Godavari Gaurav Puraskar announcedThe other recipients are singer Kishori Amonkar (music), Bhakti Barve-Inamdar (theatre/films), Dr Indumati Parikh (social service) and former vice-chancellor of the University of Poona Dr V G Bhide (science).The Kusumagraj Pratisthan, named after Jnanpith Award winner and Marathi litterateur Vishnu Waman Shirwadkar alias `Kusumagraj', recognises persons for their contribution in various fields. The Godavari Gaurav was instituted in l992 and is conferred every alternate year.Of the six awards, two are sponsored by the Datar and Tarwala families, and one by the Godavari Urban Cooperative Bank. (ENS)Cleaner hijacks onion truckNASHIK: The cleaner of a truck loaded with onions worth Rs 4 lakh succumbed to temptation and drove off with the vehicle when the driver halted it by the roadside and alighted on Saturday.However, retribution caught up with the cleaner, Rafiq Ahmed, a few kilometres down the road, when the truck collided with another vehicleand was seized by the Niphad police at Bokaddare on the Aurangabad-Nashik highway. (UNI)Electric shockNASHIK: Two persons were electrocuted at Dangsoundane village in Satana tehsil on Saturday. According a report received here today, a farmer, Narayan Mahadu Borse (71) was inspecting the crops in his field when he accidentally stepped on a live wire and died instantly.Later, his son Rajendra Borse arrived at the farm to look for his father, along with one Bapu Sonawane (70). The latter also fell victim to the electric wire and was electrocuted.The Maharashtra State Electricity Board switched off electric supply after Rajendra returned to the village and recounted the tragedy. A police investigation is also underway. (UNI)BJP gears up for pollsNASHIK: General-Secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Maharashtra unit, Sharad Kulkarni, has asked the party's rank and file to start preparing for the Assembly elections due in 2000.At a meeting of office-bearers and electedrepresentatives of the BJP from north Maharashtra, Kulkarni stressed the need to highlight various welfare schemes undertaken by the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance government. He also asked party activists to undertake a massive public relations campaign to spruce up the image of the Manohar Joshi government.Party workers were also told to launch a special drive to get voters enlisted from municipal wards upwards and district-level workshops should be conducted to revitalise the rank and file, he said.The meeting was attended by office-bearers and elected representatives from Nashik, Dhule, Jalgaon and Nashik districts, including Health Minister Dr Daulatrao Aher and Irrigation Minister Eknath Khadse.
