Hyderabad based journalist Mahesh Avadhutha who is presently working with The Hans India has bagged the Surya Gaurav National Award 2020 for his reportage on corona virus.
The award constituted by Suryadutta Group of Institutes, Pune in 2002 is given to individuals who excel in their chosen vocation and who make a difference to society. The awardees are from several fields including science & technology, healthcare & medicine, entrepreneurship, creative and performing arts and other fields.
Mahesh Avadhutha was the first from Hyderabad to have reported soon after the outbreak in Wuhan China. Speaking to Navya Media he said, “The moment I came to know about the cases in Wuhan I called up the authorities at the Hyderabad airport who were puzzled at my queries about people coming from China. Only later after a few weeks did they realize why I was asking them.” He further added, “If the cases were, let us say from Africa I would not have probed much but there is a sizable Indian population living in China and a great deal of business is done there. The situation has now changed though.”
Some of his stories have been picked up by the national media. He has been handling the health beat for quite some years now apart from politics and education.