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Ludhiana
Former Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee president Avtar Singh Makkar died at 78 after a brief illness at the Fortis Hospital in Gurugram on Friday evening.
Makkar, who was SGPC president from November 23, 2005, to November 4, 2016, had been reportedly unwell for the past few days, and was admitted to the hospital in critical condition.
Makkar was the founder-president of Gurudwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Model Town Extension—then a hub of Akali politics in the city. He was elected president of the district Akali jatha in 2002, and even unsuccessfully contested the assembly elections from Ludhiana North before he was elected to the SGPC in 2005 as its 39th president. He remained in the position until November 4, 2016, making him one of SGPC’s longest-serving presidents, second only to Jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra.
On the personal front, he saw his two sons, Manvinder Pal Singh and Tejinder Pal Singh, pass away before him—the first one, a 47-year-old ex-councillor, died of cardiac arrest in 2017, and the second one, his youngest son, died after prolonged illness at 38 in 2013.
He will be cremated in Ludhiana’s Model Town Extension at 2 pm on Saturday.
District SAD-B president Ranjit Singh Dhillon expressed his “deep shock and grief” at Makkar’s passing, saying that the party suffered an irreparable loss.
