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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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Train passangers create scene as AC malfunctions

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Malfunctioning AC compartment of Gitanjali express at Nagpur railway station on Sunday night. 

By Dheeraj Fartode

Tryst of the rail travellers with hardships continues unabated. On Sunday, air conditioning equipment malfunctioned in yet another train leaving passengers high and dry. Also it was yet another testing time for Nagpur Division of Central Railway which again rose to occasion and came to rescue of helpless travellers.
Passengers of 12859 Mumbai-Howrah Geetanjali Express faced trouble when air conditioning unit of one compartment stopped working. The problem was first reported at Nasik station and passenger asked Ticket Conductor to arrange for mechanic to attend the same. However railway officials promised to rectify the problem at next big station and pushed the train ahead. However passenger were now fuming with anger and they held-up departure of train at Shegaon and later also at Akola station.
According to sources the train left Nasik station at 9.30 pm with passengers of B-2 coach going without air conditioning equipment working. An employee of electrical department then boarded the train at Badnera station and the AC equipment was repaired in running by the time train neared Wardha station. After getting information about furious railway passengers, team of commercial department of Central Railway, Nagpur Division and Railway Protection Force (RPF) led by Assistant Commandant D Choubey, Inspectors R N Singh and Kalyan More was deployed at Nagpur station to prevent any untoward incident.
Kudos to Nagpur Division that made-up for loss of time in Bhusawal Division by giving clear path to Geetanjali Express from Badnera to Nagpur. 


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