EMINENT freedom fighter, permanent invitee member of CPI(M) Tripura state committee and former chairman of the Party’s state control commission, Comrade Chitta Chanda passed away at 5.40pm on July 28 at Agartala Government Medical College Hospital. He was 95. He was a bachelor. Comrade Chitta Chanda was suffering from age related diseases for quite some time. He was admitted to the hospital in the night of July 20. CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Manik Sarkar, CPI(M) state secretary Bijan Dhar and other secretariat members regularly visited the hospital for the updates on his condition. CPI(M) Tripura state secretariat in a statement mourned his demise and expressed heartfelt condolences to the members of his family. During the British regime, he was jailed for his participation in the freedom struggle. Comrade Chitta Chanda attained membership of undivided Communist Party of India in 1960 through his involvement in trade union movement. In 1964 he joined the CPI(M) after the division of CPI. From then to the last day of his life, he was one of the leading comrades of the democratic movement of the state. He became a prominent leader of the working class through his close links with the different sections of workers. He served as the vice president of CITU state committee from its very inception till 2013 and was a member of the state working committee till he breathed his last. CPI(M) state secretariat has fondly remembered his untiring role in building up the Party in the undivided Sadar divisional committee area. During the Congress regime too he was jailed twice. In total, he was behind the bars for around three years. He served as the vice chairman of Agartala Municipality from 1983 to 1988. He was one of the 75 leading cadres of the Party including Manik Sarkar whom the Congress goons had tried to burn alive by setting on fire the then Sadar DC office of CPI(M) at Battala during the Congress-TUJS regime of 1988-92. The CITU has also, in another statement, deeply mourned his demise. Thousands of people bade farewell to Comrade Chitta Chanda, with a heavy heart, on July 29. The funeral procession started in the morning from Sadar Divisional committee office of the CPI(M). The procession was led by 96 red flags held horizontally to salute the departed leader with hundreds following, humming the tunes of International song. The body was first taken to the office of Agartala Municipal Corporation where Mayor Prafullajit Sinha and other members paid tributes to him. Then the procession reached CITU state committee office where CITU state committee president Manik Dey, working president Pijush Nag and others paid floral tributes to the leader. From there the procession reached the CPI(M) state committee office. Here his body was draped with Party flag by CPI(M) state committee secretary Bijan Dhar. Central Committee member Rama Das, secretariat member Gautam Das, Manik Dey, Narayan Kar, Niranjan Debbarma , members of the state committee, Left Front leaders Brajagopal Ray, Sudarshan Bhattacharya, Gopal Das and others paid their last respects to the leader before the procession reached Battala cremetorium. Here Congress party’s state working president Asish Saha paid tributes to the leader.