Former RS member Dipankar Mukherjee passes away

Dipankar Mukherjee, an engineer-turned-trade unionist and former Rajya Sabha member, died at a hospital in New Delhi on Monday after battling pancreatic cancer.

Mukherjee, 69, a former Communist Party of India (Marxist) Rajya Sabha member from West Bengal and a senior leader of the CITU, breathed his last at around 7.40 am at Ganga Ram Hospital, Tapas Sen, CITU general secretary, said.

He was a bachelor.

CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat said that he was deeply grieved to hear the news of the demise of Mukherjee.

"Dipankar was a comrade who served the Party and the working class movement.  In Parliament, he displayed his versatile qualities and made a mark as an able parliamentarian.  As a trade union leader he was known for his deep knowledge of working class issues and his consistent class outlook," Karat said.

"Comrade Dipankar was a valuable comrade and we had expected him to continue to contribute to the movement given his abilities and competence. He fell seriously ill and the best medical treatment could not save him. His death at this juncture is a big loss," he added.

Mukherjee, who did his electrical engineering from Banaras Hindu University, was admitted to the hospital recently after he complained of stomach pain. Later, he was detected with cancer in the pancreas.

He underwent a major surgery about a week ago and was shifted from ICU two days ago.

Mukherjee was first elected to Rajya Sabha in 1994 and was a member of Parliamentary Committees on Energy, Public

Undertakings, Petroleum and Chemicals, Transport and Tourism, Petroleum and Natural Gas and Power.