Nashik Diary

The State Government seems to be no different. Chief Minister Narayan Rane, during his visit to Nashik when Kusumagraj died in March this year, had announced that the Government would create a memorial worth Rs 5 crore and release its first instalment of Rs 50 lakh promptly.

However, six months later,the president of the Pratisthan, retired justice Chandrashekhar Dharmadhikari said the Pratisthan had not yet received a single paise for the memorial. The Pratisthan is housed in the residence of Kusumagraj and the structure is built by the municipality on Government land. The pratisthan apparently wants to control anything connected with Kusumagraj, while Rane seems have made the announcement casually on the eve of the recent polls.

But who is interested in doing something concrete, which calls for hard work and commitment, when one can get away with garlanding statues and memorials. Neither the Government which has not yet finalised the memorial nor the Pratisthan which is institutionalising Kusumagraj seem to be interested. The Pratisthan could convert the house of Kusumagraj as his memorial, instead, and use the money earmarked for creating another memorial for more useful purposes.

Playing Second Fiddle

Women politicians, especially those contesting elections from their husband8217;sconstituencies owing to reservations, end up becoming puppets. And no party is an exception.

Hence, Mayor Dr Shobha Bachhav Congress has her husband Dr Dinesh Bachhav in tow or the other way round. The organisers of functions have to make sure that the husband is accommodated on the dais and kept in good humour.

Recently, the husband of a BJP corporator from Hirawadi threatened local residents who dared to file complaints with the local authorities on the state of civic affairs in the ward. The husband, Sanjay Ghule, was irked that some residents had filed complaints with the local divisional officials about the filth in the ward. According to the residents, repeated requests to the local corporator, Sharda Ghule, had fallen on deaf ears, prompting them to contact the officials.

Agitation amp; Business

With the increase in the population and urbanisation of the city, new housing complexes are coming up on the outskirts of Nashik. One such developing area is the Adgaon naka along theMumbai-Agra national highway.The municipal corporation dumps garbage at the Adgaon naka garbage dump daily and local residents have been up in arms against the dump demanding that it be shifted elsewhere. For the last few years, the local residents have been agitating over the issue.

The residents have now found an unlikely mentor for their campaign. Sagar Bonde, who is a developer and has constructed houses in the vicinity has taken lead in forming an action committee to demand shifting of the garbage dump. Bonde has constructed bungalows in the area and some of them were demolished in the past by the municipal corporation on grounds of being unauthorised.

A Deterrent

The riot between supporters of Nationalist Congress Party corporator Gajanan Shelar and BJP corporator Sanjay Chavan on the eve of the Ganesh festival and the subsequent arrest of Shelar seems to have served as a deterrent for politicians. In the riot, a police constable, Jagdish Murlidhar Londhe, was stabbed to death and Shelarand his brother have been booked for the murder. The incident deterred local politicians from participating in the Ganesh idol processions.

8212; Rakshit Sonawane