Former Governor of erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir Jagmohan Malhotra popularly known as Jagmohan passed away on Monday here after brief illness. He was 94. In a late night tweet, his family members said, "With profound grief, we inform about the sad demise of Jagmohan. Former Union Minister, Former Governor Jammu and Kashmir. In grief : Wife: Uma Jagmohan, children: Dipika and Rajiv Kapoor, Nutan and Justice Manmohan."
Jagmohan had served two terms as governor in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir - from 1984 to 89, and then from January to May 1990.
When the BJP's Atal Bihari Vajpayee became Prime Minister in 1998, Jagmohan alao served in his cabinet in a variety of portfolios, including communications, urban development and tourism. During the 1990s, Jagmohan had served as nominated MP in the Rajya Sabha in 1990-96 and won a hat-trick of Lok Sabha elections from New Delhi (1996, 1998 and 1999).
He was also the Lt Governor of Delhi and Goa. He was honoured with the Padma Shri in 1971, Padma Bhushan in 1977 and Padma Vibhushan in 2016.
NITI Aayog's tribute to Jagmohan
NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant also mourned the loss of former J&K governor, and in a detailed post, highlighted Jagmohan's accomplishments throughout his career. Below is the full statement shared by Kant on his social media handles.
I had the pleasure of working with Mr Jagmohan during his tenure as minister for tourism and culture from 2002-04. Jagmohan had a passion for infrastructure. Before he became tourism minister he had changed the face of pilgrimage destination at 'Mata Vaishno Devi' in J&K . He went about with missionary zeal to improve the quality of the tourism infrastructure in India. He travelled extensively, took his team of officers from all departments to destination sites, undertook comprehensive inspections and decided the road map and action plan for site development.
Based on his field visits, the development projects were formulated and sanctioned. He then closely and rigorously monitored the projects and cracked the whip when time and cost overruns and implementation delays took place. He was singularly responsible for getting all encroachments removed & creating large green areas. He effectively & brilliantly converged the functioning of the ministry of tourism and culture, the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) and the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) and, in his short tenure, demonstrated that radical changes could be speedily brought about in the quality of experience at the destination level. Infrastructure improvements at Ajanta-Ellora, Mahabalipuram, Kurukshetra, Chittorgarh, Kumbalgarh, Humayun's Tomb and Haridwar were a consequence entirely of his drive and determination.
Jagmohan, at heart was a committed Infrastructure person. He genuinely believed that management of heritage sites in India must be radically transformed to give visitors a unique experience of India. In his short tenure he did more for India in tourism & culture than what had been done in the last several decades. It was a pleasure & a delight & an immense learning experience working very closely with him. He was easily the best Tourism & Culture Minister India has ever had. His other massive contribution has been to give Delhi green spaces & the vision to undertake planned development.
Mr Jagmohan was a very gentle soul, a great leader, an intellectual and a phenomenal deliverer. He will be badly missed.
