Gloom in Tiruchi

By Our Special Correspondent

TIRUCHI, AUG. 23. The citizens of Tiruchi received with shock and dismay the news of the demise of the Union Minister, Mr. Rangarajan Kumaramangalam and normal life in the city came to standstill. A pall of gloom fell over the city and cutting across partylines, people paid tributes to the Minister who represented the constituency in the Lok Sabha.

All commercial establishments, business houses and educational institutions remained closed today as a mark of respect to the departed leader.

A few miscreants pelted stones at the buses early in the morning, damaging about a dozen buses.

Mr. K. N. Nehru, Minister for Food, Pulavar Senguttuvan, Minister for Animal Husbandry, Mr. V. Murthy, District Collector and Mr. J. K. Tripathi, Commissioner of Police, visited the office of the Union Minister here and garlanded a portrait of Mr. Kumaramangalam. Mrs. Punithavalli Pazhaniyandi, Mayor of the Tiruchi Corporation, paid tributes to the departed leader.

Mr. Kumaramangalam, elected twice from Tiruchi to the Lok Sabha - in 1998 and in 1999 - had great dreams to make Tiruchi an important industrial and economic centre by providing vital infrastructure facilities. Thanks to his initiative, Tiruchi got Internet connectivity in 1998, the first internet server to be operated by DoT in 1999. The memorandum of understanding for establishing a software park in Tiruchi was signed last week.

JD(S) condolences

The Janata Dal (Secular) has condoled the demise of Mr. Kumaramangalam. In a statement issued in Madurai, Mr. K. John Moses, State general secretary, described him as a person endowed with the ability to leave a mark in whatever he did.

Silent procession

The members of the BJP today took out a silent procession in Nagercoil to condole the demise of the Union Minister.

The Tirunelveli district unit of the BJP held a condolence meeting in front of the railway junction in Tirunelveli on Wednesday evening to mourn the demise of the Union Minister.

Contributions recalled

By Our Staff Reporter

TIRUCHI, AUG. 23. The death of their Lok Sabha representative today brought together various sections of the citizens, as hundreds of people from all walks of life gathered to mourn the death of Mr. Rangarajan Kumaramangalam.

All those, who spoke at the all-party meeting held here, recalled his role in getting development and welfare works done for his constituency, which endeared him to his electorate, all within a span of less than two years.

They spoke of the irreparable loss to the constituency in the demise of its representative. His political opponents also showered encomiums, saying he had never acted partially or with parochial intentions.

Those, who addressed the meeting, included the Food and Cooperatives Minister, Mr. K. N. Nehru, the BJP State Secretary, Mr. H. Raja and Hindu Munnani leader, Mr. Ramagopalan. Earlier, hundreds of mourners took out a silent procession from the Minister's office near the Central bus-stand which culminated at the meeting venue at Marakkadai.

An all-party procession taken out in Tiruchi on Wednesday to mourn the death of the Union Minister for Power, Mr. Rangarajan Kumaramangalm.

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