GUWAHATI: Former Union Minister, Renuka Devi Barkataky passed away at the ICU of Guwahati Medical College Hospital (GMCH) here at around 1-45 P.M. on Monday. She was admitted to the hospital on Saturday with a serious head injury as she had a fall at her city residence, according to close friends. She was 84 and is survived by a daughter who stays in Germany.
Barkataky was minister of state for education, social welfare, youth welfare and culture etc., in the Union ministry headed by the Prime Minister Late Morarji Desai. She was elected to Lok Sabha from Guwahati parliamentary constituency in 1977 after the Emergency during which she was put into jail by the then government. Before that she was am MLA in Assam.
Barkataky who was married to noted Assamese litterateur late Munin Barkataky, was the chairman of Assam branch of Indian Red Cross Society and Assam branch of INTUC at the time of her demise.
(EoM)
