LATE SHRI CHANDRAKANT KRISHNARAO PRADHAN
Late Shri Chandrakant Krishnarao Pradhan (C. K. Pradhan) of Andheri, Mumbai was a silent hard-core social worker throughout his life. Though he was a trustee of Vidya Vikas Mandal and many more social organisations, he always held an active post of Treasurer wherever he worked. We all know that the post of Treasurer brings only unlimited labour pains and no authority.
When he left for his heavenly abode on 15th March 1998, Shri C. K. Pradhan was a Trustee of :
(1) Vidya Vikas Mandal, Andheri.
(2) CKP Samaj, Andheri.
(3) Shri Vinzai Devasthan Mandal, Tamhini.
Earlier, he worked in different capacities right from the grass root in these organisations and also many more.
The main strength of Shri C. K. Pradhan was that he applied his full steam into every project he was involved in. He always treated the goals above everything else. In the process, he was never afraid of displeasing someone who came in the way of the set social goals. In spite of that he was invariably in very good terms with all those against whom he stood to defend the social causes he honestly believed in. This was possible because all of them were sure about his sincerity.
Shri Pradhan took keen interest in the activities of the various CKP organisations including the Akhil Bharatiya CKP Madhyawarti Sanstha. However, he preferred to work in the background. He was very good at maintaining accounts of public trusts in spite of no educational background in accountancy. Because of his business contacts, he was a great fundraiser so far as Souvenir advertisements and sale of charity programme tickets was concerned. At the same time, he was an able leader who could mobilize the youth power for successful organisation of these programmes. The key to his success in mobilizing the co-workers was that he was quick to pass on the credit of the success to them the moment the programme was over.
Shri C. K. Pradhan cherished two dream projects – completion of Vinzai Temple at Tamhini and construction of new building of CKP Samaj, Andheri. While the first dream turned into reality, the second one remained unfinished because of technical problems. It is for his co-workers at CKP Samaj, Andheri to fulfill his dream.
By profession, Shri C. K. Pradhan was a Custom House Agent conducting his proprietary clearing and forwarding agency for over 50 years. He worked on the Managing Committee of the Association of CHAs and also the earlier Dalals’ Association for a number of years. During that time he fought a landmark case against the Central Govt. in the Supreme Court.