Bangla Academy director general Habibullah Sirajee passes away

Bangla Academy director general Habibullah Sirajee passed away on Monday at a city hospital in the capital. He was 72.

The Ekushey Padak-winning poet was on life support at the Bangladesh Specialized Hospital since 27 April due to stomach-related complications.

He passed away at 11:00pm, Bangla Academy Secretary and acting director general AHM Lokman told UNB.

Sirajee was hospitalised on 25 April and shifted to the ICU due to severe complication in his intestine and the digestive system. A medical board was formed for his treatment. The poet had undergone an operation on 27 April.

He had other health complications including peptic ulcer.

Lokman said the body of Sirajee will be taken from his Dhanmondi residence to the Bangla Academy at 10:00am for everyone to pay their last respect. His first namaz-e-janaza will be held at Bangla Academy. He will be laid to rest at Azimpur graveyard after his second namaz-e-janaza there.

Poet Sirajee took charge as the director general of Bangla Academy on 20 December 2018.

Born on 31 December, 1948 in Faridpur, the poet studied at the country’s apex engineering university BUET.

One of the founders and former president of Jatiya Kabita Parishad (National Poetry Council), Sirajee was conferred with the Ekushey Padak in 2016 and Bangla Academy Literary Award in 1991 for his contribution to poetry.