US diplomats will travel to Nanded

At least one city in Maharashtra will be visited by the American diplomats in coming month. The American diplomats are travelling all over India to participate in various cultural exchange programmes. The program started on September 8 and will go on till September 18, according to American Centre officials.

As part of the 'America Day' celebration , the diplomats will visit 23 cities including Ahmedabad, Bhilai, Indore, Nanded, Raipur and Ujjain.

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Rains In Marathwada

After the lull, the storm. There is a slight variation in this saying for Marathwada region as the area has received satisfactory rainfall in the last two days. The rains were absent for most of the monsoon season in Marathwada like other areas in Maharashtra. This started taking different turn in last week. The areas has received good rains in the whole week so much so that water scarcity seems to have taken backseat in major cities.

Just two weeks ago, Marathwada had 47 per cent less rainfall than average annual rainfall. According to met department, the southwest monsoon has been vigorous in Marathwada and interiors of north Karnataka. In Nanded district, the rainfall till now 325.79 mm. Most of the rivers like Asna, Godavari, Sita and Painganga in district are flowing with full vigour. Even doors of the Vishnupuri dam which provide drinking water to Nanded city has been raised up to release the water. Just a month ago, the same dam had to be filled with water from Jaikwadi dam.

In Latur district the rainfall is recorded at 187 mm. The average rainfall in the district is over 50 percent of the annual average. The situation is almost same in Jalna, Beed, Parbhani and Aurangabad. In Aurangabad, till now 410 mm of rain is recorded including 4 mm till 8:30 AM today while in Parbhani it is 420 mm.

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FLight to Popularity

Maharashtra Govt Tries to Make Hay While Sun Shines

Ahead of assembly elections, the Maharashtra government seems to be in a hurry. Barely a day after announcing some major decisions, the state cabinet yesterday decided to open its coffer for more spending. Prominent among these decisions was to privatise five airports in the state. The government might have thought that people will fail to notice the significance of choice of these airports. Three of these airports fall in the assembly segments of three prominent leaders of ruling party.

According to cabinet decision, privatisation of airports at Latur, Baramati, Osmanabad, Nanded, and Yavatmal, which are currently operated by Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) will be done by Reliance Airports Developer Ltd. (RAD) For airports at Yavatmal, Nanded and Latur, RAD had quoted Rs 27 Crores while for other two airports it was Rs 36 Crores. In lieu of this amount, RAD will get custody of land measuring 601.56 hectares with additional properties for 95 years.

"Reliance Airport Developer bid of Rs 27 crore for Nanded and Latur and Rs 36 crore for Baramati and Osmanabad airports were highest and MIDC was granted permission to accept it," an official release said.

It is to be noted here that Nanded is home constituency of chief minister Ashok Chavan. Likewise Latur is home to former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Baramati is home to union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar. While Chavan and Deshmukh belong to Congress party, Pawar heads Nationalist Congress Party. That these airports were chosen for the privatisation points to the ploy of the state leadership as much as possible to appease their vote bank. The announcement for state assembly elections is expected any day. Once it is done, no leader will be able to make new announcement. Hence everybody is in hurry to declare sops.

As regards Nanded, barely two months ago, Chavan had organised a meeting with the farmers near Nanded city who were protesting against the acquisition of their lands. When Deshmukh was chief minister, government had tried to acquire the lands but failed in doing so. Farmers were demanding a much higher price and had even resorted to pelting stones at the MIDC officers went for the discussions. Facing a stiff opposition, Deshmukh had discarded the move but Chavan, being from Nanded himself, was confident of resolving the issue.

At present, the air service from Nanded reaches to Latur and Mumbai. But reportedly the service attracts not much response.

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Water cuts in cities across Maharashtra

With the situation of rain worsening in the state of Maharashtra, cities across the state are bracing for the cut in water supply. Following the example of Pune, now Aurangabad is also set to face a 30 percent reduction in the daily water supply. As the rain god has chosen to remain away, the dams have failed to fill. This has forced the administration to enforce stricter measures.

Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporations announced on Monday to impose 30 and 20 per cent water cutsrespectively. State Water Resources Minister and guardian minister of city Ajit Pawar had ordered the cut in view of the water scarcity. "Last year by August 15, four dams that supply drinking water to Pune were filled up completely. As there is no sufficient rainfall this year, water storage is only 70 per cent of dams' capacity," Pawar informed after holding meeting with officials here today.
In Pimpri-Chinchwad where the dams suppling water to city were filled only up to 80 per cent, Pawar said.
A day after that, municipal corporation of Aurangabad also decided to reduce the water supply by 10 percent. The announcement was made by the guardian minister of the district Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil. Jaikwadi Dam, which is responsible for the water supply of the district has just 15 percent of water storage now. Minister also warned that the situation does not improve, meaning that if there are no rains in the return of monsoon, then the water cut can go higher. The situation is so severe that even supply to National Thermal Power Plant at Parli is also on the brink of severance. Local bodies in Gangapur, Vaijapur, Sillod, Khulatabad, Paithan and Kannad are also told to lessen their water use.

For the last ten days, I was in Nanded, the city of present chief minister of Maharashtra, Ashok Chavan. Ahead of the state legislative assembly elections, Chavan is on a promising spree in his home town. But he can not the assure the residents of Nanded a better water supply. It was in the month of June that extra money was pumped in the Godavari river flowing through Nanded so that the need of drinking water be fulfilled. There are no rains in the reason and state government has already declared 140 villages as drought affected. The residents are getting only one time water supply.

According to Ajit Pawar, all the reservoirs in Maharashtra together hold 15,252 million cubic meters (MCM) of water as on Monday, which is down from 19,206 MCM in the corresponding period previous year. The total installed reservoir capacity for the state is 33,085 MCM. Water availability remains only 12 percent of the installed capacity in the Marathwada region. Koyna dam has only 83 per cent water stored, while Jayakwadi and Ujani have 13 per cent and 33 per cent respectively.

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Michael Lured Us to Pop

I was born and brought up in Nanded, which seems rustic today to my eyes habituated to the glamour of metros for more than decade. But even living in small countryside city twenty years ago did not bar us from being lured into pop music. And I, with people from my generation who are in their thirty something now, could easily pinpoint the one phenomenal reason for this inclination towards this 'un-Indian' music. It was named Michael Jackson.

It was very late that we began to know MJ as 'Whacko-Jacko'. We were still in the era of audio cassettes and video cassettes. MP3s and You Tube were still to be dreamt. My uncle used to run a video cassette shop, a highly profitable business at that time. Renting out Hindi and Marathi movies (word Bollywood was still to be coined then) was the most profitable work then. VCPs and VCRs were new entrants then and just like Twitter today, were craze as well as a status symbol. But the music videos were the last thing to be given, especially that of a pop music video. First it was looked at with indignation for being obscene and second, not many could understand English, let alone songs.

It was in the state of ignorance itself that I first began tapping my feet on the Whacko-Jacko's rhythms. One of the first video cassettes featuring Michael's tour. The flow of time has drained down name of that particular tour. But I remember being mesmerised by the unbelievable theatrics of the King of Pop. As I passed matriculation, the magic spread day by day. The madness reached to its zenith in 1993 when Michael performed parts of his 'Black or White' at the annual Grammy awards function.

Then I began to notice the popularity of this artist. I could sense his popularity when fellow students from slum danced to his tunes. Moonwalk dance was an all time hit affair. One of my friend, who runs a local orchestra troupe now in Nanded, had performed the dance (imitated?) at our National Cadet Corps (NCC) camp way back in 1989. His influence endured far than school days. Five years later, I was busy requesting a local shop owner to prepare a cassette full of selected songs from Michael. In the days when a litre petrol cost Rs 10, I spent about Rs 30 for that cassette. During polytechnic years, the cassettes circulated in number of rooms in the hostel and was lost forever two years later.

Besides Bruce Lee, the only US artist which could adorn walls in my home town was Michael Jackson. Although I fear the majority of customers for those posters were bachelors. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stalone were later entrants in the same category, although timeline of their successes was concurrent with Michael.

I am not sure why Michael was so popular in regions hitherto unexplored. I could understand when the revellers danced to 'Dangerous' in a function with full volume blaring out thumping beats on the huge walls of speakers. Because that was in Pune and it was year 1998, when satellite channels were available as easily as mobile phones today. He was the poster boy of MTV. But what about Nanded in early 1980s? Were controversies in a way responsible for his fame? Was he an icon of rebellion? Or simply a craze? Whatever might be reason, he lured us towards pop music...I say it because pop culture has never thrived in Maharashtra. Even when Michael performed his only concert in India, it did not transformed into a movement of bands or pop music. Life moved in the same fashion as before only increasing his popularity more than ever. That he was popular in India more than any other artist of his time has to be taken with the fact that within a span of two years, he was mired into controversies after controversies. Generally, Indian people do not take to black artists as they do white ones. Only Michael was exception.

After coming to Pune, I lost track of Michael. I liked History, some songs from the album still being played on my portable music player. But Blood on the Dance Floor was almost unheeded by me. In the meantime, he turned to Islam and then I lost any interest in the person. His music continues to Thrill me, that's all. He may rest in peace now, but we will still move on his rhythms.

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Railway Problem At Fore

At last, CM writes a letter to Railway Minister

The chief minister of Maharashtra seems to have taken at last the problem of railway passengers in the state. I have written about this problem some days ago. The CM has written a letter to the new railway minister Mamata Banerjee, who like her predecessor appears to incline more towards her native state. Barely two days after getting her portfolio, she has announced a new train for West Bengal.

In the letter sent to Banerjee, the CM has pointed out that the state government has earmarked 50 percent of amount necessary to complete four tracks in the state. These include Ahmednagar-Parali, Vardha-Nanded and Vadsad-Gadchiroli. With that, the permission for new railway route between Pune-Nashik is also sought. This route is 265 km long. At present, the only train connecting these two important cities have to pass through Klayan which adds up to more than 100 Kms of distance or two hours in terms of time.

All these routes were pending for many years. Ahmednagar-Beed-Parali route is 261.25 Kms and its survey has been completed by railway ministry. If completed, this route will lessen the travel between Pune to Nanded by more than half. At present, the trains connecting these two cities have to travel half of Maharashtra. The train connecting these two cities goes through Daund, Ahmednagar, Manmad, Aurangabad, Jalna and Parbhani. This consumes about 10 hours of travel. People from Marathwada are fighting for this route for more than 50 years. It is a welcome move if the CM has taken notice of this.

Connecting the Dots

Government seems to have at last realized the need of connecting Nanded sub-division to Central Railway. Oraganisation fighting for railway problems in Marathwada have since long expressing the need of joining the sub-division, which currently falls under South Central Railway to Central Railway.

Chavan while giving the information regarding his letter to RM, publicly said that people feel various inconveniences to approach the headquarter of SC railway in Hyderabad. Since people from the region travel to Mumbai for their official work, it is obvious that they should go to Mumbai instead of Hyderabad for work related to railway. This pronunciation itself is a corroboration of public demand to attach the sub-division to CR. If it is done, it will be of great help.

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Who WIll be Next PM?

We will Know by Tomorrow  

The name of the next prime minister of India will be clear by tomorrow evening. Several things have been discussed during the two months. First time in the history of independent India, the election was a very dull and useless affair, which was also largely trouble-free. But it does not mean that this trial was not interesting. Political parties continued to promise several things for the public. Still, it is absolutely clear that no party can gain power.

Congress, a party with a long history behind it seems to be closer to victory. Bharatiya Janata Party will also be able to succeed in having the seat of power. The important names which could come for the post of PM include Dr. Manmohan Singh, Lal Krishna Advani, Mayawati and Sharad Pawar.

Personally I think Anil Shirole will win in Pune. Shirole, who is a BJP candidate MP can manage to win owing to his clean image. Suresh Kalmadi, who was MP for the five years since 2004 has not fared that bad but people are very unhappy with him. One reason for this is lack of communication between him and voters. Anil Shirole is not a very popular man either, but he will benefit from his clean image and also the dedicate workers of BJO behind him.

And me? I did not vote in Pune. Because I have my name in the voter's list of Nanded, so I could vote only there. The contest there is also much interesting because it is a constituency managed by chief minister himself.

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Cong. NCP Alliance in Jeopardy

Mudslinging Continues from Both Sides

Can Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party part ways? That is a question on the mind of everyone watching Maharashtra politics. As the war of words intensifies between two coalition partners, the situation is fast heading towards a five cornered fight in the ensuing Legislature elections four months later.

Congress today came in with hard words towards NCP. It asked NCP to introspect on whether its senior leaders had worked for or against Congress candidates recently concluded Lok Sabha elections in the state. Manikrao Thakre, state chief of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC)has sent a letter to the NCP president R R Patil. He has asked in the letter that air of confusion between the two coalition partners must be cleared first. This came as a response to some harsh comments from NCP leaders in the state.

Issue arose over the some candidates. For example, in Mumbai North Central, NCP leader Nawab Malik was instrumental in putting up the candidature of Bhaijan on BSP ticket against Congress candidate Priya Dutt. Home Minister Jayant Patil had allegedly backed Congress rebel Ajit Ghorpade against party nominee Prateek Patil in Sangli. Tribal Development Minister Vijaykumar Gavit had put up his brother on Samajwadi party ticket against Congress candidate Manikrao Gavit in Nandurbar whereas Ajit Pawar had stayed away from Suresh Kalmadi's campaign in Pune.

The debate has flared up after chief minister Ashok Chavan, gave ultimatum to cabinet minister for Non-Conventional Energy Vinay Kore to quit the government for supporting candidates of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, party led by Raj Thackerey. Since MNS is perceived as a party dividing citizens between Maharashtrians and North Indians, Congress can never have an truck with it. There was also one more reason. Jan Surajya Party, led by Kore fielded two candidates in Marathwada for Lok Sabha elections. These candidates were fielded in Nanded and Latur, two constituencies represented by current and ex-chief ministers.

This strategy was seen as ploy by leaders of western Maharashtra to undermine the leadership of Marathwada. After Chavan's ultimatum, Kore had dared him by saying that Jansurajya Party was free to take any decision as there was no policy decision taken by Congress-NCP and alliance front government in Maharashtra for the ongoing general polls. Jan Surajya Party had supported Raj Thackeray-led MNS South Mumbai Lok Sabha candidate Bala Nandgaonkar.

Kore had even said that the ministership was given to him through NCP quota. Hence any decision about his ministership was to be made by NCP president Sharad Pawar and state party president R R Patil.

In the just concluded meeting of district Congress chiefs, NCP came under fire for not co-operating with the candidates of Congress. They district chiefs even advocated fiercely going solo for the Legislature elections. That has reallyl put the Ten year old alliance into jeopardy. The dynamics of the alliance are such that no leader from either side wants to continue it. It was some smart bargaining on the part of Sharad Pawar, which forced Congress leadership in the center to forge an alliance with the broke away party.

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The Problems of Railway in Marathwada

The seven districts of Maharashtra bordering Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, namely Aurangabad, Nanded, Parbhani, Hingoli, Latur, Osmanabad, Jalna, Beed are collectively known as Marathwada. It was formerly under the Nizam rule and was separeted in 1960 at the time of formation of Maharashtra. The area is known for its economic backwardness and one reason ascribed for it is the lack of communication facilities. This absence of facilities include modern uitilities like internet and mobile communication as well as traditional ways of transportation. It is difficult for anyone to imagine how the area has been marred by the problems of railway.

To begin with, whatever rail network exists in Marathwada was laid by the then Nizam administration. According to district gazettes of Nanded, “Nanded and the adjoining districts of Aurangabad and Parbhani are very rich in raw materials-. Cotton, the important staple crop, is abundantly grown. Visualising the importance of these raw materials in the prospective development of the region, the erstwhile Hyderabad State undertook the laying down of Hyderabad-Manmad railway line, which later on came to be called as the Godavari Valley railway, which was again renamed as Kacheguda-Manmad railway, so as to enable the transportation of the abovementioned raw materials as well as passenger traffic which was the necessity of the day. The work of this line was completed and it was opened for traffic in 1899.” Not a single inch of track has been added to that set up. Broad gauge railway was a dream for most of the public in the area till as late as 1992. There are still some districts like Beed (except Parali) and Osmanabad which have no presence of rail road. The district gazette of Beed district published in 2006 says,

“Beed district, along with other districts of the Marathwada region, was not supplied with a well-knit system of communications till recently. The total rail length in the district at present measures only 48.28 km. (30 miles), the main railway station in the district being Parali-Vaijnath. The rail track running north-east joins it with Parbhani and that running southeast with Hyderabad. The Parali-Parbhani meter gauge line was opened for traffic in 1929. The Parali-Vikarabad broad gauge line opened in 1933 serves the district well by connecting it with Secunderabad and Hyderabad, which are important places. Parali-Vaijnath is the largest market town of the district and is connected with many trade centres in the outgoing areas. Beed, the headquarters of the district, lies off the railway route and thus depends on roadways for trade. The railway communication is restricted to a small portion in the east only. It thus depends for the most part on road transport for passenger and goods traffic.”

The people are demanding for railway facilities since 1950s. Recurring agitations and demand to the central government have failed to garner any advantage for the people of Marathwada. The result is that even though most of the workforce of industries in Pune and Mumbai come from these districts, the travel to these cities is next to a nightmare for the people. Passengers going to Pune from Nanded have to take a circular travel of more than 200 kms which take approximately 5 hrs.
One reason why this apathy is being shown may be that the Nanded railway division is attached with South Central Railway which has been dominated by Andhraites. On the other hands, the people from the region ask to attach the division with Central Railway as is the case all over the state. According to Sudhakar Doiphode, the senior journalist and editor of Prajavani, a Marathi daily from Nanded, “The region has been locked into two sides with the same apathy. The developed regions like Western Maharashtra look at Marathwada as backward. The leaders their give a cold shoulder to the problems of the region, meting out a step brotherly treatment. On the other hand, the SC railway is more concerned with the good performance in Andhra Pradesh. The officers who are mainly from AP are absolutely no concerned with the people here.”

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CAMPAIGNING COMES TO END

VOTING FOR FIRST PHASE ON THURSDAY

The campaigning for the election to the Lok Sabha came to an end in Nanded constituency today evening. In the last 13 days that I am here, there was no trace of hectic campaigning in the constituency. This when the chief minister of Maharashtra, Ashok Chavan represents the district in the Legislative Assembly. His brother in law Bhaskararao Patil Khatgaonkar is the candidate for the seat here. Sambhaji Pawar from Bharatiya Janata Party is his main opponent. Also, Preeti Shinde, a young candidate who has done her MBA in Fashion Marketing from Milan is also oin the fray from the Jan Surajya Party ticket. She has managed to grab much attention because of her credentials as also her campaigning has managed to create a good impression. She is sure to give a run for the money for both of these heavyweight candidates. Besides these three main faces, there are 22 candidates who are in the ring. Two electronic voting machines will have to used for them.

Nanded is one of the 124 constituencies spread over 15 states and two Union Territories going to the polls in First phase on Thursday. A total of 14 crore 31 lakh voters will exercise their right to vote in this phase.

R. Balakrishanan, deputy Election Commissioner said in New Delhi that over one lakh 85 thousand polling stations have been set up and over one lakh polling staff will man them. 1715 candidates are in the fray in this phase. Out of them 122 are women. The violence has started to engulf the electioneering process. In Bihar, activists of outlawed CPI (Maoist) torched off vehicles of contesting Janata Dal (United) candidate in Karakat Parliamentary constituency in wee hours on Tuesday. Maoists also blew up two school buildings by using dynamite at Barachatti in Gaya district.

Bahadur Sonker, Indian Justice Party candidate from Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh was murdered on Sunday night. The Election Commission has sought a report from the Jaunpur district administration in Uttar Pradesh on the incident. 

In Andhra Pradesh, the campaigning is at its peak in the 22 Lok Sabha and 154 Assembly constituencies where polling is to take place on Thursday. Meanwhile, a new incident surfaced there when Shubha Rani, the president of Women wing of Praja Rajyam Party nearly assaulted a cameraman of NTV Telugu. However, she later apologized for the incident. She was miffed by an attempt of Sting operation.

In Maharashtra, Hingoli parliamentary constituency which is formed after the delimitation will go to the polls in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Thursday. It includes Hingoli, Kalamnuri, Basmat, Kinwat, Hadgoan and Umerkhed assembly constituencies. Bhokar assembly constituency has been excluded and Umerkhed assembly segment from Vidharba region included in this newly framed Lok Sabha constituency.

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Police a Tired Lot

Two BJP Bigwigs in Two Days

For the last three days, I am in Nanded. Like other class C cities in the Maharashtra, Nanded is also agog with the talk of elections. There seems nothing else to discuss for media except the political gossiping and guessing games. Unfortunately though, the public is not concerned much with the goings on in that field. They are more concerned with the heat created by sun rather than the election fever. The mercury here has almost touched 42 degrees Celsius and it is still only the first week of April. The summer season lasts till the June 7th and as happens each passing year, the rising temperature will post new records.

Thanks to the strict implementation of the code of conduct for polls, or the fear of it at least, has kept the poll frenzy to the minimum. The posters, loudspeakers, party workers visiting the households several times in a day and vehicles studded with stickers and posters…all these visuals are not there on the streets this time because nobody wants to offend the election officers.

Today, L. K. Advani addressed a rally in Deglur, some 100 kilometres from Nanded. The rally was attended by a large gathering, we were told by local people. I was in Deglur today morning itself. I could sense the enthusiasm in the local people with respect to this rally. But I suspect how many people actually turned out at the site. One reason why Advani might have decided to hold a rally in this small town with population barely touching a lakh (0.1 million) is its proximity to the Andhra Pradesh. Deglur is a boundary town between Maharashtra and Andhra. It has a sizeable population with people knowing Telugu and some towns in Andhra are barely two hours away from here.

A large number of policemen were deputed in the town for the security arrangement of the BJP leader. The police personnel were brought here last night. The rally was scheduled in the morning 9:30 am but was started only in the afternoon. It was over at 3:00 pm and poor policemen were relieved in 4:00 pm. But they were not supposed to enjoy their freedom as Narendra Modi, another VVIP is in Nanded tomorrow to address another election rally. Some policemen were heard talking to their colleagues deputed at the airport for the next day. The rally will take place at Guru Gobind Singh Stadium.

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It's All a Family Business

Probable MPs Linked to CM

It is family affair for Congress. One day before Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the Gandhi family addressed a rally in Nanded, Chief Minister Ashok Chavan's wife Amita filed her nomination papers from the Nanded constituency.

Monday was the last day for filing the nominations. This was in the contravention of the candidacy announced by Bhaskarrao Patil Khatgaonkar from the same constituency. Bhaskarrao Patil is the brother-in-law of Chavan and is the sitting Member of Parliament of the city.

Chavan, who accompanied Patil while filing latter's papers was also present with his wife while she filed her nomination.

When Chavan was in Nanded three days ago, several party workers had demanded to give the Congress canndidacy to Amita Chavan. Chavan had not given any reaction then. Khatgaonkar had filed his papers thereafter. Suddenly on Monday, Amita filed her papers. It is still an open question as to whether she remains in the fray or not because it is about a week to withdraw the nomination form. Whosever withdraws his papers, the candidate will be still from Chavan family.

Meanwhile, a total of 41 candidates are in the fray for Nanded Lok Sabha constituency. CM's wife was among the 21 candidates who filed their nomination on the last day.

Meanwhile, speaking in the election rally on Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi said that oppposition parties do not understand what development is.

"They do not talk for the poor. Duniya ko garibon ki nazar se nahi dekhte. (They do not see the world from the eyes of the poor. They know only privatisation and stock markets," Rahul said speaking for barely seven minutes.

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Nanded Being Separated

Committee To Look Inot Grievances

I had written about the controversy over forming a separate office of divisional commissioner in Nanded. (Marathwada Divided, January )The next logical step of the development has been taken now with the forming of a new committe.

A one-member committee comprising retired justice P S Patankar is constituted by the state government to look into the dispute related to creationof separate Nanded revenue division, sources said today, according to agency story. The head quarter of the committee will be in Aurangabad city.

However, the full functioning of the committee will be only after the model code of conduct ends. The committee will hear grievances andobjections from various parties involved in the controversy.

The decision of creating the separate revenue division from existing Aurangabad division was taken by Chief Minister Ashok Chavan in December.The decision deepened the rift between former chief minister Viasrao Deshmukh and Chavhan. On the other hand, three petitions and many supplementarywrits challenging Chavan's decision have been admitted in the Aurangabad bench of Bombay high court.
State government has issued an order on March 19 for setting up this committee.

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Sunrise at Latur

Sunrise at Latur, originally uploaded by deshpande.devidas.

I was to Nanded yesterday. I reached to Latur at around 6:30 AM. I was travelling through a State Transport bus. As I was sitting at the window, I could click some of the view that this opportunity allowed. However, the movement of the bus was not in my hand. Hence, I could not take some good photographs even though I could see them emerging.
So the bus travelling and camera shaking, I took some photographs. About two weeks ago also I was at Latur at the same time. But I did not have the camera with me then. This time around, the first thing I took with myself was camera. Because when in tarvel, you never know when the opportunity to click offers itself.

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Nanded, my city

I come from a city situated in the interiors of Maharashtra. Nanded, which is on the borders of Maharashtra and Karnataka, was a small town when I left it in 1997. For the last 10 years, I am living in Pune and my practical contact with the city remained took place only casually. On a recent visit to the city, I saw many changes taking place there. I just tried to chronicle some of them here. I take proud in the fact that Nanded was a cosmopolitan city and many linguistic as well as religious communities have lived here for centuries.

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से Nanded

The Goadavari river flows through the Nanded city. Three of the most prominent Gurudwaras are located on the banks of the river and most importantly, the river divides the city by two. The banks of the river, especially the one where Gurudwaras stand have been beautified on account of Guru-Ta-Gaddi ceremony which took place in October 2008. Even though the water of the river is mixed with many a chemicals and waste water coming from a population of about five lakhs (0.5 million), the water is relatively clean. I could spot many a common birds in the riverbed. 

से Nanded

This is the famous clock tower standing in Old Mondha area of Nanded. It is supposed to be 100 years old and has been transformed many times during this time. The tower has statues of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on one side and Ravindranath Tagore on another. Once upon a time, it was famous for its height. But now many a new buildings appear taller than this structure.

से Nanded

The Nagina Ghat Gurudwara standing on the bank of Godavari. This was the place where, according to folklore, Guru Gobind Singhji showed an arrogant trader how valueless his offering, that of a diamond was. The gurudwara alongwith others two glows in the evening like a jewel in dark. The beauty of its reflection in Godavari's water is simply unmatchable.

से Nanded

Nanded railway station. The station is more than 100 years old. But the face of the building has changed so many times. The present building is comparatively big. The building is cleaner than many stations in the Marathwada region, wherein Nanded falls. The relaxing appearance of the building has now become a thing of past and now professionalism is sighted everywhere. 

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Marathwada Divided

Finally Ashok Chavan has delivered that blow which each politician does at one or other point of time. He has stolen the devisional office of revenue department from Latur, which is former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh’s constituency. The new divisional commissionerate, which will be carved out of Aurangabad division will be set up at Nanded, the constituency of Chavan himself.

The entire Marathwada region comprising of Aurangabad, Latur, Nanded, Parbhani, Jalna, Usmanabad, Beed and Hingoli fell under the revenue division of Aurangabad. there was a proposal to divide the the division into two separate divisions of four districts each. The proposal was pending for many years and it was almost decided that the new division will be set up at Latur. Many divisional offices of various state government departments were set up in Latur. About 35 to 40 such offices are required for the commissonerate and 32 of them are already set up in Latur. Given the long tenure of Deshmukh, it was a forgone conclusion that the thing is decided. But lady luck smiled on Chavan before 2008 bid adieu and he found himself in the chair of chief minister.

At the time of change of guard, it was rumoured that Chavan was a prodigy of Deshmukh. But with this decision, not only has he shown that he has a existence of his own, he can take tough decisions also. On the face of it, this decision is a rational one. Given the geographical location of Latur and Nanded, it is unarguably far easier to travel to latter. Better connectivity with road and rail facility is also a plus point for it. Distiricts of Latur, Parbhani, Hingoli and Nanded will be under the new division. All three districts beside Nanded are just three hours away while it takes at least five hours to travel to Aurangabad.

As expected, the decision was welcomed wholeheartedly in Nanded but there was a violent reaction in Latur. An all party meeting was convened in Latur and a call for the district Band was given. But it does not seem to make any impact. the government machinery, including ministers and administrators, are too cunning to show their any move as a legal and valid one. If Chavan is to be believed, as he has given his reaction to the development, this decision was taken on the merit basis. His words seem to have some basis as a committee appointed for looking into the revenue division's bifuraction had recommended Nanded as the ideal place for the new commissionerate.

According to district gazeteer of Nanded, economic exploitation of available resources, initiative, co-operative efforts and financial backing will change the agrarian face of the district in a few years.

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Ashok Chavan, new Maharashtra CM

He is from Nanded, as me

Finally the word is out. Maharashtra, the state which has withnessed much bloodshed in the past week has a new Chief Minister. Putting an end to the controversies and debates, senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee announced Ashok Chavan's nomination in New Delhi on Friday evening. Of course, he and other leaders deliberated on the matter with their boss, Sonia Gandhi.

Vilasrao Deshmukh  was eased out of office in the aftermath of the audacious Mumbai terror attacks last week. He behaviour after the attacks was severly criticized by media. Chavan was in charge of the Industry portfolio in the Deshmukh cabinet. He is the eldest son of late Shankarrao Chavan. The family is associated with Nanded from where I have come.

Shortly after the nomination of Chavan, Narayan Rane, revenue minister in the outgoing ministry and a strong contender of CM's chair, hit out at Gandhi, Deshmukh and Chavan questioning the process of election of the new leader.

Rane, who had come to the Congress a few years ago from the Shiv Sena, was pipped at the post by Chavan, a party loyalist and a Maratha, like Rane.

Chavan represents Mudkhed constituency in the Assembly. He was a Member of Parliament for two years from 1987-89 and was elected to the Assembly from 1999. Names of Union Ministers Sushil Kumar Shinde and Prithviraj Chavan had also done the rounds as chief ministerial contenders.

Chagan Bhujbal will be the new Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister in the new cabinet. This is his second stint in both the capacities.

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