Maharashtra: Retired IAS officer Mahesh Zagde donates Rs 11 lakh from his pay to hospital

MUMBAI: In a humanitarian gesture, retired bureaucrat Mahesh Zagde on Sunday donated Rs 11.11 lakh to Sewagram-based Kasturba Hospital, a charitable hospital started by Mahatma Gandhi’s disciple Dr Sushila Nayyar in 1945. Zagde handed over the cheque to chief minister Eknath Shinde.
An IAS officer of the 1993 batch, Zagde retired from service after 34 years after working in different departments. His innings in transport and food & drug administration departments as commissioner were impressive. He successfully ended agent-Raj in the transport department and brought in professionalism in the FDA.
Zagde said owing to some compelling reasons, he had to accept a short three month’s assignment of a membership of the dedicated commission for backward class citizens, the constitution of which was mandated by the Supreme Court. He accepted the assignment on a condition that he would not accept any remuneration. As an afterthought, he felt that it would be better to accept the remuneration and donate it for the treatment of patients in the rural areas. Accordingly, the remuneration is now being transferred to the Kasturba Hospital.