Pune, Mar 29 (UNI) Pune Lok Sabha Member of Parliament Girish Bapat was cremated at Vaikunth Cemetery here with full state honors.
On behalf of the government, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis offered floral tributes to his body.
District Guardian Minister Chandrakantada Patil, Women and Child Development Minister Mangalprabhat Lodha, Former Union Minister MP Prakash Javadekar, MP Srirang Barne, MLA Uma Khapre, Sunil Kamble, Bhimrao Tapkir, Siddharth Shirole, Ashok Pawar, Madhuri Misal, Ravindra Dhangekar, Rahul Kul, and others paid their respects to Bapat by offering floral garlands.
Girish Bapat passed away today after prolonged illness, he was 74 years old.
Expressing his feelings on occasion, Deputy Chief Minister Fadnavis said, everyone is deeply saddened by the passing away of their family member, MP Girish Bapat. "He was a leader of common people. His leadership stood through many agitations. Corporator, Municipal Standing Committee Chairman, MLA five times in Legislative Assembly and subsequently represented Pune in Lok Sabha" he added.
Late Bapat served as a minister between 2014 and 2019. He excelled in every role that was given to him. As the Minister of Civil Supplies, for the first time in the state, he detected 1 crore bogus ration cards by connecting the Aadhaar of all the ration cards and gave ration to 1 crore new poor.
Bapat was accorded an armed salute by the police force by blowing the bugle and firing three gun rounds. The national flag was draped over the body. It was handed over to Bapat's son Gaurav Bapat.
On occasion, District Collector Dr. Rajesh Deshmukh on behalf of Police Commissioner Ritesh Kumar, Municipal Corporation Commissioner Vikram Kumar and Lok Sabha Speaker paid tributes by offering floral wreaths. Former minister Harshvardhan Patil, former state minister Dilip Kamble, Vijay Shivtare, Ramesh Bagwe, former MP Sanjay Kakade, Amar Sable, former MLA Medha Kulkarni, Yogesh Tilekar, Chandrakant Mokate, Mohan Joshi, Ulhas Joshi, Narendra Pawar, Sharad Dhamale came to pay tribute to Bapat, Ashish Deshmukh along with political, social and citizens from various fields were present.
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