Late Shri. Dhondumama Sathe
Maharshtra Technical Education Society (MTES) is founded in 1945 by Late Shri. Dhondumama Sathe along with Hon’ble Shri. Datto Waman Potdar, Shri. Pudmjee, Shri. C.G. Agashe, Shri. M. V. Bhide, Shri. M. V. Shah, Shri. R. G. Sule and others, at Pune, Maharashtra.
Dhondo Krishna Sathe, popularly known as Dhondumama Sathe , Long before the term became popular, he was one of the first serial entrepreneur from Pune. Dhondumama created a name for himself as a building contractor. Some of the notable landmarks that he constructed include the SP College at Pune, The Pune Railway Station Building, Ruia College, Mumbai, New English School Pune, Aryan Education Society at Girgaon, Mumbai. The artistic canopy of Lokmanya Tiak’s status at Mahatma Phule Mandai in Pune was built by him. Dhondumama took sincere efforts to establish a new private bank – Bank of Maharashtra that was set up in 1935.
Dhondumama was very passionate about industry and commerce and was convinced of its positive role in the development of the country. Trained people were the bedrock for any meaningful progress. Those days there was a solitary engineering college in Pune offering degree in engineering. This catered to the erstwhile Bombay state that also included parts of Gujarat and North Karnataka. Dhondumama was consumed by a new passion of setting up an engineering college to provide skilled experts who would contribute in the industrial development. He worked hard to achieve the dream and set up the Maharashtra Technical Education Society. The plan was to start the college in Pune. However at the request of then Chief Minister B G Kher it was decided to establish it elsewhere since Pune already had an engineering college. The Rajesaheb of Sangli and the Walchand Group supported his efforts and the college was established in Sangli. The New Engineering College was established in 1947. The college was renamed Walchand College of Engineering in 1955 after Walchand Trust rescued and rehabilitated this college from trouble. The then Vice President Dr S Radhakrishnan graced this function the chief guest.
He supported a large number of students to complete their education by providing assistance in cash or kind. Dhondumama’s wide social circle was also part of his endevaours. N C Kelkar, Datto Waman Potdar, F D Pudumjee, Chandrashekhar Agashe, N G Pawar, N V Gadgil, A R Bhat and other prominent citizens were his associates in many of the ventures.