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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,...

Major fire in paper mill near Bazargaon


 

A major fire broke out in Indus Paper Boat Company at Bazargaon on Amravati road on Monday evening, around 50 km from Nagpur. Nobody was injured in the incident but several hundred tonnes of raw material was gutted. As many as four fire tenders were struggling to douse the fire on factory premises. The company is a manufacturer of tissue paper and toilet paper rolls.
Chief Fire Officer (CFO) of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) Rajendra Uchke informed that the fire broke out in raw material including waste paper and compressed bales at around 4 pm. The waste papers bales were stored in the tin shed and open premises. After receiving information, two fire tenders from NMC, one each from Kalmeshwar and Wadi Municipal Council rushed to the spot and launched fire fighting operations.  The bales of paper and the blowing wind caused the fire to rage for a long period. The fire fighters are trying to control the fire immediately so that it would not spread to the adjoining production area, which could result in heavy financial as well as environmental loss, CFO Uchke said. The fire fighting operation was continued till late in the night.
The NMC has dispatched two more fire tenders. The exact cause of the fire was not ascertained yet, he said. Sources claimed that many labourers were working in the company when the fire broke out in the company.  Fire incidents are yearly events in the company for the last two years. This is the third incident of fire in the company. The company has a single fire hydrant system with a water tank and a pump. The company was established in 1993 and the present director of the company is Manoj Pachesiya who is resident of Bangalore as informed by company staff.

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