Dr. Kalam’s body flown to Rameswaram from Delhi
The mortal remains of former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam were on Wednesday flown to his hometown Rameswaram from New Delhi in a special aircraft.
The special aircraft took off from the Palam airport at around 08:15 a.m. after all three forces gave a sendoff to the former Head of the state.
Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and senior BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain were present at the airport.
The aircraft will fly to Madurai, from where the mortal remains will be flown in to Rameswaram by an IAF helicopter.
Wrapped in a tri—colour, Kalam’s body was taken to the airport in a gun carriage from his 10 Rajaji Marg residence at 7 a.m., as officials and commoners bid farewell to the man, whose life inspired countless Indians.
Mr. Naidu and Mr. Parrikar are accompanying the mortal remains of Kalam to Rameswaram. Minister of State for Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan, who is from Tamil Nadu, will also join the two Union ministers.
The funeral of the former President will be held in Rameswaram, his birth place in Tamil Nadu, on Thursday with full military honours.
The district administration of Rameswaram has selected three places for the funeral and would finalise a place after consulting A. P. J. M. Maraikayar, elder brother of Mr. Kalam and other family members, official sources said.
Three places – a government land at Meyyampuli, near Thangachimadam; a forest land at Natarajapuram near Danushkodi; and a private land of Abil Kabil Dargah have been shortlisted, the sources said.
Kalam’s Twitter account renamed ‘In memory of Dr Kalam’
Although former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam is no more, his Twitter account will continue to be active in a new form.
A team of his close associates has decided to run his official Twitter account, which has now been renamed as ‘In memory of Dr Kalam’. Kalam’s close aide Srijan Pal Singh will act as the administrator of this Twitter account.
‘He was always the same Kalam I knew from our college days’
T. Sampath Kumar, a room-mate of Kalam, when he was doing his undergraduation from St. Joseph’s College, Tiruchi, recalls he six-decade friendship with the former President. Read more
School and college students paying homage to the former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam at a condolence meet in Mangaluru on Tuesday. Photo: K.S. Manjunath.
With numerous research centres and educational institutes, Bengaluru was never far in the calendar of late A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
In an unassuming apartment complex for Central government employees besides the Airport Road in Yelahanka, the Bharat Ratna winner owned one of the 603 flats. His grandneice Roja lives there now.
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Source:Thehindu
