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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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Srivastava's report one sided, Collector not to write ACRs of Superintendent of Police: DGP

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By Dheeraj Fartode
Maharashtra's Director General of Police (DGP) Pravin Dixit has rejected the report into the spat between Collector and Superintendent of Police in Bhandara, that had stirred hornet’s nest among the Indian Police Service (IPS) cadre in State. Principal Secretary (Revenue) Manu Kumar Srivastava was appointed by State Government to probe the matter and he had submitted the report to Government and made certain recommendations. One of the recommendation which Srivastava made was to delegated powers of writing annual confidential records (ACRs) of SP's to District Collector. This particular recommendation had the IPS cadre seething with anger as they claimed it an unwarranted intrusion on their powers.
DGP Pravin Dixit

DGP Dixit when contacted by The Hitavada to ascertain his views said he had read the report and found it to be totally one sided. Further he disclosed that the particular recommendation about ACR was also summarily rejected. Dixit said he recorded his views about the report and also the recommendation and sent the same to State Government. Now the ball is in the State Government's court, the DGP said.

The report is one sided’ and the recommendation of ‘Writing of Annual Confidential Report’ (ACR); ‘control of District Collector over Superintendent of Police’ are unnecessary and also against guidelines cited by Supreme Court of India,” DGP Dixit told The Hitavada.

Srivastava had conducted the inquiry after Collector Dheeraj Kumar stormed into office of Bhandara SP Dilip Zalke over some minor issues and a heated exchange of words followed from either side. As the incident occurred in full public view many newspaper published the same and District Collector lodged complaint with Government against SP. 

Dixit further said that either of office, the Collector as well as Superintendent of Police are guilty.
After recording statements of both officers, the Collector and Superintendent of Police, Srivastava submitted the report. A copy of the report was also send to then DGP Sanjeev Dayal during last week of September. As Dayal was days away from superannuation he put a remark that the Srivastava’s's report should be examined by the new DGP Dixit. 

Srivastava in his report mentioned that DM have not enough powers in the state and hence Zalke dared to talk with the Collector in this language. In section 5 of the report, citing section 17 of Maharashtra Police Act, Srivastava suggested that Superintendent of Police should be placed under control of District Magistrate. As per the section 17, District Magistrate should be empowered to review annual report of Deputy Superintendent of Police (Dy.SP) and fresh grading of annual report of Superintendent of Police. He also recommended to State Government to issue a notification in this regard and same should be brought to notice of State Police. 
At present, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) or Inspector General (IG) level officers evaluate performance of Superintendent of Police and also write their ACRs. The ACRs of Dy. SP level officer is written by Superintendent of Police.

The recommendations of Srivastava angered the IPS lobby and some officers even called on Director General of Police and conveyed their strong feeling about the one sided report.

A senior police officer said that we still follow British era model of law and order where District Magistrate (District Collector) are overall in-charge, though they are not directly involved in day to day policing. We always faces problem of getting sanction from DM for cases of MCOCA and MPDA which are special weapon with police department to break the back of organised criminal gangs. Srivastav's suggestion if followed would worsen the distribution of power in the administration, which is already lopsided in favour of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, said officers summing-up collectively feeling in police ranks.

Its not first time...

The friction between IAS and IPS lobbies is not the first in State. Previously then Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had chaired a meeting of senior level IPS and IAS officers to sort out co-rodination problems in May 2013. Quoting provisions of section 17, 18, and 46 of Mumbai Police Act, District Magistrates have sought methodology to be finalised at the level of the Government so that DMs are empowered to write ‘Confidential Report’ of SPs. 
District Magistrates in a brief prepared for the meeting had pointed out that many a time, police officers encroached upon’ the right of privacy of citizens in name of surveillance. Hence to ensure that there is no misuse of power, DM should be empowered, the note had stated.
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