Polan Sarker, affectionately called by locals as ‘Alor Ferrywala’ (distributor of light), had been suffering from old-age complications.
“Our family members were beside him when my father breathed his last around 12:30pm,” his son Haider Ali said.
Polan Sarker, who started a social movement of reading books, won the Ekushey Padak, the country’s second-highest civilian award, in 2011 in recognition of his work.
Besides, he was accorded receptions on many occasions and a drama ‘Sayanhe Surjodoy’ was also made on him.
Polan Sarker was born in 1921. His name was Harez Uddin but he was popularly known as Polan Sarker. His father died in just five months into his birth. Although he was compelled to end his institutional education when he was a student of Class-VI due to poverty, he continued his studies at home.
Haider said his father was the president of the managing committee of a local high school. “He was a bookworm. Every year, he used to give books to the top 10 meritorious students of the school as gift,” he said, adding that his campaign for distributing books began from there and he used to give books to all later.
“My father started distributing books on foot after he was diagnosed with diabetes and continued this work for more than 30 years,” Haider said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina condoled the death of Polan Sarker and expressed sympathy for his family members.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam also expressed deep shock at his death.
In a condolence message, he prayed for eternal peace of the departed soul and conveyed deep sympathy to the bereaved family members. “The nation has lost a prominent social worker at his death,” the state minister said.
“He (Polan) started an innovative education movement spreading education among the people of 20 villages in Rajshahi district. He used to buy books at his own cost and distribute those to backward section of people,” Shahriar added.