Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting Pune on Tuesday where he will lay the foundation stone of various development projects and will also be conferred with the Lokmanya Tilak National Award.
During his visit, PM Modi will also visit the renowned Dagdusheth Mandir in Pune, which has a rich cultural history. The temple holds immense reverence as not only a place of worship but also an institution actively involved in social welfare and cultural development carried out by the temple trust.
PM Modi’s Pune visit
Modi will arrive in the city around 11 am on Tuesday and will perform puja at Dagdusheth Mandir. PM Modi will also lay the foundation stone of various development projects.
The prime minister will also be conferred with the Lokmanya Tilak National Award, constituted by Tilak Smarak Mandir Trust in 1983, to honour the legacy of Lokmanya Tilak. The award is given to people who have worked for the progress and development of the nation and has remarkable and extraordinary contribution.
The Prime Minister will also flag off metro trains marking the inauguration of services on completed sections of the two corridors of Pune Metro Phase I.
“The inauguration is an important step towards realising the vision of the Prime Minister to provide the citizens with modern and environment-friendly mass rapid urban transport systems across the country,” a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said.
PM Modi will also inaugurate the Waste to Energy Plant under Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation. Developed at a cost of about Rs 300 crores, it will use up about 2.5 lakh MT of waste annually to produce electricity.
Significance of Dagdusheth Ganpati Temple
The Dagdusheth Halwai Ganpati Temple holds great significance as a place of worship for thousands of devotees paying visit to the temple every day. The Dagadusheth Halwai Ganpati Temple in Pune was named after a devotee- Dagdusheth Halwai.
The temple website states that the deity of Lord Ganesha was placed in the temple by Dagdusheth Halwai and his wife Lakshmibai when the couple lost their only son to plague.
Every year, during the Ganpati festival the temple receives lakhs of visitors as it is considered an epitome of pride by the people in Pune. The temple trust also works for social welfare and cultural development apart from carrying out the religious works.
The temple was granted the status of a ‘C’ category tourist destination in May this year. The category will opens up new opportunities for the temple’s growth and development.
Who was Dagadusheth Halwai?
Dagadusheth Halwai, was a mud wrestler, born to a prominent sweet seller Kisansheth Gadve. Dagadu became a popular wrestler of his time as he fought against Punjiram Kachi and Jangali Maharaj, according to a report in The Indian Express.
He also took his father’s business and by 1890s he was a prominent name among traders in Pune. When Bal Gangadhar Tilak, a famous freedom fighter, urged people in 1893 to make Ganesh Chaturthi a public celebration, Dagadusheth was among the first respondents who participated in the public installation of the Ganesh idol, the report said.
Dagadusheth and his family used to live in a building in Budhwar Peth which is now the Dutta Mandir. Even the British honoured him with the title of ‘Nagarsheth’, an award given to someone symbolically heading the trading and money lending.
After his death, the annual celebrations of the Ganpati, known as Bahulichya Haudacha Ganpati until the 1960s, continued in the temple and the annual festival expanded as years passed by.
In 1968, a new idol was made by a famous sculptor from Karnataka, Shree Shankar Appa Shilpi, to mark the 75th anniversary of the Ganpati. Ever since, the idol attracts lakhs of devotees during the festival.
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