Kartik Lokhande's blog

20-09-13 Disaster Mgmt Officers in State without salary since six months! * The proposal has been cleared by Chief Secretary but is awaiting final approval from the Government Staff Reporter They are supposed to respond to disaster situations and furnish the information in time to the Government for better management. However, it appears that the Government wants them to do the work daily without salary. Sounds strange, but it is true. The District Disaster Management Officers (DDMOs) across the State have not received their salary since six months. The DDMOs were appointed in Maharashtra under an UNDP-sponsored project on disaster mitigation. The project was being implemented in Maharashtra since 2005. However, in 2010, the State Government decided to implement it on its own. Under the Maharashtra Disaster Risk Mitigation (MDRM) Project, the Government appointed one DDMO for each of 35 districts in the State. Besides, it appointed one Disaster Management Officer

19-09-13 Staff Reporter Fire and Emergency Services Department of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has declared the building of Maharashtra Rashtrabhasha Sabha as ‘unsafe’ from fire safety point of view. The building was declared unsafe as it lacked necessary fire safety measures. The department had dubbed the building as ‘unsafe’ vide a notice issued on September 18. Rajendra Uchake, Chief Fire Officer of NMC, told ‘The Hitavada’ that the notice was issued as Maharashtra Rashtrabhasha Sabha did not comply with the fire safety provisions within stipulated time. “We had asked them to ensure that fire fighting systems were functioning properly. However, there was a lenient approach on part of the organisation. Hence, we have issued the notice,” he said. According to Uchake, Fire and Emergency Services Department had asked the organisation to vacate the building immediately. “We have asked them to install effective fire fighting system or vacate the premises immediate

19-09-13 23 Maoists killed in Gadchiroli this year * 2013 proves to be the most successful year for cops, with maximum casualties of the Left Wing Extremists * Since 1980, a total of 130 Naxalites/Maoists have been killed in Gadchiroli district while the outlaws have killed 171 policemen and 433 civilians Staff Reporter If 2009 was the worst year for cops working in Gadchiroli district, 2013 has proven to be the best for them. In 2009, the Maoists had killed 52 policemen in different incidents. Come 2013, and the picture has changed. In the first eight-and-a-half months of this year, the cops have been successful in gunning down 23 Maoists, the highest such tally so far since the Left Wing Extremism started in Maharashtra. As per the data with Anti-Naxalite Operations (ANO), a total of 130 Naxalites/Maoists have been killed so far since 1980 in Gadchiroli, the district worst-affected by Left Wing Extremism in Maharashtra. The first reported encounter of a Naxalite in

18-09-13 Crop loan disbursement to farmers dips this Kharif * NDCCB has not received refinance from Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank Staff Reporter The farmers in Nagpur district expected good harvest this year but their hopes were dampened by hig-intensity rainfall causing floods. Many were forced to opt for re-sowing this Kharif season. For the purpose, they required money. However, officials figures show that even the institutionalised crop loan disbursement this time is lower than that in the previous year. As per the official data, the crop loan disbursement was Rs 141.18 crore in 2008-09. As against the target of Rs 266.66 crore, the actual disbursement was only 52.94 per cent. The next year, disbursement was 102.96 per cent of the target. In 2010-11, it declined again to 79.88 per cent of target; followed by slight rise to 83.36 per cent of the target the next year. In 2012-13, the target for crop loan disbursement was Rs 650.19 crore and actual disbursemen

17-09-13 Maoist admission: Movement ‘critical’ countrywide, ‘setback’ in Maharashtra * Brutal killings, dwindling mass base, discomforting behaviour of cadres, and effective police action in recent times have led to curbing the activities of the outlaws By Kartik Lokhande The banned outfit Communist Party of India (Maoist) has received several setbacks across the country in general and Maharashtra in particular. In fact, this ‘setback’ has been acknowledged in the latest internal assessment report of the Maoists. “The countrywide revolutionary condition is critical,” reads the assessment report of CPI (Maoist) presented during the fourth meeting of its Central Committee. The assessment part of the report dubs the condition of the Maoist outlaws as ‘critical’ in Gondia Division of Vidarbha region. It states further, the ‘movement is facing setback’ in Maharashtra. The details of the Central Committee meeting have been revealed during interrogation of the Mao

15-09-13 * As per the assessment, 12,233 hectares of agricultural land is severely eroded and 1,413 hectares has been washed out in Nagpur Division Staff Reporter Stunned by the scale of erosion and washing out of agricultural land, the Government is giving a thought to chalking out a special programme to revive these lands. Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar made a statement to this effect while interacting with affected farmers during his ongoing tour. After visiting several villages including Pendhri (Deoli), Kinhi Dhanoli, Khapri (Gandhi), Kanholibara, and Takalghat. At Pendhri (Deoli) in Hingna tehsil of Nagpur district; Umra, Gaul, Bhosa, Kandhli in Wardha district; Kinhala (Kalamb), Mohda, Kopa Mandvi, Pimpalkhuti (Pandharkawda) in Yavatmal district; Pawar visited the damaged farms and also interacted with affected farmers. He saw the plight of farmers first-hand and admitted before farmers that it was beyond their resources to restore the eroded and washe

15-09-13 Nagpur Division requires Rs 1565 cr to repair damage to infrastructure * This damage to infrastructure is other than the damage caused to agriculture and personal properties Staff Reporter Everyone has agreed that floods and high-intensity rainfall between June and August have caused widespread damage to agriculture and resulted in loss of life and property. However, there is one more major aspect -- damage to infrastructure. As per the administration’s latest report, which was presented before Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar as well as the Central team that visited Vidarbha region recently, the damage to infrastructure in Nagpur Division has been assessed to be worth Rs 1,564.8775 crore. In almost every city and village in six districts of Nagpur Division, roads are in poor shape. There are places where bridges and culverts have been washed away. Many buildings of schools/colleges and healthcare centres, power transmission and distribution lines, i

Political activities in Vid hot up, Pawar to tour region from 14th Staff Reporter Vidarbha region appears to have assumed centre-stage of political activities these days. After the Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan addressing public meetings aimed at kick-starting their campaign, it is now the turn of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar to visit the region. Though Pawar is visiting rain-hit parts of Vidarbha region in the capacity of Union Agriculture Minister, political observers say that he will also take stock of the party position during the tour. Interestingly, this will be second visit of Pawar to the region that has got five MLAs of his party. The region has two ministers of NCP namely Food and Civil Supplies Minister Anil Deshmukh and Food and Drugs Administration Minister Manoharrao Naik. More interesting is the fact that Sharad Pawar’s visit to the region comes ahead of Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandh

13-09-13 Gadchiroli cops take bold action, search house of Delhi varsity teacher over Maoist links * Cops seize hard disks, pen drives, laptop, CDs of which contents are being examined Staff Reporter In the first-of-its-kind bold action, Gadchiroli Police conducted a search operation at the residence of a Delhi University (DU) professor at his flat in Warden House in DU premises, over his links with Communist Party of India (Maoist). The cops seized computer hard disks, pen drives, laptop, and CDs with suspicious contents. Confirming the action, Deputy Inspector General of Police (Gadchiroli-Gondia Range) Ravindra Kadam told ‘The Hitavada’ that Gadchiroli Police had carried out the searches at the residence of Prof G N Saibaba, who teaches English at Ram Lal Anand College in South Delhi, on Thursday. The search was carried out by the cops armed with a search warrant issued by the court. The search was conducted in coordination with Delhi Police and some Intellig