In the presence of Mrs. Amruta Fadnavis, the Mid Day Maharashtra Gaurav award was inaugurated recently. A yearly event, this felicitation is aimed at honouring those who have achieved outstanding accolades as citizens of the nation, across different walks of life. It’s all about celebrating their spirit of success, innovation and excellence together.
The very first year of the event was marked as a special day for former Assistant Commissioner GST and Mumbai Customs, Mr. Deepak Pandit, known these days as the White Singham as he received this award for his fearless achievements in the department, from the honourable Governor, Bhagat Singh Koshyari at the Raj Bhavan.
Not much is known to a layman about the Mumbai customs department. But according to Mr. Pandit, this department, no matter how inconspicuous, holds a lot of power and responsibility. Mr. Pandit feels that this power has not yet been unleashed to its optimum capacity. If done so, the economy of the nation will be safeguarded to a much higher level than it is done now.
Known these days as the White Singham, Mr. Pandit was quite proud on receiving the award. “I remember telling one of my juniors that the government pays us to fill the pockets of the economy and not our own. I strongly believe that it is this attitude that has brought me where I am. I earnestly thank all my colleagues and family who stood by me and the honourable governor for recognising my achievements”, said the former J&K Ranji trophy all rounder who was known for his banana swing. Along with Mr. Pandit, few eminent personalities from varied fields, who contributed phenomenally in their respective domains were also awarded.
Recently, on the YouTube channel of Wild Buffaloes Entertainment, an announcement trailer was released, in order to announce a book being written on the life of Mr. Pandit. The biography, titled White – The Man Beyond The Uniform, is an initiative by authors Sheetal Bhan and Aamir Bengali. The trailer has words of praise on Mr. Pandit by eminent cricket personalities like Chetan Sharma, Praveen Amre and Maninder Singh along with former CBIC dignitaries. The book is underway and will be out soon.
