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This is an archive article published on May 30, 2021

Policeman who became hero during Panshet breach dies at 88

A long-time resident of Kasarwadi in Pimpri-Chinchwad, Mahadev Shinde was with Wanavwadi police in 1962 when the Panshet dam mishap happened.

Mahadev ShindeMahadev Shinde

Mahadev Shinde, a retired havaldar with Pune Police, who was hailed as one of the heroes during the flooding that happened following Panshet dam breach in 1961, died due to old age-related complications. He was 88 and is survived by his wife, two sons and their families.

A long-time resident of Kasarwadi in Pimpri-Chinchwad, Shinde was with Wanavwadi police in 1962 when the Panshet dam mishap happened.

“Several Pune city localities were inundated. Risking his own life, my father jumped into water and saved several lives. The Pune Police commissioner had honoured him,” said his son Pramod Shinde.

Subsequently, Shinde was felicitated by several several local organisations.

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“My father never boasted that he had saved those lives on being asked about his rescue act. Instead, he used to say, ‘I did not save them, I was doing my duty. When a policeman is on duty, he has to protect people and their property. That’s what I did. What is so special about it?’” Pramod recalled.

Local resident Jayant Kariya said Appa, as Shinde was popularly known as in the area, fitted the bill when it came to the personality of a policeman. “He was tall, a strong built and easily approachable. But unlike most policemen, he was amazingly polite and soft-spoken,” he added.

Another local resident Avinash Prasad said, “Appa’s heroics have been a source of inspiration for us. If someone sets an example by saving lives with exemplary courage, then it is worth emulating.”

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The family said Shinde always kept himself fit and was frugal in his diet. “And that’s why he lived up to 88. He hardly had any health issues and never underwent any operation,” said his son.

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.   Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were  asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.     Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More


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