Parliament mourns death of former AIR director

NEW DELHI: Both houses of Parliament today mourned the death of eminent Punjabi writer Kartar Singh Duggal, who had also served as a Director of All India Radio.

The writer had died on 26 January of old-age related ailments. He was 94 and is survived by his wife Ayesha, a doctor, and a son.

Rajya Sabha Chairman M Hamid Ansari and Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar made obituary mentions after which members rose for some time to pay tribute to the deceased. He had been nominated for one term to the Rajya Sabha in 1997.

Duggal has carved a place for himself by penning novels, short stories and plays in Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi, and English, with equal elan and was a winner of Sahitya Akademi award and Padma Bhushan.

Born on 1 March 1917, Duggal started his professional career with All India Radio (AIR) where he worked from 1942-66 in various capacities including as Station Director. He had also served as Advisor for the Information and Broadcasting Ministry from 1973 to 1976.

For AIR, Duggal wrote and produced programmes in Punjabi and other languages. He was the Secretary/Director of National Book Trust of India from 1966-73.

Among other awards, Duggal had also been conferred an award by the Programme Staff Association of AIR and Doordarshan.