Ainthu Sahu passes away

OST Bureau

Bhubaneswar, Nov 28:

Former minister, MP and chairman of Western Odisha Development Council (WODC) Ainthu Sahu passed away here on Thursday.

He was 86 and was ailing for quite some time.

The end came at the Apollo Hospital here at about 6.50 pm. He was admitted to the hospital nearly a fortnight ago after having problems in breathing and was shifted to the intensive care unit (ICU) when his condition worsened three days ago.

Sahu is survived by his three sons and two daughters. His wife, Pournamasi Devi died a few years ago.

The last rights will be performed at Sahu’s ancestral village Batharla under Patnagarh police station in Balangir district on Friday, said his eldest son Kulamani who was at the bedside when the end came.

Born on January 1, 1928, Sahu was elected to the Assembly five consecutive times from 1957 four times from Patnagarh and once from Saintala. He was also elected to the Lok Sabha from Balangir constituency as a Lok Dal candidate in 1977. He was the chairperson of Odisha Forest Corporation from 1990 to 1995 and chairperson of the Western Odisha Development Council (WODC) from 2001 to 2006.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik has condoled Sahu’s death describing him as an able leader.  “With his death, the state has lost a veteran leader”, he said. Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat, Opposition leader Bhupinder Singh, former minister AU Singhdeo and Balangir MP Kalikesh Narayan Singhdeo were among the many leaders who condoled the former leader’s death.