KK Birla passes away

30th september.

Industrialist and former Rajya Sabha member Krishna Kumar Birla, passed away at his residence this morning.

He was 90. He was suffering from various ailments for the past couple of weeks.

Krishna Kumar Birla had established one of India's biggest business conglomerates. His business empire is spread across various sectors including sugar, fertilisers, chemicals, heavy engineering, textiles, shipping and the newspaper industry (including The Hindustan Times).

He is survived by his three daughters~ Nandini Nupani, Shobhna Bhartia and Jyoti Poddar.

His wife Manorama Devi died about a month ago. He served as the member of Rajya Sabha for three terms from 1984 to 2002. Mr BK Birla, brother of KK Birla, who also stays at Birla Park in the city, was present at the time of death as were his daughters and sons-in-law.

In his condolence message, the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh said Birla was not only an eminent industrialist but a well-known public figure in the country. Describing Birla's contribution to the development of the country as immense, Dr Singh said he was a multifaceted personality.

The Prime Minister said that as a member of the Rajya Sabha for 18 consecutive years, Birla was known for his active participation in the debates.

Dr Singh said Birla provided exemplary leadership in making The Hindustan Times, a leading daily newspaper in the country.

“Everything he did was touched with compassion and understanding”, he said. Terming his demise as a great loss to the country, he said Birla had left behind a void that would be difficult to fill.

Former Prime Minister and senior BJP leader Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee today expressed his condolences over the death of industrialist KK Birla. “With the death of KK Birla a strong pillar of Indian industry has fallen.

A dedicated, hard-working and sincere industrialist has left us,” Mr Vajpayee said in his message. Mr Vajpayee said people like Birla were rare and his death was a personal loss to him.

Governor Mr Gopal Krishna Gandhi, who went to Birla House to pay his homage to the eminent personality said that Krishna Kumar Birla was affectionately known as an acute observer of national and international events for his discreet contributions to public policy.

He would be remembered for ever as an outstanding social engineer, an innovative newspaper owner and industrialist, added Mr Gandhi.

India Inc. mourns

Indian industry today mourned the demise of philanthropist and industrialist Krishna Kumar Birla, popularly known as KK Babu, saying his death has left a vacuum that would be difficult to be filled.

“With the death of Birla, a vacuum has been created which would be difficult to be filled in,” Assocham president Mr Sajjan Jindal said. He said Birla's contribution to the Indian industry would always be remembered.

Ficci president Mr Rajeev Chandrasekhar described..............

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