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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,...

Maharashtra under debt of Rs 6.5 lakh crore : DCM Fadnavis


The Maharashtra is under the debt of Rs 6.5 lakh crore. If the old pension scheme is implemented for the State government employees, the State will have an additional burden of Rs 1.10 lakh crores per year causing huge financial burden on the State exchequer, said Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis during the Question Hour in the Legislative Council on Thursday.

The question about implementation of the Old Pension Scheme was raised by Congress MLC Dr Sudhir Tambe, Jayant Patil, Eknath Khadse, Rajesh Rathod, Vikram Kale and Abhijeet Wanjari.

“Three State government in the country have announced implementation of Old Pension Scheme. Of which, a State asked the Union government for financial assistance for run the scheme,” he said. 

Fadnavis said, “Every government wants to make its employees happy. However, it is currently not possible to implement the Old Pension Scheme of 1982. If the scheme will be implemented, the government will have to take a loan to pay the interest. The revenue deficit is high currently, he said.

The staffing pattern of some departments has been restructured as per the new technology.

While replying to a question of NCP legislator Ekanth Khadse, Fadnavis replied that the state is not in bankruptcy. Maharashtra is a developing economy and 50 per cent of government's income is being spent on Interest, Wages and Pensions in the financial year 2022-23.

When asked about the constitution of MLA’s committee, Fadnavis replied that no new committee of MLAs be constituted to review implementation of the Old Pension Scheme.


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