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| Rupam Kurmi |
Jorhat, Feb. 4: Assam minister for employment and craftsmanship Rupam Kurmi passed away at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, early this morning. She was 55.
Kurmi, who was admitted to the AIIMS on November 24, died of multiple ailments. She hails from Cinnamara here and had been representing the Mariani constituency in the district since 1991. She was elected to the Assembly for three consecutive terms and was the first woman cabinet minister from the tea community.
Kurmi leaves behind two sons. Her funeral will be held tomorrow in her ancestral home at Kharikatia tea estate in Mariani.
Eldest of the four siblings of Birsha Khalka, the then sardar (labour leader of a tea estate) of Kharikatia tea garden, Kurmi was the first woman graduate from her community.
After completing her graduation from the D.C.B. Girls college, Kurmi joined the Asam Chah Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS), the apex body of the tea workers, as an employee in 1970, after her husband’s death. Her husband, Cheniram Kurmi, was the secretary of the Margherita unit of the ACMS.
Kurmi started her political career in 1985 when she contested from the Titabor seat as a Congress candidate.