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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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Sanjay Dutt’s sentence: BJP to oppose Centre’s move to reduce sentence

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Vinod Tawde

By Dheeraj Fartode

Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Council Vinod Tawde on Thursday opposed Union Government move to reduce film actor Sanjay Dutt’s prison sentence. “War against terrorism would loose its sting if sentence of Dutt in Mumbai blasts case is reduced,” Tawde opined and said a delegation of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders will meet Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Home Minister R R Patil and warn them of the implication of such move. In fact, if State Government sails along with Union Government view on Dutt’s letter it could have serious ramification and in future may become a precedent, Tawde told reporters while addressing a press conference at BJP office here on Thursday.
DF Govt. mocking farmers: Tawde slammed Democratic Front Government for giving meager compensation to flood-hit regions of Vidarbha. “Farmers of Vidarbha, whose crops worth more than Rs 5,000 got lost in rain fury are receiving cheques worth Rs 50 to Rs 200. State Government is mocking at farmers,” Tawde claimed.
Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had announced a total aid package of Rs 2,000 crore for the Vidarbha region and later Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar made an intensive tour of the region and hinted about a massive special central aid. However the State Government has so far disbursed just Rs 981 crore aid while there is no news about central package, leaving the farmers to wither the crisis on their own. In fact, this has become a sort of trend in Maharashtra, where packages get announced but seldom has farmers got benefited.
On Chitale committee submission, he said the BJP stance is that apart from bureaucrats the role of political leaders who by-passed norms should also be fixed and action taken against them. He also informed that party is approaching High Court next week to direct DF Government to table the Adarsh Commission report in the legislature. As per rules, after receipt of report State Government should submit the report in both Houses of legislature within six months which ended in second week of October. But Government it seems is not keen to table the report let skeletons in its cupboard comes tumbling out.
BJP city unit chief and MLA Krishna Khopde was present at the press conference.


Opposition should combine to elect
seventh member in Rajya Sabha

Republican Party of India (A) President Ramdas Athawale is emerging as the consensus candidate in State for the Rajya Sabha election due next year.  Vinod Tawde said Shiv Sena has hinted at backing Athawale and said that  37 votes needed to elect a member for Rajya Sabha would be available if all non-Congress parties plus few independents join hands.
Working out political arithmetic for seven Rajya Sabha seats, Tawde said that one member each from BJP and Sena quota could be easily elected and then 16 votes of BJP-Sena will be surplus. Means only 17 other MLAs are needed to elect another member. “It could be possible only if MNS, Peasants Workers Party (PWP) and other join hands combine. We will chalk out plan to elect seventh Rajya Sabha member from votes of combine Opposition bloc,” he claimed.

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