Obituary | Amar Ujala's Atul Maheshwari passes away

Son of late Murari Lal Maheswari, the founded Amar Ujala newspaper with Doril Lal Agarwal in 1948 from Agra, Maheswari had taken over as MD of the group in 2001. However later around 2006 the management went through a slight rough phase over shares.

On July 10, 2006 , the Company Law Board (CLB) allowed the majority stakeholders (Atul Maheshwari and Ashok Agarwal) to buy out the 35.33 per cent minority stake owned by Ajai Agarwal and his party (the petitioners). The company was valued at around Rs 390 crore and Maheshwari and his party had to pay around Rs 138 crore beginning August 1, 2006, in a period spanning nine months, to the minority stakeholders to buy out their stakes.

Post this, under the able leadership of Maheshwari, the publication revived its strategic sale plans across all its 18 editions in Northern India . The publication house also became the third-largest daily in terms of total readership in 2007. It grew manifolds since then and had a strong presence in regional markets. Moreover, this year the IRS Q3 data revealed that Amar Ujala was at number 4 with a total readership of 29,738,000.The publication grew tremendously under the able leadership of Maheshwari.

It was reported across media that in her condolence message, Ambika Soni said: "The untimely death of Shri Maheswari has left a void in Hindi journalism which will be difficult to fill. Shri Maheswari through his innovative spirit and entrepreneurial skills was able to enhance the reach of the group to the common man. His contribution in increasing the number of editions to over 18 editions across six states shall always be remembered as a landmark achievement."

"It was through his dynamic leadership that Amar Ujala scaled new heights as far as reach, readership profile and content. I pray to God that the members of the bereaved family gather the strength to overcome the crisis," she added

Talking about Maheshwari being an inspiration to many, Bharat Kapadia, Director, Lokmat, said, "When a young, dynamic and enterprising person like Atul leaves this world, a thousand dreams remain unfulfilled. One can be inspired so much from him that nothing seems to be coming in one's way while achieving one's goal."

Maheswari was the Chairman of the INS regional committee for Uttar Pradesh and was an active member of the IRS, MRUC and CII, and was regularly invited by the government for consultation.

He is survived by his wife and a son and daughter. Maheshwari's loss is a big loss to the media industry as a gentle giant passes away.