Padma Shri Awardee Donates A Helicopter For Medical Needs

After Dholakia got the nation's fourth-highest civilian accolade, his family chose to give him the chopper. He had been intending to give the people of Surat a chopper from some time and when he was quick to proclaim his decision when he learned of the surprise present.

He explained that he had no idea my family was going to surprise him with with a large gift. He couldn't refuse the present from my family, but he opted to give it to a good cause.

Dholakia who has devoted his life to water conservation and the construction of ponds in the water-scarce Saurashtra region Surat is Gujarat's economic centre, yet it lacks its own chopper. As a result, he is devoting this gift to the people of Surat and the social cause.

He has already constructed around 75 ponds in his hometown of Lathi, in the Amreli district of Saurashtra. All of these ponds were built on barren government land in villages such as Akala, Dudhala, and Lathi.

He had previously made headlines for giving his employees with 500 automobiles, 471 diamond sets, and 280 two-bedroom flats as part of a loyalty programme. Savji Dholakia's company employs around 5,500 people and has an annual revenue of over Rs 6000 crore.

Meanwhile, Dholakia, who walked out of school at the age of 13, arrived in Surat in 1977 on a state transport bus with only Rs 12.5 in his pocket as fee, and is today the diamond industry's and Surat's most powerful man.