Nepali Cong. leader Pradhan passes away

Kathmandu, Aug. 5 : Former Member of Parliament and Nepali Congress (NC) leader Surya Prasad Pradhan passed away today morning.

Aged 74, NC leader Pradhan, who collapsed all of a sudden at his residence in Butwal last night, was immediately rushed to the Lumbini Zonal Hospital where he breathed his last, the Himalayan Times reported.

Born in 1940 in Pang of Parbat district, Pradhan migrated to Butwal in his mid-twenties.

He forayed into politics with the Bhadra Abagya Aandolan, one of the prominent political movements in Nepal, staged in 1957.

Later he was elected the Mayor of Butwal and then Member of Parliament in 1999.

Pradhan had played a crucial role in the overall development of the Rupandehi district. He is credited for his contribution for the construction of the Blood Transfusion Centre in Butwal, the Lumbini Zonal Hospital, the Siddhartha Women and Children Hospital Amda, Lumbini Commerce Campus, the Sidhartha Gautam Buddha Campus and Butwal Multiple Campus among other educational and medical institutions in the district. (ANI)