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 the backdrop of twin drone-driven blasts on the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) technical airport in Jammu and Kashmir on June 27, Nagpur police have geared up to secure vital installations from drone attacks. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) Headquarters in Mahal and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport in Sonegaon will be declared as no drone zones soon as the police have initiated the process for the same.
RSS headquarters was on the target of the terrorists for a long time. Three terrorists of Lashkar-e-Taiba were gunned down by police personnel when they tried to sneak into the Sangh headquarters on June 1, 2006. Since then, a large number of armed police personnel have been deployed for security of the headquarters. Similarly, the police are also serious about new information that Naxals are using small drones for surveillance of security forces near the Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh borders.
Sources informed that the Union Home Ministry had sounded an alert to all States and Union Territories to take review of security arrangements of vital installations in the backdrop of the drone-driven blast on IAF’s airport. Following the instructions, the city police is taking a review of security arrangements and a detailed report of declaring vital installations as no drone zone is being prepared, sources informed.
The report is likely to get the sanction of the Commissioner of Police in the annual security audit meeting of Vital Installations Security Audit Committee. The committee consists of members of Intelligence Bureau (IB), Zonal DCP, DCP SB, Police Station in-charge of the concerned area and CP as Chairman of the committee.
It may be mentioned here that Nagpur has 60 vital installations. Of them, 17 are ‘A’ grade vital installations that include RSS headquarters, RBI, Airport, High Court and Military Establishments.
After declaring a particular vital installation as no drone zone, flying of aerial platforms in two kilometres radius over the prohibited vital installations will invite strict legal action, informed sources.
A police officer informed that the Union Home Minister has recently issued standard operating procedures (SOP) regarding flying drones. The Union government has given powers to local police to book a person under 121 and 121 (A) and other Sections of Indian Penal Code. Similarly, the government has given a job to IAF for immediate reaction to aerial attack. As per the SOP, flying aerial objects will be destroyed or seized by police if found flying in restricted zones.
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