Mangal Lodha

Mangal Prabhat Lodha (born 18 December 1955) is an Indian politician and vice-president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unit of Maharashtra state, and is the founder of the Lodha Group — a Mumbai-based real estate developer into housing and commercial projects. He is also the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) representing the Malabar Hill constituency[1] of South Mumbai and an active social worker.

Early life and education

Mangal Prabhat Lodha was born and brought up in Bhinmal, Marwar, Rajasthan, and is the son of Guman Mal Lodha, a freedom fighter and the Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court. He is married to Manju Lodha and has two sons, Abhishek and Abhinandan.

Lodha completed his B.Com and LLB from the University of Jodhpur and practised law in the Rajasthan High Court. Once his father was appointed a judge in the same court, he moved his practice from this court as he believed that it would be inappropriate to practice in the same court in which his father was the judge.

In 1981, he moved to Mumbai and laid the foundation of the Lodha Group,[2] which over the years, has grown into one of India’s leading real estate companies.

Career in real estate development

His firm, Lodha Developers, currently has 30 projects under construction covering 35 million square feet, including a 117-story luxury high-rise in central Mumbai called "World One," with some apartments being designed by world-renowned designer Giorgio Armani. His company was famous for investing over $1 billion in developing New Cuffe Parade, an upcoming township that comprised four 63-storey towers on a 23-acre site.[3] The company is currently being run by his sons, Abhishek[4] and Abhinandan.

Political career

Lodha was interested from a young age in politics and national issues and was an active member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in his youth.

Lodha has been the MLA of Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha, representing the Malabar Hill constituency for five consecutive terms since 1995, after beating the then incumbent Balwant Desai of Indian National Congress.

As a legislator, Lodha played a key role in the enactment of the Right to Information Act (RTI), an act that aimed to reduce corruption by giving the common man a tool to gather knowledge. He was also the first to introduce the RTI Bill in the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha, and ensured that the Bill was passed despite stern opposition.

He helped set up the Animal Welfare Board in Maharashtra and has currently proposed a law against cow slaughter in the state.

On 26 March 2017, Lodha demanded that the Jinnah House, the home of founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah be demolished with a cultural centre built in its place.[5] A few days later, Pakistan called for the Jinnah House to be respected.[6]

Social and political contributions

Mangal Prabhat Lodha was influential in bringing separate law/regulations in favour of the construction and development of over 50,000 housing societies. He used his industry-grown credibility as an important link between the government and Mumbai’s business community to implement a number of policies. For example, his charitable trust, the Lodha Foundation,[7] has implemented numerous initiatives for the lesser privileged that encompass areas including education, healthcare, sports and culture. The foundation also provides facilities such as medical treatment, education, vocational training, and sports training to thousands of people.

Some of his trust’s notable social contributions include

  • Mobile health clinics run using medical vans that organise free medical camps for two hours each in morning and evening so as to provide affordable services to the community.
  • School Health Camps that include Regular health check-ups for children studying in Primary and Secondary level in 35 government-aided and private schools.
  • "Nirogi Mahila Abhiyan," which is a campaign that aimed at improving the health and welfare of women and young girls who live in places with poor health/hygiene conditions such as slums and do not have easy access to or cannot afford proper medical care.
  • "Jeevan Asha Yojana," which is an initiative that aims to raise financial aid and medical help for patients who are too poor to meet the expenses of expensive medical treatments and surgeries.
  • An initiative to control the spread of serious illness due to Dengue and Malaria in the city by fogging unhygienic areas such as stagnant water in drainage systems and other places in slums and housing societies.
  • An initiative to clean the water tanks in housing societies, schools, colleges and police stations. The initiative claims to benefit about 500 complexes and cleans more than 4,000 tanks every year.
  • Opening generic pharmacy shops with the aim to provide patients with good quality medicine at a low cost. Each pharmacy is said to come equipped over 270 types of medicines.

In 2014, he proposed the building of a coastal freeway[8] from Nariman Point to Virar and from Nariman Point to Ghatkopar through Eastern Freeway.

References

  1. ↑ "About Malabar Hill Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) Constituency".
  2. ↑ "Lodha Group". Lodha Group.
  3. ↑ "23 Acres".
  4. ↑ "Mangal Prabhat Lodha".
  5. ↑ "BJP MLA Mangal Prabhat Lodha places demand in assembly: Jinnah House symbol of Partition, should be demolished". The Indian Express. 26 March 2017. Retrieved 2018-06-05.
  6. ↑ "A day after BJP MLA asked for its demolition, Pakistan tells India to show respect to Jinnah House". The Indian Express. 30 March 2017. Retrieved 2018-06-05.
  7. ↑ "Health". Lodha Foundation.
  8. ↑ "Coastal Freeway". Indian Express.
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