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,...
The pre-monsoon river cleaning drive of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) will conclude on June 5. However, NMC plans to continue with the mission to keep the rivers clean throughout the year.
Dayashankar Tiwari, Ruling Party Leader in NMC, told reporters in a press conference held in his chamber on Friday evening that NMC successfully implemented river cleaning drive with the help of individuals, groups, voluntary organisations, Government agencies, and private companies. “Till Thursday evening, 1.5 lakh metric tonnes of silt and garbage was removed from the beds of rivers Nag, Pili, and Pora. In all, 42 km long stretches of these three rivers were cleaned,” he said.
The campaign was started on May 9 to increase depth of the river beds by 1-1.5 metres, widening the river beds, removing garbage and silt from the rivers etc. The massive work is being carried out with the help of people, Tiwari said. National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT), Public Works Department (PWD), Water Resources Department, Kanak Resources Management Limited, Ginger Mall, Haldiram’s and other Government and private agencies made available excavator machines, trucks, tippers etc. The fuel expenses were borne under Saansad Jal va Paryavaran Rakshan Yojana. “NMC ensured that taxpayers did not have to shell out money for the drive,” he added.
Voluntary organisations, educational institutions, business houses, peoples representatives, students, and citizens have contributed funds for the drive. Some have handed over cheques of contributions to Pravin Datke, Mayor. The drive will conclude on June 5, but the cleanliness mission will continue through the year, Tiwari said. On June 5, the citizens of respective areas will be shown clean river beds in their areas so as to motivate them to work towards keeping these rivers clean.
Other events planned on June 5 include skating rally at Futala lake to be taken out by Vanrai Foundation and OneShot Factory, street plays to be staged by Green Vigil Foundation near main entrance of Ambazari Garden and Shivaji Nagar Park and other areas, Ambazari lake bund cleanliness drive by Maharashtra Pollution Control Board and Jalsamvardhan Samiti, short film and lecture on environment protection organised by Shivaji Nagar Nagarik Mandal at Shivaji Nagar Park etc. Tiwari appealed to the citizens and organisations willing to participate in the drive, to contact Mohammad Israil, In-charge Officer (Rivers and Lakes), NMC.
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