Anil Awachat

Founder

Anil Awachat is the founder of Muktangan Mitra (1986)[1], an Indian non-profit working on de-addiction, healthcare and mental health from Pune.

Anil Awachat (1944 - 27 January 2022) was a Marathi writer, journalist and social activist based in Pune. Trained as a doctor, he chose not to practise medicine and instead wrote reportage on social questions. In 1986 he and his wife, Anita Awachat, founded Muktangan, a de-addiction and rehabilitation centre in Pune run by the trust Muktangan Mitra.

Early life and education

Awachat was born in 1944 at Otur in the Pune district of Maharashtra. He studied at Fergusson College in Pune and then took an MBBS degree from B. J. Medical College, Pune. He decided against private medical practice and turned to writing and social work.

Career

In the early 1970s Awachat edited the Marathi journal Sadhana, and his reporting on the Maharashtra drought of 1972 brought him wider attention. He wrote regularly for Marathi magazines and published a number of books, among them Manasa, Swatahavishayi, Gard, Karyarat, Karyamagna and Kutuhalapoti. Addiction, its causes and consequences, and the vulnerability of the individual are recurring subjects in his work.

In 1986 Awachat and his wife Anita, a physician, established the Muktangan de-addiction centre in Pune, which treats people with alcohol and drug dependence. After Anita Awachat's death in 1997 he continued to direct the centre with their daughter, Mukta Puntambekar. He was also known for his interest in origami, wood carving, flute playing, cooking, painting and photography.

Awachat died at his home in Pune on 27 January 2022, aged 78, after a prolonged illness.[2][3][4][5]

Muktangan Mitra

Founded by Dr Anil and Dr Anita Awachat, Muktangan is one of India's most respected de-addiction and rehabilitation centres, treating alcohol and drug dependence with a humane therapeutic-community model and training counsellors nationwide.

Muktangan Mitra reports the following, on its own site: