PATACHARKUCHI, Jan 30 - Mobile theatre pioneer Ratan Lahkar was cremated with full state honours on the Pragati Sangha premises in Pathshala on Monday.
Earlier, his body was brought from the GHCH to the campus of Kohinoor Theatre at Jjyoti Nagar of Pathsala on Sunday evening and kept for paying last respects by the people. On Monday, his body was taken to the Rampur village, his birth place and on the campus of Ratikanta Mahabidyalaya where people offered their last respects to him.
Later, his body was taken to the Harimadir where a large number of people and organisations paid their last respects. Before cremation several rounds of firing were done by the Assam Police as a mark of respect. Pritam Saikia, Commissioner and Secretary of the Cultural Affairs Department; Thaneswar Malakar Deputy Comissioner of Barpeta; actors Mridul Bhuyan, Hiren Medhi and Arup Borah; Krishna Roy, producer of Abahan Theatre; Atul Mazumdar, Producer of Bhagyadevi Theatre; Munindra Baraman, producer of Surya Theatre; Nazrul Islam, producer of Bordoichila Theatre; famous light controller-cum-director Kalyan Day; Dr Jagadish Patgiri, former sectary of Asam Sahitya Sabha; music director Dasarath Das; dance drama writer Ajit Talukdar; popular dramatist Abhijit Bhattacharya, among others, were also present in the cremation programme.
The market and institutions of the Pathsala town observed bandh for the day as a mark of respect to the departed soul of Ratan Lahkar.
Meanwhile, Minister of Cultural Affairs Nava Kumar Doley visited cremation ground on Monday evening and paid his last respect. Later, he met the bereaved family members.
