Navy veteran Gajanan Jagannath Mane honoured with Padma Shri for efforts to fight leprosy

Indian Navy veteran Gajanan Jagannath Mane who has been rendering his service to the downtrodden community, especially to Leprosy patients and their families, has been conferred with the Padma Shri award. Born on May 14, 1949, Shri Mane completed his basic education and completed the boiler competency examination that helped him professionally. Mane joined the Indian Navy at the age of 16, inspired by the Indo-China war and the sacrifices made in it by the soldiers.

Navy veteran Gajanan Jagannath Mane also participated in the 1971 Indo-Pak War, and was conferred the Sangram medal for his participation in the war. It was the war where India helped Bangladesh attain freedom from Pakistan and helped Bangladesh become an independent country.

About Navy veteran Gajanan Jagannath Mane’s battle with Leprosy

Navy veteran Gajanan Jagannath Mane started his work towards leprosy rehabilitation in the year 1991 and to date, is continuing this noble work at Kushtha Seva Sanstha, Hanuman Nagar, earlier known as Hanuman Nagar KushthaRugnaVasahat in Mumbai's Kalyan. The population of this colony is over 800 residents. The Navy veteran has successfully been combatting the spread of the Leprosy disease in the area and cured over 500 patients completely by running an in-house dispensary affiliated with the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation and Maharashtra government's Public Health Department (ADHS).

Navy veteran Gajanan Jagannath Mane has implemented several programmes as part of the rehabilitation plan within the colony, helping patients and residents make a living when it would otherwise be difficult for them to obtain mainstream employment. Some of the notable projects undertaken in the colony include Candle making, chalk sticks making, running a dairy farm, etc. To ensure that the future generations are self-dependent and can get a mainstream environment, education up to graduation for children from the colony is ensured by the Kushtha Seva Institution.

This is being accomplished with the aid of contributions collected at the Radha Krishna Temple, that was erected on the colony's grounds in 2000. The Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation and the private sector provide monthly financial assistance for the patients at this institution. Women who want to work as tailors receive training and are provided with sewing tools.

The colony has been successful in completely controlling the spread of the disease. The rehabilitation centre received top honour from the Sasakawa Leprosy Foundation in Japan for its dairy farm initiative in 2011. In addition to providing patients and their children with work in the Kalyan-Dombivli municipal corporation and the private sector, the colony teaches its residents how to be independent.