Former President APJ Abdul Kalam passes away in Shillong

SHILLONG: Former President A P J Abdul Kalam, a popular head of state between 2002 and 2007, died today after he collapsed during a lecture here.

Kalam, 84, was rushed to Bethany hospital in Nongrim hills after he collapsed during the lecture in the Indian Institute of Management at around 6.30 PM.

Chief Secretary P B O Warjiri told reporters outside the hospital that he had spoken to Union Home Secretary L C Goyal asking for necessary arrangements to be made for carrying Kalam's body from Guwahati to Delhi tomorrow morning.

"The former President has been admitted to Bethany hospital in a critical condition," M Kharkrang, SP Khasi Hills said earlier.

The former President collapsed during a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management at around 6.30 PM and was rushed to the hospital in Nongrim hills in the capital city of Meghalaya, where he is in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Doctors from the army hospital and North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) rushed to Bethany hospital.

Governor V Shanmughanathan, Speaker Abu Taher Mondal, Home Minister Roshan Warjiri, the Chief Secretary and DGP Rajiv Mehta rushed to the hospital.

“The body of the former president will be flown to New Delhi via Guwahati Tuesday morning,” Warjri said. IIM-S officials said Kalam, who had tweeted in the morning about the function, showed no signs of illness after he reached the Meghalaya capital. “We had a packed house for the lecture on Liveable Planet Earth,” an official said.