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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,...

Fadnavis vows to improve police functioning

  • CM reviews law and order situation of Nagpur division 



By Dheeraj Fartode
Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis on Monday took stock of law and order situation of city, Nagpur Range and Gadchiroli Range. The CM was also briefed by top police officials about position of infrastructure and pending proposals in the region. 

Commissioner of Police (CP) K K Pathak, Range IG Ravindra Kadam, Joint CP Anup Kumar Singh, Superintendent of Police (SP), Nagpur Rural Dr Aarti Singh, SP Wardha Anil Paraskar, SP Chandrapur Rajiv Jain, SP Gondia Shashi Kumar Meena and SP Gadchiroli Sandip Patil were present in the meeting. 

Gadchiroli SP Patil made a detailed presentation about current security scenario in the Naxal-infested Gadchiroli. With detailed report about position of Naxals, the SP also informed about policy paralysis in the district. Later, CM Fadanvis while sharing basic information about problems faced by police force, also expressed his deep concern about non-implementation of key policies in the district. “Earlier government had enacted many policies for Gadchiroli however, implementation process was inordinately delayed,” he said. The CM also asked about various needs for families of police martyrs and informers. He also suggested them to start pre-police training school for tribal youths and marked improvement in police recruitment process. 

CM Fadanvis also reviewed law and order situation of Nagpur city and Nagpur district and pending proposals. It may be mentioned that three police stations which received government’s nod in the city are yet to established due to unavailability of the land in the city. The senior police officers demanded better co-ordination with town planning department. “Town planning department must earmark sufficient land for police stations and police establishment before sanctioning new development map of the city,” the officers requested CM.

The police officers also raised their concern about acute shortage of police quarters. It can be mentioned that in Nagpur district there is crunch of proper police quarters. Government sanctions merely Rs 1,500 as house rent allowance per month. 

However, due to unavailability of quarters, the policemen are forced to live in the rented house and pay upto Rs 4,000 for the house.  The CM had assured the top brass to look into the matter personally and to tackle the issue.

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