Padma Shri awardee Prabhaben Shah passes away

Prabhaben was taken to the government hospital after she suffered breathing issues and heart-related ailments on Wednesday morning . However, due to age related ailments and complications in heart, she died in the afternoon.

Talking to the Indian Express, Prabhaben’s daughter Varsha Shah, said, “Due to her old age and heart complications she did not respond to the treatment and Dr Tapan and his team at the government hospital in Daman declared her dead in the late afternoon. We have planned to carry out final rites on Thursday morning and her body will be taken from our house in Moti Daman to Nani Daman covering a distance of around 5 kilometers. We have presently kept her body in the morgue in the government hospital. All our relatives from Gujarat and Mumbai will reach Daman by Thursday morning.”

For her selfless services, Prabhaben was awarded India’s fourth highest civilian Award, Padma Shri in January 2022 in the social work category. Prabhaben Shah had received award from the then President Ramnath Kovind at an event in Delhi. She had been working for women’s empowerment and the environmental issues for the past six decades.

Prabhaben was born in 1930 in Bardoli town of Surat district and settled in Daman in 1963. She was attached to Swaraj Ashram in Bardoli town and was influenced by Gandhian ideology, since her childhood.

In 1969, Prabhaben started sewing classes for women in Daman She also started the Women Cooperative Society, and Women Credit Society. She also started Gujarati and English medium Balwadi (nursery), and a library for students from economically weaker sections.

Prabhaben had also worked for eradication of the dowry practice. Her work field was not only was limited to Daman and Diu and DNH but also in Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Goa.

Prabhaben Shah’s husband Sobhag Shah had passed away 15 years ago and she is survived by her two daughters Varsha Shah, and Kiran Shah, and a son Sanjay Shah who is settled in the USA. Varsha Shah was staying with her mother in Daman.