NASHIK, FEB 27: A resident of Ambe Bahula village was killed in a blast while collecting metal scrap in the firing ranges of the School of Artillery, Devlali.Kashinath Revji Lohare (50) was one of the several villagers, who had entered the ranges to collect metal scarps of shells from the firing ranges. The Army had embarked on a massive firepower demonstration `Topchi' on February 16 and 17 and villagers had made a beeline for the scrap. On Wednesday, an unexploded shell burst killing him on the spot. He is survived by wife and three sons.As usual, the villagers buried him in the ranges, without informing the police, as entry into the firing ranges is an offence, which invites punitive action.His family members said that he had died of a cardiac arrest.Residents of 18 villages on the outskirts of the firing ranges enter the prohibited area after or during the shelling by the school of artillery to collect metal scrap, risking their lives. Out of the 18 villages, six are very close to the ranges.The villages: Gaulane, Ambe Bahula, Nandur, Vanjarwadi, Chimanbari and Langewadi, were originally along the Waldevi river and had been resettled after the land was acquired by the Army in 1942 for the ranges. On December 1994, four persons of a family, including two women and a child, were killed when an unexploded shell burst in the ranges.The incident had prompted the Army to form a range safety committee comprising civilian and Army authorities to prevent unauthorised persons from entering the ranges. The Army contracts out collected of metal scrap from the ranges and the employees of the contractor are supposed to enter the ranges only after the firing is complete.However, unauthorised persons enter the ranges in advance to collect the scrap, hiding themselves in trenches or behind rocks. The contractor, Shivaji Chumbale, who has been bagging the contract for the past several years had issued identity cards to his employees. However, the safety system did not work out.The school of artillery has two ranges: the Devlali ranges spread over 27,000 acres and the Khodala ranges spread over 48,000 acres. The residents of the villages on the outskirts of the ranges have been collecting metal scraps from the ranges for the past several decades and also grazing their cattle in the prohibited zone.
