Pradeep Giri no more

Nepali Congress leader and Socialist thinker Pradeep Giri passed away on Saturday while receiving treatment at Mediciti Hospital in Lalitpur. He was admitted to the hospital in July after suffering from pneumonia. Earlier, he had been to India for the treatment of his throat cancer. Immediately after he returned to Nepal from India, he suffered from pneumonia and was admitted to the hospital. He was 75.

The last rites of late Giri were performed with state honour at Pashupati Aryaghat on Sunday.

Although Giri himself had wished to be cremated in his hometown Bastipur in Siraha and the villagers also came to take his mortal body to Siraha, his last rites were performed at Pashupati as per the Hindu tradition. His son Santosh Giri lit the funeral pyre while his spouse Bharati Silwaal Giri also reached Aryaghat to pay her tribute to her late husband.

A big crowd of politicians including Prime Minister and NC president Sher Bahadur Deuba, NC leader Dr Shekahr Koirala, former Prime Minister and CPN-UML chair KP Sharma Oli, ministers, lawmakers and others reached Aryaghat to pay their tribute to late leader Giri. Nepali Congress leaders, carders and well-wishers also thronged Aryghat in large numbers. A contingent of Nepal Police offered a guard of honour to the late Giri.

Before being taken to Pashupati Aryaghat for cremation, Giri’s body was kept on the premises of Mediciti Hospital in the morning and later at the NC central office, Sanepa, where hundreds of leaders and others paid Giri their last tribute. President Bidya Devi Bhandari paid heartfelt tributes to Giri while expressing sadness over the news of his demise.