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A Village Burnt Overnight: Tears, Loss and Survival in Dhamangaon Blaze

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  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,...
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Experience not being counted during Police Station in-charge appointments

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POLICING is all about taking right decision at the right time while dealing with law and order situation or criminals. Every police officer achieves this ability after spending years of service in the field. It is this experience that should count the most while getting important postings. The Mumbai Police are following this rule for decades while appointing police station in-charges but it is not the case in rest of the Police Units in Maharashtra.
Appointment of Police Station in-charge is on of the most crucial decisions. Mumbai Police follow the thumb rule of having experienced Senior Police Inspector as in-charges of police stations in their jurisdiction. They release a list of officers who are eligible to become Sr PI in Mumbai Commissionerate. The Establishment Board of Mumbai Police has to follow the list while making appointments. They also discuss available vacancies and capacity of officer during appointment and allot posts accordingly. This process goes a long way in ruling out selection mistakes during appointments.
Surprisingly, this policy of declaration of Sr PI is not followed by any other Police Unit in Maharashtra. In other Police Commissionerates, Establishment Boards headed by Unit Commander conduct meeting and appoint police station in-charge after discussions with top officers. As there is no published list of Sr PI, the Establishment Board sometimes leaves out an officer who is due for posting as police station in-charge.
The District Police Units are also not following the seniority list of Assistant Police Inspector (API) and Police-Sub Inspector (PSI) while appointing the Police Station in-charge.
Ex-Director General (Legal and Technical) S P Yadav informed ‘The Hitavada’ that the Mumbai Police are designating PIs as Sr. PI on the basis of The Bombay Police Manual 1959. The manual is applicable to all units of State Police. However, top officials do not follow it in letter and spirit.
“The State Police needs to follow ‘Mumbai Police Pattern’ so that eligible officers get their deserving dues,” SP Yadav said.
Transparency in appointments would also help the State Police to deal with disappointments among a section of officers during the time of postings. If every unit starts publishing list of officers due for appointment, every police station will get experienced officers as their boss, another top officer said on condition of anonymity.

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