SHILLONG, July 27 - Former President, APJ Abdul Kalam passed away at the Bethany Hospital here today.
Kalam, who was a visiting faculty at the Indian Institute of Management here, collapsed during a lecture at the institute and was rushed to the hospital.
The doctors at the institute immediately referred the former President to the nearest Bethany Hospital. �The former President was declared dead at 7.45 pm,� Meghalaya Governor V Shanmuganathan said.
PTI adds: Former President APJ Abdul Kalam, the �missile man� who came to be known as �People�s President�, was considered the most popular President. He became the 11th head of the state and occupied the post between 2002 and 2007, but lack of consensus denied a second term in office for a man who came from outside the political spectrum.
Meghalaya Chief Secretary PBO Warjiri told reporters outside the hospital that he had spoken to Union Home Secretary LC Goyal, asking for necessary arrangements to be made for carrying Kalam�s body from Guwahati to Delhi tomorrow morning.
Doctors from the Army Hospital and North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) rushed to Bethany Hospital, but their efforts proved to be of no avail.
A seven-day national mourning will be declared by the Centre, Union Home Secretary Goyal said. Both the Houses of Parliament are likely to make obituary references and adjourn as a mark of respect to his memory.
Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam rose from humble origins to become President in the most unexpected manner during the NDA government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee after an all-party consensus minus the Left parties, that saw him through in an election which he won handsomely.
An aeronautics engineer from the Madras Institute of Technology, Kalam was considered the brain of the missile programme in India and as Chief Scientific Adviser to Vajpayee, was also instrumental in the Pokhran nuclear test in 1998.
As President, Kalam utilised any opportunity that came to him to address students, especially schoolchildren, to dream big so that they became achievers in life.
A bachelor, the former President was a veena player and was deeply interested in Carnatic music. He was a vegetarian all his life.
President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice-President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and leaders cutting across party lines condoled the demise of the former President.
Modi described him as �marg darshak� while the Home Minister termed him as an inspiration to an entire generation. Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said that Kalam was a darling of youths and students.
Our Staff Reporter adds: Governor PB Acharya has deeply condoled the sudden demise of Dr Kalam in Shillong. He said the nation has lost a great genius.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi condoled the death of Dr Kalam. In his death, India has lost a great scientist and a good human being, Gogoi said.