Ajit Kulkarni conferred with Thane Gaurav; Chirag Shah bestowed with Thane Gunijan

Many eminent personalities who have made significant contribution in the development of Thane and have done remarkable work in various fields were honored with “Thane Bhushan”, “Thane Gaurav” and “Thane Gunijan” awards on Monday.

The awards were presented in the presence of Urban Development, Public Works Minister (Public Enterprises) and Thane District Guardian Minister Eknath Shinde and under the chairmanship of Mayor Naresh Mhaske.

The awards were distributed at Ram Ganesh Gadkari Rangaitan in Thane. MP Rajan Vichare, MLA Ravindra Phatak, Deputy Mayor Pallavi Kadam, Standing Committee Chairman Sanjay Bhoir, Leader of the House Ashok Vaiti, Leader of Opposition Aksharaf Shanu Pathan, Municipal Commissioner Dr. Vipin Sharma were present on the occasion.

The ‘Thane Gaurav’ award was given to 85 people who have done remarkable work in various fields and the Thane Gunijan award was given to 119 people. A special sports award was given to 23 students who have done remarkable work in the field of education, arts and sports.

Ajit Kulkarni, The Founder of Aim Sports Foundation who is also a certified track and field coach N.I.S, a certified level I I.A.A.F was conferred with ‘Thane Gaurav’ award. He is also a certified acupressure therapist and power yoga instructor.

He had began his career in 1985 as an athlete and has represented Maharashtra State at National Level and has additionally produced many national and international athletes.

Chirag Shah, a 33-year-old entrepreneur, who was appointed as the first “bicycle mayor” of Thane by the Dutch social enterprise BYCS in January 2021. He was conferred with ‘Thane’s Gunijan Award’ by the Thane Municipal Corporation in the category of developing the cycle community in Thane.

Determined to guarantee half of the total outings in a city is attempted on the clean and healthy choice of the bicycle, BYCS has been naming “bicycle mayors” in major urban cities across all mainland’s.

Chirag Shah, a post-graduate in business administration, outlined encouraging cycling to work, school, college, a wide-ranging project called “cycling yug” which will include initiatives like making convincing shopkeepers give discounts to those who travel on cycle, and also a project to help increase women’s participation through interventions including making them learn to pedal.