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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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Government made speed government mandatory for commercial vehicles

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By Dheeraj Fartode
In a move to restrain reckless drivers of commercial vehicles, Government have made it mandatory for all such vehicles to have speed governors. The Government has fixed the upper speed limit to 80 km/hour for such vehicles and the restriction comes into effect from April 1. As per the amendment to Motor Vehicles Act, the Government has now made it compulsory for manufacturers to roll out vehicles with pre-installed speed governors. State Transport Department have directed all vehicle manufacturers to install the device in their vehicles at manufacturing stage or either at distribution stage.

It can be mentioned that Volvo buses, MSRTC buses and other long haul vehicles ply with speed of 100 km/hr and at time beyond it also. Accidents of such public transport vehicles has resulted in deaths  on large scale across many parts of States.
Speaking on the development, Regional Transport officer (RTO), Nagpur City, Sarjerao Shelke informed ‘The Hitavada’ that the decision is most welcome and should help in decrease road fatalities. RTO would not permit registration of new vehicles sans speed governors.
It can be mentioned that Union Government had amended Motor Vehicles Act 1989 through issuance of a Government Resolution GSR 943 (E) on December 31, 2012 and the amendment comes into effect from April 1, 2014 onwards. As per the amendment all vehicle manufacturing companies (vehicles that have yellow number plate) are directed to mandatorily install speed governors.

Bus Body Code

A new bus body code (Automotive Industry Standards or AIS: 052) also comes into force from April 1 onwards and this is aimed at averting accidents. Bus body code lays down specification about service doors, emergency exits, seats, leg space, windows, floor height, gangways, hand rest, steps and other aspects for buses.
Bus body code defines each and every internal and external aspects of the bus body and it also provides guidelines about material to be used, apart from mandatory technical and safety requirements. The code will standardise bus bodies and restrict on building oversize buses. It takes care of every aspect of bus body building, irrespective of passengers' carrying capacity and type such as non-deluxe, deluxe, semi-deluxe and air-conditioned.
The implementation of this measure is to ensure that buses are built according to the specified standards, stipulated by the Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT) which has specified ergonomic  design, safety and other aspects. It can be mentioned that while cars carry only three to four persons but it has more safety standards than a bus which transports a large number of people.

Vehicles price will increase

Price of the vehicles would increase by Rs 4,000 to 10,000 after April 1 as companies are going to pass on the cost of speed governors on customer. The device is available in the market in range of Rs. 12,000 to 20,000.
Additional RTO, Ravindra Chavan said that autorickshaws, delivery vans, trucks, buses falls in the category of commercial vehicles. The speed governor will be an electronic control unit (ECU) and it restricts fuel supply to the engine and inter alia prevents its acceleration beyond the permissible limit. The device is tamper proof and any smarties attempting to by-pass would see the vehicle getting jammed.

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