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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,...

Builder develops lay-out on NMC’s land, sells 800 plots


  • NMC to decide line on action on Monday

By Dheeraj Fartode
A BUILDER has allegedly developed a lay-out on the land belonging to the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) in Mouza Tarodi Khurd in Bidgaon village. Plots on the lay-out have already been sold to more than 800 persons. The NMC land was reserved for sewage treatment plant.

Rattled by this fraud the NMC official will now decide their line of action after visiting the spot on Monday. “We will scan entire documents including sale deeds and then decide future course of action,” a senior NMC official informed ‘The Hitavada’.

“NMC had time and again written to Kamptee Tehsildar in last 10 years for title change. However, the Tehsildar did not respond,” said the official. NMC will also check involvement of government official in the fraud.

Guardian Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule has asked Municipal Commissioner Shravan Hardikar to take tough action in the case. The land was acquired way back in 1964-65 for setting-up treatment plant keeping in mind the city’s expansion.

From 1997 sewage work stopped and the land remained vacant and unoccupied. Two firms, Snehal and Sagar Developers, took over the said land and sold plots to citizens. Today around 50 structures stand on the said land. Further inquiry by the Guardian Minister on Friday during a review meeting at Bijli Nagar guest house, revealed that nearly 800 people have registry papers of the plot.

Bawankule wondered how 7/12 extracts were issued to citizens when the said land was reserved for NMC. Hardikar, who was also present at the meeting, said the sale deeds are bogus and NMC still has papers of its ownership. Bawankule has directed the Commissioner to prepare a list of people who have constructed their houses saying they would be rehabilitated before eviction.
The minister also directed authorities to ensure that no new structure comes up on the said land. He has also directed Revenue SDO to issue 7/12 extracts of said land in name of NMC with immediate effect.

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