By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
The mortal remains of former Uttarakhand Chief Minister B C Khanduri on Wednesday consigned to ashes at Kharkhari Ghat on the banks of holy river Ganga in Haridwar with full state honours.
A guard of honour was presented before Khanduri’s son Manish lit up the pyre amid the presence of a host of top leaders including Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and Union Cabinet Minister Manohar Khattar.
Earlier, Khanduri’s body was kept at the BJP’s headquarters where Dhami and other top BJP leaders paid their respect to the departed leader.
Khanduri (91) had passed away on Tuesday following a prolonged illness at a hospital in Dehradun. He is survived by his wife Aruna, daughter Ritu Khanduri, who is Vidhan Sabha Speaker, and son Manish.
The Uttarakhand government has declared a public holiday on May 20 as a mark of respect to the departed soul. A three-day mourning beginning from May 19 has also been declared.
Khanduri, who was also a Cabinet Minister in the Atal Behari Vajpayee government, was admitted to the ICU after he developed some old age-related complications few months ago. During his tenure as Union Minister for Roads and Highways, India made rapid progress in the road development especially highways. He was also the brain behind India’s first Golden Quadrilateral project linking all the four corners by super highways. Khanduri is also known for bringing the first MSME policy for the hills of Uttarakhand.
He was considered as a honest politician and brought the Lokayukta Act in Uttarakhand against corruption which was later scrapped by the Congress government. Since then, the successive governments have functioned without Lokayukta.
