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

  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,...

Pay bills regularly to make State power-cut free: Malik


Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) spokesperson Nawab Malik, on Tuesday, said that his party was concerned about dues of electricity bills. “People should pay power bills regularly to make Maharashtra load-shedding free,” he said. Malik was talking to reporters in Vidhan Bhavan premises. Asked about Deputy Chief Minister and former Power Minister Ajit Pawar’s announcement that Maharashtra will become load-shedding free by December 12, 2012 (12-12-12), the birthday of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Malik made the comment.

On no-confidence motion of Shiv Sena, NCP spokesperson said that the Opposition was divided. “NCP will request Speaker of Legislative Assembly Dilip Walse-Patil to check if the Opposition had enough numbers required for no-confidence motion,” he said. He Malik said that Speaker could ask the Opposition for majority required for no-confidence motion under Rule No. 57. BJP and MNS were not with Shiv Sena over no-confidence motion, he added.

Supporting Home Minister R R Patil for his remark about Shiv Sena that the Government was ready to give a befitting reply to the Opposition’s move inside and outside the House, Malik added that NCP was ready for battle right from street to Assembly. NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad said that it was not necessary to meet every demand of Opposition. NCP MLAs would support DF Government on every front and would not let it bow to pressure tactics of the Opposition. 


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