Arunachal ex-min Tsering Tashi dies

ITANAGAR: Former Arunachal Pradesh minister Tsering Tashi passed away at his residence here after a battle with cancer, family sources said on Friday. He was 69.
Tashi, who died on Thursday night, is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter, state surveillance officer Dr Lobsang Jampa, who is his brother, said.
Born in Khrimu village in Tawang district, Tashi went to Sainik School, Bhubaneswar, and graduated from Jawaharlal Nehru College, Pasighat.Tashi joined active politics in 1978 and won the mid-term polls in 1980.
He was inducted into the government as one of the five cabinet ministers immediately after his first election victory by then chief minister Gegong Apang. During his first term in office, he held the PWD and cooperative portfolios, among others. In his second term in office, he held the portfolios of social-culture, finance, RWD and law. Tashi was instrumental in getting Tawang a district status in 1984 and in the formation of the Itanagar Buddhist Culture Society. His body will be kept at his residence, Tenzin Villa, in Siddarth Vihar, for his friends and well-wishers to pay their last respects, after 2 pm, Jampa added