Relatives mourn the death of Sachin Shrirange (27), of Kosamtondi village, on Friday
Nagpur: Three forest labourers (van majoors) were charred to death and two seriously injured while extinguishing man-made forest fires that had engulfed four compartments of Navegaon-Nagzira Tiger Reserve (NNTR) in Gondia-Bhandara districts, 125km from here, on Thursday afternoon.
The deceased have been identified as Rakesh Yuvraj Madavi (40), Rekhchand Gopichand Rane (45) and Sachin Ashok Shrirange (27). The injured, Vijay Tijab Maraskolhe (40) and Raju Shamrao Sayam (30) have been admitted to a private hospital at Nagpur.
As these workers were temporary labourers, there is no provision of compensation to them as per rules. However, taking serious note of the issue, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, who also holds the forest ministry, has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh each to the next kin of the victims. The expenses of treatment of the injured labourers will also be borne by the state gov