New Delhi|HL
Union Environment Minster Anil Madhav Dave passed away in New Delhi on Thursday morning.
61 year old Dave admitted to Cardiac Care Unit at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) this morning, doctors team at AIIMS tried to resuscitate him for more than an hour before declaring him dead around 9:45am. Dave had been unwell since January this year after suffering from pneumonia. He had not been able to recover since.
Dave, elected as third time member of the Rajya Sabha, he was sworn in as a minister with independent charge of environment, forest and climate change in 2016.
Dave was rushed to the cardiology department around 9am after he complained of uneasiness, shortness of breath and chest pain. Dave was under the care of Dr Gautam Sharma, professor in the department of cardiology at the hospital.
His body is being taken from the AIIMS Mortuary to the department of anatomy for embalming. It will be flown to his hometown Indore later for the last rites.
AIIMS released an official statement that said Dave was brought to AIIMS in a state of cardiac arrest. “All possible measures were taken immediately at AIIMS, but he could not survive and declared dead around 9.45 am.”
His death was condoled by senior politicians, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi who said he was in a meeting with Dave on Wednesday evening and described the demise as a “personal loss”.
“Anil Madhav Dave ji will be remembered as a devoted public servant. He was tremendously passionate towards conserving the environment,” Modi tweeted.
Narendra Modi
✔@narendramodi
Absolutely shocked by the sudden demise of my friend & a very respected colleague, Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave ji. My condolences.
9:47 AM – 18 May 2017
Narendra Modi
✔@narendramodi
Anil Madhav Dave ji will be remembered as a devoted public servant. He was tremendously passionate towards conserving the environment.
9:48 AM – 18 May 2017
Born in Barnagar in Madhya Pradesh, Dave was a Rashtriya Swyamsewak Sangh (RSS) member since childhood. His first major political assignment was as an adviser to then Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharti in 2004.
He then went into political oblivion for sometime as Bharti was replaced by Shivraj Singh Chouhan. But, then he started working on environment related issues on Narmada in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat and was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 2009.
Those close to him said Modi was impressed with his organisation of a seminar on Hinduism and rivers at an event during 2015 Ujjain Kumbh.
Experts from across the world attended the three-day conference inaugurated by the PM. A few months later, he was nominated as environment minister, replacing Prakash Javadekar.
As environment minister, Dave had fastened approval of India’s first river-linking project Ken-Betwa falling in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
Dave took several policy initiatives, including delegating power to give environment clearance to building projects to the state governments and time-bound approval to projects.
