‘Dada’ Mahurkar passes away

Vadodara: One of the doyens of the Indian trade union movement in the railways, J G Mahurkar, fondly referred as ‘Dada’ passed away on Tuesday due to cardiac arrest.
Mahurkar, 86, was rushed to hospital on Monday midnight by Sharif Khan, a senior railway trade union leader and his close confident.
A trade unionist of national eminence and vice-president of the National Federation of Indian Railways and general secretary of the Western Railway Mazdoor Sangh, Mahurkar belonged to an old Maratha family and a junior branch of the Sardar Mahurkar clan of Gwalior.
His ancestor Bhikajirao had fought in the 1761 3rd battle of Panipat against Tipu Sultan in the battle of Badami Fort in Karnataka.
In the trade union movement, Mahurkar had deep understanding of problems of working class in railways and management pressures of the Indian Railways.
Mahurkar was at one time also the vice-president of the Vadodara Congress unit. He was very close to senior political leaders including late Madhavrao Scindia , Jyotiraditya Scindia , former Gujarat chief minister Madhavsinh Solanki, Congress leader Ahmed Patel and Shaktisinh Gohil. He celebrated his last birthday in March.
A number of eminent personalities paid tribute to Mahurkar ‘Dada’ on his departure.