Mumbai, Jan 26 (IANS) As many as 23 eminent personalities, spanning a wide spectrum from Bollywood to theatre to social work to medicine, from Maharashtra figure in the national Padma honours list of 109 this year.

These include one Padma Vibhushan, nine Padma Bhushans and 13 Padma Shris, giving the state a lion’s share in the total number of the prestigious national awards.

Renowned orthopaedic surgeon K.H. Sancheti from Pune, who was conferred with the Padma Shri in 1991 and Padma Bhushan in 2001, has now been honoured with the Padma Vibhushan.

Sancheti was in the limelight recently for treating his close friend and anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare.

Bollywood actor Dharmendra and National Award winning actress Shabana Azmi have been named for Padma Bhushan this year, while ghazal singer Anup Jalota and classical Dhrupad singer Zia Fariduddin Dagar are honoured with Padma Shri.

Hailing from a distinguished family of poets, writers and film personalities, Azmi has been an acclaimed actress for over three decades and has won several National Awards. She was given the Padma Shri in 1988.

Anup Jalota has been honoured with a Padma Shri - five years ago his father P.D. Jalota was conferred the same honour.

Eminent Mumbai astrophysicist S.M. Chitre and well-known neurologist Noshir H. Wadia have been honoured with the Padma Bhushan.

The other prominent award winners include: S.N. Goenka (social worker), Suresh Advani (medico), M.S. Raghunathan (mathematician), B. Muthuraman (former managing director of TATA Steel), Prof. S.B. Mujumdar (academician), N.P. Pandya (academician), Yezdi Hirji Malegam (noted chartered accountant), Mukesh Batra (homeopath), Vanraj Bhatia (music director), Shahid Parvez Khan (renowed sitarist), Yamunabai Waikar (folk musician), Satish Alekar (theatre artist), Arun Hastimal Firodia (Kinetic Group chairman), Swati Piramal (president of Assocham), Prabhakar Vaidya (mathematician), and K Paddaya (author of archeological books).