Industrialist Balasaheb Patil passes away at 93

Balasaheb Patil, who was one of the pioneering industrialists in North Karnataka, died in Belagavi on Thursday.

He was 93.

He founded the B.T. Patil and Sons Group, known as Patsons, a large industrial and business house, and made investments in various fields.

He was known for advanced engineering skills, personal discipline and environmental sustainability.

His engineering companies took up construction of challenging projects like tunnels inside mountains in the Konkan Railway.

They have completed over 65 km of tunnels, including the 3-km-long Tike tunnel.

Belagavi-based Patsons became known across the country for its unique skills in tunnelling and turnkey construction of dams and hydro-power projects. It later diversified into automation, structural engineering and IT services.

Mr. Patil also set up and ran a polytechnic in Belagavi. A well-known philanthropist, he donated ₹1 crore to PM CARES Fund.

He also donated large amounts of food and other material to the poor during the COVID-19 induced lockdown.

Last year, Mr. Patil took the Belagavi City Corporation and Belagavi Smart City Corporation to court against their act of taking over his land for road construction without land acquisition and not following the due process of law.

The High Court of Karnataka in Dharwad ruled against the State government and awarded damages to Mr. Patil. The city corporation later decided to close the road and return the land to the petitioner.

He is survived by his wife, sons Sachin and Tushar, daughter, brother Prabhakar Patil, sister Shalini and several other relatives and friends.

A leader of the Jain community, he was a chairman of Mahaveer Cooperative Bank for over 25 years. He was among the founders of Markandeya Sugars. He was involved in the management of several Jain institutions like Mahaveer Bhavan.

In a condolence message, MLA and BJP leader Abhay Patil said, “With profound grief, we mourn the passing of my uncle, Balasaheb T. Patil — a visionary industrialist, philanthropist. He leaves behind a profound legacy of integrity, vision and nation-building — one that continues to inspire engineers, entrepreneurs and educators alike.”