Pune Deputy Mayor Kamble dies, thousands bid adieu

Pune Deputy Mayor Navnath Kamble died after suffering a massive heart attack while on a morning walk here on Tuesday morning, officials said.

According to an aide, he suddenly complained of breathlessness and chest pain while on his regular morning walk and was immediately rushed to Ruby Hospital.

However, a short while later, he succumbed during treatment in the hospital's ICU.

The body was taken out in a procession and the last rites were performed at the Koregaon Park crematorium around sunset.

Thousands of mourners, including political activists and social workers, turned up to bid a tearful adieu.

A senior Dalit leader, he had first joined the Dalit Panthers Party while studying but later switched over to Republican Party of India-A, headed by Union Minister Ramdas Athawale, in 1990.

While Bharatiya Janata Party nominee Mukta Tilak was elected mayor, he was elected to the coveted post of Deputy Mayor in mid-March.

Born in 1969 in Dhargaon village of Osmanabad, he came to Pune with his family in 1972 and studied here, doing his graduation from Wadia College of Arts.

Appointed the RPI-A Pune city chief soon after joining it, he was first elected as a municipal corporator in the PMC in 1997 and was among the five party nominees, who won in the February 2017 polls.

Athawale expressed his deep grief over Kamble's demise and cancelled his silver wedding anniversary celebrations scheduled on Tuesday.

--IANS

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