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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| Khapri Railway Over Bridge |
By Dheeraj Fartode
Strange as it may sound, but the file pertaining to widening of Khapri railway overbridge (RoB) has gone ‘missing’ from the headquarters of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) at New Delhi. As ‘The Hitavada’ went about following-up the matter, the replies from the officials left one baffled. Officials, right from local office up to those in headquarters, were passing the buck to one another.The PID office of NHAI sent the documents to Member (Finance), seeking approval to the extension project. However, Member (Finance) Satish Chandra, told ‘The Hitavada’ that they had sent the file to its General Manager (Maharashtra) of NHAI Anil Sharma. But, the latter denied having received any documents pertaining to the project.
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Dr C P Joshi, during foundation stone laying ceremony of four-laning of road up to river Wainganga on Nagpur-Bhandara portion of National Highway-6, at Mauda on May 24, 2012; had announced that existing two-lane RoB at Khapri would be expanded to four-lane. The RoB lies on NH-7 in Nagpur-Hyderabad section. Joshi’s announcement came in response to the demand made by then Union Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Mukul Wasnik.
Post-announcement, NHAI local office made a proposal and sent it to Member (Finance), NHAI, New Delhi, in July 2012. However, Member (Finance) said that the file was put-up before General Manager NHAI (Maharashtra) Anil Sharma. But, Sharma said that no proposal for Khapri was received by his office till date.
The proposal mentioned that length of about 800 metre from Km 8.400 to Km 9.200 (Khapri RoB portion including the approaches) is the only two-lane stretch on NH-7. This two-lane RoB stretch is a major bottleneck for smooth flow of traffic. During peak hours, there is heavy traffic congestion on RoB at Km 8.600 near Khapri village.
NH-6, NH-7, and NH-69 pass through Nagpur city. The movement of traffic from NH-6 to NH-7 and vice-versa is through inner ring road constructed by state PWD at radius of about 6 Kms from the centre of the city. Heavy vehicular traffic on NH-7 (Nagpur-Hyderabad) section crosses Khapri RoB at Km 8.600. Nagpur city is developing at a fast pace along NH-7. Further, MIDC at Butibori, Vidarbha Cricket Association stadium at Jamtha, and Multimodal International Hub Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN) also are located along NH-7. In view of the traffic of around 30,000 vehicles per hour/per Km (PCU) with frequent traffic jam at Khapri RoB, there is urgent need of construction of additional two-lane RoB, the proposal mooted.
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