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,...
In yet another instance, an underground power cable got damaged in Dharampeth area of city on Monday. The culprit this time was contractor of Nagpur Metro Rail Corporation Limited (NMRCL). The East-West corridor of Nagpur Metro is passing through North Ambazari Road where drilling work is on for undertaking construction of pillars. A JCB engaged by the contractor hit the 11 KV power cable disrupting power supply of Bhagwaghar feeder.
More than 2,000 households of Ramdaspeth, Kachipura and VIP road area were plunged in darkness. And the time was around 1 am. It was torturous time for the people as this dastardly hour there was no way to know as to when the power would be back and what caused the power failure.
After receiving information, the MSEDCL teams rushed to the spot and back feeded entire area by shifting load on University Library feeder at 1.35 am. A official of MSEDCL said that development works in city continuos to spell trouble for power utilities as contractors engaged in various development works continue to throw caution to wind.
As if the summer scorch was not enough, the repeated incidents of damages to power utilities indicates that instructions of even Guardian Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule are being ignored. Damages to underground power cables is now becoming almost a daily affair in city.
“We had asked the agencies to submit their phase wise development plan so that underground power cables and water supply lines would be saved. However, the NMC, NIT, PWD, NHAI and NMRCL has not submitted any plan to Chief Engineer of MSEDCL in last four months,” one of the official said. “Now, the MSEDCL have submitted detailed map of underground power cable network to the NMRCL but they are not paying attention to grievances of citizens,” he said. An offence will be registered against the contractor for damaging power infrastructure, the official stated.
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