Former Odisha Minister and eminent writer Jadunath Das Mohapatra died at a private hospital here today. He was 90.
His son, daughter and relatives were present at his bed side when he breathed his last.
Mr Das Mohapatra was admitted to the hospital on Sunday last for treatment of Kidney related problem.
Born on March 1,1929 in Balasore, Mr Das Mohapatra started his political career as a student leader. He was the president of Kolkotta Utkal Sudent Federation.
After completing graduation in Law, he joined the Congress in 1962 and elected as the General Secretary of the Balasore District Congress Committee from 1964 to 1967 and later became its President from 1967 to 1970.
A three-time MLA, Das Mohapatra was elected to the Odisha Assembly in March 1971 from his home constituency Soro as a candidate of the Utkal Congress and served as Deputy Finance Minister in 1972 in the cabinet of former Chief Minister Nandini Satpathy.
He was re-elected from Soro in 1977 and again in 1985 and became the Education Minister in the cabinet of the then Chief Minister Janaki Ballav Patnaik.
Mr Das Mohapatra has authored more than 70 books including poetry, short story, and drama and received the Odisha Sahitya Akademi Award for his book ”Athaba Andhara”.
Odisha Assembly Speaker P K Amat, Higher Education Minister Ananta Das, School and Mass education Minister Badrinarayan Patra, Tourism Minister Ashok Chandra Panda expressed their profound grief on his death and expressed their sympathies to the bereaved family members.
Prasanta Patnaik