Ekadashi bears fruit for crisis manager Mahajan

Time of India

13-07-2025

For water resources minister Girish Mahajan, the biggest challenge was management of millions of devotees visiting the historic Vitthal temple in Solapur district's Pandharpur on Ashadhi Ekadashi.
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CM
had entrusted the entire task of the event and crowd management on Mahajan, his trusted aide.
As per reports, Mahajan camped in the area for more than four days, that he did not move out of the township and personally looked after preparations. He mobilised social workers, including women, children, educational institutions and zilla parishads.
Mahajan began preparations for the event in Jan. It involved management of an estimated one-and-a-half million devotees from across the country, including CMs of several states, Union ministers and cabinet members from more than a dozen states.
Elaborate arrangements were made for their arrival at the temple and the entire darshan process was completed in record time. At the same time, it was ensured that other devotees did not face hardship and it was a smooth affair.
Mahajan said govt will ensure more facilities for devotees. From the Kumbh Mela, state bureaucrats and cabinet members have learnt several lessons to be implemented in Maharashtra.
In the corridors of power, Mahajan is the only cabinet member who has emerged as a troubleshooter and crisis manager.
Recently, when there was a major rail accident, he took his entire team to the spot and provided relief operations without instructions from either the CM or any other authority. Whether in cabinet or not, he has ensured that people in crisis receive relief on top priority.
Language row
Even before Fadnavis withdrew the circular on making Hindi compulsory in primary schools, leading social organisations had taken note of people's sentiments.
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At an event by Nana Palkar Memorial Committee to felicitate leading medical practitioners, the anchor conducted the programme in Hindi. When trust chairman Shrikant Badwe rose to speak, he submitted he did speak in Hindi, but after a while, he said in view of the critical situation in the state, he would prefer to speak in Marathi.
Later, while all the speakers turned to Marathi, the anchor continued in Hindi. Former bureaucrat Avinash Dharmadhikari spoke about the importance of Marathi language and Marathi authors, and their contributions to the freedom struggle.
A veteran cardiologist, Gajanan Ratnaparkhi, who has embarked on several new techniques in the field of heart and related diseases and has won awards and prizes at the international level, spoke at length not only in Urdu but also stole the show with a few couplets in the language.