Former Maharashtra minister Madan Bafna dies at 85

Senior Maharashtra leader and Maval taluka's own Adv. Madan Bafna is no more. He breathed his last on Monday (the 14th) after illness, at the age of 85. Bafna was a former MLA from the Maval assembly constituency and a former minister of state for revenue and transport. His death has left a big void in the political, social and educational circles of Maval taluka and the entire Pune district.

Bafna's political career was long and influential. After completing his LLB in 1967, he took up law practice alongside entering public life. During his studies in Pune, he became friends with senior leader Sharad Pawar, a friendship that later turned into a long political and social association. Bafna began his political career at the local level, serving as general secretary of the Maval Taluka Congress Committee and the Pune District Congress Committee. He was then elected a member of the Pune Zilla Parishad in 1977.

He contested and won the Maval assembly seat on a Congress ticket in 1985 and 1990, serving two terms as MLA from Maval. As an MLA, he got the opportunity to serve in the state cabinet, holding the post of minister of state in the Congress governments led by Sharad Pawar and Sudhakarrao Naik. He served both as minister of state for revenue and minister of state for transport. As minister of state for revenue, he paid particular attention to land-related issues and the functioning of the revenue administration, while also consistently pursuing development works for Maval taluka.

When Sharad Pawar formed the Nationalist Congress Party in 1999, Adv. Madan Bafna also joined Pawar in the NCP. He later served as the party's state vice-president, contributing significantly to strengthening the party organisation and building a large team of workers. He was known in political circles as a trusted and close associate of Sharad Pawar.

Besides politics, Bafna made a major contribution to education. He played a key role in the establishment of the Sant Tukaram Shikshan Prasarak Mandal in Vadgaon, which has provided many students the opportunity to study. In Maval and Pune district politics, Adv. Madan Bafna was respected as an educated, cultured, studious senior leader with an understanding of administration. His warm relationship with party workers and the voice he raised for the concerns of ordinary people had connected him deeply with the people of Maval. With his passing, Maval has lost an experienced political leader, a figure with social understanding, and a senior mentor who worked for education.