Deepasthambha Prathishtan, an NGO registered in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra has conferred the prestigious “DEEPASTHAMBHA PURASKAR-2012” on Fr. Thomas Mullenmadackal VC, pioneer Vincentian Missionary of Ahmednagar District, for his manifold interventions in the Tribal dominated, underdeveloped, inaccessible areas of Ahmednagar District, Maharashtra.
DEEPA STHAMBHA is an award annually bestowed upon persons who have done exemplary work in the field of education, social, health, eco-friendly initiatives especially in the rural areas inhabited by the weaker sections of the society like Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Other Backward Communities, Nomadic Tribes, and Minority communities in Nasik Division. The award was conferred on Fr. Thomas Mullenmadackal VC and others in a heavily packed 4000 capacity Yeshwantrao Chawan Town Hall, Ahmednagar on 30th September 2012 at the hands of Adv. Jayadevji Gaikwad, Member of Legislative Council, Government of Maharashtra.
The Award Committee studied the activities and various interventions of Fr. Thomas Mullenmadackal VC in different spheres down the years before he was selected for this prestigious Award. His sphere of activities is Vavarath, Jambhali and Jambulban, an area cut off from the rest of the world by the backwaters of Jnaneshwarsagar dam in Mula river on two sides and Indian Military’s Khare Kharjuna (K.K.) long distance firing range on the third side leaving the area with only a single way to reach out to the rest of the world. They highlighted his interventions among the tribal, backward, and nomadic people of the remote, underdeveloped and inaccessible Villages of Vavarath, Jambhali and Jambulban for so long years. They seriously considered the fact that over and above his interventions in the field of education, he has tried his level best to alleviate the burden of life of the rural folk by providing them drinking water with over 18 drilled tube wells in various hamlets, construction of houses, medical camps, distribution of spectacles and health kit, cataract surgeries, running of rural clinic and general medical facility round the clock, tribal boarding house for both boys and girls and developing of an Integrated Eco-friendly Recycling Programme as a model micro-planning for the middle class farmers. A special emphasis was given for the efforts he has made for the development of basic infrastructure of the area in close collaboration with the people’s representatives and District and Taluka Administration.
The Award Committee has stated in their enquiry report that the persistent activities of Fr. Thomas Mullenmadackal VC, which created an oasis in the midst of a vast desert, is motivating and model for the younger, and all the generations to come, and he is shining in his spheres of his activities as a LIGHT TOWER (DEEPASTHAMBHA). Hence, the Award is conferred on him.
The Award has brought into the limelight the herculean task Fr. Thomas Mullenmadackal VC has undertaken 12 years before, in collaboration with the committed services of Carmelite Religious nuns of CMC Ernakulam Vimala Province, against the raised eyebrows of all, even those of his colleagues and superiors.