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,...
By Dheeraj Fartode
Predicting early Lok Sabha elections, Guardian Minister Shivajirao Moghe asked district administration to get proposals under district annual plan approved from District Planning Committee (DPC) before August 14. “Elections for Lok Sabha can be held anytime. Once model code of conduct comes into effect, it will not be possible to clear the proposals,” Moghe told reporters after DPC meeting held on Friday.
The meeting acquired a stormy tone for a while as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators and corporators expressed resentment over depriving Nagpur city of DPC funds. MLA Devendra Fadnavis, Krishna Khopde, Vikas Kumbhare, and corporator Sandeep Joshi demanded separate planning committee for the city. Minister of State for Finance and Planning Rajendra Mulak said that amendment to rules was needed to make a provision in this regard.
Moghe informed the reporters that district annual plan size was of Rs 175 crore. Clubbed with various sub-plans, the amount rose to Rs 330.85 crore for 2013-14. The district received Rs 234.92 crore, and only Rs 60.87 crore could be distributed so far.
District Collector Saurabh Rao told reporters that 62 per cent of crop loan was distributed to farmers so far. Crop loans of Rs 428 crore were distributed to 55,676 farmers through various banks including Rs 176 crore through Nagpur District Central Co-operative Bank, Rs 139.33 crore through nationalised banks, and Rs 13.05 crore through Rural Bank. IDBI, Dena Bank, ICICI Bank did not show keen interest in distribution of crop loan, and hence they were asked to expedite distribution of crop loan, he said. E-auction of sand ghats will start before September 1, he added.
MP Avinash Pande, Zilla Parishad chief Sandhya Gotmare, MLAs Vijay Ghodmare and Adv Ashish Jaiswal, Municipal Commissioner Shyam Wardhane, member of Vidarbha Statutory Development Board Mrinalini Fadnavis, ZP Chief Executive Officer Pradip P and others were present during the DPC meeting.
Grade ‘A’ status
for Ganesh Tekdi,
Deekshabhoomi
Guardian Minister directed Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) to submit a proposal immediately for grant of Grade ‘A’ status to Ganesh Tekdi Temple and Deekshabhoomi as lakhs of people from across the country thronged these places.
Moghe flays Chaturvedi
Guardian Minister Shivajirao Moghe, himself a Congress leader, flayed his party colleague and former minister Satish Chaturvedi for demanding replacement of Guardian Minister. “Congress high command and Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan have taken decision about appointment of Guardian Minister,” Moghe said. He denied Chaturvedi’s allegation and said that 4,200 Special Executive Officers (SEO) were appointed in the district out of 7,026.
Suspend action,
Mulak to SNDL
Minister of State for Energy Rajendra Mulak told reporters that he had asked Spanco Nagpur Discom Limited (SNDL) to suspend action till further directions. On agricultural connections, he said that 70-80 applications were pending in Katol tehsil and these would be cleared in next 15 days.
Retired employees may get
relief from ‘that’ GR
Facing widespread criticism over the Government Resolution (GR) that asked retired and serving employees of Scheduled Tribes to submit caste validity certificates or lose jobs/pension benefits, the Government is mulling over exemption to retired employees. According to Social Justice Minister Shivajirao Moghe, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan assured to exclude retired employees from the scope of implementation of the GR.
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