Rajya Sabha mourns the death of P A Sangma

NEW DELHI: Rajya Sabha today mourned the death of former Lok Sabha speaker P A Sangma with the Chairman Hamid Ansari describing him as a distinguished parliamentarian and an able administrator.

When the House met for the day, Ansari mentioned the passing away of Sangma on March 4 at the age of 68 years.

A professor, advocate and journalist, Sangma was associated with several social welfare organisation and worked for backward, tribals and downtrodden sections of society.

He first became a member of Lok Sabha in 1977 and was re-elected to the 6th, 7th, 8th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 16th Lok Sabha. He was Speaker of Lok Sabha from 1996 to 1998, the Chairman said said.

In his death, "the country has lost a distinguished parliamentarian, an able administrator and a dedicated social worker," Ansari said deeply mourning passing away of Sangma.

Members stood in silence as a mark of respect to the memory of the departed.