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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,...

Power employees to go on mass casual leave

Employees of MSEDCL, MSETCL and MahaGenco will be on “mass casual leave” on April 12 for demand of pension, Maharashtra State Electricity Workers Federation announced on Monday. 

The power employees protested many times for the demand and Government had also taken a decision in cabinet meeting in year 2008, however, the decision was not implement since last eight years. Office-bearers of the federation met minister for energy Chandrashekhar Bawankule and minister for finance Sudhir Mungantiwar during winter session and submitted a memorandum. A committee was formed on December 19, 2015 and Director Anurag Bhatiya is heading the committee since last 14 months. As the committee has not taken any decision, the federation has decided to call for mass causal leave strike. Mohan Sharma of Workers Federation has given notice of strike to the companies. 

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