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A Village Burnt Overnight: Tears, Loss and Survival in Dhamangaon Blaze

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  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,...
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Farmers crossed barricades, marched near Ramgiri

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On eve of winter session of state legislature here, city police machinery faced its acid test when hundreds of Shetkari Sanghatna ran past police blockade to meet Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan. The farmers were insisting on meeting Chief Minister while the cops got instruction to hold back the protesters who were staging sit-in at RBI Quarters Square. The bandobast duty team dutifully put around barricades.
The agitating farmers defied police bandobast and ran past till Ladies Club while the cops chased them in a bid to rein them. Not wanting to use force, the cops had a hard time controlling the angry farmers. Earlier, farmers from Vidarbha and Marathwada region gathered at RBI Quarters Square and launched a sit-in protest. The agitation was led by former MLA Wamanrao Chatap, Ravi Dewang, Ram Newale, Sheila Deshpande, Saroj Kashikar, Jagdish Nana Bonde and Gunwant Patil Hangargekar.
The agitators lost cool after the police officers conveyed the message that Chief Minister is busy and cannot meet them right now. The angry farmers got carried away and removed police barricade and run towards Ramgiri. Cops, deployed in bandobast, attempted to stop the march but, it in vein. The farmers also tried to storm into MLA Hostel but cops foiled the bid.
The marching farmers then moved towards Ahimsa Square as police personnel tried to put them inside wooden barricades. But full of energy the farmers managed to dodge past cops and ran towards Ramgiri road. After getting information, senior officers with around 200 policemen quickly put in place second line of defence. So the farmers though successful in escaping the first dragnet could not move past the Ladies Club Square. Not that farmers were tired, some among them still tried to wrestle with policemen. But a tactful handling by cops put in place the farmers at Ladies Club Square.
Senior officers including Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone I) Kailash Kanse and Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Pratap Dharamshi rushed to the spot and talked to farmers leaders. The agitating farmers cooled down after senior officers gave an assurance to arrange an meeting with Chief Minister. A delegation of 17 members of Shetkari Sanghatana later called on Prithviraj Chavan at Ramgiri and submitted him a memorandum at 8 pm.
Riot Control Police (RCP) and Quick Response Team (QRT) were deployed to evade any untoward incident.
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