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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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ITBP to replace CRPF in Gadchiroli

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  • Home Ministry had framed a policy of unified force in insurgency hit States last year

By Dheeraj Fartode
IN A major decision, the Government has decided to replace Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) with Indo-Tibet Border Police (ITBP) to combat Naxals in Gadchiroli district of the State. Sanjay Kumar Kaushik, Special Inspector General of CRPF, Western Sector, on Thursday, confirmed the information and said that replacement of the force is part of decision of Ministry of Home Affairs. 
IG, CRPF Sanjay Kumar Kaushik adressing a press
conference along with DIG Sanjay Latakar and DIG A P Singh. 

Addressing a press conference, IG Kaushik said, “Home Ministry had framed a policy of unified force in insurgency hit States last year.” In conflict zones, multi-agencies are acting with different tasks. This is leading to overlapping of the force. Hence, the policy of ‘unified force in each State’ was formed. Presently, documentation process has been started and ITBP will replace CRPF by March 2015. “The acting CRPF battalions of Gadchiroli would be shifted to Chhattisgarh Naxal zones next year,” he added.  

CRPF is operating in the district since it was first stationed in 2009 for General Election duty. Around five battalions (1,050 CRPF men in each) of CRPF including two of Nagpur Centre, are serving in the district for multi security task. It may be recalled that 12 CRPF personnel were killed and 28 others injured when Naxals triggered a landmine blast in Gadchiroli district on March 27, 2012. This was a major blow for CRPF in the district. After the attack, the CRPF personnel become more cautious and dominated forest area of Gadchiroli. 

A CRPF official dealing with Naxal movement for long, said that the new agency would take around two years to understand topography of the district that has dense forest and dangerous terrain. This may benefit Naxals. Claiming an upper hand, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) CRPF Sanjay Latkar, on Thursday, said, “things have turned around in last five years. After putting in lot of hard work, the CRPF has managed to dominate over Naxals.”  DIG A P Singh too praised CRPF stating that the situation was quite different in 2009 when it was first stationed at Gadchiroli. Now, the situation is fully under control.

Bulletproof headgear being procured: IG 

“The CRPF believes in jungle domination strategy and our personnel had taken too much efforts to dominate the area,” said IG Kaushik. When asked about unavailability of bulletproof headgears for CRPF personnel operating in Naxal belt, the top boss said that as strength of the force have been doubled in last 10 years, procurement procedure for equipment is still going on. Hence, some personnel are yet to get all modern equipments.
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