Union Home Minister Amit Shah will confer the Maharashtra Bhushan Award 2022 to spiritual leader and social activist Dattatreya Narayan alias Appasaheb Dharmadhikari at Kharghar in Navi Mumbai on Sunday. Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Shah arrived in Mumbai on Saturday evening on a two-day visit to Maharashtra. Elaborate arrangements have been made for the Maharashtra Bhushan award ceremony at the sprawling Corporate Park in Kharghar as the state government expects a crowd of 15 to 20 lakh.
The Maharashtra Bhushan award will be conferred in the presence of Union minister Shah and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Dharmadhikari, who has a massive following in the state due to his tree plantation drives, blood donation and medical camps as well as de-addiction work in tribal areas. The state government in an official release earlier said 250 water tankers and 2,100 taps have been installed at the venue, along with 69 ambulances, 350 doctors, 100 nurses, 32 mobile toilets, 4,200 portable toilets and 9,000 temporary toilets.
The state transport department banned heavy vehicles like dumpers, trucks, tankers, multi-axle 16 tonne-plus trailers on the Kharghar to Insuli stretch of Mumbai Goa highway number 66, the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, the Mumbai-Pune old highway and the Ahmedabad-Mumbai highway on Saturday and Sunday. As per an order issued on Friday by the state government, 15-20 lakh followers of Dharmadhikari are expected to attend the ceremony after coming from all parts of the state, including Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Pune, Dhule, Jalgaon, Nashik, Mumbai and Thane, on private vehicles, state transport buses and trains.
The Maharashtra Bhushan award was instituted when the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance came to power in 1995. It was initially given to personalities in the fields of literature, sports and science, before being expanded to include those from social work, journalism, public administration and health services. After the award ceremony, Shah will fly to Goa where he will chair a meeting with BJP functionaries to discuss organisational issues, and then address a public gathering in Farmagudi town, 30 km from Panaji, to kickstart the party's campaign in the coastal state for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. "We are expecting more than 25,000 people to attend the rally. Allies will also take part. This meeting will kickstart the BJP's Lok Sabha campaign in Goa," state BJP general secretary Narendra Sawaikar earlier said. Sawaikar exuded confidence the BJP would win both the Lok Sabha seats in Goa.
