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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,...

Deadly Nylon Manja: HC cracks Whip, Orders Police officials to Appear in Person



By Dheeraj Fartode

Due to the widespread illegal sale of deadly nylon manja (kite string) in the city, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court on Wednesday ordered concerned police officers to appear in person. The High Court has taken suo motu cognizance of the issue and registered a public interest litigation (PIL).

The matter was heard on Tuesday before Justices Anil Kilor and Rajnish Vyas. The court directed senior police officials and Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) officers to remain present during the hearing on Wednesday.

Earlier, the High Court had ordered the police and other departments to take action against online platforms like Facebook, Lucky Kite Center, Jio Mart and Just Dial for selling nylon kite string. Facebook later informed the court that it had removed all objectionable content related to nylon kite string.

Court questions state govt 

The court also questioned the state government on the steps taken to stop the sale of nylon kite string. In January 2024, the High Court had directed the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) to submit its response on regulating and standardising the kite string industry.

The National Green Tribunal had banned the manufacture, sale, use and import of nylon kite string in 2017. Despite this, the string is still being sold openly under different names across states. Police informed the court that nylon threads are sourced mainly from Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh and sold online using different names.

GP Devendra Chauhan represented the government, Adv Ravi Sanyal for Pollution Control Board, Adv Deepak Thakre for the state government.


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