Around 20 lakh people may witness Maharashtra Bhushan Award presentation to Appasaheb Dharmadhikari

Panvel: Around 20 lakh people from Maharashtra and other states are expected to witness the Maharashtra Bhushan 2022 award being presented to the much-revered preacher, social worker and reformer Dattatreya Narayan Dharmadhikari, 77, popularly known as Appasaheb Dharmadhikari on April 16.

The Maharashtra government is going all out to make it a ‘historic event like never before or ever after’ with chief minister Eknath Shinde supervising the grand preparations.

Union home minister Amit Shah will confer the state’s highest civilian award comprising a medal, a citation and ₹25 lakh in the presence of Shinde, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and a host of state ministers. The programme will be held at Corporate Park ground in Kharghar, spread over 206 acres, from 10.30am.

The importance of the programme for the state government can be gauged from the fact that Shinde flew in a helicopter earlier this week to hold a high-level review meeting and personally inspect the programme site to take stock of the situation. Raigad’s guardian minister Uday Samant has been following up thereafter with the officials.

The preparations are being done in coordination with Thane guardian minister Shambhuraj Desai, MLAs Bharat Gogavle, Prasant Thakur, Mahesh Baldi, Cultural department secretary Saurabh Vijay, Konkan Division commissioner Dr Mahendra Kalyankar, municipal commissioners of the region Rajesh Narvekar, Abhijit Bangar, Ganesh Deshmukh, CIDCO vice chairman and managing director Sanjay Mukherjee, Navi Mumbai police commissioner Milind Bharambe and other top officials who have been attending the review meetings.

“The award to Appasaheb will increase the honour of the award hence along with me everyone should immerse themselves in the preparatory work and make a mark in history by organising a programme the likes of which has never happened nor will ever happen. The programme is the responsibility of the government and the administration. We will get the support of Shri Sadasya volunteers,” said Shinde

A deputy municipal commissioner-level officer of every civic body in the Konkan region should be appointed to ensure coordination in every aspect, he said, adding, “Everyone should ensure that the responsibilities given are implemented. There is a likelihood of around 20 lakh people coming for the event and hence special care should be taken of hygiene, drinking water, toilets etc.”

Instructing the police officials, he said, “Along with the maintenance of law and order, adequate parking facilities should be provided and coordinated with the help of traffic wardens as around 40,000 vehicles are expected here. People should not face problems while coming to the programme venue.”

Shinde added that NMMC and PMC have a special responsibility and the health-related systems should be in place with the medical teams deployed.

According to minister Uday Samant, “The followers of Appasaheb Dharmadhikari are expected to start reaching the city from Friday and so the basic civic facilities should be in place for them and the roads connecting to Navi Mumbai should be spruced up.”

He informed, “We shall deploy an adequate number of doctors and stock necessary medicines. We are getting a fire audit done to ensure safety. Training is also being given to Shri Sadasya volunteers in firefighting. In view of the rising Covid cases, every attendee will have to compulsorily wear a face mask.”

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The plan

The program will be held over 206 acres of land which will have a seating capacity for 18.36 lakh people.

A health centre, water tankers, ambulance, cardiac ambulance and 15,000 mobile toilets will be deployed to the north of the mandap.

CIDCO conducted a massive demolition drive in Kharghar sectors 28, 29, 31, 32 and 33 area of Corporate Park and metro station, where the programme is to be held. It demolished illegal dhabas, chawls, canteens, stalls, scrap shops, nurseries and other temporary shelters.

Who is Appasaheb Dharmadhikari?

Appasaheb Dharmadhikari is a social worker from Maharashtra who heads Dr Nanasaheb Dharmadhikari Pratishthan.

The Pratishthan was formed by his father late Narayan Vishnu Dharmadhikari known as Nanasaheb Dharmadhikari who was himself conferred the Maharashtra Bhushan 2008 award.

Nanasaheb had launched the popular meetings ‘Shri Baithaks’ in October 1943 which his son had been carrying forward for the past few decades.

Following the footsteps of his father, Appasaheb has been instrumental in conducting various tree plantations, blood donation camps, free medical camps, job fairs, cleanliness drives, superstition eradication and de-addiction centres, etc not just in Maharashtra and India but also abroad.

The Pratishthan entered the Guinness World Record in December 2013 by conducting the world’s biggest medical camp in which 1,571 doctors were deployed and over 1,52,000 people participated.

In 2014, he was conferred with a doctorate by Dr D Y Patil University, Nerul. In 2017, he was awarded Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian honour.