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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,...

City police Zone-III: Massive surge in cases of murders and hurt with overall crime, 5% increase in detection rate

By Dheeraj Fartode

Zone-III of Nagpur Police Commissionerate covers Kotwali, Ganeshpeth, Tehsil, Lakadganj, Pachpaoli and Shanti Nagar Police Stations. This is the only Zone where surge in crime cases recorded in the commissionerate. Overall crime increased in the zone by 2.32 per cent while detection rate increased by
DCP Sambhaji Kadam
5 per cent. The Zone have also recorded massive 18 per cent drop in preventive
action in year 2016. This Zone in particular is known for dense population and perhaps also reason for high crime rate as this is also the major business hub of city.

As per the statistics, the Zone have recorded 1,810 crime cases in year 2016 as against 1,768 cases in year 2015 and 1,617 in year 2014. The Zone has detected 1,132 cases with detection rate of 63 per cent in year 2016. Detection rate of the Zone was 58 per cent in year 2015 and 60.60 per cent in year 2014. 
The Zone is accounted for 18.62 per cent crime of Nagpur City. In 2016, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Abhinash Kumar and M Rajkumar were the in-charge of the Zone. DCP Sambhaji Kadam took over reins of Zone from January 2017.
The surge in overall crime in the Zone is directly related to reduction in preventive action in the Zone in year 2016. The Zone have recorded 1,667 preventive action case in year 2016 with drop of 18 per cent against massive 2,045 cases in year 2015. 
The Zone sent only four MPDA proposals in year 2016 while 23 in 2015. Only two gangs were booked under MCOCA Act in 2016. 
Lakadganj police station recorded maximum 520 preventive action followed by 357 by Pachpaoli, 281 by Tehsil, 217 by Ganeshpeth, 193 by Kotwali and 99 by Shanti Nagar. One can observe spurt in crime across the zone due to decrease in preventive action by the Zonal officials in the year.
Crime in Zone three of Nagpur city
The Zone have recorded surge in murder, robberies, burglaries, cheating, hurts, molestation and death by negligence cases while decline trend in attempt to murder, dacoity, chain snatchings, thefts, vehicle thefts and rape cases. 
Most important is the spurt in murder cases as the Zone recorded 25 murders in year 2016 against only eight in year 2015.  This spurt of 320% in murder cases could be dangerous trend for the Zone. The Pachpaoli police station registered six murders in year 2016 followed by five in each in Ganeshpeth and Lakadganj police stations, four each in Tehsil and Kotwali police station and one in newly formed Shanti Nagar police station. Out of reported 25 murders, the cops have detected 24 murders. However, cops failed to solve murder case of 72-year-old Architect Eknath Dharmaji Nimgade, who was shot at by a masked man in September 2016. Nearly 7-8 rounds were fired by the masked man. While three bullets were extricated from his hand, the other bullets were removed from other parts of his body.
The Zone has recorded minimal increase in robbery cases with registration of 48 robberies in year 2016 as against 47 in year 2015. The Zone have done good job in chain snatching head as it brought down the figure to 19 and detected nine cases. In year 2015, the Zone had recorded 38 chain snatching cases. Lakadganj police have recorded maximum 11 chain snatching followed by three each in Ganeshpeth and Kotwali, one each in Pachpaoli and Tehsil police station area. Out of 11 chain snatching, the Lakadganj police have detected seven with 64% detection rate.
Overall the Zone witnessed spurt in body offences and drop in property offences. Now it’s a challenge for the top brass to especially focus on the zone and give some relief to the residents of the area from the soaring crime graph.

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