Mangaluru: Cashew baron, industry doyen Gurpur Sadanand Prabhu dies at 93

coastaldigest.com news network
March 4, 2018

Mangaluru, Mar 4: Cashew industry pioneer and founder of city based Achal Industries Gurpur Sadanand Prabhu passed away on Sunday morning (March 4, 2018). He was 93.

He died peacefully at about 4:30 a.m. at his residence due to old age, it is learned. He is survived by his wife Rohini Prabhu and three children, son Giridhar Prabhu and daughters Prafulla Kamath and Anuradha Shenoy.

He was a past president of Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry and was also actively associated with Mangalore Cashew Manufacturers Association. He was also a member of Rotary Club Mangalore North.

Last rites will be at his residence ‘Ananya’ at Bejai Kapikad Road at 12:00 noon today, followed by funeral at1:00 p. m. at his home town Gurpur, according to family sources.

Cashew industry leaders and past presidents of Karnataka Cashew Manufacturers Association Kalbhavi Prakash Rao, Bola Ramanath Kamath, Bola Rahul Kamath and others have condoled the demise of Sadanand Prabhu.

Personal Profile

Born in 1925, Sadanand Prabhu was a native of Gurpur town in the outskirts of the city. After completing his matriculation, he started his career as teacher and then moved into business.

Then on he joined as a partner with his relative in Konchady Appayya Shabhogue and Co, at Bunder. Subsequently he started Sadananda Prabhu and Co., a groundnut oil manufacturing unit.

Then in 1981, at the age of 55, he established Achal Industries, which was one of the first industries to start at the newly formed Baikampady Industrial Area. In 1983, he started his second unit Achal Cashews at Turkewadi, a small village in Maharashtra.

Today Achal is a Rs. 125 crore group comprising four family owned companies with manufacturing units at multiple locations and 950 employees. It became an exporter of processed cashew in 1984 and its products are now reaching North America, the EEC countries, Middle East and Japan. His son Giridhar Prabhu is presently the proprietor of the flagship unit Achal Industries.

According to M. N. Pai, General Manager of Achal Industries and director of three other Achal group companies, Gurpur Sadanand Prabhu had retired from business about two years ago due to his advancing age. “He was a self made man and always had a vision to build a customer friendly business. He was an innovator of several processes in cashew industry,” he said.

Sadanand Prabhu was known as an unassuming and simple person always clad in white dhoti and white shirt. He liked to encourage the younger generation and many entrepreneurs credit him with being their mentor.

He took pride in tax compliance and ethical business practices. Cashew industry being a labour intensive sector, he showed keen interest in employee welfare and always put the workers first. He was one of the first to introduce bus transport for workers. Every worker he employed was well taken care of for the contribution he or she did. Productivity linked wages is one of the innovations practiced at his cashew processing units which enable the labourers to earn more.

According to sources close to him, Sadanand Prabhu always believed that tax paid money is more worth than any other wealth. He was well known for insisting on full tax compliance in his own firms and also had a prodigious knowledge of commercial law. “He was always up to date in all the laws applicable to the industry and even the tax authorities respected him for his knowledge,” said M. N. Pai.

Comments

Mohammed
 - 
Sunday, 4 Mar 2018

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un

Hari
 - 
Sunday, 4 Mar 2018

RIP sir.. Condolence to his family

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News Network
February 5,2020

Mangaluru, Feb 5: The New Mangalore Port implemented the Centre's Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) by screening the crew of cargo ships and passengers of Cruise Vessel for the highly contagious and deadly disease Coronavirus.

Sources in the port said that screening was being carried out at the harbour since the past few days, as a precautionary measure. All the 1,800 passengers and 786 crew of Cruise Vessel 'Costa Victoria,' which stopped at the port, were screened.

Arrangements were also made for screening foreign nationals arriving at the Mangalore International Airport (MIA). 

Besides screening, passengers were also made aware of the Coronavirus and the precautionary steps to be taken.

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coastaldigest.com news network
May 23,2020

Bengaluru, May 23: Karnataka reported 216 covid-19 positive cases in last 24 hours, marking the highest single day spike in the state ever since the first case was detected on 8 March. 187 of these 216 patients have recently returned from Maharashtra.

A 32-year old male resident of Bengaluru died on Saturday making it the 42nd fatality in the state.

The spike on Saturday takes the total number of covid-19 positive closer to the 2,000 mark and the number of active cases to 1,307 in the state, according to the daily health bulletin of the health department.

Yadgir in northern Karnataka recorded 72 cases on Saturday while Raichur recorded 40 cases. Cases in the sugarcane growing region of Mandya continued to rise as 28 people tested positive on Saturday that takes the total number of active cases to 211 as against Bengaluru that has 124.

Gadag registered 15 cases while Bengaluru recorded 4 cases.

Most of those who tested positive on Saturday had returned from other states, especially Maharashtra, one of the worst affected regions in the country.

The spike in cases comes even as the B.S.Yediyurappa-led state government is deliberating further easing of lockdown restrictions post 31 May. The state government has already resumed public bus and train services as well to facilitate inter-district movement of people that has added to fears of spreading the virus from cities to villages where healthcare infrastructure is poor and inadequate.

Karnataka will also see domestic flight arrivals from Monday.

In a statement on Saturday, Bengaluru International Airport said that it introduced ‘Parking-to-Boarding contactless’ journey.

“We have introduced innovative contactless procedures to minimise exposure at the Airport. These enhancements demonstrate our continued commitment to keep our passengers safe in this environment," said Hari Marar, managing director and chief executive of the airport said in a statement on Saturday.

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News Network
June 3,2020

Karwar, Jun 3: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an alert, predicting thundershowers and heavy rainfall over north interior Karnataka, coastal Dakshina Kannada and Udupi over the next three days.

With Cyclone Nisarga hitting the Uttara Kannada coast on Tuesday,  parts of coastal Karnataka received heavy rainfall. Gusty winds tore through the coastal towns, as the sea too turned violent with rough waves smashing the shore.

The alert was issued with the advancement of Nisarga from east-central Arabian Sea to north Maharashtra, and adjoining south Gujarat coast. “Though it does not cover Karnataka, the range of cyclonic winds is very big and reaches north interior Karnataka also.

So an alert has been called out,” CS Patil, director in-charge, IMD, Bengaluru, said. The weather department has forecast a severe cyclonic storm and then a depression. Patil said formation of systems is a common factor before the onset of the monsoon and they help in its advancement.

“Cyclone Nisarga is helping in the quick advancement of the southwest monsoon to Karnataka, and the monsoon is likely to arrive before the scheduled date as conditions are favourable,” he added.

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