College peon wins jackpot, says he will spend it on charity

Nagpur, Aug 12: A college peon from Vidarbha's famous shrine town Shegaon, who has won the Rs.33.8 million Playwin Sikkim lottery, says he would like to spend a good part of the windfall on charity and religious purposes.

Playing it cool after being officially informed Tuesday about the Aug 7 Bumper Lotto result, Gajanan Dhage of the Gajanan Maharaj College of Engineering, over 300 km from here, said he would accept the money in all humility as blessings from Gajanan Maharaj, the late 19th century saint of Shegaon in Buldana district.

“I will adopt three poor girls from my village (Chincholi near Shegaon) taking care of their education and marriage; put Rs.1 million in fixed deposit to organize bhandara (free meals for the needy) and donate a car to Tejaswi Maharaj, (a saint from nearby village Warodi) - this is what I can think of immediately,” Dhage, 47, told IANS.

The 78th Playwin group winner will actually get Rs.21.4 millions after mandatory tax deductions and that too will take some months.

Father of two sons and a daughter, Dhage was brought up by his paternal aunt after he was orphaned in childhood. He got a job as a peon in the Shegaon engineering college some years after studying up to class 12.

He doesn't intend leaving the job or changing his lifestyle after receiving the bonanza.

“I am determined not to take it (the lottery) to my head… and since we have all led a contented life within my meagre means, I believe the god has willed the bounty not basically for me and my family but for the more needy people around me," he said.

But doesn't he think charity begins at home - that he can better discharge his responsibilities towards his family now with the prize money and give himself a comfortable life?

“Yes, of course, I will do all that, but if I think of the needs of my family alone, there will be no end to it. So let me think of others as much as I can,” he replied.