Former bureaucrat, rights activist S.R. Sankaran dies

HYDERABAD - Former bureaucrat and rights activist S.R. Sankaran, who had played a key role as mediator in the first-ever direct peace talks between Andhra Pradesh government and the Maoists in 2004, died here Thursday. He was 78.

The retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer was suffering from chikungunya for some time, his family members said.

Sankaran, who championed the cause of the downtrodden, worked in various posts in Andhra Pradesh, as chief secretary of Tripura and as secretary in the central rural development ministry.

He also served as the commissioner of the Supreme Court-appointed panel on food security.

In 1987, Sankaran, then the state social welfare secretary, was kidnapped by Maoists along with 15 other IAS offices in the forest area of Rampachodavaram in East Godavari district, where they had gone to inspect some tribal welfare hostels. They were later released unharmed.

Sankaran, who retired in 1992, was one of the key figures of Committee of Concerned Citizens, which sought to end the spiral of state repression and Maoist violence.

The bureaucrat had been associated with the nationalisation of coal industry in 1970s and with the abolition of bonded labour. His major area of work and concern has been the safeguarding of the rights and the development of the weaker sections of the society, particularly the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K. Rosaiah and Leader of Opposition N.Chandrababu Naidu expressed grief over the death of Sankaran.

Rosaiah recalled the services of Sankaran as secretary to many departments in the state and central governments. “He was down to earth and humane. Sankaran was also a crusader of the poor and downtrodden people and fought relentlessly for their rights throughout his life,” Rosaiah said.

Naidu said Sankaran was widely respected by people, bureaucrats and government employees.