Four Puneites in Padma list

Updated on: 26 January,2011 07:30 AM IST |
Alifiya Khan |

The Prime Minister's Office last evening announced the list of Padma awards for 2010. Four eminent citizens from the city found a place in that list

The Prime Minister's Office last evening announced the list of Padma awards for 2010. Four eminent citizens from the city found a place in that list.

The late Dr Keki Grant, founder of Ruby Hall Clinic, received a Padma Bhushan in the field of medicine-cardiology. But even as the award was announced, his immediate family and close aides said it had come a tad too late.

Son Dr Pervez Grant was in Nigeria and could not be contacted for comment.

The other prominent name on the list is of 89-year-old Gandhian Shobhana Ranade, who is senior trustee of Gandhi National Memorial Society. Awarded the Padma Vibhubhushan, Ranade was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi at the age of 13. She is also the pioneer of the SOS Children's Villages of Maharashtra.

Two people, namely 25-year-old para-jumper Shital Mahajan, who holds the record for being the first amateur para-jumper off the North Pole, and noted archaeologist Dr Madhukar Keshav Dhavalikar, who has written several books, have been awarded the Padma Shri.

Dhavalikar said, "I am happy that my work has been acknowledged by the Government of India and I am getting this national honour. I have heard that my name was suggested by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs. I have also been honoured by the same department and have been given a special scholarship in the name of Rabindranath Tagore in the field of cultural heritage in Mumbai. I will be busy with the same the next two years."
(Inputs from Vivek Sabnis)

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