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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,...

Integrated check-post will increase state revenue: CM



Chief minsiter Prithviraj Chavan, union minister Kamal Nath, Guardian minister Shivajirao Moghe, State EGS minister Nitin Raut,  minister of state for energy Rajendra Mulak, state Minister of PWD Ranjit Kamble, state minister for road transport Sachin Ahir, MLA Sunil Kedar and looks on after inauguration of modernised border check post at National Highway no 69 on Tuesday.


By Dheeraj Fartode

Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan inaugurated border check post (BCP) at Khursdapar, near Saoner on Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh Border on Tuesday. State exchequer will get 100 per cent revenue as modernised check post will end tax evasion, said Chavan while speaking at the programme.
Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) had launched expansion and modernisation of 22 border check posts in the state in 2008. The MSRDC have categorised the BCP into major, big, medium and small according to goods and passenger traffic and spent Rs 1,000 crore.
Chavan further said that the main purpose of this project is to make additional facilities available for quick and transparent checking of all vehicles that enter state. It will increase revenue of state exchequer, he said. The modernised BCP is equipped with weigh bridges, scanners, video cameras and radio frequency identification devices (RFID) in each lane, the CM informed.
Informing about expansion plan of regional transport department, the CM said “security registration plate, electronic meter for every autorikshawa, computerised monitoring at RTO office and other schemes are underway.” Government had appointed Hakim committee for autorikshaw and taxis in state, he informed.
Union Minister for Urban Development Kamal Nath said that people of Saoner and Chindawada district enjoy extremely co-ordial relations. Praising good work done by Chavan in Maharashtra, Kamal Nath, urged people of Saoner segment to ask their relatives, who are living in Chhindawada district, to vote for Congress if they want to save their future. Though I live in Madhya Pradesh, I always strived for development of neighbouring Saoner, Kamal Nath stated.
MSRDC minister Jaydutt Kshirsagar informed that officials of Sales Tax department, State Excise, Regional Transport Office will be deployed at the check post for round the clock monitoring. All the 22 check posts are connected to central control room, Mumbai, he said.
The total pavement area constructed alongwith lanes, parking, detention and inspection area is around 64,000 sq mt. Four booths have been constructed on each side with provision for future expansion. Weighbridges of capacities 150 MT, 100 MT, and 60 MT, he said. Sadbhav Engineering Ltd and D Thakkar Construction Pvt. Ltd have constructed the project jointly.
Guardian minister Shivajirao Moghe, State EGS minister Nitin Raut,  Minister of State for Energy Rajendra Mulak, state Minister of MSRDC Ranjit Kamble, MoS for road transport Sachin Ahir, Saoner MLA Sunil Kedar, MSRDC Managing Director Bipin Shrimali, Transport Secretary Dr Shailesh Kumar Sharma, Divisional Commissioner B V Gopala Reddy, District Collector Saurabh Rao, ZP CEO P Pradeep and others were present during the programme.

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