PUNE, February 10: A medical officer in the service of the state government Dr Himatrao Bavaskar and twenty-six-year-old Alex Fernandez were today presented the first Dr Anita Awchat memorial Sangharsha Sanman awards at the hands of eminent writer Vijay Tendulkar here today.The awards, which according to Tendulkar symbolised, `an appreciation of the ongoing struggle against destiny', were presented to Dr Bavaskar for his invention of an anti-venom to counter scorpion poisoning Alex Fernandez, a diabetic patient since the age of 12, was awarded for his active role in creating providing moral support to juvenile diabetic patients through Juvenile Diabetic Foundation, at a function organised on the first death anniversary of Dr Anita Awchat, the founder of the Muktangan de-addiction centre.
While presiding over the function Tendulkar said the concept of struggle can be classified into categories like social, political and various others. ``However, the struggle being fought by these two recipients istotally different. It is a struggle against destiny,'' said Tendulkar.
Today we are so engrossed in our own lives that we have kept ourselves aloof from such struggles as being fought by them (Dr Bavaskar and Fernandez), said Tendulkar adding that the awards will prove that Dr Anita Awchat was not an exception and not a lone fighter in such struggles.
Dr Himatrao Bavaskar and Alex Fernandez also spoke on the occasion, while various other speakers paid their tribute to the memory of Dr Anita Awchat in their speeches.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
