UNB, Dhaka: State Minister for Social Welfare Promode Mankin died early Wednesday at a hospital in India. He was 78. The junior minister, who had been undergoing treatment at Holy Family Hospital in Mumbai for lung cancer, breathed his last around 4:25am, said Mainul Islam, senior information officer of the Social Welfare Ministry. Promode Mankin is survived by his wife, five daughters, a son and a host of relatives to mourn his death. He was taken to India on April 21 for better treatment of his lung cancer, diabetic and other diseases, said a Social Welfare Ministry release. His body will be flown to Dhaka by a flight of Jet Airways on Thursday around 11:55am. Later, his mortal remains will be brought to Kakrail Catholic Church around 1:00pm. A prayer session will be held there. Promode Mankin’s body will be taken to Central Shaheed Minar around 3pm for enabling people from all walks of life to pay their last homage to the late junior minister and Mymensingh Awami League leader. Later, it will be brought to Parliament Complex around 4:30pm. From there, his boy will be flown to his home district Mymensingh and will be laid to rest at his village home at Haluaghat on Friday. Joining Awami League in 1991, Promode Mankin was elected MP from Mymensingh-1 (Haluaghat-Dhobaura constituency) for four times in 1996, 2001, 2008, and 2014 with the party ticket. In 2008, he had served as the State Minister for Cultural Affairs from July 15, 2009 to September 15, 2012. Later, he was made the State Minister for Social Welfare. He was born in a respectable Garo family at Durgapur upazila in Netrakona on April 18, 1939. Later, he migrated to adjacent Haluaghat upazila of Mymensingh. Promode Mankin obtained Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree from Dhaka Notre Dame College in 1963 and LLB from Mymensingh Law College in 1982. He played an important role in the Liberation War in 1971 as an organiser. President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have expressed profound shock at the death of Mankin. They also prayed for the eternal peace of his departed soul and conveyed deep sympathy to the family members of the bereaved.
