Forgotten
Heroes: “I have always wondered how, the
Muslims and the Hindus together, had decided to set a Mandir on
fire”, said Dr.
ftekhar Ansari recalling the....Read
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A Masjid,
A Mandir and Me: Malegaon, a town in India with more than 70%
Muslim population has always been considered as a communally sensitive
place....Read
Full
Malegaon
Pays Tribute to the Mumbai
Martyrs:
This year on January 26,
2009 the Republic Day function all over the country was adorned by
the memories of those killed in the Mumbai terror attack on...Read
Full
Post Blast-Malegaon Emerged Stronger:
The immediate reasons for the ongoing terrorist attacks in the
country are not very clear. However one thing is for sure. These
strikes are the attacks onl.....Read
Full
Confidence
overruling the Fear:
The returned figure of the references
resulting after a keyword search about Malegaon at any search engine
on the Internet is impressive enough to envy any place...Read
Full
Mollywoodattracts Global Media:
After
making the news in print and electronic media over the years at
National level, the emerging film industry in Malegaon, popularly
known as MOLLYWOO...
Read Full
India's
'renaissance man' Kalam honoured in UK:
Ten years after describing a
shabby-looking fuse box as something that appeared to have been "put
in by an Indian", Prince...Read
Full
'I see my role as offering the voices of the silenced majority of
Muslims in America and around the world',
says
Obama's Muslim advisor:
Dalia Mogahed, a hijab-clad American Muslim,
has made history....
Read
Full
Zafar Shaikh-Making Possible The Impossible:
While working with Zafar Shaikh at
Star Bottling Company in Jalgaon nineteen years ago, the fellow
co-workers had never imagined that he would one day become the sole...
Read
Full
The
Men Inspired by Debacles:
If one intends to learn
“how to invite a trouble and come out of it triumphant”, then one
must meet Ashwin Shah aka Lalit Shah of an empire popularly known as
Oasis.....Read Full
Born
in UP, Educated in Arunachal, Cracked UPSC while doing Ph. D in
Delhi:
A boy from a backward district of Deoria in Uttar Pradesh is raised
and educated in Arunachal Pradesh. From humble....Read Full
Skilled
Hands converting couplets
into portraits:
The powerloom factories might have been the only available option
for the Malegaonians, the deprived people of the Muslim dominated
textile town....Read
Full
‘Advising
Restraint, work for the Revival of the Community’:We should advise the Indian
Muslims for observing total restraint so that the Anti-Muslim...Read
Full
'Give
the Indian Muslims ten years of
peace':True, the Government initiatives, schemes and policies take time and if they are
related to Muslims...Read
Full
Salman Khursheed starts on a wrong note:Even if we give
Congress under Manmohan Singh's second term as PM, the benefit of
doubt over its willingness to prefer affirmative action for Muslim....Read
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Months of speculations over as Sonia Gandhi inaugurates 200 bed
hospital this afternoon
Tuesday, June 30, 2009 03:45 PM, ummid.com Staff Reporter
Video:
UPA Chairperson Mrs. Sonia Gandhi delivering the inaugural
speech in Malegaon
Sonia
Gandhi to inaugurate General Hospital in Malegaon today:
Congress President Mrs. Sonia Gandhi would be inaugurating the
200-bed General Hospital today afternoon....Read
Full
The
Pain in Malegaon
Dying Textile Industry:
Govt. refusing to lend a helping hand despite repeated pleas:
But their demand
to delink the subsidy from the bank
....Read
Full
Tokenism ruling MMC as people cry for Action:
Hence it is not surprising to see the Civic Body resorting to
tokenism instead of addressing the real issues....Read
Full
Pollution in Malegaon
Hazardous emissions no case for MPCB:
Blessings though these factories might be for their owners. But for
the people living in this part....Read
Full
Decisions and Implementations
-
The GAP widening day by day:
Perform or perish. It was the warning given to the new Ministers who
took the....Read
Full
SSA Funds in Malegaon
- Whose purpose are they
actually
serving?:
Instead most of these funds are either lapsed and lay unused or if
at all they....Read
Full
Such things happen only in Malegaon-Denied
the wages,teachers
are forced to work in
powerloom factories during the night:
The life has...Read
Full
A Living Hell:
Established in 1863 Malegaon Municipal Council till a decade ago was regarded as one of the richest Council
in Maharashtra. It was so....Read
Full
Malegaon:
Congress President Mrs. Sonia Gandhi
inaugurated the 200-bed General Hospital today afternoon in Malegaon.
With this months of speculations over who would actually cut the
ribbon before the hospital is opened for the general public came to
an end.
"Today I formally declare to
handover this magnificent hospital for the people in and around
Malegaon", Mrs. Gandhi said in her inaugural speech while recalling
the promise she had made to the people in 2006.
The hospital would be opened for the
general public from tomorrow.
Earlier in her speech Mrs. Gandhi
while terming the tremendous work done by her government for the
minorities and the weaker section of the society no less than a
history said, "We have worked for the minorities and dalits in the
past and will continue to do so in future."
Stating that Malegaon is the place
where people from all across the country come and settle to earn
their livelihood, Mrs. Gandhi said, "Our wholehearted support will
always be there for Malegaon and its revival."
While the inaugural function was
presided over by State Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, Union Health
Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad was present on the occasion as a Chief
Guest.
Besides them, Dy.
Chief Minister Chagan Bhujbal and half a dozen State ministers were
also present in the much awaited and widely publicised function
attended by local leaders and a select gathering of 5000 people.
Owing to
the strict security measures for Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, the general
public was not allowed to attend the much awaited inaugural function.
"The
inaugural function would be attended only by a gathering of selected
people who are already issued the entry passes", Sanjay Patil
Additional SP said in a press release circulated in the local media
while appealing the people not to crowd the venue.
Though
Malegaon has a couple of other hospitals run by the Civic Body, they
miserably lack in professional staff, machineries and other
facilities. "With the opening of this hospital people in Malegaon
would not have to rush to the neighboring places and private
hospitals for medical treatment", assured the local administration.
Cost
of the Hospital
Though the government figures show an estimated 16 crore rupees that
were
spent on the hospital, locals believe the Malegaonians have paid a
very heavy price to get this hospital for the town.
“We had undergone through a series
of communal riots and two terrorist attacks before the Government
realized the town needs an equipped government hospital in the
town”, Malik Bakrawala, a local activist says while speaking to
ummid.com. “Apart from whatever the Government
had spent on this hospital in the form of money, the innocent lives
killed in several riots and specially those who were killed in 2006
serial blast played a major
role in converting this dream project into a reality for the
Malegaonians", he adds.
The hospital inauguration was earlier planned before the
parliamentary elections. However after the strong opposition from
few local leaders who threatened of dire consequences if the
hospital was inaugurated without the required machineries, the
authorities postponed its opening.
The General
Hospital was promised by Mrs. Sonia Gandhi herself when she had
visited the town after 2006 serial blast. And how important this
project was for her can be gauged from the fact that after winning
the parliamentary election, she began her Maharatshtra tour by
inaugurating this hospital. She is scheduled to inaugurate the
Bandra- Worli sea link later in the evening.
The Road that led to the Hospital
Shashwat Gupta Ray is the senior journalist who had exposed the role
of the Hindu Extremists involved in the April 2006 Nanded blast. On
the first anniversary of the Malegaon 2006 blast, he was in Malegaon
to cover the demonstration organized by the local organizations to
protest against the shoddy probes carried by the investigating
agencies. Walking down the streets he was aghast to see the general
conditions in Malegaon and the people who were literally living under
inhuman conditions. “These are the real facts of Malegaon that
unfortunately were earlier hidden under the debris of the communal
riots and are now being buried under the shadow of the terrorist attacks”, Shashwat had observed.
His observations have now become a history. However by maintaining
communal harmony after the terrorist attacks in 2006 and 2008, meant
according to the investigating agencies for creating communal unrest
in the town, the Malegaonians forced the Government to realize the
injustice and negligence meted to Malegaon – the town in North Maharashtra
famous for the textile industry and predominated by the Muslim
populations,
ever since independence.
Leave alone the other facilities enjoyed by the neighboring places, the
government failed in providing the essential services and basic
amenities to Malegaon in last sixty years. That the town doesn’t
have even a proper government hospital was brought to the notice of
every leader visiting the town after any calamity. In fact when
Mrs. Sonia Gandhi was in Malegaon after the worst ever communal
riots in October 2001, she had reportedly suggested to Vilasrao
Deshmukh, then Chief Minister of the State, who had accompanied her
to the town that Malegaon should at least have a government owned
general hospital.
However, Vilasrao Deshmukh did not pay any heed to Mrs. Gandhi’s
suggestion and it was only in 2006 when she visited the town once
again after the serial blast that Mrs. Gandhi realised her
suggestion made to the State Government five years before was thrown
into somewhere in a dustbin.
“Many innocent lives would have been saved had there been a proper
government hospital at the time the terrorists attacked the
worshipers who were praying inside the mosque”, Shafeeque Ahmad had
said to Mrs. Gandhi while refusing to accept the compensation cheque
saying, “The town needs actual amenities instead of few thousand
rupees.” Shafeeque Ahmad had lost his son and the nephew in the
blast.
Seldom had in the history anyone returned the compensation cheque in
the manner Shafeeque Ahmad did in front of Mrs. Gandhi. “Mrs. Gandhi
was stunned beyond imagination. The incident made the headlines for
next several days”, Imtiyaz Khalil, a journalist who had witnessed
the incident recalls.
Vilasrao Deshmukh was sitting by her side even this time around and
though Mrs. Gandhi was shocked, he sat unperturbed throughout the
drama, recalls Malik Bakrawala. Later on Mrs.
Gandhi herself promised a general hospital for Malegaon.
However having promised by Mrs. Gandhi, undoubtedly the most
powerful person in the country, doesn’t mean the Malegaonians got
the hospital in a first go. It required continuous follow-up with
the Central Government and the personal effort persistently taken by
the Planning Commission Member Dr. Syeda Hameed before Malegaon could
actually see the promise made by Mrs. Gandhi translating into a
reality.
The Scheme is a slap the to this highly
victimised town of Malegaon. Its going to be a great Example how you
Create a New Slum by removing the Older one.
The 11000 homes !
Where?
For whom?
Of what quality?
With what social Justice?
With who's Neighbourhood concept?
What level of degradation?
....... N numbers.
Arif Shah - A r
c h i t e c t
Vice-President-Design
Sanveo Green Buildings.
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