CM assures Sindhutai Sapkal of special permission for her orphanage
Following an online petition initiated by Sucheta Dalal, Founder-Trustee of Moneylife Foundation and subsequent articles published by Moneylife seeking justice for noted social reformer Sindhutai Sapkal alias Mai, the mother of orphans, Maharashtra Chief Minister has assured special permission to Mai’s orphanage.
Specifically, responding to Moneylife's appeal, the CM's office said, "CM Devendra Fadnavis has strictly instructed the concerned officials to grant permission to Sindhutai Sapkal's (Mai's) organisation, taking into consideration her noble work since decades. He also instructed that the process for the same be expedited.
Responding to the developments, Sindhutai alias Mai says, "Moneylife has been the pillar of support for us and I thank them all."
Vinay Sapkal, Sindhutai's son, was thankful to Moneylife for the support. He said, "We really have no words to express our gratitude for what you have done for us. We received a call from the CMO and the official informed us about the decision. It is really grateful for us to have somebody like Sucheta madam, Vinita madam and the Moneylife team around when needed."
Sindhutai Sapkal, the stalwart social reformer, who has brought up 1,000 orphans and continues to mother orphans in four orphanages has been running from pillar to post since 2011 to get her orphanage registered. Instead, last week, she was slammed a notice by the Women's and Child Welfare Department of Maharashtra to close her Mundhwa orphanage and rehabilitate the orphans to government orphan institutions.
Most of the media has been extremely supportive of the efforts to get justice for Sindhutai, whose work is well known in the state. It all began with Moneylife's Consulting Editor Vinita Deshmukh writing about the effort to dislodge Sindhutai from two of her orphanages despite her yeomen service to the nation in an article titled, Sindhutai Sapkal: Maharashtra has no funds for orphanages, but attempts to orphan the ‘Mother of Orphans’.
With support from Change.org, Sucheta Dalal started an online petition titled "Stop Harassing Sindhutai Sapkal; Don’t Close Down Her Orphanage." Here is the link to the online petition. The petition, hosted at Change.org, was signed by 20,924 people from across the country.
Ms Dalal also sought the intervention of CM Fadnavis. Since he was busy, Ms Dalal got in touch with his wife, Amruta Fadnavis, who promptly responded and sent a message late last night stating: “Regarding Sindhutai, CM has told the proposal of Sindhutai Sapkal has not been rejected. Permission will be given as a special case.'' Moneylife appreciates the concern and quick reaction of Amruta Fadnavis.
Ms Dalal also sent the link of the story to several state and union ministers. Moneylife is particularly thankful to Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal who, within five minutes called up and sought further information. He wondered whether there was any political angle to it. It is admirable that he went beyond his call and addressed the issue in his own way.
Moneylife also thanks Amruta Fadnavis, Change.org, which helped in making the online petition, Vijay Kumbhar, the entire media and several others who helped in this effort.
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