By Twocircles.net Staff Reporter
gham-e-hayaat ka jhagra miTa raha hai koyi
chale bhi aao ke duniyaa se jaa raha hai koyi
Chandigarh: Noted Urdu poet and a Padma Bhushan awardee Sardar Anjum breathed his last at a local hospital.
He was 73.
Anjum had been hospitalized for a long time due to health complications at the Fortis Hospital here, where he breathed his last on Thursday. The eminent Urdu poet and Hindi and Punjabi litterateur was in coma for some time before suffering a brain stroke, Hindustan Times reported from Chandigarh. He had been suffering from diabetes and has been medically advised a foot amputation earlier.
Photo Credit: HT
He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2005, Punjab Ratna in 2001 and before that, the Padma Shri in 1991. Author of at least 25 books, Anjum had also made a television serial ‘Goongi Tarikh’ on Punjab terrorism in 1990, PTI reported. He had served as head of the Urdu department at the Panjab University. (Some of his works can be read here)
According to a report published in March 2015 in The Tribune , the poet had been paying medical bills for his ailment without any help from the government. He claimed to have spent nearly Rs 25 lakh on treatment and even mortgaged his property for it. The poet had wanted that the government should provide health insurance to artists above 70 years of age. He was angry at the 11th hour announcement by Haryana government to send him an aid of Rs 2.5 lakh besides footing his medical bills. The amount was released to him in March itself.
He was announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh by the Punjab government but he declined to accept it saying the government did not help in time and instead offered the reward.