Fadnavis announces Rs 10 cr aid for Anandwan, increases aid for patients

 

 

 

Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, on Sunday announced an aid of Rs 10 crore as discretionary contribution to corpus fund of Anandwan and assured to explore how to provide Rs 65 crore more through consultation with ministers. He made the announcement while speaking at the ‘Mitra Melava’ organised at Anandwan on Sunday to mark the 75th anniversary of Maharogi Sewa Samiti (MSS) and also the death anniversary of founder Baba Amte. Fadnavis presided over the programme while Uday Samant, Industries Minister; Ram Naik, former Governor of Uttar Pradesh; Dr Vikas Amte, Secretary of MSS; ‘Padma Shri’ Dr Prakash Amte, Assistant Secretary of MSS; ‘Padma Bhushan’ Dr Krishna Ella of Bharat Biotech; Ashok Uikey, Guardian Minister of Chandrapur district; MLAs Kishor Jorgewar and Karan Deotale, Sanjeevreddy Bodkurwar, former MLA; Hemant Pande, Director (Personnel) of Western Coalfields Limited; Rachana Ranade, chartered accountant and social media influencer; Anshu and Meenakshi Gupta of Goonj NGO; Suhas Tuljapurkar also shared the dais on this occasion. Fadnavis launched various projects envisioned by MSS for the next 25 years.

 

These included organ donation department in memory of Dr Sheetal Amte-Karajgi, women’s comprehensive healthcare department in memory of Dr Shantanu Abhyankar, ‘Shramteerth’ at Somnath, ‘net zero’ emissions with solar energy project funded by WCL. Samant launched a project to establish Anandwan as Skill Development Capital with industry linkage. Referring to the request made by Kaustubh Vikas Amte in introductory remarks, the Chief Minister said that under the Government norms there were certain restrictions in increasing the corpus fund of Anandwan to Rs 75 crore. Still, Fadnavis said, he would provide Rs 10 crore using his discretionary powers as the Chief Minister and consult ministers to explore the possibility of raising the remaining Rs 65 crore through other means. Describing the Anandwan project as ‘Chariot of Lord Jagannath’, he said that it had become the society’s project.

 

He also announced that the aid per patient would be revised from Rs 2,200/- to Rs 6,000/- and the financial assistance for rehabilitation of leprosy patients would be increased from Rs 2,000/- to Rs 6,000/- per patient. Somnath project is popularly known as ‘Amte Farm’. As per Kaustubh Amte’s request, Fadnavis said that he would ask the Revenue Department officials to do the needful and change the name in records from ‘Amte Farm’ to Somnath. He asked the Amte family to give a letter to the Government in this regard. Fadnavis called Anandwan a ‘Temple of Altruism’ and paid rich tributes to founder late Baba and Sadhanatai Amte.

 

“The work of Baba Amte is a gold standard of human sensitivity as it has won dignity for leprosy patients,” he observed. He appreciated Dr Vikas and Dr Prakash Amte for carrying forward the legacy of Baba Amte very effectively. Anandwan has become a laboratory of experiments in environment, water conservation, healthcare, skill development, sustainability, empowerment, human dignity. Thousands and thousands of people from all walks of life are associated with MSS, which has grown into a family. Stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken up the important task of eradicating Leprosy from India by 2027, Fadnavis said that it would need help from organisations like MSS and the society. He informed the people that there were 9.73 Leprosy patients per lakh of population in 2015. Though the number has come down to 5.52 per lakh of population now, it needs further collective efforts, he said. Earlier, Uday Samant announced that in six/seven months, the country's first Divyang Skill Development Centre would be ready in Anandwan. It will have industry linkage too.

 

He urged the Chief Minister to come for its inauguration. “This place inspires us to do good work for the society. Our government stands with the Amte family and Anandwan,” he added. Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, could not attend the programme but had sent a video message, which was played on screen on the occasion. Vasundhara Kashikar conducted the proceedings of the programme and Dr Digant Amte proposed a vote of thanks.

 

 

Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, launched a project to make a film on life and work of late Baba Amte, who founded Maharogi Sewa Samiti and various initiatives under it. Prasad Namjoshi, National Award-winning director who hails from Warora, will direct the film. The movie ‘Baba Amte’ will be made in two languages – English and Marathi. Speaking on this occasion, Namjoshi said that he and his company would not be charging a single penny for the movie. “The entire film project will be crowd-funded,” he said.