Madhu Dandavate

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Madhu Dandavate (21 January 1924 - 12 November 2005) was an Indian politician. From 1971 to 1990 he was an M.P., elected to the Lok Sabha for 5 times consecutively from Rajapur in Konkan, Maharashtra. He was one of the prominent opposition leaders when Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were the Prime Ministers. He was the minister for railways in the Morarji Desai cabinet. He was instrumental in the computerisation of Indian railways, which helped in eliminating middlemen and corruption in booking railway tickets. He initiated improvements in second-class railway travel for passengers by replacing the wooden berths with berths consisting of two inches foam. He was also the Finance minister in the cabinet of V. P. Singh. He actively campaigned for the Konkan Railway. He was also the Deputy Chairperson of the Planning Commission of India in 1990 and again from 1996 to 1998. He was associated with the Janata Dal (Secular), a party led by H. D. Deve Gowda.

As per his wish, his body was donated^[1] to JJ Hospital, Mumbai.

[edit] References

• Page 9 of The Hindu Bangalore edition, dated 12 November, 2005.
• Page 9 of Eenadu Karnataka edition, dated 12 November, 2005.
• The column Past & Present by Ramachandra Guha in The Hindu (Magazine section) dated 20 November, 2005.