements for the new year eve and has instructed the staff to keep a tight vigil on the streets. Special arrangements will be in place at Futala lake side and on West High Court, the hot spots for the new year revellers. To ensure that road romeos do not spoil the party, city police have decided to enforce nakabandi on the popular streets. The policemen would be on street from 6 pm to 6 am, ensuring that they are on spot to tackle any eventuality. Field units have been told to crackdown on rash driving, especially on drunken driving. Every police station has carved out special force for deployment in their jurisdiction that are frequented by revellers. Charlie Commandos and crack teams would patrol on city street throughout the night, informed a senior police officer. Joint Commissioner of Police, Sanjay Saxena told ‘The Hitavada’ that leaves of all the policemen were cancelled and around 4,000 police ...