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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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MI-17 helicopters to fly from Gadchiroli as State earmarks 42-acre land for helipad

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Anti-naxal operations gets boost as police force gets land in Gadchiroli MIDC


By Dheeraj Fartode
In a major boost to anti-naxal operation in dense forest areas of Gadchiroli, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) has sanctioned a land admeasuring 42 acres to develop helipad in Gadchiroli. The new helipad is being erected for use by MI-17 helicopters which are being deployed against the red outlaws by the Government. At present there are two other helipad but they are being utlised for operations of smaller helicopters.
Special Inspector General of (Gadchiroli Range) Ravindra Kadam confirmed the development and said it would definitely support police force in their operations against the naxals. 
MI-17 helicopters to fly from Gadchiroli
The police force is currently using Dauphin helicopters in Gadchiroli area for airlifting the injured police personnel to Nagpur for advanced treatment. The helipads are at Aheri and another is in Gadchiroli town. Maximum capacity of this helicopter is five persons. Hence the force sometimes felt disappointed for not being able to airlift all the injured personnel in one go.
A senior officer said, it becomes very difficult exercise in case of emergency as the helicopter is not useful for transportation of more police personnel at a time. Government had given its nod for use MI-17 from Pawanhans. However we did not had a big piece of land in Gadchiroli area to develop a helipad, he claimed. As the size of the helicopter i.e. 60 feet 7 inch is double than previous Dauphin helicopter, it also needs a big helipad. 
The force identified MIDC land for development of helipad as they found it very convenient. Regional Officer of MIDC, Vijay Bhakre told ‘The Hitavada’ that MIDC has sanctioned 42 acres of land at MIDC, Gadchiroli, last week. The land was first allocated to Surjagad Cement company about seven years ago. But the company failed to utilise the land and hence MIDC cancelled the allotment. The company went to court against MIDC but the decision has come in our favour.
Bhakre further informed that the land is allocated at rate of Rs 25 per square meter. 

About MI-17

As per the Government’s direction, the MI-17 helicopter would not be used fitted with weapons and would be strictly used only for transportation operations, including airlifting of injured in medical emergency, strategic movement of personnel and other general purposes. Sources informed that MI-17 would be operated for commando assault tasks, ferrying supplies and personnel to remote mountain helipads, carrying out SAR (Search and Rescue Operations) and logistic support tasks. The helicopter have capacity to fly with 15 personnel along with 4,000 kg cargo. Empty weight of the helicopter is 7,489 kg while loaded weight is 11,100 kg. 

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